Sarah-

Thanks for the advice!

The first ride I'm plannig is www.bloodsweatandgears.org. I'll probably shoot to do the 47 mile version with 5800 feet of climbing, as realistically given where I am now, I'm not sure I can be ready for a century with 13k feet of climbing in 2 months.

The second is the Hilly Hellacious Hundred http://www.blueridgebicycleclub.org/hilly/ It's 2 months later - I'm shooting for the full century which is 8k feet of climbing.

I live in an area with some hills, but nothing like there will be on these rides - so I think I have lots of hill repeats in my future

Of course, all of this is job dependent - I left a bad (for me) job last fall and am really ramping up my search for a new firm now. Could be a relocation in my future...which would likely interfere with the biking plans, unfortunately....

-Carrie Anne