The flat half - Colorado part 1

Who was it that spread that rumor about the big hills over here in the West? I've gone halfway across CO and the worst I've gone over doesn't even compare to what I went over in Penn. haha. just a joke, but it is pretty amazing how flat the Eastern section of CO is. Once I got up to ~5,000 feet, a climb so gradual it's really kindof hard to notice, the riding was about the flattest I've done. There were sections where I was actually cruising at 18 mph, a pretty insane speed with a trailer (unless you're goin downhill).

Day 21 - Haigler, NE to Fort Morgan, CO (105)
Day 22 - Fort Morgan to Fort Collins (80)

I took Hwy 34 all the way from Haigler to Loveland, just below Fort Collins. The road was great, and was actually a lot more desolate than NE in a couple of areas. From Akron to Brush on Day 21 there was little more than a few farms and grazing areas. In Brush, the first city with more than 10,000 people I'd seen in more than 300 miles, an Oktoberfest celebration was in full swing, and since I only had 10 miles to go till Fort Morgan, my termination point for the day, I decided to chill for a while. While walking around I met a guy who biked like 4,500 miles all over
Western USA back in the 80's. He got me a brisquit sandwich and we sat down at a picnic table for a while, caught up in the experiences we've both had on our trips. I got to Fort Morgan around nightfall and after splurging on some McDonalds, headed to the first park I've found where it's legal to camp. When I got there it was obvious something was going--music and a movie screen gave it away. They were showing some animated kids film about a bear and a deer and giving away cokes and popcorn, so I had to join in.

Day 22 from Fort Morgan to Fort Collins involved some odd 1,500 ft of climbing I'd say, and was a lot windier than the previous day. Regardless, I made it to Fort Collins around 2:30 where I met Fedor for a picture session at the welcome to Fort Collins sign (picture to follow shortly), and we later went and checked out some of the local restaurants after I'd taken a shower and washed some clothes (it's impossible to imagine how dirty my clothes were, haha). For dinner we had a mountain pie (basically a super deep dish pizza) with honey--further evidence that honey complements anything well.

The rig and I coming into FC (notice the trailer)

Fedor and I at the Southern entrance to Fort Collins

Check that beard out!

Yesterday, my first full day in FC, I went to the library to work on the route, checked out some bike shops (I need another tire and tube), visited Odell's brewery and Fort Collins brewery, went over to this lake like 5 min from campus where there is some pretty good bouldering and some narly mountain biking and Chek and I grilled some quality sausages, onions, and taters, and later went to CB and Potts, just one of the hundreds of restaurants here I'd love to try given the time.

Picture of me at the Lake

Picture of Chek at Fort Collins Brewery

Today I've got a meeting lined up with Bryan Willson, a super cool prof here at CSU that I'm considering doing a PhD with, and then a tour of the lab facilities with one of his current students. After that I'm heading to another bike shop or two to do a little comparison shopping; going to JAX, a huge outdoor store here in town to look for a sleeping bag so I don't freeze in the mtns; and then I'm going to do some biking before heading to Trail Head for $2.50 burger night.

It looks like I'll be heading out on Thursday on Hwy 14 (still not 100% on the route, but I'm talking to people today). 14 won't take me through rocky mountain national park, but it will take me along the Poudre and through Cameron Pass, both of which I've heard are gorgeous.

Nebraska is for farm and small town lovers

It took me four days, but I've made it through Nebraska. I've gone a total of 1900 miles thus far, and anticipate going another 1300 before the trip is over (I'm currently working on the route in the CSU library).

Day 17 - Nebraska City to Lincoln (50)
Day 18 -Lincoln to Hastings (105)
Day 19 - Hastings to Arapahoe (85)
Day 20 - Arapahoe to Haigler (115)

This may come as a surprise to some, but my four days in NE were probably my favorite ones to date. The riding wasn't terribly difficult--except from Hastings to Arapahoe when I ran into a day of insane head/crosswinds--the scenery was pretty descent, the people were awesome, and best of all there were very few cars and the best roads I've ridden on yet.

Nebaska city to lincoln was all on a 4-lane (Hwy 2) with hills reminiscent of those I'd thought I'd gotten done with in Iowa. It was only 50 miles, but short days are never easy; it always seems like they're so much harder than they should be because I always go into them expecting a walk in the park. However, once I got to Lincoln it was great. I went to Lazlo's and the Watering Hole where I had some quality brew and food and then met up with one of Fedor's good friends, Kara, who he met while studying in Sweden. We went to this insane bar with like 15 volleyball courts and played sand V-ball until way later than my bedtime. I should mention that the shower I got at her place was my 3rd one in 18 days. How's that for conserving water? The next morning Chase, her bf, she, and I all went to the Hiway diner, an establishment known for its 24 hour operating hours and one that both Kara and Chase had lots of memories from. Oh, and by the way, in case you've forgotten since civics class, Lincoln is the capitol of NE, and it's capitol building is one of those that's tough to forget.

In Hastings I got to knock another item off my list of things to do. I stayed in a homeless shelter. The funniest part of the whole experiences was the urine drug test I had to take in order to be admitted. Now I'm not sure how many of you do a lot of long bike rides, but your body doesn't seem to retain a lot of water, or at least it doesn't end up in your bladder. So, since I had just used the bathroom like 5 minutes before I went to the shelter there was no way I was going to be able to go again for a while. Anyway, to summarize, about 2 liters of water/coke and 2.5 hours later I was finally able to be admitted, eat some food, and get a shower. The shelter was run and funded by a christian group (I'm not sure if this is common or not), and so unlike at the salvation army, where the emphasis seemed to be solely on employment and saving, there was a huge focus placed on the walk to God at this shelter. There were morning devotionals and evening bible studies that it was highly encouraged that you attend. Just something to consider if you are ever confronted with the option of where to stay.

Arapahoe was a pretty peaceful place of around 1,000 where I slept on another picnic table in a mosquito infested park. I actually got inside my tent so that the mosquito netting would keep em off, and was awakened at like midnight by the freakin sprinkler system which so effectively doused everything with water that there was only a single dry picnic table that I could call home for the night. While there I also did a little dumpster diving at the grocery store across from the park where I found some pretty good looking, tasty, orange bell peppers. My final night in NE was spent in Haegler, the last town in Hwy 2 before you get to CO. It's a town of ~250, but it's got a little grocery store, a restaurant, and a bar. After riding for 115 miles that day I got there pretty late and went to the only place still open, the bar, to figure out where I could throw my bag down for the night. No joke, this was the coolest bar ever. The people were all farmers, and they had all brought in stuff from their gardens for everyone to eat. There were tomatoes, chips and homemade salsa (with pork), cucumbers, and lots of peppers. It was a great last night in NE even though I did get attacked by sprinklers again (gotta watch those NE parks).

Since I've been in CO for two days now there will soon be a picture or two coming with the first CO entry.

Iowa is NOT a plains state

I'm currently in Lincoln, NE, but I'm getting ahead of myself (The NE synopsis won't be up for another week'ish). The last three days have been spent in Iowa, a state that I would have previously claimed was a plains state. I'm here to tell you it's not so. I took route 2 across the entire state, and for those of you who haven't been on route 2 before, it's a very scenic rural way to get across the state.

Coming into Iowa I crossed the Mississippi river and then dropped into a 300 mile stint of rolling hills. The first day was filled with various festivals. Donnellson, IA, a town of like 800, was celebrating Apple Dayz with some live music and bake stands. 40 miles down the road in Pulaski, IA they were having the 100 and somethin' annual corn festival with some pretty darn good pulled pork sandwiches and baked beans (I definitely indulged myself). And another 10 miles down the road in Bloomfield the annual bluegrass festival was just concluding--this were probably at least 300 RV's there. I got there in time to see three or four bands and meet some other bike tourers (one retired and another who'd just finished a trip). One of the gentlemen offered me a shower and a dry place to sleep which I took him up on, and the next morning I went back to the festival where I got an awesome breakfast of pancakes and eggs for $1.75. The woman sitting across from me with whom I'd been chatting must've known I was wishing I'd also gotten a hand made cinnamon roll 'cause she offered me her second one and later gave me one of the t-shirts they'd had left over from last year as a momento (it's now my only clean shirt).

As for the rest of Iowa I can't say a whole lot. There were a few small towns, a bunch of hills, a couple Amish guys mowing hay and going to church (one wagon I saw was packed full of a family of like 5), and a lot of corn/soybeans.

As for how I'm currently feeling...not too bad. My body seems to be used to the daily gruel of pedaling, though I'm not sure how it's going to feel when I hit some real mountains. Mentally it's a daily battle to keep going, especially in a city as cool as Lincoln where it would be so easy to just chill out for a few days, mail the stuff home, and take a bus to Fort Collins. However, I'm pretty stubborn and I think once my dad gets out here and once I get to Fort Collins things will go a lot smoother mentally. Unfortunately I definitely foresee the plains of Nebraska being the toughest challenge yet, but I'll let soon let you know.

Illinois, here's to making new friends

Before I get to Illinois, I need to mention a few of the things I think I've somehow overlooked (or at least I think I have). My rear tire blew out like 300 something miles ago in Indiana somewhere while I was illegally riding on a limited access portion of Hwy 30--you actually can't ride your bike on some highways in IN. Something completely devastated the sidewall and left me with a 1/2 inch gash and an unpatchable tube. I was willing to sacrifice a tube, but I couldn't afford to give up on the tire after only 800 miles when there was as much tread as there was left on it. So... the obvious solution was a business card and some moleskin, and I'm happy to say that the tire is still going strong and I plan on riding it until I can see the Kevlar lining.



Now for Illinois. As the title indicates I had a great time and met a lot of really amazing people during my past three days in IL. First, as I may have indicated in my last entry, I ended up staying at the Salvation Army halfway house in Pekin, IL. I can't stress how friendly and helpful the people were there. They fed me, gave me a place to sleep, provided me with a towel for a shower and even let me wash some clothes. The next morning I had an all you can eat pancake breakfast for $2.85 at a restaurant right next to the shelter--gotta love cheap food in these small towns (I had a $0.50 cup of coffee this morning). That day I went to a local bike shop and got a broken spoke replaced and got some lube put ont he bearings. However, I actually just broke another spoke and even though I bought some spares I can't get my cassette off to replace it (I'm going to try and see if I can make it another 330 miles to Lincoln, NE).

Later that day I got another freeby when another guy I met at a gas station hooked me up with a free burger, some fries, and a really awesome blizzard like thing. He and his wife own a restaurant in Bushnelle, IL called Dairy Den. Last night after the delicious dinner I slept in another public park in Blandinsville, IL.

As for the food promise I made in the last entry...Since I began I've eaten three 8 ounce tubs of peanut butter, four loafs of bread, a pound of salami, around a dozen pears and apples, about 20 bananas, a dozen hamburgers, and a whole lot of little debbies and other candy bars. I'm pretty sure that if anything I've actually put on a few pounds. I'll have to get on a scale at some point.

294 miles from where I'm at right now (Donnellson, IA) to Lincoln, NE, my next major city and bike shop. I'm thinking probably three and a half days and then I'll spend a half day in Lincoln resting and rebuilding my wheels getting ready for the next 500'ish miles to Fort Collins, CO.

Indiana ... oh the corn

So, as you can imagine Indiana is not the most exciting place to ride a bike through, but what I'm sure you can't imagine is just how incredibly boring it is.

However, I've first got to backtrack for a moment and say that I forgot to mention the coolest thing about Ohio, and Canton Ohio especially, are the ubiquitous drive through grocery store/beer outlets. I'm not sure what this is doing for any drunkdriving problem, but this is an excellent example of American ingenuity.

In order to spice it up a little I varied from my original plan, we'll call it the "corn route," and decided to travel through a couple of cities. I went to Marion, Kokomo, and then finally to Lafayette. I wish I could say I remember a lot about the first two, but after riding through an average of like 3 cities a day for the past 11 days I honestly can't say that anything stands out. Lafayette on the other hand is an obvious exception to the mundaneness that is IN. As home to Purdue Lafayette has more than its share of cool places/people/food. I grabbed some grub at a pizza place and XXX, "On the hill, but on the level." for those of you who know the area. The campus was pretty cool, but just a little too flat. It's weird leaving campus and being in corn fields in a matter of minutes.

So, I know that was a short description of Indiana, but I've gotta go, and besides I'm already halfway through IL. Before I get out of here and go check out Pekin, IL, I'll say that at first glance this is a pretty cool town, much nicer than bloomington which I went through earlier today. There is a really cool park in the center of town with a little lake and a nice walking path and little paddle boats one could rent. Have a great night everyone.

Next time I'm going to impress with the shear quantity of food that I've eaten over the past 11 days. It's huge!!

Ohio, the windy state

It took me three days to get across the grand state of Ohio. The first day I got going around 1:00 after the hardest of the rain from that huge tropical depression that entrapped the entire northeast had stopped. I managed to get about 60 miles that day, and was more than a little dissapointed that Eastern Ohio resembled Penn a lot more than the plains I was sooooo looking forward to.

The next day I got up early ready for a great day and started out against some massive headwinds. About halfway through the day, I began hearing rumors that Ike was coming up through Ohio later in the day and that's what the winds were from. The sky looked clear so what could they know? It became apparent really quickly as the day went on that something was coming. Blown off the road! That's what happened to me near the little town of Iberia. I took shelter at a volunteer fire department for the night, and the next morning, Mark, an EMS worker/policeman, after enduring my body odor for a few hours the previous night, took me to his house where I got a shower and then took me to McDonalds, just about the only restaurant with power.

Yesterday, I finally did it. 101 miles!!! From Iberia to about 8 miles from the Indiana border. It was a great day--cloudy with a high temperature of like 78--and after a quick trip to the post office where I mailed another pound and a half of stuff back, I was light, clean, and feeling good to go. Of note was the St. Mary's/Celina area and the Grand Lake that is there. It's a really ideal setting and reminded me a lot of the lakes next to Madison.

So, I'm making this quick because I'm trying to make this another pretty long day. I've slightly changed my route and am now going through Marion, Kokomo, and Lafayette, Indiana rather than looking at cornfields the whole time. Take care all.

They're not so bad...

Cops. Last night was the second night I've slept in a public park after calling up the local popo and requesting a safe, legal, and dry place to sleep. I'm not taking back any complaints I've had in the past, but the boys in blue are coming through on this trip. Seriously, if anyone ever finds themselves helpless I wholeheartedly suggest buying a bike and vagabonding from town to town with the same old "I'm biking across America and just need a place to sleep for the night." Be forewarned though, that fires are definitely looked down upon. Other than parks, I've slept in yards (with permission), a boy scout camp (with consent from drunken local landowners completely unafilliated with the boy scouts), and a few other places deemed appropriate by locals.

Other than sleeping and riding, I'm conversing with tons of interesting strangers along the way. Most of the convos have the same general tone. "Dude (obviously paraphrased), what are you doing? Are you serious?" A couple of the notables thus far have been a man who just completely a 600 mile bike touring trip around the Erie canal, a woman who works in the only underground mushroom mine in America, an ex-convict, self-proclaimed hippy who mountain bikes illegally on state game land and believes that America's problems lie in our overcrowded prisons, and yesterday, after getting completely drenched of the night, I spent like an hour chatting at the laundromat while I dried basically everything I owned; It was nice not really having anything to do and time to talk about anything.

I'm currently in the East Palestine, OH public library getting my Led Zeppelin fix for the week before heading off in the rain again. Rain is great, I really love it, but when semis keep driving past covering you with greasy groundspray it gets a little old. I'm super ready for this storm system to vacate the northeast.

As far as the bike goes. I'm really proud of the Merida. She's been a real trooper and is still holding together. The rear shifter and brakes are working great, and the bike tires are looking pretty good. I'm not expecting the rear tire to make it all the way (the front tire better), but it would be great if it could get halfway. As far as the trailer goes, I got my first flat yesterday from a tiny little shard of metal , but it was quickly patched and back in action. I don't have a spare tube for the trailer, but at only 30 psi I'm fairly confident that patches can do the trick (my mountain bike tubes have been patched like three times and they're still going).

Next time will most likely be from Indiana!!

Hola Penn State y Adios Pennsylvania

This is going to have to be short, since the public library in Prospect, Penn closes at 2:00 pm...

The bottom line is don't ride a bike across Pennsylvania. We're talking one hill/mountain after another. However, I will say that the state has a lot to see. For starters, the Susquehanna river area including Lewisburg, Bloomsburg, Danville, and the river in general is amazingly picturesque. Bloomsburg and Lewisburg in particular both have really nice tree lined streets with ancient, huge houses and tons of little restaurant selections. And, for the mountain bikers out there, I was assured by a kid working at an incredible bike shop in the middle of nowhere that there was a more than ample selection of trails.

Other than the susquehanna, State College and Penn State were also pretty cool, even though I was only there for a few hours. I went to state college for a little bike repair, and ended up at Freeze Thaw, a bike shop with some really helpful, knowledgable staff that custom builds bikes and sells used parts. We got my 105 rear shifter (piece of crap) working again, I finally sucked it up and bought a spare tire (another Panaracer), and I got a presta to Schrader valve stem converter so that when I pump bites the dust in the middle of a corn field I'm not hitching a ride on a combine into town. Other than the bike shop I tore this packed out all you/I can eat Indian buffet up. I probably ate like 8 chicken legs, and then went over to speak with Dr. Rioux, the newest member of the chemical engineering faculty at Penn State. Honestly, he's the kindof guy that makes me want to do a PhD. He's genuinely excited about what he's doing, and he's very amiable. We went down and checked out the lair where the T-money used to work and then I headed back down the road.

To be continued... I'm off to Ohio

NYC, NY to Hazleton, PA

So, the weatherman is calling for thunderstorms all day here in Eastern PA, and since visibility is about 10 ft I've decided to take a break this morning until it gets a bit clearer outside. Before getting into it, I've first got to list a few casualties:

1. Camera (fell out of the seatbag somewhere in PA)
2. Credit card (same as 1)
3. Lock (same as 1)
4. Banjo (Mailed back from Upper Mt. Bethel in PA; definitely wasn't a good idea to bring that along)
5. Outer chainring (Mailed back and has been replaced with lockwashers; that shaved a few ounches, haha)

Saturday before heading out (Saturday, September 6, 2008) - 0 miles:
I actually started a day later than planned. Since the hurricane (which one I can't remember) was scheduled to hit NY on Saturday, I decided to chill out for another before beginning. Plus, as I don't get up to NYC terribly often, I figured it would be a good chance to check some stuff out. I began with a quick ride on the Staten Island Ferry, "the only free thing in NYC" as I was told by some guys running the Ellis Island ferry. After about 30 minutes of riding around Staten Island and determining that it was about the last place I ever wanted to live I rode it back over to Manhattan. The rest of the day I spent at the Museum of Natural History--the place with all the cool dinosaur skeletons--and in China town, my personal favorite part of any trip to NYC.

Day 1 (Sunday, September 7, 2008) - Manhattan to Independence, NJ - 92 miles:
The first day began at the very southern tip of Manhattan's financial district. I got started around 7'ish and made a quick trip to Mcdonalds where I took advantage of the 2 for $4 sausage and egg english muffins (one for b'fast and one for lunch) before riding up various avenues through the city until somewhere around 100th street when I took a left and headed to the west coast trail, an absolutely amazing bike trail that traverses almost the entire west coast of manhattan. I rode it all the way to 180th street where I got off and, with the help of some local bikers, found my way to the George Washington Bridge, which I took across to New Jersey. That was creeepy; you'd think with 14 lanes of traffic they could have made the bike/walk path a little wider?
New Jersey was a complete mess. I got lost after like 5 miles and ended up going down almost all the way to Newark Int'l airport before getting back on course and ending up at some swank mall where I visited an Apple store for googlemap directions (I'll send Steve a postcard if I remember). After my forray South into Newark I headed west in the right direction with sweet thoughts of PA going through my mind. However, it wasn't meant to be. I had to stop about 15 miles short in Independence, NJ, where I slept on this giant field called the Field of Dreams. Even though I wasn't able to get to PA, I was able to try Smurf ice cream--a combination of cotton candy ice cream, chocolate, and marshmallows--for the first time. Delicious! It was recommended to me by a father who's visiting nephew, according to the father's 9 year old daughter, had proclaimed (without any knowledge of what Smurf ice cream was) that he wanted a flavor with cotton candy, marshmallows, and chocolate only to have his dreams instantaneously fulfilled by a huge waffle cone of smurf ice cream.

Day 2 - Independence, NJ to Hazleton, PA - 80 miles
Ok, so thus far I've fallen a little short of the 100 mile a day goal. But, all I'm going to say, is you try riding with a trailer behind you in Eastern PA; it's not easy. Now, since I've only been on the road two days, this probably isn't going to mean a lot, but this was my toughest day yet. There was a lot of up and down, and the up's were extremely unforgiving, especially for a bike with a rediculously high lowest gear (I should've splurged on the Duraace rear cassete with a much larger range). There were several hills that I would say I averaged ~4 mph, and one in particular which was about 2 miles long that I thought would be the end; I just kept thinking about how sweet the downhill would be.
So, I got up around 7'ish and headed out for PA, which I arrived at after a nice flat 15 mile ride on Hwy 46W. In Upper Mt Bethel I stopped at a car parts store where I took off my outer chain ring, which is probably about the same size as the one Lance used for time trials, and mailed it back with my banjo. Sidenote, I have no idea why I decided to bring my banjo, but it was not a good idea, haha. After that I rode until reaching Tony's pizza in Nazareth, or some other similarly named town where the only thing you can see above the trees is a church steeple, and ate at Tony's pizza, the only restaurant around. I would definitely give it a thumbs up if anyone is in the neighborhood. They sell really good pizza by the slice for only $1.50 a slice (that's cheaper than Ian's). After refueling, I rode, rode, rode to Hazleton, PA, intermittently stopping for directions, food, or a water refill. Last night I pitched my tent next to a walking path.


Day 3 - Hazleton, PA to ...
I abruptly awoke this morning to the sights and sounds of lightning and thunder. Luckily, I had the state of mind to get up, pack my crap, and get into town before the rain really started falling and all my stuff got soaked. I had an amazing omellette (the amore) at Amores diner as I continue the struggle of keeping calories in my body, and am now at a public library hoping the rain has let up a little. Until next time from Ohio.

Unfortunately, as my camera is laying on some road somewhere in PA, and I don't intend on buying a new one until the Thanksgiving day sales, there probably won't be many pictures until I get to Fort Collins and Fedor can take a few.

The Ride Across America for Project Rwanda - Pretrip

So, as those of you who have checked out my website know, I will be using this blog as my trip "diary." I'm going to attempt to update it at least once a week and will definitely be including a "coolest pictures of the week" section (internet connection willing) to give you guys a better idea of the terrain out there. 

Really quickly I'm listing a few of the reservations I have about this trip. The bike I'm using is at best pretty ill suited for this trip. It's only got two chainrings in the front, the inner one having 39 teeth, and on the cassette my gear range is 12/22. This would be pretty sweet for a flat racing course where I'd be pushing 30 mph, but going cross country is going to be tough without a lower gear. I actually researched a third chainring or a new crank, and either of these options would've required multiple additional purchases to the tune of $100 or more. This being said, I'm going to give it a try, and worst case I end up buying a new Duraace cassette somewhere along the way with a much larger gear range. 

Stay tuned for the next, first exciting entry from the road. I'll hopefully be beginning this Friday or Saturday sometime depending on whether my Bob trailer comes in and how many of my flights are delayed. Take care, and be assured pictures will follow.