Ornoth

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

Okay, well, here I am in Wellfleet, with one section left of the ride. And it’s starting to sink in: (laugh) more the missing of Bobby Mac than the fact that it’s the last PMC. I’ve had certainly a lot more time to get used to the idea of a last PMC, and I wouldn’t have made the decision to stop if I wasn’t ready for it already. So we’ll enjoy that, but at the same time it’s also still a celebration of Bobby Mac and everything he did for the cycling community in Boston. He was just an incredible, marvelous man, and I can’t possibly begin to say enough about him, as was expressed earlier in my big blog post about him. So he’s definitely forefront in the mind, once I can think of anything but what’s on the immediate road in front of me and my aching body and so forth. And also it’s also the last segment of riding across the state. It’s the second time I’ve done it. It’s a big accomplishment in my book: a lot of hills, a lot of pushing the pedals. But it’s also been a good, worthy undertaking, as has the PMC in general. We’ll see. I’ll reach the finish line, but I won’t immediately post. I’ll probably wait a little bit; get some food and take a shower first, but I will do a voice post after I get into Provincetown, a little later, it’ll probably be mid-afternoon. But this will be a tough hour and a half of riding the last segment. Definitely feeling it, not just physically but also emotionally. That’s it; onward!

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

Well, hi. I’m in Barnstable, and the first 14-15 miles went pretty easily. Very achey, but at least my body is familiar with the things that are gonna be asked of it. Roads are still half and half. It’s very heavy misty fog… not really sprinkling quite yet, but it’s on the verge of it. I’m way in the middle of the pack, so I’m gonna try to move on and get a little bit ahead, although I suspect I’m kinda screwed in that regard. But otherwise doing alright, just eating up the miles. A mixture of being strong and not being strong, so sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not. The next segment is all Route 6A, which is very crowded, narrow, commercial, and trafficky. It’s one of the parts that I like least, so we’ll see how that goes. It’s probably another 15-16 miles, so we’ll see how that goes.

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

Well, I got in around 1 o’clock which is about half an hour later than usual. That whole last segment was pretty much pouring rain with a strong headwind, and it was pretty brutal. And it is continuing to pour here at Mass Maritime in Bourne, although I’m gonna try and […] massage and so forth. […] the prospect that the rain might let up, but I don’t see that happening. Definitely finished the day and the ride, but still have about 10 miles to ride to get to the hotel. But generally just got completely soaked. Just finished my shower which is a good thing, but it’s gonna be kind of pointless. Gonna try to find shelter here […] to do anything. That’s it for now; probably will update you maybe later tonight or first thing in the morning with an update about how things have gone since arrival here. […] but the riding is over for the time being. […]

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

Okay, were in Lakeville now. It is 11:10, which means I’m still about half an hour behind schedule, which puts me finishing around 1pm. We’ve got one more stop in between, which I think is about an hour from now. It went back to a heavy sprinkle and the roads are still very wet. Had some ugliness on a gravel part of a road they had un-paved and turned into a gravel road temporarily. But generally doing okay; my neck and shoulders are aching quite a bit, mostly because of spending a lot of time in the drops, I think. Otherwise things are mostly okay. Not necessarily losing too much power, but I’m back at an aerobic pace. But other than that, still trying to maintain the positive attitude, which is okay. It did cool off a little bit; it’s about 60 degrees right now, which is right about the edge of being comfortable, but I still have the rain jacket if I really need to suit up, but I don’t expect to need it. That’s it from here; generally making progress, although at 84 miles, that means we still have about 26 left to go, so we’ll see how that goes. Gonna take it easy and nurse myself home, and then I’ll have something like 210 miles under my belt of the 290 we have to go. That’s it for now.

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

Okay, I’m at Lakeville [error: actually Franklin]. I synced up with Jay to get my fender and arm warmers, which is good because it started raining about half an hour ago in earnest. It’s steady; it’s not real heavy, but I’m fully soaked. Still gonna forego the rain jacket because it’s warm enough to just deal with it anyway, and it really holds the sweat in. 42 miles in, still got another 70 miles to go. Not feeling bad, doing okay, still in the middle of the group, and will probably stay that way at least until lunch. Generally morale is positive despite the rain, but it’s gonna be a messy, slick ride in. Doing okay, making okay time, but not pushing it. We’ll see how it goes from here, but generally happy.

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

Good morning! It’s a little bit after 5am, and I’m at the PMC start for my 14th and final ride and the weather isn’t bad right now: it’s about 66 degrees, which is surprisingly warm; it was supposed to be much colder. It’s wet and a little sprinkly but the rain really hasn’t arrived yet, and if we’re lucky won’t arrive until midday, and hopefully by then I’ll be pretty close to the end. Still, I’m rigging for foul weather and expecting the worst. So we’ll see how it goes. I’m also pleased that it’s so warm because I left my arm warmers and my rear fender in my friend Jay’s car last night. I’ll pick them up partially along the way at the second water stop. But if it was colder or wetter, I would have missed those this morning, badly. Looking forward to the ride, looking forward to having today over, mostly because of the probably discomfort from the miles in my legs from yesterday, as well as the rain that’s promised. But had a very inspirational opening ceremonies last night; check it out on the web on wbz.com. They have a lot of their stories from the PMC this year online that you can stream. Otherwise, I’m just gonna go line up, wait for a little bit, and then hit the road. I will be posting updates as much as I can, pending the obvious intervention of rain and so forth. Tracking should also be up at this point, so feel free to follow me on that, which is at whereis.ornoth.com. That’s it for now; hopefully my reports will continue to be positive. (laugh)

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

Hi! It’s quarter to four and we’ve just arrived in Sturbridge, after a long ride which included a little bit of rain: a thundershower that just barely clipped us as we rode by. The guys are now in the pond here, cooling off. I’m gonna go into the hotel to register for the next two days’ ride. Overall not a bad day; everybody’s a little bit achey and a little bit sweaty, but we’ll fix that in short order. For me the rest of the day today is getting ready for tomorrow, which is going to involve another 125 miles. But we’re here safe in Sturbridge. Gonna enjoy the rest of the afternoon, get some food, get registered, and will probably check in again tomorrow morning sometime, just before the ride starts at 5:30. This evening also we’ll check out the opening ceremonies here, as well. But that’s it from here, things are generally pretty good: happy with how the ride went and looking forward to tomorrow. So we’ll see how it goes.

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

Well here's the end of weekend wrap-up for Pan-Mass Challenge 2012.

Overall I'm pretty ecstatic right now. The weekend went very well, despite it being a little warm (a surprise in August), and despite my legs being a little achey (a surprise after 200 miles in the saddle). Overall the weekend went fabulously.

The ride was again very inspiring and just an incredible experience. I love riding out here on the cape and just spending time out here. And having biked all the way from Sturbridge makes it kind of a special little pilgrimage.

And then on top of that, having shared a lot of the ride -- especially Day 2 -- with Jay, my buddy who's moving away... who completed his own trek across the state, having started at the New York border Friday morning. I was glad to share that with him. It was the first time he'd done that. And also with him moving away, it was a nice kind of farewell.

And then on top of all that, when I left the house on Friday I had not yet raised $9,000 this year, which was one of my goals. I thought it was an ambitious goal... but to have surpassed $10,000 total over the course of the weekend really was special. It was humbling. I have raised $10,000 or more on 2 previous years, but still to do that over the weekend, and to be able to cross the finish line... I'm certain this was the first time I'd raised that much by the end of the ride. So that was extremely special.

And that's a teastament to the support I get from a lot of very special people who are willing to give up some chunk of money to help everyone. From the riders, to the volunteers, to the people who line the route: everyone is just effusive with their thanks for this ride, which is a major, major event, raising more than 60 percent of what the Jimmy Fund raises every year. So it's a very important part of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and for that -- and for all of that -- I thank you for your support. it means a lot to me, and it really matters to a lot of people. That's the one thing that I take home from this event every year.

That's a wrap for 2012! Stay tuned for my ride writeup and other postride debriefs. And then I'll be sending out another note when the check is presented, which I beleive is the first weekend in November.

A very successful event, and again thank you for all your support. It's very much appreciated, and kind of superlative, so thank you!

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

Hello, hello! It is now 9:07 and I'm at Wellfleet, which is the last stop before the final segment to Provincetown! Now mind you there's still 21 miles left to bike, and there's some damned big hills in Truro and then there's the exposed Route 6 that we take into Provincetown and then we go out around Race Point in the sand dunes. So there's a lot of hard riding yet to go, but it's the last segment.

I'm feeling pretty strong and still averaging about 18 miles per hour, which is pretty high for day two and high in general. Also kind of strange: my heart rate hasn't really broken 80 percent at all. I'm not sure whether that's faulty electronics or whether my body has adjusted that much. It's kind strange; usually when I'm biking I'm around 85, sometimes 90-95 percent on exertions, so I won't argue. I still feel strong; I don't feel weak or anything, so whatever.

The last segment from Brewster was interesting. We got onto the bike path and it was still overcast. But it had just burned off and the sun came out when boom! we had a sun shower! So that was kind of interesting. It really came down for a few minutes and lightly for several minutes. So that was kind of nice and cooling. I had to stop and take care of the electronics, but that's why I carry Baggies. It was kind of nice and refreshing but it increased out moisture.

With the fog burning off, now it's just brilliant sun and very few clouds, so I think it's gonna warm up, although it's still only in the 70s here on the cape. So it looks like we're gonna be in good shape to finish without any crazy storms or heat or humidty or anything; the wind's the only question.

That's it; I'll probably make a short post in Provincetown just to get you caught up. Provincetown has chronically bad cell phone coverage, so usually when I send updates from there they don't get through very well, so I'll keep it brief in Provincetown. But then I'll have one more update very much later, at the end of Sunday, with a little bit more of a weekend debrief.

Right now I'm extremely happy. Again, having made $10,000, it really means a lot to me and it'll mean a lot as I cross the finish line, and it'll help me get over those last 21 miles of hills and valleys and wind and so forth!

I feel strong and it's been a really good ride, and it's ending very, very well. I'm real happy and wish you could be here because it's a beautiful day out on the cape, now that the fog has blown off. I will talk to you soon!

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

Okay, we are in Barnstable and it's something like ten minutes of seven.

I hooked up with Jay, as he had passed me, but I caught up with him on the rollers as he'd stopped to visit one of the medical trucks: nothing major.

It's not really warm, but it's incredibly humid. The water is just pouring off me in streams, which is not typical: I'm not someone who sweats very much. It's just ridiculously humid. The good news is that the sun is still down, or buried behind this fog bank we're in, so no major issues as far as sun exposure goes! Maybe that will change over the course of the day.

We're kind of in the middle of the pack. On Sunday there's no organized start, so people start whenever, so we're in the middle of the pack, but that doesn't matter as much today. It's important on Saturday, so I can get in get an early massage and shower. But on Sunday it's more laid back, and there isn't any real need to get to Provincetown early.

I'm kind of just enjoying the ride. The legs are ultimately pretty good a little weak-achey, but we'll ride into that, and it's supposed to be, after 140 miles! Doing pretty well and just hanging out with Jay, this probably being our last ride together. So I'm just enjoying the ride and the fact that I've broken all expectations as far as fundraising this year, which is a testment to you guys.

That's it, gonna try and get some water and hit the road and see how much more sweat I can generate! The next stop is in Brewster, which'll be maybe an hour, maybe a little more than an hour, which puts us around 8:00 or 8:15.