Day 0 – How it all began.

Early last year my beautiful and brilliant wife (her one flaw is she married me) suggested I look into attending law school as I was so fascinated with it. Law was something I was quite interested in, so I took the suggestion to heart and began the process of preparing to attend school beginning fall 2008. Gary Friedman, a friend, former-boss, and mentor, heard of my plans to attend school and that I was going to be quitting my job during the summer of 2008. He had been looking into doing a bike ride across America during that time frame and, as my schedule would coincide, he ever so graciously asked if I would be interested in riding it with him.

Gary and I had done a lot of riding together while I lived in Texas, and we had done RAGBRAI (a bike ride across Iowa) together as well. In addition, Gary and I had spent a lot of time together over the last 5 years (riding, shooting hoops, working occasionally, and magically making Shiner disappear) but since my move to Portland I had not really been able to spend much time with him. Thus the chance to do the ride and hang out with him for a few weeks was very appealing.

As many of you know, riding cross country is something most cyclists dream about. It’s a sick fascination that just goes with the sport. Therefore, with the full support of Christina, my self sacrificing wife, I accepted the invite. And that is how this ride began for me. Now all I had to do was train and then ride across 3,500 miles of American soil. No problem…..

My training consisted mostly of riding the roads of Oregon on a gift from Christina; a 2006 Trek Madone 5.2. According to her, it was the new love of my life. And I must say, she is quite beautiful. Not as beautiful as you Christina, but still damn pretty.

Training in Oregon was something I was neither ready for nor could have hoped for. The hills out here are quite different from the riding I was used to in Texas, and the scenery is breath taking. I could describe the views as a continuous series of Kodak moments, but it wouldn’t do it justice. Climbing up a couple thousand feet to see lush greenery spread out on your left, with a stream winding through it, and snow covered peaks silhouetted in the distance on the right is something I pray everyone gets to behold at some point in their life. Words fail miserably here so I’ll cease in making the attempt; we’ll just leave it at awe inspiring.

The climbing out here is something that I found myself hating and loving at various points (loving after I’d climbed it, hating it during.) However, though my overall mileage was low compared to many riders, the climbing I did do got my cardio and legs into fairly good shape. After a few months of riding with Martin and Dave (two buddies I met in Oregon who introduced me to the pains of Bald Peak and numerous other climbs) I found myself starting to really enjoy climbing and riding in Oregon back country. It’s hard not to fall in love with a sport in an area where you can go for a ride and in a matter of minutes be outside the city, surrounded by lush vegetation, mountains, a population that respects bikers on the road, and get a great cardio workout in a matter of minutes. I sure will miss this place come August.

Before I knew it, June is now here and the ride is about to begin. Gary is driving out to Portland with the man who will be our support driver on this crazy adventure; the infamous Larry Hart. Larry is a cyclist himself, has an eye for detail, and the ability to fix almost anything. To have him for a support driver is going to be amazing. Larry will be supporting us for the first couple of weeks after which he will be handing off the reigns to a long time friend of Gary’s, Bob Loch. Larry will then taking the reigns back for our final week of riding. Bob Loch is also an avid cyclist who has traveled to Texas on numerous occasions to ride the Hotter than Hell Hundred with us. (HHH is a century ride out of Wichita Falls, TX during August when the temperature outside is, well, hotter than hell.) To have two guys like Larry and Bob doing support during the ride, both who are avid bikers and understand what a long ride entails and the destruction it can do to your body, bike, and motivation, is a rare gift. This ride would definitely not be possible without them.

Well, I had better sign off as Larry and Gary are set to arrive tomorrow. I hope all is well with everyone.