The first two lakes, with a ringer

I'll be honest - I'm a little anxious about some of these Finger Lakes rides. There are three less than 20 miles (Conesus, Honeoye, Otisco) and another handful that are only moderately hilly or fairly short. But I've never done any real hard riding, so looking at the topographical profiles on some of the longer routes gives me visions of long walks up a hill, pushing my bike like a chump.

So in the name of confronting my fears, I decided to change up my initial schedule and put the hilliest ride first. That's Canadice and Hemlock lakes (so I also get the benefit of crossing two of the 11 off at once). According to MapMyRide, the first nine miles going south on Marrowback Road will be the steepest of the whole summer.

It's not a ride for anyone; I decided to call in the big guns, my high school friend Buddy Nyhof. The good thing about having him for a partner is that he won't be too worried about a dinky little hill in Livingston County. That's because he already did one of these summer charity bike ride things - from Washington state to Maine, a total of 3,400 miles. He raised more than $7,000 for recycling and sustainability in the Fairport Central School District, where he's a teacher. He's kind of a force of nature.

(I'm also obligated to point out that he had a memorable appearance on The Price Is Right.)

Buddy and I will be riding Sunday, May 22. I'll be using the next week to get ready. Once we finish, I'll have a post with photos, maybe video and a recap.

If you find this interesting, please visit my GoFundMe page and make a donation to Nurse-Family Partnership, which connects nurses with poor first-time moms to help them through pregnancy and the first two years of the baby's life.