.: Intro :.

What you have here is a small attempt to articulate and document my participation in the Pennsylvania Perimeter Ride Against Cancer (PPRAC), which took place this past August. As you're probably aware, 65 of us rode our bicycles about 550 miles across Pennsylvania to raise money to help fight cancer.

This trip was an amazing adventure, and it meant a lot to me on so many levels. I know it also meant a lot to many people close to me. Thanks to the generosity of so many people, I was able to raise over $3500 to help fight cancer. In addition to the money, I am also proud to have completed the ride.

Yeah, I've worked in and around the bicycle industry for more than 10 years, have ridden bikes all over the world and tried to bring the passion of cycling to as many people as possible. Yet I had never ridden a bike more than 60 miles before this ride. (Hey...I almost exclusively ride mountain bikes...not road.) So I had my own selfish reasons for doing the ride, too.

The journal I've posted here is really quite rough. It was kind of tough for me to take notes each evening after coming in from the ride. Yet I was able to get enough down on paper for me to piece together what went on each day. It was almost impossible for me to describe all the scenic details of the ride each day...I can tell you though, that every mile was amazing. I'm sure my mileage might not be absolutely accurate, and I'm sure I have the details of some days backwards, but you 'll get the point. The narrative here is more of a selfish and rough stream of consciousness thing, than it is a polished and elaborate essay. It's a lot of words, too many commas and is borderline rambling. But it does offer up a glimpse into what was going on in this head of mine during the ride.

Sure, I pedaled myself all those miles, but I couldn't have done it without the support of so many people. In no particular order, I need to offer a little list of those people, places and things who provided me with emotional support, inspiration, mechanical and physical support, favors, roadie lessons, zen-advice and free beer: my family, Coccia, Mike, my sister, John Brown, Dave, Selene, Dave, Christine, my parents, Karl, Todd, everyone who donated money, the Philly messenger kid with whom I traded a mountain bike for the Fuji road bike I had on this ride, Dirt Rag, Taylor, everyone involved with organizing and providing support on the ride, Hurl, Symeon, punk rock and beer. Seriously.

I took some photos, and there is a link to them on my Flickr account, which you can reach from the top of all the pages here.

And just for the sake of reference, here's the link to the official PPRAC web site.

Cheers, and thanks!