Billy and Me At 60

Yesterday comedian Billy Crystal had a dream of a lifetime come true for his 60th birthday. He played as a Designated Hitter for the New York Yankees under a one-day contract. He wore # 60 in honor of his birthday which is today.

Two things came to mind:
Billy Crystal can't be that old. He was born the same year as I was.

For some reason riding 60 miles on a bike through the Pine Creek Gorge in Pennsylvania seems a lot easier than trying to hit a major league pitcher's pitch.

As any of you regular pmPilgrim readers know, I am planning to make that bike trip this coming summer in however many weeks or days are showing up on that applet there to the right. (20 weeks, or 142 days, or 3424 hours) I will be going from Ansonia at the upper end of Pine Creek to Jersey Shore, my hometown, at the other end. Two days, 60 miles, on a bike.

It is the Pine Creek Rails to Trails trail along the old New York Central/Penn Central/Conrail line. I am continuing to work out on a regular basis to get ready. I am spending time looking at the Google Earth pictures. I am even dreaming about it. Had one the other night where with all the excitement I could muster I was telling some friends that I was going to do this crazy, wonderful, exciting thing.

I think I'm going to begin to write about it in the next month or so. April 4 will mark the four month mark. So perhaps around then I will try and begin to put all this into some kind of perspective. Rolling through 60 is both a willingness to admit that it happens and to deny it. (Hey, I know when I am in denial. I just don't care about this one.)

In any case, I'll keep you posted. Although I must admit that standing on a baseball diamond with a Yankee or Twins or even an old Dodger uniform might be kind of fun, too.