Week of 01/17/10 - I See the Pavement - 140 miles

Sunset has crept past 5 pm, but it was still mighty cold and too busy at work to allow for any outdoor rides the first part of the week.   On Monday I spun to what has become a typical Monday evening ... 20 miles to Men of a Certain Age. The show is holding my attention and was pretty entertaining tonight.  Tuesday was spent focused on work and my current fundraising campaign.  A solid week in that department ... over $300 in donations.  Thanks to following generous donors:  Kevin Biersack (2nd year), Ken Cole (2nd year), Bruce Crawford (5th year!!), Marilyn Herrington (2nd year), Ravi Kuriseti, Jason Lucas, Denis Mirskiy, Girish Shetty, and Shiva Velappan (6th year!!!).  A special thanks to Shiva for fowarding my information to some of his contacts and helping obtain additional donations.

The standard winter Wednesday was spent spinning (20 miles) to a new episode (Uncanny Valley) of Criminal Minds with Leah ... collecting dolls taken to a new level..  Thursday saw the temperatures climb into the 40's.  Work kept me off the road and back on the trainer for another 20+ miles to some classic rock and hits of the 70's/80's. I also spent about an hour on the phone with Doug Torosian, the director of America by Bicycle.  Doug and I talked about the different route and tour options for going cross country with his company ... the decision has been made!  I will be riding the Across America North tour from Astoria, Oregon to Portsmouth, New Hampshire (June 20, 2010 to August 9, 2010).   Almost 3,700 miles in 50 days. This BLOG will chronicle my tour and enable everyone to expereince the ups, downs, pain, fun, people, places, and hopefully some sounds (i.e., video) of the trip.  My main web page (http://markstrek.com/) has a link to the BLOG as well as lots of other information on my route, my sponsors, and the American Lung Association.

Mother Nature kept the temperatures above average on Friday (low 50's) and Saturday (high 40's).  That got me outside for the first time since Thanksgiving!  On Friday I headed for Elkridge Furnance Inn and returned home via the climb on Ridge Road, past the BWI car rental area, and then past the prisons on Brock Bridge Road.  I felt great ... ride was almost 32 miles.  Saturday saw another two hours of pavement (almost 30 miles) to Glenelg and Ellicott City.  I stopped at CycleSport to chat with the owner, Paul.  CycleSport is a great local bike store with excellent service and a full line of Giant bikes.  They are building a new Mavic/Ultegra wheelset for my winter bike (Trek 1500).  With Leah at a friend's house, Karen and I had a "date night" and went to see the George Clooney movie, Up in the Air, then dinner at Applebees.  The movie was as good as the reviews I had read ... very worthwhile.

Sunday brought rain, so it was back to the trainer for an aerobic ride of just under 20 miles.  The Golden Globes did not motivate me too much, but provided a distraction at least. A busy and productive week with strong base miles (140), excellent fund raising (over $300), and some alone time with Karen.  Looks like I might get to stay outside next week with temperatures in the 40's.  Five months away.