The Final Countdown

Three weeks to go to my greatest physical challenge ever. The AIDS/Lifecycle ride (not too late to donate, btw). I’m cycling 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise money for AIDS-related charities and services. It’s gonna be difficult but lots of fun. I’m still trying to finalize my travel arrangements. I’ve already booked an Amtrak ticket up to the ride start. I have to take a bus then a train then another bus but it’s only $54 so it beats a one-way plane fare. I have to be there two days early for registration and orientation so I have a hotel arranged. I wish I could find somebody to split that part but no luck so far. I still need to call a company to get my bike shipped up to the start at the Cow Palace. I’m going to be out $300 before I even get rolling. I haven’t ridden nearly as much as I needed to but I’ll be fine as long as I pace myself and stay hydrated.

There’s a ton of sh*t I have to pack and I still need to buy a sleeping bag since we sleep two to a tent each night. Next week I’m switching cell phones because we have another with extra batteries. I won’t have access to electricity on the route and I’m sure work will have at least one disaster they can’t handle themselves. I’m still up in the air about whether I want to get a Garmin Edge 305. It’s a bike computer that tracks mileage, speed, hear rate, calories burned and has a GPS built in. The problem is it only holds a charge for 12 hours so I’ll need some sort of battery operated charger to go with it.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks at work getting things done before I take off. I’m hoping they won’t have to call me for anything but not counting on it. I have to finish up some disaster recovery documents at work in case anything goes wrong with the website or email. I’ve also got to finish upgrading all the clients to Windows XP since the next version of our CRM software requires that.

On a positive note my sweetheart Belle is now officially an award-winning journalist. She brought home some several pieces of hardware from the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists awards banquet. I am very proud of her.