154 days and $2735 to go!

I haven't been able to do too much training this week but I have been working on my back exercises and I did get in a fun 45 miles around Cincinnati with my brother, Jim, on Saturday.

I have two issues affecting my training that I am still trying to get a handle on. My periodic back problems which seem to interrupt my training at the most inconvenient times and leg cramps. First the back. I went to physical therapy on Monday. I told the therapist that I just wanted to figure out what to do so that I could keep training without worrying about being periodically "side-lined" by back problems. He gave me a series of exercises for my abdominals and lower back muscles and stretches which target my hip muscles. Hopefully, this will do the trick. We'll see.

My dear friend Miranda, who is training for an Iron Man, left some powder in a bag on my desk at work with a label reading "For Louie". This got more than a few chuckles from my colleagues and a quizzical email or two since I was not in Florida this past week. After the Corporate Run I had discussed my leg cramping with Miranda and she helpfully suggested this training and racing preparation (the powder) that she was trying in preparation for her big race. She offered to let me try some of this "magic powder". So, there you have it - a bag of powder appeared on my desk. Thanks, Miranda!

Now to the fun stuff! Whenever I get to Cincinnati to visit my family, I try to get in a bicycle ride with my brother, Jim. He picks great routes around the city and in the surrounding areas. This time, he mapped out a tour of the best overlooks around Cincinnati. It was, of course, a great "hill" workout. Not sure I was fully ready for it since it's been a while since I have ridden hills. But, I worked it out and managed to handle each hill, although I had to shift into "low low" toward the end of the ride. And my butt was definitely dragging going up that last hill. Our first stop was Eden Park on the east side of town where we also checked out an outdoor art exhibit. Our next stop was Mt. Adams where we got a cup of coffee to break the morning chill and enjoyed a beautiful view of the Ohio River. A harrowing ride down a winding road found us in downtown Cincinnati where we visited the huge display of pansies at fountain square and stopped at "Lytle Park" which is named after William Lytle, a Cincinnatian and a Civil War General who was killed that the battle of Chickamauga. He was also a noted poet of his time whose death was mourned in both the North and the South.

We then crossed the River and rode around Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, looking for a view - which we never found. Our most memorable view of the city was from Devou Park (see the photo), which is also on the Kentucky side, but at the other end of the city. Recrossing the river, we rode up to Mt. Echo on the west side of town for our final view of the Ohio River. After lunch at Findlay Market we rode up to Fairview Park, the final overlook on our tour. All in all, a very enjoyable ride on beautiful day!

Taking shelter in Harrison's tomb

Yesterday, I joined my brother and some of his friends on his 100 mile bicycle "Le Tour de Hamilton County". Much of the charm of these long distance rides is in dealing with the unexpected, like getting lost (which we do at least once in every ride) or dodging thunderstorms. The weather around Cincinnati yesterday was characterized as "isolated violent thunderstorms". Ok, sounds interesting. Intrepid bicyclers that we were, we decided to go for it anyway.

Our first downpour hit at around 25 miles and was very quick, just enough to get us thoroughly soaked in time for breakfast. For the next 50 miles or so, the weather was ideal. We thought, mistakenly, that we had pretty much dodged the thunderstorms for the day. Not so...

We were about 80 miles into the ride near North Bend, Ohio, when it hit. The sky darkened quickly and shortly after that the rain began to pour. The tough thing about rain like that, besides the fact that it makes the road rather slippery, is that it reduces visibility for those of us who wear glasses. Anyway, when the lightning started hitting a little too close, we took shelter on the side of the road. As the rain continued to pour, making us ever more cold, wet, and somewhat miserable, we noticed that about 200 yards up the road was the tomb of William Henry Harrison (9th president of the United States). Harrison has the dubious distinction of being the president to have served the shortest term in office - 32 days. He died after contracting pneumonia on his inauguration day. Bummer!

Be that as it may, his tomb now served as an excellent shelter for 3 weary, wet, and cold travellers. Once we were safely inside, I called my daughter to say we were safe and to get an updated weather report to see how much longer we might be delayed. 20-30 minutes later, the sky cleared and we were on our way.


Here are the 3 intrepid travellers after about 103 miles on bicycles. 7 started, 3 finished. All in all, a great day!

Graduation day.

One of the software engineers on my team at Mako Surgical graduated this spring with a PhD. from the University of Miami. Smart guy! Since I was on his committee, I was invited to don the professorial attire and participate in the ceremony. I had a great time. I always get a little choked up over the serious tone and the history that underlies such events. But beneath all that regalia...


Beats the heart of a Triathlete! 'Nuff said! :-)

Bicycling around the town...

Whenever I go to Cincinnati for the weekend to spend time with my family I always check with my brother to see if he wants to go bicycling while I am in town. He always does. So, yesterday, I met him around 1 PM at a neighborhood restaurant and we headed down to the Ohio River. With all the recent rain we have had in the midwest the river is running at about 25-30 feet above "pool" stage. The serpentine wall at the river front only had the topmost step visible above the river level. Normally, there are about 10-15 2 foot steps visible. We rode along Sawyer Point for a short way until we couldn't continue because of the high water level.

Then we headed inland and up a sharp hill (about 300 feet) to the top of Mount Adams. The picture above was taken at the top of Mount Adams. You can see the Ohio River well below us in the background. That was a steep climb and good practice for me leading up to the Wildflower Triathlon. While we were in the area, my brother suggested we stop at the Cincinnati Art Museum. We parked and locked our bikes and walked around for about a half hour. This proves that two sweaty guys out for an afternoon ride can actually absorb a little "culture" along the way.

We continued the ride back to my brother's house covering about 25 to 30 miles and ascending several more challenging hills along the way. The final hill, as usual, is a street called Glenview which is about 250 feet and always ends the days ride. It is my nemesis, although on this day it felt like a good climb. A definite (and necessary) confidence builder for my Wildflower adventure.

Driving the Florida Keys

Sunday morning, my wife and I drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West (about 3 and a half hours), ate lunch in Key West, and drove back to Ft. Lauderdale. Seems a little crazy, but the drive down the Keys is really beautiful and not in the least boring. It's a great way to see southern Florida!

Thanksgiving in the woods

On wednesday my wife and I will be heading south to Hocking Hills for our annual "Thanksgiving" celebration with my family. We rent cabins in a state park from wednesday until sunday and cook turkey in the cabins. We spend time with my mom, my aunt, my brother and sister, and as many of the children and grandchildren who can show. I'll take my bike since my brother and I will probably go for a ride one of the days. This Thanksgiving is tinged with sadness since it is the first one for which my dad, who died in January, will not be joining us. We will celebrate to honor this gracious gentleman whom I am proud to call my dad. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

One surviving image...

Here is the one surviving image from my brother's camera that got trashed on our ride to the Pig Roast. The camera was destroyed when he ran into a dog. This shows us starting our ride from mom's house.

A visit from Spiderman and SpongeBob

Yesterday, as I was working at my computer, I heard voices outside my door. Glancing into the hall, I saw a miniature Spiderman standing at the top of the steps. When I hailed him, he stole quietly down the steps and out of my sight. I approached the top of the steps with anticipation to find SpongeBob standing on the landing at the bottom of the steps.
My daughter had arrived from Cincinnati with our grandsons in tow. They were dressed in their Halloween finest to show off for grandma and grandpa. Thus begins a wonderful weekend visit with two daughters (the oldest and the youngest), son-in-law, and two grandsons. Oh, happy day! :-)

Riding (for) the Pig!

Yesterday my brother and I rode our bikes the 55 or so miles from our mom's house in Cincinnati to my cousin's farm outside Milan Indiana where my brother's company held its annual pig roast. Yes, there is an actual pig and we do roast it. Mighty good eating too for an omnivore like me!
This is the third year my brother and I have bicycled to this event. We don't bicycle home though. Too dark by the time the roast is over. Anyway, the ride started out well. We headed for Cleves, Ohio. The temperature got into the 90's and I came prepared with one bottle of water on my bike frame and another two 1 liter bottles in my saddle bags. If I bring plenty of water and take a sip every few minutes, that seems to keep me well enough hydrated to avoid leg cramps.
Just outside of Cleves, my brother ran afoul of a country dog. The dog "jumped" us as we were pedalling by. He chased after me since I was in front and the closest target. When I pulled away, he doubled back toward my brother and stopped right in front of his bike. My brother tried to put on the brakes but couldn't avoid the dog and ran smack into him. Since the dog was acting pretty aggressively during the chase, my brother prepared for the worst. But I guess the dog got the worst of it because after the collision, he was no where to be found. My brother banged up his knee, elbow and hands but gamely got back on his bike and continued the ride.
We rode along the Ohio River for some distance and arrived at Aurora, Indiana in time for an annual festival and parade of some sort. Listening to the parade announcer, I couldn't help but think of the old Garrison Keillor show about the "News from Lake Woebegone". It was pretty funny stuff. Definitely small town.
My brother picked a great route through some beautiful Indiana farm country. We also found some pretty callenging hills. Shortly after we turned away from the river we turned onto a road called simply "Zion Hill". I'm thinking that sounds kind of ominous, to have a road named not "road" or "court" or "street" but "hill". Well, my lowest "granny" gear was almost not low enough to keep the wheels turning and the bike stable. I kid you not, it was the steepest hill I have ever tried to climb on a bike. Luckily, it was short and I didn't have to walk it. I just bore down on the pedals to keep the wheels turning.
The only place we got lost was in Dillsboro, Indiana. Dillsboro! Lost! There can't be more than half a dozen streets in all of Dillsboro, yet we were unable to find the one street out of that small number which included our route! After riding around and seeing absolutely all of Dillsboro we finally found our street and continued on to our destination.
We arrived at the pig roast after about 6 hours of riding and sight seeing. My cousin and his wife from California showed up at the roast. This was a very pleasant surprise. I think they had a great time and hope they will come next year as well. The party, as usual, was a lot of fun and the food was great!
I had hoped to publish some pictures with this post but my brother broke his camera when he hit that dog. :-(

Saturday Fun!

My brother, Jim, his friend James (in the front), James' friend Jesse, and me (in the back) posed for this picture at my mom's house in Cincinnati before we headed to Oxford, Ohio - about 30 miles away. Our adventure began at about 8AM on saturday. James was chuckling about the backpacks on Jim's and my bikes, until, that is my brother used the tools he was carrying to tighten James' handle bar and I furnished water from the spare bottle I was carrying when the day got really hot. All in good fun! I like to be at least reasonably prepared, and the extra weight is good training on the hills. I'm gonna have to learn to love those hills!
So, we were off! The morning was cool, for a little while at least. After a several mile downhill at the start of the ride, we reached the Little Miami River. We spent the rest of the ride gradually climbing back up out of the valley to return to my brother's house which is not far from my mom's. The country around Cincinnati is lovely. It's very dry right now. Cincinnati is badly in need of several good, soaking rains since they are down about 12 inches from their normal rainfall. After 2-3 hours we stopped at the Cappucino Depot in Millville. Jim started talking to someone who was enjoying the coffee with his wife and daughter. After a short conversation, he discovered that our sister had gone to grade school with this man's brother. Small world!
I got a frozen cappucino and a pound of freshly roasted Ethiopian Yigracheffe. I'm not even going to try to pronounce that! The label says: "One of the world's most distinctive coffees. A fruity winey taste with rich soft toned acidity and light to medium body." I really don't know about that, but I do like the taste. After that short stop, we were on our way to Oxford, and Miami University.
"Uptown" in Oxford, High Street (which IS actually higher than the surrounding area), we found a little sandwich shop to get some lunch. After lunch I had a little snack of "nuts and berries". Trail mix and water are my primary sustenance on these day long rides.
It was a long (about 7 hours) and rather hot day, so I spent much of it, riding or not, continuously sipping water or downing diet pops when we stopped. While riding, I try not to let my mouth get dry. That seems to be a good strategy for staying hydrated since I finished the ride feeling very fresh. No trouble with leg cramps and I felt as fresh climbing the hills as I did when I started.
We finally made it to downtown Hamilton, Ohio a little while after lunch. I realized that even though I lived in Cincinnati for just over 40 years I had never been to downtown Hamilton, at least not that I can remember. It's a nice area and they were setting up for a small concert or carnival so we stopped and got some pop.
Jesse, who had not ridden much for the last month, was starting to drag a little. I could tell he wasn't looking forward to getting back on the bike. A few more miles down the road, he called a friend of his to pick him up and take him and his bike home, or as my brother put it: "He called for an extraction." :-) Well, the way I see it, he covered nearly 50 miles that day. And, my hat's off to anyone who can put forth that effort!
A few more relatively easy hills put us back level with my brother's house and we cruised on in. We got a picture of the 3 amigos to mark the occasion. I can't think of a better way to spend a saturday!

Weekends!

Got cool plans for the next three saturdays. Tomorrow, my brother and I are planning to bicycle around 60 miles from Cincinnati to Oxford, Ohio (home of Miami University) and back. Along the way, we will be stopping in Millville at my favorite coffee shop, the Cappucino Depot. Millville is also the birthplace of Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first baseball commissioner. Of course, whenever I go riding with my brother, we always get lost midway through the ride. So a 60 mile ride will probably turn into 65 or 70 miles.
All in a day's ride. :-)
Next saturday, I will anchor a 5 person marathon relay in Akron. This last leg will be about a 7.6 mile run. I think its mainly a group of Team in Training alumni. My kind of people. :-) I'll have to get up around 3:30AM to meet them at 5AM near Akron since the race starts at 7AM.
The saturday after that, I will be back in Cincinnati for Aramac's annual pig roast. I'm hoping to get together again with my brother to bicycle the 60-70 miles from his house to the location of the roast. Great way to build up an appetite for the dinner.
It's gonna be a great few weekends!