One week until the journey of a lifetime begins...



Me and my new awesome bike.  This picture was taken on June
9, 2011.  It was 52 degrees and crazy winds. 



Welcome to Sharon's 2011 "Pushing it to the Limits" Bike Ride.  A cross country bicycle trip that will take me 3,668 miles from the Pacific Ocean in Oregon to the Atlantic Ocean in New Hampshire. 

What does this mean?  I will be biking with the group - America by Bicycle on the Across America North Tour.  We will meet in Astoria, Oregon on Sunday, June 19, 2011 for orientation and start our trip on Monday, June 20.  The trip will take 50 days and we will cross 11 states.  We will ride anywhere from 60 - 100 ish miles per day.  I promise you I am not crazy!!

Where to start??    Back in the Fall, when I decided to leave Boston and my job, I said to myself - I need to do something that is a once in a lifetime experience, because who knows when I would have another opportunity like this.  I had heard about people who have completed awesome bike trips and I thought - I like to ride my bike, I like to travel, I like to meet new people - so after a little research - the idea stuck and here I am today.  So as you can imagine, I have become quite obsessive about my upcoming trip and as it has gotten closer everyone asked - How are you going to share the trip with us?  So here I am - writing my first blog.  Over the next few days, before I leave, I will share some details about my training and much more about the trip but for this first entry I wanted to say THANK YOU!!!

Many of you have been part of this process - from the initial decision back in the Fall till today...And it has pretty much "taken a village" to get me here.  I have had a lot of ups and downs while getting ready for my ride and I definitely did not do it alone...

First, I would like to thank Mari, Adam, Andrew and Rachel for welcoming me into your home, for understanding how important this trip is to me and for taking care of Boomer for 7 weeks (Yikes!).
A MASSIVE thank you to Dolly for your daily motivational phone calls/texts and listening to EVERY detail of everything trip related and for talking me down from the ledge more than once.
Thank you to Karen K. for making me realize how much I would regret not going through with it.
To Steven L. for supporting me throughout my training and helping me to understand that it is OK to walk DOWN the mountain.
An UNBELIEVABLE thank you to all of my awesome trainers at OptumHealth Performance:
Kris Swarthout who saw me at my lowest point, got my head back in the game and gave me the    confidence I needed to move forward.
Bianca Bergman who forced me out of my comfort zone to ride in the wind and rain and who made me go on group rides.
Dan Cohen and Jonny Jensen for all of your riding guidance and tips.  Now I actually know how to go down a hill properly (even if it doesn't always happen that way).
A GIANT thank you to Chris Balser, the bicycle fit guru of Minnesota.  Thank you for squeezing me in and taking so much time to get my bike just perfect.  You made me love my bike and bike riding again!
And finally, an AWESOME thank you to Adam Bergman and the team at Grand Performance bike shop in St. Paul for getting my bike in perfect condition for my ride - at the last minute.

More trip details tomorrow!