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My bike demands to sleep in the bed from now on.	My bike reluctantly allows me to stay in the bed, too.	Cheryl and I bond with our bikes.

Our first day off! I tried to sleep in, but could only make it to about 8:00 - very unusual for me. My friend Dale came to the hotel in Braintree to join me and the other riders for the continental breakfast and drive me to Boston for the day. It seemed strange for a friend from high school to be meeting my friends from the bike trip - like worlds colliding. Nonetheless, I was excited for someone from the outside to witness firsthand the life I've been living for the last week.

Most of the riders took the free day to go into Boston and visit a good bike shop. You might think that would be the last place cyclists would visit on their first day off, but we're still in the process of outfitting ourselves for this ride. Only now do we have an accurate sense of what gear and clothes we need. Plus, we've had no free time to visit a bike shop yet, and no vehicle to get around in other than the bikes themselves. It's a pretty controlled environment. So the escapees were more happy to direct the van to the bike shop than to the sights of Boston. The most purchased item was high-end bike shorts: quick-drying, soft-chamois, sleek-lycra Pearl Izumis, to be specific. They cost around $75.

I didn't go with the group. I had Dale. She had taken the day off of work for the sole purpose of being my personal chauffeur around Boston. I'm generally against servitude and felt guilty, but took her up on the offer nonetheless. After all, she had three things I had been deprived of for a whole week: a car, a washer-dryer, and working knowledge of the surrounding area. I needed her.

We started out from Braintree towards Boston in her car with all my dirty laundry in tow. We stopped along the way to hike a little path in a park to see a great view of Boston from a distance, including the harbor islands (didn't know they existed). Oddly, although I thought I'd be in super mondo good shape from all that biking, my legs were tired going up the hill. Dale, on the other hand, was walking in 2-inch high platform sandals and seemed fine. Just goes to show what different muscles biking and hiking use.

Next we stopped for lunch at a great Indian restaurant called Bhukara in Jamaica Plain (a neighborhood of Boston). We also looked for sunglasses to replace the Briko biking glasses I recently broke when I caught them on my backpack while flinging it into the van. No luck. After that, it was on to the real mission: laundry. I was so excited to have a suitcase full of clean clothes. Unfortunately, Dale's 1900s farm house apartment had no air conditioning. Although the entire summer in Boston has been chilly, today it was humid, muggy and in the 90s. The inside of Dale's house was in the 100s. Just the act of washing clothes was making me sweat through my remaining clean clothes. Sauna-like heat isn't a problem in San Francisco, so I was not prepared for how lethargic it would make me. All my plans to run around Boston went out the window with the few molecules of cold air that escaped when I opened Dale's freezer to get out some ice. I napped (while Dale ran some errands), finished the laundry, visited another friend from law school, then went to dinner with Dale at a local Cuban restaurant.

Accomplishments for the day: Clean clothes. Catching up with Dale and my other friend Juliet. Getting my fill of ethnic food.

 

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31	Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30	Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword
Saturday, September 2

We started again at about 7 am from Braintree. We were joined by our honorary team member for the week, Dan Grosso. He is a sales representative from Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a Johnson & Johnson company. J & J is our principal sponsor. We were also joined for the day by several local Rhode Island biking club members, who had planned our route, and members of the Leukemia Society's Team In Training, including 3 couples on tandem bikes.

We had an event in Pascoag, Rhode Island to attend in the early afternoon, so we had to hustle a little. "Hustling" for us means keeping some food on our bikes instead of stopping to graze from the van every 15 minutes, and refraining from casting the bikes to the side of the road to pee every time we get the urge. We have actually come to prefer woodsy areas over gas stations for potty breaks - the woods are much cleaner, more abundant, and quicker, although less private. So far, no one has peed on anyone's lawn, although some temptation at urgent moments has had to be quelled by fellow team members. (Despite the lack of pronouns in that last sentence, please know that I was never tempted to water anyone's lawn.)

Speaking of hustling, just before we got to the Pascoag blood drive, we all stopped at an apple orchard for a photo op and some delicious fresh apples and peaches. There were people all around but no bathrooms, so we had to get out of there pretty quick.

Intermittently throughout the morning, then more as we arrived in Pascoag, it rained. This was my first time to ride in rain. It wasn't too bad. I slowed down and took hills more slowly (downhill, that is - the uphills are always taken slowly). I had to pump the brakes a little to clear the water off. My sunglasses were too dark for the overcast day, so I had to take them off and blink constantly to keep the rain out of my eyes.

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Marsha Lewsley tries to clean her bike before the day's ride.	At the apple orchard on the way to Pascoag, Rhode Island.	Our gang plus local riders on a fire engine in Pascoag, R.I.

We got a great reception at the Pascoag blood drive. (If you ever pass through there and want to be hip, don't pronounce the "g" at the end.) People stood outside in the rain and clapped when we arrived. They had a fire engine come through the circular drive for photo ops. The food was great: tuna rolls (a "roll" is a New England term for a sandwich of a scoop of mayonnaised seafood in a sliced open soft bun), pasta, fresh fruit, great cookies and banana bread. I met a fellow kidney transplant recipient who is running for state senate seat. He told me that although it is a very small town, Pascoag boasts 4 people who have recently received gifts of one of the 5 points of life.

It got very cold and started raining like crazy when we were leaving. We contemplated a team bailout. About half of us got in the van. I joined 5 of the guys for the next 20 miles to the border of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The guys gave me some respect as the lone girl who toughed it out, but from a Darwinian perspective, the respect was unmerited. We took lots of silly photos of ourselves at the signs welcoming us to one state and bidding us farewell from another, while the other girls wisely slept in the van. As Marsha Lewsley put it, in her always -subject-to-another-interpretation way: "I don't need to see every piece of asphalt on this route."

We made one stop at a very local convenience store by the name of Beno's because Ed Hoovler needed a Gatorade. We waited for him outside. He came out with the Gatorade and a 6-pack of beer --- one for each of us. We saluted him and his wise and generous purchase. We noted that cigarettes were advertised on the signboard outside Beno's too, should we be inclined to start picking up multiple bad habits. Beer and cigs are related to at least one of the 5 Points of Life, after all.

We learned some sad news upon arriving in Torrington. Nancy Davis's dad and a close friend (the maid of honor at her wedding, although male) both died today. Her dad was very sick. The friend had diabetes and had not taken good care of himself. He was on dialysis and eventually had to have both legs amputated above the knees. Nancy will go to her dad's funeral in Minneapolis next week, and come back to join the team after a few days. We will miss her a lot. Despite losing her son to pulmonary hypertension when he was just 5 years old, and now losing her father and a close friend, she is always a bright spot of sunshine and laughter in everyone's day.

On a brighter note, our hotel for the night is a very nice Comfort Inn. It has an indoor pool and jacuzzi - our first real luxuries! Some of us stormed the jacuzzi immediately, and relaxed our muscles for the first time since we started riding. We've had no massages, no masseuses, no aromatherapy. Yes, we have 3 support vehicles, all the food we could possibly want, and clean comfortable hotels every night, but apart from those things we are really roughing it.

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When Cheryl and I walked past the laundry facilities, we both automatically gasped and whooped. It's like parking in San Francisco - you get excited about a great parking space, even if you don't need it.

The support team brought in food from a local Italian restaurant, and we all ate in the bar area together.

Statistics:

Total miles: 75.
Average speed: around 13 mph.

 

We started from Sturbridge, Massachusetts around 7:45 am. I'm growing very fond of the dialect of this part of Massachusetts. It's like being on the set of the National Public Radio show Car Talk with Click and Clack all the time. When we were accompanied by local riders and a car was coming from behind, they would alert us by yelling, "CAH!" like a crow. I get a chuckle out of that phrase every time I repeat it. My teammates were getting a chuckle out of it too for the first several times I used it, but I think they are tired of hearing it now. They don't even pretend to humor me any more.

As we headed out from the hotel on our bikes, we passed a dead deer on the side of the road. As I rode by it, I did a double take. Someone had put a bumper sticker on the side of the deer from the organ donation education table at yesterday's event. It said, "Organ Donation: Give the gift of life." At the time, under the circumstances, it was funny in a sick, makes-you-groan, bad pun sort of way. Turns out our dear support guy, JD, was the culprit.

[click to enlarge]  One of the many monster hills we climbed in Connecticut.

We rode the very hilly, but gorgeous Berkshires in Connecticut today. We saw farmlands with pumpkin patches and corn fields, red barns and green pastures, a billy goat and lots and lots of dead frogs - all upside down for some unknown reason. It was a long day with no event in the middle, so for once the team got pretty spread out after the first few hours. But before we got too separated, support team member Karen Rhodenizer (a former cheerleader, but never a sorority girl) stopped in an authentic French bakery in Stafford, Connecticut and bought incredible pastries for our mid-morning nourishment and we rode by.

JD did lots of videotaping throughout the day. He would drive ahead in the support van, then film us as we rode by. He got very artsy with camcorder in one hand, cigarette in other, hat turned backwards, crouched in the road. Paparazzi are A-OK.

While the support vans were feeding and filming us, the trailer, Big Belly, got lost and ended up in Massachusetts. Actually, it got lost and ended up in Massachusetts yesterday, too. No joke. I am beginning to think we are riding in circles on a small island surrounded by a sea of Massachusetts on all side. Lucky I like their accent so much.

I rode either alone or with Ed Hoovler most of the time. We did lots and lots of hills. Around 1 pm, we realized we hadn't seen either of the support vans for miles, and we knew Big Belly was lost. We started thinking there would be no lunch for us, and that the vans must be busy behind us helping other riders. Ed had no food on him; I had 4 Power Gels. I gave him half of them just in case we got separated and needed fuel. We felt ill-prepared and suddenly near starvation. We got a little panicky and cranky without our vans to fix us sandwiches. We both used some expletives to describe the support. Clearly, we were on the verge of disaster. We stopped at the top of one hill for a final "meal" of double caffeinated Power Gel and water. Ed gagged his gel down. He doesn't believe gel is food, and had never tried it before. I believe it is manna.

Just as we were reaching the point of utter despair, around 2:30 pm, Big Belly pulled up and saved us. We ate the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ever prepared by a bike mechanic, drank cold grape juice and celebrated the rescue. Life was good again.

We rode a little over 90 miles total. We had been told that today would only be about 80 or 85 miles. So I had not saved any energy for those last 5 or 10, and they were particularly brutal. But this is not new. In fact, there has been a spate of mileage underrepresentation over the past several days. I'm not naming names or saying that's wrong. But it is sort of like being told at a restaurant that you will be seated in 10 minutes, then having to wait 30. To compensate, we are now adopting the basic assumption that every day is 103 miles. That way, anything less is a relief.

We had dinner in Torrington, Connecticut at an Italian restaurant near the Super 8 Motel where we stayed. The restaurant was only a few blocks away, but my feet hurt so much from riding that I got in a van to go there.

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	A warm welcome as the Five Points team arrives at State Farm Sept. 6.	Me speaking at State Farm

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31	Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30	Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword
Monday, September 4

We rode 81 very hilly miles today from Torrington, CT to New Paltz, NY. I can't recall that much about it right now, except that it was long and hilly and we had stayed up late the night before for something. I was exhausted and sleep deprived to start. The scenery was beautiful, and we were on some nice deserted rural back country roads. As usual, I started the day by standing up to ride the hills, motoring up them at a pretty good clip in a medium gear. By around noon, I was sitting down and pedaling weakly in my lowest gear. And the hills just kept on coming.

At the end of the day, we were escorted by police over the Hudson River on the Kingston Bridge. The bridge was under construction, and most lanes were closed off. Access to the bridge was restricted and often delayed, and we had to get advance approval from a local congressman to cross on our bikes. It was incredibly windy on the bridge - even worse than the windiest day I've ever experienced riding over the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. We were all leaning as hard as we could into the wind towards the north to avoid getting blown over to the south (and into the oncoming traffic). There were whitecaps on the Hudson. It was a long way down. The bridge was at least a mile or two long. The wind came in gusts sometimes. The whole thing felt just a tad precarious -- but actually, Mom, it was quite safe. After all, we did have a police escort.

Shortly after the Hudson crossing, we arrived at the evening event: a blood drive at the local VFW building. I took off my bike helmet in the bathroom and, as usual, looked frightful. Not wanting to scare the blood donors, I have taken to either wearing my helmet throughout an event, or wetting my hair down so it almost looks like I just washed it. I don't carry a comb with me, since I know I can always borrow the one Ed Hoovler uses one to hold up the back part of his hair (he's bald on top with a ZZ Top style beard). We mingled with the blood donors for a while before hunkering down to barbeque. I was talking to a woman who just gave blood when she said she was feeling bad and needed to lie down. I knew from my time on dialysis that fainting might come next, so I quickly grabbed her arm and had John Nothnagel help me lead her to a gurney so she could lie down.

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The experience made me remember the 5 years I spent on dialysis, dealing with low blood pressure, feeling weak in the knees, and generally not too well after each dialysis session. I felt extra grateful that a 17-year old boy who died of a gunshot wound to the head donated his kidney to me, so that I could be the one helping instead of the one needing help. Thanks again, donor and donor family! Donor family, if you're reading this, thanks again for consenting to donate your son's organs. I hope we can meet someday. Your son's gift changed my life forever, and the lives of all the people around me.

The event was still some 20 miles from the hotel. We had the option to go there by van or by bike. I was utterly and totally exhausted, and opted for the van. So did the rest of the women and Frank. The other guys seemed to be leaning toward going in the van too. But after they had discussed the matter further, I looked out of the van and saw them mounting their bikes and riding out of the parking lot. What a testosterone fest, I thought. They must have pressured each other into a macho show of riding. The fools.

However, the boys showed up on their bikes not long after we checked in to the hotel. As it turned out, they had noticed that the wind on the Kingston Bridge was blowing from the north. The 20 mile ride was due south, on a road that followed the river. The boys had decided to take advantage of the incredible tailwinds they knew would push them along. And a tailwind they got. They did 20 miles in under 45 minutes - a record pace on our ride.

At the beginning of the day, I challenged the group to generate our own events, in addition to the scheduled events - like when people spot us in our jerseys and ask what we are doing. As it turned out, I was so exhausted from the riding that I did not create any events. Others did, though, and called them "spontaneous events." Now we're calling them "s.e.'s". Whenever someone gets delayed or holds up the group explaining our ride to a stranger, we celebrate the s.e.

 

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword

Tuesday, September 5

Today was a relatively short day. We only rode 44 miles, from New Paltz to Middletown, NY. On the way, we stopped in Newburgh, New York for a blood and apheresis drive at Stewart Air National Guard.

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Nancy Davis gets interviewed at the Air National Guard.	...so does John Nothnagel!

We arrived at Stewart to the sound of a small reggae band out on the grass and the smell of barbeque on the grill. Harley Davidson motorcycles were parked all around the entrance to the cafeteria, and several men were standing outside in leather vests and motorcycle boots, some with long hair, some with earrings, some with patches of chest hair showing, all looking very tough. They were members of a group called Rolling Thunder - Viet Nam vets who ride Harleys. Some of the Harleys had a front and a back seat, each with its own padded leather back.

 

It turned out Rolling Thunder was there to escort us to our next event, some 20 miles away in Middletown. But first, they joined us for lunch and dedication of a plaque to air national guard members who had done apheresis, or donation of blood for platelets and plasma. At the dedication ceremony, each of us team members was invited to explain our connection to the 5 Points of Life and why we were doing the ride. I said that I was doing the ride for my donors and donor families. I said I was riding to spread the message that every single person can help save lives, either by donating blood now, or committing to be an organ donor and sharing that decision with their family. I also pointed out that life is uncertain, and you never know when you or someone close to you might need blood, bone marrow or an organ or tissue, so it's important to help alleviate the shortage.

Marsha likes the motorcycles better than the pedal kind

After we spoke and ate and got on the Harleys for some photo ops, we headed out to one of the giant hangars to see a C-5A. A C-5A is a very very very large plane used to carry very large things. We found out it can hold 8 greyhound buses inside. We wanted to take some pictures, but were told that the flash would set off the sprinkler system. The system puts out fires with foam instead of water. It costs $40,000 of taxpayer money to re-load the foam if someone sets off the system. We debated whether it was worth it, but in the end decided to leave the money in the taxpayers' hands.

We admired the plane for a bit longer, then headed out with Rolling Thunder leading the way. The Rolling Thunder boys had asked the local police to help escort, but the police had better things to do. So, without any legal authority whatsoever, Rolling Thunder blazed a trail for us cyclists right in the middle of one of the two lanes of traffic heading south to Middletown. Usually, even when we are escorted by the police, we ride on the shoulder. But Rolling Thunder gave us the deluxe treatment. They zoomed up to the stoplighted intersections and authoritatively held out a hand to stop traffic so we could run the red light. In fact, they assertively whipped their motorcycles around and stuck out a hand to block off every single side road as we passed through - even those with no traffic coming. After we rode through each intersection, we were deafened by the roar of their mufferless engines as Rolling Thunder sped past us to block the next one.

Leaving a trail of disgruntled commuters in our wake, we arrived safely at our destination. We were greeted at the Middletown blood drive with yet another delicious spread of food. Not ones to turn down good eats, we devoured the fresh fruit, cookies and pastries. The Rolling Thunder guys hung around for quite a while getting their pictures taken with the team - well, the female members of the team, to be specific. Amazingly, the flash kept failing on their camera, so they had to cozy up to us gals for yet another attempt at a photo. Then they wanted goodbye kisses - again, oddly, only from the female team members. We gals, oddly, disappeared from the scene, and reappeared after Rolling Thunder had left. Ah, the price of fame.

 

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword

Wednesday, September 6

Another short day. We rode from Middletown to Wayne, New Jersey - only about 50 miles. We started off from the hotel relatively late, at 9 am, with 3 riders from sponsor State Farm Insurance - Bonita, Tim and Juanita. I have quit learning last names, which is bad, I know. So sue me.

Bonita and I got to talking about energy bars while we rode together. She mentioned that there is a Trader Joe's in Wayne. I almost fell off my bike. Trader Joe's is a fabulous grocery store which I thought existed only in California. We haven't seen one the entire trip. I lived off of Trader Joe's energy bars, soy milk, granola and whole wheat tortillas while training for this ride. The 40-30-30 bars and Genisoy bars are the best. Bonita offered to go with the support van on a grocery run, and I took full advantage. I gave her a big list of my favorite items. With her help and knowledge of the store, she and our support folks ripped through the list and found all the goodies in no time. It was an event utterly unrelated to the purpose of this ride, but a high point nonetheless.

The State Farm folks escorted us (led the way) to Wayne, where a 1200-person State Farm office is located. Several minutes before we arrived, the office pulled the fire alarm. So all 1200 employees were out on the lawn to cheer us when we arrived. I got to speak at the event in the offices. I explained how State Farm's slogan "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" (tune written by Barry Manilow in the 1970s, by the way) fits perfectly with the message of the ride. I said that the ride is all about the importance of good neighbors. Even in this Internet age, where people no longer shop locally or interact as much with their geographical communities, the concept of good neighbors is still critical. Fundamentally, each of us is made of skin and bones, organs and blood. To enable operations to occur and lives to be saved, we need to be good neighbors and donate blood, bone marrow and organs. Also, life is uncertain. Accidents and illnesses happen. We never know when we might need to rely on good neighbors to donate blood, bone marrow and organs. I was lucky to have good neighbors to give me a kidney. Nancy Davis was not so lucky. Her son died while waiting for a heart-lung transplant. In short, our message goes hand in hand with State Farm's message. This is what I said.

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Tim, one of our escorts to Wayne, N.J., took cycling way too seriously. We laughed when we saw he had mushed a Power Bar onto his top tube. Plainly, he didn't know about our No Starvation policy.	1,200 State Farm employees welcomed us to Wayne, N.J.	We decorate the State Farm sign.

I also got to meet a man with a kidney transplant and one with a heart transplant. They and we were excited to swap stories. That's what this ride is about, too.

Riding bikes in this part of New Jersey is fascinating. To turn left off a main road, you have to go to the right around a big circular turn, or "jug handle." There is never a jug handle where you want it - only one several blocks past where you want to go. The traffic was incredible. Aaahh, New Jersey. Living up to its reputation.

 

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword

Thursday, September 7

We started from Wayne, New Jersey on the late side, around 8:30 a.m. We had to ride another jug handle to get turned around and go in the direction we wanted. The roads were congested and bumpy getting out of Wayne. Yelling "hole!" or "bump!" or "car back!" became worthless after a while, because the whole road was full of holes, bumpy and trafficky. After we left Wayne, however, the road soon became smoother and more rural. It was in the upper 50s in the morning, but we were shedding our jackets within a few hours.

Rodney Ford is the most experienced rider in our group, and certainly one of the strongest if not THE strongest. He was a team member on both of the previous 5 Points of Life rides. He is African American, and rides to raise awareness about the need for organ and blood donations among minorities. So far, we have encountered very few minorities in New England. Anyway, Rodney is solid. He has huge quadriceps and a very steady cadence. He never seems to slow on the uphills like most of the rest of us.

Every once in a while, he will ride up behind me and say "Ok, let's go." I don't know why, but hearing him say that and start to speed past me makes me determined not to let him by. I dig in and pedal for all I'm worth to stay ahead of him. I'd like to think he's trying his best to race me, but that's probably overstating the situation. Sometimes, the rascal comes up to challenge me at the base of an uphill. That's what he did today. I had just gathered speed down a hill and was cruising across a bridge when I heard his quiet call to race. Like Inspector Clouseau responding to Kato in the old Pink Panther movies, I sprang into action without even realizing what I was doing. I pedaled as hard as I could, then stood up and hammered up the hill ahead, using every fiber of my quads and unintentionally letting out a primitive war cry. I think I smoked him. I also smoked my quadriceps. They still burned tonight when I went up the stairs to the hotel room.

Thanks to some solid team riding, fewer stops than usual and an excellent spray paint job on the roads by the support staff, we arrived at our first event of the day at a Morristown, New Jersey Saturn dealership over an hour early. Saturn is another of our sponsors. Due to their involvement with the 5 Points of Life Ride since its inception, Saturn started a National Donor Day at all Saturn dealerships every year on Valentine's Day. What a socially conscious company. My hat goes off to them.

Not to obsess about food all the time, but Saturn really laid out a spread. There were giant deli sandwiches, fruit, cake, cookies, pasta salads, and fresh mozzarella with basil and tomatoes. Also at the event was a kidney transplant recipient, and a very nice fellow whose teenage daughter had died in an accident. He and his wife donated her organs to save the lives of others. He now has the courage and drive to talk to others about his daughter and encourage them to be organ donors. He told me it makes him feel much better about his daughter's death to know she helped so many people.

I got filmed by a local TV station at the event. We kept going after that, so I have no idea if the interview actually made it on TV.

George from the local wheelmen's riding group met us at Saturn and escorted us to New Brunswick, New Jersey - our destination for the day (only 55 miles total) and headquarters for Johnson & Johnson, one of our main sponsors. George was an older fellow with a lot of experience leading bike trips. He said the area of New Jersey we were passing through has some of the best cycling in the nation. We found it to be some of the most congested, trafficky cycling in the nation at some points, but otherwise very pleasant. The weather was perfect. We passed through a famous swamp area that was green, lush and gorgeous. George took us down one really steep hill where I hit a maximum speed of 47 mph - safely and in control, Mom.

Marsha Lewsley got a flat in THE most congested area we've ridden through so far, right when we were in the middle of a left turn lane waiting for the green arrow. Peter Fort, always ready to help, pulled her to side of road and helped her change flat while we went ahead and executed the turn and waited by a park.

That night we stayed at the Hyatt across the street from the J&J world headquarters, just blocks from the Rutgers campus. The hotel was tres deluxe. At first, they didn't want us to bring our bikes inside. After some cajoling, we were allowed to store our bikes in a conference room. We got to shower quickly, then had a very fancy dinner at the hotel. John Nothnagel and I sat on either side of the president of Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, the J&J company that actually sponsored us. She was excited about our cause and very gracious. She explained that J&J's credo includes a responsibility to the community. We had tuna and chicken and some excellent vegetables, and a layered sorbet cake for dessert. At the end of the dinner, J&J presented each of us with a J&J team jersey and a canvas bag full of J&J products. I felt honored, and very pleased to have J&J as a sponsor.

A little note: I know I haven't gotten to post many photos on this site. If you'd like to see some more, please check out www.timelyinspirations.com. This is team member Cheryl Charles's website. She has a digital camera, and so can load pictures right onto her site.

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword

Friday, September 8

I learned a new verb today: "to be doored." Prior to now, we haven't ridden on any streets that have cars parked all along the curb. New Jersey is different. There is lots of street parking on our route. If you are riding your bike too close to the parked cars, you will get "doored" if one of them opens the car door just as you are riding by. When we headed our of the J&J parking lot, we were told by the locals, "Don't get doored." It was relevant advice, which we fortunately heeded.

We had a spectacular breakfast at J&J. We were joined by 120 J&J employees who would be riding the 20 miles to Raritan, New Jersey with us. Raritan is the headquarters for Ortho Clinical Diagnostics - the specific J&J company that sponsored us. We saw a video made earlier of the beginning of the ride at Cadillac Mountain in Maine. I and Nancy Davis got quite a bit of air time. We also got to hear about a J&J employee who got breast cancer at age 36. She had 3 young children at the time. The doctors told her the situation was so bad that she shouldn't even bother getting a mastectomy. However, she got a bone marrow transplant from an anonymous donor, and is doing great now.

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J.D. Pettyjohn masters the camcorder, a smoke, and a coffee all at once.	120 Johnson & Johnson employees joined us for the 20-mile ride from New Brunswick to Raritan, N.J.	Peter Fort gets interviewed in Raritan, N.J. at the Johnson & Johnson event.	One of the Johnson & Johnson employees rode with us on a vintage 1886 bike.

After the breakfast, the group of 130 riders geared up to leave the parking lot. The J&J employees had a wide assortment of bikes. Many were on mountain bikes, some were on bikes they had never ridden before, and a few had borrowed their children's bikes. One gentleman had a bike from the 1880s, with a giant wheel in front and a tiny one in back.

Apparently, everyone made the entire 20 miles. In Raritan, 1200 Ortho Clinical Diagnostics employees were out on the lawn to greet us. I'm getting pretty accustomed to these large greetings. Hopefully my head will fit on the plane when it's time to fly home.

We gathered under a big tent out on the lawn after having juice and peanut butter cookies. Again, there were presentations, thanks, and stories. This time we heard from an Ortho employee who had to have an emergency C-section. Her baby was 8 weeks premature. The baby was born with only 5% of her blood. She was as white as paper (in fact, I imagined her looking flat as an envelope). If the C-section had been 5 minutes later, she would have been stillborn. Luckily, there was donated blood available on the shelves at the hospital, and the baby lived. She was right there with her mom - a beautiful 5 year old named Amanda.

Again, I got to speak on behalf of the team. I talked about J&J's credo of promoting community responsibility. I discussed how important blood, bone marrow and organ donation are to a strong community. I told the story of my kidney transplant and how my community had helped me. It's easier every time I talk.

We ate lunch at the Ortho cafeteria, then visited the blood drive occurring there. A handful of us and a handful of J&J folks rode our bikes back to New Brunswick. It was pretty harrowing. Some people came close to getting doored, but we all arrived safely in the end.

Adrenalin factor: 7 out of 10 while seeing the video and speaking at J&J

Valium factor: 8 out of 10 on the way back to New Brunswick.

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword

Saturday, September 9

We drove in the van to Weehawken, New Jersey - just a ferry ride away from Manhattan. We had the day free to explore. I, John, Peter and Frank went into the City and walked around. We met my friends Jami Floyd and Kurt Flehinger from law school for lunch at a very authentic New York deli for lunch. Then we hiked around Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street and Battery Park. I bought some fake Oakley sunglasses on Canal Street for $4 (bargained down from $5). We tried to go to Ellis Island, but got to the ferry terminal after the last ferry had left for the day.

We ate dinner at a fabulous Malaysian restaurant called Jaya, on Baxter Street near Leonard. Then we met my cousin Mira and her husband Dugans at a night club called The Knitting Factory (also on Leonard) to hear some live music. The coolest thing about The Knitting Factory was that it had free, high speed Internet access at a computer terminal right at the entryway. I checked email there. We were too pooped to stay for the band, so we took a quick spin around Times Square and took the ferry back to Weehawken.

Jump to: Aug 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 Sept 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 Oct 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 Afterword

Sunday, September 10

Early in the morning, we took our bikes on a fireboat across the river to Manhattan. A police officer escorted us on the fireboat. His sister had died waiting for a bone marrow transplant. His unit started an aggressive bone marrow donor program. Now they win awards for recruiting people to register to be bone marrow donors.

It was a warm, muggy day. The New York skyline was hazy but still as impressive as ever. It looked like I could easily swim the distance from our hotel to the city, but the water was pretty skanky so I didn't try.

The boat dropped us off at the Chelsea Pier, at around 23d Street, I believe, on the West Side. The NYy blood centers were conducting a blood drive there, and had a giant blood drive bus parked at the pier. We mingled with blood donors and ate a second breakfast. The camera crew from one of our sponsors, Haemonetics, was there to film the boarding, boat ride and event.

The New York Blood Centers had planned a route for us to ride our bikes from the Chelsea Pier through Manhattan and over the Brooklyn bridge to attend another blood drive at a church at 95th street and 4th avenue in Brooklyn. Today was the 5 Boroughs Century bike ride through New York, so supposedly the streets were marked with bike lanes and "everyone is very bike friendly today" - as opposed to yesterday, when they were just plain New York drivers. We figured all the regular New Yorkers must have been shipped over to New Jersey and replaced with heavily sedated people for the event.

We were not being escorted by any cyclists or police or people from the NY Blood Centers. Rather, the NYBC people would just show us on the map how to get to the Brooklyn event. However, the woman who was showing us the way on the map plainly had never been on a bicycle. She was dressed way too fashionably. We could tell she was the type of person who knew New York by taxi and subway. She got out a yellow highlighter and began to draw the route.

"Ok, first you go over to 5th Avenue and get on Broadway. My directions say turn left on Broadway, so you would go like this. Wait a minute. How are you going to get down to the Brooklyn Bridge going up that way. They must have meant a right (scribbles over previous highlighting and draws a new highlighted line to the right). Ok, so you go down Broadway and then cut over to Center, then down through Chinatown, then it says you're supposed to jog over to the left….oh, you know. You just need to get down here to the Brooklyn Bridge (draws broad highlighted line straight down the map to the Brooklyn Bridge without regard for streets). See, it's here. Then you go across it, and take Adams to Atlantic and get on 4th Avenue. I'm not sure which way you turn, but don't worry. You'll just know when you're at 4th Avenue. You can totally tell. Then you take 4th Avenue forever ("fah evah") til you get to the church. I drove it myself this morning. It's right after Vido's campaign headquarters. You'll pass by a bunch of churches. You'll know it's the right one because you get into a nicer neighborhood."

Just when we were starting to think we were in for big trouble, a fellow who had just donated blood walked up on the briefing. He said he was a long time New Yorker, had ridden his bike to the blood drive, knew the city really well, and would be happy to escort us to the Brooklyn Bridge. His name was Mike. We gratefully accepted the offer without hesitation.

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Riding through the west side of lower Manhattan	The N.Y.C. fire department participates in the bone marrow donor program. One officer wears a shirt embroidered in honor of his sister, who died waiting for a bone marrow transplant	Chelsea Pier, Manhattan: we receive a proclamation from the mayor declaring the day "Five Points of Life Day"

Mike's cruiser bike had a rack with a giant book called "Gotham" bungeed to it on back, and a pink kiddie horn on front. All nine of us gathered behind him, and off we headed along the water on the west side. Mike headed directly into a narrow passage past oblivious tourists. One started to cross the path in front of me, and I braked suddenly, couldn't get out of my pedals fast enough, and fell down right in front of him. Luckily, the Haemonetics film crew got it all on tape.

We did our best to follow Mike on his winding urban path. We zigged around rollerbladers and zagged around joggers. When Mike blew his pink horn, pedestrians would turn and see Mike, then do a double take as a gaggle of bikers followed on in identical jerseys and matching bikes.

Amazingly, we made it to the Brooklyn Bridge in one piece. Mike bid us farewell after explaining the origins of terms like Steeple Chase and Wall Street. In Brooklyn, we rode quite slowly, having to stop at almost every stoplight - and there was a stoplight at every intersection. At one stoplight, a drunk woman yelled out, "What's the life ride?" We explained, and she slurred "grrrreat." This didn't quite qualify as a spontaneous event - we called it a "sighting" and determined that it counts for slightly less.

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Mike, our bicycle escort in Manhattan, bids us farewell and sends us over the Brooklyn Bridge.	Riding on the Brooklyn Bridge, September 10	We pause for a moment on the bridge

We arrived at the church with nerves a bit shattered. There was no one at the blood drive, so we ate the cookies, drank the juice, and chatted with the coordinators. Instead of biking the 11 or so miles back to Manhattan as originally planned, we all crammed into the van and drove back. We stayed at the Helmsley Medical Towers at 70th Street and York on the East Side.

That evening, we all went to dinner at a diner at around 71st and 1st Avenue. The portions of everything were huge. I had a big bowl of matzoh ball soup and a spinach salad with Jolly Green giant sized mushrooms. Yes, we are focused on food. It lurks just beneath the Donate Life message as the secondary theme of the bike ride. Some of us are gaining weight, and no one is losing weight. There is a firm No Starvation policy in place.

Valium factor for the day: 8 out of 10.

Miles ridden: about 15.