1:15AM Monday, July 19th, Chez GearMan
Hiya Kids,
Well, I got home from work around 4PM and decided to take a little nap- And woke up 7 hours later… I wonder if what they say about “Not being able to catch up on a sleep debt” is true, or just a ploy to get more Government funding… Either way, my body tends to disagree with their findings.
I can’t tell you how nice it is to be back at work, where I can relax, but I already miss all you bastids with your over-packed suitcases and thirst for all things carbonated- whether fermented or not.
Some fun, but useless facts: The water coolers (The tall ones) hold 20 pounds of ice, the Gatorade coolers (The shorter ones) hold 35 pounds of ice, and the small ice chests hold 50 pounds- With this in mind, I estimate that we used between 3,500 and 4,000 pounds of ice last week. We also went through roughly 500 gallons of water, 40 cases of soda, (Mostly diet coke) and about 60 cases of beer… When you consider that we didn’t really do much drinking the last couple days, that’s not bad! The beer fund topped out at around $1,600, and once I tally up how much was left over and came home with me, I’ll figure out how much $ was left in the beer fund and donate that back to the ADA along with the $40 from my training ride BBQ this June.
We ended up with four cases of oranges and a couple watermelons left over, and I have to drop them by the local church’s food pantry later this AM- It’s not often they get fresh fruit because they don’t have the storage for perishables, but Pastor Paul manages to make sure it gets to those who need it.
Well, this got long quick… I’m going to go rustle up a sammich, and see if I can get some more of my computer pieced back together… It’d be GREAT if I could remember what I have for a sound card- Videos aren’t much fun with no audio…
More to come as I think of it!
Keep the wind at your back, and the downhills in front of you,
GearMan

Hiya Gang,
While I had every intention of doing a post last night, my C: drive had different ideas…
“Windows setup has determined that drive C: is corrupt and cannot be repaired”.
That was the message I received when trying to boot from the windows CD ROM. The good news is, I have a set of recovery disks, the bad news is, I haven’t updated them in about a year- So I’m going to have to see if I can find someone that can save all my files and photos from binary purgatory.
Last night was about 5 hours of reinstalling to the H: drive, rebuilding my network connections, finding drivers, and hunting for CD’s for other hardware still MIA in my machine.
The hard part is remembering which sound card, which NIC card, which adapters… This is going to take a while.
But I’m back up and running on duct tape and bubble gum, so if I don’t get something up this AM, it’ll be later today, when I get home from work.
Keep the wind at your back, and the downhills in front of you,
GearMan

Friday, Day 7, 7:17 PM Chez GearMan
Hiya gang!
Sorry for no post this AM, but I tried to log onto the guest network four times in vain, before I had to beat feet, as all the riders were already on the route-
I’ll be updating the page over the weekend, (I have to work on Saturday and Sunday for a total of about 10 hours, and also drop off the remaining oranges and watermelons to the local food pantry, as well as the typical “Home from an 8 day vacation” stuff.Time will be tight, but I’ll be doing it here and there- So keep checking back, and tell your friends, family and sponsors to keep checking back too!
Right now, there’s a big lake and a cold six-pack (Of diet coke until I’m off the antibiotics… ((More in one of those updates)) calling my name…
Followed by a soft pillow in my own bed.
Keep the wind at your back, and the downhills in front of you,
GearMan

Thursday, Day 6, Franklin Pierce University, Ridge, NH 11:15 PM
Hiya sports fans!
We had our final awards ceremony tonight, as it’s our last night together as a group. Personal prizes for the volunteers (Including Dunkin Dounuts Gift cards from an anonymous rider), prizes for the riders from the volunteers, prizes from riders to riders- Lots of fun and prizes for all!
Then, we headed to the truck for the final raffle of the year, as well as a cash raffle of a much coveted “Hub Bicycle Co” T-shirt that was donated by Emily, the owner of Hub, for a fundraiser- some prizes including t-shirts from sponsors, or bought by riders, some $20 scratch tickets, a great gift bag donated by John Pisketti, and all kinds of promotional stuff.
It’s sad… In roughly 18 hours it will all be over for another 51 weeks. The best vacation a cyclist (Or volunteer) could hope for… Finished. “Summer Camp for Adults”… Closed. “A caravan of crazies”… Disbanded. Your new favorite riding buddy… Not sitting with you at breakfast.
Why does it have to end?
GearMan

Thursday, day 6 Franklin Pierce University, 2:45 PM
Greetings sports fans,
We’ve got about half the riders in, and the rest are coming strong. They enjoyed a shopping break at Rest Stop 2, Vermont Country store for unique food and gift items, and then again at Rest stop 3, Norm’s ski and bike. Spouses, you should expect a discussion about getting a new bke at some point.The college is hosting a hand-made canoe show that is open to the public with live demo’s, and people actually building wooden canoes as we speak. Pretty cool toi watch. We’re going to have our annual awards ceremony after dinner, then then the final rffle of the year, which will a big one.
I’m going to take a shower now, I smell worse than the shoe-bucket.
Stay tuned!
GearMan

Thursday, day 6 Killington, VT 7:55 AM
Mornin’ sports fans!
The riders were up early, and raring to go- Everyone was on the road around 7:30. We’ve got another beautiful ride in store as we cross from VT into NH, and run alongside the Connecticut River for many miles. The only bad thing about spending the entire AM descending into the CT river valley, is that you have to spend the PM climbing back out of it!
Well, I have to say good-bye to the Lodge’s mascots- Louise and Otto- Two St. Bernards with a combined weight of 340 pounds… They’re usually pretty easy to find, just sleeping around the lodge, expecting you to either step over them, or go around.
More to come later, have a great day! I know we will!
Keep the wind at your back, and the downhills i front of you,
GearMan

Wednesday, 10:10 PM, Killington, VT
Hiya sports fans!
Well, today is another one for the history books, and it was another beautiful day. We had beautiful scenery, challenging climbs, and FUN!
While stopped for lunch, Kevin S reportedly had one of the loudest blow-outs in recorded history- Some people thought it was a rifle shot, it was just that loud!
The riders are holding up well, which just proves how their training plan worked. There are a couple sore knees, a sore wrist and a whole buncha sore backsides.
There was only one medical issue today, and it was ME. No, not a result of my late-night stroll, but s tooth that I knew was going to need a root canal in the future. Let’s just say that the dinner of grilled steak and chicken, and some wonderful summer salads was a little difficult to chew.
Since Nancy is nice enough to have her birthday on the NEC every year, we all find it an appropriate in-kind gesture to sing “Happy Birthday” and embarrass her publicly- Well this year, we mixed it up a little, and all the guys donned sunglasses and sang “You’ve lost that loving feeling’ as we surrounded her in the hotel bar during dinner. I saw at least one video camera phone capturing the occasion, maybe I’ll be able to link it here.
OK I’m going to take advantage of an early evening to get a nice loooooooong shower, and hopefully enough sleep that I won’t be wandering the halls in my boxers again anytime soon.
Keep the wind at your back, and the downhills in front of you,
GearMan

Hiya sports fans,
We had a BEAUTIFUL ride today, although Rte 100 was a little lumpy- but I have the number of a great dry cleaners that will iron that right out for a reasonable price.
They hit rest stop 2, then hit the wall called Killington: over 1,000 feet of elevation gain in roughly 8 miles… Quite the climb!
My adventures last night were the talk of breakfast… Apparently, I went for a little walk in the hallways at 12: 30 AM. not that there’s anything unusual about taking a late-night walk in a hotel, what’s unusual is when you do it in your boxers. Asleep.
Yes sports fans, I woke up walking the halls of the Capitol Plaza hotel, didn’t know which room was mine, and after checking every door on the floor, to see if one of them was unlocked, and maybe even mine, I had to go to the front desk to find out. I’m just glad it was a guy on the desk.
Well, I had to take a break in the middle of writing this for an ice and med run, it’s dinnertime.
More later!
Keep the wind at your back and the downhills in front of you,
GearMan

Wednesday, day 5, 8:30 AM
Well, most of the riders are on the road, and on their way to Killington, for the shortest day of the trip.
65 miles. Many will treat this as a recovery day, others will treat it as an excuse to continue punishing themselves. “My arm fell off yesterday, and I really shouldn’t ride today, but it’s ONLY 65 miles…”
Our hotel tonight is on the access road to the ski resort, so it’s a WHALE of a climb for the last 5 miles or so- I don’t know who it was that decided ski resorts should be in the mountains, but that’s where they put them.
A quick shower for me, then it’s southbound and down.
Keep the wind at your back, and the downhills in front of you,
GearMan.