Yesterday I rode my bike in a parade for the Shriners, to which I am a member. We raise money for the Shriners hospital that treats sick kids.
So I was doing double duty for the kids and riding under both campaigns!
My back has been pretty bad lately but I will get these miles finished!
From Lower Armstrong trail
Today was a nice treat!
It started off with some misting leftover rain but it cleared and made for a nice day.
What made it even nicer was to have one of my sponsors and friend come join me for the ride!
Owen of Owen and Jen, who faithfully donate every year, rode the 20 miles with me today. Maybe this weekend I can convince him to do 50 miles!
Well it's been a solid week of rain or rain predictions.
After last year's broken ribs incident I just can't take the chance of taking another major spill.
GCC has extended the time frame again to allow us old folks to finish.
I have plans to go out tomorrow and grab some miles. I will hopefully finish this weekend!
Thanks again for all of your support, not only for the kids, but for me as well.
I just hit $5,000 to fight kids' cancer! Thank you so much for your support.
Today started off with predictions of bad storms.
I thought I wouldn't get my ride in! It turned out that I danced all around those raindrops! They tried to ruin my trip, but they failed!
Now I did have a run in with a bench in Freeport that was wet with paint. Mind you, no sign was on the bench, I saw no one out painting and there was no signs of work nearby. Yet I noticed after I got back on my bike, that I had paint on my calves! I checked and found my new bike shorts, bike seat and the superhero shirt (that I earned with all of your donations), all covered in paint!!
Even that doesn't ruin how I feel about this adventure that I'm on.
Today's picture is a salute to all of my Brothers. This fine group of men do a lot of good for a lot of people and proud to be a Brother to each of them.
The doppler radar showed me riding directly in to a storm this morning. Luckily that did not happen.
It was a little muddy because of the storm that I barely missed but I "muddled" through.
I stopped for lunch at Fox's Pizza in Kittaning and managed to put 40 miles on the Ole Silver Bullet.
The highlight of the day today was coming across what looked like a bear cave! Good thing my legs are strong and my Ole Silver Bullet is quick and in good shape, just in case.. ya know?! ;)
It’s hump day! As soon as I got to the trail it was spitting rain on me. I was hoping that I could get most of the ride in without getting soaked, luckily it stopped pretty quickly.
It was a beautiful day to ride, comfortable temperature that lasted until the last 7 miles when the humidity kicked up and the misty rain moved in. Still a comfortable day on the bike.
I like to take pictures of the unique things that I see along the way, just like when I hiked the Appalachian Trail, not wanting to always just take the same old boring photos. I thought that today’s photo was quite interesting and cute and wanted to make sure that I captured that for you all! This was in between Ford City and Kittanning along the Armstrong Trail.
Today was really good and I feel like I could ride even more!
I ran across the 1st 110th Army unit doing their drill weekend. A bunch of starry eyed youth in PT gear, brought back great memories of my younger years! Even though the Army came 2nd and I was older than these kids, it was fun to go down memory lane
I rode off feeling strong and young (in my mind at least)
I took 2 days off to deal with our puppy Pepper's health needs. Fortunately, no surgery needed but a long road to recovery for her!
So back on the seat (so to speak) early this morning.
What a gorgeous way to start the day, quiet nature, fog filled trail, nothing like the sound of nature to mend the soul!
I ended at 31 miles today after seeing some really cool sites. I wish I could post more than 1 picture so you could see what I saw, but at least you can try and "feel" this picture.
Today was an uneventful day. I was a tad sore and so I started at the Freeport end of the Butler Freeport Trail.
It wasn't long til I regretted the warming leggins that I had cherished just yesterday.
Came across some wildlife (LoL) pictured here.
Oddly craved a burger after my ride.
Thanks for all of your generosity and contributions to date.
I just raised $2,500 to fight kids' cancer and achieved SUPERHERO LEVEL in the challenge! Thank you so much for your support.
What a beautiful day for a ride, what beautiful scenery and what a beautiful reason to ride, helping others.
I wanted to go a little easier today with little elevation so I headed to the Armstrong Trail and started in Ford City.
Along the way I ran into other people riding for the same reason, casual bikers, the Executive Director of the trail doing some trail checking, a beautiful grey fox and endless other wildlife.
I took a side trail to Buttermilk Falls, where I stopped to think about how blessed I am to be able to do this for the children.
7 miles from the car the wind picked up, forcing me to earn every turn of my pedal. My back was killing me but I finished with some help from above.
As my friend Indy says: Life is Good.
I just raised $2,000 to fight kids' cancer and achieved LEGEND LEVEL in the challenge! Thank you so much for your support.
I received this email this evening and thought I should share it.
This morning was chilly, yet beautiful. Starting to increase my mileage. Tomorrow should be a 40+ mile day. See if the weather holds out.
I just raised $1,000 to fight kids' cancer and achieved WARRIOR LEVEL in the challenge! Thank you so much for your support.
I just raised $500 to fight kids' cancer and achieved GUARDIAN LEVEL in the challenge! Thank you so much for your support.
I just raised $250 to fight kids' cancer and achieved PROTECTOR LEVEL in the challenge! Thank you so much for your support.
I just raised $100 to fight kids' cancer and achieved DEFENDER LEVEL in the challenge! Thank you so much for your support.
Hello Everyone, another year is here and I will be getting in shape to ride in the Great Cycle Challenge this coming September. I hope I can count on everyones support again this year for this great cause.