Week of 04/18/10 - 206 Miles - Lots of Wind and 8 New Donors

What is it about Mondays?  Is it the fact that I typically log lots of miles on Saturday and Sunday?  Or maybe it is because I like to hit the work week hard and attack my action items?  Or perhaps it is the web site, Facebook, and fundraising that pulls me away.  Whatever the reason, for the 10th consectutive Monday, my bikes lay quiet in the gararge.  In fact, the trend continued on Tuesday with another off day.  I was still able to reach my goal of 200+ miles for the week with  five varied rides the remainder of the week.  Let's talk about the imporatnt stuff first ...

I received my fifth gold level donation from First Finish of Columbia, Maryland. First Finish provides quality construction services to the commercial, government and hotel & lodging industry.  A big thanks to Jason Stock, Sue Gelenter, and the rest of the First Finish team. It was a great week for individual donations.  Friends from many different parts of my life joined the cause and helped make a difference in the lives of families impacted by lung disease:

• Amy & Hong Hwang - Glenelg Country School parents; Leah is close friends with their daughter Hillary.  They did a science fair project together last year - "Do GCS 4th Graders Have Better Auditory Memory or Visual Memory?"  Turns out they have better visual meemory.
• Scott Aronson - Scott and I grew up across the street from one another.  He is now a successful podiatrist at Aronson Foot Care in Stoughton, MA.
• Tom Hunt - Tom was a fraternity brother of mine at Pi Kappa Phi, alias "The Castle" at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.  I will stop close by Troy on Day 47 (August 6th) of my trip.  The alumni association is planning a reception on campus!
• Rosalie Jones - an old (her friendship, not her!) dear friend who was one of the instigators that got Karen and me together back in the mid 90's.
• Chris Larsen - Chris works for Vecna Technologies and is teamed with my firm on several challenging projects at the National Institutes of Health. 
• Melanie & Maurie Lerner - Leah and the Lerner's daughter, Joanna, are in Girl Scouts together.  It was a big year for their troop including the prestigious Bronze Award.  This is the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can earn.
• Karen & Lenny Rosenfeld - Karen and I were very active in New England Region USY back in high school.  We reconnected several years ago at a great reunion. My USY friends and expereince defined my high school years.  The freindships I formed then have been tough to duplicate.

My fundraising totals broke $9,000 ... five figures here we come!

On the training front, my week saw hills, back roads, and lots of wind.  On Wednesday, I put in 40+ miles through northern Ellicott City and Woodlawn including the dreaded 18% grade on Dogwood Road!  Thursday's rided started and ended in Laytonsville with some great back roads and a visit to Just Riding Along.  Travis Evans open the shop last year and is a great mechanic and wheel builder.  I may break down and have him build me a new set for my big trip. Picture is from his grand opening back in March.  I won a few T-shirts from Continental and Bikes Belong.

Friday saw the standard Glenelg 50k in a little over two hours.  The roads near Glenelg are getting a little busier, but still among my favorite for a quick ride in the country.  The weekend brought longer rides of 50+ miles each day and a heavy dose of wind.  On Saturday, it howled at 20-25 mph most of the day.  I spent the first half of the ride with it in my face ... tough work!  The effort was rewarded with a wonderful tail wind on the return route through Unity and over the Brighton Dam and past the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden.

Sunday saw more wind and flatter roads to see Michael and Erin in College Park ... this time I had the head wind the second half of the route from the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.  Great week of training and fundraising.  I leave for Oregon in 2 months!