Moving On

The original purpose behind The Fourteen Percent Ride has long since been fulfilled. So, I've decided that Mighty Proud will be the last posting. It just seems right.

But, don't worry. Or maybe you should. In any event, I plan to continue. I'll keep riding. And writing. Click here to come along in my new blog ~ The Long White Line. <-- check it out!

Thanks

As I've ridden for the last two years, I've picked up on the fact that Shirley, my darling wife, has been more worried about my safety than impressed with my "accomplishments." How do I know this? Well, when I'd come back and tell her, for example, that I'd hit 53.6 mph going down FO, she'd reply, "I don't want to hear it." Being the sensitive sort I figured out, after many such comments, that just maybe we were not on the same page here. But last week, she told me that she would "greatly reduce her focus on the 'fear for my safety' issue." We talked about the tour, looked at some maps, researched nutrition suggestions on the internet, and so on, just enjoying the idea of the ride. How nice is that? Thank you, Shirley!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Nine For, Fifteen Against

Nine for, 15 against (or don't care or didn't pay attention to the question). That's the result of the poll for my presentation today, a brown-bag session at work where I'll show some pictures and talk about the trip. The question, "should I wear the tights and jersey for the presentation or not?" What will I do? You’ll have to wait to find out.

In addition to a little (very little) preparation for today’s "big event," I have ridden about 275 miles since returning from the tour. This brings my total riding for 2007 to 2,950 miles.

I've decided to set some goals for the rest of the year, the pull of getting ready for the tour having passed. First, go at least 5,000 miles. Twenty-one centuries between now and December 31 and I'm there! Also, I want to find a ride for next year. Right now I'm thinking about Cycle America’s Glacier National Park ride, but I'll study the options and see what happens. Bill? Well, he's off to Switzerland in mid-August. A practically perfect opportunity as he and a few others will scout out routes for a ride around Switzerland tour next year. Awesome.

Oh, about the "spare no expense" facet of riding. Larry, one of the riders on the tour, had this really great computer. It not only tracked the standard speed, distance and ride time metrics but logged details of the climbing. He had a profile of our ride across Thompson Pass and the computer stored total climbing and the average and maximum grades. I saw something like this in one of the many catalogs I get now. You can even download the data to your laptop. How cool is that. AND, I'm looking for a good pair of road shoes and pedals. After that, I'll have everything I need. And if you believe that…

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wait, what 24 people did you poll? I didn't get that part. I've been all the way up Glacier National Park (in a car) and slid down the snow on the top (in the summer). I think you should do that one!! Hope all goes well, tights or not, for your presentation. (My guess is that you won't wear them, though!)

Anonymous said...

If your presentation group are mostly guys skip the tights!

Anonymous said...

Glacier National Park -- are you crazy???

Ann