What happened to Brian? I had to make a very difficult decision. Take three or four days off and ride in the van while everyone else rode, or go home at the half way mark to return to my family and business that I left behind. I chose the later.. I flew home on the 20th. Not that my wife wasn't doing a good job at running the store. She did a great job in my absence. Thank you Lisa. I still view my ride as a big success. over 1800 miles and 42,000 ft of climbing. I raised money and awareness to my late sons illness. And I met a great group of people on the PAC tour. All this will be with memories of a great experience.. About my ankle. After I got home I took a week off the bike. I now am riding again with no pain and enjoying it once more. My advice to everyone willing to listen, follow your dreams. That's what they are there for. Plus we only pass this way but once, enjoy. Enjoy life and the people around you. God bless.

The 102 mile, 8000ft day was actually climbing Independence pass. At the top elevation is actually 12,000 ft.Ankle held up but hurts. When I awoke yesterday I had a pulled muscle in my side. You know the kind that takes your breath away. I was sagged up to the first rest stop. At that point I rode the rest of the day. Heel tapped and a pulled muscle. Again you never know how the body is going to hold up.. Gives one more respect for people that do this kind of thing. Today was suppose to be a good day. 156 miles and 4000 ft of climbing. I got my first flat coming out of the city that we stayed in. Then # 2&3 happened before the second sag. Being the last to come into the second sag Me and two others hand to be brought up the road to catch the other riders. The last 20 miles were a killer. 25-30 mile an hour winds, and the skies looked very threatening. Tomorrow we go to Texas. If my ankle holds out. When I unwrapped it today it feels really sore and funny. Tomorrow I will make a decision to go on.

The pain is still close to unbearable. I taped it today for the 112 mile ride. It helped but I'm not sure if it will get a chance to heal without a couple days off. Tomorrows ride is 102 miles with 8000ft of climbing. It is the climbing that hurts the most so I will play it by ear. Again I have to say that you never know when training that something like this won't pop up. My strength and endurance seem to be good. We'll see tomorrow.

Yesterday was a big day. But to make matters worse I injured my Achilles tendon. It doesn't matter how much you try to prepare for a big event, anything can go wrong. My left foot was hurting so bad it felt like I was ridding on a broken foot. I was sagged passed the climb to the next rest area where I thought I could ride the rest of the way in. I struggled for the next 20 miles where I gave into the pain. I have been icing it every chance I can get Today's ride was the shortest of the whole tour 53 miles. It still hurt, so I'm still icing it. Lets not forget why I am doing this crazy event. It is memory of my late son David who died at the age of 7 from neorocutanios melonosis. Check out the web site http://www.ridebrianride.com/ make a donation, make all this pain worth the time and effort that I've put into it. Thank you

we crossed into Utah today. what a day. 148 miles this after after 138 miles yesterday in very windy conditions 20-25 mph headwinds the last 50 miles. Lon and Susan, the people running this PAC tour are really nice people. They really know what they are doing. My wife Lisa put together a very successful fund raiser at the cafe. She did a very good job and everybody was very happy.

Sun is still shinning. We are having beautiful weather. Yesterday was 116 and today we did 112 miles. We crossed into Idaho today. So we are in our second of twelve states. I hope this weather holds up. Nice country this USA. A lot to see as far as the eyes can see. This is a picture of Jason, from New Hampshire. Greg from NY and me at breakfast. Greg is 16, and this is not his first one. He did one last year with a different group.

today was an awsome day.136 miles with a tail wind gusting at about 25-30 miles an hour. Or so it seemed. The staff of PAC tours continues to impress me. There is nothing too big that they wont do. Comes right down to your prefrence smooth or chunky on the peanut butter. I'm not kidding. these guy think of everything so you can concentrate on the event. Lisa continues to do a great job running the cheesecake store http://www.stockbridgescheesecakes.com/ with my absence. Thank you honey. This ride is a fund raiser for my late son. Check it out on http://www.ridebrianride.com/

I made it!!! What a day. 8500 ft of climbing,102 miles. The mountains where beautiful. Everything was good until lunch. Thought we just had a couple rolling hills left. We had two climbs. Then the wind picked up. 35-40 miles an hour with temps reaching into the mid90's. The last 20 miles felt like they were never going to end. tomorrow we have about 136 miles.. Oh did I mention I got a saddle sore. That,s when your butt is rubbed raw from riding in the seat for too long.

I am here in Portland Or. Ride starts tomorrow. we have to put our bikes together, meet the crew and go for a short 40 mile warm up ride today. It is hard with jet lag. I have been up since 3:30am pacific time, that is 6:30 eastern time. I can't wait to ride again. After spending 15 hour traveling yesterday. I rather be riding(lets see if I still say that after day 3or 4).

two days till I leave. Am I prepared? How does one know for an event like this. I'm sure others in the group will wondering the same thing. Just to fill you in I am talking about the ride across the USA in 30 days. 3500 miles with the PAC tours. Please follow me along on my journey.

One week from today I will be in Portland Oregon preparing to ride my bike to Georgia. 3500 miles. I will be doing this to raise money and awareness for the illness that took my son David at the age of 7. www.ridebrianride.com is the web page to check it out. I will blog along the way to give updates and maybe even dedicate some days to people I know that are affected with cancer. I got the idea from Lance Armstrong. I will be leaving my #1 cheesecake store in the state of Connecticut to pursue this quest. www.stockbridgescheesecakes.com is the web site to our store