Hello? Is this thing on?

"Hey, are you still doing that ride this summer?" "What's going on with your blog?" "Have you done any training since February?" "Are you going to be ready by June?"

Those are just a few of the questions I've gotten over the past few months since I haven't made time for blogging about my training. I apologize for keeping you all in the dark, but know it was for good reason. What reason would that be? Well, I've been kicking my butt on the bike and really didn't set aside the energy to write about it.

So let's catch everyone up:

Training

Training is going great! If you notice, I now post my weekly goals to the right side of this site. I've been pushing 150-170 miles for the past two weeks, and am looking towards the 200 mark this week.

The Rides

While some of my stories of doing rides around town might only appeal to those that are into cycling, I have some good ones including a great charity ride, meeting some new cycling friends to ride with, chasing a dog with sunglasses through down town Chicago, getting chased by a ~80-100 lb farm dog (yeah, that's probably karma right there), and a weekend of fighting wind gusts of up to 35 mph.

Don't worry though, that's just a tease. I'll be posting more complete stories later.

Health

Remarkably, cycling seems to cures what ails me. Although I appear starving all the time (ask my coworkers/lunch crew) I'm actually feeling really well. Even the one or two times when I felt a cold coming on I was able to bike through it. The result was only having to take one extra day off the training week I wasn't feeling well.

Nutrition

I eat A LOT now. I did the math once and usually hit 2500-3000 calories, sometimes nearing 3500 calories on days after doing 60+ mile days. I really haven't checked my weight, but don't seem to be losing any pounds. I look a lot leaner in my upper body, but my legs are becoming tree trunks. I figure it all evens out.

Fundraising

Ok, this one is slacking BIG TIME. I've been so focused on riding that I forgot I need to raise 5 grand by end of June. I'll be drafting a fundraising email this week. However, if you are reading this and want to donate now, please visit: www.seejoeride.com/donate

So I think that's it for now. Now that the training routine is down, I can start to schedule time for blogging, fundraising, and maybe even a party or two.