It occurred to me yesterday, while I was riding my bike 60 miles, that I haven't updated my Team in Training blog tucsonorbust since I stopped raising money a few weeks after riding 109 miles in El Tour de Tucson. As I'd mentioned at around that time, TNT asked me to be Fundraising Captain for the NYC team doing the Montauk Century on May 18 and "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride" (a.k.a., the Tahoe Century) on June 1. I've been training with the team, but because of my schedule, much more sporadically than I did last year.

So I still may not update that blog much, at least not until it's actually time to ride Montauk and/or Tahoe - and after that, if and when I start training and fundraising for El Tour de Tucson again. But I thought it was worth mentioning at least that I rode my bike 60 miles yesterday, and survived. I also thought it was worth mentioning to anybody who might want to "friend" that other LiveJournal so that they can be on board whenever I do start updating it more regularly again.

I need to be doing these rides far more frequently if they're to have any hope of helping me get ready for another century after the relatively sedentary winter I've had. And that's all I'm going to say about that for right now.

I arose early yesterday, put on my cold weather riding gear, and headed downstairs with my rental bike. Alicia, the Denver TNT chapter's assistant coach for the group doing America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride (a.k.a. the Tahoe Century), picked me up at my hotel, and we managed to fit both our bikes in the back of her car. A short drive later, we were at Maple Grove Park in Golden, west of Denver, to meet the rest of the team. I'd foolishly forgotten to check whether my rental bike had water bottle cages, and we were about to figure out a way for me to give each of my two bottles to a different rider so I could get my water and my Accelerade handed off to me whenever I needed it (which probably would have been a huge pain in the ass), when team member Emily volunteered her bottle cages and her allen wrench tool to move them to my bike; she was wearing a camelback for her fluids anyway, so she didn't need them.

The main goal of the day's ride was to climb the switchback route up Lookout Mountain, but first we did fifteen miles in and around Golden, then the same fifteen miles back - past the Coors Brewery, and around some hilly but not awful terrain. The real problem was the brutal headwinds on our way out to Foothills Road - and for me, the additional problem was the thin air at this altitude. I was sucking wind most of the way, even after we turned around and caught the tailwinds.



We paused in downtown Golden for a photo:



Then the team set out to climb the aforementioned Lookout Mountain:



I was game to try, but one of my strengths as a bicyclist is that I know my limitations... and with the air problem, I just wasn't going to make it. A quarter of the way up, I let Alicia know I was heading back down and would wait for them after their descent. I grabbed a sandwich at Woody's Pizza, then hung out at Starbucks and nursed my rather uncomfortably hairy lungs until the group returned a while later. Then I rode back out to the park with Alicia, where we repacked the car and headed back to Denver. She was heading past the Bicycle Doctor on her way home anyway, so she very graciously just dropped me off at the hotel and returned the bike for me.

I didn't have time for a nap, just a shower, before the first ever all-Jesuit Frozen Four championship game, Boston College vs. Notre Dame. During the first intermission, Rita and I were chatting about post-game plans for the group when a random guy in a Cornell jersey approached us; turns out he lives in Denver and had actually made his choice about a job offer a year and a half ago based partly on the Frozen Four being here this year (and hoping that Cornell might make it, though this was definitely the wrong season for that).



The game itself was pretty exciting, though the final score wouldn't make you think so. Notre Dame, who had upset three "better" teams in the first three rounds to get to the finals, fought valiantly, and at one point had even scored what looked like their second goal to make the score 3-2, but the goal was called back, and BC put the nail in the coffin less than a minute later to make it 4-1.

Afterwards the group went to Appaloosa Grill on the 16th Street Mall for dinner, where I had a very good bison cheddarburger and a locally brewed New Belgium Mighty Arrow IPA.





I was pretty exhausted (and a little sunburnt) from the long day, so it was right off to bed with me.

I slept in a bit this morning, but not as much as I'd have preferred. I had to take care of some business, the rental of a road bike. With the help of the intarwebz and a lovely front desk attendant named Christina, I found The Bicycle Doctor, a quick cab ride from the hotel. Given the dual challenges of my not having removed and brought along my own pedals (the kind of cleat I have on my shoes is a bit out of fashion these days, except on some types of mountain bike), and most bike shops that do rentals being outside the actual city of Denver (and me without a car), this was my only option, and I'd thought I'd have to rent a hybrid. It worked out that they had just finished building a couple of Legato 3.0 bikes this morning, and they're just about as close as hybrids get to road bikes, narrow tires and all. After raising the seat a bit, one of them was nearly a perfect fit. So I rode the city bus back to my hotel (Denver's buses have those cool bike racks on their fronts, something Ithaca has had for many years and I wish New York City would adopt as well, but that'll likely never happen).

On the recommendation of the Westin's concierge, after wandering the Tabor Center and Larimer Square areas for a little while, I stopped by Osteria Marco for a late lunch. The gnocco frito (fried cheese crisps) were light and rich, and the Classic Italian panini (sopressata, salami, peperonata, and robiola) was outstanding. A mellow Montepulciano accompanied them brilliantly. I also got through another chunk of "Limitations," the Scott Turow novel. On the way back I picked up a small piece of Oreo fudge from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and a Chai latte from the Starbucks in the Westin's lobby.

It snowed a bit during the day, but more to the point it started getting rather cold and windy. A few of the other Cornellians in town and I had seriously contemplated a trip via light rail out to the Denver University campus to watch a Denver vs. Quinnipiac men's lacrosse game at 7:30, but I decided tonight wasn't a good night for sitting outdoors. If it had been Cornell in a playoff game or something, that would be another matter, but with tomorrow's bike ride, I didn't really feel like risking my health. Instead I took it easy in the hotel, and wandered up the 16th Street Mall for dinner when the time came.

The 16th Street Mall is a pedestrian commercial district, much like the Ithaca Commons, but a great deal longer and apparently somewhat more successful in meeting its aims. All lit up:



Upon my check-in yesterday, the man at the front desk had recommended Rock Bottom Brewery to me for local flavor, but when I arrived tonight there was a considerable wait. So I wandered a little further, and on a side street I found Los Cabos II, a Peruvian restaurant of some local repute. The mixed seafood ceviche special I had was extraordinary, and just the right level of spicy/piquant for my taste (and for my stomach, which at this point in my life gets picky about such things after a certain hour of the day). The stew-style beef main course I had was decent enough, though a little disappointing given that I'd hoped to have pollo a la brasa (one of my favorite foods since I discovered Flor de Mayo in my old neighborhood seven years ago), but their rotisserie machine was on the fritz. I finished "Limitations" at about the same time I finished dinner; it's a nice, light read, with some fun twists, but not up to Turow's highest standards.

I'm going to try to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, because Alicia from TNT is picking me up at 8am. I hope it's a little warmer tomorrow morning than they expect it to be... I brought my cold weather riding gear with me, but it's only effective to a point. Between the cold and the altitude, I really hope I don't embarrass myself and the New York City TNT chapter on the ride!

If you've been living under a rock somewhere, or perhaps you've just joined our program already in progress, you might not know that a few weeks ago, after training for several months, I rode my bicycle 109 miles in one day. The event was El Tour de Tucson, and I did it to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Those of you who've followed my Tucson journal (tucsonorbust) already have the full scoop on how it went; those of you who haven't are invited to read it as well, and check out the fun photos.

But the main thing is, the time for raising money is coming to a close. As of midnight this Friday, December 14, I can no longer accept donations online or by check. Friends, family, and colleagues have already donated the incredible sum of $14,760. But I don't want to stop until I have to, because every dollar counts, and every dollar helps real people fighting blood cancers, like my Mom, my friend Christine's dad, my friend Lindsey, and hundreds of thousands of others. I would love to reach $15,000 before pulling the shades on my first Team in Training event... so I will make this offer:

The person whose donation puts me over $15,000 gets one of my legendary, award-winning, got-me-on-TV-by-giving-Toni-Senecal-an-orgasm, make-my-southern-friends-weep, home-baked pecan pies.

I hope you'll give anyway, even if it's not enough to put me over $15,000 (or even if someone has already put me over $15,000 by the time you give)... it's a great cause, all gifts are tax deductible, and I'll be incredibly grateful for your help.

This page is where you can make a credit card donation or find my address for mailing a check. If you're going to send a check, though, please do it pretty quickly... or if you're local, let me know where I can come pick it up, which I'm happy to do.

Thanks!

...but I really love this photo of me from just after I finished El Tour de Tucson a couple of weeks ago:



My "second" mentor Kurt took it (the full set is available here).

I'm leaving in the morning for Arizona, where on Saturday I will be riding my bicycle 109 miles in El Tour de Tucson to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I've been posting a few times a week in another LJ, tucsonorbust, about my training, fundraising, why I'm doing it, and some of what the LLS does with their money; and I'll be making a couple of final pre-ride posts over there as well.

But over here, I wanted to thank you all for your moral support, your good cheer, your donations, and your frequent messages of encouragement both about my upcoming ride and about Mom's health (which continues to be pretty good). Your support means a lot to me, and it will help carry me over some pretty sizeable hills in that desert on Saturday.

I'll be back Sunday night; in-depth reports on the trip will be found at tucsonorbust should you want to add it to your Friends List at this point.

...I just learned that, due to poor planning and an interruption in the early stages of the data flow on my current project, there will be no work tomorrow. And I only get paid when I'm working. And the weather forecast isn't exactly promising for a bike ride.

Dammit.

My birthday's on a Saturday this year. That already happens seldom enough that I like to take advantage of it. For instance, I was lucky enough to turn 21 on a Saturday, so mhaithaca and I were able to go drinking in Collegetown without worrying about classes the next day. Plus, my parents were able to come up for the weekend to surprise me, and the celebration started with dinner out and a Cornell hockey game (which Cornell won, but it was an exhibition game and I can't remember who the opponent was).

Five years ago, the last time my birthday was on a Saturday, I went out with a couple dozen friends for sangria, tapas, and general debauchery at Xunta in the East Village. A much smaller group of us ended up at Link near Union Square, where the debauchery continued. Since I didn't actually start this journal until several days later, I didn't blog about that evening until it became necessary to provide context for another entry.

Plus, for the second year in a row, my parents will be out of town for my birthday, so there won't be an invitation to dinner and a show or anything like that. There's no spouse or significant other to make plans for the evening as a treat. And, to top it off, my apartment is in shambles, and I love to throw parties just to force myself to clean the place up properly. So this sounds like an ideal opportunity.

So what's the catch? Well, if you've been following my other blog, tucsonorbust, you know that I'm training pretty hard for a 109-mile bike ride in Tucson on November 17. On November 9, we'll be putting our bikes on a truck for the trip to Arizona. So our last serious training ride - likely to be upwards of 80 or 90 miles - is going to be on November 3.

The day I turn 38.

I could wait until the following weekend, when I don't have a training ride (see "truck," above), but I'm planning to spend that in New Haven and Providence with friends, watching Cornell hockey games. And since I won't get to many games this year, I'm reluctant to give that up.

So I still think I want to throw a party on November 3. I'm convinced that I could do all the cleaning, shopping, and preparation during the preceeding few evenings after work. I even think I'll have the energy and stamina for partying as long as I get back from the training ride at a reasonable enough time to nap for a few hours before people are scheduled to arrive (and I can always pick a slightly later start time to give myself a longer nap window). This despite the fact that I didn't make it to someone else's party this past Saturday after a sixty-two mile training ride (though I can forgive myself that, since that party was in Carroll Gardens, a hefty subway ride away, instead of in my own living room).

What do you think? Am I barkers? Raving loony? A few sprockets short of a triple crank? Seriously, I wanna know.

After two weeks in a row of thirteen-hour days here at the firm, I very badly needed a three-day weekend like this one. I started things off early, joining a few high school friends for drinks and dinner in midtown on Friday evening; one even surprised us by showing up at the last minute from Ohio. We had fun reminiscing about stuff that happened more than twenty years ago (ouch!!), and catching up on what we and other classmates were up to; we're now thinking about trying to arrange a larger-scale reunion in a few months.

Saturday, I slept in, then rode my bike about 25 miles. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent at Coney Island celebrating magnetgirl's birthday with her and a bunch of her friends, including our overlap friend coyotegoth. (I assume at least a few other friends of hers at the party are also LJ users, but I haven't seen a post from her about it yet, so I'm not gonna speculate.) I ate Nathan's hotdogs (and creamy garlic fries - SO good), rode the Cyclone and the WonderWheel for the very first time, and just relaxed on the beach with cool people, good food, and a spectacular sunset.

Sunday, I slept in, then rode my bike about 30 miles. I didn't do much else productive Sunday; I had been invited to a BBQ, but it was in the middle of the outer-borough boonies, I wasn't going to know many people there, and I was still tired. So I stuck close to home and just relaxed.

Monday, I slept in, then rode my bike about 50 miles. Then my friend Dave from college and radio came by; he lives in California, but was in town for his sister's wedding. We hung out for several hours, walked around the neighborhood for a while, and he indulged in a couple of New York guilty pleasures, pizza from a real pizzeria and a chocolate-dipped cone from an ice cream truck on the corner.

The weather just could not have been better these last few days... and it's still supposed to be gorgeous for another few days. I wish I had those days off, too! Alas.

On Sunday, my TNT training ride ended in a very nice cookout/picnic on Sandy Hook. Though it didn't really bear mentioning on my Tucson or Bust blog, I wanted to mention here that I seem to have invented a yummy new taste treat.

There we were, snacking from an enormous jar of salted roast cashews, waiting for the various forms of beast to be done cooking. To my left was a huge container of macaroni salad, as-yet unopened; to my right was a bottle of Kraft "HOT" barbecue sauce. My mind whirled.

And then it hit me. In a plastic cup, I mixed two thirds macaroni salad, one third cashews, and less than a tablespoon of "HOT" barbecue sauce. It was creamy, spicy, salty, and crunchy. Contrary to their better judgment, coyotegoth and coach Matt gave it a shot, too, and found it to be irresistably scrumptious.

Yup, it's absolutely disgusting and yummy. I just thought I'd start your day with that. ;-)

One of the convenient things about doing some sort of fundraising event every single year is that it gives me an excuse to update my contacts. If I've "lost" someone (and since I have no shame whatsoever, I ask pretty much everyone I've ever known, unless they ask me not to), I try to track them down.

Last night my e-mail about El Tour de Tucson to someone I hadn't really spoken to in a few years bounced, so I used my usual resources... Facebook, LinkedIn, Google... and discovered that since the last time we spoke, she joined an all-female Depeche Mode tribute band.

Ah, surreal life in the big city.

The CBS "Early Show" is doing a feature tomorrow morning on "Team in Training," the arm of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through which I'm riding El Tour de Tucson. I'm among some marathoners, triathloners, and century riders who've been asked to appear as a group on the Early Show's plaza during the segment, so there is a slim but non-zero chance that I'll be on TV tomorrow. Best odds are between 7:30am and 8:15am.

Yesterday was my first time visiting Sandy Hook, a barrier peninsula extending awkwardly out of Middletown Township, New Jersey into the Atlantic Ocean about twenty miles south of New York City. I met some friends from my El Tour de Tucson training group at the Sea Streak Ferry landing at E. 34th Street at 7:45 in the morning, and I napped in my seat on the ride down.

We met up with a bunch of other Team in Training folks, including some more of my friends, and set out for a ride. It was a beautiful, sunny day with strong headwinds when we biked south and decent tailwinds coming back north. We did two loops of the island, a total of about 21 miles, before taking a break. A small group was just setting out for a third loop, and I certainly felt I had the energy left. But I decided that I would take the noon ferry back rather than wait until the 3pm ferry; I hadn't been sleeping well, and I had plans for the evening, so I hoped to get in another nap first.

On the Sea Streak on the way back up, I decided to enjoy the sun some more by taking in the view from the roof deck, and I'm so glad I did. As we cruised northward, out of the haze some shapes started forming that I had never seen before, and I was moved beyond words.

My flight path into New York has, on occasion, taken me over Manhattan. I have taken the Staten Island Ferry and seen Manhattan from the southern perspective. I have taken the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan and seen it at every angle from sea level.

But before yesterday I had never entered New York Harbor by boat - passing first Coney Island and Seagate - then the entirety of the eastern bank of Staten Island, cruising underneath the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge which connects it to Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn - through the Buttermilk Channel between Red Hook, Brooklyn and Governors Island, formerly Fort Jay, with the Statue of Liberty in the background - and finally cruising up the East River with Brooklyn Heights on one side and South Street Seaport on the other.

It felt massive, uncontrollable, spectacular - beautiful, untamed, untethered, and alive. It felt like home.

I disembarked at E. 34th Street, then biked over to 1st Avenue and up the 54 blocks to my apartment, and the smile never left my face once.

(Regular updates on my training and fundraising for, and reasons behind my participation in, El Tour de Tucson can be found at tucsonorbust, Tucson or Bust.)

Please note that I have started a separate journal for El Tour de Tucson, at tucsonorbust. I would love to have any or all of you add that journal as a friend, in order to follow my training and fundraising for a one-day, 111-mile bike ride in November. If you don't add it, I won't be the least bit offended - but be forewarned, you'll still hear from me about it at least a couple of times when fundraising time comes around. :-)