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....

Memorial Day...

After one of the worst springs I can remember - cold and lots of rainy days - it seems like summer just dropped on us out of nowhere. I played tennis on Saturday morning and we got the best (clay) court at the club but in full sun. Fortunately it was morning and we did have all four of our group show up. But at the end of three sets I was dripping wet and more than ready to go home for the shower. Today I headed out on the bike but didn't leave until about 12:30. Of course, that means full sun and of all the days of the weekend this was the warmest. I took a modified version of the Anchor House training ride...went through Lambertville, then up a couple of backroads that I knew to be hilly but with lots of shade and no traffic. Among other things I startled a red fox on the road and I think I saw a bald eagle when I was near the river. In any event the route I followed was hilly enough that I did more climbing than I really anticipated - 3500' on a 55 mile ride: it seemed every time I looked at my computer I was doing a 12 or 14% grade although I do know there were a few flats in there too. I stopped in to everybody's favorited Chinese deli in Sergeantsville - first time this year I think - and along with a cold drink poured a little water over my head to bring the temperature down a little. Really, was a great ride through a lot of territory I like but have not seen much of this year. Was nice to leave all the stress of the house behind and just get out to the country and enjoy the scenery. I know the reunion ride is still a ways off but I am going to have to get into some sort of routine to get my wheels in shape. And I'm still thinking of catching one day of the XC11 and would like to think I could ride a days with a couple of those folks without embarassing myself.....

Finally - back on the bike

It has been a wild couple of weeks and, at least for the moment, it ended last night. We have had our house up for sale since March 17 as we decided it was time to downsize - do we really need 4/5 bedrooms, does Susan with two knee replacements really need to climb stairs etc etc. So we had an offer from a couple with three young children - sounds like a perfect match, right? Wrong, oh how wrong. They turned out to be the buyers from hell. They fought to reduce the price after the contract was written, they made every single item on the inspection a major issue, they wanted a golf ball warrenty for the dangers presented by a golf course that is roughly a quarter mile away and so on and on. After a couple weeks of this stuff I finally decided enough and our attorney wrote a wonderful little letter cancelling the deal and basically telling them to take a leap...short or long, their choice. We both slept better than we have in two weeks. Meantime we have found a house that we are very happy with. It is the next town over (Princeton Junction where I lived 20 years ago) and it is perfect. All we have to do now is find a buyer quickly in a bad market - hopefully we will not be carrying two loans for the next several months.... The good news is that we will not be moving in the middle of June as was previously planned - that has now been moved to mid to late July. And therefore I am back to considering the possibility of joining up with this year's Cross Country gang for at least a night and perhaps a day of riding. There are two of the folks from XC09 doing the last segment and I would dearly love to have a little mini-reunion. I'm thinking Erie Pa or maybe Hamburg NY at this point - both are just a few hours drive....we shall see what develops on the house front but I'm thinking I can make this happen... Meantime, after all this stress and hassle, and about 5 straight days of rain I finally got back out on the bike today. It was a perfect day - sunny but not hot, just a bit of a breeze and I even ran into Tom R about six miles out. I ended up doing 45 miles with enough hills to remind me that my legs still work and motivate me to get out again tomorrow if we get that sun back. I tallied up my totals for the year so far and was appalled. Typically I would have close to 2000 miles by now - I have a little over 600. I know that the Maine/Florida ride is still a ways off but my hope is to be so ready by then that every mile will be fun...lots of riding needed between now and then.

Memories...

This year's version of the cross-country ride began on Sunday and between Jim's photos of the Manhattan Beach wheel dipping and the couple of blogs that I've seen of the first couple of days I'm in a very kind of nostalgic mood. I have such vivid memories of that first hill (brought to mind by Jim's photo), of the last couple miles of palm trees and small orange groves on the way to the hotel that first night in Riverside...and every blog entry by one of the XC11 folks brings it all back. I would love to be doing that ride again but at the same time every time I think about it I also think of all the folks who were on XC09. I would want to see Ira, Jim, Harry, Magic Mike, Hank, Champ, and all the rest - I remember them all and in the end it was not only the ride it was the wonderful people. I still get a chance to ride with Tom although recently we have done better at missing each other than getting out on the bike. The major event in my (our) life these days is that in March we decided to put the house on the market and take our chances in this lousy market. We have been talking the last few years about downsizing, finding some place that took care of the lawn and the snow and is all on one floor. So, long story short, we did in fact get an offer, we have found a beautiful house in an "active adult" (I actually hate that label) community and all of a sudden our lives are out of control. For weeks we were in and out of our own house every time a realtor called for a showing. Then we were the ones running out to view every new possibility that came on the market. Now we have deals on both ends (and are keeping our fingers crossed that nothing comes up to mess up the plan) and are deep into packing, deciding what goes and what stays and trying to plan for a bit of time while we have "camp out" between closings. I feel like my life has been taken over by realtors and lawyers... And meanwhile my cycling log looks like the dance card of the class geek at the junior prom. I've been struggling to get out even once a week even as the weather has turned into true spring with temps in the mid 70s and everything green and blooming. Sunday I got out for 50 miles (before the Mother's day dinner), yesterday I worked around the house all day and no ride. Today I decided that I have to make some priorities - no matter what I can schedule around the work and the minimum will be a two hour ride....So I ran around like a crazy man this morning but this afternoon was mine for a ride. Thirty-five miles, a bunch of hills and a 15.5 avg. speed - not bad for someone who has only about half of his usual mileage at this point. I think I have convinced Susan that without this bike time I will shortly be a very crazy person so from here on this will be part of the ritual. My one regret at this point is that Tom and I were both planning to catch up with XC11 and ride with them for a day or two - both Barbie and Harry are doing the last third from Champaign - but I am beginning to think that will probably not work. Between the closing of our current home and the gap to the closing of the new home I cannot quite see a trip to either Ohio or upstate New York...I haven't quite given up but it looks extremely iffy...In the meantime I will ride and I will enjoy the XC11 blogs.

It's been a long time....

I was looking over my log (I know, I know but even the most laid back have a touch of OCD lurking in the background somewhere) and its been probably fifteen years since my cycling season got off to such a poor start. My last time out was April 20 and I had less than 10 days of any riding in the month. A part of that was due to lousy weather - we had lots and lots of rain in April this year and until very recently some very cold days as well. But another, probably more compelling reason is that we decided to put our house on the market and find something a little smaller and hopefully with services like snow shoveling and lawn care included. Amazingly enough we had an offer a couple weeks ago - and I say "amazingly" because this may be one of the worst housing markets in history - and this kicked off a tense round of negotiations, conversations with both our broker and attorney as well as intense search to find the "house of our dreams." It seemed that every time I thought I had a couple of hours free either we were headed out to view more houses or we were standing by the phone waiting for the latest from the attorney negotiating the contract....Bottom line at this point: we have found a home that we both like and have a contract and have just about concluded the negotiations with the buyer of house. Only hitch so far is a closing of June 17 on our present home and a July 13 close on the new house. We are not yet sure how that one will play out although we are certain that pitching a tent in Mercer County park is probably not a good option. And so May Day 2011 dawned sunny and warm and I was thinking bike from the moment I saw the light streaming in through the curtains. I headed out for one of my favorite routes that heads up into the Sourlands. I was riding roads that just a few weeks ago had traces of ice in the ditches and lots of water from the melt that was still in progress. Today everything was in bloom - the dogwood, the tulips around streetside mailboxes, the azalea - I even startled a deer nibbling at someones driveway bushes. It was simply a glorious day and I'm determined to get on a schedule and stick with it. Packing be damned, ride the bike. And for the record I did 51 miles, with 25oo feet of climbing (steepest at 17% grade) and used up 3100 calories - and that latter is a biggie since my bike is carrying an extra ten pounds and it would be a little easier to do those hills if some of that just melted away.

April Adventures

The robin has somehow made a name for itself as the avatar of spring. First robin sighting is cause for rejoicing in some quarters. My perception of the robin is that they probably have the little bird-brains we might expect. They have no clue when winter is over and frequently arrive just in time for a blizzard and we see them tender-footing around the snow drifts in the yard wondering when the ground will soften enough to provide a worm or two for dinner. In my experience the true sign of spring is the lowly. oft despised dandelion. It seems that all of a sudden these golden little blooms are everywhere and along with them comes the assurance that the snows will come no more and the sun is shining just a bit more brightly. And today I seem to have seen these amazing little flowers everywhere from suburban lawns to still unplowed farmers' fields. I am ready to believe spring has come and it is truly the season of the bicycle. I had my second day out this week today, first time I can say that since our trip to Florida in January. Monday was mid-seventies, light breezes and I did 40+ miles in shorts and summer jersey. Today was sunny but a 20 to 30 mph wind and temps that barely made it to 50 - I was wrapped in tights and three layers, the sun made it bearable but there were some challenging moments. Years ago - many years actually - when I was running I made a habit of doing a 10 mile run on my birthday. When I started seriously riding bikes I switched to doing my age every year. With a late April birthday that meant a nice little spring training ride at one time. Now I find that I need to do a few training rides just to accomplish the birthday ride. I am well short of needing to do a century but I need a few nice days and some real spring riding to get ready for this year's celebration....stay tuned, it will be fun getting ready.

My hero...with an asterisk.

This guy is 103 years old and has been cycling for 40 years. According to the story he gave up the two-wheeler just a couple of years ago. He rides daily and is a kind of poster-boy for local cyclists. I say "my hero" with an asterisk because of the obvious discrepency - you will note that he does not wear a helmet - given my near miss with eternity a couple years ago I consider that the supreme stupidity...Nevertheless, I would hope to be riding around like him at 100+, maybe even contemplating a reunion ride down the West Coast.

The Comeback Ride..

For those who are not familiar with the beautiful coast of Maine today's photo is the Portland Head Lighthouse. It is one of the most photographed and painted of the Maine lighthouses and I can attest from personal experience one of the truly impressive scenes along the Northeast coast.

This photo seems like a most appropriate start to the blog and this year's cycling routine. I received my confirmation e-mail from Tracy and Crossroads today for the Maine to Florida ride scheduled for September/October and I had all I could do not race around the house a couple of times like a little kid at Christmas...in print it is whoopee, hot dog, hooray!!!

Much as I was planning to somehow finish the cross-country the prospect of riding the entire East Coast, and perhaps more to the point, riding again with some of the folks who did the cross-country is just too good to pass up. And when Tom decided to come on board that made it easy...neither one of us will have to break in a new roommate.

At this writing I think there are 7 people from our XC09 committed to the Reunion Ride (the official name) with the possibility of a couple more. And I would suspect too that there may be a few XCers from other years sign on as well - the more the merrier.

And so the snow has now gone - the temperature is going to 19 tonight and they are predicting a wind chill of 10 for tomorrow - and we are only a couple of weeks from reaching for the sunscreen and riding in shorts.

Stay tuned for this year's adventure....I polishing the bike and ready to go.