Today we started our day with a sweet climb up Teton Pass. I really thought I was going to have a lot of trouble with it and would have to walk up some of it. I didn't walk at all although I did stop a lot. It would have taken about the same amount of time to walk and I know this because there was a man with his dog (who was very well behaved) who started at pretty much the same time and finished at about the same time. We kept leap frogging each other up the mountain. At the top we had snacks and a dance party and lots of pictures. We also cheered on other cyclists at the top. One guy we cheered on twice because he was climbing Teton Pass three times today. The decent was really nice and not nearly so scary as I thought it would be. We had a tail wind before lunch and it was really flat. After lunch we got some head winds and some rolling hills. Overall it was a really nice ride with relatively low traffic.
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Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Back in the saddle
Today's ride from Dubois to Jackson was a success. It was a beautiful day and I was worried about getting up the mountain on our route but as it turned out we didn't have to climb much of it because they are doing construction so we had to ride up in the back of a pickup truck. We had some very nice views of the Tetons on our decent and I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open the entire way down in awe of what I was seeing. It's remarkable that I didn't swallow a bunch of bugs. For the rest of the afternoon we biked toward the Tetons and they got bigger and bigger until we were pretty much right next to them. I felt like the view was wasted on all the people zooming past in cars not even bothering to stop and take it in. I really like being on my bike because I feel like I get so much more time to see things.
Yesterday we had a shake down ride in preparation for today. I had replaced my tires so I was riding brand new Gatorskins. 7 miles into the ride my rear tire exploded. The sidewall had blown out. I'm going to send it back to the company since it really must have been a manufacturing defect. This is at least the fourth Gatorskin that has has the sidewall fail on this trip and it has always been on nearly new tires. I loved my old set of Gatorskins because I hadn't had a single flat on them yet, which would lead you to ask why I replaced them at all and to that I have no good answer. I even thought I would get a flat with the new ones because so many other people had had problems with them. I should have just saved myself the trouble and not bothered replacing them until I actually got a flat. I've learned my lesson although the new tire on the front is holding up just fine so far. Hopefully I haven't jinxed myself by saying that.
Tomorrow we tackle Teton pass which apparently has up to a 13% grade. I'm a little intimidated and my only real goal is to make it to the top even if I have to walk a little.
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Yesterday we had a shake down ride in preparation for today. I had replaced my tires so I was riding brand new Gatorskins. 7 miles into the ride my rear tire exploded. The sidewall had blown out. I'm going to send it back to the company since it really must have been a manufacturing defect. This is at least the fourth Gatorskin that has has the sidewall fail on this trip and it has always been on nearly new tires. I loved my old set of Gatorskins because I hadn't had a single flat on them yet, which would lead you to ask why I replaced them at all and to that I have no good answer. I even thought I would get a flat with the new ones because so many other people had had problems with them. I should have just saved myself the trouble and not bothered replacing them until I actually got a flat. I've learned my lesson although the new tire on the front is holding up just fine so far. Hopefully I haven't jinxed myself by saying that.
Tomorrow we tackle Teton pass which apparently has up to a 13% grade. I'm a little intimidated and my only real goal is to make it to the top even if I have to walk a little.
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Location:Seneca Ln,Jackson,United States
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The journey continues
This was written yesterday but i was unable to post it.
Today we are headed back to Chadron from Lincoln and tomorrow we will catch up with our route in Dubois, Wyoming to ride on Friday into Jackson. It was really good to get to go to St. Louis. We stayed in the dorms at Washington University so we all got real beds. A number of people from Paige's trip last year came and stayed in the dorms too. Usually it's really awkward when two Bike & Buils trips meet but it really wasn't so bad. It was good to hear stories about Paige from people who knew her in similar circumstances but had different experiences with her. The memorial service on Monday was nice. I forget at times about how short the time was that I knew Paige. Hearing stories about Paige from her high school days and from her childhood was really neat because the same spirit we all saw and loved has been there forever. Paige knew who she was and wasn't afraid to be herself. Caring, intelligent, spontaneous, creative, wonderfully odd, and so much more that was her.
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Today we are headed back to Chadron from Lincoln and tomorrow we will catch up with our route in Dubois, Wyoming to ride on Friday into Jackson. It was really good to get to go to St. Louis. We stayed in the dorms at Washington University so we all got real beds. A number of people from Paige's trip last year came and stayed in the dorms too. Usually it's really awkward when two Bike & Buils trips meet but it really wasn't so bad. It was good to hear stories about Paige from people who knew her in similar circumstances but had different experiences with her. The memorial service on Monday was nice. I forget at times about how short the time was that I knew Paige. Hearing stories about Paige from her high school days and from her childhood was really neat because the same spirit we all saw and loved has been there forever. Paige knew who she was and wasn't afraid to be herself. Caring, intelligent, spontaneous, creative, wonderfully odd, and so much more that was her.
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Friday, July 23, 2010
For Paige
So as most of you probably know by now one of our group leaders, Paige, was struck and killed by a truck three days ago. It was an accident and no one did anything wrong. If you want to know more about it you can go to the Bike & Build website at bikeandbuild.org. Paige was an incredible person who had an incredible zest for life. I know I am a better person for having known Paige. My plan as of now is to continue on with the trip, which I know is something that many of you probably don't want me to do but I feel like I need to in order to heal. I don't know yet if I'll be able to get back on my bike, but I do intend to try. Tomorrow we are starting our trip to St. Louis for the memorial service which is taking place on Monday. After the memorial service we will return to Chandron, NE where we have been the past couple days and skip ahead in our route to Wyoming so we are where we are supposed to be. We will still make it to Seattle on time.
Today we were originally going to go to Mt. Rushmore but we scrapped those plans in favor of helping clean up in Chadron after a nasty hail storm blew through yesterday and a tornado touched down on the other side of town in a trailer park. We spent the day cleaning up yards and fixing windows. It was good to be able to go out and do something for the community after they have been so great to us.
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Today we were originally going to go to Mt. Rushmore but we scrapped those plans in favor of helping clean up in Chadron after a nasty hail storm blew through yesterday and a tornado touched down on the other side of town in a trailer park. We spent the day cleaning up yards and fixing windows. It was good to be able to go out and do something for the community after they have been so great to us.
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Location:Lake St,Chadron,United States
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Iowa
Today we had a nice 80 mile ride into Mt. Vernon, Iowa. It was overcast and cool (aka perfect riding weather) for most of the day aside from the 5-10 minutes it rained. The day was generally full of rolling hills just as I remembered from last year. There were also a lot of rumble strips, which I also remembered was something often found always in groups of three. After a run in with a skunk (don't worry I didn't get sprayed) and hearing some funny stories from my post lunch riding partner, Chris, I made it in by just past 1:00, took possibly the coldest showers we've had so far and headed over to a bar in town to watch the world cup. That's where I am right now and I should pay attention to the end of the game so that's all for now more to come later.
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Location:Mt. Vernon, Iowa
Friday, July 9, 2010
I made it to Peru
Yesterday was our second day off. I slept until 8:00 and saw the sights in Pontiac. I went to the swinging bridges, which you're not actually allowed to swing, but they do sway when you walk on them. I went to the route 66 museum and saw some murals. I spent the afternoon playing a game called jungle speed and hanging out with some friends and some visitors we had.
Today we woke bright and early at 5:00 again for a 62 mile ride into Peru, IL. For the past several days we've had winds from the southwest but today since we were spending a lot of time going north we had winds from the north so we spent most of the day battling headwinds. Other than that it was mostly uneventful other than I took another fall going into lunch. I started into a parking lot, but there was a giant hole so I thought I might not make it so I stopped but forgot to unclip and went down and landed poorly. I ended up landing on my wrist and absorbing most of the impact in my shoulder so I'm fairly sore right now. I was able to finish the day after taking all non essentials out of my camelbak although I wasn't able to signal with my left arm because my shoulder tightened up so much. It's feeling better now and I expect in a few days it will be all better. Tomorrow we cross into Iowa and I begin the part of the route that I have deemed the reverse RAGBRAI.
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Today we woke bright and early at 5:00 again for a 62 mile ride into Peru, IL. For the past several days we've had winds from the southwest but today since we were spending a lot of time going north we had winds from the north so we spent most of the day battling headwinds. Other than that it was mostly uneventful other than I took another fall going into lunch. I started into a parking lot, but there was a giant hole so I thought I might not make it so I stopped but forgot to unclip and went down and landed poorly. I ended up landing on my wrist and absorbing most of the impact in my shoulder so I'm fairly sore right now. I was able to finish the day after taking all non essentials out of my camelbak although I wasn't able to signal with my left arm because my shoulder tightened up so much. It's feeling better now and I expect in a few days it will be all better. Tomorrow we cross into Iowa and I begin the part of the route that I have deemed the reverse RAGBRAI.
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Thursday, July 8, 2010
The post in which I try to tell you all about the last 4 days
Last Saturday we had a build day in Dayton. We spent the day hanging drywall. I had never done that before so it was fun to learn something new. I got to use power tools so it was even better. I got to actually hang some dry wall and cut some so I experienced the entire process. After our build day was over John Michael came to hang out and meet some Bike&Builders. We went with some other riders to a sushi/tai food place and had pad tai as usual. After we walked through this folk festival they were having in Dayton on the way to watch some fireworks. The Dayton Habitat chapter we worked with that day had secured us a good place to watch the fireworks. We watched from a lumber yard parking lot that we needed a secret password to get into. The fireworks were really good. They were certainly on par with the Boston fireworks and were only lacking the Boston Pops.
The nex morning John Michael woke up bright and early to see us off at 6:30 with our police escort. Four police cruisers showed up to escort us out of the city. It was a really amazing experience not having to stop at red lights for a whole 8 miles and being able to ride in the middle of the road without having to worry about cars. Next we got on a nice bike trail for about 12 miles so we were able to stay in a big pack. After that we split up to complete our first century ride. It was a long hot day and I didn't make it into the host until about 5:00. When we got there we had hose showers outside also our first of the trip, but we were all so hot it actually felt really nice. I definitely had my ups and downs during the century ride, but at the end I felt alright. I was really tired, but I felt alright.
The next day we had another long day of 86 miles. I only made it to lunch at mile 40 because I haven't been sleeping all that well on the trip. I spent the rest of the day in the van napping. I'm working on the sleeping thing and hopefully will be sleeping through the night soon. In the meantime my goal is to get as much sleep as possible whenever I can.
The next day we had another 80 miles and crossed into Illinois and crossed into central time. I enjoyed parts of the ride particularly the morning when I was playing games with my riding partner Brittany. After lunch we had a stretch of about 20 miles where we had a really nice tail wind and all zipped along at 20 mph. After we turned west again we found a nasty head wind for the last 15 miles. About 10 miles out we were able to see the Gilman (our destination) water tower. I think that was one of the flattest and straightest roads I have ever been on. We finally reached our destination at about 1:30 central time which wasn't so bad for having gone 80 miles.
Yesterday we had a short 45 miles and got to sleep in until 6:00 instead of having to wake up at 5:00 as we had the past three days. We flew right out of town and reached Pontiac by 11:00. It was a very enjoyable ride and we all went out to eat at a restaurant in town and pretty much took over the entire place. Pontiac is a very cute town with lots of little shops. Today we have a day off and I'm planning on visiting the route 66 museum and the swiging bridges.
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The nex morning John Michael woke up bright and early to see us off at 6:30 with our police escort. Four police cruisers showed up to escort us out of the city. It was a really amazing experience not having to stop at red lights for a whole 8 miles and being able to ride in the middle of the road without having to worry about cars. Next we got on a nice bike trail for about 12 miles so we were able to stay in a big pack. After that we split up to complete our first century ride. It was a long hot day and I didn't make it into the host until about 5:00. When we got there we had hose showers outside also our first of the trip, but we were all so hot it actually felt really nice. I definitely had my ups and downs during the century ride, but at the end I felt alright. I was really tired, but I felt alright.
The next day we had another long day of 86 miles. I only made it to lunch at mile 40 because I haven't been sleeping all that well on the trip. I spent the rest of the day in the van napping. I'm working on the sleeping thing and hopefully will be sleeping through the night soon. In the meantime my goal is to get as much sleep as possible whenever I can.
The next day we had another 80 miles and crossed into Illinois and crossed into central time. I enjoyed parts of the ride particularly the morning when I was playing games with my riding partner Brittany. After lunch we had a stretch of about 20 miles where we had a really nice tail wind and all zipped along at 20 mph. After we turned west again we found a nasty head wind for the last 15 miles. About 10 miles out we were able to see the Gilman (our destination) water tower. I think that was one of the flattest and straightest roads I have ever been on. We finally reached our destination at about 1:30 central time which wasn't so bad for having gone 80 miles.
Yesterday we had a short 45 miles and got to sleep in until 6:00 instead of having to wake up at 5:00 as we had the past three days. We flew right out of town and reached Pontiac by 11:00. It was a very enjoyable ride and we all went out to eat at a restaurant in town and pretty much took over the entire place. Pontiac is a very cute town with lots of little shops. Today we have a day off and I'm planning on visiting the route 66 museum and the swiging bridges.
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Location:Mohave Dr,Pontiac,United States
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Sorry for the absence...
I'm sorry I've been away for so long and this is going to be unsatisfactory because this post is just to assure you that I'm fine and my absence doesn't mean anything bad happened. It just means that I've had some really long days and I'll be back tomorrow to fill you in on what has been going on.
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Elmwood St,Pontiac,United States
Friday, July 2, 2010
This is the Ohio I imagined
Today was probably the easiest 90 mile ride I will ever experience. It was a beautiful day and there wasn't much wind and we got a non PB&J lunch in the middle. I was only mildly grumpy just before lunch because I was hungry and we didn't know if we would be back tracking after lunch to get back on route and we were going to have to backtrack a lot if it was necessary. Luckily we didn't have to backtrack at all and we had an awesome lunch at the house of parents that had a son on the soyhern route last year. We had pulled chicken, mac and cheese, Oreos, chips, Gatorade, bananas, as well as granola bars and trail mix we could take with us for later. After lunch we had some freshly paved road and then some bike paths. I got to chat with another rider, Chaz. We're staying at Sinclair Community College for the next two nights and so far they have been very welcoming. We have a build day tomorrow and John Michael is coming to visit tomorrow.
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Location:S Robert Dr,Dayton,United States
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Hello, Columbus
Today we had an easy ride from Gambier to Columbus but before I can talk about the ride I need to fill you all in on sleeping and breakfast. Last night we all got an amazing night of sleep on real matresses and real sheets. I woke up feeling refreshed and the only bad part was gettingout of bed. Usually with the thermarest it's only difficult to get up because it's early not because I'm just so comfortable I don't want to. After we woke up and got all ready we headed over to breakfast at the campus dining hall. It was amazing. First of all the dining area looked like Hogwarts. To eat there were hash browns, eggs, strawberries and blueberries, yogurt, cottage cheese, cinnamon rolls, sausage, cereal, pancakes, oatmeal, bagels, and icecream. I didn't eat all of that but I think I did have about half not including icecream. If every morning was just like that we would be all set. Today's ride was only about 43 miles and mostly flat with a few gently rolling hills just the way I imagined Ohio would be. We even had a few bike trails worked in to avoid the cars for a while. This afternoon was another laundry day so off we went to the laundromat that is also a tanning salon. We got all the clothes in just two washers and 4 driers which is impressive by Bike&Build standards. Dinner was at the house of one of our riders roomates parents. They have a paddle boat that I took a spin on and we had pulled pork for dinner that my Dad would have loved. It was an overall excellent night and now I'm off to bed for an early start tomorrow to get to Dayton where I will see John Michael the day after tomorrow.
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