Ornoth

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well it's 7:40, so I've been here in the Barnstable stop for probably 45 minutes or so, but a miracle has in fact happened, and the mechanic here had Mavic non-drive-side spokes.

So I now have a new spoke; god only knows whether it will last another 60-, 70-odd miles, but in theory the rear wheel problem is solved. I still have a few bottom bracket issues, but it's not bugging me too much today.

So I actually am... This water stop has pretty much cleared out, so I'm completely behind everybody. There's only a few riders with me at this point.

But just passed the place where I wiped out, back -- I think it was the 2003 ride -- crashed out of the ride. Passed it safely, of course.

And soon I'll be going through Dennis, which is the location of the Cape Playhouse, which is the oldest summer theater in the US, and actually the place where Bette Davis was discovered.

So onward, and gonna try and push along to try and catch up with the rest of the group, just because I'm so far behind. So I won't spend more time talking. But happy so far. We'll see how this goes on the next segment.

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well hello. I'm now in Sandwich after the end of day one of the Pan Mass, in the hotel room safe and sound after 120 miles at an average pace around of something along the lines of 16.7 mph, off the earlier 19 mph.

The motel here actually is kind of oddly renowned, although I think they try and play it down. In November of 2003 actually there was a 48 year old man who was found dead in the bathtub covered head to toe in roofing tar. So that's kind of always been a mystery and I haven't heard anything since.

But actually the motel... it's not bad. It's pretty clean, [???], the bed is comfortable which is key, and it's right next to a place called the British Beer Company, which provides a good board to have on Saturday night, which is where I'm headed next.

Other than that it's going okay. I also have a secondary mechanical issue with my bottom bracket, which actually my bottom bracket was having issues before the ride, and now it's just having more. So hopefully things will hold together tomorrow. But other than that, the ride's going real well.

Didn't feel a lot of fatigue or pain on the way out here, having rested, and hope to rest a great deal tonight so that tomorrow's not bad. And tomorrow I'm not going to push it at all. I'll take it easy and just enjoy the ride. Again, Saturday's the day to push it, and Sunday's a day to actually take it easy.

But all in all, having a very good year, aside from the overbearing mechanical concerns. But enjoying this year's PMC and obviously very appreciative to all my supporters and donors who have brought me up to $7,200 as of the moment and there's a few other people who have pledged money to come [???] and so make both of my goals: Heavy Hitter for the fourth year in a row, and making a lifetime contribution bringing that up above $50,000, $51,000. So very proud of all that and very happy for the support that I've received from people.

But for now I'm gonna go eat a bit more and pass out. And we'll talk to you again first thing tomorrow for the leg from Sandwich up to P-town.

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well for those of you who've been waiting for the final post, I did in fact make it to Bourne. It was actually quite a slog. I really hit the wall on that last leg, ran out of power and just hobbled in.

Actually though, at the same time, I arrived a couple minutes before 1 o'clock, which I think may be a record, but it's at least 15 minutes ahead of the pace that I had set for myself as a goal. So on one hand it actually was an exceptionally quick ride, but a little bit painful at the end, and of course, I have mechanicals, which...

I just visited the mechanicals tent, or parking lot, or parking space, because there's only one guy with a tire pump, and that's about the extent of the mechanicals here at Bourne. Apparently other repairmen are going to show up later, but again they're not very confident that they'll be able to find a spoke for me even tonight.

So tomorrow may be another ginger day. Fortunately tomorrow is usually a day that I take it much easier, so we'll see how that goes. But we'll try them again around 4 o'clock.

Also since I got in I have of course had my shower and massage, which were nice, a hamburger and a Pepsi (sorry for the product placement). Right now I'm sitting next to the Cape Cod Canal and the view of the Bourne Bridge and the elevated railroad bridge that I'll actually probably talk about later.

I will send another update when I leave, probably either when I leave Bourne for Sandwich or when I get to Sandwich at the hotel, but that won't be until much later in the evening.

In the meantime, I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon lounging around, ingesting as much as I possibly can to hopefully beat some of this fatigue that I've got, and eventually just passing out in the sun somewhere. It's a beautiful day, the sun is very warm. So it is hot, but there's plenty of shade around and cool breezes.

Very happy day so far, and appreciate everyone's interest and support and of course contributions. It's been a good year; it hasn't been a record-setting year, but at the same time I've reached all my goals. So I'm very happy with it, and enjoying the ride.

That's it for now, and I'll probably send another update in the 6 or 7 o'clock range.

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well I've made it to Lakeville now, which is 85 miles into the ride, and so we've only got about 25-odd left.

Lakeville, obviously, is a place that has lots of ponds and streams and swamps and lakes, including Long Pond and Snipatuit Pond. We kind of go between them on what's called Neck Road, which is very scenic.

Not only do they not have spokes at this rest stop at the mechanical tent, but in fact there is no mechanical tent because the mechanical guy hasn't shown up.

So we continue with the busted wheel, but things seem to be holding together well. My average speed is still pretty decent at around 17.5, so we're moving along.

My heart rate monitor tells me my average heart rate is 126, so I've been keeping it within reason, although every once in a while I'm up above 160 to 170. That's kind of my peak, but with an average of 126, that's not too bad.

Starting to feel it a little bit, but not bad. And by the time I get to Wareham, which is the next stop and the penultimate stop, I will have done a hundred miles. So fifteen miles down the road I'll talk to you again.

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well things have gone a little bit awry here. Actually right after I talked to you at the Whitinsville stop, realized that one of my rear spokes had broken, which is a pretty dire consequence. Particularly since I have spokes that pretty much no one at the mechanics can fix. So they trued my wheel and I kept going although a little bit gingerly. My average speed has dropped from 19 to 18. So I'm taking it a little bit more careful.

Currently at the Franklin stop, 43 miles in. I'm still right on schedule, time-wise. Pretty soon, actually another 10 miles, I'll reach the halfway point of day one.

So it's not that bad, as we kind of skirt the corner of Rhode Island in the town of Attleboro. Attleboro is the closest point we get to RI and coincidentally it's also a town that has seven companies that contribute to major cancer hazards including the worst offender in Massachusetts, and a landfill containing uranium fuel rods. So I'll hopefully not get stuck in Attleboro on the way through.

That's it. The fog has burned off. It's now a warm and sunny day in the mid-70s. It'll soon be getting hotter as the sun continues to climb, it only being 8 in the morning at this point.

That's it. Next stop is another hour down the line, so I will talk to you again shortly, hopefully with the bike still in one piece. The body's willing, but the machine is gonna have to be treated a little gingerly today. Talk to you soon.

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Good morning it's the perfectly dark hour of 5am and I'm lined up in Sturbridge for the start of this year's Pan Mass Challenge. Nice and early, got half an hour yet before the start. So should be all set and ready to go.

Sturbridge here is -- I'm going to work on giving you a few factoids along the way -- Sturbridge is the home of Old Sturbridge Village, which is a 200 acre colonial living museum, a place I visited as a youth and an interesting town.

A little bit further up the road is Charlton, which we'll be passing through about 5:40, where Grizzly Adams, the famous performer for P.T. Barnum's circus is buried.

And a few miles beyond that is Oxford, the birthplace of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, who was actually born on Christmas Day.

That's the notes until we get to the first water stop, and hopefully things will be good between here and there. It's obviously dark; the roads just are a hair wet but the rain has long since stopped. Most of the roads are dry, at least the primary roads.

So it looks like it'll be a good day. I'm standing here with two or three thousand other cyclists, shoulder to shoulder in the middle of a parking lot waiting to get the firing gun.

Things are still coming together, but looking forward to a great ride. And the next update will probably be sometime around 6:30am, probably also before you're awake. But off we go, and looking forward to a good ride.

Those of you who have sponsored me on previous Pan-Mass Challenge charity rides have my profound thanks once again.

On the other hand, if you have not sponsored my ride, but have the means, this would be the perfect time to start. With the economy forcing many former sponsors to tighten their budgets, it would really, really help if I could get a few new sponsors to make up for some of this year’s shortfall.

On August 1st, I will line up for my ninth Pan-Mass Challenge. However, I’m doing something a little different this time. Instead of sending you yet another long email with the same familiar talking points, this year I’ve put together a video that will hopefully communicate how important the PMC is. Here it is:

Last year the PMC donated a total of $35 million to the Jimmy Fund, and I raised a record $12,000. In this, the Pan-Mass Challenge’s 30th year, the sour economy has forced me to reduce my goal to simply surpassing the $6,700 Heavy Hitter level. If I raise that much, I will also exceed $50,000 in lifetime fundraising, which is an achievement I’ll take great pride in.

Regardless of whether the economy is good or bad, hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to die of cancer each year. I hope you will support my fight against cancer by making a donation to the Jimmy Fund at this Web page:

http://ornoth.pmcrider.com/

And if you’d like to look through my writeups, photos, and videos from previous years, or keep updated on this year’s training, those can all be found on Orny’s Cycling Page.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear from you soon!

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well well well, it's Wellfleet! 170 miles into the ride, with about 21 left. This will be the longest segment of today at 21 miles. This is the last water stop, but there's a lot of riding yet to do, especially coming up Route 6 against the wind along Pilgrim Lake. However, I've been really strong today; surprisingly after pretty much using it all up yesterday. I've been steadily increasing my average speed and I think I'm up to 16.6 now, which is pretty impressive, I'm happy with it. Still been having a good time. Been pushing it along pretty good, but I've been with packs and drafting a little bit which helps the average speed. But gonna take a few extra minutes here because the next segment is long, and as the ride starts to wind up I kind of take a little extra time and relish the ride. There's no real need to show up in P-town early, the way you do in Sturbridge [ed: actually Bourne] to get a massage. But generally happy. Just gonna savor the last segment of the ride and just take it easy and enjoy the reward for the fundraising that I've done. And obviously you guys have a role in that, or at least the people who have donated, and I want to again thank you for that. Look for another update: it probably won't be in an hour; it might be in an hour and a half. I'm on target for a 10:45 arrival at P-town. Glad to have everybody's thoughts and well-wishes and money of course, and we'll see you in P-Town. Talk to you later!

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Okay, we're in Barnstable at a little bit past 7:00, almost 7:15, which is about on schedule. Weather looks beautiful so far, except it's pretty moist and humid from last night's rain. It's starting to warm up. Ran into Tony here. This is gonna be a real quick stop hopefully, because I'm in the middle of the pack. Otherwise things are pretty happy. Running into a few people I know, but gonna try and get in and get out here.

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well it's 6:00 and I'm in Sandwich. So I'm in the hotel now, although as predicted the rain finally came while we were enjoying the afternoon at Bourne. At about 4:45 it started raining, and raining pretty good. So I actually decided to, since it didn't look like it was letting up, I decided to go just ahead and ride up to Sandwich in the rain with my hair net and my rain jacket. The good news is that there's a washer and dryer directly outside our room, so my cycling gear is in the dryer now and will be fine for morning. Assuming the morning is dry. It's still raining lightly here and probably going to rain intermittently throughout the night. So we'll see what happens come tomorrow morning. I'll have a story and share it with you and hopefully it won't be moist, but right now I'm pretty moist. Gonna go and grab a shower, dry my clothes, and head over to the British Beer Company next door for some savory food, despite the fact that I've already had a slice of pizza, six ears of corn, sugar cookies, and god only knows what else. I definitely loaded up and kinda passed out afterward and definitely a little more worn out than I thought I was. So I'll sleep well tonight and wake up at 6:00 in the morning tomorrow which actually is better than 4:40 as it was this morning. That's it; the next update tomorrow probably long before you're awake.