Going public with personal challenges motivates many of us. Especially me.

I spent a dozen years quietly trying to lose the 20 pounds I gained eating food left on my children's plates. It didn't happen.

Then, after publicly declaring my intentions — by attending weekly meetings and weighing in before God and everyone else to see — I finally lost the weight.

Humiliation goes a long way in helping me toe the line.

Today, I'm hoping that same motivational drive will kick in as I declare before all — is anyone reading this? — that next summer I intend to ride my bicycle from here to Washington D.C., pedaling almost 300 miles though Pennsylvania's lush hillsides (a.k.a. the Allegheny Mountains) and along Maryland's scenic Chesapeake and Ohio canal.

No great feat, you might say, but for a 57-year-old woman (58 by then) who cruises mall parking lots looking for a spot close to the door, this is a super challenge.

Here's the plan, at least as I have it outlined in a Word document on my computer: Next summer, from May 25 to June 1, my sister, former college roommate and I will start at Ohiopyle (shorter by 60 miles, and more doable) and head eastward (downhill, except for those #%*!$ mountains) to Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.

By my calculations, the ride will take eight days, averaging 35 miles a day, give or take a few miles.

To prepare for the sojourn, I am building my bike-riding stamina this summer by taking day trips, adding mileage as I go, although resting several weeks between each ride. First was the Moraine State Park trail, 14 scenic miles along Lake Arthur, a ride that I've taken many times with my husband and children. It was a piece of cake.

Next came the Freeport to Butler trail. Although I never made it all the way (40 miles round-trip), I did add several miles each time, completing 26 miles on my last go-round. It was enough to cause me to buy bike shorts, upon the recommendation of my biker son, which provide me with the necessary padding in all the right places.

On a Sunday in May, my husband and I traveled to Indiana County and did the Ghost Town Trail, 36 miles round-trip from Dilltown to Ebensburg.

Hitting the trail by 9 a.m., we traveled eastward and upward. The trail literature noted a 3- to 4-percent grade, a rise of 3 to 4 feet per 100 feet — the maximum grade we should encounter in our Ohiopyle to D.C. sojourn. That sounds manageable, I told my husband, although my calves and thighs thought differently. But with a slowed-down pace and lots of water, we made it.

Last weekend was my longest ride, 46 miles along the Allegheny River Trail, which runs between Emlenton and Franklin. A virtually flat ride over smooth asphalt with the scenic Allegheny at my side, I felt my confidence soar.

That's when I decided to go public.

With all my riding, I've proven to myself that I can go the distance; what I don't know yet is whether I can do it eight days in a row.

Oh well. Maybe no one will read this column.