Day 0, Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Here's some great news! RFA starts this year's ride with donations of $18,500. Thanks to so many of you that help support my Alzheimer's cycling cause.
Today is the beginning of my 2010 "Ride For Alzheimers." This is a 15 day, 950 mile ride from Washington, D.C. to Jacksonville, FL. Up at 4 AM, bagel breakfast, final packing of odds and ends, 5:30 on the road to Providence, Green Airport. Curbside checkin at Southwest went well and the security shoe removal was a pain. My carryon bag triggered an alarm on the xray machine and an attendant needed to open the bag to investigate. The alarm was caused by my spare bike chain cleaning device. I tossed it into my bag this morning just in case my other one broke. Everything was ok. I got to my departure gate at 7:00 and my flight departed at 8:15. It surprised me that the flight was very smooth even though we had to pass through some heavy clouds on the way up and on the way down. We arrived at (Baltimore) BWI at 9:30 and I connected with "Supershuttle" for a $37, 40 minute ride to Best Western Georgetown Suites at 11:50. My roommate is Steve Worthy from Scotsdale, Arizona. We did the Cross Country North Ride in 2003. We had lunch at a sandwich shop down the street. At 4:30 Shane O’Leary (ride leader) and Mike Roon (mechanic) assembled my bike, followed by route rap. The weather today has been overcast with occasional drizzle. There will be a route rap early every evening to discuss the next day’s ride. It took me an annoying amount of time to arrange the shipping of my (empty) bike shipping case to Jacksonville - cost $125! I will need it when I get there and have to ship my bike home.
Tomorrow will be an 87 mile ride to Fredericksburg. Showers are predicted.
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