Status Report: T – 10 days

I never whine (although my wife will argue the point) but I have to admit that waking up this morning to snow is not the type of weather that will excite me about starting my trip out West in 10 days.   Someone please bring me Spring!

Status Report:

1. Transportation (“B”) – Took MG (Miracle Go) out yesterday.   She performed like a “beast”.  Found out that the compass on my handlebars always points straight ahead.   Apparently my speed/mileage (Cat’s Eye) mechanism has a magnet in it.   Problem fixed by gluing a hiker’s compass on the front storage bag tray.   Switched out the leather band that clipped my feet to the bike pedals.   The old band only allowed 50% of my foot to rest on the pedal which caused that part of my foot to hurt.   Will try new system out later this week.   Front headlight vibrated out of position.   It is now glued to the frame.

2. Packing (“C”) – Currently in the 3rd iteration of packing.   Trying to balance weight and packing by “subject” so I can find things easily.   With 4 saddle bags and 1 handlebar this is harder than you might think.   The other problem is I go back and forth on what exactly to pack.   May have to pack winter clothes which is NOT desirable.  No grade change expected until everything gets packed and loaded the day before.

3. Maintenance (“A”) – The beauty of this category is I “think” I have everything needed to be autonomous.   I will only discover a mistake out on the road when cursing is sure to begin.

4. Rob Goodwin (“C+”) – Have a good attitude but given the weather I am well behind in the training I planned to do.   Currently riding my bike 1.5 hours in the morning and 1.5 hours in the evening.  This equates to about 45 miles a day which is well below my target of 100 miles a day.   Hopefully this weekend, when we are supposed to have good weather, I can start getting some good mileage under my belt.  I also started to visit cities and towns around my Candlewood neighborhood to determine the types of organizations that may wish to support the Pelotonia.   These “types” of organizations will be targeted on my trip.   Chambers of Commerce and Veterans organization seem very interested.

4. Donors (“A+”) – Well deserved grade goes to this group of superheros.   I probably sent out 100 letters and have collected $6,405 and pledges for future funding.   This is WELL above any expectations I had at this point.   Please remember to continue to talk the Pelotonia up to others that who may also wish to join the fight against cancer.   In the next 100 days my hope is to collect $1M and this can only be accomplished if lots of people take up the cause.   There are also a number of veteran’s groups and my Candlewood neighborhood that are going to host an event or meet to vote on making a contribution – THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

BEST OF DAYS to one and all.   Please remember to wish for warmer weather.   We are due a good period of good weather and it makes bike riding much more pleasurable and my daily posts more upbeat!