Trip details...

First, THANK YOU to everyone for all of your phone calls, e-mails, texts and comments.  I truly appreciate all of your support and knowing that my friends will be "with me" along the way is truly motivating!

You know what they say - "Your worst day biking is better than your best day in the office!"

I will be leaving this Thursday, June 16th and flying to Portland, OR.  I will stay in Portland for a couple of days and then head to Astoria, OR on Saturday morning. 

Sunday, June 19th is our official first day.  We get to meet everyone (FINALLY!) and have orientation.  Monday is our official first riding day - 69 miles from Astoria to St. Helens.

My trip is fully supported.  This means that we have a van that takes our luggage from hotel to hotel, we have van support on the road with scheduled stops, we have a bike mechanic, and we have trip leaders who ride along with us.  Each night we stay in hotels and we have breakfast and dinner together.  Lunch is on the road.  Yes, I will have a roommate.  That should be interesting!

The trip is 50 days with 5 days off.  So 45 days of riding.  We have 6 century days (Over 100 miles.)  We will ride through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario (Canada), Upstate NY, Vermont and New Hampshire.  (I am trying to figure out how to get a map on here.)

My days off are in Boise, ID, Casper, WY, Sioux Falls, SD, Ludington, MI and Niagara Falls, NY. 

It would be great if anyone wanted to meet me along the way:  Dolly and Carolyn will be riding with me in Wisconsin, from Fond du Lac to Manitowoc.  Martha will be meeting me in Niagara Falls on my rest day.

I also hope to see the Treanor family (and maybe the Crompton's too) in Manchester, NH on my last night - August 7. 

The trip ends in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Monday, August 8.  I already know that a number of my Boston friends plan to meet me there for the huge celebration.  I can't wait to see everyone!!  So I wanted to let my NY friends know that Portsmouth is an awesome place to come for the weekend - tons of shops, restaurants, etc. so it would be a great long weekend and it is an easy ride from NY - so think about meeting me at the end of the journey (You know who you are!)

So these are all of the details that I know as of today - Can't wait to fill in the blanks on Sunday.

By the way - a few people have asked about how to leave a comment on the blog.  The easiest way is on the select profile drop down box - select Name/URL.  Then a box will come up - just put in your name - you can leave the URL box blank.  Then press continue and you should be all set. 

Next Time: Lessons Learned from Training