This is my buddy, Bill. Everyone should have a Buddy Bill. Bill is the kind of buddy that I want to be to my friends. He’s the guy that is always there for you, ready to help, never expecting anything in return, and genuinely interested in what you do. He’s the guy that considers sacrifice just something that happens along the way when you are somebody’s buddy. He’s the guy that will always point out your strengths, overlook your weaknesses, and find a way to make you feel way better about yourself than you probably should. I can’t help but smile when we are together. That’s my Buddy Bill.

Yesterday I had to do 66 miles as part of my gradual progression of volume and load intensity in training for the Giretto. The problem was that I normally do this ride on Sunday with my training partners, but being out of town forced me to find time Tuesday instead. Being a work day for all of my team mates, and most riding buddies, I had few people I could even ask to ride.

I put out the frantic email asking if anyone could come ride with me, as I was about to do 66 miles, mostly on a single stretch of flat road only 9.5 miles long. Here in PA, even 9 flat miles is an anomaly, so it becomes the only place to ride when enduring flats are the order of the day. Doing 3 loops (along with 11 miles to and from the location) constitutes 6 trips on the same stretch of road. This is not something that gets my cycling juices flowing, even if I was riding outside. Couple this with the fact that it was below 50 degrees with a stiff wind, and the prospects for riding alone really was making me as nervous as a kid waiting on his first paddling at school; you know it’s coming, you just don’t know how much it will hurt…. Oh, I just probably dated myself right – they probably don’t paddle anymore. Anyway…

Having just flown in the night before, I didn’t have time to call and either beg people or “guilt” them into riding (raised as an Italian Catholic, I come from a long line of expert guiltologists). So, it was a tremendous relief when the morning of my ride, Bill told me he got most of his work out of the way, and he could ride all but the last leg of my 6 trips on the tarmac. I was ecstatic! It was like they told me the principal’s paddle broke, and I could go back to class!

Naturally, despite making this offer to others, Buddy Bill was my only riding buddy for the day. I guess by now you could have also guessed that Bill & his wife Lisa were my first Sponsors after I announced the Livestrong event, right?

Well, Bill and I pace lined the entire time, allowing me to stay in heart zone 3 for most of the ride, and quite a few spells in high zone 2. On our second loop, the wind kicked up so badly that we experienced two significant changes when we were pulling – we were colder (even though we both had 3 layers on top), and our hearts worked at 10 to 15 beats higher than when we were drafting, putting us in zones 3 and 4 depending on if we were pulling or drafting.

I kept coming back to one thought – what would I have done if Bill were not there? Yes, without a doubt I would have ridden, but my sufferage would have been well past the norm this stage of my training. At the end of the day, my legs were a bit tired, but my mind and spirit were full of energy – not just because we completed the ride, but because I have my very own Buddy Bill – everyone needs a buddy like Bill. Thanks BILL!!!!!!!!!