Spokes & Stuff.

I had (apparently) ambitious plans to write a post for every day of the Anchor House ride this year. As it turns out, when you haven't done much training, you get tired and aimless after riding seventy miles before tea time. Between swimming, Riverhorsing at the Yellow Truck, showering, and going to dinner, I just didn't have enough extended focus to even get a single post up. Allow me to try and summarize.

The only thing my great American road trip prepared me for was the six hour bus ride down. Easiest part of the week for me, by far. I chuckled at everyone's complaints. Don't they know six hour car drives are nothing? Hell, I had two bus seats to myself! Straight up lounging!

Day 1, on Sunday, was forecasted to be ridiculously hot. We left accordingly, at 6am, and saw the sunrise coming up above the road in the first five miles. Virginia (& Pennsylvania later) are full of rollers, which are short up & down-hills in quick sequence. There's a trick to riding them that has to do with gear shifting, but I didn't pick back up on that until about 30 or 40 miles in. While the official high was 102F, some folks had their GPS' reading 104, 106, and I heard as high as 110F. Hot hot heat.


We woke up on Day 2 on Monday to a fairly solid rainstorm. Great news, especially considering we had our first decent climb to do before the first sag. I looked wistfully at a gas station as we rode by in the rain, thinking of a hot cup of coffee, pillows, a book, and the back seat of a Subaru Forrester. Luckily for us, it stopped raining by sag one, and roads were drying up by sag two. The rain blew out most of the heat as well, giving us reasonable temperatures for the rest of the week. It wasn't even sunny enough for me to acquire the classic mesh-net glove tan spots on my hands!

Cool monument at the top of a long climb.

To be frank, the rest of the week just tends to blend together. When rolling thru Frederick, MD (end of Day 3), my Pops & I got some home-cooking from my cousin Jenny, who lives close by in Hagerstown. Crab chicken, potatoes, squash, zucchini, and New Belgium brews... mmm, mmm. Day 4 took us thru the Gettysburg battlefield, which is a solemn but interesting place. We went to the Lancaster Brewing Company for dinner on Day 5, where my Pops, Carmen, and I sampled their thirteen different beers on tap. We had the pleasure of riding with Dick's brother Paul on Day 6, who lives in the area around Lancaster, PA. He rode with us two years ago as well, when we did the same route, but I fell early in the day and rode slow with my Pops for the remainder of that day. This fall was the one that scarred my left forearm a bit, and (more tragically) ripped a hole in my Hoagie Haven shirt. This time around, the intersection was paved over and much less treacherous. 

Having said that, I'm very grateful that I made it through the ride this year without any falls (or flats). Our huge sample size does mean that there are a few falls and injuries, but nothing too serious. The memory of Doug McCune hung strong over the ride this year, as we rode in memorial of Doug on Tuesday and colored the annual ride shirts purple.

I did manage to finally get myself a Riverhorse t-shirt this year, for some creative "jersey-making" on Wednesday. Long story short: I stuck a beer label on my chest, posing as a jersey, and got Mike Quinn to donate another $10 to the House. That story got told to all the riders at our banquet Friday night when I got my shirt. That marks my first time being called up at the banquet/truck, and it was only minorly embarrassing by my account.

The old adage on the Anchor House ride goes: "Once you've finished the ride, you're finally in shape to do the ride." It felt no truer than on Day 7. When we rode out at 8am, my butt didn't scream out in pain when I sat down on the saddle. What is this world coming to?! The 50 miles on the last day felt like a breeze. There was a nice picnic at the Dutko residence, and then we rode untraditionally to Lawrenceville Prep football field, since I guess Quakerbridge Mall is undergoing renovations. 

Picnic!

If you're desperate for more detail than I'm giving, I've got some good options for you. The man himself, Ken Carlson, has been doing a blog for the ride, and he actually posted things during the week. (What a guy!) He's got a whole bunch of great photos he took along the routes every day. Check it out here: http://kcanchorride2012.blogspot.com If you prefer a more distinguished and professional approach, journalist Krystal Knapp has been chronicling the ride for Planet Princeton. Her page is full of sharp photos from the ride photographers, courtesy of Jeanne Imbrigiotta. Give their page a scroll, or search 'Anchor House' for each and every article. If you're curious about the route, elevation, or grades of the path we took from Staunton to Pennington, the Ride has put together some awesome Google-Maps-like views of each day thru RidewithGPS.com. Click thru here to check out the GPS "files".

According to the count yesterday, the Ride raised around $385,000 for the House this year. This is great news, but the lower rider turnout means that we raised a little bit less than in years past. So, if you feel like making a tax-deductible donation, do it! I'm still closing in on my minimum. So go here and donate. Do it! Dooo it.

Overall, a great ride. Fun people, fun places, good riding. My lack of training didn't hurt me too bad.. definitely got stronger as the week went on. There were a bunch more young folks on the ride this year, which makes things fun at the sag stops and in the evenings. If I've inspired you into thinking about doing the ride, start checking the ride website in January for the application. (I know how inspiring I can be.) Next year will be my fifth year on the ride. That'll be me, a wily veteran of 22 years old! Maybe I should learn how to change my own flat before I get my five year plaque...

EDIT: Oh, and apparently my Pops and I made the front page of the Trentonian?

Celebrity status.