Livestrong Challenge - schedule for 2009

[ny biker]

Well, I added the Livestrong application, but I don't see anything about it on my facebook page. But then I can't seem to figure out how to do much of anything on this facebook page. I think I need Facebook for Dummies.

[ny biker]

Oh by the way, hotel info/group rates has been published, I think for all cities.

I'm trying to decide if I should go back to the hotel I stayed at last year or stay at a different one. I had problems with my hotel room last year (leaking sink, totally not clean) but it had a refrigerator, which I really will need. Oh well, there's plenty of time to think about it.

[Possegal]

We loved our hotel and intend to stay there again. I'm booking a bunch of rooms tomorrow actually. The hotel info was up there last Thursday (I look nearly every day because my team will not allow me to book us anywhere else). I told them it was posted and our hotel was there again and I'd book the rooms the next day. Last Friday I get on the computer and the hotel info is gone again. I swear I felt like I was going a little crazy. So when I saw it back up there yesterday, I was feeling a tad less unstable. But just a tad.

[ny biker]

I'm sure it's not you.

Which hotel do you like? I was in the Doubletree near Plymouth Meeting mall in 2007 and 2008. In 2006 I was in the Marriott across the street.

[Possegal]

Sorry I missed this. This is the hotel we stayed at last year and are staying at this year. http://homewoodsuites1.hilton.com/en...vania/index.do

It isn't as big as some of the others, but I think that may be what we liked most about it. Last year my family hung at the pool on Sunday after the ride. We had left over pasta and beer and pretty much just hung out and relaxed. I stayed at the Doubletree in 2007 too. It was fine but then last year I picked this one because it was a tad cheaper and a tad closer. In the end, I was glad I did and my team was emphatic about wanting to stay there again.

And do you see the application on your facebook profile now? Mine is on mine, not sure how much this will help me raise money, but I guess it can't hurt. I'll just have to send a message to my FB friends periodically directing them to that application.

[ny biker]

The facebook app is working now. But I agree, on its own it doesn't do much. But I'm planning to keep a training log under my Notes tab, and in a month or so I'll start actively asking people to support me.

I've been thinking about the hotel and I think I might go back to the Doubletree, mostly because I think it's kind of the HQ for the people who are running the event, so the lobby is always full of people wearing livestrong clothes and carrying livestrong stuff. And I like how that keeps creates an atmosphere over the whole time that I'm there.

But I'll look into the Homewood Suites, too.

[Possegal]

Your point about the Doubletree is exactly what I loved about it. The first year it was just me staying there and riding, with two friends along for support. My sister and brother in law who rode live in Philly. So I loved seeing so many others with their bikes and their gold/black. I cracked up that there were 2 weddings so there were all these people in their finest, and then lycra and the sounds of bikes and cleats. Such a mix! And usually I can say - oh my car, it's the one with the bike rack. But there, half the parking lot had bike racks. I got into a conversation in the elevator with this older couple because I saw their jerseys and told them that I rode for a while with 2 members of their team - their daughter I found out. We had a lovely conversation.

The next year, it was about cheaper and closer. And in the end, the closer is even better because you come in on a different road (part of which we actually ride in/out on during the challenge) and we hit no traffic. And then my family ended up loving it because they liked being the big fish in the little pond. We made friends with others there who were riding, but you are right, the feel is very different.

If you end up staying at the Homewood Suites - you are more than welcome to be an adjunct member of my team. We won't leave you hanging.