Intro

So I decided to start this blog.  I have always been an avid cyclist, and decided that I needed a new outlet for my hobby.  A little background first though.
I was born in Bar Harbor, Maine.  My mother was also an avid cyclist and rode the park loop trail in Acadia National Park through all of her growing up and childhood.  She rode while she was pregnant with me, all the way through her third trimester and the doctor told her she had to stop because she was too far along and it would be too dangerous to continue.  We moved off the island when I was two years old, and bounced around a few places in Waldo County until we transplanted ourselves to a nice 65 acre chunk of land in Northport, Maine.  We lived there for 12 years and it is where I did most of my growing up.  Northport is a little town, so small that if you drove through it, you probably wouldn't even know it was there.  But if you stopped and explored the area, it is filled with some nice places and scenery.  It is right next to the ocean, and there is a lot of wild land there.  I went from being an island girl, to a country girl.  I learned how to ride a bike at age 7 without training wheels.  As soon as I was comfortable riding without falling I was soon given a perimeter in which I had the freedom of biking anywhere as long as I stayed within that perimeter. I had many wonderful adventures, and as I grew older my perimeter expanded with it.  I left home at 17 and finished high school in the near-by town in Belfast on my own.  Belfast became my new home, my little city by the sea.  When I turned 18 I bought a brand new specialized rock hopper, I had spent over $800 on my new bike and all the gear and accessories to go with it.  I loved this bike, and it got me through good times and bad times.  I have many fond memories of being chased by cops at night because we had no lights, we always managed to out run them.  I used my bike for transportation to get around my little city and for fun.  Some of our trail rides were so ridiculous.  I always rode with boys because they were the only ones interested in biking.  We would end up muddy and bloody on these trails where we would end up carrying our bikes more than riding them.
When I turned 19, I had fallen in love and moved with my new boyfriend to Ithaca, New York where we lived happily while he went to school and I worked.  We ended up breaking up and I had to move closer into the city.  City transit in Ithaca is pretty good, but supplementing it with biking was a great idea.  I ended up using my bike more and more in the city to the point where I was riding year round through all kinds of really crappy weather hauling groceries, big army duffels of laundry to take the laundry mat, and all kinds of things.  I had started another relationship with a guy who also rode for transportation, but for fun trail rides too.  Some of our trail rides were so very dangerous I wonder how I ever did that! I learned so many things from him and his friends.  I was proud that I could not only keep up but be in the middle of our pack, except up big hills.   Ithaca is filled with gorges, with rocky drop offs into rushing water.  They even have a bumper sticker that says "Ithaca is Gorges."  We would bike and hike our bikes up some of these trails with our bikes over our shoulders just so we could ride down!
I can't tell you how strictly I follow the laws of the road, and yet people in cars don't treat you like you do.  I have almost gotten killed so many times it amazes me.  People would try to make a red light, and ended up running it anyway. I learned real fast to make sure ALL traffic comes to a complete stop before crossing the other way!  I have ridden in a city with city traffic long enough to know how to command a lane to change for turns without getting cut off or killed.  I got really good at riding no hands, I just have this amazing balance.  Maybe my good balance comes from living on a sailboat the first year of my life and learning to walk on the boat before I learned to walk on land, I don't know!  I got so good at riding no hands that I could hold a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich in one hand while talking on a cell phone in the other, making turns on streets to get to where I was going.  If that isn't mult-tasking, I don't know what is! My little rock hopper got destroyed in a biking accident I had going down a big hill.  I learned to tuck and roll, and only ended up with three stitches in my head.  Luckily the universe had provided me with a used trek mountain track 820, it became my second love, it was a great bike, but too many winters with road salt and too much curb jumping and rock hopping and letting it sit in a garage for many years degraded it beyond reasonable repair.
Anyway, I lived in Ithaca for about six years and ended up moving back home to my little city in 2004.  I stopped riding and ended up in a bad relationship for six years.  I had started smoking cigarettes when I was 19, I decided to quit and did so three years ago.  I ended my bad relationship last winter.  Over the course of those six years I gained 40 pounds of what I call "worry weight."  I had started a new job the year before I ended my relationship and made some really great friends, they have helped me through so many things!  One of my new friends kept asking me if I would do the Trek Across Maine with her.  I desperately wanted to, and had started working out at the gym to get that worry weight off.  Tax season came around and I lucked out with some big tax cuts from being un-employed the year before.  I was so excited to have the funds to buy a new bike and all the gear I needed to ride the Trek.  The Trek Across Maine is a 180 mile ride over the course of 3 days and it supports the American Lung Association.  Each rider has to raise $500 to ride.  So we trained at the gym, we trained on bikes, and we fundraised.  We did the trek and it was the most amazing weekend I have ever had.  It is a fully supported ride, we didn't have to worry about meals, or food, snacks, or anything.  Our camping gear and luggage were carried in support trucks and dropped off at each site each night.  I was part of our Athenahealth team, and on the second day we have what's called Team Tent City, complete with kegs of beer and bbq food!  There were about 2,000 other riders and all weekend you meet some of the most interesting people and see the most interesting things.  Children threw flowers in front of our bikes when we were riding into the finish line at one of our sites just like they used to do for soldiers going off for battle.  People would sit on their lawns and porches and cheered at everyone riding by.  One person put out a tent with donuts so as you're riding you can grab one, then they had a sprinkler set up right after the tent.  There were some kids that had hoses to spray overheated riders down when we were riding past them.  Overall it was the most amazing experience I ever had.  I am doing the trek again this year and have been doing lots of biking.  Almost all of my extra weight is gone, and it continues to shrink as I continue training.
Everyone has a story for why they ride the Trek Across Maine.  I ride for my grandmother who was my hero.  She didn't die of lung cancer, but she did die of breast cancer.  She smoked cigarettes most of her life.  I watched her die a slow painful death that lasted 6 months, I was heart broken.  Even though time passes, I still miss her like it happened just yesterday.  The American Lung Association does a lot with smoking cessation programs not just lung cancer research and the Clean Air Act of Maine.  I am proud of everyone that I know that quits smoking, it's not easy and takes a tremendous amount of will power to change.  I spread awareness with my biking and fundraising.
I decided to start this blog because I wanted a place to share my experiences and post pictures and maps of my routes.  Many people have invested money to support me in my rides for the Trek Across Maine and I felt that even though I am giving so much of myself  already with the wear and tear on my body and the work and effort to raise the funds, that it is in my nature to give just a little bit more.


I still haven't raised all $500 of my funds, if you would like to support me in my effort you can do so by following this link: My personal page for the ALA