Mindset

Day Eight – Lewiston to Kamiah

August 28, 2025 0 comments

As I rode today, I thought about the key elements to manage on this ride – or any ride. Of course, given that we are spending hours on a bike, we have nothing but time to think about these things.

I realized that there are four key elements to manage. There are several other uncontrollable elements like the weather, road conditions, etc… But, if you can focus on those within your control and establish a system of managing them, it makes the ride manageable and comfortable in spite of its challenges.

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Day Seven – Walla Walla to Lewiston

August 27, 2025 0 comments

Today’s ride was a bit intimidating on paper. It was 99 miles with three uphill inclines. There were only 4 climbs, but the last climb was punchy at mile 97 running through to mile 99 after a long day. What was on paper, however, and what happened in real life […]

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Day Six – Hermiston to Walla Walla

August 26, 2025 0 comments

On paper, some days don’t look terrible. But paper doesn’t always tell the story. Today was a 71 mile ride from Hermiston to Walla Walla. The ride was mostly uphill with a few small climbs. Overall, not a bad day. I didn’t feel great by the end of the day as we rolled into Walla Walla for the last 5 miles. I’m not sure what it was but I felt spent and tired. My stomach didn’t feel great. Will need to do some tweaking of my eating tomorrow.

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Day Five – Condon to Hermiston

August 25, 2025 1 comment

The theme of today that stood out most was cycling as a team sport. Many think that cycling is an individual sport and that you hop on your bike and ride alone. In many cases, that is true. There are times on this ride that this is how the day plays out. We all have different strengths and abilities. Oddly, there are times when you feel surprisingly strong or surprisingly tired for no reason. What we each understand as individual riders on this trip is that you ride your own ride. If someone rides ahead or drops back – that’s okay. You will meet up or catch up at the next rest stop.

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Day Four – Hood River to Condon

August 25, 2025 2 comments

Today’s ride was to be one of the hardest we will have. No question. It was 94 miles of hard. The elevation map above tells the story. We climbed 7800 miles today with most of it in the second half of the ride. It was hot. It was uncomfortable. It was a ride to test one’s fortitude and grit. I’m pleased to say that I finished this ride in spite of it being the hardest 94 miles I’ve ridden in my life.

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Day Three – Portland to Hood River

August 23, 2025 2 comments

Today’s ride was 73 miles which, on paper, would seem easier than yesterday. It wasn’t. Today’s ride was more difficult as a result of the heat, a solid climb early in the ride – as well as one that came later in the ride that wasn’t anticipated and more challenging […]

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Day Two – Astoria to Portland

August 22, 2025 3 comments

The morning part of the ride was spectacular. We rode a two-lane road most of the way through majestically towering trees lining the roads on either side. There were spectacular vistas punctuating the route. Beautiful as it was, it wasn’t easy. There were gentle and not so gentle climbs, so my Strava and legs tell me.

The climb we faced around roughly 63 miles end was never ending. We would come around a corner and see it taunting us having just jumped out from hiding behind the trees. Sadly, we already knew it was coming as our Garmin bike computers were showing us the elevation ahead. As luck would have it, it was on a fairly open and sunny portion of the ride with very little shade to be found. To add insult to injury, there were times the wind picked up to add to the fun.

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Empowering encouragement and humanness

August 21, 2025 0 comments

Throughout the training period as I readied myself to launch into the ride today – TODAY, the encouraging texts from friends and family have been amazing. As the departure date has drawn near and I began to share where I’d be posting updates, photos and all things ride related, the support from people I know has been both heart-warming and empowering. I’m sure some will follow because they believe the idea is somewhat crazy, but will cheer me on from the sidelines, nonetheless. Having that support has reminded me of the power of encouragement and importance of our humanness.

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My Misogi for 2025… actually two.

August 19, 2025 0 comments

At some point in the last couple of years, I stumbled upon an idea shared by Jesse Itzler – the idea of Misogi. It encompasses embarking on an annual defining challenge that pushes your physical and mental limits. Ideally, by doing so, you achieve a sense of accomplishment, self-esteem and resilience. While fascinated by the idea, I had never put the concept into action – until now. My Portland to Portland trip is my 2025 Misogi.

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Training Update – March 17-23, 2025

March 27, 2025 0 comments

This was the first week in some time where I have had a day off from training. Right now, I train 7 days a week – and most of those days have two training sessions with the exception of one or two but they tend to have one longer session. […]

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