Why did the chicken cross the road?

The oldest joke in the world and I still don't know the answer. What I do know is that the chicken tried, emphasis on tried, to cross the road I was riding this morning. He must have been scratching in the tall grass at the side of the road and all of a sudden jumped out in front of me. I was on a bit of downhill and it all happened so fast that in an instant he was dinged by my wheel, started squawking like the crazy chicken he was, feathers were flying and my heart doubled it's beat and moved straight into my throat. Long story short, the chicken survived the impact, I managed to keep the bike upright and we both continued on our way, me making considerably less noise than the chicken....I watch for deer, wild turkeys and other bits of New Jersey wildlife but a chicken? Unbelievable. Otherwise today was easily one of the ten best of the year. Blue skies with big white puffy clouds, warm but no humidity - perfect day for a ride. It occured to me today that I don't really train for anything. I simply love the ride and go do it for its own sake. I mixed the hills with a long stretch of flat today and chose lots roads running alongside streams including a long stretch with the Delaware River on my side. I did 72 miles and felt comfortable when I finally pulled into my own driveway...no pressure, just a perfect day with a great ride.

Weekend meanderings...

I cannot but wonder how the riders of XC11 feel about now: Sunday night, they finished their epic ride on Friday, and tomorrow will be the first morning in many weeks where they don't set the alarm for 5:30 and grab their bikes and hit the road. I know that after following their blogs for several weeks I already have a sense of disappointment that I cannot check in on today's adventures - the ride is over and tomorrow is just Monday again. Thank goodness for "Sweet Nancy" and her daughter - they are only a week into their own cross country - they are doing the Northern route, are currently in Oregon and the blog is fun and the photos excellent. It will certainly do until our East Coast reunion ride in September. And speaking of the East Coast ride....I considered starting a new blog but then decided that this riding thing is really a continuum in my life so why change the blog? And therefore the new and improved title. In spite of - and occasionally because of - the stress over the housing situation (no, we still have not found a buyer) I am starting to get out a little more regularly. I did 65 miles yesterday with an appreciable amount of hills and averaged almost 16 mph. I am also, finally, a couple of hundred miles over my first 1000 for the year. So, much as I still feel behind my usual routine I'm enjoying the bike and the roads and starting to feel pretty good about the year to date. I'm trying to get "psyched" for my first century in a couple of weeks. And every ride I'm thinking of the Maine/Florida adventure. I need to get a few more miles into my log but I'm ready for Portland now....

Thinking of XC11

We are still trying to find a buyer for our house and meantime we got our loan commitment today which means that we will almost certainly have a period of paying on two houses and trying to decide which one to live in...I may just check myself into the nearest mental institution before this little adventure is completed. I had intended to drive up to Hamburg NY and join the XC11 folks - Harry and Barbie to be specific - and ride to Canandaiga. However, our realtor thought she had an offer on the house and so leaving became impossible. The offer did not come in today so after hanging around for a awhile I took off on the bike around noon. With no set plan I started wondering whether I could have even completed the XC course today. It was about 95 miles and with my erratic schedule I was not at all sure I could even keep up with those folks. So I decided on the more hilly courses through Mercer and adjoining Hunterdon - basically the Anchor House training ride with a few extra miles tacked on. In spite of going out midday there was a bit of a breeze and just enough cloud cover to keep the sun from really beating down with its full fury. In the end I did 68 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing (and expended 4500 calories) and averaged 14.6 mph. Not too bad I judged and I pulled into the driveway thinking that I could have done at least another 20...So much as I missed seeing my XC09 friends I was certainly with them in spirit and was happy to check the blogs tonight and see that they too had a good ride....