A few last words

The final warm up for the upcoming cycling tour (or the "tour de tony") was last weekend's Mt. Laguna challenge.  What a ride!!  3 loops up Laguna mountan from 3 different directions with each climb around 3300 feet.  The last loop up Pine Creek was undescribably hard.  Midway up this climb featuring 9 miles of climbing with some 18% and 20% grades, the race organizers posted a quote from Winston Churchill which I though was apropo.: "When you are in Hell, keep going."  Made sense to me at the time, so I did!   Tami spent the day providing some extra sag support and some much needed encouragement and we all survived to ride another day!!

The last of the pannier bags, lights, odomoters, handlebarbags, bungie cords, pumps and even an American Flag have been attached to the Surly Long Haul and it is ready to roll as planned this Friday.  The plan is to leave from Mission Beach at 8:00 a.m.  The forecast is for some rain on Friday morning but hopefully the predictions are wrong, as usual,  and we can have a nice send off with some San Diego sunshine (or at least a nice marine layer).  I'll upload a picture of the bike and the final weight a little later in the week..  I am really tring to keep the total weight low but the bike is taking on a life of it's own.  It's almost like pedalling a Harley Davidson.  Well maybe not quite that heavy, but I feel like if I add one more pound I might need to apply for a special operator's permit.

For those new to this blog (assuming anyone is actually reading this far), I am riding across the U.S. to raise money for 2 charities.  The Fundraising has so far hit $2,000 in donations and pledges. Thank you to all of you who have donated your hard earned money.  It is truly appreciated and is a source of inspiration for me.  For those who haven't pledged or donated please check out the posting below on "fundraising".   The Arthritis Foundation and Do Something Now are both charitable non profit organizations that provide amazing sevices to those of us who are far less fortunate.  I think that we can all afford to pledge a couple of cents for each mile that I ride.  Of course we can.  (and you'll be happy you did next April 15 when you get to deduct your contribution!!)