105 days to 105 miles

In mid-November, an ol’ college chum and I registered for a 105 mile cycling race to be held in Death Valley 105 days later.They’re called century rides and they’re quite common. But this one, as you can imagine, will be a bit more challenging. The program site summarized that challenge by simply saying, “Death Valley is aptly named for a place where living things go, dehydrate and die.” As a living thing, that’s a bit intimidating.But how does someone train in the middle of an Upstate-New York winter for a race in the Southwestern desert? And balance a demanding training schedule but still be a good father/husband/employee? After all, that driveway’s not going to shovel itself, will it? (Seriously, can someone take care of this for me? I’ve got a lot of shit to do.)These are my thoughts and observations on the absurdity of this along the way. There’s cycling, training, parenting, shoveling and a Capital Region native’s insight into how he can survive a self-inflicted ordeal in the Death Valley desert. Oh, and it’ll have the word “death” all over it. Hit the ‘bookmark’ button - quick.