Heading up to Colebrook Tomorrow

Drinking a pint of Leviathan at the Vermont Brewery

In less then 24 hours we head north to the Canadian border to participate in the Trans New Hampshire Bike Ride. It’s been an interesting riding season up to this point and by interesting i mean WET. On my way into work this morning the radio reported that we’ve received double the average rainfall for the month, and it’s going to rain some more this weekend. Rain doesn’t deter our riding. On my first ride from Canada to Portsmouth we rode thorough a thunderstorm that put down some hail (good thing for helmets). I just looked at the weather for up north, and it looks to be the same as down here. Patchy sunlight through rain producing clouds!

Last weekends ‘warm-up’ ride from Boston to Vermont went off without a hitch. The day ended up being perfect for 150 miles on the bike. Overcast and not cold, with only 1 sprinkling of rain for the duration. If we can get that weather for at least 1 day I’ll take it!

I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you who have donated and supported us for this ride. we’ve raised over $1600! That’s enough money to send 2 kids to summer camp! Thank you all for the support, and strange looks when I head out for a ’short’ 50 mile ride.

It still isn’t to late to donate. The ride has raised $95,500 so far, $500 more and we’ll have broken the $100,000 mark!

This year the ride is to honor Teagan House. He was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This genetic disease begins early in childhood and causes progressive loss of muscle strength and bulk and usually leads to death in the early 20s from respiratory or cardiac muscular failure. DMD occurs when a gene on the X chromosome fails to make the essential muscle protein dystrophin.

Teagan was the 2007 NH State Goodwill Ambassador and he has attended the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon to present a check. Teagan greeted the TNHBR riders at the Rochester Fire Station in 2007.

The money donated goes directly to helping those in need. $85 funds an hour of research, $100 runs a group support session, $800 allows a child to attend the MDA summer camp, and $2000 will give assistance with obtaining a Wheelchair or Leg Braces.

All you have to do is click here to make a secure, online donation before 06/28/09. Your donation will help families in our community who live with neuromuscular disease. I can’t wait to add you to my list of contributors.

Thanks in advance for your help. Don’t hesitate to call or email me with any questions.

Joe and Katie

P.S.  I’m counting on you, click here to donate.

If the link above does not work, please cut and paste the address below into the address bar of your Internet browser. https://www.joinmda.org/tnhbr09/jpitkin

My First Tri!

Coming over the timing mats 3:15:33 for my first ever tri!

I can officially say that I’m a triathlete. I completed my first tri today! I haven’t yet gotten my official times, have to wait for them to be posted, be sure that when they are I’ll edit this post to reflect the times. But I was in the 3 hour range.

3 hours 15 minutes thirty-three seconds to be exact.

I was a little nervous this week about hitting the tri this weekend. I’d been sick at the beginning of the week, and knew I hadn’t had enough swim and run time in. To top off matters, the weather decided to dump buckets of rain in the morning. I spent the day prior on the bike, 75 miles of hills with around 5000 ft of climbing. I didn’t hammer to much during the ride, so I was still feeling fresh after the ride. After getting home from visiting with Rob (he just returned from Tasmania) I took to getting my gear in order for the next day. I packed up all my gear into my mountain smith cube, worked out perfectly. I made some whole wheat tortellini and headed for bed at about 9 pm.

Click the image to see what I had packed

I woke up at 5am to the sound of rain. I wasn’t about to let some rain stop me, so ate some breakfast and loaded up the box.

I got down to Ashland by 7am. I parked, checked in, went through body marking, and then back to the car to get my gear prepped. I layed out my transition area, covered it with half my towel to attempt to keep it dry. As I was getting into my wet suit, Katie showed up with Pat and Cindy! I had thought that I wouldn’t have needed a cheering section, but I was SUPER glad they showed up.

We all walked the quarter mile down to the water, and I slipped on the mud! I got into the water, which was surprisingly warm, and took a few practice strokes. I was feeling good! the start was a wading start, so I got off to the left of the pack and got ready. I’m not comfortable enough with open water swimming yet. I had a decent stroke and felt good for the first 1/4 of the swim. After I rounded the first buoy I got into trouble. I got hit a little by faster swimmers, and took on some water. This threw my breathing off, and I never fully recovered. A spent some time on my back trying to get my heart rate down, and never did get it back in check. As I rounded the second buoy, I had my first ever cramp while swimming. Luckily it was ‘just’ my left calf, it hurt pretty bad. I spent some more time on my back, and finished off freestyle. I got out of the water, popped a Gu and hiked up to the transition area. I fell WAY to the back, I knew my swimming wasn’t strong. After the race, Katie let me know that I was 6th to last out of the water!

Ah, now for the bike! I knew I could make up some time there, the course was a little hilly but I liked the hills (as 5000ft of climbing the day before proves) I got on the bike and felt AWESOME. I settled into a nice pace, easily spinning up the hills, and bombing down the wet slick roads! I passed a bunch of people once I got out on the bike, and cheerfully talked with them as I passed! the course was great, I averaged 18 mph, with a top speed of 32. Never felt my heart rate spike, I popped a Gu at the 13 mile mark, and at the transition.

As I started the run I was still feeling strong, a little to strong. I looked down at my Garmin, and I was WAY off pace. I reeled back in a little, but the damage had already been done. At about mile 3 I felt my left calf acting up again. I walked a ways, stopped and streteched it on a tree, and walked a half mile or so. I tried convincing myself that after mile 4.5 I was going to run no matter what. But my calf had a different idea! I walked a little bit and ran. I ended up trying to conserve some for the last leg so I didn’t look defeated when I got in to the finish. i walked up the final hill, and then hit the last mile running, just not fast. My own timing gives me a 1:02 time, with a 10:28 pace. I NEED to run more. I finished up strong, came in to Katie, Pat and Cindy screaming and cheering. Katie had even made a sign that said “Go Joe!”

I crossed the finish line, and threw my arms up in a V for the photos! I was smiling, I survived, and now can call myself a triathlete. I grabbed a water, drank it, cleaned up my transition area, and walked over to the car, and popped a Sam Summer! nothing like a nice cold beer post workout! My next Tri is about a month away, and I’m planning a lot more open water swimming, and running. Since I now have some numbers to beat!

Special thanks to Katie, my wonderful wife! Thanks to Tasha, for putting the thought in my head to do this! Thanks to Pat & Cindy for cheering. And thanks to everyone who has been supporting me through this crazy endevour!

Trans New Hampshire MDA ride

Hi All,

Once again I’m going to be participating in the annual Trans New Hampshire bike ride from June 26 to the 28th to support the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This ride starts at the Canadian border and finishes 250 mile away in Concord New Hampshire. This will be my third year participating, and it has become my favorite weekend of the summer. Katie will also be participating in the ride again in most important role, support. She gained quite the reputation for her PB&J’s en-route. The route is a nice three day jaunt through NH, and over the white mountains.

This year the ride is to honor Teagan House. He was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This genetic disease begins early in childhood and causes progressive loss of muscle strength and bulk and usually leads to death in the early 20s from respiratory or cardiac muscular failure. DMD occurs when a gene on the X chromosome fails to make the essential muscle protein dystrophin.

Teagan was the 2007 NH State Goodwill Ambassador and he has attended the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon to present a check. Teagan greeted the TNHBR riders at the Rochester Fire Station in 2007.

The money donated goes directly to helping those in need. $85 funds an hour of research, $100 runs a group support session, $800 allows a child to attend the MDA summer camp, and $2000 will give assistance with obtaining a Wheelchair or Leg Braces.

All you have to do is click here to make a secure, online donation before 06/28/09. Your donation will help families in our community who live with neuromuscular disease. I can’t wait to add you to my list of contributors.

Thanks in advance for your help. Don’t hesitate to call or email me with any questions.

Joe and Katie

P.S. I’m counting on you, click here to donate.

If the link above does not work, please cut and paste the address below into the address bar of your Internet browser.
https://www.joinmda.org/tnhbr09/jpitkin