Andy's Big Ride

Day 44 Confluence, PA to Bedford , PA

2007-08-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

Day 44 Confluence, PA to Bedford, PA

Essence: It feels good to feel good again.

Today is a day to ride. While many people say tomorrow is the "Final Exam" with a hilly century, I consider today to be the Senior Project, with multiple climbs and the alternate route up 3213' Mt. Davis, Pennsylania's highest point.

Today will be the 1st of the final 2 back to back days of hard riding. I am ready, I am prepped. Let's see what I've got left.

The air is thick and the light from the sodium vapor lights still casts cones of solidness through the air. Other than these glowing solids, it is still pitch dark... and time ot get up. It only finally got cold enough for the sleeping bag about 90 minutes ago and my body surely begs to be able to sleep in a little longer.

Breakig cap down is slow. I am still tryingot manage my wet clothes. It's all wet.

Finally I am packed and ready for breakfast. Not much breakfast choice though. Low on milk. No Juice. :(

I get the road route directions for up and over Mt. Davis. I am going to do it. Stephen and Lambert take off alone and tell me I will catch up. SO I am left to start last and alone.

I am pushing and it finally feels good to ride hard. I have chosen to wear teh McGowan jersey today in honor of Dr. Brack and Jeananne, as I a strong climber and going for the tough climbs today. I remind myself to pace for all day and tomorrow's century as well. I here my traing partner Grant's voice telling to pace.

The valley has a chill and the trees are just starting to change colors.

I can imagine how pretty this will be in the full fall colors.
Ah autumn... Football... back to school... fall leaves... those things aren't far off for these people.

At the bottom of the Mt. climb I catch Sean, Liz and Kari. With Stephen, Lambert and I we are the only 6 to be taking the alternate mountain route. It shaves 10 miles, but adds several thousand feet of elevation gain so it should end up about the the same. I am glad to have caught the other three and no longer be bringing up the rear. I pass them and climb up on e of the steepest grades we ever encounter. Lowest gear, standing in the pedals I wear out and go back to my old reliable sit in the saddle and spin it out. Spinning it out I finally break 8 mph, then 9 then 10 and I am up over the first hump.

The climbs are tough! Steep, shorts bursts where you can't develop a rhythm. Just all out exertion. I hear the words from one of my letter in my last mail stop, "Use your granny gear. That's why itis there." I shift into granny gear and smile at the wisdom. I also work on my hill sprints for Grant and push hard up and over every hill.

Near the top of one fo the hills I chat with a guy about an old rock quarry, mine.

The air is stale coming out of the shaft and I think back tot he West Virginia mine disaster last year. He tells me about taking his kids in the mine to collect fossils when they were small, some 40 years ago. He has a ventriloquist dummy's laugh.

The air around us is thick with fog and he tells me this isn't normal weather.

I ride off into the foggy clearings. I know there is a top, but I surely can't make it our or even guess at my progress. More Climbs and even a few descents =, that just have to be reclimbed.

Final Climb and I catch Lambert as the turn off to the actual Mt. Davis Peak. We head up the peak road for the 1 mile to the actual peak.

We are alone when we get there. We see the path to the peak and folow it around but don't see a peak. Finally we see a boulder and some signs.

Not in good rock climbing shoes I shimmy up to get a good picture of the benchmark plaque.

Dave climbs the lookout tower and I get a shot of him.

Summoning all my courage, I overcome my primal fear of manmande heights and climb the 4 stories of the lookout tower to join Dave take in the great view.

Our visibility is about 1/2 a mile into the fog.

Yes I am holding on for dear life...

because it makes me feel better.

Having climbed, and seen we head down and are back on the bikes. Back on the main road we turn right and 200 yards up the hill we find Pollie and Mark huddle in their car waiting for us but avoiding the biting flies in the meantime.

A quick picture, a water fill up and Dave Lambert and I are shooting off down the hill. Mark advised us to try to keep it under 40!

Once again we are pushing the limits of speed and our tires and we crash through the 40mph advice easily. I top out at 46.6mph. We pass a dumptruck on a screaming downhill only for him to catch us back on the uphill. We shoot down another hill 40mph and bend around a corn field to a BLIND CORNER STOP SIGN. Panic is all I can do. There is now stopping for this. All I can manage to shout at Dave behind me is, "WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" We come to a stop 30' the other side of the stop sign and breathe a collective sigh of relief that is was acountry road with no traffic.

We carry on down the mountain, and looking back can't see the top, where we have just been.

At the bottom we rejoin the route. What with the detours and the extra miles up to the boulder, this route has only saved us 2 miles but it was totally worth it. We see the water stop for the riders who took the trail, however since we are refilled from the mountain, we head on.

All across the country we have been seeing the silhouette of a cowboy leaning up against a post. Since as early as Washington we have seen this image. Occasionally we have see teh cowgirl version. This OLD MAN version makes me turn around and come back for a picture.

From here it is hard climbing and riding for everyone else, but those of us that have conquered Mt. Davis, have alreday done the toughest part of our day.

I start riding hard and really pushing hte pace and pull away from Lambert. I don't see another rider for miles. Eventually I see David Latner climbing rollers into another cute little town. As I cath him and ride along with him, he says that according to Kathy, only Stephen is ahead of us. Holy cow from starting out near dead last, I have moved to 2nd rider. I guess I am riding fast today. I stop at the turn in town for an impromptu lunch and seemingly create the spot. It is an auto repair that is closed, but has a big parking lot and shares with an.. what else... but and Ice Cream trailer. Ice cream isn't open yet, but during hte 30 minutes we sit there and eat lunch, the ice cream trailer opens up a tad early (mostly due to our begging) and milkshakes are the order of the day.

During our stop, Kari and Dimmitts have also rolled up and passed us. Latner has already left and is rolling. I change out my rose lenses for my Dark gray sun lenses and return to my hunt. Inow have "rabbits" out in front of me to catch and I can really push the pace, by focussing on catching them and not on how my body feels.

Latner, the Dimmits and eventually Kari, are all riders that I pass. Stephen is like an apparition out ther ahead of me.

AT a sharp turn we hang a right and start attacking some low hills straight on ans we haed to the United flight 93 memorial site. Coming over the last hill the top 20 feet are a sheer wall that seems virtually straight up. Lowest gear, standing it takes every muscle fiber to keep the bike upright and climb these 20'.

Over the crest we coast downhill a few hundred yards and are at the site of the 9/11 Flight 93 crash site and impromptu memorial. Kathy is there waiting for us with a water break and we take the time to go throughthe memorial.

As we all do, I remember the day of 9/11/2001 and of the events that took place. I remember at the time that flight 93 seemed so forgotten and secondary to the twin towers collapse and even the Pentagon crash. Out here in a corn field, what had they done. Therefore the chainlink fence section that had been erected as impromptu memorial, that is covered in flags, and fireman jackets and buttons and the like. In that impromptu style that has become so popular since the death of Lady Diana, this memorial onthe spot seemd so perfect. The only official monument were a set of benches each with 2 names ofthe passengers and crew who perished on the flight. In all there are about 35 or 40 benches arranged to look att he crash site and it is very solemn and truly peaceful. Everyman heroes that gave up everything for an untold rest of us to be protected.

I don't know how long I stopped at the memorial. For the first time all day, I wasn't in a rush and time passing had no significance at the memorial.

Finally it felt time to roll on.

To be continued.

Day 43 Washington to Confluence

2007-08-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

Day 43 Washington, PA to Confluence, PA

Heavy rain soaked us last night. The humidity keeps stuff from drying. Hanging it up, just makes it more damp as it collects moisture form the air.

As a result tonight we are all trying to balance clothing needs for the next few days. By now I have my outifts prioritized for the distance, the terrain, the weather etc. I know which shorts and which jersey I like for the centuries and then which for the hills. Looking ahead at our upcoming days I am doing hte calculus of drying time and when I need clothes for what days.

Not only are our wet clothes a concern. The rest of our wet gear is a problem. My stuff got absolutely soaked and got packed soaked so it sat wet in my luggage and made sure to get everything else damp. My pillow is sour. My duffel bags actually have a sour odor. My tools are rusty and even the brand new spare chain is showing some exposure.

In addition, my cell phone seems to have given up as well. Won't hold a charge. Won't stay on even when iti s plugged in. I can't even get the numbers out of my phone book and I only have Mom and Dad's home memorized. What to do? what to do?

Today was okay. Lots of roller hills. It looked like it might rain so I dressed in arm warmers and tights to be at least warm if not dry while riding. I also swapped out my sunglass lenses for pink/rose lenses for better vision.

Mist and hanging moisture are backdrops in all my pictures.

As I get roling with Steve and the Kids, the weather felt like Seattle. As we climbed the hills in town it felt like the Downtown Seattle Hills and as we passed near an old college it definitely reminded us Pill Hill in Seattle. The old architecture is really fun to pay attention and one of the joys for me as we work our way east and into colonial areas.

Here I am in my leggings and wamr clothing just to give a sense of the day.

Leaving the college we cruise through this great old neighborhood where the houses are just so scenic.

Leaving these periphiral edges of Pittsburgh we get into a valleys and a state park where the fog is beautiful. Here is what it looked like to the normal eye.

Here is how it looks to me through my rose sunglasses.

The rosey colors gives the fog a very surreal and fairy tale feeling. It makes everything so much more beautiful which lifts my mood and sweeps away my worries of being wet.

This little covered bridge looks like it belongs in in a jigsaw puzzle.

I love it as one of the atractions during our serenely non-traffic ride through the state park.

Coming out of the state park we are into another large industiral town. One thing that strikes me about all these larger towns is how all the churches are lined up along a a given road. With each denomination showing off and trying ot out build the one next to it. This develops into one of my favorite mental games from the ride which I think of as a "Church find" sort of liek a word find. How it works is as you ride down the street you see a church and check it off on the mental checklist and then see how many churches you get.

sort of like this... Oh there are the Methodist on the Left, oh 2nd on the right are the presbysterians, oh and 3rd are the Baptists. A.M.E. is 4th. Catholics on the Left. Calvary chapel and even a Mormon church. Hey a sinagogue. Have we seen the Lutherans? Where are the Lutherans. By now we are getting tot he end of hte road and need to turn. I am starting to worry about the Lutherans when just as we make the turn left onto a bridge I see see the Lutherans have the corner lot. Okay, we seem to have everyone here.

As we cross the bridge over the Ohio river we stop to watch the barge traffic and catch some water.

Major barge/river shipping traffic remains a novelty to me. SInce we are excited about just having a stream in our river beds, having enough water to reliably float a barge is unbelievable.

We climb out of the river valley and for the downhills we relish, we grind out the uphill climbs like this.

A bit down the road, I don't get a picture of it but in this little valley there is a wrecking yard and graveyard for dead cars. Piled 4 and 5 high there are thousands of dead cars in this salvage valley and it really is both remarkable and distrubing how many there are. The environmental impact of al those cars rusting and leaking is all I can think of as we ride past. Somewhere in all the wreckages I ride through some glass and get a flat.

Steve pulls over with me and we fix the flat. I reallize I am out of tubes and borrow one from Steve. Fortunately he has a tube. I get it changed, put the wheel in the bike, spint he wheel and BANG. The tube blows. I had pinched teh tube and not seated the tire properly. Fortunately, God told Steve to bring 2 tubes today and so I take the other tube and with more care we change the tire again and are rolling eventually.

So far the first 25 miles of hte day have gone quickly. The subsequent miles draw on. We get to a bike trail that we will follow for 15 miles. Fortunately there is a bike shop there and I can buy tubes to replace Steve's and get a spare for myself.

15 miles down the bike trail and we expect lunch to be provided by a past rider. Marty goes and gets a humongous sandwich and offers to share it. I comtemlate this as we only have 15 miles but I am hungry now. Indeed I indulge and share half of Marty's hero sandwich and it is SOOO good.

Heading down the trail it is an old rail line,

recovered into a bike trail so the grad is VERY flat. The surface is packed gravel, much like kitty litter. Not great for ourtires, but we actually do better than I expect. I pull ahead and ride solo and just fall into the lull of the trail and following hte tire tracks ahead of me. A few miles into the the trail, there is a fallen tree all the way across the trail. A path has been worn to climb over it. I stop and wait for Steve. Steve comes quickly with his head down. He doesn't see the tree. I yell at him to stop and he pulls to a skid at the last moment. Another 2 feet and he would have been launched headfirst over the bike and neither one of us want to thinkn about the outcome.

We climb over and had the bikes over and now use this as a warning to not let the trail lull us out to much.

Riding along we are seeing animals again. A yearling doe. It had to be a doe. It just moved in that graceful feminine way. Then her mother and another yearling dart across the trail. An unidentifiable creature runs across the trail. Smaller than a marmot, but much larger than squirrel or possum. We don't know what it could be. Finally at a picnic clearing I see another.

Our mystery creature turns out to be one of these...

A GROUNDHOG

Riding along, Steve and I separate into solo riding and our own little worlds. The trail goes on...

and on...

and on.

This riding wears me down and I hate it. There is a river to our left, that we can only hear. There are also train tracks because again we can hear the trains but not see them. All we can se is the natural tunnel of plants and gravel trail.
It is straight.
It is flat.
It is a constant width.
It is uniformly lit.
It is uninterupted.
And you have now concept that youa re getting anywhere near your destination. As the 15 mile marked comes and goes, there is not lunch or even a lunch stopping place. Just more trail. This becomes so defeating as I have mentally prepared and paced myself for this stip. I give it the benefit of the doubt. 17 miles no lunch. 20 miles no lunch. 22 miles no lunch. Now I am getting hungry and fuel is becoming and issue and there is no sense of lunch anywhere around.

And being stiuck in this trail it seems pseudo clostophobic. It isn't so close that I feel like it is closing is on me, but I get the sense that I am trapped in a forever maze and will never exit it. Of course that is not rational, but primal fears are innately irrational and it is all I do to not have a panic attack in the saddle.

AT 25 miles, finally there is lunch and an outlet and other riders and such a sense of relief. Fred and Marilyn provide a wonderful lunch and their welcome is so appreciated. I have survived the trap!

Good old Lambert is at the lunch stop and it is soothing to have lunch with him and let the negative feelings of the trail fall away.

Dave and I finally get a look at the river that has been flowing next to us. WE lay down on benches and actually get about a 60 minute nap.

Leaving I stop to ponder this sign to Washington, D.C.

My brain can't quite comprehend the reality. This sign is on a bike trail. Obviously other people have biked from this spot to D.C. This is the first sign we have seen for Washington and the task now seems to be in our hand. Only 280 miles over the next 4 days. How very doable is that. Can I really be this close?

We ride off and continue on the trail.

We are riding the trail fast now, mostly at my urging just to get off of it,

but the scenery is now changing.

Side streams cut across the trail and the bridges over them provide great photo locations.

Old train tressles give us a birds eye view of valleys beneath and also a scenic element to focus on.

We meet "the kids", where Ben is changing a flat at a beautiful overlook.

Tired of riding fast, Lambert hangs with the kids which suits us fine as I really just want to hammer these reaming miles out.
At another train tressel I stop and watch white water rafters and kayaks navigate a tricky section of the river.

Finally another 7 or 8 miles and I into camp. Camp is in a commercial campground at the bass of an earthen dam. We are leary of the dam, but if it goes, we decide there really isn't much we can do and try to put it out of our minds. Dinner is excellent and we hear resloution on the drama from several days ago. Fortunately the compromise solution that had been suggested and that we all hoped for was indeed agreed upon.

Kathy tries to take me for an emergency laundry run to wash and dry my now 2 day damp and soggy clothes. No luck. The laundromat has closed and the next closest laundromat is 3 towns away and still closed at now 8pm. Kathy buys me ice cream instead and uses me as an excuse to get herself some as well... just like when my dad would offer to get me a cookie as kid and would always manage to get himself one as well. I smill at the gesture and we return to camp with still wet luandry.

The day has been exhausting. The air has been heavy and thick and all day and now at the bass of a dam in camp, the air actually takes the oppressive presense of a solid mass. The parking lights beam through the trees and you can see the air as if it were an object. As you walk along you instinctively duck your head so as not to hit it on the object that you see out of the corner of your eye. It is hot heavy air and sleeping is not even an option. How I will get to sleep have no idea. but I must for tomorrow is Mt. Davis, The highest point in Pennsylvania.

Day 42 New Waterford, OH to Washington, PA

2007-08-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

Day 42 New Waterford, OH to Washington, PA

It is hard to remember the beginning of today. It was dark in Ohio. We started at 5:40 a.m. It was still in the dark of night when we got up. Wakeup needs to be later, as we can't see what is going on, what we are doing and can't find anything or see in the truck to load it, etc.

As I write this I am sitting in my tent and the rain is coming down.

It is the end the end of our day in Washington, PA. The rain is coming down hard. The tapping on rain fly has a soothing quality however the interanl humidity in quite high and very uncomfortable. The downside of the rain fly is the amount of moisture it traps underneath and thus around me. Ickkkk.

I have drips from my rain fly coming through the mesh of the tent and I get a bit damp now and then. I have tried many creative measure to stop the drips. A plastic bag over the mesh as middle waterproof layer, hanging a stuff sack in the door way zipper as a pseudo gutter. By and large I am good and dry. This 4' x7' space is certainly not palatial but I am dry enough and comfortable enough in my tent. I am glad the wind is not blowing the tent around.

These are natural light viewsin the tent.

All of my clothes and cotton gear are wet. My pillow is soaked. I have my sleeping bag out, however it is so hot, that I may try to use my rain coat as my dry blanket instead. Right now I am super thankful for my thermarest chair. I am sitting it in right now and with my head lamp this is reasonably comfortable.

Working backwards through my day-

I played Euchre under the canopy with Mechanic Dave, Mary and Sean. We also dicsussed books along with ane and Liz. Dinner was catered with chicken and scalloped potatoes and pie. Yumm!!! The call for dinner is what got me out of thetap after a nap. I noticed Jodi had made camp under the box of the truck. Hope she doesn't sit her up quickly and smash her head on the chassis. AFter last night's limited dinner, I got in line much earlier and made a point to eat more.

This afternoon during the end of the ride I just looked forward to getting into camp setting up my tent, some dry clothes and taking a nap to the sounds of hte rain. The nap was good and by and large I stayed dry despite my wet clothes and gear.

Setting up my tent I found several stow aways from last night. 3 Super daddy longggggggg legs spiders., I don't love spiders but I don't mind these so I grab them by a leg one by one and remove them from inside my tent to outside of my tent. The spiders that are creeping me out are the tiny little albino-ey fluoroescent ones that look like tailless scorpions. These totally creep me out and I kill each one I see in the tent.

Suddenly the rain in harder and I have a drip right above the flashlight that will drive me crazy all night. Like some sort of natural chinese water torture.

Anyway today's ride-
AFter getting up late and in the dark, I was excited to have church da. We set off, Stephen, Bob, Lambert and I withthe intent of finding a church alonthe way and joining in the worship. Well first the cue sheets were wrong. When we go tthat figured out our 75 mile day became a 55 mile day. WHOOPPEEEEEE!!!! Like early dismissal in school.

We rode along through the country. It is rolling hills which are hard for me to get a rhythm on. For that fact, I don't care for the big rollers. But we rode. And soone we were in Pennsylvania. We heard of several riders taking another route which actually was more direct route and also took them through a bonus state of WEst Virginia. Back on our normal route we saw this sign.

It took me a few moments to see the word J O Y in it. but I loved it as this so simply stated my boiled down faith.

With a downhill following this sign and view I rode with my legs spread out as Stephen took a picture of me enjoying and relishing in the feelings of being a kid again and having fun again on the big ride.

Then suddenly hard rain and thunder, lightning! Flash............. Rumble. The ride returned to serious business. After a crazy wet downhill where I hit 42.4 mph without pedalling we followed the Dan Henry's .

Oops I have a leak in the tent. An already wet sock will be used as a make shift sponge. It can't get any wetter!

So riding through town, Kathy was marking Dan Henry's and I noticed her car was backing up ... in traffic... without a driver!

She had parked to mark the Dan Henry's but the car had gotten in to neutral and began to roll.

WE raced over to stop it. I tried to park my bike at the side of the road and race over to it. Lambert just shot right through traffic and dumped his bike at the car. I got there just after him. He was already getting in and I yelled I had his bike and pulled it out of the way. Lambert stopped the car and then drove it over to safety. The lady in traffic behind Kathy was all paniched and had eyes the size of saucers. When she saw us heard of cyclists ride up and abandon our bikes she got it and was cool and didn't hit anyone thankfully.

David Lambert was our Hero.

After that frazzling moment we all had to take a moment. What with the drams from last night, the rain for this morning and then the runaway car, we were all right on edge and needed a moment to just laugh at it all and let some tension go. As a joke that really did relieve the stress, the 7 or so of us actually held hands while standing in a circle and sang "Kum Baya". We all had a big laugh and the tension evaporated. The Big Ride was fun again.

From there we did not find a church but the gray morning had us ready for a break. On through town we shot pics of town with the nuclear cooling towers in the background.

Then we saw a cop who told us not to stop on the upcoming bridge and certainly not to take any pics of the nuclear plant. New homeland security laws had been put in place that made such activity illegal and would resultin the confiscation of our cameras and film. He didn't want to see us lose a summer's worth of picutres so he gave us the heads up.

Oh another suggestion from the Officer we went to the breakfast at the Mid City Cafe.

Breakfast inside the Mid City Cafe

3 Blueberry pancakes made from scratch really weighed me down as we rode across the aforewarned bridge and passed the huge cooling towers. Climbing the rollers out of the river valley we found Mark's waterstop and I laid down on a bench for a brief rest.

With the misty morning, I felt like I was out near Snoqualmie falls just outside of Seattle and was having flashbacks.

Starting back up again, the rain was heavy and I was cold and miserable. Steve and I waited for Bob and Lambert at the Presbyterian church until I realized I had a flat and then I changed the flat while I waitied. Just as I finished, Bob and Dave rolled up and we headed down the orad a short mile when we decided to duck in to BAD DOG Cafe for lunch, warmth and mostly a respite from the rain.

10 miles of hard rain got us into camp and thus I was into my nap.

The riders are highly charged and politicized over the drama. I feel like I have lost friendships witheh Scott Train for reasons I don't know and drama makes camp seem tense and uncomfortable for me. I am saddened to see it ending this way.

For now it is time to sleep. Only a few hundred miles left in left than a week.

Day 41 Burton to New Waterford

2007-08-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

Day 41 Burton to New Waterford

Essence - Peripheral encroachment by Reality

5:15 and yes once again we are up and at it. There is a change to the morning ritual however. Polly has started a $5 breakfast plan which is similar in concept to the $10 dinner night. However since this is really the first go around she has just arranged for us al to eat at Cogan's Restaurant and she will just pay the bill instead of giving us each $5 to pay our own bills.

I sit with Lambert and Lisa G and Toronto Dave (Latner). Breakfasts takes a while to get served and so we are starting out later thatn we usually would. Since today is a shorter (only 59 miles) day I am notas concerned about the later start. This start delay does cause Latner some stress as he worries about the increased traffic congestion and such on this lovely Saturday morning in the country. I suppose we all have our worries and concerns in life, mine are just obvioiusly not the same as Latner's.

The tongue and cheek humor of Cogans and the proprietor ultimately make Cogan's a favorite eatery from the ride and many riders get T-shirts.

Finally breakfast is served and eaten and we head out, Lambert, Lisa and I. Leaving Burton head south through Ohio just inside the stateline with Pennsylvania and pass through beautiful amish farms. The roadside fresh produce stands from these amish farms is something to behold. As a rule they request not to be photographed so I can only describe tomatoes as big as grapefruits and such a vibrant color of red as to define "Tomato Red". Simply amazing.

These signs always made me laugh.

Leaving the amish farms we come into more modern family farms. And then standing out like a sore thumb come this iron
fence and this really large, elaborate house.
It has the design look of money but it is obvious that it is totally unkept. This owner obviously doesn't care for this house anymore. I wonder who would be so pompous to have such an estate and then let it fall to the gutter in this way. Then I notice all the security cameras on every pole, building and structure. And even the additional poles errected in the middle of the yard so cameras can see the blind spots of buildings.

Who is so grand and yet so paranoid?
Then I get my answer as I pass the front gate.

As the name int he iron work over the gate says, "Mike Tyson". Yeah that makes sense. Crazy fool would be so brash as to build this huge place that is off the map yet has his name in the gate, and has the security to fit his paranoia, yet has fallen into disrepair as a matter of the end of his boxing career and prison sentence. Yeah that profile fits. Many of hte riders don't believe it at first and many don't even take notice of the residence at all. We debate that whether it is or is not. In the end I am convinced it is. As a follow-up once back in Phoenix I showed this to one of the boxing fans at work and he confirmed that yes indeed it was Tyson's home and was often highlighted during ESPN sports center and on other shows.)

Heading down the road we start getting into to industrial Ohio. Within a bicycling hour of the amish farms we are now at the doorstep of industrial america and the Steel and "Coke" Coal plants of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The transition back to modern society and industry is ugly. The smells and the noise of the steel plant along with the coal dust covering the trucks and the roads just forms an afront on my senses after all the beauty of the country.

The steel plant looks interesting and in the spirit of the ride, Lambert andI walk up to the guard shck to see if we can get a tour. Just like the creamery and teh sawmill that were so open to share and let us see, we hope the Steel plant will be and intersting tour. We find the security officer though asleep with his chin down on his chest and upon further consideration we agree that we shouldn't poke and or wake the bear, so we ride on down the street to the coke plant.

Again we attempt a tour. The security guard says there are no tours today. However he does gives us some overview information on the plant. 50-70 trucks a day / 7 days a week come in and out, truckers starting at 4a.m. and running until midnight and most of the trucks are headed to Cleveland.

The basic info is good. We thank him for his patience and head off on our merry little way.

This sign to New York strikes something in me. I have never been close enough to New York to see a road sign for it. To think that I have almost ridden there on my bike seem s unfathomable.

On down the road we find the rest check point waterstop and the Scott Train tells us of a War Vet museum just aroudn the corner with an elaborate train room. they recommend it highly and so Lambert and I go as we are smelling the roses and stretching these 60 miles out as far as we can.

The museum is all donated articles and is separated by the conflict they were used in. Uniforms, newsreels, dioramas weaponry. Everything has been donated and it is a 4 story house crammed with stuff from as early as the civil war. Int he basemnt they have a train room. Using several different scales of model trains they are recreating scenes of the American Hopmefront War Machine in action. They are maticulous in their care the museum is almost as valuable as a model railroad museum as of a war museum.

Leaving the Vet museum Lambert and I head down the road only to find a dog show at the county fairgrounds as another diversion. I go in search of pugs, but I am too late. Pugs were shown earliy in the morning. We do see way too many dogs that are way too pampered. Many of the small one look like they have been thrown in a dryer and put on th "FRIZ" cycle. One lady with immacuately manicured red acrylic nails and perfectly applied makeup is now coming and brushing her lapdog just so and arranging the bow in its hair.

Dave and I ride around looking at all the dogs but are more amazed at the people. And the amount of money they have spent on highend motorcoaches and paraphenalia to show their dogs. These dogs are treated better than many children in this country and it starts to turn your stomach. 30 minutes later of gobsmacked dumbness we leave with the same expression we would have if we left a campground of alien spaceships. Totally surreal.

With 20 miles left to go I see a few fresh fruit stands and devise a plan that the next stand we see, we will get a fresh pie and a drink and then head down the road and invite ourselves to the comfort of one of the awesome porches that we are passing on both the left and the right. Of course we will be polite and have our manners with us, but the porches look so inviting and I would love to meet some of the people that live in these houses.

This plan never materializes.

As we reach the last town before camp, I spy a sidewalk bake sale and we look there for pies. Sadly no pies just breads and other sweets are part of a bake sale fundraiser from the mothers and wives of a church as they are raising money to send their husband on a mission trip to Jamaica.

The bake sale ladies are tremendously sweet and ask all kinds of questions about our journey. Even as they are raising money, one lady donates to our cause for the Lung Associaiton. Another lady worried about our personal needs, gives Lambert and I money and specifically directs me that is it is for Dave and I to use for food or other needs and not for the association.
They won't let us leave until we take some coffee cakes and muffins. So grateful for their kinds ness and with our packs laden down with what we can carry Lambert and I head off for our final few miles.

WE chat about the bake sale ladies as we continue in our still unsuccessful Pie and Porch plan. We turn and head 1/2 mile off the route to a cider mill hopefully for a sample and tour. They are closed and thus we return to the route. We are close now and desparate for a treat and only 1 mile from camp. We head on, and ride past camp to what we think is the next town. At the crest of a hill, we stop and examine the hill and determinet that comoing back up it is nothing worth the reward of pushingon. We double back passed camp yet again to an ice cream place we had spied earlier.

As we get there, we find Steve enjoying a "peach boat" on recommedation from the Dimmitts. I use the church ladies money and Dave and I indulge in peach boats ourselves and our long awaited treat.

Dave Lambert and a "Peach Boat."

Not being a peach fan, I hesitate on the "peach boat" but when in Rome...
Actually it is delicous and even turns my tastes bit toward peaches. Who knew.

After the peach boats we ride in the bicycle equivalent of a mosey, into camp and set up our tents.

Dinnertiem winds up being the low point of the day. It is catered by Boston Market, which I love, but by the time I get up to the front, they have run out of several of the foods and there really isn't enough for the last 1/3 of the group.

After dnner there is an all rider meeting. I don't care to discuss the private issues of that meeting here. I would just like to say that this is the first divisive and contentious event to come up that polarizes the group into 2 sides and threatens to disrupt the harmony. That tension and polarizing is very disturbing to many of us and certainly gives me new insight to group politics and on several levels.

Ultimately we all go to bed, some folks licking wounds, others fuming and many of us trying to keep our heads down and just focus on the task of tomorrows ride.

Alas Drama has befallen the ride and we have re-encountered the first worries of re-entry, end of ride issues etc.

Day 40 Day off in Burton

2007-08-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

Day 40 Day off in Burton, OH

Essence - Leisure

After a bit of a sleep in at the county fairgrounds, laundry is the priority of the day. That is after breakfast of course. With computer and laundry bag over my shoulder I am ready for the whole day. Stephen and I head to breakfast in the town square.

While my expectations of Burton were extremely low it reaaly turns out to be a super cute and quaint little township. I remembered talking with my mom when she was prepping hte maps to follow our trip and discusisng the fact that Burton didn't show up on the AAA maps. So like I say with that thought in mind I wasn't expecting much, however it may be the best rest day of the trip.

Stephen and I had breakfast at Belle's Grille.
In this part of Ohio that actually have natural pure maple syrup which is a great treat on our pancakes. Runnier that regular maple syrup it just tastes different. Mmmmm.

From there I head to the laundromat where I catch up with Liz and bust out the computers to start our blogging. What makes this significant to me is the amish girls reaction to our computers. She is doing the ironing at the cleaners and starts to come into to the laundry to do this or that. However as soon as she glances over and sees Liz's computer, the amish girl does and about face and heads back into her ironing room. Her reaction was so blatant it just made me wonder what they must say behind closed doors about our computer aided/internet infiltrated modern society.

To be polite we put the computers away and 4 of us played Euchre instead. In the end I don't know which was more devilish in the amish girls eyes, either out computers or playing cards.

In the laundry, this horse for sale sign makes me laugh. Read it carefully. Exactly what makes a horse "Bomb-proof."

Once the laundry was done, we moved over to the local library to get our blogging done. I ultimately can't connect to the internet which is frustrating so I write off line until lunch.

See how cute the town is?

The Kids and I head back to Belle's for lunch where helyn joins us. Lunch is great and then we get the fresh berry pie, that is just to die for.

Still carrying my laundry we head to the cafe, where I do get some blogging done and the kids go inside and take naps on the sofas. The sitting outside on the streetside table, I look around and see what could easily be a Norman Rockwell scene.

A few more hands of euchre and the afternoon wears on late.

Lambert and I finally head back to camp and just catch some practice carriage racing on the track.

We decide go sit in the empty grandstands and watch the practice racing and chat about the brilliance of life. We stay deep past evening's dusk and into the darkness. Finally it is time that we head to be and get ready to ride. We start our final long week of riding tomorrow.

Day 39 Sandusky to Burton

2007-08-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

Day 39 Sandusky to Burton

Essence - All the People we meet.

Getting up is not nearly as hard as I thought it would considering how late we were up, being out at the amusements park and all.

David Lambert and I are man the Breakfast table, since the rest of our team covered lunch making last night and allowed us to go to Cedar Point. So the we get off to a later start. Stephen asks to ride, which catches me as strangely polite.

We are all so used to riding with each other that we often just assume we are riding with one another. To be asked, and thus show the respect of personal space catches me off-guard but is actually quite appreciated.

Rolling out we also catch up with Bob Dumke and Jodi and cruise along Lake Erie. The ride along the lake is beautiful. It is smooth and flat so it feels good to our legs and only one row of shireside houses separates us from the lake. By and large the houses/ cottages are nice, but aren't magnificent mansions. Just nice weekend getaway type places.

Finally we get a view to take pictures.

Stephen, taking a picture on the bluff.

Continuing on, we have plans to go to the CLevelenad Indians baseball game and our pace is good so we stop for a coffee and a treat. WE happen to stop at Granny Joe's Read the Picture for an explanation.

Granny Joe's "Creamatorium with ice cream good enough to die for", just makes me laugh. I think this is my favorite establishment so far. Itis too early in the day for me to indulge, but I love the puns.

Sitting on the porch of the Creamatorium we meet a wonderful family who ask lots of questions of our adventure. Again, i am glad to have been forced to slow down and take time to visit with some locals. Jsut as we are ready to leave, Jo comes bakc with a report that the mayor and a welcoming group are at the next block to cheer on one of their sons who is also riding across the country but for another organization. He is part of the Pi Kappa Fraternity's Ride for Hope from San Francisco to D.C.

As our two rides converge on the same route here in Harbour, OH the overall support for all the riders of both groups is truly amazing. All the friends and families know what all the riders have gone through regardless of which group and the sharing of water stops and support to form one larger community is so inspiring.

After mingling a few minutes and waiting to cheer on their riders, we are back on our road.

At this huge Easter Basket,

Steve determines he needs to stop fnad take a picture of it for Pollie. As I turn around to stop and take a picture I clip out on the wrong side and wind up falling over on my bike. Fortunately I lnad on the grass and just layout and play it off as if I were just taking a bit of a nap. ... Yeah right. Steve and Bob don't buy it and Steve actually has the picutre of this less that graceful ending. Hey you need to fall over, every now and again just to keep the humility level up.

Finally we get to Cleveland and are stil on time for our ball game. Cleveland is a our first Big City since... since I don't remember. Probably since Billings.

The roads are terrible. Totally potholed and rutted. We have to ride in the center lane of traffic because the curb lane is unridable.

A few pictures from the bridge and we head right for the game, where we meet a great security guard. All the other security folks said there was nowhere to park bikes except some bike racks. Knowing they had a stadium, I knew they had some space somewhere. And then we met Aaron who understood our situation and came up with a solution.

And viola!!! we had secure bike parking at the game. Thanks Aaron.

In the game we have a blast and are a bit of a tourist attraction.

We chat with all the folks around us and cheer for the home team.

Lots of people want to know about our trip and this family even buys some drinks. What awesome people.

I even catch a nap during a few innings, which Steve gets a picture of. All part of the Baseball experience, right?

After the game we head out and the real fun begins. See the next post for the storm story.

A thunderstorm has crept up on us and as we are leaving it starts to sprinkle super sized rain drops.

See the Raindrops? They are the streaks in the picture. Huge, huh?

We take shelter under these Air show planes. As you can see the raindrops are big enough to leaves streaks in the picture. We think it lets up after a few minutes, and so we ride on. We shortly realize how wrong we are. I call uncle and head towards a bathroom shelter that is at a Lake Shore Park. No one else sees it through the rain and thinking that I am crazy they ride on another few hundred yards nad then are eventually stopped themselves.

At this point I am soaked to the bone, shivering and taking refuge in the bathroom. The wind is whipping and I am cold but I am at least not in the rain anymore. Standing there shivering and trying to figure out what to do, I watch the wind blow whirlpools in the deepening puddles outside. While this bathroom is great temporary shelter, it will not do for long term/possible overnight accomodations. Some guy runs in to use the bathroom and we chat for a minute when he is done. He is Bob and he just got out of hte baseball game and was going go fishing with his partner Matt. They are painters and are having a bit of an afternoon off. Now that the weather has changed, their plans are changing. Since they have a van, I bum a lift from them to a Motel 6 or a convenience sotre or anywhere other than this bathroom on the shores of a very mad Lake Erie. I tell them where I am going and Bob actually knows exactly where to go, since he lives across the street. So with my bike in the back and a paint bucket to sit on, and a drop cloth as a towel, Bob and Matt rescue me and around what winds up being a record breaking storm in Cleveland.

The storm winds up dumping 4.75" of rain in 90 minutes centered right where we were riding and as I get a ride around the the flooding we encounter up to 6" of running water on the freeway and in the streets. Between the hazards of high winds, filled or covered up potholes and erractic drivers there was no way we could have ridden through this storm.

As it turned out though, Bob and Matt did know exactly where my next road was and dropped me off at a hotel lobby that was great spot to dryout and reorient myself and come up with a plan of action.

From here the storm had mostly passed and after regrouping and leaving the phone messages with my fellow riders that I was separated but okay, I headed out to tackle the last 20 miles of riding.

I only made it 50 yards when I realized I was still unprepared. At the convenience store, I was shivering so much I couldn't hold the map still long enough to find where I was. So my first purchase was a cup of hot chocolate. From there I warmed up and got out first a state map and narrowed it down to counties and then using a county map I created a new reroute.
With map in plastic bag in hand I was back at it. A major challenge overcome. Riding along, the weather improved and I was makng progress toward camp and my spirits were lifting. Feeling that I surely must be ahead of the other, because of the lift in the van, my thoughts worried about them but I was glad to believe they were all still together and I was the only separated one.

Finally at the tiniest of town halls, in Russell, OH I stopped to take a picture and call the others and leave them a message that I was okay and give a favorable scouting report.

In the parking lot there in Russell, a lady pulled into the parking lot.
Asking if she could confirm my directions, I met Lynee.

Lynee is an amazing woman who holds your gaze when she talks to you and smiles when she speaks. Lynee struck a chord with me. Christian, well spoken, great sense of humor and conversation, selfless, courageous, intelligent, beautiful and a U of A Wildcat. Lynee didn't know the area because she is from Arizona. As it turns out she is from Mesa, but is attending school at the U of Arizona in Tucson, "Go Wildcats" and is out in Ohio selling children's books as a summer intern to pay for college. After joking with Lambert the night before about "who would I meet out here in Ohio", Lynee was a gift from God to show He has it under control.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 40 minutes we stood chatting and could have chatted a greater while still, but that would have been rude. We went our ways and I rode my last 10 miles going over and over the day and all the things that had brought me to that point. It was too perfect. It felt like it had to be a God thing. What kind of God thing, I don't know and I know better than to try to predict. I have been shown though how God has put believers in my life for a purpose.

Considering the weather delay, and the lift from Bob and Matt and then the delay at eh convenience store and now my timing of my cycling to put me at a place, and for Lynee to be between apointments and to put her in the same place for us to meet as Christians during a summer adventure, with Bible verses as motivators and both from Arizona all the way out in Russell, OH. Call me crazy if you like, but I have been shown differently that I don't take this chance encounter lightly. As I say meeting Lynee truly is a gift from God. I don't know the purpose or pretend to guess what that purpose is. But I feel it is part of God's purpose and for that I will be diligent to follow the Lord and let Him reveal the purpose to me, in His time.

These were the thoughts running through my head as I cycled in those last 10 miles and all I wanted to do was ride up to Lambert and tell him, "Guess what God did to me today?" Riding with such excitement I made it to camp relatively quickly and found Lambert and relayed my story. As a believe, he knew my feeling and at least made me not feel crazy even if he thought I was.

I appreciated that and we headed off to dinner and started our day off chuckling about his rain adventures as well as mine.

Day 38 Evening in Sandusky

2007-08-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

Day 38 Evening in Sandusky

Cedar Point and world class roller coasters is the destiantion. Lunch duty is in the hindrance. Dave and trade lunch prep duty in exchange for Breakfast duty. That hurdle out of the way,

Dave and I grab the shuttle and head for Cedar Point. $25 gets us in from 5pm to 10pm. That is a fair trade.

Ultiamtely it winds up being very hot and muggy. Iti s the amusement park experience. Standing in lines for 45 minutes or an hour to ride a 2 minute roller coaster. but we ride some of the best in the country.

I get my first taste of a real professional thrill rideroller coaster. This isn’t Disney’s Thunder Mountain Railroad, this is corkscrews, loops, and super drops. We get off and my stumach is definitely on its side. My knees are wobbly and I realize I am not cut out to be a professional roller coaster, rider or designer. I don’t have the stomach for it.

We go for another. I hope the 45 minute wait with give me time to settle my stomach.

It does. This ride is more drops and banking turns withour the corkscrew. My stomach can deal with this and I like this ride. We are waiting for another rider so we get dinner. Dave bust’s me for chatting up the cute Bulgarian behind the counter.

Now the ride longs are getting very long and we have to watch our time to make sure we catch the last shuttle.

We do the longest wooden coaster in the worla nd then head out. Dave and Lisa ride another ride as I start shooting picstures in the low light. The Amusement park is great for such shots.

We see Scott, Alison and Tom at the Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream on the way out. They rode 150 miles yesterday and stayed in a hotel to be able to come here and been at the park all day. It is 9:45pm and they are just leaving.

We catch the shuttle back to the campsite and I am happy to have spent the 5 hours at the park, and I am especially glad to not have ridden 150 miles yesterday jsut to be at the Cedar Point all day today. I am glad it was worth it for them. I am also glad for my choices.

Again another good day in the last 2 weeks of the ride.

Check out these Cedar Point Pictures.

Day 38 Napolean to Sandusky

2007-08-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

Day 38 Napolean to Sandusky

Essence - The easy grace of spinnig like a windmill

5:40 a.m. and I wake up late. Everyone seems to have woken up late. Apparently we collectively forgot to reest our alarms from ysetredays 5:30 wakeup. Ooops.

The morning air feels good. Not quite scurrying, but certainly moving briskly we are packed up and the morning is underway.

Stephen and I ask each other to ride together and I really appreciate the simple gesture of just asking someone to share their company. Heading out we are at an easy roll and come across some great buildings and some more of the giant windmills.

The windmills are just so huge and yet as we get right up to them, they are silent and their movements seems very gentle.

Ben and Sean are wearing the McGowan Institute Jerseys for Brack and Jean- Anne to continue their legacy across across the country.

We cross a bridge and I notice the WPA stamp in it. Not a huge monument, but they always catch my attention.

In Bowlling Green, Steve and I are hungry and stop at an ATM and then Breakfast at the corner Grill. We saw the gril with bikes out front on our way in. And then a local asks us about our ride and recommends the Corner Grill.

So the Corner grill it is. We sit at the lunch counter. I can’t remermber the laast time I sat at the lunch counter in a diner. It reminds me of breakfast with my Granddad as a kid. He always ate at the local cafe/truckstop and that seemed like the only place I ever saw lunch counters.

Anyway Breakfast is great and we talk with Jerry and Marlene who own the pizza place across the street. Before we know it we are engaged in great conversation about the history of Bowling Green, Ohio (not Kentucky) and so forth. Jerry and Marlene also pick up our checks and are just some of the really great and sincere folks we have met on the trip. Steve and I would love to chat, but we know wehave to be rolling after 45 minutes of chatting.

Lifted by the rest, food and company, Steve and I ride off, sorry that we had to leave Jerry and Marlene but just smiling and talking about it all the way out of town. Water stop comes and we stay only long enough to fill our water bottles and be back at it. Not much of a visit for Cathy, however we are so glad to have spent the breaktime at the grill and not along the side of the road.

Now the day is warming up and i am warming up. Cruising along we are trying to make up some time and hold a pace to get to Sandusky early enough for Steve to have his bike worked on. I suggest a 20+MPH pace for the next 10 miles into our midday checkpoint. The terrain is flat, the road is good and we can move. I hold 20 mph, then 21 mph then 23, mph and then am holding 25mph. I am zomming, but it is too fast! I am missing the world go by. I have skipped 3 pics I wanted to take and finally shut it down to catch this smoke stack.

This is what I think of when I think of Ohio.

Rollin’ on we back the speed back down so Steve and I don’t miss the world go by. 17mph feels like a crawl but we see so much more. We go through the town of Former U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes and see his old house. all the homes are flying flags and it feels very patriotic.

During the afternoon, Steve and i concoct a plan to go to the Cleveland Indians baseball game tomorrow midway through our ride. The rest of the ride is boring and we re-enter urban traffic as we hit Sandusky.

Steve has time to go and see about his bike and David Lambert talks me into joining him at Cedar Point Amusement park in the evening for Roller coasters.

It is another good day, enjoying our surroundings, meeting the people and not being captive of outside stressors.

Don’t forget to comment.

Day 37 Kendalville to Napolean

2007-08-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

Day 37 Kendalville to Napolean 70 Miles

Essence - Goofing Off.

Once again a new time zone and it is dark on the western edge of that time zone when the alram goes off. We even have a shorter day today so breakfast and start are delayed a 1/2 hour and yet it is still dark.

Today everyone is getting up late. Long day yesterday and then late dinner nad later night than usual and for once it was cool enough to use teh sleeping bag again. All in all people are having a hard time to rustle out of bed.

Breakfast goes. We run out of some of our favorite cereals like “Skooters” (the Target brand of Cheerios.) But we manage. Oatmel, raisin bran and even cold left over corn from the cookout the night before.

Again I am slowing my pace down. I atually leave camp earlier than usual with David Lambert. I have chosen my red sleeveless jersey for hte hotter day. However itis cold enough that I do put on my arm warmers and have a terrifc Drag Queen look going. I try hard to not get photographed in this attire. I think I was sucessful.

David andI ride out and chit chat all day. Great conversations and new conversations and topics. Talking about girls and relationships, religionand theology, houses and politics. We manage to get most of all of it.

The roads are nice and smooth and not much traffic. A few ponds are steaming in the cool morning air and the rising sun rays paint them als mist clouds of glowing gold. We stop for a few picutres.

An olded man id out at the side of the road watching us. WE stop and chat. He has watched riders go by now for 8 or 9 years. He remebers the first years when it was many hundred riders. He is smoking away and I don’t have the heart to tell him that we are riding for the American Lung Association. Meanwhile his cigarette smoke is kiling me as we tell him of our quest to D.C. He asks about my aero bars and our bike computers and generally is interested in all the stuff we have up on our “dashboard.”

A genuine old man just watching the annual spectacle of us go by. Reminds me of how in the summertime, as a kid, I would watch in wonder as the street sweeper would go up our street and back down the other side and wouldn’t return again untli next summer. Not a momentous occasion but something you didn’t see everyday!

The cue sheet tells us the Ohio border is coming up, and to keep our eyes peeled, because it is easy to miss. Easy to miss. It winds up being darned impossible to see, except for the fact that some Big Rider, chalks it out in the road.

Here is the Official Ohio sign notification. Guess they didn’t have the tax money to buy more than wallet sized signs.

From here we dash through the water stop and then are back rolling again, just ahead of the Scott Train. I see them and I know their pace is faster than mine today and I am really happy for David and my Pace.

We pullout of the waterstop and pretty soon the Scott train catches us and I am pulling again only because they come up behind and stay there. I am relieved when they finally go by us and the mental stress of the train is relieved.

Coming into Bryan, I am talking about getting a coke in a local cafe and how great that taste sounds. David agrees and we plan to find a spot. As we venture more into town we find this little Centrla Garden. We stop and take pictures and poke around. Travellingi nt he smaller group it is easier to stop on a whim and David is absolutely behind any motion to stop and smell the roses. He is studying to be and engineer and we are both planning type personalities trying ot improve our living “In the Moment”skills.

While crossing the street to the park, I shout back across to him that a cheesburger would go really well with that coke. He not only agrees but suggests pie as well. I consider it to early for pie, but leave an option for reconsideration.

After our park pics we come fully into Bryan, Ohio, which is a county seat and a realy cute little town. At the intersection with Main street I see Lester’s diner and instantly steer us toward our cokes and burgers.

Pulling up we see a familar site. Many bicycle parked and leaned up alongside the building. This is almost like our calling card as we are out on the road. As we are riding thorugh all these towns we will survey the cafes and restaurants looking for signs of fellow riders. It it partially to keep track of where you are int he progress of the group, and based ont he number of bikes, you usually can guess as to the amount of goodtime happening inside. Also by the bikes you can guess on the quality of the place. If the restaurant is bad the out coming riders will pass the word along tot he newbies and the new arrivals will go elsewhere. If the place is good, the word is also passed and menu recommendations are given. “How’s the service?” “Oh you have got to try the coffee and the huckleberry pie” ...

Well at Lester’s, I see the Tandem and Jo’s bike and know that Jodi and the Dimmitts are here!. Just that last bit of encouragement that this is our stop. A few pics outside and boom we are in. Or at least we try to get in until we meet the most airtight doors I have ever faced. With great effort I pry the doors open enough for David and I to sneak inside. Glad we are skinny.

I get a plain Cheeseburger and coke without even looking at the menu. 10:15 and it seems like a good time for lunch, David gets a fancy burger and coke. Nick and Jay pull in and sit at the counter. Jo and the Dimmitts leave. There is jsut a flow of cyclists in and out.

The burger is good and the Coke is divinely refreshing.

On the way out the radio is playing a Simon and Garfunkel tune with the lyrics about enjoying what you got, cause you aren’t in control. Basically it fits perfectly in with our smelling hte roses approach. Buy a few postcards at the counter and we are out the door. We go into the town square looking for more postcards and to get a good look at this country courthouse.

The postcards wind up being a wasted trip, but we take the time to just sit on a shady bench and watch the traffic go by. Barry another cyclist comes by and we chat with him. He leaves. We are still just sitting there. 1/2 an hour later we decide that maybe we should get back on the bikes and knock out our last 30 miles for the day.

In total we have spent about 90 minutes in Bryan, doing nothing but soak it in. I love it. David is pretty happy about it too.

We head off and with 10 miles we are at the Cathy’s water stop, the last one for the day. the kids are there with their shoes off and David and I join in and have A&W rootbeer and take our shoes off. A mock challenge is offered of 50 pushups. David and I jump up and bust out 50 relatively easy pushups in one set. The Challenge is now no longer mock!

Liz and Ane are so proud of me for slowlng down they are about to revoke my “speedy Gonzales” classification. I am proud of Ane for her use of sunscreen technique.

Another 1/2 hour and we head down the road and knock our last 20 miles. The day is hot. Not thunderstorms brewing, not really much humidity until you stop, but just a hot day. My contact lenses dry out and I can’t read the map guide clearly, so David is navigating and I toatlly have to trust where he tells me to go. It is a good exercise in letting go, not pushing and being in the “Now”.

Asphalt patches in the road, create a Curly Q, squiggly that just runs for miles. We wonder what it takes to do that job. My theory is that the workers must apprentice as Struddle Frosters for years until then can perfect the fine art of decoration and can move up to roads.

The Kids meet some other local cyclist on the road who owns a pizza shop and he sets it up to have free ice cream for us. Later this gets delievered to us in camp, after dinner.

Camp is the county fairgrounds in Napolean. HOT. Exposed. Little shade, dry grass. Hot. Sitting under the pagoda I fall asleep ans folks shares beers and snacks. Just fun. Some of the riders have decided to continue on to Sandusky tonight, so they can lump an extra rest day together and have more tiem to go to Cedar Point amusement park. The Scott Train as well as Margo and Adam are those who decided to tack on the extra miles. I am glad that I have hung back and did not decide at noon to try to tack on and extra 75 miles and make it a long hot 150 mile day. I am so content to ride 75 tomorrow and maybe try to go to Cedar point tomorrow night on an evening pass.

I am pleased with my day, my choices, my speed. I don’t even set up my tent until after dinner. There isn’t a cool place to set it and I prefer to rest in the afternoon.

Before and after dinner, I have teh playing cards out with , Mary, Ben, Sean and Mechanic Dave and we are playing Euchre and cribbage.

It is a good day. I look back at all the people I have shared riding time and conversation with in the last 2 days and look at the depth of conversation and how I felt during these days of riding and I am super happy to have changed my style and approach.

Right now I still want to ride the hills tough on Final Exam day and know that I am King of the Mountain. Other than that, I am just chillin’... and the fun is back.

Side note: Tonight, I saw the first bat on the trip. Other folks have seen them, but this was my first bat for this trip. Also there is a bird or a creature in the trees across the street that make such a horrendous screaming noise when it calls. It sounds distressed, but it does it in a call typ e pattern. So I jsut hope it quits soon.

Don’t forget to comment. Talk to you tomorrow from Sandusky.

Day 36 Valpo to Kendallville

2007-08-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Day 36 Valpo to Kendallville

Essence - Rediscoverying the fun of adventure.

5:00 a.m. and the alarm clock risks being thrown across the room when it goes off. I snooze for an essential 15 more minutes and then ... I am up. Packing up the laundry that was wet last night when I went to bed, I have more work than normal. But only a few minutes worth. By 6:00 I am down at the truck with my gear on it.

Hot water was not started as per the usual hour before breakfast so coffee is late. I am glad to not have that morning caffeine addiction. I am just up as as ready to go as I am ever going to be.

During breakfast we get the reroute information that should cut 3 miles off our 109 mile day and get us around some construction. In then end it was negated by other factors.

The big tragedy happens to the Dimmitt’s. Their tandem bike is knocked over and their front wheel is broken. Cracked rim, out of true, etc, etc. Their day is done before they have even started. Being a Tandem, they have hub mounted disc brakes, a heavier wheel and a high spoke count of 36 spokes. Basically this isn’t just a run of hte mill kind wheel. The bike shops don’t open on Mondays, Chicago is more than an hour away, blah blah blah. There is no good solution.

God however always provides a way out, if the hearts are willing. And fortunately today they are. David Lambert’s family are up to ride with him. Grandpa Lambert is going to ride teh single bike. Dad Lambert and sister Hannah are going to ride the Lambert tandem. The Lambert’s step up to the plate and hit a home run, as MOm and Dad Lambert, offer up a wheel trade. The Dimmitt’s will use the Lambert’s front wheel and ride, while the Lambert’s cancel their morning ride plans and take the broken wheel to get hopefully get fixed.

For the Lambert’s, I am sure this a disappointing turn for their plans, but they are heroes and lift the rest of us. As a Christian, seeing Christian’s in need, and seeing other Christian’s provide, I can only see the hand of God in all of this.

Solution proivided and wheels exchenaged, the Dimmitts roll out of Valpo with us in the Scott Train.

The starting turns frustrating. The directions assume we are leaving the university fromt he main entrance and basically run us to a right turn and then a right turn and then another right turn and a bend in the road and 4 miles later we have just made loop through town and are rigth back at the same intersection we started with. Now we are all annoyed!

We follow the route and finally are on our way out of town. The pace in the Scott train is uncomfortable slow for me and I decide to end the frustrations and ride my kind of ride. I AM going to enjoy this adventure. Pulling I get in a rhythm that feels like my training rhythym. It feels so much like my trainig rhythm, that I can actually imagine my trainig buddy, David, riding along side me. I imagine our conversations and I start verbally answering his questions. Except he is back in Phoenix so I really just talking to the cows, as we say.

But I enjoy finding my body feel familar. Breathing is right. Leg Cadence is right . Foot tension is okay. We ride a while and then after a potty break I separate as I get a late restart and try to keep it a day where I feel good being me, not part of the team.

Riding slower and solo, I start hanging with other folks I usually don’t ride with. I am riding with Marty, and Lisa G and then the Dimmitts. Trish is really upset over having disrupted teh Lambert’s plan. We pray on the bikes and I pray over them, and that uplifts us all. Trish tells me at the water stop how much the prayers meant and on several levels and it is a moment of true caring connection withthe Dimmitts. I am just pleased to be a part of their day.

Before we know it we are at the first water stop, provided by Larry, the local Big Ride Alumnus. The stop is magninficent. So much fruit, for many salty snacks and wonderful Cinnamon roll carbo loads. Mmmmmmmm!

The Dambert’s. The Dimmitts and Lamberts coming together to form one team. Pictured are Greg Dimmitt, Grandpa Dan Lambert, Dave Lambert and Trish Dimmitt.

Larry reminds us all to slow down and smell the roses for the next 2 weeks. I tell him how I have already taken that advice this mornig and am already having such a great morning.

Leaving I ride with Jo and Lisa G for a long time. We have great conversation about religion and God andsuch things and it is all good. Jo rides off and Lisa and I continue what will be a wonderful flowing conversation all day, that flows from one topic to the next.

Suddenly my feet are screaming with pain and I decide I am going to stop at the top of the hill for an impromptu 50 miles stop since our next stop is not until mile 65. As I crest the hill I see that the remaing Lambert’s have had the same idea and have set out such a spread of chairs and food and beverages to rival Larry’s bounty.

It is the perfect water stop. And we get news that Daddy Lambert is at the bike shop and the wheel will take about 2 hours to rebuild, but they have the parts and are starting almost right away! Hallelujah for perfect blessings!

A picture of some of the farm traffic we share/compete with.

Lisa and I roll on and add Ane to make our group a trio. Ane inadvertently carries out another mishap as she runs off the road and into the soy beans. Here is how I expereinced this event.

I pass her as she is wobbling trying to ride and do a map change at the same time.

Suddenly I hear her yell.

I look over my right shoulder to see her head off the shoulder at speed and right toward the ditch and the flow fence around the soy beans.

I know she is going to crash. I know it... and it may be bad.

I start to slow down and start thinking of where is my first aid kit, where is my phone, do I have Pollie’s number handy etc.

Meanwhile I continue to watch as Ane rolls through the ditch...unharmed

Ane rolls through a void in the fence ... unharmed.

The Soy beans plants slow her down and finally 15 feet in to the soy beans. She has stopped, is upright and laughing.

Amazed that nothing went wrong, I now go from panic mode to Embarrassng big Brother mode and I grab my camera to catch this moment.

Lisa has also seen all of this and has stopped and it now reaching for her camera as well. Becasue this is NOW a PHOTO OP!

Okay but a bit embarrassed, Ane climbs back up to the road and we continue on after she cleans her cleats out.

Along the way we have seen several entertaining mailboxes. But this one really entertains me.

The afternoon iis good. We pick add Ben to our group and are continually swapping so we are riding in pairs but not getting bored with each other.

We are in Amish country and enjoy the clip cllop of the horses hooves and all the little carriages. We pass with care, so as not to spook the horses.

This “Giraffe Poodle” is a streange looking animal that actually made us turn around and double back to get teh pictures of it. Why would you shave your Alpaca to look like a Poodle?

Riding on we make a break in the across road garden from a beautiful house.

Lisa has the expected flat after inviting the Devil, when she claimed earlier in the day, how happy she was that she had not yet had a flat on this ride.

We the flat. We find the final water stop, where the Lambert’s have rendezvoused with the Dimmitt’s and both tandem bikes have been restored to their intended working order. Dimmitts ont he road, leave the Lambert crew to get rolling.

We have taken our time and stopped throughout tthe day to enjoy rests in peoples gardens and smell the flowres along the way. Ane even compliments me for fulfillining my goal to slow down my ride and take it all in.

During the ride we lost and hour as we crossed into Eastern time zone. how that affect us is that we get into camp at 7:00 pm and i t had been 115 miles day, including the 4 mile scenic loop that we did through town at the top of the day.

It has been a good day. It has been a day about realizing God’s blessings and being thankful. Sunny and good weather. I have enjoyed great conversation and made better friends wtih folks I hadn’t spent enough time with. I spent my day, making it my day, smelling the roses, enjoyin ghte ride and rediscoverying the fun in it all.

Tonightwe cooked for ourselves, which was delicious cold cuts and chips and fruit. I also got to talk to M&D for a long time and that was very good.

I enjoyed my day. I look forward to each day of the next 2 weeks and am thankful for the blessings to me nad especially for those around me.

It hase been a good day.

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Day 35 Valparaiso (Day Off)

2007-08-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

Day 35 Valparaiso (Day Off)

Essence - Recovering

One of the best thing about day’s off is the chance to sleep in. In this case it was lonly till 7:30 but it was luxurious. I met Bob Bumke, Iron Mike, The Dimmitts and Jo and we all went to early service over at the Valparaiso school chapel. The Stanied glass int he main sanctuary was amazing - and it gave me an instant feeling of old church. The use and styling of the images and colors seemed to be very much of classic old church.

Our service was actually down stairs in another little chapel room. The had a very formal feel to it. Although it was Lutheran and celebretory of the resurrection of Christ, the machinations of the service made it seem similar tot he old Cahtolic mass format with kneeling to pray and a somber singing out of the Hymnalls and just very structured. While I liked the ultimate message, the delviery mechanism was not my style and I can see why as a kid it was hard to understand what they were talking about in chruch when I would go with friends or whatever. I enjoyed seeing a different style of church service, but in the end it really made me miss my non-denominational home church.

The service was quite nice though and seeing the beauty of the church was fantastic.

On our way out we found the baptisery fountain and I just like the perspective of circular stair.

After serviceI fetched my computer and headed into old downtown Valpo to find breakfast and get a chance to upload the blog.

After a really nice morning walk through most of old town Valpo, I found breakfast. Breakfast was the ever popular 2 eggs scarmbled hard and pancakes at Jimmy’s Cafe. Now the funny thing about Jimmy’s is that it was run by a Greek family with no one named Jimmy.

It was nice for the young single waitress to be my waitress and to get a biggger than usual smile out of her. Hey every single guy likes a little flirting and a littl attention from a girl. Another greek family came in who obviously knew the owners and brought their little girl who might as well have been family. Withteh conversation mingling back and forth between Grreka nd english, it was nice to see such a blend of culture in the middle of Indiana.

After breakfast I headed over to the local coffee shop and spent several hours uploading text and a few pics. Finally the connection was so slow I abonded the picutres and headed back to the dorm. I saw Lisa G on the street and she clued me into the local ice cream shop. Ummm yummy. A double waffle cone scoop of Raspberry and double chocolate. Walking back with my ice cream in hand, I chatted with some ladies who were having a “Dog wash” to raise funds for their Chicago 3-day Breast Cancer walk. We shared our experiences of fundraisnig challenges and bigger goals. I donated some cash to them just as strangers had donated to my campaign and wished them well.

Back at the dorm and not ready to face laundy and bike cleaning, I went off to school library where I actually got all my pics uploaded in a heartbeat. I stayed later than I wanted to as I was getting hungry, but I was compulsive to get the week’s blogs uploaded and back up to date.

I found many of the riders also blogging in the computer room. If you can’t find a rider on rest day, go to the nearest internet access point.

See....

heading home I was hungry and trying to decide what to do for dinner, when Kelly and her mom Carol invited me to eat wth them as they were grilling outside.

Dinner with them was so so wonderful. Kelly and I had a chance to share stories about how the ride was so much more to us than pedalling. Kelly’s stories about overcoming and challenges were really encouraging to me and really helped me reset my mind to enjoy the next 2 weeks and not wish them away.

Finally I did do my laundry and chores and got ready for another week of riding.

By the time I went to bed, I was looking forward to riding again. Larry’s words and Kelly’s stories and my own blogs had moved me to change how I would ride the next 2 weeks and what my attitude would be. I fell aslepp looking forward to it and to take it all in again.

Recovering.

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Day 34 Coal City to Valparaiso

2007-07-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

Day 34 Coal City to Valparaiso

Essence: Trying not to Hate the BIG RIDE

5:00 a.m. Camp is up and being as loud and obnoxious to our noisy neighbors as we can be. We can't hold a candle to them, but the effort is made with even a few cyclists douing laps around their tents shouting and yelling.

We leave Coal City and are glad for the lack of rain 1 1/2 days of riding in thr rain and the saddles sores are coming back to life and itis uncomfortable. Scott sets a blistering pace for the Scott Train. Kari, Stephen and I fall off the train as He and Alison push on hard after the water stop. Just befroe teh water stop we did meet this guy.

Fortunately the first 35 miles seem to go pretty quickly. We enter into Indiana with zero fanfare. Indiana doesn't even have a welcome sign. Apparently they don't like viistors. The roads are the worst we have seen. Chuckholed beyond belief, not shoulders and narrow. A cyclists dream, NOT! Crazy country road traffic, passing us and upset that we happen to be in the road. We would be happy not to be in the road if we could fly. Otherwise our choice is to be in the road.

Greg finds a roadside sofa for offer and makes use of it and lifts our spirits.

Stephen, Kari and I are worn out. We have ridden 13 of the last 14 days. Almost 600 miles in the last 7 days alone. this is 7th consecutive day. We discusss how we haven't felt strong in weeks. We can't remember the last time we felt really good on the bike. We search for the 1/2 way check point. It is listed twice on our on route guide. We pass the first listing. No stop. We pass what seems to be the next logical place to have it. No waterstop. So we crashout on a lawn and make our own lunch stop. We talk with the local farmer. He gives us some road advice: Stay off them and be careful of hte drivers. Seems to be an Indiana theme.

Back on the bikes after lunch we ride 3 block to the next turn and find the water stop. We are still gald to ahve stopped and met the farmer and had a country picnic feel to our lunch.

This is where we take a "Welcome to Indiana" picture.

After the checkpoint I announce to Stephen and Kari, my new goal - to dedicate teh next 3 hours of my life, to covering the 40 miles left and trying not to hate the BIG RIDE.

Rolling on, we don't get a mile when Stephen has a flat. KAri and I can't help but watch so I lay back on the road and 5 minutes later Kari is telling me to wake up. I was surprised that i actually fell asleep in my helmet and everything.

On down the road, we hit road cnstruction where they are fresh paving the road. They let us through but at the end flagger we have to jump back up on the newly hot-tarred road. So after glazing our tires in warm tar, we get onto another road and lightly frost them with crushed rock and sand. What a great combination.

We make okay progress and time. At 70 miles we have our last water stop which is provided by David Lambert's family who have driven 3 hours from Southern Indiana to come see him. His dad and sister even ride a tendem the last 12 miles with him in to camp.

Just as we pull out of this water stop, my back tire blows out, only 2 feet away from Mechanic Dave's face. The hot tar finally heated up the tired that when I stood the bike up, it just blew out. The explosion of the tire is deafening and Dave and I sort of look at each other shell shocked and feel like we have been gunshot. But no blood. We both have slow motiion visions of the tire exploding and rubber shrapnel spraying o utward. Very surreal.

After a tire change, we are back on the road and surprisingly do survive the last 15 miles in to Valpo.

We have made it. 7 consecutive days of riding.

We check in. We go get Dairy queen. We have dinner in the cafeteria and after dinner we sit around chatting with Larry,
a 1999 Big Rider Alumnus.

It is good to talk with him. He knows. He understands what we mean. He is the guy I wanted to talk to before the ride to find out what it is like. I now see how impossible that would have been. I wouldn't have been able to understand. Now I can hear what he means in what he says. Before I would have only heard the words, but not the meanings.

Larry has been here and shares his wisdom. Wisdom of how it has changed his life. Wisdom of how he falls back on these experiences. Wisdom of what to do, see and think about as we prepare to re-enter normal life and re-engage in a world we have missed for the past 5 weeks.

5 weeks is a long time to disconnect. We are worn and tired. I remember back to training ride weeks when I would ride 80 miles as my max and then would have to rest a day and then pace myself for 40 miles days and had 2 rest days a week. Now we are doing 80 mile minimums back to back with no rest.

It's amazing. It's astounding that 76 year old Bob Jones is right there with the 20 something "kids". We can are are doing this. And now we have been at it long enough to start being able to reflect on it.

That is okay... as long as I don't wind up hating it.

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Day 33 Belvedere to Coal City

2007-07-29T16:30:00.001-07:00

Day 33 Belvedere to Coal City

Essense: Worst day Riding is better than the best day workin'.

1:00 a.m.

The flapping of my tent wakes me up as the breeze blowss acros my face. Taking a few seconds to remember I am under the shelter roof at the Outdoorworld. Right Got it. We were expecting rain.

My tent is on the outer perimeter of tents so that I have a “view” I have also oriented the door of my tent, so that I look out from under the shelter. This provides better cooling as the tent can act like a cave and catch the cool breeze as it comes under the shelter. However it also can catch the rain that comes with the aforementioned cool breeze.

I have been sleeping with the tent door unzipped to let the col breeze in. As I am awakened, I feel a few drops of rain in the breeze. It is going to rain. Having felt enough Thunderstorms, it is not a question of if, but when. I decided to zip up the door and roll over for another 20 minutes of sleep before I really do anything about the rain. Mostly because I am too tired to care... and I thikn I can get another 20 minutes of sleep.

Wrong answer. Exactly 2 1/2 minutes later the heavens have opened up and are trying to recreate a lake right in this campground.

There is a flurry of activity as I hear the high pitched ZEEEEPPPP of several tent zippers. Like Prairie dog protecting our colony, there are several of us standing up trhough our tent doors and surveying the threat. Fortunately since we are on the concrete floor, all we have to doo is move a few duffel bags and drag our tents inward 3 feet and we are safe. Scott helps me move mine and then I shift over and help the Dimmitt’s move their tent.

SinceI am up, a quick potty break seems like a good idea and then, it is back to bed. The whole disturbance has lasted less than 10 minutes and we are back in our tents. This time since there is not the threat of ground flooding, I lay there and listen to the rain. Falling on the metal shleter roof, it is amplified, much like the roof on my grandparents house. Soon the heavy falling rain creates a deafening roar monotone roar on the roof. In fact as I listen to it... it sounds like... yes, it does sound like Kelly, the Audio engineer form my compnay, runnig “White Noise” through the P.A. at about 90db to “ring out” the room. For those of you that didn’t follow the jargon, have you ever been in a room where and audio guy is sending what sounds like “static” through the speakers at really high volume? Well that is white noise and as annoying and deafenig as it is, it has a purpose. But not under our rain shelter. Under the shelter, the sound just refverbs off the concrete floor an dthe under side of the metal roof.

Amazingly, I fall back to sleep as the rain’s racket continues.

About 5:00 a.m. the rain stops like an alram clock and I feel awakened by the ... lack of noise. A few minutes snooze and the daily routine starts.

Prepped to rain, we ride out into the mists of the day and start a rainy 100 mile day.

Getting out of the camp I see this lake with a huge heron in it. This sis the best picture I managed to take and still keep my camera dry.

The rain is heavy the skies are dark with heavy clouds and it never seems to get brighter than a dim pre-dawn glow. We ride on. A Parade of drowned rats who really need to synchronize their blinknig red tail lights. The mood is good. Sort like when you are painting and are nervous to get paint on your clothes, so every movement is careful and planned. and thre is that moment when you do get pain on your clothes and you realize your prevention is fruitless, so you jsut give up and paint happy and don’t care about the mess.

Riding in the rain is the same way. You worry about staying dry... but you can’t. And as you feel the water runnig down your legs and filling your shoes and soaking your socks, you just sort of accept the wet and try to be as comfortable as you can. So as I say the mood is then good in the group.

Our maps are disentegrating and drowning left and right, and more riders are sticking together for the comradery and the co-operative navigating. Our group is the Scott train and “The Kids” and we are about 11 strong.

We hope we are big enough that we are seen before we are run over. At least we can consider those in the backed who might get run-over to be valiant sacrifices of safety. :)

At the water stop, Alison appears to cast spells on us...

And Liz and Dave are Disappointed in Ben, when he doesn’t know the answer to some really obsure trivia question.

Rolling along we battle the forces of rain and wind as we once again are riding West? Finally a tailwind and we are still heading the wrong direction!

At last we come to the sign that states it all so simply.

I

Pictured are
(Front Row: Alex, Jodi, Alison, Dave Lambert and Kari
Back Row: Sean, Scott, Tom - under sign, Ben, Michael Yee, Liz Vern and Ane)
I am taking the pictures with about 8 different digital cameras.)

Trying to keep the cameras dry we pack them in to the middle of our packs and head back out.

Coming up on a turn the directions are matching up, but I see Jerry in the support truck coming up, so I wait for him to see what he does. Jerry goes throughthe intersection and honks and waves happily as he goes by, so I follow. 2 miles down the road, we realize we are off the route and have missed a turn. I call Jerry to see if he is off route and yes he is very lost. We advise him to turn around and scoop up the other cyclists who have already passed us, and we retrace our steps to the intersection and get back on track. Right back on to one of our favorite “Ka Chunky” roads.

This road is particularly bad and every 1/4 mile or so it has a full trench cut across that hs just been filled in with dirt and makes for really nasty riding.

At the water stop down the road, we are stopped and mildly griping about the road and such things that cyclists do, when dear sweet Lisa comes by and expresses her opinion in one vehement sentence. “Get me off this&*@#%(#@ road!”

Lisa never stopped at the water stop, her goals were set on escape, I think.

The rains stop. The road finally dries out. We take off our rain gear and cover the miles. Honestly it was numbingly nonmemorable. Navigating around corn fields in flay Illinois.

I will say that the terrain here is flat. As a cyclist you still feel every last hill and bump, but by and large it is just flat and rural corn fields. The house on the farms are growing in stature, size and investment. McMansions as we call them. Many newer larger homes that have much of the same wasted space architecture as many of today’s modern homes, and aren’t the efficient use of spce and resources like the older farm houses.

Some houses have been obviously added on to 2, 3 and 4 times.

Mother-in-law units are now full size houses set jsut apart from the main house. Life must be good in these parts.

At the Check point, Pollie tells us that we are ordering pizza tonight and polls us on how many to order. alison and I are in agreement that 1/2 a pizza a person is not unreasonable. Fo I suggest about 25 pizzas. Pollie’s estimate was 20 pizzas. In the end she order 27 and after dinner there were 8 or 9 left over. Guess we were wrong. It is hard to estimate ho hungry you will be after a ride.

Here is what 27 pizzas look like!

We camp in Coal City. I am starved by the time I get there and Kari and I stop for food before heading into camp. We are supposed to check-in first and then we can leave if we want to. Having just seen the gear truck go by, I know that it will still be unloaded and I don’t have the energy to pedal the last 2 miles, much less unload the truck, so I opt for late lunch.

In camp, we have a huge open area with some nicely arranged trees just forming the backside of camp. Of course we are inconveniently placed between 3 far away bathrooms and we have to walk waht feels like miles to the bathroom. In reality I bet it is 1/8 mile. Still a hike but not as far as we think.

Pizza and beer has us all in a pretty jovial mood. I miss the best picture of Bob, being silly. Doing his best to model the Miller beer and his Miller Jersey

he gives a come hither look that had me laughing so hard I couldn't take the picture. Forever burned in my memory as sight never to be repeated. Here is a a close approximation:

The Big news is that Kelly, the Hand cyclist from Scottsdale, rolls in having just completed her 1st Century ride ever! She is ecstatic and we are super proud of her. Hugs, and pictures go around. 109 miles. The Kids and Jo played a supporting role when then formed a cylcing pod around Kelly and cut the wind so much that she increased her speed 4 mph to over 20 for quite a portion of the morning. Seeing hte community help others in our community was very invigorating.

Late that night we had disturbances as it was Friday night and a huge group campsite had a bunch of college age kids come in and proceed to see how loud they could turn there stereos up and how loud they could shout and get themselves drunk. It was live living next to the frat house, while there are having their once ayear anual “Kegger” WE didn’t getmuch sleep. In exchange we called the police and they cme out and at least threw the underagers out, which cut ome of the noise. But mostly it was just a trial.

The air was also densely think with fog. Warm and muggy humidity lingering from the earlier rain hung right at ground level. Worried that we might have another midnight storm, I put the fly on my tent and slept wher eI could open my eyes and through the clear sky see a star.

Several times throughout the night I woke up to keep track of that star, but always the sky was clear and I could see it and in the end we never did have a storm.

This picture I took right after nightfall when there was still just a bit of dusk light out. The dark under the trees was really fascinating to me.

WE have also entered Firefly territory for about the last 3 nights which just thrills me. Having never grown up with them, I didn’t first meet them until I was Junior in high school. Then again in college and in my 20’s. Everytime I see them, though I jsut love them and I regress back to 5 years old and loving them. They at least make the calml evenings wtih dreaded mosquitoes more enjoyable, since I can slap the skeeters and watch the fireflies.

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Day 32 Madison to Belvedere

2007-07-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

Day 32 Madison to Belvedere

Despite the forsecast, the sky had depicted accutarely that thre would be no rain in the night. We woke to a beuatiful sunrise nad a mild morning.

Not exactly refreshed, I was at least willing to battle another day of miles on the bike. Not wanting to be alone again I made a point to ride with Scott, Alison and Kari. The company was appreciated. Nothing spectaluar and now real earth shattering conversations but it was just good to be back with friends.

The roads were covering more rolling hills. We were starting to make jogs around farms and at times found oursleves puzzled as we took on significant westbound mileage. For and easterly trip we were heading an awful lot towards the west. But alas we rode on.

We were perfecting our corn field potty stops. With no tree for cover or other bushes we were forced to go a few rows back into the corn. At this point we are all fairly cavalier about our bodily needs. The guys are to the point where we just pull over to the side of the road, wait till there is no traffic and pee while still stradling the bike. The girls still are heading into the cornfield, but even now they are opnly going 2 or 3 rows deep versus 5 or 6. There have been a few times when the girls just go int he ditch and shout out “No peeking” Itis pretty funny how nonchalant we all are about the whole thing.

It is also amazing how quickly you can disappear into a cornfield. We will watch each other in these bright red and yellow jerseys walk into the field and within 2 rows you are pretty well hidden, within 3 rows you disappear completely and there is no sign you are there. I can now see why cornfields have been portrayed as a hiding place for spooky things.

As we neared Illinois, the weahter started to turn threatening or rain. As we entered a small town on the border, the rain started. Welcome to ILLINOIS

Illinois always embodied my visualization of a mid-west, coal state with acid rain, where al the cars were rusty, the buildings seemsed dirty, etc. Now I know that isn’t fair or the real truth of Illinois, but that is how it seemed to me. So when we entered Illinois and this sign was the the Welcome sign at this rusty bridge in a very industiral area, my whole false vision seemed confirmed.

After a quick water stop and goofing around with Greg Dimmitt

We headed on down the rain and into the rain. The rain started light and built up but was really ever only rain without any hail, lightning or thunder. Paceline riding style and tactics changed in the rain. With wet breaks, we lost stopping power na dthus increased our distance between ourselves. However this then meant that you were eating the “rooster tail” of water and grime that was being kicked up off the trear tire from the person in front of you. To avoid this oh so pleasant beverage, we all separated a bit further but then we were so far back that the wind resistance was pounding us and the advantage of paceline riding was completely lost.

One tactic we could use was to ride just off to the side of the ride in front of you, so as to let the “rooster tail” go by you. We lost some of the Aero dynamics of the group and this did make us a wider presence in traffic, but it worked well enough on country roads.

I finally got my first inconvenient flat from a tenacious piece of glass. Up till now, all my flats had been in camp or at rest stops and was fairly easy to change. The rain had let up and we were riding on a bike path whhen I was attacked by this chunk of glass and it mortally wounded my tire. After a rpetty quick change we are off on the road ... and then the rain resumed in full force with Lightning and thunder.

Along with rooster tails, rain riding presents a whole new sets of challenges. First you now have to find a reasonably dry solution for your paper map that is this accessible and readible while in the saddle. My map holder, has a tear and a leak up in the upper corner so eventually even my maps are wet and I often have the driest maps. In addition to keeping your maps dry, it is also dificult to read them, because of either Fogged up sunglasses or so much water ont he lenses that we can’t see the words. Also difficult to read are our bke computers, which gives us teh mileage and thus indicated to us where we are at on the route guide.

Other rain hazards are of course the spary coming off of passing cars and trucks but a little more personally, the seat conditions wet shorts create. Keeping our shorts dry is VERY important to prevent saddle sores. 3 hours of riding in the rain in wet shorts pretty much negates any preventive measures that we have taken. All in all rain riding is not so much fun, it las lots of challenges and as a result is very stressful especially after hours at a time.

With soaked socks, soaked shoes, wet shorts and gritty faces we were happy to finally get to camp.

Camp was at “Outdoorworld” a KOA type commercial camping place that is more like a park than a forest. I was really looking forward to getting to camp and being able to grab some dry clothes and just change without needing to shower first. When we got there though Pollie wasn’t there yet so we had to wait for the gear truck and dry clothes.

Pollie finally arrived and while we unloaded the truck, she arranged for us to setup camp underneath the large metal roofed covered porch. We still set up our tents but as we were looking looking out from under teh shelter we were all fantastically happy to be under the shelter and not be exposed to the rain directly.

Sometimes it is the small dry things that make us happy.

Dinner became a bit of a disaster. The camp catered dinner, and had several ladies cookng back in the kitchen. Spaghetti was the menu choice and we were served only medium sized portions. We weren’t allowed 2nds and that was when a few words were exchanged. It turned into a stand off, with mad cooks who wouldn’t talk to Pollie and 45 hungry riders all looking for food or a solution to our appetites. Pollie didn’t discount our concerns or those of the camp and would up ordering something like 10 pizzas to fill us up, but it was one of those days that by the end Pollie was was worn out and was ready for it to be over.

Somedays you are just ready for it to be over.

I was at least to happy to have electricity, a dry seat and a place to set up the computer and write some blogs while I waited for the Pizza.

Day 31 Viroqua to way beyond Madison

2007-07-29T10:54:00.002-07:00

Day 31 Viroqua to Madison (Actually way beyond Madison)

Essence - The wrong side of the bed

That feeling you have when you finally walk in the door after an extraordinarily long day at week and just want to collapse and hope for a better day tomorrow.

This morning I got up ready to take on a century. Someone’s alram was going off and off and off and wasn’t getting shut off. That woke me up and from there I was off on the wrong side of the air mattress.

I ddi get to wear my new Vernon Trails, Blue Dog Cyclery, Viroqua jersey. It is funny hos fast folks noticed. We all have 2-4 shirts and sort of know what to expect to see everyone in. So when someone is wearing somehting out of hte norm it draws attention pretty fast. Lots of compliments on the Jersey though and I was glad to have something new.

I was starving at breakfast. That stuck in my head as a point of concern as we were embarking on a century ride. To astart out insufficiently fueled, was a worry.

At least the morning was mild and the arm warmers weren’t necessary.

After sunscreen and tire checks we were off. Riding with the Scott Train, the mormning was beautiful. Our path ran us up and over the roling hills, and at the tops we were getting wonderful views of small hill ridges rising out of fog and low mist.

Absolutely “mistical”, (if you would allow the pun.)

Scott was entertaining us with his new gadget of a small IPOD speaker on his handlebars that allowed us to hear some tunes ont he ride. Not being allowed to ride, with earphones, is really wearing on our sanity for a little normalcy of life. Several folks have bought small transistor radios and other are trying to find IPOD speakers to get around the “No Earphone” rule. Just to have some music is a huge luxury right now.

We had a couple dogs chase us, but Alison put them square in their place and that seemed to be the end of the dog threat. I gotta say that Alison has a very serious “No, bad dog” voice.

In our first town, Scott was goofing around and giving false directions. “Turn right here”, when we should go straight or “don’t turn when” we should. This pushed a particular hot button with me. I don’t care for fun and games, but when we are relying on each other for good route information, false info just for fun’s sake was really aggravating. After a little misdirection competition between Scott and Jodi, I decidded to leave the group behind and set out on my own. Picking up the pace I felt like I was riding strong and seeing many riders, however I developed a mechanical problem.

After getting the chainring bolt last night, the bike guy had adjusted my deraileur, and now I was having all kinds of chain rubbing problems and difficulty shifting. At the water stop, Dave, our faithful and trusty mechanic, was there ajnd he put the bike in the stand and tried several things, on e of which was trying to take the bend and warp out of the chainrings. You know you are doing delicate adjustments when you have the plain old pliers out and are just trying to bend things.

The bike repair, lasted long enough to let the Scott train come and go and put me near the very last of the riders. Ane and Liz arrived, and were such a friendly sight and in such a high mood. Seeing there good mood was such a change form the grumpyu Liz who had a difficult morning start, what with me begging batteries off of her, after she was packed and then breaking a chain only 2 miles out of camp. Since they had turned their fortunes for the day, I asked to ride with them for the day hoping ot turn my fortunes.. They were more than happy to have me join them.

The morning sun had come out and was burning off the fog and the day was starting to heat up. We rode off, taking on the hills and I let their good cheer wash over me and buoy my spiriits. The 30 miles to the checkpoint went fairly quickly and were a good time as they caught me doing some silly things and we even had a tailwind.

The Checkpoint was at a small farmers market with a little animal petting farm. This little goat was just as cute and silly as he could be.

The farm also had camel, which seemed fitting since we had seen a LLama on one of the earlier morning farms we had passed.

At the Checkpoint, Alison had to call it a day as her sprained ankle had swelled incredibly.
Checkpoint lunch was huge. Fresh fruit had been acquired from the farmers market and several of us had chocolate milk to supplement our sandwiches and goodies.

Getting a move on, as we were trying to beat the heat, we headed out about 11:30 to take on the rest of our day. A little further down the road, I saw the sign fo r the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center. Remembering a missed opportunity to visit Talisen during a earlier family vacation, I was looking forward to maybe having some time to learn about FLW this trip. I took the exit off the freeway and headed inthe direction they indicated. What I thought might be a freeway side visitor center, turned out to be directions to Taliesen and the actual visitor center, about 5 miles off the freeway. About half way there I figure out where we were being routed, but I wanted to see it bad enough that I made the effort to added the 5 out and 5 back tail on to our already long 109 mile day.

I was cheered when I saw the Jodi, had made teh same turn and was equally dedicated to get there. Unfortunately the visitor center, doesn’t have that much info. What they really want you to do is take teh 2 or 3 hour tour of the house and grounds, however we did not have that kind of time luxury. Taking a few minutes we did ride down to see the house and the famous entrance waterfall.

Jodi, my co-adventurer! Thanks for the ride Jo!

When I had been in this area during a family vacation with my Ex-wife and in-laws, we had missed Taliesen as they had elected to go to the house on the rock. As strange and remarkable as House on the Rock was, I really had wished we have put that much time and effort into Taliesen. Anyway being able to go back now, take a few pictures and flip through a few boks on the schedule that I dictated, made it up to me and made it worthwhile. Some day I will come back and take the tour. Some day...

Now it was truly hot and the time was getting on and Jo and I had 55 miles to go. So we quit fussing around and turned to the miles at hand. Pressure points or “Hot feet” plagued us as we rolled across the blacktop that was so nice and flat and smooth, compared to the Ka-chunk of Minnesota.

To cool our feet for just a moment we stopped at a histrocial marker about the remains of the town of Dover, after the residents had moved to Mazomanie after teh railroad had bypassed Dover.

It is truly fascinating how the country had been dictated and arranged by both the railroads and the freeway systems of this country. To see how transportation has focused wealth and power or similarly robbed it from places is a somewhat dispecable study of the power of money and politics.

Finally we hit the 3rd water stop and found that inded we were not the last riders, which was a bit of a lift.

Hot and muggy there seemed so rest from the discomfort. If you sat still, the bug swarmed to you. If you continued to move, then you were buring energy and not resting, which was the point.

With water bottles refilled, we set out with Micheal Yee to tackle the final 30 miles. Now being 3:00pm I calculated this to take us about 90 minutes based on our current pace. Picking up the pace, I pressed on and into some really beautiful wooded areas with trees growing over the path and forming a canopy from the now threatening rain clouds. The sections of forrest we encountered were just areas to unlevel to not be valuable for farming and meant that we were climbing hills again. Up one, only to crest it and then roll back down and face a myriad more just like it. The hills slowed the pace and now this ride was really becoming extended and the physical fatigue became very real pain.

At this point I had pulled ahead of Jo and Michael in the climbs and was riding alone.

The directions had us skirt the town of Madison and coming back in from the South to our camp. But it felt like they might as well have re routed us through New Orleans. We were way out on country roads and missed much of the traffic, but also the services of convenience stores and such.

Trying to keep track of all the turns on the country roads, I missed one. I knew I had missed one and ater being a mile overdue I turned around and retraced my steps. however not going far enough the firtst time, I wound up retracing the same 2 miles 3 times. I was hot frustrated, tired, a bit panicky and just wanted to be done. Knowing that I should have beento camp hours ago and now not knowing if my companions had made the turn, I was unsure where i was in the group, in relation to the sweeper suport vehicle and such. I had not choice but to find my error and get my self into camp. My problem was that it was still 20 miles away, an easily and hour or more ride, which would put me into camp about 5:30 or 6:00pm.

Out of food, nnowhere near civilizatino for a gas station of other food store and worryiing if I might miss the group’s dinner, things were getting stressful, which didn’t help. Finally I asked a lady at ther house and solved my navigational error and was back on route. At least that worked out. Bonking (runnig out of energy to the point of disorientation) I was making slow time and now ‘I was lokng for a place where I could get a snack. Finally I found a pseudo grocery store and got a 1/2 gallon of chocalate milk and 3 packages of salted peanuts.

Scarfing my snack as I sat outside the store, I saw our habitual last rider pass by me. That actually gave me a litle hope that I wasn’t left for dead and that I might be found by the sag van. At this point i had already riddn 114 miles and I was fully content to catch a ride for teh last 9 miles.

Pseudo fueled, I was off to cath Helyn, our last rider, and be back with comrades. Along with Helyn I found Floyd and felt like a team again. To once again feel like I wasn’t abandoned was a huge relief.

Shortly thereafter, we reacquired Jo and Micheal as they had also been lost. Somehow that large a group gave my legs some energy to ride and nded finish.

124 long long miles. The bottom bracket ( where my pedal spindle goes through the frame.) was creaking and crunchy and sounded terrible, by the end of the ride. I expect it needs to be replaced as it is the original bracket with 5000+ miles on it. But when I pulled in to camp I dismounted and I all I could do was let my bike fall over. I didn’thave the strength or energy to care if it crashed. In fact there was some small part of me that almost wished it might, so that I wouldn’t have to ride tomorrow.

Everyone seeing me come in so late and just so beaten, knew I had a tough day and was so great and supportive, to get me drinks and water and to make sure I ate.

A quick rest and dinnner was served by the families of riders Dan Scott and Bob Dumke. Wonderful Wisconsin dinners of bratwurst and kraut.

After dinner it was time to setup tent, shower and do al the chores that I usually get done before dinner. Although there was a 40% chance of rain I risked it and did not put the rain fly on since there was not a cloud in the sky or on the horizon and the wind wasn’t blowing yet.

That gamble worked out as it didn’t rain and I had a nice night.

After my bike had squeeked and creaked all day, I took my bike back over to Dave the Mechanic and he looked at the bottom bracket (which is the spindle for the pedals. Taking it all apart Dave did find that I had plenty of crunchiness and graiininess in the bracket. Dave cleaned it up, best he could I adcedied that after 5500 cumulative miles I was okay with replacing it. So a plan was set for Dave to get me a new bracket tomorrow, during hte day and we would work around it until rest day.

I spent the evening in the tent writing blog on battery power and then going to bed. Hopefully tomorrow would be a better day.

Thjat was the day. A long day. A very long day. Not a necessarilly terrible day, jsut one I was glad to have done and one I wouldn’t look to repeat any time soon.

Don’t forget to comment. I surely could use your comments today.

Day 30 Winona to Viroqua

2007-07-29T10:54:00.001-07:00

Day 30 Winona to Viroqua

Essence - Making time to be a Be’er.

Waking up in the dorms made today an easier start.

The morning was farily uneventful. The biggest dilemma was Alision. She sprained her ankle leaving the bar last night after only one beer, but her ankle had swollen up pretty well. So we were concerned if she would be able to ride. After straining my right achilles I had also wrapped my leg with an ace bandage and we were starting to sprot a new teeam uniform for “Team injured”. Right leg ankle wraps for everyone!

Breakfast at the student union cafeteria looked tempting, but as we have discovered, the tempting sweet rolls and donuts are just the Devil’s toys when we are on the road. Generally I try to stick to the Eggs and maybe a little sausage and a pancake or toast.

This morning’s ride down the Mississippi River valley was really beautiful. Probably my favorite part of the whole day. WE were on the Western Side where huge bluffs rose up and yet the Mississippi had done her work and carved them away.

Along the way I was very entertained by this sign. Finally the Bike Camping Sign that should have accopanied us every night.

Right after taking this picture is when I noticed that I had lost a bolt in my chain rings that holds my chainring and pedal set together.

Fortunately there are 5 in a star pattern and one wasn’t necessarily going to be the end of my ride, but I was a little surprised. I have no idea where I lost it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I had lost it during the Ka chunks yesterday.

Rolling to catch up with the “Scott Train” after my photo stop I was enjoying the the smooth and fairly clean shoulder of Hwy14. A nice smoothly paved and wide shoulder, allowed for a very comofortable 2 abreast ride that was just rolling and smooth. In my head I kpet hearing and seeing Jeff, singing Johnny Cashs’s “Big River”. Over Iand over I lyrically floated down the “Big River”. The cool morning hung with river moisture and low clouds and seemed almost foggy. In the afternoon it would become sweltering, Mississippi River humidity, but in the cool morning it was just like my imagined version of Germany, cool and damp.

Rolling through small towns the greenery was phenomenal. Coming over a little rise with Scott and Tom, I saw all the cyclists stopped at a house on the side of hte road, milling about and with cones in the shoulder to give us space.

We had come to the Meyers’ Family Water stop, now a 9 year tradition.

The Meyers’ owned this house and the attached auto repair shop and they had set and then rooled out the welcome mat for us. Starting back in 1998 the Meyers had seen the cyclists come through before and decided to support the ALAW BIg Riders, after losing a Grandfather to Lung Cancer. The Meyers have missed a year of 2 they say, but now they have it down to a full famlily frontal assault. The young girls who have, grown up with the ride every summer, read the blogs, do interviews, ask for autographs on baseball card sized pictures, and turn out fruit and food and beverages and make a regular oasis. Mom, Judy offers tours of her garden which is absolutely fantastic! Coming from Phoenix, where so many things are brown, the garden with its layer of colors and textures is a real pleasure to walk through.

Megan, the Meyers daughter in her mid teens, said that as soo n as teh riders all leave, the family quick brainstorms new ideas for next year and edits the bad ideas from this year and starts planning again. One os Megan’s sisters had 3 comfortable living room chairs out and was conducting interviews! Their admiration for waht we do, matched our gratitude for the truly “Above and Beyond” water stop. The Meyers put in as much heart and planning for the year as the riders do in their training and fundraising and for me, the Meyers are just as much a part of this riding team as any one of my fellow riders.

Eventually though it did come to go and continue our quest for miles under the tires. Shjortly after leaving, the Meyers’ we were on a bike path along the the river, so the Route guide said. What we were actually on was an old KA-chunky road that ran next to the dual railroad tracks that were shieded from the river, by thick reeds and vegetation. So what sounded like a beautiful ride was more like riding down and alley. Emerging from the “alley” Scott, Tom, myself and David Lambert (my usual dorm roommate) headed off and shortly were crossing into Missouri

and then over the Mighty Mississippi.

Crossing the Mississippi is one of those moments when you can’t believe you have done it. I am sure many people had similar feelings at the continental divide. For me however, the Mississippi is something I have rarely seen and only once before crossed via bridge. It was alway so landmark to me as the center of the country. To me, things east of the river were Eastern and things west were western. And now I have ridden my bike from the West edge passed my line of demarkation and into the East! WHOA!

And from here things would generally be uphill again until we were over teh Alleghanys in Pennsylavnia.

We crossed the river at Le Crosse and went past La Crosse Brewery, where they have 6 storage tower tanks painted to look like the largest 6-pack in the world. I did not care to photo op this.

In La Crosse I was starving. It was too early for us to really eat. So I coordinated several successive stops at traffic lights, so that I could get a aPB&J out of my carry bag and maniacally eat 3 or 4 bites of PB&J at each light. Undoubtedly the light would turn green and I would be caught trying ot clip in to my pedals, shove the left over sandwich into one of my rear shirt pockets and trying to breathe and exercise around this choking mass of Peanut butter, bread and jelly glob now filling my mouth. It was pretty comical but in a few moments I had downed the sandwich and was feeling better ans til hanging with the group.

Only about 5 miles down the road from the PB&J incidents, we found Mark manning his first water stop!

Mark is Pollie’s father who had thought he might come along jion his daughter Pollie for a few day son the ride to keep her compay. He had no idea that he would become our replacement 4th support vehicle, filling in fo rthe Kosicks who had to leave the ride. Mark is certainly behind the 8-ball on our well rehearsed 30 day water stop rhythm, but he is catching up fast, learning people’s names and fiinding out all our moans and groans and physical needs. In only 2 more days I bet it will feel like Mark has been with us for a month.

Leaving Mark we started to head inland, climbing hills and then loosing them again. Now I was riding with Steve and we saw a local creamery on our right and decided to be “Be’ers”. We thougth this was chance to get Ice cream at the factory and so we poked our heads in.

As it turned out it was a working creamery where they mostly made butter and “ghee”, a kind of clarified butter often used in East Indian cooking. Indeed we only got a glass of milk, but we did get a tour of the creamery. And this wasn’t some highly publicised, commercial tour. We had hairnets and were out on the production floor, jsut as they were cleaning up for the shift change. Being that this creamery sold under the Organinc Valley label, it was fun to see the lengths and effort they go to, to ensure the organic label.

The sun was getting hot, so we started our climbs out of the Mississippi river valley and back up on top of the bluff. Passing really healthy looking Amish farms, we waved at all the smiling children even passed a hourse carriage on the road. Seeing the hand picked and stacked wheat and the men working in the fields and the size of the horses, we were suddenly reminded how much work traditional farming was. What a contrast though to the huge mega wheat farms we had seen in South Dakota.

Climibing our last hills I was in serious discomfort as my achilles warp was now created a blistered raw spot on the underside of my foot where it wrapped. I was only too happy to making it home.

We did have the joy of one decidedly steep downhill where without a single pedal stroke I hit 44.7 mph and Steve cracked 45mph. At the bottom though was a hairpin turn, with gravel in it and just ripe for a wipeout, so we were on the brakes and slowing before it, instead of going for personal speed records.

In camp at the local fairgrounds, I laid out and took a qiuck nap in the “showing” barn on the cool concreet floor. Letting hte concrete soakd the heat out of me, I set out my tent in delayed layers so that each layer would have a chance to dry out, since it was still wet from being put away, during the rain, morning before last.

After a shower, I haed off to the post office just before 5pm to ship some stuff home. The Post Office windows were closed. However as I was trying to figure out what to do a clerk came out to lock up and saw me there in my conundrum. She stayed late and helped me package my stuff and billed me for it, promising it would go out tomorrow, whidh was just fine by me. Package shipped and a few postcards in the mail and I was on my way.

Be-bopping through old downtown I found a Bluedog Cycles, a small cycle shop. There were still open and remembering my cranks bolt problem I stopped in and got the replacement and a bit of a deraileur tune-up. I talked with Pete, the shop owner about what we were up to and he took a little extra time, going over my bike making sure it was in good shape. I also asked him about his shop jerseys. The shop jerseys wre actually part of a fundraiser to help provide monies for the construction and maintenance of some mountain biking trails in the local parks. A few years ago the city approved his plan, to form a group to build, maintain monitor some local bike trails as a recreation tourism idea. The jersey proceeds went to fund the project. All to happy to have a local jersey and something new to wear, I bought a jersey and got a little bit of retail therapy.

In the end a productive afternoon, and a good day. Tomorrow’s 109 is our 2nd longest ride, so I will end this blog here and turn in at 10p.m. to ensure a good nights rest. It has cooled down now and the “muggy”ness has relaxed so I hope I can fall asleep pretty easliy.

Planning for a big day tomorrow. But at least I have a new jersery to wear.

Don’t for get to comment.

Day 29 Owatonna to Winona

2007-07-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Day 29 Owatonna to Winona

Essence - Many small segments

1:30 a.m. The wind that had been so pleasantly been blowing and soothing me to sleep, now was turning serious. It was also starting to carry rain with it. It was enough to wake me and I quickly pulled my rain fly down as the srom that we had been antipating was apparently here. I only got a little wet pulling my rainf ly forward , but it had been worth it to have the screens open during the wind.

With the rain, though now came enjoyable but fitful rest. Waking every 1/2 hour to a sever thunderstorm and continually checking the rain worthiness of my tent. Some rain was blowing under the fly and my own condensation was condensing under the fly and then dripping on me, so I was a little bit wet. Fortunately everything held up and it was a very fun and exciting night to be sleeoping outside.

At 5:00a.m. when the alarms went off, I just laid there trying to figure out how we were going to ride in this storm. Of course there was scheudle to keep, but we couldn’t ride in this! ARe you kidding me? I heard noises from neighbor tents and decided I needed to get up and do what I could to get ready. At one point we were mostly ready. We had everythiing pakced up except for the vary tents we were sitting in.

and we sat ans watied for the storm to ease up...

and we sat...

and we sat...

Finally about 5:30, after 4 hours of heavy thunderstorms with lightning and thunder crackling just overhead, the storm receded and we all emerged like bears after hibernation.

You have never seen so many tents dismantled in such a short period of time. Within minutes the camp field was nearly empty.

And breakfast was fully underway under the shelter of the animal show barn.

And then, it was time to ride...
in the rain.

It is hard to describe the different ways it rained even with the extensive Seattle Rain vocabulary. It poured, then it became worse and was a delluge. then it eased to a sprinkle. ... then picked up the pace to a light rain... then torrentual... and on and on.

We were soaked form head to toe. Many of us had doneed our rain gear, which not being breathable, meant that we were just as wet inside our jackets from all the sweat and exertion as though of us who had not worn jackets.

As you can imagine the cameras we stowed away in dry places and very few pictures no pictures were taken.

After the rain we had a wonderful water break provided by the combined family efforts of Ane and Liz.

Ane’s dad, Gordy, was out video taping everyone. Her sister’s were welcoming everyone into the tent and it was we got to meet the girls’ moms and have a sit down. It was such a great rest.

From there we rode off into the farm land of Minnesota.

I don’t quite KA CHUNK...

quite know KA CHUNK...

how to describe KA CHUNK...

the roa KA CHUNK...

KA CHUNK...

roads of Minnesota.

They were KA CHUNK...

Definitely KA CHUNK...

KA CHUNK...

rough.

The Ka Chunks may seem like they are added for the effect, but it very much felt like that. you couldn’t get through a full thought without being jarred. Not even a full second between bumps and we were being bounced. And these were the holes that had been patched! Some of hte potholes that hadn’t been patched could be better described as caverns!

We hated it. We searched left, then right, and then maybe int he lane, then maybe jsut on the white line and found no smooth road. Short sections of repaving, maybe just a few 10 yards long were like the rare bit of candy as a kid. We loved the smooth road. When we had it we relished in the smooth roll. When we lost it we were bumbed out.

Most of the afternoon went this way.

Adding injury to insult, after the mornigs rains I had gotten mud in my pedal cleats and it became really hard to clip out. At one point i was was working so hard to clip out, that I strained my right achilles! Not wanting to go through that pain again, I was trying to baby it along. But with all the bumps I felt every last bump.

In the afternoon the clouds startd to rebuild and we were expecting another storm. Riding with Kari and Alison, we all decided to get something warm to drink at the gas station, mid-day check point. Hot cocoa, the every fabulous PB&J and some fruit were enough to get us on our way up some of the tough late ride hills.

One hill in particular would have beena great downhill blast if the road had been any good. As it was we Ka-chunked the whole way down.

Finally at bottom our route turned us onto a lovely country road that took us down a side valley and lead us into town. We had a slight downhill and a truly spectacularly smooth road. No traffic. It was the perfection of a ride! I was pulling for Alison who then had the added advantage of know head wind. It was a wonderful ride... and it almost made up for the Ka-chunks... Almost.

Getting in close to town, I saw Toronto Dave miss a turn, and when he didn’t hear us yell, I sprinted up to catch him and flag him down. I would have hated to see him get lost or do any more miles than necessary. Sprinting however max’d out my achilles and so the final 7 or 8 miles into town were just really painful.

The light at the end of the tunnel was that we were staying in dorms for just the one night and so we didn’t need to set up our tents or sleeping bags.

Dinner in the cafeteria was a rare taste variance of Open faced turkey sandwiches with Mashed potatoes. Mixed withthe Mashed potatoes, it was deliecious and I went back for 3rds.

In the end, the day had a little of lot of many different things. Weather, Roads, gob Bad, Sunny, rainy, ugly and blissfully beautiful.

Not quite a day of extremes, but certainly a day of variation.

Please comment. and I am taking suggestions on Essences for the today.

Day 28 New Ulm - Owatonna

2007-07-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

Day 28 New Ulm - Owatonna

Essence - Being a “Be’er”

Starting our day in the dorm seems like it would be easier, but I often feel that iti s not. We are just a little bit out of our rhythms on dorm days. True we have no tents or sleeping bags to roll up, but still we are just out of rhythm and ultimately have to walk farther to carry our bags to the truck.

This morning was especially hectic, because my cook team also had lunch duties. Lunch prep is where we setup a folding table, about 6 loaves of bread, 3 jars of peanut butter, bushells of bananas, oranges and other fruit, boxes and boxes of granola bars and other snacks and within 20 minutes, a hurricane of activity occurs and all that is left are a few heals of bread, some spilled jelly, 2 or 3 sickly, bruised and lonely pieces of fruit and a bunch of empties boxes. Not all 50 people can descend on the table at once. There jsut isn’t enough space. It usally seems to be a rolling group of about 10 or so folks. Sometimes you make it hte first group and you get prime pickin’s sometimes youare oin the last group and you get the dregs. Nobody complains when they are the last ones and get the limited selection of the goodies. But if you can make the early groups and get your favorite treats, it is like Christmas. Fruit snacks are popular and go quickly. I love the cheesy spread cracker sandwiches. now I have to be careful because there will be teh cheesy crackers with the peanut butter filliings. Those are not as good. I alreadyusually have 2 PB&J sandwiches and a few PB flavored clif bars, so variety is key. Everytime I come up to the table I am first looking for hte cheesy crackers. Everyone else has they “gotta have it” items as well. Some folks go for the fruit. Others are after teh fruti snacks. It all balnaces out, but it sort of is like playing a game and you are lookng for the right cards to draw into your hand.

So on to my day. After lunch prep we, had catered breakfast in the cafeteria at the college. I walked over, leaving my bike int he dorm, so by the time I walked back after b’fast and got my bike, my regular Scott Train Team had already departed so I rode out by myself.

Feeling good, as I often doo after rest days, I was in a happy mood and buzzing along. Light crosswinds were going to be the order of the day and I was already fighitng them.

A bit further up, I passed Michael Yee, who said the gang was lookng for me so I pushed it a bit and ccaught the “train”. Stephen and I pushed it a bit and brok out of the train. Good conversation today. Some days we don’t talk much, but today was a chatty day and the miles just melted around us as we pushed through the winds.

Coming through Mankato, Stephen was ready his guid and almost missed the water stop. Which was kinda funny considering that his wife, Polie -our ride director, was there waiting at the stop. He gets kisses from his sweeite as abonus at each water stop, and would certainly be reason for me to make sure I didn’t miss a water stop.

Back onthe road in Mankato, I happen to think that is was Sunday and about 9:00 a.m. I thought it was about church time. Since Stephen and I had bee maikng good time and were feeling good, I offered if would like to stop for church if we found a convenient church having service. He, said yes, and not 1 1/2 blocks further we came upon a Methodist church on our right, right on the corner, we whipped around and pulled in. Fully decked out in my Harpoon Beer spandex riding costume I inquired with the Reverend if they would let us 2 vagabonds join there service, since we were on our quest and a long way from home. We were welcomed with open in arms and hit timing perfectly. Sevice was an hour and started in 5 minutes. That worked out great that is wasn’t a huge multi hour break for us.

We found some seats at the rear, not wanting to inflict our sweatiness on to m any people. Fortunately the overcast morning had kept us fairly humane. We visited with the folks around her whow were all abuzz as many of them had driven passed all of us on their way to church. And moments later I was thrilled to see a 3rd rider, Alex also come in for the service. As service started and greetings were spread we were officially welcomed by the Reverend, which was very nice as we felt comfortable but definitely stuck out like sore thumbs.

Sevice was good. The message highlighted the difference in life between the “Do’ers” in the world and the “Be’ers” in the world. I definitely identified with his description fo being a Do’er but this message highlighted the importance of taking the time to stop, and listen and be in the moment, of God, of Friends of whatever. It was exactly what I needed to hear for this trip. So many days had I rushed through to get that days ride done, that I have sometimes missed the historical marked stops, or the just stopping and watching.

Even this stop at church was a “Be’ing” moment. That is one part of my life that I need to embrace more whole heartedly and it was good and powerful to even get that message from God today.

After the service many people were talking with us about our journey and what we were doing. It was nice to be a Be’er for those moments and meet those folks. To accept their genuine well wishes and encouragements was rejuvenating. I did ask the Reverend to keep our dear Dr. Brack in prayers for a quick and healthy recovery and the Reverend was only to happy to pass that word along for prayer fromthe whole congregation.

I left church energized and missing, my homne church and church family back in Phoenix. After a quick text message to a few chruch friends back home, to greet their service. we were roling again.

The hour break, certainly had stiffened up the legs. And now we were full on dead last of the riders. WE go warmed back up and Stephen called Pollie so she wouldn’t worry had we had gone from daily leaders to the daily tail.

Resuming our battle agains, cross winds we rode with energy and fulfillment. Feeling like Peter, as Jesus had becomed him to walk on water, I felt like I could keep up the overly fast pace as we regained time on the group. The service provided Stephen and I more topics of discussion and that distraction had as much influence on our legs as the rest from the day before.

The traffic is getting in heavier and righ now the roads are tough. Sloppy and broken shoulders have us “White lining” it a lot of the time. Riding that white line at the right edge of traffic, makes for tense an tiring days as we spend so much time and energy “playing in traffic.”

Even with our church stop we were in by 1:30. Vern’s home, Owatonna provided a huge family welcoming party opportunity, with pie for everyone and even his 92 year old mother here to greet him. Vern, in his 70s, is one of the oldest riders and it such a character and great person. It was so wonderful to see his reception and the homecoming, temporary as it is. The celebration of the day just seemed to contiune.

Tented, showered, pied and snacked it was time for a nap. And I was really looking forward to it. The wind was cool and gave a nice breeze and with looming thunderclouds, climbing in my tent felt like that warm safe place that our favorite blanket felt to us as a kid. The nap was cool a the rustle of the rain fly just soothed me to sleep as I was glad to be so near the environment yet out of its harshness. Ahhh......zzzzzzzzz..........

2 hours later, I woke uyp to find I had been deserted as everyone had gone out for $10 dinner. Rubbing my eyes and clearing the naptime cobwebs, I was trying to decide what to do for dinner, when Ane came to visit and reported ont he local Mexican Food discovery just across the street. Having just left there, she joined me for the company and off we went, and found many 15 other riders. Sort of like like being a sheep and rediscoerying your flock I was back in the fold and all was good.

The plate was hot (as all good mexican restaurants should serve) and the Chile Colorado was pretty good. Not like Arizona, but then it is Minnesota so I couldn’t be too picky. A good dinner, a good conversation and I was yet again reminded of what a woman wants and needs. As I guy I can never be reminded of that enough sometimes and it was good to be reminded of that.

Back at camp, I made my tomorrows lunch as one of the last ones and was happy for the fruit snacks I managed to acquire. Then I discovered my 3rd flat of the trip. A slow rear tire leak that I thought I had felt earlier in the day, when my tire felt spongy. Feeling at peace and a little more like a Be’er I changed my tube in now particular hurry and found the offending puncturer.

It was a peaceful day. I did not take a single picture. Today was day of feelings and moments, that pictures and scenes could not capture. Just a day of feeling right. A day of listening, if you will. Listening to God, listening to friends, listening to my body, listening to the soothing voices on the wind... and taking all those sounds into my soul.

Maybe today was even a day of changing...

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Day 27 New Ulm Day off

2007-07-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Day 27 New Ulm Day off

After sleeping in until the a whole 7:30 a.m. we were up ahd trying ot workout breakfast plans. During that process, I called Jeff to find out about returning his car to him. As it turned out we were invited over for batwurts on the grill for lunch at which time we could return the car.

No only had we gotten to use, Jeff’s car, but now he was offereing to feed us as well, and we were all but total strangers to him. We accepted the lunch offer and had breakfast downtown.

After breakfast we walked along the arts and crafts that were closed last night and I found some interesting things. This recycled Wine bottle booth was one of the most unique things I had seen. This lady made art and other crafts out of remelted wine bottles, which were very cool.

Poking around, Margo and I found this old unprotected entry and got to look around in this old building.

I also liked this sign.

Finally we were back and it was time to go to Jeff and Becky for lunch. We chit chateted and talked about how unusuall it was for us to leave a friends behind to hangout with a local and how nervous we had been. Becky said that she had also been worried about the car with us, but once we all returned everything in one piece it was all family.

Before Lunch Jeff gave us a little song on a rare piece of history. He had happened to befriend Johnny Cash’s guitar player and had wound up having the chance to buy one of Cash’s ld tour guitars.

Jeff really had such a voice and the guitar sounded SOOO good.

I just wish all the guys back at Pacific Staging could have seen and hear it. Jeff played a wonderful rendition of Cash’s Big River. Jeff even let me play the guitar and even though I can’t play 6-string acoustic, I did my best to pluck a little 12 bar blues. I was in heaven.

Lunch out on the Back patio was fabulous spread of brats and melon fruit and slaw and such, oh and of course the locally brewed beer.

Here are Adam, Margo, Becky and Jeff.

Here is The whole lot of us with (front row: Me, Jeff -Rider; back row Jeff - New Ulm, Becky, Adam, Helyn and Margo)

After lunch, Jeff needed to take a nap since he had 2 more concerts to play witht he band at the festival. Becky offered to drive us up the street to the local brewery and we go to take the brewery tour.

At the end of the tour we got a tasting and I enjoyed the rootbeer and got information to order some over the internet once I get home.

From there we had several miles to walk back to the dorm.

I had spent my whole day goofing off and being a tourist. Now it was time to do laundry, clean my bike, and prep for 7 days of cycling.

It was such a good day off and I really enjoyed the company. By the end of the day I forgotten about all my mail, which was brought to me with a heap of teasing. I read the postcards right away and then planned to ration my mail for the next 3 days, since we wouldn’t have mail at our rest day in Valpo.

In the end not, I was just thankful for the time and blessings of the day.

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Day 26 New Ulm Evening

2007-07-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Day 26 New Ulm Evening

After getting into the dorms, a shower and a 2 hour nap, I was ready to whoop it up on the town. Walking to down town, I walked past a local park where there was much activity. Lookingf ro the local Bavarian BLast Festival I stopped by to see sho this group was.

As it turned out they were teh class of ‘72 High School reunion. They teased me about not even being alive until they discovered that actually was teh year that I was born. I visited with them and told them of our quest. They were suitably impressed but felt a little embarrassed smolkng in front of me. So I left them to their beers and cigarettesa nd headed down the hill.

Down in town I could hear the Oompa Oompa music of hte festifval and like moths to the flame, I found my way to the festival. On my way I found Margo, Helyn, Adam and Jeff. Not foks I usualy hang out with, so it was mice to have some new company. Jeff had talked their way into the festival, since we thoughthte $8 a person was a bit to much. My first attmept to talk my way in , got me nwoeher, but I found a lovely lady who had a son in Phoenix and after acting like we were supposed to be in, I was in.

I made up for the entrance fee, as I tried some fot he delicious 1919 rootbeer. 1919 is a locally brewed rootbeer that is only served on draft. While everyone else was drinking this beer or that I was appreciating the rootbeer. I also really enjoyed the German Arts and Crafts that they had on display. The hand carved nutcrackers and coo coo clocks were wonderful. I also really enjoyed some of the patterned doillies that havd bee stretched and hung for a window decoration.

In the end I bought myself a carved scene from this German carver. I am so excited to have it at the new condo for Christmas.

After the shopping, I foudn the gang who were dancing polkas and dancing with the costumed creatures that sort of freaked us out.

The Oompa music was very entertaining. I amd so used to hearinghte Mexican Polkas back in Phoneix that to hear and dance real polka was quite a change.

Near the end of the eveing we got talking to onoe of the locals, Jeff.

See Jeff.

Jeff was a member of hte locl New Ulm band and quite a musiciian and singer. As it turned out he hung with us all night. When it came time to go and for us to walk the few miles back to the dorm, Jeff said he was too drunk to drive and loaned us his car. Since I was the sober one, as I had only been drinking root beer, we were grateful for the generosity and took his car.

Our Rider Jeff, did stay with Jeff and the 2 of them went to a few other local bars. Driving home, Helyn was very concerned that we had left Jeff alone and that something bad mioght happen to him. Coming from big cities we all understood this, but it was small town Minnesota and things were different here.

In the end we had a great night, and really got to enjoy the festival, opne fo the few local flavor things we have really gotten to sink our teeth into on this trip.

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Day 26 Tyler to New Ulm

2007-07-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

Day 26 Tyler to New Ulm

Essence Frivoluous whimsy.

The morning we woke up to was just beatuiful. Waking in our little private forest in Tyler was wonderful and had that feel of what camping should be like. Even with a catered breakfast the Scott train managed to be nearly last out of camp. Hey why should we break with schedule, right?

As the day revved up so did the heat. Our first water stop had some wonderful doggies as visitors and everyone was so happy to once again run our hands the coat of someones pet.

Just after the water stop we saw this shocking and amazing hammock. I had to turn around just to get teh picture. In its own way, it is quite remarkable. It is jsut that my style isn’t quite this... how do I say... Purple.

On down the road, we were fullu iin Laura Ingalls Wilder territory. Seeing names on signs of places all from those Little House books we were all having flaskbacks to our childhood. Plum Creek, Walnut Grove, The House that Pa actually built. It was very strange to be on the Laura Ingalls wilder memorial highway and se those places as real places, not just fictional stories in a kids book.

We saw a sign for a Sod house reconstruction and so we turned in. Only a 1/2 mile or so down this country road, on a farm, a farmer has built 4 different sod houses and pioneer homes and is working to revitalize some natural prairie on his farm. As the 4 of us cyclists had never seen actually prairie, we were all quite amazed and found the whole self-guided tour very interesting.

First of all the prairie grass was really high. 5 to 6 feet and thicker than any corn crop. Thinking of trying to navigate across that prairie in a wagon and horses was a daunting thought. 3 steps off the path and we lost each other. Trying to keep track of a children, or enemies in that grass would have been a nightmare to deal with. We could barely see the top of the other sod houses less than 100 yards across the field. The farm lady who ran the Sod House B&B said that during Ingall’s time, they would have to stand up on their horses to see the next rider also standing and that was how they navigated. WOW!

Based on the sod houses of Laura Ingals Wilder’s time, These houses were small but extremely comfortable considering all that had to be done. There was no wasted space. Event he rafter supports overhead served as storage for harvest tools and such.

After our little tour we visitied with the farm lady. You could tell that she couldn’t actually understand what would possess us to ride our bikes across the country and just thought we were crazy, versus motivated. She introduced us to her farmer sun, who had even less interest in us. He certainly gave the impression that, cycling stories were best saved for the endo fhte day when his real farm work was done, and that he shouldn’t be bothered with such non-sense during the day. It certainly was an interesting reaction.

Moving on, the day was hot and we didn stop much. I did however stop for this 7’ tall statue of “The Real Linus”. Zoom in and read the plaque. This is a memorial for the real Linus and instructor of Charles Chultz who wrote the “Peanuts” cartoon.

Just to make the day complete as we were all about to fall over in pain, the last half-mile was up the steepest hill we have climbed yet, to the ground of Martin Luther College.

Once at the top we all got to the lawn and just laid out next to our bikes on the cool grass. a little cooling off and we were really ready to unload and have a day off.

So after the Laura Ingalls Flashback, the side trip to the Sod houses and even the silly roadside sightings, itdefinitely seemed like a day of whimsey.

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Day 25 Danebod School Camp

2007-07-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Day 25 Danebod School Camp

Camp in Tyler was at the Danebod School, a Danish Lutheran church complex from the mid 1800s. Tyler had become the main Danish Enclave in Minnesota and the area had quite a history. Even the church ground had quite a history. The Local pastor came over and gave us a tour of the buildings and took us inside.

The buildings were beautiful. They had wonderful museum on the history of the Folk School and even had some of the original tool that built the buildings. This molding block plane was really fascinating to me.

One of the most impressive things we learned was that this church was moved.

At one point this church was built as an East wall church. For reasons that I now forget, it was decided that the church needed to be rotated 90 degrees. The church went to architects in Minneapolis and Chicago who all declined the liabilitiy of moving such a building. Seeing the church’ s interior here, I would have made the same decision the architects did.

The elders however returned in a quandry and put the question of what to do, up to the congregation. Beigna farming community, about 12 good old Danish Lutheran farmers said they woudl do it, but it would take a few weeks or have to wait until they had a the time in the their farminig schedule. But as farmers are known for creative solutions, they jacked and lifted the church. Dug out a new basment and set a foundation, spun and repositioned the church just as they said they would have and in only a few weeks time all back during the 1800s.

One again amazed by the ingenuity of farmers, I tip my hat to them for a job well done.

We ended the cool afternoon with great tent sites that felt like our own private forest.

A wonderful dinner and sperading our Pirate thursday and practical joking to the Classical bust sculpture in the DaneBod School. Every Napolean needs and eye patch don’t you think? (The pirate hat was already there. WE just added the eye patch.)

Before...

After...

I

It was a good Pirate Thursday.

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Day 25 De Smet to Tyler

2007-07-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

Day 25 De Smet to Tyler

Essence - Love & Support come to visit

Blogging so much last night, kept me up late, but all of us in the hotel room wanted a few more minutes to sleep in, not jsut me. Dutifully we roused ourselves and got the day under way. Not without its mishaps though. The grage at the hotel where our bikes were stored overnight was locked so we wound up waking th night manager and getting ourselves going.

It was cool, even dare I say chilly. The T-storms fromt eh day before had kept the night cool and the morning was chilly and damp. We rejoined the others at camp for breakfast. A jovial day. Due partially to Mary’s practical joke of taping a a large stuffed duck to the dent in the gear truck nose, that was left as a resulto fPollie’s colision withteh Wild turkey back in Montana. Pollie was good sport and took all the ribbing.

Rolling out the sun rose and the fresh rays of heat were welcomed as they broke the morning chill. The sun rise also played on the corn as we cast long shadows that gave the impression of indian heiroglyphics of creatures on bikes.

I

Long trains and good cheer were the order of the day. It was a shorter day, than lately the winds had turned to crosswinds and even the occasional pseudo tail wind for a turn or two. The cooler corn and soy bean crops were still such a relief and change after the endless dry wheat fields. It was another good day brewing.

In addition to our good riding, I was looking forward to meeting up with Laura and Steve, dear old friends from Arizona who were on their own road trip. They had routed their path to cross ours and I was so looking forward to seeing them. Laura had been significant repeatedly during the plannnig process and to share a few moments on the road with her and Steve was tremendous for me. Coordinating via Text and voicemail we managed a rendezvous at our water stop in Brookings.

Rolling into Brookings we found a really cute little town, with tremendous amenities.

The local bike shop had been keeping up with our ride via blogs, especailly mine. We rolled in to a heroes welcome. Trek cycling tents outside providing shade to rest in. Free ice cream from the attached cofffee shop, The El Tour de France playing on TV and a a full service bike shop with so many opportunities for us to achieve a little retail therapy.

The onwer Robb, (Pictured seated above)had even printed several days of my blog and my pictures many of us riders. He had found my work and thought it good enough to print/display! He knew us by name and the welcoming was just overwhelming.

After the isolation of South Dakota and total reliance on oursleves, to be welcomed and to realize jsut how many people were actively watching, reading and following us was unexpected felt like so much love.

We felt good. Phil stopped in next door to the cafe for an old fashioned shave.

Pirate Thursday was in full force as Scott, our “Cap’n” showed off souvenir trinkets that
Cathy had found.

It was a good day and a great place to sit and chill out and eagerly wait to meet my friends.

And soon enough, Steve and Laura pulled up.

The conversations with Dear friends, sometimes aren’t the point. It tis that they are just there. With you... 1500 miles from home on a street corner and wiling to reroute their trip to see you. I don’t know how much time we spent but it was a welcome delight.

But with miels for all of us to travel, it came time to part ways. As my riding gang had left an hour before I set out on my own and for the first time in the ride really found myself riding alone. Not trying to catch anyone, not tryingot race or catch thte clock, just riding. Soaking in the love I have just been so blessed with and starting to look toward the condo and future plans.

Only a few miles up the road, I found Margo, Adam, Amry and Jeff at a roadside celebrity event for Margo. Chicago Red Cross folks that Margo had worked with, had surprised her on the route with a surprise gatorade stop. Sal had even made a fantastic sign and Margo was brimming with love and good cheer to see such friends surprise her.

The love and support for everyone, all across the board was so encouraging and just really set the essence and tone for the day. Shortly down the road we crossed into Minnesota and now several folks were back in their homestate.

Ane broke a shoe cleat at the “Welcome to Montana” water stop, so I rode the final 15 miles with her to make sure she got it okay and at least had help if she got stranded.

Always looking out for each other and taking care of our own.

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Day 24 Miller to De Smet

2007-07-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

Day 24 Miller to De Smet

Essence - New beginnings

Today was a good day. It was also a vital day. In the middle of a 6 day ride week, we needed a good day. The last 3 days had whooped us all. Everyone was having bad days. I noticed in the fact that I had only taken 9 pictures during our riding days. Except for Eric's boost on Monday night we hadn't had a high spirit in days.

So waking up this morning in the AC, not having to roll up a tent and being ready to go was huge. Further complimented by heavy cloud cover and 40% chance of showers. While we weren't crazy about riding in the rain, we relished the 70 degree weather and cloud cover.

Breakfast was a comedy of errors. I spilled my cereal on Tom. Kari actually slipped on a banana peel. Yes indeed, someone has now actualy slipped on a banana peel. It isn't all just propaganda that we have been told. Darn dangerous thouse banana peels can be.

After the hilarity of that wore off, we were off on a cool 76 mile day. Here we are as Jerry and Dave teh mechanic are pulled over to check on us in their support explorer.
Pictured are: Lisa, Kari, Alison & Scott and I am the photographer.

The Scott train was rolling again, with me as the navigator and redundant backup locomotive.
The headwinds had shifted and clamed from the level of the last 3 days and were more of a constant 15 mph versus a 20-30. That made our progress much faster as we maintained 14-16 mph a lot of the day. Keep in mind that when you see that youare working hard to maintain 14 mph and that you have 76 miles to go, you do the math and realize you have a 6.5 hour riding day with stops and minimal breaks.

But we cruised along in our merry little way and were happy to add Alison to our group as Tom was still being easy with his knee.

Roads were concrete so expansion bumps that drive you crazy and no shoulders as you can see in the photo above. (i.e. sometimes the trucks had nowhere to go and were a lot closer.)

As we pulled through Huron, I really liked this mural!

Shortly there after we had our midday checkpoint and also reached 1/2 way through the ride! From here, it is actually closer to finish the ride than to return to Seattle.

A few pictures at midway and we were off again, still under shady skies and still keeping one eye on the clouds and one eye on the road.

Riding along we saw somehitng we hadn't seenor heard in a while. An ambulance. It was coming towards us in traffic with lights on no sirens. We could see it from a long ways off and as it got to us, we pulled on the road and stopped just like traffic is supposed to and it kept on going in its lane of traffic. It mademe think of my EMT friend Laura and I wondered what they were responding to. I ceratinly hope it wasn't one of us.

One effect I had realized about the increased humidity is that the efective time of the Chamois butter, is decreased. Therefore to prevent the saddle sores, one must reapply the chamois cream more frequently. I pulled in to a gas station to do just such a thing while we all had a little break and manage to catch up with the Dimmits and have a good conversation with the local mechanic.

Foolishly we kept watching the sky and headed back out trying to stay ahead fo the storm.

Yeah............. No. That didn't work so well.

3/4 of a mile down the road, the light sprinkle turned into a rain, which then invited it friend lightning to play with us. As we were discussing, where to draw the line of when to take cover, a lightning bolt jumped cloud to cloud right over our heads. the crask fo the thunder was instant and I called quit on the ride right there. Everyone followed as I turned and whizzed down the driveway of teh farmhouse to the covered carport out between 2 barns.

Now that I have called, "rain delay" and abandoned the ride twice now, I guess I have become the unofficial rain gauge.

Standing in the covered shelter of the carport we actually faired quite well and were by just wet from not having stopped sooner.

30 minutes of waiting and the storm passed and we were back on the road. with 24 miles to go and working on a plan to share motel rooms tonight and avoid tenting in the rain.

After the storm the lighting was great from dramatic picutres, which my poor little camera wasn't up to the task for. The Green fields really popped green against the dark smoke blue clouds all separated by lines of golden wheat and hay rolls.

We got to camp, checked in and forged on in to town to investigate a motel.

We found a Super 8 where we all 5 of us split a room and had luandry facilities, a pool/hottub, internet, AC and everyone eve got their own bed.

A little blogging, a little ice cream and the day had turned out to be a great day and just the day we needed to rekindle our spirits to ride on.

Crossing 1/2 way, having cooler weather, getting a good days ride in, beating the wind and getting a great room made it a good day.

Our good day however was dampened, by a rider getting hurt. Our dear Doctor Brack, did have a crash and the ambulance we had seen earlier was most certainly for him, although we hadn't known it until we got to camp. Brack, a lung tranplant surgeon in his later 60s, had been riding with some other riders when he wound up crashing. He wound up with a consusison and non-separated fractured pelvis. His wife Jean Anne had been riding with us and had been called away and left us this morning with plans to return to us in Ohio to finish the ride. The ride crew managed to get a hold of Jean Anne and get her plans switched so that she could be with Brack as he stayed overnight in the hospital.

Brack first comment, from the hospital was to say Hi to all of us. It hasn't quite hit me that he won't finisht he ride with us. Both He and Jean anne have left at an earlier point ont he ride for various business obligations. So having them gone is not strange, but progressing without them is.

Of course we wish Brack the speediest of recoveries and apparently he should be up and around on crutches back home before too long. I cherish that I got to have sucha wonderful dinner with them both last night in Miller and that plans will continue to include them.

Brack and Jean Anne would surely want us to ride on, an so we will, even happily, but it will be a new start. For them and for us as we start the last half of the ride.

Heal up, good Doctor. Your place is in the saddle! ;)

Dr. Brack Hatler Sr.s Big Ride Blog.

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Friends of Alison's: She says hi. We love her. Thank you for letting us spend this time with her.

Day 23 Pierre to Miller

2007-07-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Day 23 Pierre to Miller

Daily Essence - Here we go again. A.K.A. "They shoot horses don't they?"

We weren't so surpirsed by the dark wake-up this morning. Everything was soggy! I wasn't surprised that it was soggy, but by how soggy.

I pulled a "Liz" and rolled my tent up with my sunglasses stil in the pocket. Fortunately I realized it before packing my tent in my duffel so it was only a small amount of re-effort.

Breakfast was cold cereal for me in stead of standard oatmeal. Somehow the oatmeal didn't have the same appeal on such a warm muggy morning. Know what I mean?

We got rolling and our spirits were still buoyed by from Eric's hospitality from the night before. Climbing out of Pierre the hill sheet appeared to be accurate and we only had 75 miles to do. It was like a 25% off sale. That is how sick in the head we are getting to be. We are beginnig to expect Century rides and when they are leess than 100 miles, we consider the ride to be "discounted" or sort of like early dismissal at school when you were a kid!

The "scott train" didn't form as Soctt rode with Tom, who had been having severe knee problems the last few days. As a result, I go a crew goind with Alison and Kari and we got motoring. As you can see by my shoulder and the shadows on the ground, we had a 10 person train that I was pulling.

That was a lot of fun. And we even had the Dimmit's Tandem in the back.

Pictured are (My shoulder, Kari, Alison, Jodi, Dan Scott, Adam (Shadow Only) Margo, Lisa and Greg and Trish Dimmit).

We rolled down the road and sang and then I hosted tehe "Sluggish Pace: radio call-in show" where I took questions form various "callers" It was fun to see who listened to talk shows and had the whole "Long time listener, first time call" patter down.

Beyond that we rode.
and rode
and rode

People would drop off the "andy train" eventually until it was just back to Kari, Alison and I.

This water tower cae on the horizon and re rode towards it for an impossibly long 10 miles before passing it and coming to our water stop.

From there we only had 22 short miles to go in the, once again oppressive heat. By this time I had uysed most of my strength leading the first 50 miles and my mental fortitude to ride any further was just thrashed. Alison then took over pulling. At one point we, I saw Iron Mike and Bob pull out about 3/4 of a mile ahead of us and I knew it was my turn to relieve Alison, but I didn't have the drive to push us and real the guys in.

Well Alison, working out some stress, kept the lead and chewed and chewed and chewed into the headwind and reeled in Mike and Bob, who are some of the strongest fastest riders regularly pushing. She just hunted them down and it was so cool to watch and be a part of, especially knowing that I was burnt and couldn't have done it myself.

After that though we were all tired. I was started to doze off in the handlebarsa nd just wanted to lay down and take a nap on the side of the rode. To wakle up, I took the lead for the dreaded last 11 miles and got us in.

We found that the truck inside the school gyma nd unloaded in the shade. I proceeded to start a series of naps. the first was just 10 minutes on the cold concreete floor just beoyond the basketball floor int he gym. Then I moved into the trophy room, a carpeted AC cooled room that we had for the night to sleep in. From there I slept for 1.75 hours.

It was wonderful just to nap! We had gotten in about 1:00 so even after my nap it was only 3:00 pm. I had plenty of time to clean my bike, shower, repack for tomorrow etc, before dinner.

A group of us headed down tot he HyLite cafe for dinner, where (since I had missed lunch) I had 2 huge hamburgers, a salad and cottage cheese. On the way back, I stopped at the store for mixed nuts.

Finally after being fed and had a nap, I was happy. A little bit of journaling out on the front steps and then a good nights sleep in the AC.

Day 22 Kadoka to Pierre

2007-07-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Day 22 Kadoka to Pierre

Essence: "Daddy, I don't wanna play bike ride no mo'! "

After a warm night in Kadoka we were up before the sun. Switching tme zones the day before, now mean waking up in the dark. Not anything beautiful or romantic like the pre-dawn twilight or at sunrise... NO this was just DARK. I had slept without my sleeping bag. Just my sleeping pad and a sheet and was finally comfortable when my alarm went off at 5:00.

But I managed to drag myself out of bed hoping for a better day. A blood red fireball of a sun, burned its way through the clouds as we made our usual breakfast and said goodbyes to our host "Mayor Harry" who had arrived at five to open up the shower rooms for us. Great hospitality till the end. (If you haven't read my last ost go read it to see what I mean about South Dakota People.)

Cue sheets in hand for the day, we turned to uor daily business of riding. Jo (Jodi) breaking her facade of "strong woman taking on the world single handedly" dropped a line that just burst us out laughing. In a perfect Panhandle Florida southerrn drawl, she announced, "Daddy, I don't wanna play bike ride no mo'!"

And that was all that needed to be said.

After yesterday's tough, hot struggle we needed a good day and today was looking to be just as bad if not worse. Without a morning thunderstorm to cool us off with or fend off the sun for a while, we were looking at a hot 95 mile ride with headwinds.

We had come to doubt the accuracy of the elevation plans of the ride and when they were flat, they did not accurately show the long unrelenting climbs ahead of us.

We rode past "1880s" town, which is more movie leftovers from the shooting of Dances with Wolves. More sunbaked fields of wheat without a tree insight to breakup the winds, the horizon, the scenery or provide a strip of shade. Al the water here tastes terrible as it is very heavy in mineral content. Much like Phoenix tap water back home. You can drink it when it is ice cold. But 2 hours in to a ride in our water bottles, ain't nothing cold. We are happy if it isn't Hot water. So even the drink of water isn't refresing. And the Gatorade powder mix just gives it a fruity bad flaovr, but doesn't cover up the bad taste.

We ride. We struggle. The day is so tough that I only took 3 pictures and 2 of those are of the same tractor.

Here are the Dimmits, our tandem bike couple. Greg and Trish. As I say "Two if by land, one if by sea, the Dimmits are coming, The Dimmits are coming."

The other picture I took was of this reaper, right before he turned I had to ride through all his chaf. THAT was a singularly nasty experience. I have never been so instaneously doused in dirt in my life.

8 or 9 hours after we had started that morning, we finally arrived in Pierre, South Dakota. We were camped in a city park right on the Missouri river. As our feet were hot, Kari, Alison and I reinstituted our tradition of cool our feet in the river,... that is until the bugs threatened to carry us away. And the bugs were huge.

Showers were in 4 shared motel rooms about a block away. The best part about the showers was getting to wait in the air conditioned hotel room with noe bugs while you were in line for the shower. We were hot, dirty and ready to throw our bikes in the river and head collectively home.

We went to dinner, where the guy behind us tried to eat one of those huge meals, where if you ate it all in an hour, then it was all free. Even us starving cyclists, who are burning 5000-700- calories a day looked at the thing and our stomachs just flipped. Yuck.

After Dinner, Rodney, Jerome and I set out on a quest to find Ice Cream. It got us away from the bugs in the park and sounded like a a good treat. We walked probably 7 or 8 blocks found nothing, gave up and returned to camp empty handed.

That was the moment of an angel. We were all sitting around lamenting, when up strolled Eric Raveling (pictured below on right) , a local, an ice cream expert and a guy who could help us. As computer software guy for state of S.D. he could give us detailed directions of where to go to get to Zesto's better yet, he was headed there himself and would escort us. not only that he had just finished playing frisbee golf in the park with his buddy, Brock (pictured below on left) who happened to have 3 still chilled ice bottles of water and an ice chest of icy melt water!

As offered to us, the water got handed out and then several of the girls stuck their feet in the water to cool off. Not something I would normally do, but I deifinitely understood.

Our bodies cooled or watered and our spirits lifted that we successfuly find Ice cream, we head out with Eric as our valiant guide for better living.

We indeed did find Zesto's. And as you can see life was turnig around for us.

Eric was great to tell us about the city and what he did and be a sort of local tour guide. Finally it was time to head home, to be and leave the company of our hero Eric.

Back at camp, it was still muggy, hot and buggy. I took this shot and wrote a few postcards and then tried to sleep in the wet blanket of summer air.

For Eric and Brock - Thank you so much. Your support and buying all ice cream and just being so welcoming. It really lifted our collective spirits. The group of us that went with yuou that night, took that good cheer back and shared it among our friends. You lifted the whole group, on a day when we all really needed it thank you. That is one of the great things that we are experiencing on this trip is the hospitality of people across the country. You are welcome at my home any time, and we thank you, collectively from the bottom of our hearts.

Don't forget to Comment - Mom, it is okay to leave me silly comments or memories.

Day 21 Rapid City to Kadoka

2007-07-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Day 21 Rapid City to Kadoka

A rough day.

We started out the day, pretty normally and were about last out of camp. The "Scott Train" was cruising along and then we were derailed at the coffee shack. However standing there caffeinated ourselves we noticed the looming thunderstorm, looming just a little closer. What happened to the 10% chance of rain? Apparently we were riding on that one day in 10, when it actually rained.

We were trying to outrun the storm and get ahead of it as it was blowing across us. wE were cookng along at 23-24mph, and I was worried that with such a hard push in the morning that we might overly tire ourselves for the end of the day. Afterall it was a 102 mile day.

And just after we made teh first water stop and headed out, hear came the rain. First just a sprinkle, then enough to run off the helmet and get our tires and wet and slick and then it started to sting as it was a thunderstorm and blowing!!! We were having a conversation about what constituted bad enough weather to pull over, when I called it and turned out. I saw a closed convenience, but they had an awning and there was not another building as fars as I could see. Everyone followed and huddled. 15 minutes later it was over and we were on our way.

From there were rolling out into golden fields of wheat grass and prairie, but I just wasn't feeling at my peak and was having a tough day.

Midday checkpoint we came in for water near Tatanka Trading post. This is all the area where Dances with Wolves was filmed and where all that story took place. What that means to the non-history folks, is that there aren't many trees, so it isi very exposed, hot and windy and the flies BITE! And yes there are lots of flies.

From there Scott and Stephen took off riding strong and I hung back with Kari and Alison. Actualy I was clinging for dear life to hang with them. Like I said I just wasn't feeling that great.

From there we entered the Badlands of South Dakota.

Badlands is such a surreal landscape. However, travelling though it at 12mph on a 100+ day is not really the way to see it. I just have to say. It wore us down and down ... and down. Finally we got to the Visitor Center and had a chance to cool off. As cool as the landscape was, we were just hot, tired and our feet hurt from the super heat. And looking ahead we had huge hill to climb. But we pulled ourself up by the pedals so to speak and headed out.

At after only 80 miles into the ride and after the hill climb, I finally felt like I had warmed up and was into the ride. The last 10 miles of the ride are always the toughest miles. Whether we have done 100 miles or 55, the last 10 miles are just tough. Well these 10 were one steep rolling hill after another. The route guide looked like 3 or 4 hills, but after 7 or 8 hiulls we were so ready to be done, we were jsut thankfuyl to roll into camp at Kadoka.

Camping in a hot, dry city park in Kadoka was not what you would refer to as paradise. Trying to setup 3 or 4 tents in the shade of a few spindly trees was a very calculated chore. But the treasure that allowed was for us to unpack our get and get to our bathing suits so that we could go to the City pool. Now that was finally refreshing. In and out of the pool 2 or 3 times to cool off and then dry off and then cool off again. It was trully wonderful.

For as hot and miserable as the ride had been, Kadoka's people were truly the best. The self appointed mayor, Harry, came by the park to check on us and loan us his personal minivan for us to take to work while he stay behind to watch our camp. Riding in a car was a surprisingly awkward experience. The only other time I had been in a car since the ride start a month ago, was when I went to look for my lost silver ring.

Kari, did remember how to drive and got us safely to the H&H restaurant that catered a really terrific dinner. Although I am not a Fried chicken fan, the fried Chicken as well as the rest of dinner was just fantastic! Finally armed with the keys to the city we managed to drive our way back to camp, where we also met the Chief of Police and Tony.

Tony volunteered to shuttle drive several of us back and forth to dinner and the store and other places. they brought water and Harry got the owner of the local Grocery store to open up on Sunday, just so Pollie could shop for all of us.

The hospitality was just fabulous and so refreshing after such a long day. "Mayor" Harry is the one with his arms crossed in this picture.

Hot and tired we all headed to bed hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Day 20 Rest Day in Rapid City

2007-07-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

Day 20 Rest Day in Rapid City

Believe it or not I managed to have my act together to relax today. By blogging last night I made time to goof off today.

First I slept in until almost 9. Then I decided to pedal downtwon in search of breakfast. While downtown I discovered many things. The first of which was that they have an old Elks movie house and it was still playing Spiderman 3. As soon as I saw it I knew that was what I as doing for the afternoon. I had wanted to see Spiderman back when it first came out but then got so busy that I missed it and by the time I hit the ride and we started going through these towns with only one movie showing, I was sure I had missed my chance. But no, Rapid City pulled through.

Breakfast was at a local diner. Eggs, pancakes and sausage. Good but notihing super spectacular. It was funto sith with Rodney and Jo andlearn more about thier lives back home. Rodney shared a lot of info about Jerusalem and the old city and his hotel and the daily culture there. Jo shared about her art and the homes she has built, renovated, etc.

After breakfast I toured the old Alex Johnson Hotel across the street. I really enjoy looking at old hotels. Spending so much time in them now and comparing modern hotels and ranking them for their amenities and letting them define what is upper class, I find it interesting to turn the tables and do the same with older hotels. To see what was high class back when. That is fascinating ot me to see how tastes change and yet some tastes stay constant.

Afterward I quickly grabbed a box to ship some of my extra stuff back home. Some cold weather gear. all of my previous mail. Route guides for the last 2 weeks and such. After getting that packed I headed back out to the post office on the way to the movie theatre.

On the way to the movie I found a music store and went it and they let me play iin the amp room with a bass. So for 20 minutes, I got to play some of my lines from the songs in our band. My fingers were rusty and needing som e warming up. I could use a good guitar manicure, but it was great to play. I was happy that I could play about 10 songs that actually sounded like something and weren't just 1/4 notes. That was great little blessing.

From there I was just in time for the movie. The old Elks theatre still had a stage and lighting bar hung form the ceiling. It also had a balcony, which I haven't been in a movie theatre witha balcony in such a long time. It was quite a sight.
I enjoyed the moive and my popcorn and tea. A great afternoon.

I alked aroudn and looked at more of the bronze presidentsI had discovered earlier this morning. You see Rapid City has a series of life like full-size bronze statues of all the Presidents, standing right on the streeet corners.

Afterlooking at those I could hear the sound wafting over fromt he Christian Rock concert going on over near the river. So I headed over there and listened to a few songs. It looked lke work. 6 tower festival stage with a roof canopy. It sounded pretty good and I was in my space. However, whenever I at an event, I want to be part to the event. I always feel a bit left out not being on the crew.

AFter ath I headed back over teh river and towards the dorms. I found the high water line for the Rapid Creek flood in 1972. The water line came up mid chest on me and I was on gound that was probably 20 feet above the river and about a block away. Looking around I could jsut see how much must have been flooded and could only imagine what a disaster it all must have been.

I checked my mail. I get so much mail and it really is jsut sucha boost and so wonderful. Thatis part of why I have saved all of my mailand wound up shipping it home to myself earlier today. To hear from everyone is just fantastic.

RESPONSES to MAIL QUESTIONS
--I will not be coming back through TExas at the end of hte ride. WE endi n Washington D.C. and then I will fly with my bike back to Phoenix. So I will have to visti South Padre Island on another trip.

--Yes I have been through these states up to now. The Part coming over the Rockies and the divide was new territory for me. These plains I have done before back when I was a kid about 10 years old. From here heading east to Minnesota and Wisconsin will be knew for me.

--It is too bad that I didn't have the luggage space to bring books to set free and book cross across america. That would have been fabulous, but a logistical disaster.

Well it is now timeot go find some dinner and start the repack to head out tomorrow.

DOn't forget to comment or ask questions.

Day 20 Health Report

2007-07-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Day 20 Health Report in Rapid City, South Dakota

Warning- You are now warned that this may fall in the category of Too Much Information. However as many of your wondering, here is my account of my physical status.

At every point during the ride, something hurts. What is is shifts an the level of discomfort shifts. But everything will hurt and there is always something. It has almost turned into my daily joke to see what "Today's pain" spot will be.

So far I started off with Saddle sores. I won't go into too much detail. I had them by day 5 in Spokane. They make sitting in the seat a reall pain and it can be quite a chore to find a position that in marginally comfortable and allows me to ride relatively pain free for the day. Talking with a buddy in Phoenix, I have been advised that an acne cleansing wipe and neosporin, quickly after each ride are someof the best things to do. It comes down to keepin' my down under, clean and dry. Their location is really at the ends of your sit bones sort of where teh bike seat flares out a bit. Anyway you wind up feeling them in just about any chair or object you sit in. They are subduee right now, but maybe that is because other discomforts have superceded them.

My next problem was my Left achilles tendon. It got severely strained in Idaho and Montana. I have been taking Over the counter anti-inflamatories and wrapping it with and Ace Bandage. And that seems to have done the trick. It hurts me very little and hase been fine the last 3 days of riding. The swelling is down to almost nothing and only in extreme stretching positions does it feel tight. I am considering that one healed, but on parole and keep an eye on it.

My latest discomfort is my bottom lip. Sunburned, wind burned with multiple cracks and 2 open sores. I am thankful to stilll use Mary Kay Satin Lips and am using that to help. I also have have chapstick with sunscreen and am puting regular suncreen on them. But with all that, they still dry out and the wind beats them up pretty tough.

I have very silly tanlines, but I have been good with the sunscreen, and have avoided getting any serious burns. Just a lne her of there, where I miss a spot of suncreen. Aloe vera gel has been a great soother in the evenings for that.

I don't feel like I have loss any weight. One guy says he thinks he has put on 2-3 pounds. I can tell my weight it shifting to lots of muscle, but I think I am mainitaining weight.

By and large I am happy that I am getting enough protein to heal tendon, carbs for fuel and veggies to keep eerything runnig smoothly inside.

So for anyone owndering that is how my body is doing.

NEW PICS

2007-07-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I have updated blog Days 14, 15 & 16 with pictures.

I have also added blogs 17, 18 & 19.

Enjoy.

Day 19 Newcastle - Rapid City

2007-07-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

Day 19 Newcastle - Rapid City

Today was a great day. Most days generally are good, but today was one of the really special days.

Today's essence comes from a quote from today. "Never Forget Your Dreams"

Well the trains rumbled through all night and blew their horns all night. I am glad that I can sleep through anything, so that the trains only woke me a few times. I have never heard so many trains, hooting and toting at each other and trying ot figure out who is on what track. Aye yay yay. I had enjoyed camping outside again though. And the tent pole my mending job on the yesterday's broken tent pole seemed to work like a charm.

So awakened by the trains I got ready to go off route and take our chances our our own resourcefulness and abilities to plan aa ride and face our own challenges.

I made sure breakfast was the standard oatmeal. Fortunately the senior center was serving us and I even got seconds on the slow oat oatmeal just like my grandman used to make. With Brown sugar and raisins, I knew I was fortified with good slow burn carbs that would carry me a long ways.

I headed out with the "Scott Train" (Scott, Alison, Kari, Tom and Me) again one of the last groups to get out of town. We had coordinated all wearing our BIG Ride Jerseys so we matched and looked like a team. Soon that team split and reformed as the Rushmore expedition. Bob Dumke, myself, Kari, Ben, Toronto Dave and Rodney.

We crossed into South Dakota and Checked off another state on our list.

Rushmore Expedition leadership was given to Bob, while I played the roll of scout and tracker. I lead a lot of the day and did most of the navigating (as I usually do). I am usually leading the pack so me, navigatingi s not much trouble.

We go to Custer State Park and beat out some tough climbs and rocketed down a few descents with truck escorts since there were no shoulders. Apparently South Dakota replaces flaggers with mere stop signs. Now you can't see the other stop sign, so proceeding in to a workzone is hairy and basically a role of the dice if you will get through. We were glad to have the maneuvability to get around cones and such, but it worked out.

Finally we hit the midway checkpoint and checked in as heading off route and pursued our goal of riding to Mt. Rushmore. We knew there would be a few extra miles and lots of extra hillclimbs, but we couldn't tell how much or how many. We were going on guesses.

WE rode passed the Crazy Horse Monument.

At crazy horse I also saw this arch which just seemed to embody the day andthe trip for me. NEVER FORGET YOUR DREAMS!

This ride was a dream and even going off route to ride to Rushmore was a dream. And I was involved in making both a reality.

The roads and scenery in Custer State Park were as pretty as Idaho had been. I love the clouds, the color of the color of the sky, the trees everything jsut made such a wonderful visual composition.

The hills just rolled out from under us and the Rushmore Expedition was riding strong. A quick mid morning sandwich and we hit the last 10 miles to Rushmore.

Next thing we knew we were at the park...

And then there it was... MT. RUSHMORE

The Monument had changed a lot since I was kid. They have built a whole parking structure to accomodate the cars and a drive up drop off for the busses. The cafeteria and gift shop are near the front. You walk past those and down a colonade of columns with all the states flags flown and engraviing of when each state was admitted to the union. It is much more ceremonial and regal.

There is a new observation deck that is at ground level and the visitor center is then built underneath the observation deck.

Also they have built a new amphitheatre below the visitor center and it looks like it would be a very cool amphitheatre to see a concert and have the faces as a backdrop.

I was amused at watching the crew setup a 10 tower truss systme concert roof with flown audio and lighting. For a moment I was back in work mode and I just stated how much I love my job, but I wasn't missing it. That was good for me to know that I am not mentally done with the ride.

The Faces of Mt. Rushmore were really beautiful. The clouds would come and go and the lighitng would change on the faces. Eventually we went into the visitor center where we sat down to watch the 15 minute educational parks video.

Okay helpful tip. Don't have 6 cyclists ride 60 miles and then put them in a dark room with comfy chairs and a woman speaking soothingly ... and expect to remain awake. We all zonked out for 5 or 10 minutes and it was really great. WE then went to the next theatre that showed the video on how they blasted and carved the faces. We slept less during that movie.

AFter that we felt that we needed to head out.

Lots of folks kept reading our jerseys and wanted to know what we were doing.

We had ice cream at the ice cream shop, like we do. And then headed down to Rapid City, in a very rapid fashion.

10% downgrades went by very quickly. Coming out of the mountains we hit the flats and the headwinds that came with them. We had less than 10 miles to go and we were then back on the route and home.

We were back to the dorm for our rest break, not too far behind normal schedule. We were certainly back long before we had been expected back. It felt like a bit of a reunion with us catching up with how the regular ride went and everyone wanting to know how our day went.

God blessed us with strength, ability and carried us through to see it. And it was good! In the end, I think we had the better day. The day had a sense of worth and value. Going for what you want, even though it is hard yet rewarding seemed every present. In the end, the climbs were TOUGH and there was very little shoulder when were were off route. I only would have felt comfortable going off route with similarly strong fellow riders. But we could do it and saw great things, which was in stark comparison to a tough day with afternoon headwinds and boring scenery for the other rides.

And in the end only 4 miles longer than scheduled route. Yay!

Remember, don't forget to comment.

Day 18 Gillette - Newcastle

2007-07-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

Day 18 Gillette to Newcastle

Today was an easier day. Only 75 miles.

Today Essence is more of a helpful tip. "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

We woke up all abuzz about the "FIRE" alarm the night before. Actually there had been a fire. Some kids had set a fire over by the skate park and the yellers had been the park watchmen who had been sent out to watch over us. Alas we weren't, damaged or anything else.

Breakfast was a little lack luster.

We decided it was "Pirate Thursday" so everything turned into pirate speak for the morning. All "R" sounds had to soudn like "ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHH". Our standard verbal signal of "Gravel" in the road became "Rough Seas". "Passing" became "Prepare to be boarded!" ...and so on.

I hope to update this later with a crew roster and pics. At the moment you will just have to imagine.

After 113 miles, 75 miles seemed like a sale where everything was 30% off.

Riding with Steve, Alison and Kari, we pulled in to the midway checkpoint jsut after 9:00. Since we were over half done, we decided to do breakfast in Pollie's Cafe. And had our ride director, Polly, also Steve's wife" join us.

It was great to meet Pollie and see the backroom paintings, that had been painted as part of paying off a bartab fromt he '50s.

We met Sam, the former mayor, and had a great time. The heavy breakfast however did not sit well in our stomachs as we tried to et back into our exercise mode. It would have beena great breakfast to go back home and sit on the couch watching NFL all day, not cycling across the country.

A few hours later we were into Newcastle and bopping around just after 1:00p.m. Hannah, a young girl in the neighborhood, saw us as a wonderful untapped market and cleverly set up her fresh squeezed lemonade stand on the corner across from the senior center where we were staying. The lemonade was so tasty and refreshing that we drank her dry. I even managed to get a second cup before she ran out.

AFter that, Kari and I rode into oldtown to see what we could see. She talked me into goin up to the cemetary to see what old gravestones we might find.

A deer considered the cemetary flowers to be her personal buffet.

We did find a few old graves dating back to 1896. One that touched we was for a 16 year old boy. Such and elaborately carved headstone, must have been expensive and showed how much his parents loved and cared for him. It iw hard to explain how that came across but it really did. I felt sad for that family and that loss at that time.

Afterards we had a wonderful dinner in the Senior cneter of coleslaw and stroganoff and nodles and homemade rolls.

The rest of the evening, Bob and I were trying to research and finalize our plans for going off route and unsupported up to Mt. Rushmore and then rejoin the group in Rapid City.

The sky was pretty with some great pink clouds and I went anticipating a Century ride with Lots of hills. I knew I would be strong eonough by myself, but to get a small group through that without support, was a worry and as a stronger rider I felt the burden of responsibility. So I went to bed cautious optimistic.

Considering the breakfast that was out of the norm and hindered my riding and plannig to go off route, it seemed like a day where believing in the phrase "Don't fix it, if it ain't broke" seemed to be apro po.

Day 17 Sheridan to Gillette

2007-07-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Day 17 Sheridan to Gillette

113 miles. Let me say that again 113 MILES! Wow.

I don't think I have ever dreamed I would bicycle that far. Today was a tough ride. Mentally is was just so draining. We knew it would be long, hot and there wouldn't be much along the way to distract us or support us. As you can see.

It was tough day, starting with 8 miles of construction. There was a lot of of concern for that the night before. They changed the blinker board for us and we got moved to the front of the PILOT CAR group.

AFter getting through the construction the rest of the day seemed to start.

I actually had a a good ride. A lot of what makes it a good ride is being mentally prepared the moment you awake in the morning. We knew we would have to work together to make it healthily and even make it fun. 2 of the groups that I usally ride with "The Scott Train" and "The kids" joined and we rode as a herd down the road for miles and miles. No traffic so we fanned out 4 abreast and 3 deep or so as we were 11 or 12 riders strong.

As weaker riders would fall off on the hillclimbs, I would drop back to pick them up and pull them back to the big group. Riding in such a gorup made teh day so much easier. We became the crazy singing peleton and jsut got each other across the miles.

One of the hardest things about a ride like that, where it is so boring and flat

Is that the mental boredom is just so oppressing. You ride for hours. ...and hours ...and hours. You look at your odometer and see that you have ridden 50 miles. On a normal Century day, you would be 1/2 done. But we still had 63 mile to go. We weren't even close to 1/2 done.

At 63 miles we still had 50 miles to go. And you start to wonder will it ever end.

At 73 miles, we realize that earlier days the whle day s was only 77 miles and we should be almost done by comparisson. But, no, we still had 40 bleak miles and 3 hours to go. And then it becomes drudgery.

Finally at about 100 miles we get to the outskirts of Gillette and there are things to see. The open pit coal mine as super Loader runnig around full of coal. Well where you have super truck, you need super tires. I saw this Tire yard and turned it into a scenic stop.

I went in the office and asked how much these cost. These tire cost between $15,000-$17,000 each! Each loader takes 6 tires. For the Big tires that need to be imported from Russia the tires cost $80,000 each! The owner said that he had $6M in tire inventory in the yard. I believe it.

Well being in coal country we have been seeing these incredibly 100+ car trains that are all full of Coal. SEE.

And we see several of these trains a day.

We found our way into the City park and set up camp. Camp felt very exposed. Gillette is actually, quite a busy and growing city as they have Coal, oil and Methane mining going in the area. The Town has a busy city feel to it that we are all used to back home. But it is that feel where you don't know the neighbors and you lock your doors at night.

Not a great night. Dinner was another $10 night, which I really dislike. After such a long ride, to then have to come home, build home, and then go in search of food, where you don't know where anyhing is, you want to resisit fastfood and don't have great transportation (WE are not riding one more in on a bicylce till tomorrow) makes $10 really tough. But I punted and found some food. I had a Subway earlier in the day that hadn't really agreed with my stomach so for dinner I went for mexican comfort food of a burrito and it was okay.

Ultimately we went to bed early, tired from the day but trying to block out the sounds or the skaters at the skate park and just drift off to sleep.

At 2:30 a.m. someone went screaming through camp yeling FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! PUT IT OUT! FIRE! Suddenly I wasn't aslepp anymore! And apparenlty about 20 other riders weren't either. Zippers were opening, velcro was ripping. Although I was up, I was completely disoriented and trying to determine where teh threat was. All the street lights were sodium vapor and thus had that amber color so it took a minute to eliminate that as teh threat. Still trying to remember where I was, other than inside my tent, I was up and ready but not quite sure what to run from. I poked my head out of the tent and saw not fire. I decided it a prank... a rude prank but a prank and used the opportunity to go use the restroom in the middle of the night.

Finally we got back to sleep about 3:15. What a nasty little distraction.

Day 16 Hardin to Sheridan

2007-07-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

Day 16 Hardin to Sheridan

Today was a rebellious day. I just didn't want to ride.

A long day. 82 miles plus 5 miles in and back out of downtown Sheridan. Rode most of the day with Stephen and Kari. I guess today, I just didn't want too.

Some days you get on the bike and it feels so natural and like it is an extension of you. Other days, you get on it and things are out of whack, out of sorts or otherwide just not flowing. Today was one of those later days. Legs stiff and tight. Not enough stretching. Breakfast sat heavy in my stomach this morning. It was cool enough tha tI had to put the arm warmers arm and I still wasn't really comfortable.

Fortunately my achilles did very well.

We broke 1000 cumulative miles today.

A few of us have some Bonus Miles under our belts, but by and large we all hit that 1000 mile mark today. Pics wre taken and High 5s shared.

With each water stop thought, the food and the water seemd to sit heavier and heavier in my stomach and the legs seemed to stiffen up more and more with every break as though they were filled with lead.

Finally we after 8 days we entered Wyoming and left Montana. Wyoming was beautiful from the minute we could see it. High mountains that look to be 12-13,000' feet. Huge bluffs. Red asphalt. It was just a very pretty scene.

Today's wildlife were a deer, a big golden eagle in and out of the nest. A hare in camp.

Sheridan is a cute little town that still has a lot of historic western style to its downtown. The local Rodeo starts tomorrow, so downtown is all decorated with flags and banners.

We went downtown for lunch and are now back. I liked this building's architecture.

An early evening I expect as we will have 112 miles tomorrow. We were scheduled for 109, but due to some construction they are having to create an altered route.

Nextset of blogs from on our rest day may be somwhat abbreviated as I intend to take the rest day and goof oof. We may head up to Mt,. Rushmore with rental cars. but in any event I need to take my down time and just be down.

Hope this finds you all well.

Please don't forget to comment.

Day 15 Billings to Hardin

2007-07-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

Day 15 Billings to Hardin

Today's essense is Familar/home

We had a 8:00 a.m. scheduled start today since we only had a 52 mile ride. They ave us a short ride, I think becuase the next town was Sheridan Wyoming nad that would have made the day 128 miles. So they split it in 2.

Many riders were a bit annoyed at the late start. Many of us would have preferred to leave earlier, and arrive earlier, even if the school was not ready for us. we just wanted to avoid the heat of the day and some of us wanted to head out to Custer's Last Stand.

Here is a typical morning breakfast gathering and start at the truck.

Once we got rolling, we had a great ride. My achilles was felling better and we had tail winds for lot of it. It sort of clicked in the my mind that htis was like a trainig ride back home and so I was trying to ride it as such.

I could visualize the 20 miles left to home with the Pecos Road hills etc. WE got riding and I was flying. I finished ithe ride in 2.5 hours rolling time and just under 3 hours elapsed time. I hit several section where I was holding 30 mph. I was riding with Stephen and we gained the front and then I just found another familiar gear and I took off.

We actualy got to town before Pollie, our ride director did.

Here is me pointing at the "You are Here" sign in Hardin. ...And no, I am not doing my impression of John Travolta "Staying Alive."

We went into town to find lunch and located the Lariat country Kitchen.

Slow service since the proprietor was doing everything and was a one woman crew. She had funny books at each table to keep us entertained and so I bought one in the end. It is different sayings on why life isn't fair.

Afterward we returned to camp found a group and headed out to Custer's Last Stand. Now I know I had been out there as a 10 year old kid, on a faily vacation, but it was a empty battlefield and i was 10. How exciting can it really be. Going this time, it totally made sense what had happened, in the batlle, why ahd how. We listeend tot he ranger talk of 45 minutes and he was exceptionally good, explaining what was going on politically, militarily and just general lifestyle in the indain village. It was really educational. I was glad I went.

I really enjoyed this realtively knew monument that has been erected in honor of the 7 tribes that came together and worked cohesively against Custer. Regardless of the fight, I like that both sides were commemorated and I like the art and flow of this Native American piece.

After riding a bit up on the the Last Stand Hill road, we headed back to fight the now headwind. It had been a marvelous tailwind ont he way out, but the headwind was a tough battle for 3 of us to work against.

One thing we also did see was at Crow Agency they have a monument to all the crow who have served honorably and come home and had a reintroduction ceremony held. It list the soldiers from WWI right through the Panama Invasion and Irag war #1. It was very cool.

Once back home at camp we got showers and found out that the winds we were having were unusual. An Upper level Canada front was pushing down and continued to blow all night last night. As of the weather report there haad been sustain 70-80 mph winds. Tents were flapping and it was crazy.

It was Dan Scott's 60th birthday wo he had arranged cake, but the local 4H club came by and aksed if they could serve us all ice cream. Not being someone to turn ice cream down we had them return at 7:15. That was such a wonderful treat.

I also had lots of mail waiting for me. Thank you all for the letters and cards. I actually am keeping them all to put them in to a Big Ride Scrap book for when I get hope. But your thoughts and encouragement are amazing. It it great ot hear what is going on back home in your lives. Our world is fairly insular, so getting news from you is really fantastic.

Some of the letter make we humble, some uplift me, some make me thankful to be able to to do something that might help a family member. Others just make me feel loved. I appreciate them all.

Late last night I didn't feel like journalling. i am a bit tired of trying to record and not just absorbing it all. So I just wrote more sort of poetically about how I was feeling and alllowed myself ot jsut relax and enjoy the sound of the storm and rest.

After all my 52 miles ride had extended to 90 when I tacked on the additonal 38 miles that were teh out and back to Custer's Last stand.

It was a really good day. a selfish day. Missing home. missing family. Resting instead of blogging or cleaning my bike or doing other chores. I even missed the familiarity of driving home in traffic last night.

Anyway I went to bed content.

Day 14 Rest Day in Billings

2007-07-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Day 14 Rest Day in Billings.

After the storm last light the dorm cooled down and we got some good sleep. I slept in until 9:00 or so. Started laundry and then a whole pikle of us walked down the local Perkins for breakfast. We were told that hte cafeteria at the hospital actuallyh had pretty good food, but we couldn't quite bring ourselves to do that.

After a huge breakfast, I came back and started blogging. I reallyh wanted to go to the movie, but wanted to get teh blogging donw. It is more timeconuming that i thought ot download the pics, identify them, label them aqnd write all the entires. I would up spendingh te whole day blogging. About 3 I headed down to the local coffee shop that had iinternet access and uploaded. I met Liz there and after about 3 hours we had had enoughand headed out for dinner.

We were on our bikes so we actually got to ride around and cruise teh old parts of downtown Billings. It is a cute town and is larger than I expected.

We wound up at the Montana Cafe Brew pub and foudn the other 20 cyclists in the back room. WE all had a dinner and a laugh. Then we headed back home.

Repack our gear, did some more laundry, and took another shower, just because I could. It felt great.

Here is Dave Lambert, from Michigan, my dorm mate. He is demonstrating the proper techinque of packing. When you need your foot to hlep squash it in, is that a sign you have packed to much?

That is life on the Big Ride.

Day 13 Harlowtown to Billings

2007-07-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Day 13 Harlowtown to Billings

After another night of aspiriinand ice yesterday afternoon, my achilles still holdig. It happens to be teh first thought of the day.

Essence for today is WEATHER. Extreme, helpful, hurtful, powerful amazing.

We awoke and after determining the leg was good to go, we started our routine. I started noticing the remnanats of last night storms and we had really great cloud cover until almost 10:00 a.m. 4 hours of cooler temps got us down the road a long ways.

We had a waterstop in this little town where they have a bull "Testica" festival every year. Pretty crazy so we had to get a picture of that.

After that we just motored on.

In the afternoon it got really hot. More animals, more heat, but were weren't interested it was only a 900 miles day but after having done 350 miles in 4 days I was ready to be in and done for a rest. The water in Harlowown had high mineral content and was just gross. So we were just getting it done.

WE got in and ha d picnic for dinner and they ended that short as we watched and felt the storm come in that we had been watching build all afternoon. It rained buckets and buckets and just stormed. And finally cooled off the dorms.

Here are a few pics and then I am signig off to get dinner and have a bit of a rest.

Remember to comment. I love the comments.

Day 12 - Townsend to Harlowtown

2007-07-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

Day 12 - Townsend to Harlowtown

Essense for the Day - ROUGH

Sleeping in the gym was not the best sleep. Hot. Up every 4 hours to take aspirin. Trying to sleep on my back so I could keep my left foot elevated, it was a rough night. However my psyche was prepped for a hard day. I wasn’t going to be disappointed in not being able to ride teh whole way, but rather I was going to be happy to be able to ride at all.

Getting up though, my leg felt better. I might be able to go at least half way, and I slowly allowed some cautious optimism to seep into my thioughts.

Breakfast was disaster. We knew is it was going to be a really hot day, (100+) so ride director Pollie pushed breakfast forward to get us onthe road a bit earlier. It worked out that the breakfast crew hustled to fast and breakfast was over in 15 minutes. Several people didn’t get breakfast and were grumpy. The plan was well intentioned, but in the end it backfired.

Heading out of town we had a beautiful sunrise. So far my ankle better and sthe ride seemed maybe do-able.

Shortly after getting up to speed and rolling we hit some unexpected road construction. It was Bad. all lanes stripped down to the underlayment. I was thankful for all my year of mountain bike. Right then i really wanted my mountain bike, but not such luck. I had to negotiated the sand and rocks and gravel bogs on narrow tires with gear make for speed not torque. it was tough. At ont point about 1/2 way through I saw a worker and asked how much more of this there was. The wise guy replied 30 miles. 30 miles! My heart sank so fast. In the next instant the other worker lady whacked him and said he was only kidding and there were only 3 more miles. I was already cranky from the road, and I had done the mental calculations on how bad 30 miles of this bad road would be for all tandem and less experienced riders and such. When I heard that he had yanked my chain, I just about lept off my bike and throttled the guy. I didn’t but i was ready to vent my frustration on him.

Anyway we got through. Kari had been riding with me and we took a minute to wipe some of hte sand and dust ouffour chains and oil our chains again. That let Scot, alison and Tom get ahead of us. KAri and I continued on. We started into the hills climbingnad was still feeling good and so happy to be feeling good that i was feling better. Then I remembered the starting lyrics to a song that Alison and I had been singing Nickelback -Rockstar and with that boost of mental energy I hit the guitar chord in my head and hit the pedals started turnign themselves. Or so it felt. I was riding hard and fast, climbing a beautiful mountain and inadvertently leaving Kari in the literal dust.

I flew up the hill and caught up with Scott, Alison and Tom and we knocked out the hill. Finally we took a break and up rolled Kari, in tears, thinking we had been trying to ditch her. when only moments beofre we had been watching her climb the hill alone and complimenting her on her strenght and power as we were resting.

Everyone felt horrible and thus were introduced to a new aspect of the Big Ride. The emotional support that we all are for each other, because to tell the truth, we are all that we have right now. Lots of folks are calling home at the end of the day and such, but in the end, that isn’t enough and we are our own support group.

Well we all regrouped and the 5 of us headed over the last hill and down to the hill. Getting out on the flat I was still feeling good and kept going as long as I could. We picked up a tail wind and I was trying to sit as tall and high as I could to cruise down the road like a big sail. As we rolled along we starrted seeing plenty of antellope.

Cathy who is super supportive and cheering as one of our support staff, was so excited to me comein and feeling pretty good. We were again in the leaqding groups nad feeling good. A short lunch and we headed out.

Just as an aside in the short water stops we will eat a PBJ sandwich with double PB , an orange or 2 or a banana, a package of crackers. So inthe course of 5-10 minutes we are trying to eat lots of calories and drink 22 oz of water. and then back ont he road. Sort of like a food pit stiop more than a break for lunch.

In the morning we had been singingn 80’s rocks songs when we were climbing hte mountains. I think I stated that whenI remembered the lyrics to Nickelback. For variety that turned into us singing TV theme songs in the afternoon. The Addam’s Family was the best when we would all reach out and snap at the appropriate time.

Riding through we started attacking our second set of hills for the day and I was so thankful that I felt good enought to lead much less ride. We clobbered the hills and kept ...
rollin’
rollin’
rollin down the river ;)

I took these picture and it is one of my favorites so far from the ride. We are riding through all fothe these hay fields and they roll all the hay and this is what we see. For miles and miles.

Eventually Alison, Kari and I had hot feet again so at the little lake off to the right, we made a pit stop and went downand cooled off our feet.

After that short break we were cooled off and ready for the end of the ride.

As we rolled intp town we were hot and stopped for ice cream and overwhelmed teh poor ice cream girl. Scott has an almost compulsion to have ice cream every night. So not to break the trend and enjoythe cooling off, we all joined in.

We finally got to camp and found that we were all going to be stuffed inside the youth center. Which was hot and stuffy. I pai the $1.50 to go to the local pool and use their showers before swimming. My achilles had held and I was really happy about that. The cool pool water felt so good.

It seemed strange in this day and age to have a dressing room where you would have all ages boys and men changing in and out of clothes with no privacy. It seemed a molestation lawsuit waiting to happen. Guess I have been living with Lance to long to now operate in a mode that when I walking to that situation I look for the possible liability. Yeesh.

After the pool I got a little nap before dinner. Dinner was catered by Beyond Basil out of Billings. They also catered our Billings dinner and were unanimously voted the best dinners we have had. BBQ beef and baby back ribs. Just crazy good.

It had been hot when we set up, but then it cooled off. We hwad watched thunderheads buildup over the plains and then they blew in. In the evening it cooled way off and I wound up setting up my tent afterall to get out ofo the hot youth room. Out on the footbal field it was much cooler and enjoyable.

There wound up being 7 or us. Tom, Michael Yee, Ane, Liz and Justine and then me. And we had a great time. We went to bed as the winds started. Within 20 minutes we had 50-60 mph sustained winds or so it felt. My tent was starting to collape, and Michael’s tent was threatening to rip apart. WE wound up having and emergency tearing down of Michael’s tent in our pajamas and then I restked my tent and rode the storm out.

It was an exciting night but a good night slep in the end. We are getting into mosquito country and had a few skeeters but otherwise a good night.

In the end it was a really good day. It was a 101 miles in 105 heat. It was hot, but it was good.

Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to comment.

Day 11 Avon to Townsend

2007-07-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Day 11 Avon - Townsend

Today’s essense PIDDLING / DillyDallyiing

This morning we had 60 miles to ride. It feels like a half day at school. Breakfasat and camps dutires start a little later.

I have a flat from the gravel road riding in from last night so first thing out of the gate I have to delay and change my rear tire and tube. We are last out of camp, Scaott, Alison and I.

We rode past Kelly on her hand cycle. It was great to see her out and cycling strong early in the morning. She has been working up to being able to complete the rides from start to finish. Her cycle provides some additional challenges and is heavier, but she has been extending and extending and one of these days shortly she will be going satrt to finish.

Talking with Stephen about my achilles, he advised moving the cleat for my pedals back towowards teh heal of my shoe. Within the the first 3 miles, my achilles is still jsut as painful and now my knee is really hurting. As we start the climb for the divide. I stopo and and readjust the cleat back to its original position. Again amazed at how much differenece sucha small adjustment can make, my knee stops hurting instantly and we start climbing.

As we climb, I see a broken down biker and we come up on Stephen. He has broken his chain and has been stranded for 45 minutes. Scott has a spare link, and I I have a chain tool and once again the roadside mechanics are back at it. We get the chain rethreaded and tensioned and such and get Stephen so he can at least ride up and over the pass and the divide. Maechanic Dave pulls up just as we finish and are setting out. All is as good as can be. Dave will look for spare parts and the rest of us will keep hustling up the hill.

so even though I amone of hte stronger climbers, with all the delays I am almost dead last to the divide. We take a few pics at 6325’. Embrace and know that it is suposed to be downhill from here, but iti sn’t .

I come zooming down the divide againa nd get a good movie on my camera at speed. sort of exciting but not to dangeruos. (Really mom, it wasn’t). 47.1 mph is my top, but I was steering with both hands at that point and just sor of holding on. This is the only seemingly “fast” parrt of my day.

At the bottom I wait for Stephen, Scott and Alison. a bit of PB crackers snack... and viola, here they come. We cruise on in to Helena and get some coffee at the already popular coffee shack.

I actuallly get a coke out fhte vending machine. I have been dreaming of ice cold coke for 3 days. It is only 9:00 a.m. but it already feels like lunchtime.

Moving on, we stop at the midway checkpoint, which is right in front of bike shop and so we shop a little. a replacement set of gloves and a new head sweat and I am out the door for $50. As my siseter would call that, just one bike buck. (Hi N.)

From there I have been looking for post office to get some stamps to mail my postcards. I finally stop at Albertsons and get some stamps. That is when I find the MCDonald’s that Scott has been looking for for a few days. Postcards maild we go to McDy’s . I look at the menu and my stomach turns, so I actuvely choose my PB&J sandwich (Which we are all really tired of) and elect to avoid the burger. Scott and Alison partake of the burgers. Later Alsion’s confirms that my instinct to go PB&J was the better chioce. She regrests that sh did not follow that lead.

Finally we are back on the bikes. See what I mean by a piddling - dillydallying kind of day. At this point w have only ridden 30 miles into our day!

By now it is HOT! and we had picked up a headwind.

Working up one little hill, my ahcilles really flared back up andI could barely pedal on the left side. I wondered how I could survive the next 2 hours and if I could make it to camp. At 90rpm to 2 hours 11000 revolutions, I was pretty sure was not wha the doctor would invision for “Rest”.

Right leg compensation just lead to cramps and it was a tough end to the day.

I thought it might calf might seize at one rest stop, but I was surprised it didin’t and Alison pulled Scott, Stephen and I into camp. We got in, checked int and instantly went for ice cream.

This tour is starting to turn into the ICE CREAM Tour. That is another whle story. But it is pretty funny. I can’t think of the last day that I haven’t had ice cream at least once. Many days itis has been twice.

The ice cream shop was cool and so nice to sit in. The 4 of us just hung out forever in the cool.

we go to slep inthe basketball gym at the high school so we didn’t have to set up our tents. I appreciated the lighter choreload. Dinner was chicken cordon bleu, baked potatoes, salads and there was even some Cherry chip cake. It was Ane’s 21st birthday so her mom sent over 50 cupcakes from a bakery as well.

i spent the evening icing my achilles as Rodney took my shift for lunch prep as repayment for me covering him last week.

I starting taking aspririn every 4 hours tryin to get the swelling down and in my ankle and jsut waiting to see how it would be in the mornig. I already had plans to not ride teh whole 100 miles. I would just ride as far as I felt able and capable. Water break to water break were my goals. But I knew that 100 miles was out of the question.

With pain in my leg, questions in my head and worry in my heart I went to bed after a day where we took as long to do 60 miles as I had taken to do 100 miles the day before.

Oy.

Day 10 Missoula to Avon

2007-07-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

Day 10 Missoula to Avon

4th of July and 100 miles. Sound fun?

Scot, Alison and I are riding together again and we add Tom and shortly therafter Ben, is added to our group to make 5. It starts off colder than I thought and my fingerless gloves aren’t enough so I do a rolling switch and take the shorties off to put on my long fingered gloves. Well in all the switch I manage to lose a shortie but I don’t discover thatunitl the water stop. Oh well, it is easliy replacable, I just don’t look forward to riding all hot dayin long fingered gloves.

The days are running together. We get to the end of a day and can barely remember teh details of the morning. Days of the week have no meaning for us. What numbered day of teh ride, is losing importance. Currnelty we are in the “middle”. Destinations are the biggest delineator we have of days but that only works for about 24 hours, then we brain dump the images and reset the mental computer to do it all again tomorrow.

For me days are starting to develop essenses. The essense for today was “SoundScapes”. Read and see what I mean.

As we were riding we got bored, so Alison got us composing Haikus (japanese 3 line poems that don’t rhyme, but have a syllable structure. Line one is 5 syllables, line 2 has 7 syllables and line 3 reverts back to 5 syllables.)

So as our group fo 5 is spinning away, we are taking turns shouting out haikus. 2 of my favorites were

The Summer is nye
Hill climbs Big Riders endure
Downhills we treasure
- alison

Boy, does my butt hurt
Boy, does my butt hurt a lot
Boy, does my butt hurt
- scott

And for about an hour we rolled on in this fashion. Then Tom offered up a mystery game sort of like 20 questions. We get the sceneof death we have to figure out the motive behind it. We are still working on that one so that has lasted 300 miles. But again the verbal games were part of the day.

Also the collective humm and buzz of 5 cyclists all cruising down the road is louder that I realized. Many times wehn i was up front leading, the humm was so loud, that I mistook t for a “ car back” coming up to pass us.

We continue to see deer here and there.

Ahead I lead us up to Phil, who has broken a spoke. Now we were all warned to bring extra spokes and I diligently have mine on my bike with me, but I have no idea what to really dowith them. And all wheels have a different spoke. some are flat or bladed, some are strait, some are rounded and depending on how they mount to the hubs, they vary greatly in length. Alison winds up having hte right spoke, I have a spoke wrench, Scott and Phil know what to do and get it replaced, but then the tension has it all out of true.

I undersatnd the truing aspect and I get his wheel trued enough in the forks that he can ride the rest of the 50 miles to camp, and have the mechanic look at it in camp. So in 20 minutes we are done witha major road side repair and off and rolling again. Just as we finish, the mechanic shows up and concurs that he is good enough for now and will get further work in camp. What a team we are all becoming.

Rolling along a little further Alison and my fet get hot and we covet this col little river next to us, so we stop with Ben, make our way to the rivers edge, take off our shoes and put our feet in the water. The water itself is not to scary, but eht rocks and plants are definitely... well as Alison puts it ... they are “skeevy”. Farm and Pasture run off and cow effluent has been down this path before. But he water is cool and refreshing and we figure as long as we have no open wounds on our feet we are good to go!

WE start a trend and the next 8 cyclists through all stop and do the same thing. It feel so good and our feet are so miserably hot. We all love it and thatis what gets us trhough the rest of the afternoon.

Rolling on through the afternoon it is just hot. We start seeing pronghorn antellope occaisionally. We through open flat Big Sky country. 2 hawks scream and play in the afternoon thermals. Little songbirds land and sing to us. They sing a song that I associate with easter egg hunts and srpingtime from when I was kid growing up.

We are totally on a back highway. I separate from the other riders a bit and just stop to listen to the absolute silence of it all. No. engines, no hums. no cars int he distance, no river babble, even the soft whir of my pedals as stopped as I sit for a moment in the quiet. not even a wind to make a ruslte. I hear exactly 2 beetles and various intervals and in the intervals between, there is nothing to hear! It is totally amazing.

Finally we are into the last 10 miles and ready for his day to be over.

No matter how far you ride the last 10 miles seem like the longest 10 of your life.
WE roll in and stop at the cafe that our route guide has advised has good pie. We get burgers, shakes, sandwiches pie, and make the collective personality of 10 riders, fill the little place that might seat 35. Its about 1:00 pm and we love the rest. WE head out and ride teh longest 3 miles known to man, or so it feels. Our route guide says that it is only a 98 miles day. I skip our turn and ride the extra mile and back to round out the day at a nice 101 miles. Another Century under my belt.

We are camping up in the trees again and it feels cool.

INSERT AVON CAMP

The owner of Avon cafe with the Pie, is our catering host and merves up a wonderful spaghetti meat sauce. MMMMMm.. Delicious.

HAPPY 4th of July. No fireworks for us.

I stay up late, well after sundown and journal by flashlight. A freight train rumbles by and the sound of a few birds warbling fills the space between occasional passing traffic.

Even journaling, itis quiet enough to hear the scratch of the pen on the paper and its rhythm. It comes in bursts. Some things just rush out... then stop. Other thoughts are longer and just flow.

As I said ... a day of sound scapes.

Dont’ Forget to comment.

Day 9 Rest Day in Missoula

2007-07-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

Day Rest Day in Missoula

I got to sleep in unitl the 9:00 a.m. Rode my bike to Finnigan’s for breakfast. The restaurant bridged teh creek so I got a booth that overlooked the creek. It was very peaceful. On my way back I ran a few errands to Ace hardware and such. I loved the lighting and shadow play from the foot bridge so I took so artsy pics.

Back at the dorm, some cleaning and maintenance and it was time for lunch. Do you see a food pattern here yet?

WE walked downtown for shakes dn burgers.

COming back I broke off from the group and walked through a little river park and stopped to watch the kayakers and put my feet in the river.

The water was so cool and refreshing and a great way to sort of ice down my achilles.
Just sort of Huck Finn feeling. Not to many cars in the world and just a peaceful few minutes. I decided that the guys that try to surf the river really have to want it because it is a lot of work.

Back at the dorm, I finished writing the blogs and then became the chore of trying to find a place to get access to post. That is seeming to be the most difficult part of blogging. Getting online. I never thougth it would be this tough.

Dinner, final preparations and off to bed.

Day 8 Evening

2007-07-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Day 8 Evening

Well Last night nded up being a bit of crazy night. After dinner several of us went out for drink. For those of you who know my tendency for fruity foo foo drinks, Missoula is not the best place for me to go drinking! The bars here aren’t reealy well stocked for foo foo.

But we did find a bar, and I manage a concoction. Poor Alison got a bottle of wine, that had pssed and wound up just being disappointed byt he bar.

On our way back from the by, Scott, Alison and I were walking over the bridge when some guy on a bike road up in the lanes of traffic, wound up jumping the guardrail and started kicking and beating this walker up. Right in front of us. It was one of those things where you don’t really want to get involved, but then you see someone is really getting hurt and so you do jump in to help the guy. It was weird and biker man jumped rode off while walker man gave me his phone and I called 911 for him. Calling 911 when you are from out of town is somewhat ineffective.

Because the call went something like this.
911: Hello 911
Me: Hi, some guy walking in front of me just go beat up.
911: where are you?
Me: I don’t know, I am from out of town. I am on a bridge over some river. Maybe Hilkins street or hinkins road.
911: Higgins Strret?
Me: Oh yeah I think so.

At this point the 911 operator realized I was less than helpful and asked if the victim was consicous and could talk. I was happy to give the phone back to him. The 3 of us wound up staying for a bit and watching the sunset and filing a police report.

The cop was some sort of geography genius. When giving our addresses, I said Chandler and the cop knew that was Arizona. Alsion, gave Henderson and again the cop knew it was Nevada, without even blinking or having to think about it. Scott then was like final Jeopardy. Could the cop get it and go for the clean sweep... He missed the small upstate California city, but for a moment there is was very odd.

Getting back to the dorm, several of the wilder, young kids decided to go sleep up on the “M” mountain. I declined. It sounded fun, but with my achilles started to flare up I realy didn not want to climb a mountain in the dark. and it left me in a room without my roommate so I got a good nights sleep.

Don't forget to leave a comment. I really look forward to hearing from everyone.

Day 8 - Thompson Falls to Missoula.

2007-07-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

Day 8 - Thompson Falls to Missoula.

Today was indeed a new day. A good day, in fact. A Long day but a good day.

I slept out in the tent outside in the schoolyard last night as opposed to in the halls of the school. It meant more work, but ultimately it was much more privacy and I just appreciated the alone time after yesterday.

The train came through last night and blew its horn all the way through town. You don’t really realize how large a “small town” is until the train at 2:30 a.m. blows its horn the whole way through town. Suddenly small towns are much larger.

This morning was cold but did not have the sharp cold edge some of the other days have had. Riding the 1 mile down to the ELKS club for breakfast, my achilles made its protest known that I would not be able to survive the day as status quo. A good old fashionied hot egg and toast breakfast sent us on our way out of the ELKS.

Coming out I lowered my seat 1/8” of an inch and that held my achilles at bay. It hurts and still has a swollen knot in it, but it won’t end my ride and let me continue my day. I am always amazed at the sensitivity of the body to such small adjustments.

Riding stronlgy I felt off to a good start. This was an especially welcomed feeling after yesterday. Starting near teh rear, but riding strong I got to visit with some of the slower riders as I started out. I happened to be about 7o yards behind Bill Harm, when a deer came out of the forest and he sppokked it. It was all to fast to photograph, but I can still see her, spook, recoil, then run and bound across the road. It was a really beautiful moment as we rode down this river valley.

Riding further I was making good time and had hopes of catching the leaders, when I cam across Tom, with a flat. I stopped to help with the flat and then we were on the road again.

Tom and I rode on most of the way for the afternoon. We rode along the lazy river as the mountains parted and divided around every mile and curve. Taking pictures and just cruising. At the first water stop we were informed there had been some “smuckng” of bicyclist up ahead in the S curves and we were advised to keep tight in the corners to avoid such “Smucking”. Smucking was never described in detail as to what it was, but from the context of the warning we got the gist that we best not invite a “smucking.”

We were perplexed by this Roadside pullout waterfall. Is it an art piece, or a source of fresh water of what?

Riding on we managed to avoid any “smucking” but when I stopped to take a picture with the longhorns that seem to upset them a bit. Maybe it was me in my bright colors jumping across the ditch to get int he picture but i was hoping that they wouldn’t come over and
“smuck” me.

The mountains continued to morgh, grow and change as we rode to the midday checkpoint. Some hills would fade away, while other snow capped gagged peaks would come into view. I personally found Idaho to be prettier. The sky and colors here in Montana seemed washed out unlikie the vibrancy of Idaho.

At the midday checkpoint just as Tom and I were puling out, Rodney showed up with his bike. They had maanged to get him into Missoula, get the parts and get him back for a half day. WE were so glad to see Rodney back. I was happy he joined Tom and I for the early afternoon miles.

As a group, I found myself in the lead a lot. Often in group riding like that, there is a stronger rider who becomes the leader and moves to the front and “pulls” the group. In addition to riding and being strong, as a puller, i am trying to maintain a consistent achievable pace, I have to be conscious of how well my guys are adjust the pace accordingly. I also am picking the line and watching and pointing out all the road debris and obstacles and trying to find the smoothest and easiest section of riding. So while my eyes are searching the road and planning out path, my ears are listening to the pedals and people’s breathing, and through touch I am feeling out the pace and how easy it is. After while, sorting and editing all this sensory information becomes very mentally draining. Ideally there would be a couple of leaders in a group that were both comparable pullers and could relieve each other.

Doing it solo for 30 miles was really fatiguing. When we got to the final water stop I was ready to change groups and maybe hookup with slightly stronger riders that could pull me.

jsut as we got to the water stop some folks saw a black bear just a few yards off the road. That was the talk of the rest stop for a while. I then had to go pee so I went over to the weeds where Greg the leader for the Tandem was and as we are standing there doing our thing, we see the bear about 50 yards away and accross a little wash, rolling and frolicking in the grass. He look cute and fuzzy from 50 yards. I tried to hobble backand get my camera and then return for a picture but by then he had moved on. So with all the wildlife today, they will just have to be mental pictures.

Just as we started to head out of the water stop, Scott pointed out I had a front end flat. my first. But after 30 minutes of goofing off at the water stop, now I had anohter 10 minutes of tire repair. But we got it sorted out and Scott, Alison and I started teh 8 mile uphill climb.

I was glad to be with stronger riders and hav Scott pulling. As we started up, the road soon became a slow lane for trucks with a passing lane for cars and less than 12” of shoulder for us bikes. This soon became the hardest and most stressfull part of the ride. As Scott was pulling and picking our course, I was in the tail, calling out traffic. Pretty soon I fell into StageManager mode and it was like caling out cues. Callling out “cars back, our lane, moved over, (cars would pass us) clear.” However sometimes it sounded more like this...
“Truck and cars back, truck our lane, nowhere to go, going be close...hang on... (truck passes) ... not clear, 2nd truck... he’s over... clear” After all of this Alison, who is in the staging industry, and I discussed how it was like calling cues and some of the most tense part of the ride.

We got to the top and I asked if anybody remembered what Montana looked like. Scott said he thought it looked like a 4” wide white line. Alison thought it looked like the back of Scott’s jersey and I had just watched it go go by as constant traffic in my 1” helmet mirror. We had a laugh at that. I was glad to have come up it with such strong and comparable riders.

The joy was that over the hill we got a great downhill. Scott took off rocketing down. I was cooking trying to keep up. I topped out at 50.9 MPH coming down. I wound up capturing the top speed award for that. Finally at the bottom all of us were tired and had hot feet, so we stopped ont he finally manicured lawn of the Mobile home sales park. It was a great rest. 6 miles more and we were int he dorm for our second rest night.

All in all it was a good day. It was my first Century ride and longest ride ever. It was also my fastest speed. I was tired but I felt pretty good all in all. A bunch on uf went instantly for double scoop ice cream and then over to the cafeteria for dinner.

Day 7 - Sandpoint to Thompson Falls

2007-07-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Day 7 - Sandpoint to Thompson Falls

5:00 a.m we left Ron and Joan’s and headed back to camp to rejoin the group for breakfast.

It was chilly!!! I am looking forward to when every morning stops being really chilly. I may regret statement later, but for now...

The lake was beautiful as we rode back over the bridge. See..

Back in camp we headed out with warnings to watch for moose. We rode past some glass smooth ponds where I am not surprised moose would hang out.

We had this beautiful scenery as we rode.

A little lower we saw this deer as she crossed the road just before the water stop.

After this I jumped in withthe Espresso Express, which is mostlythe young kids, with one old Army guy leader. I rode with them through clouds of gnats that just pelted you. At one point trying to swat them away as I was coming downhill, I knowcked my mirror off and had to climb back up the hill to find it. Oh brother.

Eventually we made the Montana State line and our 3rd state!!!

As we got into Montana my good day started to shift. The pain started creeping back in my legs and my achilles was really starting to bother me in my left heel. I wasn’t riding symmetrically as I was trying ot compensate for the Achilles. Non symmetry riding just screwed up everything else. My other leg then was cramping etc. It got bad.

I was ready for a long break at the Midway checkpoint. I took a long break and reapplied my sunscreen. Mike’s Espresso Express headed out and so I quick finished my sunscreen grabbed my bike and headed out. That single incident came back to haunt me.

We rolled on and were doing well. Liz had some hot tar adhere itself to her tire and start causing tire problems. Since I had spare tire, we pulled over and she changed her first tire, with all 5 of us guys giving 11 different opinions. It was comedy.

We made it tot he next waterstop and I that was when I realized that 25 back at the checkpoint I had dashed off so fast that I had not put my theatre engaement ring back on. I had lost the ring I had worn for 13 years from my ex-wife. I was upset and distraught. We came up with a plan to have one of the other vehicles man the water station and Cathy, one of our supprt crew drove me back to the checkpoint and helped me look for the ring.

In the end we searched long and hard and did 2 sweeps and still never found it. After 2 sweeps we gave up and left it for lost.

By the time I got back to my bike at the water stop, I was mix of negative emotions. Upset at myself for losing it. Sad for having lost it. Frustrated for haveing taken so long today and feeling so physically beat.

I told Cathy at least I had my bike and 25 miles to console which is just what I would have wanted to console me. At this point my achilles hurt enough that i could barely walk, but I still crushed those last 25 miles. I dipped below 20mph only 3 times and held sustained 30-32 mph sections on flat ground. I was MOVING. I legally sped through town at 27 mph when it ws only 25mph.

I hadn’t had enough food, since I had missed lunch prep because of staying with Ron and Joan. I had been slow. I was hurt. I was tired, Hungry frustrated. I decided to sleep outside with my tent separated from everyone else. Trying not ot let my energy become contagioius.

I did come to the understanding, that God must have thought it time for me to be done with everything Lesley and let that part of my life become distant past.

IT was my worst day. I suppose in the balance of things my terrible day should follow my best day.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Actually hopefully tomorrow I just hope my achilles will let me pedal.

Heading to bed - beaten. At least I know I can’t lose of misplace God’s love and grace and right now that is very valuable.

Day 6 - Spokane to Sandpoint

2007-07-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

Day 6 - Spokane to Sandpoint

The morning started off with a distinct chill in the air. UP at 4:45 to cover Rodney’s lunch duty, it was an early morning. Truck packed and loaded we headed to breakfast. TMI my saddle sores were a considerable worry of mine. It hurt to sit and I didn’t know how I would be able to do the bike seat all day.

After another hot breakfast at the school cafeteria, we headed out and my butt was okay, but I was FREEZING to death. Steve and I were today’s team and he lent me his wind vest which was just enough to take the edge off.

5,000-10,000 shady potholes later we were rolling out of town. The potholes were always in the shade which make them really hard to see. I decided part of why they were always in the shade, was the shade is what kep those section of road from drying outt and thus that is always where the pothole starts.

Cruising along, Steve and I were moving and it felt good. We vowed to stopped at anything that evenly remotely peeked out interest. I stopped to get a ride and Picture in the “BIG” swing.

Later we were just cruising. Michael had started out early and was ahead of us and we managed to catch him. I had moved my camera bag to my handle bars and when I saw Michael I got the camera out and shot a movie from my handlebars as I tracked him down. I need to edit it but there is apoint where you can see Michael and I come up behind and then as I pass I spin the camera to keep it on him and get him from behind and then front. For being on a bike I like the camera work a lot. I will have to edit that and post it later.

Here is are an overthe shoulder shot I took of Steve and I.

On down the road, I called a break at the tome of this hill. I stop, and I here Steve yell. I turn just in time to see his wheel sink 4 inches and stop in sand and he goes over the front end. Not really a crash, more of a fall. He wasn’t hurt and took it well. Sitting there resting I realized that the next water break was 1/4 mile down the hill. Ooops. We finished our break up top and then rolled down to the water break. Lots of the group got there so we have great pics. Here is our water break.

From Here Steve and I head out and into Idaho. Our second state! Idaho is gorgeous. The deep blue of hte sky with white puffy clouds with dark grey bottoms catching shadows on the mountain sides... awe just breathtaking.

Idaho was jsut amazing and even with all the pictures we rolled in in 5 hours 8 seconds elapsed time! Fast. We were in just at Noon. Pollie was just getting in to camp and not ready for us to be there yet, so we checked in and then headed into town for lunch and exploring with Rodney.

We found a fabulous lunch spot with stuffed potatoes, soups, sandwiches etc. They even had Weinhard’s rootbeer! It was perfect day for me. The wait staff didn’t believe that we had ridden 80 miles, alothough we looke like we had! We ate lunch out ont he deck over looking the Marina.

Isn’t this and awesome lunch spot?

I called back home to report on such a perfect day to Dave. I wish he had been able to ride with us.

Leaving lunch we met a local couple relocated from New York, Ron and Joan, who were casual cyclists. They were super welcoming and invited a group of us to come out for dinner and stay in their guest rooms. guilty of leaving the group, but looking forward to beds for the evening, we accepted. Giddy we rode back to camp and Kari, Rodney and I came up with our plan to see what we would have to do to carry minimal luggage with us and leave our bags with the truck.

Back in camp we learned of the first big mechanical failure. Toronto Dave’s freewheel had seized up 6 miles out. It wouldn’t shift and would only spin with the pedals in a direct drive motion. It worked out that the brother law of Jeff was coming to visit and had a bike shop in his hip pocket and could bring the recommended part.

Toronto Dave was worried if he would be able to ride but it worked out and mechanic Dave had him running by morning.

About 5:30 we headed over to Ron and Joan’s and Steve and Pollie, who were also invited came shortly later, after Pollie had given the evening dinner announcements.

I will write more about Ron and Joan’s marvelous hospitality but for now I am out of time. So stay tuned.

All in all it was the Perfect Day!

Day 5 - Rest Day Spokane

2007-07-03T20:59:00.001-07:00

Day 5 - Rest Day Spokane

Ahh got to sleep in. 7:30 am. Had a massage scheduled at 9:00. Was afraid I would miss it if I went to breakfast at 8:00 so I waited. As it turned out massage was 55 minutes late. Sat around doing laundry and just lazing about.

Massage was good. I was worried that the massage by a guy would not be as aggressive in my glutes asI would like but he seemed quite in tune with cycling and thankfully loosened up several huge muscle knots in my hamstrings and my glutes.

He was a bit chatty but we had some good conversation about food combining and diet structuring.

Afterward I was starving so I set out on a walkabout with my laptop and headed to whatever place I found. I wound up at a mexican food restaurant and had a great burrito and blogged a bunch.

The girls in the booth next to me were talking about how one girl wanted to go into theatre and actor and her mother was worried about that. I felt I had to interrupt and encourage her knowing how much I love my theatre educationa nd my career. I advised her to be creative in how to apply the techniqudes when looking for a job. Not just Broadway needs actors.

After that I headed back to the dorm and blogged most of the afternoon.

Apparently when I was at lunch, mail came in and I was the big winner. Cards and notes from so many people. I am so overwhelmed by all the well wishes from everyone. One card I got had 3 quotes of encouragement. I reverse folded that and put in the back side of my map holder so I can flip it over and read it anytime I need it. I have used it several times. Thanks for all the mail everyone. It does mean a tona nd the riddles/ quotes for success etc are really great.

Anyway sitting blogging all afternon, we had a huge thunderstorm build up and blow in for the afternoon. It was so peaceful to sit inside and watch it but not be out in it.

Here’s Margo just hanging out on our rest day.

Day 5 - Rest Day Spokane

When it came time for dinner people were trying to decide where to go and I offered up the mexican food restaurant again. And that’s where 9 of us ended up.

It was good yet again, even fo rhte 2nd meal of that day for me. Everyone else really enjoyed it.

On the walk back, Ane was talking and not watching where she was walking nad smacked right into a street sign pole with the side of her head. Poor thing. It was one of those that we have all done. Walking before looking and then “BLAM” you’re on the ground holding your head and your eyes can’t help but tear up a bit. oor ane had a huge gose-egg on her head and knocked her glasses all askew. and we wanted to laugh but we also know how much it hurt. I ran and got some ice and by the time I was back she was okay.

From there, LIz, Ane and I headed to the local starbucks for internet time to upload pics and blogs. From there, we were homeward bound and everyone started the repack sequence to start again at 5:00 a.m.

In the end many folks had great stories of going downtown in Spokane and seeing this and that. I sor to fmissed having those chances, but really appreciated the low key rest day.

Day 4 Odessa to Spokane

2007-06-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

Day 4 - Odessa to Spokane

DUE TO WI-FI TIME CONSTRAINTS THIS POST IS CUT SHORT.
CHECK BACK FOR CONTINUATIONS.

Getting up, my tent system screwed up. I got all my stuff out, rolled my tent, packed my bags and then realized that I had left my sunglassed in my tent. DUH!!! Unroll the tent, get out my glasses and reroll it. Apparently my system needs a little work still.

After a great warm breakfast from the Future Business Leaders of America Parents, we headed out. I made the rist turn correctly and promptly turned south on Hwy 21 instead of North on Hwy 21. After getting turned around we had a really peaceful day.

I decided to ride with other folks at a bit fo a slower pace. David Latner, from Toronto, was my morning riding companion. Latter I moved on to ride with Justine, who is from Jersey and Philly and is riding the BIg Ride for the 3rd time. Her dedication to the ride is so big that she was ready to quit her job, if they didn’t give her the time. They did though and all was good.

Later I hit a water break and was taking a break until, Brian L pointed out that we had a tail wind. There is nothing that will get the sore tired legs of a cyclist moving, like the news of a tailwind. Suddenly 5 exhausted cyclists wre running to get back on our bikes.

Anyway we continued on and had a 5 bike paceline running for while. Eventually that broke up and I rode with Tom for most of the rest of the afternoon. We had a sweet tail wind blowing us up a hill at 20mph.

Once we started to get into Spokane we had crazy directions and rerouting but got a great downhill where I hit 35 mph just coasting. By tipping my toes either up or down, I got a great cross ventilation through my shoes and had air conditinoing for my toes.

Here are quick pics of Tom and traffic and the farms.

Big Ride 03

2007-06-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - Vantage to Odessa

Slept okay. My morning routine seems to be working pretty well. I like my little tent, sleeping bag packing system etc. Everyone’s mornig routine seems to be gelling. Often we are up at 5:00 a.m. I usually have slept in my riding clothes, but I still have to put on my sunscreen, chamois butter, put my bible and journal away so it takes a bit. Then the strategic packing of my bike bag, planning what I might need for the day in terms of food and clothes. Finally roll up the tent withthe fly and ground cloth layered inso so it rolls and unrolls all at once. Things are a bit damp sometimes, but it speeds up the setup and strike of camp. And I am so thankful to have a tent that sets up in less than 5 minutes. Watching everyone struggle with their tents I appreciate the ease of my tent all the more.

Anyway we have a hot breaktast again at the restaurant and then Stephen McCloskey and I head across the bridge across the Columbia River. It is a narrow bridge with traffic and it is good that we are taking it early in the morning. Once across the bridge we climb out of the river canyon. At the Wild Horse Stature Monument, we get a great view of the river valley, the bridge, the campsite, and the other riders coming up the hill.

The extra 1/8 of a mile to the viewpoint from the highway was definitely worth it. After that Steve and I got cruising. We pushed hard. Good conversation, talking about his overcoming cancer, my divorce, Faith and the balance fo life. It was pretty bleak ride without much to see. Occasionally we were chased by dogs which elicit a flurry of activity. First one of us sees the dog, mentally freaks out, calms down then yells “DOG!” At which point we sprint like crazy trying to get away fromt he dog, who currently is faster than us, has momentum and the element of surprise on us. When we think we are at least at comparable esacping speed one of us usually has the presense of mind ot turn around and bark back, very ferociously at the dog. Now of course all of this happens in the timeframe of about 1.5 and 2 seconds. After which we spend the next 2 miles settling our hearts back down.

About mile 35 we hit Ephrata. I was hungry and looking really wanting a slice of pizza and coke for lunch. This prove amazingly hard to find since at 9:15 in the morning. We made do with an organic produce shop. At which point Superman Bill Harm came screaming by.

Steve and I caught BIll and were working on a pace line with him. Our pace was too aggressive and Bill felt better running his own pace. Steve and I hammered it out. This was the same drive I was on last year when I caught up with last year’s Big Riders so it was an emotionally sort of decisional homecoming for me. I remember this last hill with Silos on it and kept looking forward it. Of course I told Steve of this Silo hoping ot provide inpisration. But that backfired as teh miles seemed to get further and furhter apart. Steve was starting to think that these Silos didn’t exist.

The weather was getting hot and all we saw were a few dead snakes. Water stops were few and far between.
Ultimately Steve and I were just trying to get through the hot, dry, boring countryside and be done. We got done first and made teh last turn. I was wanting to be “first in” since it was the place I had decided to ride this year. Just as we made the last turn, my chain jumped and Steve held up to let me in first. We were in at 12:50 so in just 6 short hours we had made our ride.

Shortly there after a few more riders came in and we quickly unloaded the truck and then rode back down into town for the pizza and (root) beer that I had dreamed about for 50 miles.
Camp these days really builds up fast and folks are getting into a groove. It was hot lot high school practice field that we were staying in. Lots of folks were resting and hanging out. Rodney really embodied this.

This night we were all starting to feel the miles on our bodies. The Massage train started a couple times with 6 or 7 folks all involved.

Us guys wound up sharing the locker room with the high school football camp that was in town for the week. I tell you it has been a long time since taking a communal high school shower.

Anyway that is about it for this post.

Day 2

2007-06-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - Easton to Vantage

Holy Moly is it cold! Yeah us ‘zonies are whining but so is everyone else! I mean ridiculous cold. It feels like January riding weather back in Phoenix. Everyone is layered, bundled and working on warming up. We run out of hot oatmeal, so I go for the cream of wheat and hot cocoa. Just something hot.

I don’t start well in the mornings and start about 2/3 through the group. Just the way I am. But we set out. I start out to not be as fast. Riding with Alison, we get into the sunny light and except for the wind that we are generating at a 17 mph pace we are warming up.

We are still figuring out the ride and read navigating but getting better at it. Alison is a Graphics operator from Vegas, so we are kindred spirits in terms of desert dwellers and in the same biz. We can talk in gig speak and can appreciate each other professionally. Everyone else is sort of perplexed as to what I do for a living so I every much appreciate her company.

We catch up to Scott Hadley and Kari and have a 4 man group happening. A bunch of folks stop in Cle Elum, a small town, to overwhelm the local coffee cafe. I find a granola bar to be sufficient and we are on the way. Kari and I wind up pulling ahead an ride together for a lot of the rest of the day.

4 large Doe deer are in a field off to the left and are just so beautiful to see. Large rolling hills in pine forest are our view. The snow capped Enchantment mountains are the backdrop on our left and there is a river on our right. Temps are in the 60s it is mid morning and there really isn’t anything better to be doing that riding my bike.

A non-ALAW cyclist comes passes us on a hill and I manage to hang with him. He is Tom, a Kirkland teacher on his first day of Summer vacation. He has driven over the Mtns and is riding from Cle Elum to Ellensburg and back. We ride for 15 miles and I tell him what we are up to. When we realizes that Vantage is only tonight’s destination, but that Washington D.C. is our overall destination, he is gives us kudos. Eventually I need a scheduled rest break and as I leave him, he gives me his Power gels energy snacks and wishes us well.

A nice little break in the middle of nowhere. I ride the next 10 miles solo and enjoy the peace of just me and my bike. At the next intersection my directions are screwed up. I explore the straight fork after 1 mile out I decide it is wrong and backtrack, where I find Kari again. She is equally confused and to support the unofficial Big Ride slogan...” at least we are lost together.” She make a phone call, I watch a hawk sore and scream. What a pretty sight.

I feel like I am out in it this beautiful place. Not stuck in my car, watching it whiz by. Miles before a Vulture in a nearby tree flew off as we passed and the rushing sound of its wings scared me at the time. I am glad to be here, on my bike in these moments, in the world.

Kari is done with her phone call We are totally lost, but luckily she attended college here, so I get a personal tour, past the cannery where she worked and where they are canning, what smells to be peas. Lots of peas.

Finally we find the checkpoint and are back on course.

We ride out together and begin a long arduous fight against the wind. Usually this should be a tail wind coming off the mountains but since Seattle is clear with good weather, wind have shifted. We struggle. I might be a stronger rider, but I don’t want Kari to have to fight the wind alone, so we work together. I lead a few miles, she does a few miles. Back and forth. I am pushing her a bit, but she is up to it. We take our breaks and get a fabulous view of the back side of Mt. Rainier from the eastern side of the Cascades. I have never Seen Rainier from this side and it is absolutely amazing. It’s size, height, majesty, and knowing the power that created it.

We head into the wind again and finally catch Rodney, a 60+ guy originally from Australia who now lives in Israel and is riding across the U.S. (Can you get any more continents involved in one sentence.)

Rodney is fighting the wind alone and as Kari and I catch him, I do just what I did with Kari and I slow down and put my hand on his back and lightly push him up the hill and help him keep his speed. Kari is strong and keeps going. This is the last climb of the day and we finish strong.

And although I started the day off slower, Kari is #5 through the water stop at the top, I am #6 and Rodney is #7. Alison and Scott quickly make #8 & #9.

Alison is thrilled to be first woman with only 20 miles of downhill to go. I am so proud of her for taking the coaching and beating the hills.

Heading down we elect to not want to unload the truck again so we all stop at the Petrified forest state park just a few miles from he end. It winds up being 4 or 5 petrified stumps that have been unearthed and have grates over them to protect them from Vandals. Not much to see here, but a nice stop.

We get to camp and indeed the truck has been unloaded. Justine passed us when were were at the petrified forest and is first woman into camp, but Kari knows she was it and let that distinction go. But the knowledge that she could have been, strengthens her.

I am super proud of both Kari and Rodney for reaching far and fast and attaining that.

Although camp is only night 2 we are starting to get into a rhythm. The local restaurant feeds us all dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast. Tent setup goes much better. I finally get out my thermarest chair and have a camp seat.

There seems to be more time for journalling and resting and hanging out in camp. We are on the banks of the Columbia river. Friendships and clics are starting to develop but no one is ever excluded, some folks are just closer than others.

I have mechanic Dave, work on my bike for while. After initial reassembly on Day 0, I now know what needs to be tweaked. My chain keeps jumping off the deraileur in front but I have learned how to shift it back on without having ot get off the bike. Overall though it is really annoying, so he tweaks it and trues up my rear wheel.

Dave is super kind and really pays close attention to al of us. His attitude infuses a sense of care for all of us. He wants us to be riding the best bikes we can be riding and he checks for and fixes problems we don’t even know exist. Dave is really great.

I manage to stay awake a little later on Day 2 before heading for bed.

It has been a good day.

Big Ride Day 1

2007-06-29T19:38:00.001-07:00

Day 1

At the start is it cool and rainy. We are early. People trickle in. Many past riders show up to be part of the group as we ride out of town.

I am excited to see Steven, Chris and Eric Chessler all people I remember from last year. I really enjoy talking with Steven and Chris after having met them last year and being able to show that I am here now.

Knowing Eric is riding is huge for me. Last year I knew him to be one fo hte strongest riders and in the lead group. However he would slow down and ride with slower riders through out the ride to encourage them and really embrace the whole community aspect of the ride. He was a hero to me for that reason and it was such a pleasure to get to ride with him.

After getting cold during the requisitive thank yous from the Chairlady we were off. As we left a Bald Eagle was soaring jsut 40 or 50 feet over the lake right there and it was such a corny yet really moving American Experience.

We head out, and I am happy to finally after a week of no bike to just be pedalling again!

I ride my ride and play my game and am passing folks left and right. I am trying to catch up with Eric who is up front. I catch up on I-90 bridge and am glad to be withteh leaders and am still in my speed range and feel good to be moving comfortabley with the leaders.

A skill I suddenly need and haven’t anticipated is needing to read a guide sheet. I can Read. I can ride. But reading and riding at the same time is a huge problem. We all get lost a few times and get off course - aka we get some “Bonus Miles”.

We get things figured out and progress pretty comfortably. It is myself, Stephen McCloskey (another 2007 rider) and Eric and Baby Lucas who are both 2006 ride alongs.

We have our firt PB&J along the Lower Snoqualmie River. A great little spot. We cruise throughthe midway Checkpoint and are first through. This is the first time that it hits me that we are fastest and may commonly be the speed leaders in the group.

The next sections of ride are out on I-90 and the shoulder is smotth but littered with all kinds of road debirs. Iti s really amazing the amount and kind of stuff you find on the shoulder.
Bits, parts and pieces of tires, bolts, tools, shoes?, bananas. Weird stuff. We get off theI-90 and take a secondary road up to Snoqualmie pass. No traffic and okay. It is however in the shade and damp and wet and I finally get tired of being cold.

I want to stop. To sit down. Whine a little, but Baby Lucas is a champ and stays slow with me everystroke of the way and he gets me up and over the hill and teaches me one of many very valuable lessons. I make the top. I am glad to have just survived. And actually I am not to bad off after a bit of a rest.

Alison, from Las Vegas arrives shortly after us at the top and the group changes. Eric and Lucas drop out for the day, so Alision, Stephen and I head downhill from the pass on I -90.

As I lead the draft line, I point out EVERY drainage grate. They laugh at my attention to such dtails but after my crecent crash it seems justified.

We stop for some pictures along the lake right next to the freeway. The mountains are still snow capped and absolutely beautiful and as we get further east over the pass, we have more and more sun. It feels so good.

Stephen falls back and eventually flats (gets a flat tire) so Ali and I pull away. The road is really bad and we come through a section where there are a thousand metal disks that seem like the lid off a tennis ball can. In the middle of this seem of tire land mines, I realize I might flat at 35mph. I say a prayer to get me through unscathed. Alison and I manage to get through without a problem. Others are not so lucky. 4 flats result among the whole group from the disc and a couple tires are shredded.

Day 1 Camp

We camp at Lake Easton and learn why it is not advantageous to be early into camp. As soon as there are 4+ riders in camp, those early riders unload the truck. 50 people x 2 overstuffed duffel bags each, averaging 70 lbs per person is way to much lifting and carrying after riding 80 miles. Especially when you are carrying and walking in your cycling shoes, because your camp shoes are still in your own luggage, which is undoubtedly packed into the middle of the pile.

Early riders do however get their pick of campsites. What makes a good campsite? For me it is one near enough to the truck to not have to carry my bags very far, yet far enough to not have lights or conversations keeping you up at night. It really is a skilled art that I am still developing.

We setup camp. For many this is the first time setting up their tent, arranging the sleping bag etc. Advice is given, mistakes are made, however no one loses an eye due to a wayward tent pole, so all is good.

I take one fo the early showers, and don’t have hot water yet. This is THE coldest shower I have ever taken. We have tokens for the shower. Each token is good for 3 minutes. I try to only use 1 token. If properly prepared for, it is possible to take a less than 3 minute shower, especially when the water temp does not invite you to linger.

Quiet hours comes around at 8:00p.m. and 50 people are all too happy to go to bed so early and rest. Just remember tomorrow we have to do it all over again starting a 5:00 a.m.

Big Ride Day 1 Pre-start

2007-06-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - Pre-start

Jeff had set the clock for 4:30 and I planned to get up at 5:00 since we needed to head out at 5:30 to make the 6:30 starting meeting. Jeff and I are scurrying around in the morning and I have few “pre-show” butterflies, just like before a load-in at work.

It is about 5:15 and we our down to our last zip -ups and heading out the door. Checking my phone to make sure it is on and good, I read the time as 2:15 not 5:15! What?

I quick look for a second clock and things instantly fall into place. He hasn’t reset his alarm clock form Eastern Time. That is why it is still pitch black dark outside... Why Ali hasn’t woken us up or checked on us... Why there is no movement in the RV. I check the Cable box time. 2:19 a.m. Tme confirmed.

Hey Jeff we are up 3 hours to early! We have a laugh and hte nervous tension between evaporates and we are instantly comrades. As i am repacking I realize I can’t find my camera and for the second time in 12 hours I have lost it at Ali’s. So we spend a 1/2 hour looking for it, unpakcing, repacking etc. Can’t find it. I decide it is more important to sleep. I let it go and chalk it up to a possible loss. As I lay there tyring to go back to sleep I can finally calm down and retrace my steps and think it is outside on the balcony rail.

I put on sandles and dash out in my clothies in the pooring rain to look for my camera on the balcony. I find it!!! Okay. That is our mishap. In every gig, show, trip whatever, there is always one big mishap. Well this is the one for the Big Ride. I head back to the room witha huge smile, knowing we have sidestepped this little mishap, no worse for wear. The ride is ON!

We have trouble getting back to sleep after all this but we manage another 90 minutes or so of rest.

We get up at the right time, ALi checks on us, nothing is missing and we are off to the start.

Big Ride Day 0 Orientation

2007-06-29T19:33:00.001-07:00

So this is it. My Big Ride Across America.

Day 0 - Orientation.

It’s like the first day of high school. So many new people I don’t know. Almost everyone is new. Lookng for familiar faces, Dan and Kelly both from Phoenix. However, this time with all the new faces, I am not worried “If” we are going ot be friends. Itis a forgone conclusion that we are all going to need to be friends and need eah other to get across the country.

A common bond is that we have all worked to raise the minimum fundraising and have earned our place in this group.

During orientation we introduce ourselves and tell what color our first bike was. As I think about it I realize that I broke the fork on my first bike as well. Of my 4 bikes in my life, I have ruined 2 forks. Somehow that just strikes me as funny.

We have dinner and everyone wants to hear how I am doing, how I am feeling and how the crash happened. I am sort of taken aback by all the interest, but it is instatnly reassuring to be in a group so caring and concerned.

Jeff and I are staying at our host’s house for the night and will get a ride down to the start line with the support RV in the morning.

We get the exercise/play room for the night and diligently set about to nervously packing and checking that we have ll or our gear. Last minute adjustments and changing over to being ready to ride, versus couch serfing with our friends/famliy.

Basically we are ready and just nervously trying to outsmart the looming shadows of the future days. For what turns out to be a terrific diversion, Ali, our host invites us out for some late night left over cake. She rode the ride in 2000 and we sit at her kitchen counter talking about our guesses and her expereince of what is to come. After all the “nervous nellying”, we have been doing, I am refilled with a sense of excitement and peace that it is time and it will all be fine.

I go to bed positive and looking forward to tomorrow.

Mountain Training

2007-06-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday for Memorial Weekend, I took my bike with me down to Tucson, to ride Mt. Lemmon. Dad and I had worked out plans that he would drive as support as I tried to climb a 25 mile hill with 7000' of elevation. I had never attempted such a large hill and it was a concern of mine, if I could do it for my upcoming Big Ride.

We started out Saturday morning about 6:30 and I rode to the 8 miles to the base of the mountain as my warmup before I starting the actual ride up.

I was feeling good and climbing strong throughthe lower switchbacks. Dad had lagged behind to get a coffee and give me a chance to get a headstart and head up the mountain. He thought he would drive a ways sit and wait for me, take a picture or two as I rode by. As it turned out, I was stronger than we had both anticipated and I was making such good time, that Dad didn't really have a chance to read. He would get ahead of me, wait a minute or so, shoot a picture, get back in the car, cruise up to the next sport wait another a couple minutes, take another piture and so forth. We did this all the way upt he mountain.

I told him that I would skip Windy point, but when we got there I was reminded about what a spectacular view it was and how high up we were. I was proud to have felt so strong climbing to this point so we did take couple pics of celebration here.

I kept climbing and from there hit a tough climb up to Palisades ranger station where I had to stop for a Clif bar. This was a tough climb but after some water and Clif bar I was on the roll again. I caught up to Chuck, an older cyclist, who was also climbing the mountain that day. He had done it before and was educating me on the turns and the tricks and so forth of the mountain.

We were near the top and I sent Dad ahead in to the little town of Summerhaven to get fresh batteries for the camera. In that time I turned and headed the last 2 miles uphill to the ski slope. With one mile completed and jsut startignteh second mile, I hit a snow drainage culvert and crashed. Apparently I celebrated too early at Windy Point.

The crash was hard! I sheared off my fork witheh fron wheel still attachd to the fork and not the bike.
I wound up going over the front end and protecting my helmet with the side of my face.
Positive Loss of Consciousness for about a minute. Chuck was right behind me and lookng down at the road when I crashed. He thought he heard a gunshot and looked up to see me and the bike both crashed out and on the ground. He sprinted up to where I was stopped. The gunshot he thought he heard was evidently my fork snapping.

Chuck was tending to me and another motorist had stopped to call 911 when Dad pulled up to the scene a few minutes later. Apparently I was conscious and responsive, but I don't remember any of it. My first real clear memory is opening my eyes and looking up to 4 or 5 faces all staring down at me. Several of them were Paramedics and there were trees shooting up behind them and blue sky. At that point I realized I was on my back and concluded that I must have crashed. Considering that the part I don't remember was: the crash, the call to 911, my dad showing up, the arrival of the paramedics after the 911 call... I estimate that I have memory absenteeism for about 8 minutes. That part is the spooky part.

To shorten the story , they took down the mountain via the ambulance. They actually took me part way down and then transferred me to a 2nd ambulance. Finally down at teh hospital Mom joined us and we waited, for the docs, the Xrays, and all the other things that go on in an ER. It wasn't too bad a wait. 1 CT scan, about 10 Xrays and some bandages later, they let me go with just a broken rigt hand pinky finger.

It was too bad that I hadn't made it all the way tot he top. It was too bad that I crashed but I all in all I am happy and confident in the ride and know that as soon as I heal, I will be ready to set out across America!!!