Twin lights part 2

(time of day before the race, not my time!)  

pledge of allegiance

along mile 1 or so.

spirited water stop

my face: grimace; her face: mirth.

Had a blast on the course today ( in little bit of a painful way). Speed walked with a hardcore 60 year old walker ("hat lady"). She dragged my carcass through 12 miles, then dropped me at the end to go chase down a jogger ahead of us. After crossing, she was dancing a jig, while I sat and groaned in true Ouch. Tough mama.

Twin Lights halfie

Here at Good Harbor Beach up in Gloucester - "one of the prettiest beaches in New England," said the parking attendant. Up next - walking a half marathon course along the coast line.  I'd usually run this kind of course, but I'm hoping to allow my hamstring to rehab by giving it a nice walk instead.

The best bike in the rack

Is mine. Oof, getting it up there in the vertical rack!

Gearing up

I guess those bike shoes and helmet from 10 years ago just aren't going to cut it.

Midnight Marathon Bike Ride

Last year I did the informal Midnight Marathon Bike Ride.  Up til that point, my road bike had been sitting in a box, still packed up from my move out to Boston from Arizona.  But my friend Sam from Texas convinced me to ride out to his place near Lexington, where a friend of ours would drive us out to the marathon start at Hoptinkon, to join a bunch of crazies with bicycle lights in freezing weather to ride the Boston Marathon course in carnival-style in the middle of the night.

Why not?

Did I mention? - it was freezing.  And this was the first 36 miles I was riding in about a year.  (10 miles to Sam's, 26 miles for the marathon route.)  But hey, the festivities!  The yahoos.  Great stuff.  We rode across the marathon finish around 3am – Copley Square was ghostly and still just hours before the race.

Only 6 hours later, I was bemoaning the fact that I wouldn't get to watch the marathon.  The finish line is less than 2 blocks from my work building, and I had never watched a Boston marathon.  Turned out my colleague and I had a business meeting in Alabama to get to that day.  After meeting up at work that morning, we shuffled off to the airport, around 10am or so.  When our flight landed at a layover airport, we were horrified to watch the news about the bombing.

I could have done the Marathon Ride again this year.  There was talk about canceling it, but the ride's original organizer told the officials he had no control to stop the ride from happening.  (After all, all the roads are open to traffic!)

But I am being responsible right now: I worked all day finishing up my last big paper / project for grad school!  (Whoop!)  I have class from 5pm-10pm tomorrow, and there is no way I can handle getting home at 3:30am, and stay focused for class.

Instead, I offered my bike to a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend from Arizona.  My best training buddy Kim, the hot air balloonist and triathlete from AZ, is in town with her husband who's running the race tomorrow.  Their friend's husband jumped on the idea of doing the midnight ride, and he's about my height.  I hauled him and my bike (the Vaya) to the start.  He bought a watermelon bike helmet and some arm warmers, and I reckon he's having a blast right now.

Porter stairs

Riding the 5 min escalator of shame while I wait for knee to heal. Can walk up stairs, but not down! And hey, I can walk! Go, Team Hamstring!

Ouch

Kinda hard to bike when you can't bend your knee.

I'm going to be my physical therapist's best student.

Committed!

Sent my money through to Tour D'Afrique!   I reckon I'm going on this trip!

First Boston commute

Keep the pannier on the non-dominant side of the bike.

Plans...

$50 1-way flight to China purchased... (United miles, but will be flying Lufthansa and Air China.  Hopefully the Lufthansa pilots' union will be settled by then.).

Making plans with a girlfriend who lives in Shenzhen to see the sights of Beijing for a week or so before starting the tour.

I hired a TaskRabbit researcher to survey the field of non-profits working in the area we'll be riding through.  She did a nice job, and has helped me identify a good lead or 2 to fundraise for.

The train to work is getting hot and stuffy... I've put the rack on my bike – it's time to get out on the road!

And... wiring some money to TdA tomorrow to pay for the tour!  Whoop!

Caught on camera: Woman with new bicycle

Bought a Salsa Vaya

The decision to go has gone like this...

1 day, I'll be "Yeah yeah yeah!  Let's go!"  The next day, I'm picturing navigating the most arduous, monstrous jeep trails on skinny tires at 2mph, stranded, alone, in the dark, uphill both ways.  I picture being attacked by wild dogs and packs of angry 'Stanians. I even dreamed one night about being stuck in a town east of Istanbul, surrounded by 30 heckling children, and then realizing (in the dream) that I was supposed to be in China yesterday.   And how would I get there!?

It very much feels like the anxiety that keeps you from falling asleep the night before a big race or event.  I think the anxiety has been greater because I have not committed ($$) fully to the tour yet, but am having to project what might happen in the future in order to close on the decision for myself.

But then I ran into the Salsa Vaya (2012).  That bike just feels steady freddy (but not too slow).  I forget that I do actually know how to cycle (easy to forget these things over the winter).  And taking the Vaya around the block in not-cold weather just feels lovely.

The bike is orange.

So now that I have a new bike, I reckon I'm going on this trip!  (And didn't I know that all along?  "You were so scared of the monster at the end of the book!")  I'm pooling my funds for the trip into an account; I reckon I'll be writing a fat check in the next week or so.

LOI Uzbekistan

Oh yeah.  Just got my Letter of Invitation for Uzbekistan.  (And already got the Tajikistan one.)

Big doubts about going

The first challenge in riding the Silk Road with Tour d'Afrique is deciding to go.  I have largely been been presuming I'd go, but waiting for the payment deadline - Apr 9.

Last week, after returning from a class trip in the UAE and Bahrain, I was hit by a huge wall of Laziness.  Maybe having to be engaged and "on" socially and professionally wiped me out - I don't know.  But I suddenly had little desire to do anything – unpack my bag, do laundry, go to work, clean house, and definitely not ride my bike.  And a moment of terror hit, as I realized the commitment I had so excitedly jumped on.  

Sometimes, it can be pretty hard to get started on new endeavors.  I often dread the beginning of swim season because I simply don't want to get wet.  Now, I'm dreading getting out one of my bikes because I don't want to be cold, and I dread playing with Boston traffic.

But this is all temporary. For now, I have time.  I still have a ton to do to finish out my grad school degree this semester, and I imagine when the weather finally warms up, I won't be able to stand to do anything but be outside on my bike.  In the meantime, I reckon I'll stick to my guns and my conviction that this is the trip for me, even if now I'm a little bit scared and nervous about the whole thing.