Trek Across Maine 2012 Complete!

I have been 100% re-cooperated from the 180 mile ride since the Tuesday after the Trek.  It was really an amazing weekend overall.  I am so proud of our team and all of our accomplishments!  We continue to grow our team each year, and have gathered interest among the other major riders for the Trek.  Team Tent City was again a hit.  Our CEO Jonathan Bush joined us for this years ride, and was waving at our corporate jet as it circled over Tent City at Colby College on Saturday.  We rode with familiar faces and many that were new.  Our team is so very large it was a bit difficult to get to know everyone on it!  I saw triumphant faces as our team members rode into our staging area so we could cross over the finish line all together.  And together we did, not a single team member was left out!
I decided that after last years trek and my lack of activity post ride that I really needed to ramp up my gym time and keep cycling all the way through as long as possible into our fall season, and get out as early as February again to start training.
I met a very interesting 50 something-year-old guy who had a very beautiful jersey, and of course I couldn't help but comment on it.  He said it was from a 600 mile ride he did in May the month before during National EMS week that goes from Boston, MA to Washington D.C.  I plan on attending, but we will see!
It being my second year riding a mountain bike, I decided to finally plan to buy a road bike.  While I love my mountain bike, it proves challenging hauling 35-40 pounds of bike up and down mountains and inclines on long distant rides.  If I am to do the 6 centuries (600 miles) this coming Spring, I better pick out a new ride.  Other highlights from our beautiful ride this year:  no mountain due to construction (I will be well prepared for it next year), the guy with a blender bike, yes that's right, a blender that is hooked into his rear tire and makes drinks as he rides!  The guy with a radio on his bike who rode past me playing one of my favorite Beastie Boys songs Body Movin'!  Team Tent City of course was our major highlight as well!
I know a lot of you were looking for my gps connection to see where I was, I apologize that I did not run it.  I was so excited that I would forget to turn it on in the morning, plus, facebook no longer allows the j.mp shortened URL that cyclemeter uses to post maps to facebook!  Cyclemeter is winning awards with it's fabulous app, I hope that changes the way it posts to facebook to make it automatic again.  So I am providing this years' route map below, it shows each rest stop for each day etc.:

And some other photos from this years Trek:

 Our Team at the staging area for crossing the finish line

 The Belfast Commons where everyone just tosses their bikes so they can eat!

 Me on the first day at the starting line

 Potato at the finish line in Farmington, I'd never been so happy to see a potato!

 The Field house at Colby College day 2

The finish line bike parking at Colby College

Needless to say, I look forward to continuing cycling and lots of gym time throughout the year, and cross country skiing in the winter.  For anyone interested in riding for National EMS week here is the link for that:
www.muddyangels.com

Again, I want to thank everyone for their donations, support and encouragement, for without you it would not be possible!  So thank you all!!

I hope to keep blogging throughout the year to share my experiences.  Maybe it will inspire some to start training, maybe it will give people ideas for new places to go, who knows.  I bike, I ride, I blog!  Live free, RIDE HARD!!!

T-Minus 4 Days and Counting!

This Thursday is it!  We depart for the Trek Across Maine!  I have every piece in motion.  I have someone to watch my house while I am gone.  All my gear is on it's way to arrive via shipments.  I have gathered a much useful packing list, as I am absolutely notorious for forgetting the most important of the little things.
I am nervous yet excited.  Having done it once already at least I know what to expect.  I am better prepared than I was last year in every way. 
Memorial day we had decided on a 60 mile ride:
 
View Larger Map

 This was quite a ride!  The morning started out misty, wet and cool.  We were all very damp, and sweating.  I saw a chicken in the middle of crossing the road and yelled at it asking why it was crossing the road, of course it freaked out and went back to whence it came, it did not answer the age old question of why the chicken crossed the road!  The route took us out on 137 which goes through cow country.  We all almost vomited riding by the dairy farms in Thorndike.  I yelled to my companions: "Shouldn't the Clean Air Act of Maine cover dairy farms too!?"
They all thought that was funny.  Although on a serious note, dairy farms and cows do tend to omit a lot of methane and it does contribute to green house gasses.  Why can't they harness the power of methane from cows really?  I know methane is highly volatile and everything, but you'd think there would be some way to make that happen!  Anyway, we continued on and ended up riding through Freedom, Maine, a sleepy little farming town. We came across the cutest mini horse I had ever seen with a fresh cut mohawk, we just had to stop and say high.  We ended up on the North Palermo road, which is bumpy as hell, it would have been a road bikers nightmare!  We ended up coming out on route 3 right behind one of my favorite little stores on that road, Tobey's Market.  Route three was is fairly poor condition and one of our companions blew a tire and none of us had means to fix it on the spot.  This was a fully un-supported ride!  At one of our stops on the last 5 miles of the ride I discovered a honey bee hanging out on my camelbak lapping up my camel pack cocktail.  When we pulled into athenahealth where we had parked, I discovered she was still on my saddle pack. 
The new gear I got for this year is a super warm sleeping bag from LL Bean, ensuring I will NOT go cold like I did last year.  I got an awesome new backpacking tent from mountain hardwear, it is super light weight and very rain proof and is a three season.  I have a new battery pack for my cellphone, so I do not have to worry as much of where I am going to charge my phone ensuring that I can run my cycle meter while I am riding all three days.  I have ordered a beautiful new rain proof cycling jacket in hot pink ensuring good visibility for drivers.  I added a mirror for my bike so I don't have to turn my eyes away from my path to look behind me and some additional cycling clothing to supplement what I didn't have last year.
Next year, I do plan on getting a nice road bike hopefully built from carbon, then I will be able to go farther in shorter time with greater ease!  
So, I hope to be blogging along through the trek at the end of our days, be looking for fun pictures etc!