July’s Journey Began in January

I remember back in January getting an e-mail from Barb asking if I’d be interested in taking her spot for CompUTrainer sessions offered by Spokes (Quaker Lane) since she would not be able to take them.   Usually during the winter months I end up taking spin classes; however, I jumped at the chance to do something different.  Not only did I do the January block of classes I also signed up for February’s block as well (Barb & John did so too).   It was during these sessions that we started the discussion about going with Lance to France.  I think Barb & John already knew that they would be going it but I remained noncommittal.  

February came.   Lance & Carley (his wife) met the three of us one evening at dinner to discuss details of the trip more in-depth.   I was intrigued but was still hesitant (although I was almost 70% certain of going).   As it happened, our cycling bud Shawn lent me his DVD of Bicycle Dreams, a documentary about the Race Across America.   The film left such an impact on me that I knew at that moment that I would go with John & Barb to France.   Once the CompUTrainer sessions ended, Barb & I began work to develop our training schedule.   March began with 30 mile Sat/Sun rides, April had longer rides (40-50 miles), and May focused on even longer rides (50-70+ miles).  To add to our already established training for France, somewhere along the way we all decided to join John Edwards’ team for June’s MS150 “Ride the Riverside.” 

That ride is now history which brings us to the past weekend, which focused on our last bit of training before packing the bikes.  Both Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days and I think I spent most of those miles reminiscing about winter’s CompUTrainer classes, our miles and miles of training, the mega bucks spent getting our equipment in order, our first Mountain Stage at Skyline, Shawn & John Edwards crash at the MS150, and watching the Tour of Switzerland knowing that I’d soon be climbing the Alps alongside two of my best friends & cyclists, John & Barb.   SCRATCH “alongside”… John will be way ahead and Barb will be pulling me up Ventoux !!

John & Lance Disassembling Paul's Bike

Paul's Giant OCR -- Packed and Ready !!