Thank you to everyone who participated in the surprise match day!
With the match you raised $425 in a single day.
That’s amazing! Thank you 💕
I had great ambitions to do a 34 mile ride to reach my goal before a rare September nor’eastern storm will bring rain and 50+ mph winds.
Instead I woke up with a headache, stuffed sinuses and a runny noise. So, I had to settle on an easy 10 miles.
24 miles to go!
I’m at the top of Yuri Gagarin’s orbit, about 200 miles up!
In 1961 he became the first human in space, circling Earth once in under two hours.
203 miles done. 47 miles to go.
F**k Cancer!
185 miles (about 300 kilometers) above sea level!
Below this height, the thin air still drags satellites back down within weeks to months. Up here, a satellite can finally stay up long enough to do its job.
Here's my climb so far, 11 rides:
Ride 1: 16.2 miles
I'm more than twice as high as the planes you fly in, and inside the ozone layer, Earth's sunscreen. The air is so thin that without a pressure suit, the water in my body would start to boil.
Ride 2: 29.6 miles
I'm higher than anyone has ever skydived. Weather balloons popped far below me, around 20 miles. Up here, the sky is nearly black even in full daylight, yet I can't see a single star. The sun and the bright Earth below are too dazzling for my eyes to pick them out. At night, the stars blaze against a pitch-black sky and not one of them twinkles.
Ride 3: 52.3 miles
Shooting stars burn up around here, and most of them are no bigger than a grain of sand. I've also passed 50 miles, where the US counts you as an astronaut and gives you a pin: astronaut wings. The rest of the world waits until 62.
Ride 4: 78.5 miles
I'm officially in space. The international edge is at 62 miles, about an hour's drive if you could drive straight up. I'm also higher than William Shatner's space tourist flight, which topped out around 66 miles.
Ride 5: 111.6 miles
I'm almost level with Apollo 11's parking orbit (about 115 miles), where the astronauts circled Earth to check their ship before heading off on the 240,000-mile trip to the Moon.
Ride 6: 122.2 miles
The air here is billions of times thinner than at the beach. From up here I can see about 1,000 miles in every direction, roughly from Boston to Chicago.
Ride 7: 125.3 miles
Halfway! I'm at the top of the green northern lights. Above me, the rarer red glow begins.
Ride 8: 138.7 miles
I've passed the lowest point of Sputnik's orbit. Sputnik was the first satellite ever, launched in 1957. It was the size of a beach ball and did little more than beep, and it started the space race.
Ride 9: 159.3 miles
I'm just below the top of John Glenn's orbit in 1962, when he became the first American to circle the Earth. He went around three times in under five hours.
Ride 10: 167.5 miles
The thin air here can be over 1,000°C, as hot as lava, but there's so little of it that I wouldn't feel the heat. Anything orbiting here moves at about 17,000 miles per hour and sees 16 sunrises a day.
Ride 11: 185.1 miles
I've reached the satellite zone. Below this height, thin air drags satellites back down within weeks to months. 🛰️
65 miles to go! 🚴♀️
China's space station orbits at about 240 miles. The International Space Station, my finish line, orbits at about 250.
Every mile raises money for children's cancer research. Help me get to the ISS:
https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/NinettaKosswig
F**k Cancer!
#GreatCycleChallenge
I created this image with Gemini. And yes, it has mistakes I didn’t have the time to fix all of them. So, screw perfectionism: it’s good enough!
I went up the Old Eastern Marsh Trail from Newburyport to New Hampshire during lunch.
18 miles ridden. 65 miles to go 🚴♀️
I got to check out the City Rail Trail in Newburyport today. A paved 3.5-mile path featuring public art sculptures, murals, and waterfront views. Lots of people walking so it was more of a sightseeing loop. Did do two rounds!
8 miles ridden. 85 miles to go! 🚴♀️
