Below are my posts from the 2011 ride.

Posts below here are from the 2011 ride. I used Twitter for the posts for 2013. You can see those above.

Don't forget to donate to PPRAC XIX!

Grand Total

I received my list of all donors, including those who mailed in their donations. The grand total that my friends and family contributed to the American Cancer Society and Dream Come True is... are you ready? FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! You are AWESOME! Thank you so much for your support. For every mile I pedaled, you gave $8. Amazing.

Slide Show is ready!

Hey everyone, I made a little slide show of the trip. I used my own pictures, and I borrowed many from other riders' postings on Facebook. I sure hope they don't mind. (If I took one of yours and you want me to remove it, let me know and I'll take care of it right away.)

It's full of my extremely witty comments, so it's almost like a full-blown mutimedia event. This is way better than a slide projector and a bedsheet! (Little homage to the Veggie Tales there)

There is a link to it on the right, or it's right here 

Route maps posted

For those of you so inclined, I have added a list of links to the route maps for each day. Day 1 is broken up because I got a couple of rides in the mechanic's truck and the sag wagon. I missed a total of 10 miles or so. The rest of the links go to the Garmin website. Check out some of the crazy numbers in there. In particular, look at the splits. There are insane sections in there!

Saturday - Annville to Palmerton

The final leg of the journey! We wake up and it is overcast. Hurray!

We set out, Kelly and I have picked up two more accomplices: Joe and Sandy. We ride with them for a while, I get to talk to Sandy for several miles, then I decided to go catch up to Kelly, The first ten miles were lots of fun. Nice rolling hills where the downhill momentum could take you most of the way up the next one. Beautiful countryside - and then the climb up Blue Mountain! That was a tough climb, but mercifully short. There was much rejoicing at the top.

We got to ride through Orwigsburg, near my old stomping grounds at PSU Schuylkill Campus. Lunch was at the Lions Club park in Orwigsburg. We took our time and enjoyed it. Then we set out on the home stretch!

And then the rain started. And continued. And continued some more. The last 15 - 20 miles was in the pouring rain, over some very rough (chipped and oiled) roads, and there were some tough, short climbs into Palmerton. But we made it! Riding down the main street in Palmerton was surreal. Kelly and I along with Dean went side by side, taking up the whole lane. We passed a porch crammed full of Dean's family who were screaming for him and waving "Way to go Daddy!" signs. It was awesome.

And then the final turn to the Trinity Lutheran Church - everyone started cheering. I zipped up my jersey and passed the church Tour de France style, arms raised, fists pumping! Wow. Turned the corner, dismounted the bike, and came extremely close to passing out. I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly I became light-headed and all tinglely. I almost fell over before I got to a step to sit down. Our fearless leader, Bob Freed asked me if I was okay, and I said no. So our head support angel, Kathy Freed, took care of me. She found a blanket for me, which I later learned was a table cloth they had removed from a table! Eventually, they moved me inside out of the rain, and let my soaking-wet self sit in a pew. Tony's wife, who I only know as the nurse - Mrs. Cerrone, watched over me, got me a banana, some birch beer, and checked me over. Another woman checked on me a lot too, but sadly I do not know who this angel was. Eventually I started to recover, got a shower, and enjoyed the welcome home ceremony. What a day!

one more thing

We learned tonight that 2011 raised $181,000!!! I am proud to have been a part of that and thank you to all of my donors!

almost home

No, not the cookies from the 80's. (Majestic interlude) Day 5 is behind us! But first, day 4.

Thursday-Cumberland to Hanover, PA.

This was a "recovery day." We only rode 73 miles, and it wasn't all hills. We actually had long flat stretches. And finally having figured out how to eat properly, I felt great. It was wonderfully overcast so riding was a joy. But we did see "Mount Misery Road." Thankfully our route did not include that particular street.

What else can I say? My cycling buddy, Kelly was not having as much fun as I was. She prefers smoking me on the long climbs. Without those, she couldn't make me look like a fool.

Speaking of looking like a fool, I took care of that on my own. I am following Kelly when I hear "on your left." I drift right a bit, and somehow end up with my wheel right next to Kelly's back wheel. I tense up and try to stay straight. But I bump into her wheel, and almost crash! As I am going down and am thinking about how much this is going to hurt, I miraculously get my left foot unclipped. I get my foot to the ground and slide it along the pavement while braking to a stop. Kelly felt the hit, but fortunately was not put in danger. My guardian angel was on the ball!

I got to eat ice cream!

Friday-Hanover to Annville,PA

Back to a normal day-85 miles with 6000 ft of climbing. And welcome back heat! But I made it without incident. Unfortunately for me, Kelly was back to smokin me on the climbs. It was tough, but I felt pretty good.

We pulled into Lebannon Valley College arround 3.I had a beer in the truck. Then we had a great dinner provided and donated by the school. After dinner, lots of thanks from the american cancer society and great stories from the road. Then a nice chat with old friends who had exciting news, now the posting.

When I get some time to digest all of this, I will reflect on the whole experience and expound.

Day 3 is in the bag!

Hi there everyone! Some technical difficulties prevented me from posting, and from my location being automatically updating. I know you've been worried.

So three days and about 275 miles of the PPRAC are behind me! It has been quite the challenge. Here is the recap:

Monday-Elkins to Morgantown,WV It was awesome to have my family send me off! Tracy met and thanked our new friend Deena for watching out for me. I cockily said that I hoped not to see her again until the end of the day, since she rode in the trailling vehicle. (Foreshadowing) But after that, well, things did not go smoothly. First, I got on the road as early as I planned.I headed out with the last people, who also happen to be the fastest. I hung with them while we left town, then was promptly dropped. No biggie, I rode alone. I was humming along, and finally started catching up to people. Then about five miles from lunch, I attempted to adjust a cadence sensor with my foot.while I was moving. Yup, I pushed it into the spokes. The wheel was irreparable. So now I have new wheel. They fixed it during lunch, so I got out late once again... And immediately took a wrong turn. I figured that out 2 miles later. I turned around and passed the lunch spot and saw that I was now dead last. I rode on. About half an hour later, on a hot, bumpy steep climb, I realized I'd eaten too much for lunch and it felt like a brick in my belly. I stopped and walked, and guess who finds me within seconds-Deena! Yup, I got SAG'd. They shuttled me forward to the 12 mile remaining point, and I rode the rest of the way.

Oh yeah, my gps battery went dead, my internet access wouldn't work.

And I got stuck in an elevator.

Tuesday-Morgantown to Cumberland,MD
No real stories for this day. I rode 95 miles, and went two speeds: 40 mph or 4. Up and down, then up, then down.

The route took us into PA and then to MD.

I ate less for lunch, but still too much. On a very long climb in full sun, I almost gave up. I started talking to my mom and dad, asking for help. 5 seconds later, a cool tailwind came up and made me feel better. Hmmmm. It's a nice thought.

I got stung by a bee.

So I kept going. It was TOUGH! Finally I got to the top of a climb and someone had written in chalk "ready for a nine mile descent?" It was awesome and took me to the finish. Wow.

Wednesday-Cumberland to Hagerstown,MD

Interestingly, today's route took us from MD to WV and back to MD! We crossed the Potomac twice.

We woke up and it was raining. It rained most of the day. But I realized that I'll take the rain over the heat. I felt great! 90 miles today were no problem. There was climbing but not like yesterday. Nothing really bad today. Just very wet. We're staying in a church, and there are two showers for 73 riders. We had to sign a list and wait our turns. Fortunately, I got in relatively early, so I didn't wait long.

So now I am clean and I realize that no one is around. Where is everyone... The beer truck! I had time to enjoy 1 or 2 before dinner. Very nice!

So that's it for today. I hope you have enjoyed catching up.

Tomorrow is the day!

Tomorrow I start the journey! I get to spend one more night with my family and actually sleep in a real bed. I am really psyched to start riding! Thanks to everyone who supported me, and please check back often to follow me and read about the trip.

Wow, this is scary

Okay, this is getting scary. I just added the PPRAC Twitter feed to the bottom of my blog. That's right, I just used the words "blog" and "Twitter" in the same sentence, and it was not in the vicinity of "I don't get this <fill in term> stuff."

Welcome aboard!

Well shut my mouth and call me mute! Here I am blogging. Me. The guy who would hand-write a term paper is blogging. From a blackberry no less. Armagedon can't be far off.

So this blog is to track me on the PPRAC. So check out the map and think about me and the mountains. And the people we've all lost to cancer. If you knew my mother, remember her for me. If you didn't, call you own mom and tell her you love her. If you've lost your mother, I am sorry, and I can relate. Call your dad if he's still with us.

Anyway, I will post comments about the day's ride, and most interestingly, the food I get to eat!

Come back on July 31!