CWM and Beyond!

So, the first class of my last semester is set to begin in about thirty minutes. I'll try to fit everything possible that needs to be here, I'm way past due for an update! To begin, the Chris Webber Memorial Ride. Epic, amazing. In every way it is a bike and build trip, only it's nicely compacted into a week rather than eight or nine. We rode from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale, had amazing weather the entire time, and had a blast every single night. Despite the brevity of the ride, I have to admit that the emotional impact of the trip was equal to P2S. I added another twenty nine brothers and sisters to my already large bike and build family, and finally got to meet the Webber family. It was a moving event, to say the least, and I fully intend on continuing to do the ride year after year for as long as I can.

I got in a few shortish runs (four or five miles) during the ride. Admittedly, it was hard getting used to the humidity and heat after running in the winter; the fact that I had ridden about seventy miles on my bike earlier those days also probably had an effect. I don't think that I drank enough, and I didn't bring water with me on the runs. But they were all succesful with no bonking, although I did get lost while we were staying in Cocoa. My navigational skills have always been lacking. My runs got a bit curtailed by the end of the trip since, in true Mark fashion, I got sick. I'm still sort of getting over that infection, whatever it was. I consider myself lucky since one of the fellows on the ride, Travis, contracted bacterial pneumonia on the second day. He handle it a lot better than I would have, certainly.

So I left Florida very much in better spirits than I had entered into it. Bike touring, I'm convinced, is good for the soul; my soul, at least, loves it. Or perhaps it's just bike and build? Whatever the case, though I still had a fever and a cough, I came back to Virginia grinning and that grin really hasn't left my face since. I've ridden my feel good high into a new chapter in my life as well, because in only a few short months I will be GRADUATING! I've never been so excited and despite the state of the economy I'm not at all scared. I've got a new lease on life, because I'm doing another tour this summer!

Katharine had approached me some time ago about making a trip down the west coast. Specifically, she wanted to ride from British Columbia to Mexico. Sounds crazy? Nah, we're old pros at this point. It sort of developed from there, and she's written up a tentative itenerary from Victoria to San Fran, where the two of us will probably be stopping for a while to take a wilderness EMT training course in Yosemite. But there's a little not so secret secret about this tour. It's not just a "for fun" bike ride. Nope, get ready boys and girls because it's Big Reveal time. Drumroll... I probably will end up staying there when we're done! Yeah, I'm moving out of Virginia in a very big, and novel, way! It's gonna be awesome, and I'll be telling everyone about all the details as they emerge. So open up your knowledge baskets and get set!