Fwd: Good News, Bad News

The Good News is I don't have to get up at 3 AM to ride in the rain tomorrow.

The Bad News is I won't be doing the Boston Brevet 300K tomorrow.
Yesterday, I rear-ended an SUV that was stopped at a red light.  My bike is OK, but I have some bruises and strains.
I rode to work today, but it was slow and uncomfortable.  Not the optimal situation for a 12 to 14 hour ride.

My plan is to do the 300K route on my own sometime this summer.

Fwd: Mini Cooper Festival

The Mini Cooper Festival in Boston sounds like a lot of fun. Fri to Sun (June 20-22). $20 per person.

Fri night - F1 kart racing.
Sat morning - rally
Sat afternoon - drive your Mini on "an aggressive auto-cross course", go-karting, Mini products, live music, mtb stunt show, rock climbing,...
Sat night - "headline" band (who is still to be announced)
Sun - repeat most of the Sat afternoon activities

Alexa, your goal should be to improve your driving of the Mini so you can do the auto-cross course. Sat morning you can even sign up to test-drive one of their cars, instead of ours. :)

Fwd: Mini Cooper Festival

We have to "trick out" our Minis for the festival. Here are some ideas.
--pws

Fwd: Mini Cooper Festival

Someone asked what "an aggressive auto-cross course" meant, so I found some photos.
--pws

Re: 200K Boston Brevet to New Boston, NH

I did the 200k Boston Brevet today.  Left Hanscom at 7 AM and rode to New Boston, NH and got back to Hanscom at 2:50 PM.  That's 127 miles in 7:50 including 30 minutes spent at the check points.  I rode the first ten miles with a group of ~20 people who planned to finish in under 8 hours, but at 10 miles I hit a pot hole and got a pinch flat.  I spent the next 40 miles chasing that group to the first checkpoint.

I was told that large group disintegrated into groups of 2 to 4 people, so for most of the rest of the ride I was with two guys that are Paris-Brest-Paris veterans.  One does a different 1200k ride every year.  Turns out it was Brian Johnson from Teradyne.  He knows Jay and says hi.  The other guy was Justin who began riding a year-and-a-half ago and rode PBP last summer.

The second leg, had some big climbs.  My back got sore, but I did okay.  I guess riding with the Rippers is helping me with hills.  We had some ripping descents after all the climbing.  Topped 45 three times and could have gone faster on one hill except for traffic turning caused me to slow down on the steepest section.

After hanging out at Hanscom chatting for awhile, I rode my bike home for a total of 136 miles.  Now I have three weeks to rest up for the 300k.  We leave at 4 AM.  I'd like to be able to finish in 12 hours, but I don't know...

51 people did the ride today.  After we sat around a bit at the finish I asked how many were still on the road.  Answer: 39, so I finished in the top 10 or 12.  The first finisher, Matt, did it in 7:15, so he must have been taking it easy.  He left with the group (2 people) who planned to finish under 6 hours.

I rode with Matt during the 100k on 4/12.  He is studying at the Harvard Medical School and still has time to be a sponsored ultra rider.  Last summer he set the record for riding across Maine.  I think he said 380 miles in 20 hours, but that seems near impossible.  Anyhow, he finished first for the 100k also.  I finished 3rd.  These brevets aren't races, but it is nice to finish before the masses.

200K on May 10, 2008
map to Checkpoint 1 -    48.9 miles -   from Hanscom Field, MA   to New Boston, NH
map to Checkpoint 2 -    86.0 miles -   from New Boston, NH        to Brookline, NH
map to Checkpoint 3 -  124.7 miles -   from Brookline, NH            to Hanscom Field, MA

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Hi Mom,
We just wanted to send a note wishing you a Happy 72nd Birthday.
That's 6 cycles of the Chinese Zodiac, so in the attached photo Julie is holding a picture of a Rat for you birth year.
We are all looking forward to seeing you next month.
Happy Birthday from all of us,
Phillip, Julie, Alexa, Michael, Nicholas (and ChiChi too!)

Win Susan!!!

Hi,
Thought you might find this interesting. Follow the "Lance link" to see a cool photo.
--Phillip

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Susan,
You and your family have been on my mind a lot recently.
I'm sending this "Win Susan!" photo as an emblem of my support and positive vibes.
Just count me (along with Lance) as one of your well wishers,
Phillip "TigerMouth" Stern

From:	Errorista
To:	tigermouth
Posted:	Mon May 05, 2008 1:31 pm
Hey - This is Jodi, I'm Fat Cyclist Elden's sister. I'm putting together a photo montage for his family of the many people on this planet that are here to support them. I've noticed that you are one of these people, and would love it if you could email me a photo of your self holding a sign that says "WIN Susan" - along with your screen name or real name. I'm going to try to have these collected by the beginning of next week, so don't get too fancy, just do it, and email it to: Thanks! (not really very fat) Jodi

Fwd: JD Drew

I won't be at wrestling practice this week.  I sort of feel like JD Drew; more time on the injury list than on the playing field.
My ribs still hurt from Thursday's practice, but that alone wouldn't keep me away.
Saturday I smashed my hand with a hammer working in the garage and today I cut the tip of my thumb off with a knife working in the kitchen.
In between those mishaps I had 5 flat tires on my bicycle.  I'm hoping next week is better.
--Phillip