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Dave and I spent the last few weekends training for the Million Dollar Bike Ride. Last year, I participated in the race, which is a fundraiser for rare disease research hosted by Penn Medicine. This year, Dave was joining me, and we both set ambitious goals. It was a fun opportunity for Dave and me to check out some of the bike trails in Long Island as we geared up for the race (33 miles for me, 73 for Dave).

Here we are biking along Jones Beach:

We also found an awesome path from Bethpage up to Syosset and then down to Massapequa through the Massapequa Preserve. The route reminded us of Ann Arbor's Arboretum, with its leafy canopy overhead and babbling stream alongside. I didn't know there were places like that nearby in Long Island!

The bike ride has become quite the family affair. My cousins and aunts and uncles came from all over the country for the event. This year, even my dad participated! Can you believe that this is us?? Now we just need to teach my mom how to ride a bike. We all rode to raise money for the LAM Foundation, which supports research on the rare lung disease lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). My mom was diagnosed with the disease in 2003, and we ride in her honor! Please donate if you can.

S. came up from DC to ride with me. There's no better distraction from grinding up steep hills with failing legs than catching up with an old friend. Thanks for coming, S.! The ride began at Penn and then went north through Chestnut Hill, back down through Manayunk, and along the Schuykill in Fairmount Park. We saw construction sites, trailer parks, mansions, some bad areas, a college graduation, and horses frolicking in the fields.

And here is Dave, crossing the finish line after an epic 75 mile ride (he got lost at the end). I was a little worried while we were waiting and might have considered forbidding him from doing such a long race without proper training again, but he felt so accomplished afterwards that I held my tongue.

It seems as though this will be an annual event. Who wants to join me next spring?