May 6. 

Put in four great weeks of cycling: 2 here in Ohio and 2 in the Black Forest. I did all of these rides on the 29er, which is like heaven to ride on up in the mountains of Pennsylvania. No need to even use the front shock with such big, beefy tires. I just locked the thing out 6 weeks ago, and hadn't the need to go back yet. This is definitely the ticket for our TransCan trip.

My Black Forest weekend with Judy was spectacular, with temps in the 70's and 80's for our cycling. We ended up doing 2 rides on the Rails To Trails along Pine Creek, and 2 rides up in the mountains. Pure Paradise! Finish that out with a trip to the Hotel Manor for dinner and drinks and it was a memorable weekend trip.

I've worked my way through the 15-hr weeks, up to 20-hr weeks, and finally up a 30-hour week last week. Feel pretty good, save for maybe 2 nice little raw spots on my butt, right along the sit bones. Good thing for Body Glide (during the riding) and Aquaphor (post riding), as my butt is feeling back to normal again. Now it's time to back it down in volume and get all the rest of the logistical stuff taken care of. I'll shoot for about a 12-15  hr week this week, and 12 or so for next week. On our final week I think I'll be down to 8 or so hrs on my 26-inch mt bike while we pack our 29er rigs into shipping boxes for our 5/23 departure. 

Almost all the gear is ordered and set to arrive in the next couple of days. Still need to take care of some of the battery needs - extra computer and Nikon camera batteries. We're taking a LOT of gear on this trip, especially with respect to electronic equipment. Hell we're a freaking mobile communications system on two wheelers for goodness sake!

Jerry is going to help me finalize my Mac laptop for the trip by getting most all of my desktop software transfered for me to be able to do my Excelincycling website while on the road. This will also enable me to send pictures to some of our sponsors, to newspapers and back to Jerry to upload on the 4thehealthofit website. I also put Skype, on and will encourage others to install this free software for audio-visual communication with me for my coaching duties. 

Coming down to the wire.........Pete Gladden