Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself [or at least... this blog]

Part of what I think/hope this world-wide-webular-based-log will become is not so much a strict "this is what I did to work out today, this is what I ate, and this is how fat I still am" list (what a legacy!)... but rather that it will morph into more of a general compilation of stories surveying manifold (mis)adventures with varying degrees of relevancy to the blog's stated purpose.  Now (with that run-on sentence out of the way) to that end, I invite you to turn the proverbial corner with me... the next several posts will tell the tale of the "Great Bicycle Adventure of 2012"... or "Tour de Northern Parks 2012"... or "Take That Canada!"... or "Why Did You Do That For Two Weeks?"... we're still working on the name.  I might just call it "The Tour" from here on out.  I'm open to suggestions.

Some of you may be unfamiliar with my "big summer plans", others of you might be well aware and are already saying "I know what you did last this summer".  (will that be the only Jennifer Love Hewitt movie reference of this post?!  ... stay tuned to find out!)  

The short version is pretty simple.  I will attempt to ride my bicycle from Jasper National Park down the Columbia Icefields Parkway to Banff, into Waterton-Glacier National Park(s), and down through Yellowstone and into Jackson, Wyoming.  This trip has taken on several different variations (at one point being a cross country trip), and with varying degrees of help from others (from someone carrying all my stuff almost all the time - to me loading absolutely everything up on my bike).

Being from Chicago, and already hating rolling my bike up hills (an endeavor it seems decidedly disinclined to accommodate), I decided some "training" might be prudent.  With the whirlwind close to the school year, most of this training had to wait until June.  But since I waited (and had been plumping up like a spring chicken... am I using that simile correctly?), when I started - I began in earnest.  In short, I logged some serious miles in June.  About 700 in 3 weeks (arrived at Castaway on June 9th and rode 710 miles before July 1st... roughly 45 hours in the saddle), including an unsupported century ride (100 miles), and a few hill work outs. One called "hills hills hills" (will that be the only veiled Destiny's Child reference in this post?! ... stay tuned to find out!) in which I just climb the biggest/steepest hill that I could find near Castaway over and over (and over) again.  In fairness, it's actually pretty steep... but not very high.  Like 150 feet.  (Later this summer, I would attempt a ride with about 6,800 feet of climb... so... yeah... I wasn't able to really train for that).

The one ride that was really supposed to prepare me for The Tour, though, was a fully self-supported trip to Itasca State Park.  But, in the interest of brevity, that tale will have to wait for another time.  I bet you can't hardly wait.

doin' work in June. no days off (once I got to Castaway)