I am back in the office this morning after completing (for the 8th time) a 291-mile bike ride from Pittsburgh to (almost) Gaithersburg in support of Operation Second Chance, a charity that supports wounded soldiers at Walter Reed.
The ride was great! The weather held out, for the most part–it rained on us during our 20-mile descent into Cumberland (but I'll limit rain to the downhills any day of the week). Most of the rest of the ride was the crisp, sunny, fall weather that we love this time of year.
We had an unusual number of very small mechanical problems on this trip, but it didn't slow us down too much. We rolled into a welcome home picnic put on by OSC in Dickerson, MD on Sunday afternoon where we celebrated our accomplishments, which included both the 291-mile ride AND surpassing our goal of $50,000 in donations (we hit $52,000).
Thanks to all who donated and to my good friends who did the ride. Next year will be the 10th anniversary of this ride, so we're already starting to plan something special.