Out there.

When my bike is loaded and I set out I am returned to a familiar and wonderful place. There is a certain freedom and excitement I feel when I have a everything I need with me.
 I tell you, 12-15 mph is a perfect speed at which to experience the world.
 I can smell the air redolent with farm animals, honey suckle, recently cut hay, or road kill. And it's all good.
I  hear the bird's songs, the bee's buzz, and  the hustle and bustle of little animals along the trail.
Swooshing down a long grade I battle butterflies for space, and take an occasional hit in the glasses from large bug. Each a beautiful experience.
 My legs pump hard underneath me while I think and sing, and sing and think. I am in a rythm when I am out there.
 I am looking forward to getting started.

Gladys has been my next door neighbor for 22 years. In the country that's as good as family. We have survived death, drought, depression and hip fractures together. Well, my hip was not broken.  She recently called me with a touching bit of advice and here is the voice mail she left. (you may have to wait a little bit for it to load, then click the orange button)

Gladys by ceeblet

The whirly gig.

 In 1997 I was training and putting many miles on the roads on my bike. My mother was afraid the cars would take me out of the game of life so she came up with an ingenious solution. She attached a cloth whirly- gig to the end of a small fiberglass pole and asked me to put it on my bike. The pole stuck out to my left and into traffic. The whirly gig did it's job. Cars would give me a wider berth. I still use that whirly -gig today.
Just last week while riding home from work I stopped on a bridge (on the bike trail)  and looked over at the raging river below. It was moving. I leaned over the rail and watched for a bit, and wondered where all those molecules of water end up. Then I  took off again ... I had to get home. As I pulled away, my whirly gig pole gave a twaaaaanng. I looked back. I gasped. My whirly gig was gone! I jumped off my bike and to to the railing telling myself  "don't jump " but wanting to. How could I let that whirly gig go down river? I searched the current, I stepped up onto the railing then back down, I said bad things out loud. Then my shoulders slumped...it was gone.
The whirly-gig my Mom had made me, had finally met its end. I looked around, looked into the river once more, then got on my bike. As I pushed off, I looked back once more. There between the railings was a tiny sliver of blue material form the whirly. I ran to the spot and tried to push my head between the railings to see. I bonked my helmet into the wood and stumbled back. I  jerked my helmet off and looked again.
There it was! Hanging by a thread, literally. I could not believe my eyes.
It's still on my bike doing it's job, but sadly it will not make the trip.
Not enough cars.

It takes a village.

I cannot imagine getting this race off by myself. All the things that need to be done or thought about or are required, I have help with. Even my 83 year old neighbor has suggested things and helped ( that will be another post). I have gotten massages for my injured back, mp3 players filled with music, gear upon gear researched ordered and reconsidered and discussed.
Where would I be without you guys? All of you. Your questions are support, your inquiries are thought provoking, your well wishes well me up.....
I will do well .....because of you.

the spot tracker

So there are two ways for Tracy to engage the spot tracker and for us all to follow her. One is just a sort of check in similar to when people use their phones to check in at a certain location. When she pushes the checkin button it sends a message to the blog (and the facebook page) with her location at that moment in time and a link to the spot tracker map so you can see it on a map. It is her way of interactively telling people "I'm here, I'm alive, I'm ok". This way you know that she actively pressed a button. This is what is happening when you see the spot tracker posts on the blog.

 The other way for us to follow her is tracking. That is a different button on the tracker. When she pushes that button it will start tracking her over time and will send updates at different intervals. This is the button she will use that will send the regular updates to the tour divide tracking page http://tourdivide.org/leaderboard. You will not be able to track her on that page until the start of the race on June 8th. She did however test this function out this morning and you can see it at this location:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0n6XoGTk89n1TDmR69YiqkVrQDJ1UAqeY

That is the link you can use to track her as she trains until the race starts, after the race starts you should use the http://tourdivide.org/leaderboard link.

I will post these links on the side bar.

happy tracking.

Thank you.

Thank you all for coming to the send off party and watching the movie. I hope the movie allowed you to experience a bit of what the race will be. I had fun, I sure hope you did as well.

  Support from friends and family is an important part of what fuels me to train for and complete this race.  I am grateful that you all are interested, that you want to join in, help, support, watch the movie, come to the party, get on the blog or just talk about the race. As an extrovert, I love being part of a "team" and your support gives this solo race a "team " feel for me. For me, we do this together.

How about that bike?
Biowheels of Cincinnati put that together in a hurry for the party so that we all could see it, ride it and bask it it's glory.  :) A big shout out to Mitch of Biowheels for that effort.

Also, I'll tell you, MOOTS makes a sweeeet bike.

Check-in/OK message from tracytracker SPOT Messenger

tracytracker
Latitude:39.3941
Longitude:-83.99011
GPS location Date/Time:05/22/2012 20:23:10 EDT

Message:Checking in with my SPOT tracker. I am A-OK.

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7-HHd/39.3941N/83.99011W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=39.3941,-83.99011&ll=39.3941,-83.99011&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

tracytracker

You have received this message because tracytracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

TracyTracker...

I cannot hide. Via satelitte .....you will be able to see if I am napping underneath a tree, soaking in a creek or bicycling like I am supposed to be. Yep. If you put the satelitte tracker on satelitte view you can see me that closely.... well almost. It is amazing how well you can see where I am.
You'll be tracking me through a device called a SPOT tracker.... my personal device has been nicknamed
" Tracytracker". 
As long as it is not in the belly of a bear and has a clear view of the sky it will track my progress on the race. Nearly every other racer will have one of these as well.
 If you go to tourdivide.org  you will be able to see how I am matching up against the other racers, where I stayed for the night and what town I am buying supplies in.
We can all do this race together!

Check-in/OK message from tracytracker SPOT Messenger

tracytracker
Latitude:39.16026
Longitude:-84.41238
GPS location Date/Time:05/16/2012 21:46:09 EDT

Message:Checking in with my SPOT tracker. I am A-OK.

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7v_Us/39.16026N/84.41238W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=39.16026,-84.41238&ll=39.16026,-84.41238&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

tracytracker

You have received this message because tracytracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

MOOTS MILES

In a pizza parlor in January.

 It was suggested that I use this race as a platform to raise money for recreational and conservationist organizations.

And so...

In honor of MOOTS my bike sponsor and to repay organizations that provide opportunities for all of us to get out or get fit "MOOTS MILES" was born.

If you would like, you can go to http://www.riversunlimited.org/  or http://littlemiamistatepark.org/ and look for the "MOOTS MILES" "donate" button. Consider giving a small donation for each of the 2745 miles I will ride.

MOOTS is in the Mail!

The Moots bike that is.
 It is headed to BioWheels in Cincinnati where Mitch will build it and I will pick it up.
Wow it is finally here. This thing is happening....
MOOTS bikes are the best fitting, finest riding bikes you will ever own and they are built to last a lifetime.
Go to MOOTS.com and take a look at their website. It is quite an education.

Lessons in the Rain

Sunday's ride was more of a "shake out" then a shake down. Rain all day. It was a good day to test out the rain gear, the booties, combinations of clothing; my resolve...
 First. I left my favortie Moon Pies in the car. Then I found out those orange colored peanut butter crackers.... do not stand up well when being opened in the pouring rain or handled with wet gloves. Also, I can't see chit out of glasses polka dotted with rain and grit. In addition, a hood over my helmet is more of a parachute then anything else, a hood underneath my helmet is worse for other reasons. All of these were good lessons.
The best lesson however came at the end of the day.
The last mile or two was a long down hill and I let it fly...38mph on wet pavement is a thrill. When I slid to a stop at the car, I got off my bike and hooked my fingers underneath my seat to lift the rear of my bike over to the car .... as I did my rear tire.... fell off.  FELL off!
I am lucky. In the rain.

Three weeks.

I am three weeks away from leaving. As I say that my belly flips. I am excited to say the least. At this point I am trying to dot my I's and cross my T's. May 12th I am loading my bike with all my gear and will go to Shawnee state park to do some training with Sara and Aaron. It will be "shake down" number one.

Why ride the tour divide? An Interview with Tracy Burge