I hadn't read my blog comments when I wrote about the pool!!

To my loyal readers. Sorry – I hadn't read the comments on the weight loss pool. From my office, Dan, Dee's husband Wayne (honorary Due Norther), and Pat say over 7.5. Dee and Rob say under. I think the unders are right, but what do I know? Keep posting comments. I am reading them! Here's a photo of me taken today to let you know how it's going, diet-wise.

I've got a new nickname on this trip...

Day 2. St. Helens to Welches Oregon. Well, I don't have a nickname on this trip (yet), but if I were to have one, it would be "Mr. flat tire". I got my second flat tire in as many days. Thanks to my trusty riding mates Jeff and Mark, assisted by Dave and John, I was back on the road in no time. I still am not confident fixing a flat, but given my "flat-a-day habit", I'll need to get better, and quickly.

Today was, in a word, incredible. I'm riding my bike across the country!!!!

We started in the somewhat depressing (to me anyway) town of St. Helens Oregon. It was cloudy and gray, but dry. Very little wind at all. Our group included Jeff from Connecticut (I'll call him"AAA" , as in Auto Club, due to his roadside assistance), Mark from Baltimore (whose wife Karen says he and I are like long lost brothers, given the contents of each of our blogs), Dave (a retired Ford Finance guy who lives in Ann Arbor, and whose parents live in Hamilton NY – Colgate University), and John from Ohio (John owns a pizza franchise just outside of Cleveland). John ended up riding with some other guys for portions of the day.

By the way, I forgot to mention that nobody is allowed to wear earphones and listen to music while they ride (safety reasons). I must have spent hours setting up playlists for my iPhone to listen to for this trip to no avail. C'est la vie.

Yesterday's route, which was not overly scenic, took us down a busy logging road where massive logging trucks filled with cedar trees whizzed by at 60 MPH. The only benefit was the incredible smell of fresh cedar as the trucks roared by. Today, our route paralleled the Columbia River to Portland. Portland – not so scenic. In fact, not scenic at all. We wound our way through a park system of bike paths (OK, kind of pretty) until we exited the Portland area and made our way into the countryside. Before we left Portland though, we stopped on the bridge going into Portland that spans the massive Columbia River for a picture of me, Dave, Mark, and Jeff.

Once in the countryside though, the views became tremendous (that's Mount Hood). We stopped in the town of Sandy Oregon for lunch at this cool truly "Americana" roadside burger joint called Calamity Jane's. I didn't eat a burger, but I had the greatest milk shake in recorded history (milk shake division). We stopped several times today to take pictures of breathtaking scenery.

Have I mentioned I'm riding my bike across the country!!!!!

OK, we have 3 entrants in the "how much weight will Mark lose" pool. Ira Pamnani, my old Media Director now living in California, says I'll lose more than 7.5 lbs. My Dad says under (like 3 lbs). My friend Jeff Citron says "over" and he's good at pools, so I'd think about going with him. Remember, there's still time to enter this pool (like weeks, actually).

Today, I'll ask my loyal readers to help me with another issue. I think it's time to name my bike. The obvious name, of course to those who know me, would be "The Duchess". But not only is that too easy, it conjures up phrases and images I don't think are too good. Can anyone help me here??

Hit the road jack, or should I say Mark

Day 1. Astoria to St. Helens Oregon. We awoke to cloudy and cool, but thankfully dry weather. After I said goodbye to Adam (the best father's day present ever – thanks Adam and Duch for thinking of that), I met a few guys in the parking lot and we set off for New Hampshire together.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this. This is so cool!

We rode along the Columbia River, which is the river that Lewis and Clark took in their 1805 expedition to "discover" the Pacific. I was kind of expecting a US version of British Columbia. You know, majestic mountains, towering forests, cascading waterfalls. Well, it was pretty, but it was hardly "majestic". Today's ride was about 110km and we had a few good climbs to make. I ended up riding most of the day with Jeff, a Canadian computer programmer who lives in Connecticut (there are 3 Canadians including me, the half American/half Canadian). I win the award for first flat of the trip. Less than an hour after leaving Astoria, I got a flat. Thanks to Jeff, we found a steel wire that had punctured my innertube. I pulled it out with my tweezers (thanks for those, my Duchess) and we took out my spare tube and tried to fix it with that. Unfortunately, my spare had a hole in it. I borrowed a spare from Jeff, and with his and John's help (John owns a pizza franchise just outside of Cleveland) we were back on the road in just under 5 hours. Just kidding – 5 hours is how long it would have taken me if Jeff and John hadn't helped me.

Here's a picture of Jeff. Without him, I'd still be stuck on the side of the road. Thanks!

At one of the rest stops I was chatting to Gary and his wife Margot (from Connecticut) and found out that Margot is a Colgate alum, just like my son Adam (and, upon her graduation in 2013, my daughter Samantha). All the folks on the ride are really nice. It is truly an amazing cross-section of people. From computer programmers to retirerees, from Wal Mart employees to doctors, this ride has got it all. The staff are so nice and helpful.

OK, so to my loyal readers (reader?), here is a contest for you. It's the "guess how much weight Mark will lose" contest. My weight when I left was 173 pounds. Vegas oddsmakers are putting the over/under at 7.5 pounds for the trip (exactly 1 pound/week). Let me know whether you think I'll lose more or less (hint, hint...I am eating everything under the sun so far!).

It's on!

Astoria Oregon. It's on! While the ride doesn't officially start until tomorrow, we learned that Astoria isn't officially on the Pacific Ocean. Astoria is on the Columbia River, which is wide enough to look like an Ocean, but it isn't. So to officially ride from coast to coast, I had to ride out to the Pacific which is about 20kms away from Astoria. So, in a driving rain and wind, I rode to the coast and was lucky enough to find a very nice family from Ogden, Utah sitting in a parking lot by the beach (the only people within miles, I'm sure). The man who was driving the car was named Bill, and he was a retired Air Force mechanic. When I told him I wanted him to take pictures of me dipping my wheels in the Pacific because I was riding my bike across the country, he was happy to walk down the beach (a very dark sand beach by the way) and shoot a few pictures. As I was riding back to Astoria a deer started to run along the side of the road with me for close to 200 yards, as if he was saying "it's going to be all right – have a great ride". This afternoon there was a 3 and 1/2 hour briefing on logistics, safety, operations, hygiene, and more pertaining to the ride. The group consists of the widest possible range of people including a father/son team on a tandem, 2 guys from Switzerland, a high school-aged girl, and a woman from Etobicoke, Ontario to name a few. Everybody introduced themsleves and explained why they were doing this ride. It will be interesting to see how the group shakes out. There are some serious cyclists in this group (like really serious). I'm very excited to get going. We'll be on the road before 7AM tomorrow. As I said, it's on!

Here's the You Tube link to the official wheel dipping ceremony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPvBisyEtXs

On my way, kind of

I'm on my way! I left Toronto this morning and flew to Vancouver and then to Portland Oregon. Flights were uneventful except for the 2 babies, 2 bratty kids, and barking dog (yes, barking dog!) all sitting near me. I was about to get all pissed off when I realized I don't think I should complain about the conditions inside an airplane that takes 5 hours to cover what it's going to take me nearly 2 moths to ride!

Before I get started, I wanted to make sure to recognize the efforts of Kailee Kaufman who (along with sister Nicole) made sure to raise a huge amount of money with her school's bake sale. Way to go Kailee and Nicole.

So, I get to Portland today, and I'm walking to the baggage claim to get my bag when who do I see, waiting for me in Portland, but my son Adam. It seems my son (with the help of my wife The Duchess) is my Father's Day present. Adam met me at the airport and has accompanied me to Astoria to help see me off. I could not have been more surpirised and this is the best Father's Day gift I could ever get. We went for a nice dinner and we're now going to watch a lot of Simpsons episodes together. Tomorrow I'm going to ride to the Pacific coast (we're abut 25 kms inland) and dip my wheel in the ocean. Only one more day until we start the ride.

One week to go

With one week to go until I leave, I'm starting to get more and more excited about my trip. After decades of dreaming about this, years of planning, and months of training, I only have to wait another 7 days and then I get to go. I won't be sorry to say goodbye to all this training, I can tell you that.

As I sit here writing, it's just before 6AM on Saturday morning and I'm checking the radar on the Weather Network to see how wet I'm going to get today on my ride. Hopefully, I'll be riding with some guys today and hopefully it won't rain too much. I'm just waiting to get a message from my wife's trainer Kimchan to see if his group is a "go" for our Saturday morning ride. I've done 90% of my training alone, and I can tell you the training miles pass more quickly (and easily) when you ride in a group.

Kudos go to Lara and Peter's daughters Kailee and Nicole Kaufman and their classmates for raising close to $700 in a school bake sale for Team Lara. Kailee and Nicole win the "best fundraisers – Junior Division Award" bestowed on, well, the best junior fundraisers, I guess. Way to go Kailee and Nicole!

Lastly, I want to also thank everyone in my office and my clients who contributed to the "send-off" video that they showed me on Thursday. It was very touching and funny and everyone's good wishes mean so much to me. Here's a link if you'd like to see it and have a laugh:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2542055/Stone_Canoe/The-Office_Edit_June_9.mp4

Fundraising update

Well, the ever-constant training continues, both in the gym and on the road. My original training goal was to ride 2,500kms before I left (I'm over 2,300kms so far with less than 2 weeks to go). It looks like after this weekend, I'll achieve that goal, which is great.

Our fundraising has taken off thanks to the efforts of all our family and friends. A special fundraising initiative was spearheaded by Lara's daughters Kailee and Nicole at their school. The girls were involved in a cookie/bake sale and helped raise funds in the name of their Mom. Way to go girls! We're over $12,000 now with no let up in sight. Thanks to everyone who has contributed – it's for a great cause and you're doing a real mitzvah (for those of you who don't know Yiddish, a "mitzvah" is a good deed).

Susan and I went to see Lara yesterday. She is doing well and, by all accounts is making steady progress. Watching her walk yesterday made me realize how easy it is for me to do things (without having to think about it). It sure puts this whole ride I'm doing into perspective. By any measure, no matter how much I ride my bike, I've had it easy compared to a lot of people, Lara included. I just hope that Lara continues to improve. It was great to see her at her own house surrounded by her family.