Next Stop, Death Valley!

Did my last training ride today. For the last few weeks I have been only riding on weekends, which isn't very good for my training. My longest ride so far has been 66 miles. Today I rode about 40 before dropping my bike off at Recycled Cycles for the trip down to Death Valley.

After riding 66 miles, my ass felt like it was going to fall off. My legs felt like they weighed a ton, especially going down stairs. I don't know why this is.

I have learned a few things doing this:

1. July and August are the only good riding months in Seattle. Oh, I know, you can ride year-round. But you spend a lot of time going back and forth between hot and cold. I will need to get over this if I'm going to keep it up after Death Valley.

2. Fundraising is not easy. People don't easily part with their hard-earned money. It does seem that every time you turn around someone is asking for money for something. You just have to hope that your cause means something to them. I also wasn't prepare for the emotional roller-coaster ride that it can take you on.

3. I am truly blessed. I've got a great family and am blessed with great health.

4. Diabetes sucks. Having seen what folks suffer through I really do hope we find a cure for this disease.

Hopefully, I'll learn a few more things along the road in Death Valley and after. If you haven't donated yet, just go to https://ride.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.donate and enter my name.

Thanks for keeping tabs and check back some time after October 21st to see how I did.