It rained yesterday morning and after Graham and Morgan left, the roads were still wet so we did not ride. Ben decided to work in the garden in the afternoon and I wanted to finish signing and writing notes on the 600+ fund raising letters going out later this week. It is amazing to think that I have raised $68,000 on my past two rides. My goal is to reach $100,000 by the end of this ride. Can I do it? I hope so!! With your help, my dear readers, with your help!
So, today I decided I should take one last training ride. For some unknown reason, we have not ridden the mountain yet this year, "the mountain" being S. Holston Mountain. We always seemed to have someplace else that we wanted to ride, the weather was not good, or we were off somewhere riding. I decided this morning that I would ride and try to beat my best time for the 9+ mile climb, with 5-10% grades, and up to 13% in a few places. Ben was doing a locum tenens day at the office so I was on my own. It was a gorgeous day with temps in the low 80's and my ride was great. I did it in 57 minutes to the top and then descended into Shady Valley, TN. That was definitely a PB as my fastest previous ride time was 65 minutes. This is the same ride I did twice on the same day a week before I left on the Southern Tier! Shady Valley was gorgeous, green, and clear. I stopped to have a chocolate milk and then rode back up the mountain and had a screaming descent!
After I got home, I took the bike to Hal who packed it up all nice and snug in a box he had given me to save a few weeks ago for this purpose. He did it for free as his contribution to my fundraising! Thanks Hal at Boyd's Bicycle Shop in Bristol, TN. Tomorrow the bike will go to FedEx for the trip to Portland. Reality is setting in...I leave two weeks from tomorrow for Portland, OR. I can't wait!!
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