begins with a single step.
In my case, the journey of a thousand miles also begins with the realization that a thousand miles is a hell of a long way to walk.
But I’m not gonna walk a thousand miles. I’m going to ride a bike. And not a thousand mikes–just 7.6 miles.Unfortunately, the 7.6 miles I’ve chosen to ride is carved into the side of the highest mountain in the American northeast–Mount Washington, New Hampshire.
The Mt. Washington Auto Road serves no purpose except to take people to the top of Mount Washington, and then back down again. There’s no other reason for it to exist. There is no existing route between two points on the map wherein Mount Washington lies between. No traveler, navigator or sane person, when looking at a map and choosing the best path between whatever point A and point B they chose, would say “Well, the only way we can go is straight over Mount Washington.” For the purposes of this exercise, Point A is the bottom of Mount Washington, and Point B is the top.
And, as I stated, the distance between Points A and B is 7.6 miles. All of it uphill. Much of it extremely uphill.
According to the Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb Website: Just how steep is the course? The Mt. Washington Hill Climb is quickly becoming known as the toughest hill climb in the world at 7.6 miles in length, has an average grade of 12% with extended sections of 18% and the last 50 yards is an amazing 22%! Sprint that to the finish!
Sprint? No, thank you. I’ll be happy to simply make it to the top. In June, I’ll turn 50. Oh, and for much of my adult life, I’ve been rather sedentary. In fact, I didn’t really start riding a bicycle until last summer. Before that, it was about 15 years ago when I last did any riding, and that was for about three months, or until my new bicycle was stolen. Previous to that, the last time I was on a bike was in grad school in the mid 1980’s, and I wasn’t what you would call a strong cycler back then.
So, I need training. A lot of it, that’s why I’m planning on doing the ride in August of 2010, when I’ll be 51 years old.
Oh, and the other thing is I’m an amputee. I’ve been one since 1979, when my right leg was removed below my knee after an industrial accident.
There’s more to the story–there always is–and I’ll add to it as I start chronicling my journey. But I wanted to get at least a rudimentary first post up here.
As the days go on, I’ll give you updates on how my riding’s going–and also how my fundraising’s going. Because I’ve decided that if I’m going to do this, I might as well try to raise money and awareness at the same time. so I’m going to raise money for Camp Daydreams, which gives city kids the opportunity to experience a summer camp. I’ll also be looking to raise money for myself to be able to pull this thing off. Because, you know, this ain’t gonne be cheap.
This is all new to me. I’ve never been in training for anything, never raised funds for anything, never really gotten myself out of the comfort zone much. I invite you to come back as often as you can to see how I progress with this thing.
It will be fun!*
*Fun, in this instance, will be defined as ‘lung-bursting, ear-ringing, Jello-thighed agony.’ Just thought I’d clear that up
