The Suitcase of Courage

Pedal for Paws 2011

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks since my last post.  But for good reason.  Pedal for Paws 2011 is now in the history books.  All of the last minute preparations kept us busy, and of course the actual day was crazy.  But it was all worth it.  Thanks to our wonderful riders & sponsors, we were able to raise a lot of much-needed funds for the shelter.

The day started out cloudy, with a few showers.  But those who braved the forecast were rewarded with dry Autumn weather later on.  And thanks to our wonderful volunteers (not to mention the riders themselves), it turned out to be a great day! 

We had great rest stops... 

 

We had an AWESOME band - The Sawtelles (not only is their music great, but they're huge cat lovers too!)...

 

We had distinctive signage (most rides just mark the road, but we think our Paw Pointers stand out!)...

 

Even Sylvester & Tweetie showed up!

And no well-organized ride would be without its SAG wagons.  Here's one of ours, all decorated for the day.  We had a few of these going along the routes, looking for anybody who needed a hand or a ride back.  I think only one person took them up on their offer.  They're like a first aid kit - good to have "just in case" but even better not to need them.

But what about that most-important feature of any large charity or group ride - FOOD?  It's one of our BIGGEST draws and the Forgotten Felines Baking Squad goes all out for this event.  Unfortunately, we were so busy eating we forgot to get a photo of the large spread.  But trust us - you don't leave hungry no matter HOW many miles you rode!

Here's one of our registration tables, with a board featuring some of our cats waiting for "forever homes."  Until that happy day, thanks to Forgotten Felines (and to the funds that this ride generates), all the cats are warm, safe, fed and well-cared for.

One new addition at the registration table this year was a huge map of all the routes.  We included smaller maps with the cue sheets too, but this large map had all road names and the routes color coded.  Definitely helpful in getting your bearings and seeing how the route(s) fits together.

Despite the forecast, it never really poured, but it was definitely wet at the start of the ride.  And I got a new-found appreciation for fenders.  Not that I had them on MY bike - I hardly ever ride in the rain - but they're definitely in my future.  Nothing's worse than riding behind a guy without fenders when it's wet out.  It doesn't even have to be raining, and you still get soaked.  Unfortunately, I was "that guy" - but I wasn't the only one!

Fortunately, the weather didn't dampen any spirits, just the roads.  One of the best things about Pedal for Paws, and one of the things that sets it apart from many charity rides, is that we get a lot of families - many of them doing their first "big ride" together.  The short beach loop ride is ideal - flat, wide shoulders, and just over 7 miles long (a little over 11 miles with an "unofficial" extension).

And speaking of families, you don't even need to go out on the road.  At Pedal for Paws, kids ride for free and these two little guys wanted to ride, but their parents didn't think they were quite ready to ride on the road.  So they struck a deal: The kids would ride laps around the parking lot and the parents would give them $2 per lap so that they could participate.  How cute & cool is that?

So despite the weather, the day was a great success.  We got to ride our bikes on some beautiful roads, and raised much-needed funds for a great cause at the same time.  After last year's absolutely perfect weather, we were due for a few showers this year.  But now that we got those out of the way, we're due again for some great weather in 2012.  Hope you make plans now to join us! 

Why Cycle Wednesday:Pedal for Paws, Oct. 2

 Kathleen Goodwin School

80 Old Boston Post Road

Old Saybrook, CT

8 am

It's been a while since I posted a "Why Cycle Wednesday" but I can't think of a better reason to ride than to help raise money for a good cause.

Charity bike rides are popular fundraisers.  Name the cause, illness, or need and there's likely a way to use riding your bike as a means of support.  Like many cyclists, Mrs. SOC and I have participated in a number of these events.

But this is the first time we've CREATED one!

Actually, it was Mrs. SOC's brainchild.  She volunteers at Forgotten Felines, a no-kill cat shelter in Westbrook, CT.  They're in desperate need of funds and receive no public funds, so a charity bike ride seemed like the perfect solution to a serious problem.  For more background, click here.  Mrs. SOC did a guest post here a little while ago.  If you missed it, you really should check it out.  She described, in better detail than I could have (including LOTS of kitty photos!), how important this ride is.

So with tons of help from lots of hard-working folks and generous sponsors, it's finally here!  The response has been great and the weather forecast looks BEAUTIFUL.

If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late!  Just show up at the Kathleen Goodwin School this Saturday morning and head over to the "Day Of" registration line.

We promise beautiful fall scenery to delight you, good food to feed you, a band(!) to entertain you, and even Sylvester the Cat to make you smile.

And you'll feel good knowing that you're able to ride your bike for such a great cause.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Bicycle Friendly Community Program

Good News: I have a lot of blog fodder coming up - posts on training, nutrition and the upcoming racing season.

Bad News: I've been too busy ramping up for a busy time at work to do anything about it (posting, not work).

It's the paradox of blogging: When you have stuff to write about, it's likely you're too busy to write about it.

However, to offer you a little more regular content, I'll occasionally post things here that are either too long for Twitter (you ARE following me, right? See the right side of this page - I'm @suitcaseocourag), or too general for Facebook.

In my capacity as member of our local town bikeways committee, I often come across cycling-related items & events.  This info is usually more for the general cycling public than for racers, but you should find it always interesting and often helpful.

Earlier this month, the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance hosted a symposium on Bicycle Friendly Communities that included a presentation by Andy Clarke from the League of American Bicyclists.  While you won't get the full flavor of his live presentation, you can get his Power Point slides here (courtesy CRCOG).

The best advice for immediate things a town can do to make itself more bicycle friendly? (quoting from the CRCOG link)

Signage and information:  if you have a trail make sure people know where it is and how to access it.  If you don’t have a trail, sign suitable on road routes.

Develop riding opportunities to encourage folks to get on their bikes and ride.  Don’t start with a 10 or 25 mile ride.  Two to five mile rides are a great start.  Publish routes, or set up informal community rides.  Get folks started!

On your routes or trails, pay careful attention to intersections, these can present real safety hazards.  Consider how bikes and motorists will use the intersections, don’t create unnecessary conflicts.

Why Cycle Wednesday:Folks on Spokes

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions on how to convert my Super8 videocassettes to digital.  I got quite an education - not the least of which was discovering that I do not in fact have a Hi8 camcorder, but just a plain ol' Super8.  I'll probably end up hooking it up to a DVR and see what happens.  Hopefully I'll have some videos to share with you soon.  If I do, you know my experiment was successful.

Actually, your helpfulness would itself make an appropriate post for Why Cycle Wednesday.  Why cycle? Because the folks you meet are so generous with their time and eager to share their knowledge.  So thank you!

Another reason to cycle - especially this time of year - is Charity Rides.  As I mentioned in my last post, I participated in the Folks on Spokes ride to benefit local mental health and addiction recovery programs.  It was the third time I've done it and it's always a favorite, being essentially a Tour of Milford, Orange and West Haven, CT.  Having lived in Milford for so many years, I couldn't NOT do it and it was great to see the old stomping grounds, and catch up with some old friends too.

I rode again with friend Larry and new-friend Jim and we opted for the 65 mile route out to Branford and back.  As you'll see from the pics, almost the entire route goes along the water and we had absolutely perfect early Autumn weather - all clear blue sky and low humidity.

So come along for the ride.  And be sure to click on the pics if you want a larger, more detailed view.

The ride starts behind the Milford Public Library where there's ample parking, a pavilion and even actual bathrooms (no portapotties here).  Registration is under the big white tent and you get a goodie bag and an ID bracelet.  The smaller tent to the left is for the sponsor shop, Tony's Bikes & Sports - my old LBS and a bunch of great guys too.  They were there not only to make any last minute repairs and adjustments (the ride attracts a lot of newbies and occasional-only riders), but to offer fundraising prizes too.

The start is on the other side of the pavilion next to Milford Harbor.  The ride is staged by distance option and since we were going the longest distance, we started earliest.  And you can see, there weren't THAT many that decided to go long this day.  But fortunately for the fundraising effort, I understand there were many, many more that showed up for the "classic" 40 miler (that route is so classic that it's actually marked with permanent metal signposts!)

After the pre-ride instructions, we were off and within 10 minutes were along the shoreline.  This is Gulf Beach and Larry is right there in the corner, keeping pace.

Another shot, this one along the shore in Woodmont (east Milford).

West Haven Beach.  Almost all of these photos were taken at speed, so excuse any strange angles or composition.

Lest you think the entire ride was as pretty as the initial pics would lead you to believe, this is New Haven.  Specifically the Tomlinson Bridge over the Quinnipiac River.  The (in)famous Q Bridge (I-95) is off to the left.  The Tomlinson is remarkable in that it accomodates both vehicular traffic as well as a railroad - and the entire span lifts.  It's the largest lift span on the East Coast and the second heaviest in the USA.  But beware of the tracks crossing on the other side - they're at an angle and a little dangerous.

This also is New Haven - a much prettier part, on the east side of the harbor.  Considering I was going about 20mph at this point, the composition of this shot is pure luck.  We're heading toward Lighthouse Point in the distance.

And here's the lighthouse itself.  For another, earlier pic from this blog ("BC") check out this link.  What a difference a few years makes...

And all I had to do was turn 180 and got this dramatic shot of the harbor, with the City of New Haven in the distance.

After our brief stop, we continued on to Branford where I got this shot, literally at our turning-around point.  I think that may be a Great Blue Heron, but I'll leave verification of his/her identity to the orinthologists that read this blog.

We made our way back the way we came, retracing our route and enjoying the now-tail wind.  Once we got back to West Haven, we picked up the classic FOS route and pedaled into the old farming town of Orange where I got this shot of one of the last farms standing.  The town seems more focused on growing crops of houses these days, so shots like this are becoming increasingly rare.

The rest of the ride followed the normal route through the rest of Orange and the northern part of Milford, going back down to the shore.  The most remarkable part of this section of our journey was the shortcut we took through Silver Sands state park.  I'd never ridden my race bike off road before, but once I got over worrying about my wheels and stone chips on the frame, I had a blast.  This little taste of cyclocross has me chomping at the bit to try more trail riding later this fall.

We logged a total of 64.5 miles and I was tempted to circle the lot to make it an even 65, but I gave up after only one lap.  The apres ride pizza was calling and I wanted to get packed up and home to the Mrs to enjoy the rest of what turned out to be a spectacular day thanks to good friends, a worthy cause, and a great ride.

Cycling Fun Friday:Workin' on yer bike

I spent a couple of weekends last month getting my bike ready for the 2009 racing season.  I've always enjoyed tinkering on my bike.  There's something inherently satisfying about working on something so beautiful, yet so simple.  But my limited knowledge and experience have kept me from really getting into some of the more serious (for me at least) tasks.

I've made "Learn More About Bike Maintenance & Repair" (M&R) one of my Goals for 2009, so it was time for me to get serious.  For guys at least (is it the same with gals?), getting serious is all about getting some cool tools and setting up a workshop.

Now you don't need a workshop to work on your bike, but it sure makes it a lot more fun - and easier since everything is together in one place.

And you don't have to worry about scratching the coffee table or dripping oil on the floor.  And trust me, that's a good thing.  Ask me how I know.

My shop's pretty straightforward - just part of the (unfinished portion) of the basement, next to the furnace and in a corner.  By far, the best thing you can do to make such a space much better for bike M&R is to add PLENTY of lighting.  As you can see, a couple of $15 shop flourescents light things up nicely.

Now, because I know after looking at the cool pic you're dying know, here's what I have in my shop & toolbox, in order of importance:

• Set of allen wrenches
• Chain tool
• Tire levers
• Pliers
• Screwdrivers (esp. Phillips)
• Lubes (oil & grease)
• Clean Streak metal prep
• Clean rags (old cotton t-shirts are ideal)
• LockTite
• Park workstand
• Chain whip
• Cassette tool
• Torque wrench
• Black & Decker workbench

Now, of course I have a lot of other regular house-related tools that can be helpful (though I'll probably leave the SawzAll in the box for now), but these are the bike-specific tools I have - at least the ones I can remember.

How about you?  Where do you work on your bike?  I hope you'll try doing some of your own wrenching in '09.  The sense of accomplishment may not be the same as what you'd get at the top of a big climb, but the confidence you'll get will make your ride even more satisfying.

Birthday Booty

("Booty" as in "AARGH! Look at all that booty!" - like a pirate.  Not as in, well, you know . . .)

As you can see, the Birthday Fairies were VERY good to Mr. Suitcase this year.  Yes, I got some non-cycling stuff, but this being a cycling blog you're probably not as interested in that.

Right?

Moving from left to right: Williams Cycling T-Shirt, Campagnolo Spiffy Spokes, "The Long Season" by Bruno Schull, Williams Cycling water bottle, Campagnolo Chorus chainrings (53-39), SwissStop Yellow King brakepads, Michelin Pro Race 3 tires and Airstop tubes.

Hmmmm . . . . is there anything else I'm forgetting . . . .

Oh yeah.  They're there toward the back of the picture.  You can probably make them out.

I GOT NEW RACE WHEELS!

Yes, boys and girls my bike is gonna be lookin' pretty suh-WEET with these new hoops.

It remains to be seen if they'll actually make up for all the birthday cake I've been eating though. . .

In case you can't tell from the pic, they're Williams Wheel System 58s - that's 58mm of FULL carbon aerodynamic sweetness.  And to add to the coolness, Williams includes all sorts of stuff with the wheels - you get valve extenders, skewers, SwissStop pads and 4 other brake pads too, a t-shirt and a water bottle.

You WILL hear more about these wheels as the season gears up - a season which I'm getting more and more excited about because of the other cool gifts I got!

"The Long Season" is the true story about a talented amateur racer that tries finally to break into the California pro circuit.  This will be the perfect read for those winter days when I can't get out on the road.  A healthy dose of Cali sun will be the perfect antidote to trainer doldrums.

I've needed new chainrings for a while.  I'm not quite sure how many miles I have on them, but I know I've gone through at least 3 chains and 2 cassettes since I got the crankset.  These new rings are Campagnolo CHORUS and much beefier (more beefy?) and stiffer than the Centaur rings I'm using now.  Should make for a bit more power transfer in the sprints!

Speaking of Campy parts, Mrs. Suitcase looked high and low for the special, limited-edition Campagnolo Spiffy Spokes.  But she finally found them where she NEVER before thought to look.  Who knew Stop & Shop carried Campy?  But seeing is believing:

Happy Birthday Mr. Suitcase!!!

 

YAY! It's Mr. Suitcase's birthday today!!!!

I, Mrs. Suitcase, have semi-hacked into this blog to wish my smart, funny, makes-spandex-look-great husband a happy, healthy, and amazing 40th birthday. You are an awesome teammate, darlin, in the Tour de Life. Here's to many more wonderful races ahead!!!

TriState Seacoast Century &Portsmouth Crit

Sorry to leave you in SUSPENSE! but it's been a pretty busy week since we got back from New Hampster.  Training Tip: moving & stacking 2 cords of wood is NOT a suitable substitute for actual training on your bike.  I haven't been on the (road) bike since Saturday.  I converted my MTB to a city bike and rode it to a meeting Wednesday night, but that's hardly training.

But I digress.  Last weekend was BEAUTIFUL for the bike fun we had planned, but Saturday was COLD!  Larry and I decided to ride to the century route from the hotel, saving our wives from having to get up so early and drive us.  What's a few extra miles?  But it was downright chilly!  Leg & arm warmers, jacket, full fingered gloves, and skullcap - all for the first time this season.

But it was certainly worth it.  The TriState Seacoast Century is an absolutely beautiful ride - probably one of the best centuries around, going all along (as its name indicates) the seashore, down into Massachusetts, across New Hampshire and into Maine.

But instead of giving you a (probably boring) play by play of the day, I'll heed some friendly advice and let the pictures do (most of) the talking . . . 

We caught the route just before it entered Mass. and took it down to the south end and then headed back north to the start in Hampton, NH.  These are views from the bridge just south of Hampton.

 

View east, toward the ocean

 

Turn 90 degrees and you get the inland view

 

The start at Hampton Beach.  A lot of folks ride the southern portion first and get to registration after the main crowds have left.  While it was still pretty crowded when we got there, registration was super fast.

 

We met up with Giles of GC Cycling and headed out.  That's him up ahead - where he was for most of the day.  Didn't know it at the time, but this was his first century - BIG props!  He did well.  This view is northbound through Hampton, NH.

 

Sometimes you see a scene and it's as if the picture's already been composed, filtered & enhanced for you.  All you gotta do is shoot it.  As we were riding along, we came around a curve and saw this scene.  Perfect lighting - pretty as a picture.  I decided to stop (rather than try to shoot it while riding), but then had to chase to catch up with Larry.  Fortunately, Giles hung back and we TT'd to catch back on.  Either Larry's gotten faster, or I took too long futzin' with the camera, bc it took longer than I thought to catch him!

If you get your camera out even once on this entire ride, you do it here.  Nubble Light - York,  Maine.  Bike is proof I was there (ok, technically only proof that my bike was there - since, inexplicably, there are no photos of me or Larry on this trip).

The "typical" shot.

 

The "arty" shot.

After Nubble Light, one of - if not the - highlights of the ride, you head up to Cape Neddick where you turn around and head back south.  After one wrong turn (and we weren't alone - riders coming back from the end of that road warned us!), we made it to the end.  But on the way back to Hampton, we took a detour to Gus' Bike Shop.  Unfortunately, despite what their website says, it was their last day of operation and they're closed now.  The owner lost his battle with cancer and his wife decided it was best to close.  Despite that though, the folks there were pretty upbeat and very nice.  I'm just sorry I didn't meet them under better circumstances.  They seem like really good people.

After the shop, we took Rt. 1 back to Hampton.  Certainly not on-route, but we saw a few other cyclists on the way - in addition to the hundreds of cars.  But we made it back to the start without incident.  We'd considered riding back to the hotel, but were glad when our wives decided to pick us up.  Even though I'd kept it very easy all day to save something for the next day's race, I was still pretty beat.  Giles, hard man that he is, decided to kick his first century in the teeth and rode back to his place, adding an additional 12 miles.  BTW, he has a nice description of the ride here.  Check it out.

Once I finished the century, it was all about recovering for the next day.  I decided that copious amounts of food and sleep were in order.  I'd only slept a couple hours Friday night - too excited about the weekend's events I guess.  And I was a little worried that I didn't have much of an appetite (esp. rare for me), but I got to bed about 9 Saturday night to try and catch up on my sleep.

I woke up about 6 Sunday morning feeling like crap.  It wasn't anything I could really put my finger on.  My stomach was a little messed up, but that's not abnormal for me on race morning.  Despite the BEAUTIFUL weather (and warmer than Saturday), I just could not get myself motivated to race.  It didn't help that I'd heard a lot of Cat5s had upgraded just to get into this race and the course was a little technical through corner 3 to be mixing it up like that.  Unfortunately, my instinct was validated when a crash sent one of the racers to the hospital.  Been there, done that myself.  Hope he's ok.

So I decided to just enjoy the day watching the races instead for a change.

 

As you can see from the pics, the Portsmouth Crit is a VERY well done, well-attended event.  I was a little disappointed to be on the other side of the barriers, but I had a great view of the track.

 

Though next year I'll likely be racing with the pros (there're only 2 men's races - Cat4 and Pro123), and it's late in the season for me, I'll definitely put it on my calendar.  It's too great an event to pass up a second time.

So, in lieu of a scintillating race report, I give you video, shot by yours truly . . .

This is corner 3.  It's downhill over rough pavement entering the corner.  And you go from a nice wide street to a narrow one lane turn, with a nice raised traffic island in addition to the curb.  Fortunately, these guys negotiated it just fine . . .

Here's the finish of the Cat4 race.  I have a new-found appreciation for the job Mrs. Suitcase does on these videos.

Here's the women's pro finish.  We discovered that one of the racers has Crohn's disease, so we immediately began rooting for her.  While she didn't place at the finish, she was a big factor throughout most of the race.  Definitely made for some cool spectating!

Despite the fact that I didn't end up racing, it was a beautiful weekend with friends, old and new.  Portsmouth is a great town and I'm looking forward to getting back there again next year.

Cycling Fun Friday: Group RidesRadsport Metric Century

I don't know about you, but a lot of folks are feeling some cycling burnout right about now.  I mentioned in an earlier post that it seems like somebody threw a switch after Labor Day Weekend and I suddenly would rather light the fireplace and read a book than go out and ride.  Doesn't help that I have only a little daylight left once I get home from work.  But I don't even want to get on the trainer (does anybody ever want to get on the trainer, really?)

The only cycling I can still get motivated for this time of year though is the Big Group Ride.  I forget where I read it, but the promoters know what they're doing - they know September is a great month for centuries and the like.  Heck, I had a lot of those types of events on my calendar - most of them seemed to be scheduled for this coming weekend, strangely enough - but I ended up narrowing my choices down to two: This Saturday's Tri-State Seacoast Century, and the Radsport Metric Century I did a couple weeks ago.

Radsport Outfitters is one of our local bike shops and does this event every September.   I missed it last year, so was glad that - despite Hurricane Hanna blowing through on Saturday - Sunday dawned beautifully.

The route is kind of a figure 8 - you leave the shop, head down to the shore to a SAG stop and back up to the shop for another stop. From there you go to the ferry and take it across the river where you hit most of the hills for the day.  Then it's back the shop for lunch and banter.

You can see where most of the hills are from the profile:

As we started out, it was obvious a storm had blown through - despite the generally sunny weather.  There were limbs and stuff all over the roads, but we knew that the roads would be brushed off by traffic during the day.  Cars are good for that too.

The first highlight of the ride for me was the fact that the first part used the same route as my normal training loop.  It was cool to be on roads where I'd almost always been solo, and to now have a nice group to ride with.  That's us headed to the first rest stop.

And this is us headed back up.  As you can see, it got even nicer as the day went on.  Long time readers will recognize these scenes - they often figure in WCW posts.

The route ended up going along even more of my normal loop than I expected.  Once I figured out that we'd be going right past my house, I called the Mrs. to have her wave us on.  Of course, I had to high-tail it up to the front so I'd be sure to be leading as we went by.  The others in the group generously indulged me.  I'm just sorry I don't have a pic.

On the way to the 1/2 way rest stop back at the shop, one of the many branches that were strewn across the road got caught up in my front wheel.  It sounded like a blender and eventually broke off, without causing me to crash - thankfully.  But it was only when I got to the shop that I realized it had just about ripped off the fork-mounted CatEye sensor.  I was lucky I didn't lose it, but had to take it the rest of the way off and stick it in my jersey.  Fortunately, in a rare reversal of fortunes, the Garmin was still working.

After the rest stop, we headed to the ferry - another beautiful part of the trip.  I've posted about the ferry before - we're really blessed to have so many neat things in the area to do.

I don't have many pics from east of the river - this farm scene is one of them though.  It was a lot of up and down - mostly up it seemed - and mostly dark and woody.  After such a long rest stop and ferry ride, the legs weren't too happy about having to work so hard - and the tires weren't too happy with one of the chip seal roads we had to go down.  Three of us flatted, all pretty near each other.  Fortunately, my tires held up for once .

Impromptu rest stop (a.k.a. tire change/changes).  Actually, the farm scene is just to the right of this photo.

Another highlight of the ride (other than crossing back over the river on the highway bridge) was when we saw these guys coming at us.  Apparently, a VERY large Harley Davidson club had a HUGE group ride the same day.  But they had police escort (we certainly could have used that more than them!) and a LOT of motorcycles.  There must've been close to 500 of them.  I'm not kidding.  The contrast between the different groups of two-wheelers was pretty funny.  We exchanged a lot of thumbs up and mutual acknowledgment.  And only one bird-flipper out of all of them.

With only about 4 miles left to go, we got a special treat - for me anyway.  We actually had to stop for the Essex Steam Train.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect.  I hate to keep harping on it, but I am SO glad we live here - shoreline, nice country roads, quaint villages and a steam train of all things.  Heavenly!

We got back to the shop without incident, ramping up the speed of our impromptu paceline until - with about 400 meters to go - one of our group threads the needle between two others and starts sprinting.  All I heard was "go get'em Chris" and of course I had to go (no self control).  I kid you not - sprinting at the end of the ride hadn't even occurred to me, but I tried to catch him - my legs pretty shot from the effort.  I almost caught him too - but he definitely had the jump and the advantage.  Second ain't bad.

The Radsport guys (Charlie especially) did a fantastic job putting this ride together.  He couldn't have done anything about Hurricane Hanna, but we all lucked out with a perfect day.

Bike to Work Day & Sunday Ride

After last week's paltry 57 miles, I got some good miles in this week.  Check out "2008 Totals" on the left side of the page.  It helped that I rode into work on Friday, even though I was not at all motivated.  It was dark & cold and I had to leave an hour later than last time to wait for the sun to come up.

But what finally got me out of bed and onto my bike was a promise to participate in the August Bike to Work Day.  With an 82 mile round trip, I may have had the longest commute - but for sure I was one of the last to the event.  The bagels were all gone and all they had left was some fruit :^(  But my two buddies - the ones I'd made the promise to - were there, so that really made it worthwhile.  It was even cooler to get to ride with them from the event to the office.  Nice to have company on at least part of the commute!

Here's a pic of the bike rack at the parking garage.  Guess which bike is mine . . .

Saturday was a washout weather-wise, so no riding.  But Mrs. Suitcase and I got to visit with some of her family in Fall River, MA.  Second time this month we've visited Fall River - and I hadn't been there for anything before that for years.  Strange.

Sunday was a rare morning group ride - and the source of probably the shortest post I've ever done - actually uploaded from my phone while waiting for the pack to show up before crossing the river.  It was a beautiful ride, despite all the climbing.  Check out the profile:

For those of you interested in the area, here's where we went:

I thought it was a fairly brisk ride (especially adding in the climb up Mt. Archer - for whatever a "Mt." qualifies for in CT - about 33 miles in), but for the 17 avg speed I had, my AHR was only 122.  LOVE riding sheltered in a group!  For complete Garmin details, click here.

So, all in all, I ended up with over 210 miles for the week.  But the weekend wasn't over yet - I had Labor Day off and long-standing plans for an epic ride (as far as modes of transportation anyway).  That post will come later, but here's a brief summary of where my bike and I went yesterday:

• Old Saybrook to Milford via car

• Milford to Bridgeport via train

• Bridgeport to Port Jefferson, Long Island via boat

• Port Jefferson to Orient Point, LI via bike

• Orient Point to New London, CT via boat

• New London to Old Saybrook via bike

If I had a YouTube of it, would it be called "Bikes, Boats, Trains & Automobiles"?  Ok, it's probably best I don't have a video, but I do have lots of pics which I'll include in the upcoming post (but if you can't wait, and don't mind the absence of captions, you can check them out in the Photo Albums section, left side of the blog).

Till later . . .