After 53 miles in the saddle Saturday, Face of America 2007 riders were feeling sufficiently road tested for the start of Sunday's final 55-mile leg from Frederick to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

As members of Team Semper Fi rallied at the start point, the able-bodied and  disabled Marines on the team joked darkly about the challenge ahead.

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At the lunch stop on the first day of the Face of America 2007 ride, a few yards away from one of Frederick County, Maryland's historic covered bridges, Mike Gibson was explaining how his single bike was set up with all the controls on the right side.

Mike, who lost his left arm in a boating accident when he was a teenager, operates both front and rear brakes and derailleurs with his right hand. Asked if that was difficult to master, he replied quickly, “You adapt. That's what all these guys do,” he said, speaking of the more than 100 cyclists participating in the ride who have been severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. “After a while, you figure it out.”

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Seamus Garrahy, a former Marine and Gettysburg resident known for his care and support of soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, hosted dinner Friday night for the Face of America 2007 riders.

Under a tent in his backyard large enough for the 250 riders and their friends and families, Garrahy welcomed the group that included many former and current members of the military, and reminded them “that you are sitting on hallowed ground.”

It was near the end of his lawn, he said, that Gen. George Pickett buried his dead after the third day of the battle that would decide the Civil War. That was as somber as things got as the riders, which include about 100 soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, came together in high spirits to kick off this remarkable two-day, 110-mile ride from Gettysburg to Bethesda.

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Yesterday it was supposed to rain in Maryland, but instead it was one of those glorious, sunny spring days where the temperature was in the middle 60s and out on the bike trail you could actually feel the warmth and the coolness in the air all at the same time.

You only get a handful of such days each season in which to ride, so despite whatever else is going on in your life, you owe it to yourself to get out on the bike. I filled up the water bottles and got out the door. This would be my last training ride for the Face of America 2007 ride, which is now only two days away.

Of course I waited until the last minute to start training, but yesterday I just went out for fun ….

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Yesterday was the first warm, sunny day in Annapolis, Md., in many weeks, and that meant it was time to start training for the 2007 Face of America Ride. The two-day, 110-mile ride is less than a week away, so it was time to get some miles in.

I had been riding my trainer indoors all winter, along with running and doing my regular exercise regimen of stretching and chin-ups, etc., but there is no substitute for time on the road, and that was far too apparent after 34 miles on flat terrain felt like a century in the Rockies.

But no worries, because just being a part of this ride is more important than how I get it done. ….

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