Base Line of CARAAM!

So if you look in the dictionary, you'll find multiple definitions for the phrase Base Line or Baseline. 

base line or base·line (bsln) n.
1. a. A line serving as a basis, as for measurement, calculation, or location.
    b. A measurement, calculation, or location used as a basis for comparison.
2. Baseball The base path.
3. Sports
    a. The boundary line at either end of a court, as in basketball or tennis.
    b. The area near this boundary line: made a basket from the base line.

    c. A style of play in tennis in which the player remains near the base line and rarely approaches the net.

Now most of these seem to serve only as sports descriptors and forget all about other elements of "base", for instance there is the musical sense found in the following song;



Nor is this to be confused with Rock n' Roll's Greatest Bass Lines;



or the incomparable stylings of the Master of Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins;



Ahh, that never gets old, although I'm not sure what the guy in the diaper in the background is doing!

And the term "baseline" should never, EVER be confused with a line of Bass;

(I think the lateral lines give him more lateral stiffness - cycling fans, you understand)

or a line of Sea Bass Sushi;

(yummmmmmmm!!!!!)

So, as with just about most words and idioms in the English language, "baseline" or "bass line" can have multiple meanings.  Well, in this entry I want to talk about definition 1 a. - a line serving as a basis, as for measurement, calculation, or location.  For you see, dear readers, today I began establishing my "baseline" for training for CARAAM.

Now for those of you new to the Connor's Army blog, CARAAM stands for Connor's Army Ride Across America - my fundraising event for the campers of Sunrise Day Camp.  In EXACTLY 148 DAYS I will be dipping my rear wheel in the Pacific Ocean and heading towards Wheatley Heights, NY!  Ideally, we'll do it from the parking lot of Sea World in San Diego early on the morning of June 24th and the pedaling will begin!  Hopefully we'll get the chance to visit it the day before - the only downside is I hope the site of all those adorable piscean critters won't turn my little vegetarian away from sushi - lord knows we love the fishy!

(My wheel will touch off  just to the right of that long building!)

Now I am going to admit, ALL of the planning is not done and we have not booked our rooms yet.  Part of that is going to be determined by how many more sponsors we can get between now and May.  I'm going to try to book the least expensive accomodations I can and eat as sparingly as I can but even so we estimate we're still about $2,500 short of what we estimate we'll need to underwrite the costs of gas, lodging, and vehicle maintenance for the trip.

Yet, even so I went out today to establish where I am fitness-wise.  Right now we have planned that I will cycle anywhere on average between 70 and 100 miles a day.  Some days more, some days less depending on the terrain and weather conditions.  The first day I may only do about 60 miles or so just to get us out of the San Diego metropolitan area.  I'll start hitting the miles pretty hard the next few days and try to reach Phoenix in four days - roughly by June 27th.

In order to do that I have to know what my baseline is, or my beginning level of fitness.  Soooooo, today I went out for an hour and a half just to see how much distance I could cover without really pushing myself.  I chose some fairly step hills and rollers and just tried to maintain an steady pace.  And the verdict is??????  I covered 26 miles in 90 minutes.  That averages out to 104 miles in 6 hours of nonstop riding. 

Now I have no illusions about being able to continue that pace the first couple of days.  I really imagine that I'll most likely average about 15 mph which will allow me to cover 90 miles nonstop but I will most likely take a break after every hour and a half or so in the first few days which means I'll probably cover about 70 miles depending on the terrain.  As it gets flatter and my fitness level increases I may be able to average a bit more.

Now I know its not going to be easy.  But I also know that I'm just now starting my training in ernest as the weather starts to improve I'll put in more and more mileage.  Right now I have 326 commuting miles logged into my Garmin GPS which is the most I've ever logged in January - thanks to the warm weather.   I'm excited to get into shape and to really start mashing the pedals.

Financially we're just really getting started.  After the severe setback that was dealt to us a month ago, things seem to be looking up!  Officially we have collected $1500 which is 3% of our total goal!  There are many more fundraisers planned and lots of groups have come forward saying they are going to help us!  Emily Feinstein is organizing a group of Alumni to put together a musical cabaret fundraiser (if you are an SHS alumni who sings please contact her) as a Connor's Army Team Sunrise event and my daughter has an event planned for June that looks like it will be huge!!!!!

So we are well on our way but its only the beginning.  We have 1325 likes on Facebook at the moment.  We are hoping to eventually get up to 3600!!!!  One for each mile (roughly) of the journey!  If you are wondering how you can support us, invite everyone you know and post to every facebook group you belong to and ask them to go to https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Connors-Army/143446649035655 and add us to their likes.

Help us spread the word to the media!  I just had my first interview with Long Island Press today and we're hoping our first featured article will come out soon!  The more we get out into the media, the more likely we are to reach an even bigger audience to help us make a difference for these kids!  And if you're reading this for the first time, thank you.  Keep checking back as now that we're getting closer to the date, I'll be updating more often.  And, if you should feel the spirit call you to help out, go to http://www.connorsarmy.org/ and see how you can help today!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!