daves bike tour across america

final thoughts and photos

2009-07-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

I finally uploaded all my pictures and put a caption on all of them. Here is the link at photobucket if you want to check them out. If that doesn't work just search for leftd under people and it should come up.
http://s725.photobucket.com/albums/ww260/leftd/

Sorry about taking so long to upload them all. I wish I had a better excuse besides being lazy, but that is all there is to it. I will probably be rambling a bit so please bear with me. Still broke and looking for a job, but I'll find something eventually. Registered for classes today at the local comm. college, so I am excited to start the long road to becoming a Physical Therapist. I learned some things about myself and other people on the trip. I would do it all over again if I had to, however I don't really want to do another tour like this again. I would like to go over to France or Italy and ride some of those famous grand tour climbs with a light racing bike, though. No, I am not in good enough shape to ride the tour de france if you were wondering. I am neither physiologically gifted enough and started cycling way to late regardless. I rode with the most pain I have ever experienced on the bike when I rode with that infection for 3 days. I also had some amazing days of riding where you get to the end of the day and felt like the luckiest person in the world to be able to experience all that you have. I have seen some incredible scenery and will definitely go back to Utah with my mountain bike and trailrunning shoes sometime in the future. I got rained, snowed, sleeted, hailed, and baked by the sun on my trip. I went through a wide variety of emotions from euphoria and zen like moments to despair and agony. I didn't ever really have a moment where I contemplated quitting, but it was hard to roll out of bed on more than a couple mornings. I saw a lot of the country that few people get to see and by bicycle which, I think, is a more intimate experience with the people you encounter. Shattered some stereotypes that I previously had. Found out that hospitality and welcoming strangers into your home still exists. Met all different types of people from all different walks of life. A lot of the cyclists that I met and spent some time with shared some similar ideas about what I will call their 'philosophy/outlook on life'. Pushed my body into the unknown and myself as well. I want to say thankyou again to everyone who helped me out and left comments or e-mailed me to check up on me. It was greatly appreciated. I think Holly wins for the most comments. The trip also opened my eyes to the possibility of whats possible if you put your mind to something and are willing to sacrifice a little to achieve your goal whatever that is. I know that I told multiple people along the trip that I think: some people settle. settle for a mediocre job/wife/husband/gf/bf, basically life. People to often take the easy route and just get by being vegetables. If you had told me 4 years ago that I would have run a marathon, completed a triathlon, bicycled 204 miles in one day, ran and rode in 30 degree weather, almost won my first bike race and ridden a bicycle across the country I might have laughed at you and definitely told me you were crazy. BUT I HAVE. I know this isn't for everyone, this is just my little niche. I'm not saying its for everyone, but we can do so much more than we think we can if we just put our minds to it. I'm not saying it didn't come without pain, sacrifice, disappointment, doubt, worry or uncertainty but it did come. It doesn't have to be athletic, but strive for something. I don't want to be 60 and wake up one day and say I wish I had done.....
So, here is a partial list of things I want to accomplish.

Ironman triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run)
learn to swim
hike the washington section of the Pacific Crest Trail with steve
win a bike race
complete a 50 mile run
climb a 14,000 ft peak
backpack in europe
see the tour de france or giro de italia live
visit alaska

anyway, hope you enjoyed the blog and the photos, hopefully will be updateing this when steve and I hike the washington section of the P.C.T. next summer.

Here are a couple of quotes

1 for life

If your life is devoid of any pain, disappointment, or struggle--then you are probably devoid of a life----eric barnes

2 for athletics
CYCLING

"To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks."

Scott Martin

RUNNING

"The only good race pace is suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die."

-Steve Prefontaine

Fun Facts

2009-07-07T23:20:00.000-07:00

trip distance: 4,684 miles
biggest week 745 miles
longest day: 143 miles
shortest day: 12 miles
average miles a day: 74.3 miles
century days: 8
90+ miles days: 9
rest days: 7
longest stretch between services: 78 miles
highest pass: monarch 11,311 feet
most climbing in a day: 11,000 feet
max speed: 58 m.p.h.
most consecutive days without a shower: 3
zen days: 3
dogs hit: 1
times I cried: 2
summits: a lot
weight lost: 15 pounds
gear weight: ? too much!
broken/lost phones: 2

places I stayed
hotel: 10
campground: 17
House/B&B: 19
side of the road/park:24

4 flat tires
2 new tires
1 cracked rim
new handlebar tape
new chain
1 tire made it all the way across!
8-12 spokes broken

best road was seven devils road in Oregon
worst road was in California by some surf spot on a rutted gravel/dirt
toughest climb monarch pass 7 miles @ 6.5% took 2 hours to climb
funnest descent was hayters gap
most scenic state Colorado
best state for cycling Oregon
worst state was Nevada, go figure
best weather California warm and a little rain, but no humidity or 90 degree days
toughest day, last day I rode with the infected saddle sore

favorite foods on the trip
twix ice cream bars
snickers ice cream bars
swiss rolls
cold coke or pepsi
ritz crackers
chinese buffets
well, any buffet

THE RIDERS

2009-07-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here is an incomplete list (because I don't remember everyone I passed ,sorry) of the riders that I met on the trip or saw in passing a runner and a few hikers to. Congratulations to all the riders who completed the journey and push on to all those still on the road. I hope you have tailwinds and no mechanicals.

Matt from Arcata
Mitch
Barbara
African-american man riding home from work
Rob and his friend out for an evening spin
Rob and Chris fron N.Y.
Mike
Group of riders just before highway 1 turnoff
Canadien couple I met outside Samual B. Taylor state park in California
Touring cyclist riding up to seattle on his first day of the trip
Frank from NC 61 years old!
Shawne Camp from California. He is an animal.
Jeremy heading to San Fran
Chris from Essex, U.K.
Roadie from San Diego on a time trial bike by breaks national park
Glen on the handcycle Panguitch,UT
Heather the mountain biker from Canada in Bryce
Nicki riding to Pheonix
John the runner trying to boston qualify!
Claus from Germany 'too much windy'
Ewan from South Korea
Mike from Boise,ID it was fun riding/giggling along with you. let me know you made it.
Mike from switzerland who smokes
cyclist from Amsterdam
cyclist from holland
Ralf
Eric the mountain biker and his coach who rode the Transam back in 1976
Drew
cyclist riding to florence
Danni from L.A.
two cyclists I camped with in Golden City,MO
Couple on a tandem who were German and I learned three words from
three female cyclists I met at Tom and Gale's
Tom and Gale the tandem couple
adventure cycling non-supported riders
Jimmy
adventure cycling supported riders. PUSSIES!
Mach from Seattle
'red man' 'chicken man' and 'poo man'
three cyclists just east of Sebree
MS riders
Chris from Germany 'I don't normally shoot dogs'
19 year old kid from England
Kevin & Max
four cyclists I met one of whom gave me a spoke
two guys and one girl I saw after hayters gap
two couples I saw about 20 miles east of hayters gap
cyclist just before damascus who had thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail
Hot Chocolate who was hiking the A.T.
Nathan, boy scout, and his dad
two ladies who were hiking the A.T. and I gave my couscous to
two guys and two girls I met at a church thanks Aaron for the water
Spoon & Hazard A.T. thru-hikers
roadie who sat up for me on the blue ridge parkway
Aaron,hiked the A.T., and Shaz siblings who were headed to Seattle
Lou, rode a fixie around Boston, and Mallory who were going to San Fransisco via western express.
two others one who had done part of the trans am and the other whose brother had done it a couple of years earlier.

THANKYOU!!!

2009-07-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thank you to some people who sat around and talked with me, or opened their homes up, or were willing to help out us touring cyclists along the way. It was very much appreciated and I hope that you continue to help other riders on their journeys.

This is a chronological list.

Savory cafe owners who gave me a free beer and a ride to the campround.
Artist girl I met at the savory cafe.
Mellisa and Kieth who sang and played the guitar at a campsite in leigit.
Campground host by fort ross who made us sandwiches and gave us chips and firwood.
Miles parents for letting me stay atyour house and eat your food and drink your wine.
John with the dead battery who gave me some chow mein and 2 sodas.
Melody and Frank for teh room when I was numb,tired and hungry.
Dave and San for buying me lunch and giving me some granola bars good luck on the AIDS ride.
Leeann and Rolinwho made me breakfast in Uereka,NV.
The 3 boulder girls
Employee at breaun books in ceder city.
Lance, Steven and Charles who let me stay at the B& B they had rented and dinner.
Lady at the hite rec. area wholet me buy some things even though the store was closed.
Aria & Bailey for dinner and place to set up my tent in ridgway,CO.
Kimberly and Chris at the simple hotel in salida,CO.
Jackie at the bar in salida for the confidence boost and encouragement.
Melissa who split a 6-pack of heinekin with me and walked around town the next morning.
Wetmore general store/restaurant owner who gave me a blanket and dried my clothes in her dryer, also for calling around for a place for me to camp out.
Larry and Joni Castor for the hotel room and dinner.
Shari, Billy, Mel, and Gilbert for the beers, conversations and place to sleep and shower.
Sheridan Lake church for letting cyclists sleep in the basement.
Athleticlub for letting cyclists sleep in your lounge and get a shower.
Dan & Elaine at Elaine's bicycle oasis for the shower and dinner and conversation.
Ray, and Susan, who let us stay at their house in Newton,KS.
Joe in Rosalia at the bar he owned where he told us about ranching and farm life.
Tom & Gale for opening your home up to touring cyclists in Fair Grove,KS.
Tammy for the ride into Ellington,MO
Rafi for the ride into Farmington and dropping me off at the fire station.
Farmington fire department and all the fire fighters for letting me stay in your lounge for a couple days.
Tom for giving me a ride to Festus for a new rim.
The guy at crystal city cycles who a wheel off a bike in the store and switched everything over for me.
Eagles club in Chester,IL for letting us sleep behind your bar and get a shower.
Tanya the bartender at the eagles club for keeping me topped up on beer.
Guy who was watching bowling and bought me a beer.
Rob & Violet a the church in Sebree,KY who opened up the church and fed us all a wonderful dinner.
Family at double L grocery who fed us dinner, gave us a shower and let us sleep under the porch.
Jerome and Sara for giving us a ride to cave city.
Steve from Florida for giving us a ride to mammoth caves.
Guy in the bronco who drove us to cave city.
Guy who had us hop in the bed of his truck and got us to munfordville.
Lady at the cvs store whose husband gave us a ride back to sonora.
Guy outside baardstown library who gave us $10 towards the trip.
Kevin outside walmart who told us about free showers at the truck stop in berea.
Nick on the fixie who told us about a place to camp by the college.
Kid at the gas station who wouldn't let me pay for a water bottle full of coke.
Lady a tthe post office who gave me a can of coke.
Dave who ran the B & B at hindman,KY.
Church that runs 'the place' in damascus for letting hikers/bikers stay there.
Police officer who stopped at the city park in catawba and gave spoon & hazard a ride.
June Curry 'cookie lady' for welcoming cyclists into her home for longer than I have been alive.
Couple in Lexington who let me use their hose.
John in Yorktown for the gatorade, cokes and washing my clothes.
Church in yorktown for opening up that house to touring cyclists.
Guy who gave me a ride over the james river bridge.
Conti's bike shop for the bike box and the mechanic who gave me a ride over to the fedex store.
And lastly the cute Russian girl who snapped my photos at the atlantic ocean.

Also want to say thanks to everyone that followed along and/or posted comments. It was a little motivational boost when I had a comment after a journal entry. I remember telling my mom not to read them to me when I called home because I looked forward to reading them when I did my updates.

6/23 70 79mi 5:25 VIRGINIA BEACH,VA

2009-06-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

For some reason this morning my bike computer decided 'oh well he is almost done dragging me all over the usa and expecting me to work so I guess I should be nice and work on this last day. No idea why it worked today, it just did. Woke up late and sat around. Ate some pasta I found in the cupboard. Read some articles/stories in a notebook left by transam riders. Read one article and cried just a little bit. I think the reality of what I had done finally hit me. They were happy tears though, not sad ones like they usually are. Got on the road around 10 ish and the adventure began. I started off on 17 south and there was absolutely no shoulder and I thought 'oh, f-it I'm not getting killed by a car just so I can say I actually touched the atlantic ocean.' About a quarter mile from where I turned on it widened and there was a shoulder and more stoplights and turn lanes, so I could actually ride with some peace of mind. I was riding in the tiny shoulder over the james river bridge and a policeman pulled up behind me and turned on his lights and said that only cars were allowed on the bridge. He said there was a phone to call the transit people and they would bring a transport vehicle and transport me across. Cool I thought and went in search of the phone. It didn't exist. I flagged down a local biker and he got me a number to the department of transportaion and they knew nothing about it. I saw 2 guys walking out of a restaurant right by the bridge and explained my situationa and asked for a ride. 1 guy said he had to be at a meeting at 1 and he said his buddy was with him. I turned away and muttered a thanks anyway and 1 guy said oh, I'll drive you across. That was pretty cool. He drove me across and I got back on the road. I didn't plan this very well, and I took roads to a tunnel which I obviously couldn't cross and then to a bridge that was under repair and finally, third try is the charm, got across on the military highway road. I got a little love tap from a car by a clueless lady who was talking on her phone. I was riding along and felt a pressure on my rear left side of the bike. She had brushed my rear pannier without even knowing it. It happened very quickly and all I thought was 'o.k. I can't move left, but I'm not being pushed into the gaurdrail, so I'm o.k.' I kind of waved my hand at her, but she had already passed me oblivious. There were a ton of stop lights and I ended up pulling into a bike shop to see if they had a bike box I could use. They did and I pedalled on toward the beach. I could smell the salty air about a half mile away and knew I was getting close. I saw the beach and walked my bike towards the ocean. Stopped and aksed a russian girl to take my picture adn she took a couple of me and the bike and the ocean. I talked to her for a bit and she thought that I was crazy and done some drugs to think up this trip. Rode back to the biek shop blissed out of my mind and got a bike box. I stupidly tried to ride and carry the bike box at the same time. Needless to say I got about 2 pedalstrokes in and fell over on my left side. Scraped up my knee and my pride. 1 of the bike mechanics gave me aride over to the fedex store and I rode my bike over thier to box it up. Took off the wheels, seatpost, handlebars, pedals, skewers adn threw them all in the box along with some other stuff andf tried to pad it as best I could. Put something in my fork so hopefully it won't get damaged and taped the crap out of it. Sent another small box of unneeded stuff home and then just had my drysack filled with stuff and my companion of the last 2 months wating around to get sent back home. Went back to the bike shop and ate at an Italian resaurant. I had been waiting to eat some good Italian food for a while and I ordered a bottle of chianti classico to celebrate. 2 entrees and 1 dessert later I felt satisfied. Talked to the waitress a little and she was impressed by the trip. I'm a little impressed to. I guess I just never sat back and really realized just how massive it really was. Just like with anything I try to look at small little chunks because they seem more manageable than being overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. Asked about some cheap hotels and started waling in that direction. Oh yeah, the food was delicious. Had some ghnocci pasta and it was different from the normal penne thatI usually get but it was good adn the chicken dish that morgan recommended was great. Stoped at a k-mart adn bought a backpack and some more food. I am going to have ahard time not eating everything in sight when I get home because I have ate whatever I wanted for the last 70 days and still lost over 10 pounds. Walked by a busstop and asked bout cheap hotels and the lady there named angel said to follow her. I sat arounda the busstop for about 40 minutes waiting for the bus to come. It finally did and a little while later a transvestite got on and then got in an argument with a guy in the back. They sat and insulted each other for about 5 minutes and then the guy in the back got off at the next stop. It was pretty entertaining. I was one of the few white people on the bus and that was different than I 'm used to up in washington state. Angel and I transferred and my phone had slipped out of my pocket and I didn't realize it. 2 phones lost/broken on the trip. Waited for a couple minutes and got on another bus. Finally pulled up to a stop and angel told me there was a hotel right there. It was about 1:40 a.m. by this time and I ended up paying $45 for a room that I had to leave for checkout in just over 9 hours. I am pretty pissed about my phone, but what can you do? It was an interesting night to say the least. Glad to be done and not have to pedal anywhere tomorrow. Now I just need to figure out how to get to d.c.

I DID IT!

6/22 69 82mi ? yorktrown,VA

2009-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Woke up and got going by 6.a.m. That is the earliest start I have had al trip. Didn't eat breakfast and I picked up some chips ahoy at the first store I came to. Ate at a buffet in williamsburg that was really good and talked to an old man who was interested in all my gear and bike. I think he used to ride a bit back in the day. Updated my blog and found a bike shop after riding to 2 that ahd either moved or closed down. I was a little bit aggrevated for some reason adn I don't really know why. Played phone tag trying to get a hold of someone at the curch in yorktown so that I would have a place to sleep when I got there. The colonial parkway was a nice 2 lane highway with trees on both sides and the pavement was pretty worn down so a lot of rocks were uncovered which made for soem bumpy riding. It felt a little like a mini paris-roubaix which wasneat. Got a hold of a guy named john and he opeded up the house, yes house that the church owned and let bikers stay at. He wa also nice enough to do my laundry and gave me a couple of cokes and gatorades. Got a shower and don't know if/how I'll get to virginia beach. Its looks pretty like sketchy riding or a huge detour that will make me backtrack and add like 50 miles. Went down to a pub because yorktown is just a tourist town and only about 200 people actually live there. It was loud and smoky and I was sandwiched in between people who were talking to their friends, so it kind of sucked. I had a burger and a beer and got out of there. Called some people and just sat around waiting to fall asleep.

6/21 68 126mi ? ashland,VA

2009-06-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Woke and the girls cooked everybody breakfast which was awesome. Got a little bit later start than I wanted, but it was nice to sit around and talk to everybody and just chill out in the morning instead of rushing off first thing. Gave shaz my pepper spray becaus eI didn't need it anymore and I don't think you caan mail that stuff. Hope she doesn't need it or accidentally spray her brother. Hope to hear from them when they get to seattle it would be cool to hear about the rest of their trip. Beer and dinner on me guys! Rode through historic charlottesville and stopped at the visitor center to ask about buffets. The lady there wasn't much help, and as I rode away up a hill I asked a couple about buffets and they told me I could use their hose in the back to wash off. I sprayed off some of my sweat and rinsed out my clothes from the day before. The nice thing about ti being so hot is that your clothes dry pretty quickly if you bungee them to the back of your rack. My legs were a bit dead after the town of mineral and I stopped in at a store and ate a pint of ice cream, my first of teh trip. It seemed to do the trick and I drank some coke. I have been drinking a lot of flat coke lately and it seemes to help keep the enrgy up there. Its just sugar water and caffeine after all. Made if to ashland just before 8 and ate at a buffet and then pedaled in the dark to the first curch I saw which was about 4 miles down the road. There was no traffic though, so it was pretty safe. Ended up sleeping on top of a littel slide/swinset playground because I had seen a black 3 foot snake laying in the road earlier in the day adn I kept hearing wierd animal noises coming from the woods behind the church.

6/20 67 120mi ? cookie lady's house afton,VA

2009-06-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

My bike computer doesn't even try anymore now. It just tells me what time it is which is what it does in sleeper mode. Don't really care about it that much though. I'm not gonna lie, my legs were a little bit sore this morning after my ridiculous day yesterday. Got going a little after 7 a.m. Stopped in daleville and mailed my tent along with some extra clothes and other randon stuff home. Threw away a lot of garbage that I hadn't really used and didn't need anymore. 15 pounds lighter I headed out. One town I stopped in to refill my bottles had no potable water because their well had gotten contaminated. I was lucky to get stopped before ai filled my bottles and took off. Ate at a buffet in lexington and was on country roads for almost the whole day. Followed a river to vesuvius which was right before the last 'horrible, steep, scary, leg breaking climb' according to the westbounders I had been meeting. That climb was 'long' at 4 miles, but it wasn't super steep and you could even recover for about 10-15 seconds in about 5 places where the grades was only 1-2%. In fairness I do have around 4000+ miles in my legs AND I actually rode before that on a regular basis and I like/love climbing. Finished the climb in about 36 minutes and then was on the blue ridge parkway. I was excited to be on the parkway because I had read an article in bicyclign magazine about it a year or so ago and it sounded like a real nice ride. It didn't dissappoint. Great views, good road surface, low traffic (even on a saturday). I stopped and bought a gtorade and then as I rejoined the parkway saw a rider up ahead on a hill who had sat up and looked behind them a couple of times. I put in a good,hard effort to bridge up to them and as I got closer noticed the rider was wearing a purpleish jersey. All right I thought a female rider is up there, this will be great. As I got closer it turned out to be a dude, but a cool dude. He was from the area and chatted and rode together until the cookie lady's house which is just before afton. He pushed it on the climbs because he had no extra wieght and it was good because it made me push harder also, but it made talking difficult. I overcooked 1 of the corners and went off into the grass, but managed to avoid going tumbling down the ditch. I didn't follow the locals line and when the turn tightened I was already on my exit of it. Its good to do that every once in a while to keep your head screwed on straight. Stopped at the cookie ladies house ( she has been taking in cyclists for around 30 years and is a mainstay on the transam route) and decided to stay since there wasn't anything down the road for awhile. Got my picture taken by her and met 4 other westbounders as I was putting it in one of her many photo albums. There were 6 cyclists staying that night. A brother/sister pair Aaron and Shaz who were headed to seattle and hopefully I can get together with them and hear how their trip went. A coule from Boston Lou and Malory who were headed to san fran and taking the western express. A couple of other guys whose names I forget, but one of whose older brother had done the trip a couple years earlier. Made some dinner for myslef with some assistance from the girls and then we all sat around and talked. Talked to Lou about riding around boston on a fixie and just basically chilled out. A little while later malordy cooked up a second dinner and Lou made some tea and we all ate that too. So much junk food to snack on there and so good. Had a little trouble falling asleep for some reason, maybe it was becaus I couldn't hear cars going by during the night?

6/19 66 143mi ? catawba,VA

2009-06-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

Woke upearly and had a hikers secial for $5 at the exxon gas station just outside of town. I got on the road real early at 7:30 and just decided to make some good miles today. Started off with a climb pretty much right off the bat and it wasn't real steep so whatever. Saw a lot of horse trailers on the descent, must be some good equestrian stuff around here. Rode on backcountry farm roads a lot and parralelled the highway a lot. Ran out of water and stopped by a church to see if they had a hose or something. There were 4 cyclists lounging around ther and 1 of the girls, Aaron, gave me some water and I took about half a bottle because I felt bad about running out when I should know better. They told me there was a rider around 10 minutes ahead of me and I thought it might be mike since he had taken a more direct route than me and cut off some miles. I caught up to mike while later and he was in bad shape. He said he was really dragging and just wanted to get to the coast. I think that he needs a day off because he is overtrained, but I don't think he will take one. Beat the darkness and made it to catawba. I gave a little fist pump when I made it into town because I really wanted somewhere decent to sleep. I haven't really been to emotional like that outwardly on the bike. I think I might have given a little fist pump after summitting monarch pass, but I don't know for sure. Found a city park and just after I got there and laid my stuff out apolice officer rolled up, uh oh I thought. He was cool and said to not worry about it. I was al settled down reading my book when he rolled up again and I thought oh no again. He had picked up a couple of thru-hikers and was dropping them off at the park Iwas staying at. I met spoon and hazard, all thru-hikers have trail names, andthey definitely have it harder thatn I do. they were very excited about stuff that I take fr granted on this trip. I rode pretty much all day today, literally. My longest stop was for lunch which was like 30 minures, maybe. snacked on the go and would stop to fill up my bottles. Can't wait to get over the last climb tomorrow, but its going to be another long day.

6/18 65 69mi ? damascus,VA

2009-06-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Woke up early and got going. It was a little chilly in the morning. Didn't stop very much and the climb up hayters gap wasn't that bad. I had to stop once because my tire rear tire was rubbing my frame. When I stopped I noticed the patch was bulging out of the hole. So I took it pretty easy on the descent and prayed that it wouldn't blow on a corner but it was still fun. Saw 2 guys and a girl cyclist just after the descent. About 20 miles later i saw 2 couples riding by. GOt a flat just before meadowview and put a patch on my first tube and out a dollar bill folded 3 times over the hole to try and hold it together. Met a guy right before damascus who had hiked the appalachian trail and was nowriding across teh country! Found the the hostel 'the place' behind the church and dropped off my bags. Took my bike to one of the bike shops and asked them to fix it up for me. Ate a lunch of organic salad and stew at a tiny cafe off main street. It was sooo nice to eat some fresh good food for a change. The stew was really good. walked back to the place and met a father and son. The son, nathan, had been on a boy scout hike with his troop but had stprained his ankle and was waiting for his ride. Got a shower updated my blog and picked up my bike. they threw 3 new spokes on it trued the wheel and put on a new tire since the old one was thrashed. i bought a couple more tubes and got a few extra spokes. Went to fattie's restaurant and ate a burger. They have the fattie challenge and its a 6 pound burger that you get to name if you eat it all. they started out with a 2 poulnd burger and are now up to six. There are some hungry thru-hikers who stop in there. Did some laundry and bought a tall boy of bud to pass the time while I waited for my laundry. Bad idea. Started to burp up a ton of foam as I was drinking the last half and it was pretty gross, worse that normal, not ice cold. Went back to the place and talked to a thru-hiker named hot chocolate for a bit and went to sleep. The creeper trial is here and its a converted railroad grade that is about20 miles long and gravel and cinders. There are a bunch of shops here that will rent you bikes and shuttle you up there and you can pretty much freewheel down. What a bunch of pansies. It started raining as I left to go eat and I saw some people coming down with these ridiculous ponchos and overheard other people complaining about the rain and 'cold'. please, give me a break. It wasn't even cold. I was walking around in a t-shirt and running shorts and sandels and still sweating. Anyway the plac eis awesome for $4.

6/17 64 78mi ? haysi,VA

2009-06-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Woke up to a great breakfast. Had to climb that hill again but I was unloaded this time. Left after chaniging a spoke and putting my spare tire on my rear rim. My steller shwalbe marathon plus finally had to be retired because I was a little scared or riding on it because the liner was showing through the rubber in a lot of places. Broke a spoke pretty early in the day and 1 of the spokes that mike had given me somehow escaped the clutches of my zipties and was long gone, so I just had to roll with it. My bike computer decided to stop playing nice and quit about 2 hours in. No amount of blowing, wiping, hitting or cajolling could get it to work for longer that 3 seconds at a shot. Stopped at a little tiny town and mailed home about 9 lbs 11 ounces of stuff. The lady at the post office was nice and gave me a diet coke, which she gives to all the hiker/bikers coming through town. Broke another spoke sometime later. Met 4 guys who were riding east. 2 of them were doing the western express, pueblo,co->san fran,ca, and the other 2 were doing the transam. Got a spoke from one of them and replaced it right there. Had a really steep climb up 1459 and got a flat on the descent. My spoke had poked through my tire sidewall and caused my to flat. Thankfully I wasn't going into a corner when it happened. I fixed the flat and put a patch over the hoel in the sidewall and kept on going. Almost hit a truck that was taking up the middle of the 1 1/2 lane road. I got by him with about a foot to spare and a couple of inches of pavement on my right side. Got another flat about 5 miles down the road and replaced that one too. Got waved at by a girl before I started some climb which gave me wings for about 90 seconds. The dogs weren't bad at all. I got chased halfheartedly by 5-6, but no huge snarling pit bulls and dobermans like everyone was telling me. There were a couple of rundown little sections, but they were scattered and not the huge 40 mile stretch that everyone had told me about. Everyone I talked to was nice and helpfull even though it was a little hard to decipher through the accent. Finally got into Virginia around 7 or so. A lot later than what I thought. I ate dinner by the high school and waited for the open gym to get over and everyone to leave before I went to the back and slept under an awning. I slept on the ground because I didn't want to set up my wet tent and figured I don't care about snakes anymore! Hope that my rim holds up until damascus which is 60-70 miles away. 3 broken spokes and a blown sidewall with only 1 spare tube is a little scary. Gonna get on the road early and try to get to damascus in the early afternoon. I heard they have a hostel where a lot of the appalachian trail thru-hikers stay which will be pretty cool.

6/16 63 118mi 9:17 hindman,KY

2009-06-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

Woke up and the tent and ground were wet. Had a chai tea at a coffeshop where we filled up our bottles and rolled out. Started riding pretty hard from the start. The first 20 miles were fairly flat and weaved through residential/farmland. It was nice. Stopped to eat some peanut butter on crackers and mike said he wanted to stop at a sit down place in the next town. I told him that I wasn't going to stop and he seemed o.k. with it. Got to the next town and he gave me 2 spokes and my book back. we wished each other good luck and off I went. I rode hard for a bit and there were some steep climbs. I just decided to go as hard as I could and see where I ended up. Mike caught up to me, but I was trying to get to hindman which was over 30 miles away and I had around 3 hours of daylight left. I stayed on 80 which cut off 7 miles. I got rained on for about an hour and had to deal with rumble strips on the side of the highway. Got into hindman and asked where the historical society was. Got directions, followed a couple of signs and then a wall rose up in fronst of me. I swear the grade was over 15%. It only lasted for about 100 ft but it was still tough. A couple of cyclists who had gotten there earlier cheered me up the last couple meters of the climb. Got a shower which was nice to wash the road grime from, well everywhere. Ordered pizza and sat around and ate with max and kevin. It was one of thier birthdays and dave,the owner, brought out some cake with a candle in it. Legs were tired, but i wasn't exhausted today. Hope that I won't be sore tomorrow. Went to sleep in a huge coleman tent.

6/15 62 91mi 6:51 berea,KY

2009-06-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Woke up and rolled out around 8:30. Rolling hills for most of the day with some longer hills towards the end. Missed a turn after eating in harrodsburg and went the wrong way for about 4 miles before realizing my mistake. I have been doing that a little recently and it is very aggrevating. Met a guy from germany named chris after I changed a broken spoke. That is the second spoke I have broken on this wheel which is very frustrating. Chris told us to pick up an air horn for the dogs in eastern kentucky. i practiced my hello, see you around and goodbye in german which was kind of neat. Mike and I rolled into berea and gorged at a pizze buffet. We stopped at walmart to pick up some air horns and A guy stopped to talk to us. His name was kevin and he told us about free showers at a truck stop just over the interstate. We got a free shower and as we were leaving I saw a guy on a fixie ( bike with one gear and no brakes, you stop by skidding or not pedaling and braking with your legs). Caught up to him and asked him about camping. He was cool and had actually done a tour fron lawrence to chicago last summer. He told us we could probably get away with camping by the athletic feilds of berea college adn so we did. It was a little difficult to go to sleep because it was still warm and my tent was still soaked from the thunderstorm night.

6/14 61 67mi 5:05 lincoln homestead state park,KY

2009-06-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Woke up and took a shower at the truck stop just up the road. Got a late start. Ran into a dog that ran in front of me. Was going about 12 m.p.h. and went down on my right side. Scraped up my elbew and a little road rash on my right hip. Bike is o.k. I think that I might have broken the dogs ribs. Don't feel bad about it either. Cut off about 10 miles going into baardstown by staying on a highway. Ate at a chili's just when a rainstorm hit. When we had finished eating it had cleared up. Ran into a group of ms riders who are going across the country supported. There was a couple from seattle which was neat. They warned us of the dogs up ahead. Camping under a picnic shelter and had some couscous mixed with chili. It was decent. 2 ong days and I should be out of kentucky.

6/13 60 29mi 2:16 sonora,KY

2009-06-14T12:39:00.001-07:00

Woke up and jointly decided to hitchhike to the mammoth caves because we really didn't feel like riding the 80 mile dtour and adding another couple of days to the trip. Got to sonora around 11. We stashed our bikes behind a tree and locked them up. Ate subway for lunch and made a couple of signs. One read mammoth cave and another read south. We stuck our thumbs out for awhile and no takers. Finally after an hour when I was just about ready to give up a couple named jerome and sara in a jeep gave us a lift to cave city which was 9 miles east of mammoth cave. We thanked them for th ride and then started walking holding out our signs. About 15 minutes later Steve from florida was giving us a lift in his truck. He was on a roadtrip himself and was visiting his brother. He dropped us off at the visitor center and wished us good luck. All the longer more exciting tours were all sold out and we ended up geting a guided tour for 45 minutes which was interesting. At least we got to see the caves, so I shouldn't complain. We finished the tour around 5:30 and started walking back towards cave city. A guy named alex picked us up in his bronco and gave us a lift to cave city. He invited us to go camping with him and his family at his buddies pond, which we would have done except that our bikes were locked up 40 miles away from us with all our stuff. We had some subway sandwiches made and prepared for the possibility of maybe walking all night back to our bikes if we couldn't get a ride. Just outside the cave city limits a guy let us ride in the back of his pickup to munfordville. We were still about 20 miles away from sonora. Stopped at a cvs pharmacy to use the restroom and the lady asked if I was a biker. I told her were we were, but we were trying to get back to sonora to our bikes after hitching to mammoth cave. I went outside and sat down toeat my sandwich when One of the ladies popped her head out the door and said that the other cashiers husband was coming to pick her up and would give us a ride to sonora. He showed up about 5 minutes later and we all got into his car and took off. He narrowly avoided a dog that had wandered into the road during the drive back to our bikes. Mike and I thanked them for the ride and celebrated the day of hitchhiking and seeing the mammoth caves with an energy drink (our first of the trip) and subway sandwiches. It was around 11 at night and I thought that I remembered seeing a ballfield/park just west of town. We rode around for about 20 minutes and then turned around and ended up just throwing down our sleeping pad in a grassy field in the middle of town. I woke up with a bad stomachache in the middle of the night which I think was caused by the massive amounts of candy and pop we had consumed during the day. The energy drink to cap it off probably didn't help either. 2 trains went by in the middle of the night which was pretty cool because we were about 30 feet away from the tracks. They were loud though and woke me up. Glad to see the mammoth caves and don't think that people from kentucky see many hitchhikers. The locals certainly don't stop.

6/12 59 97mi 7:27 6mi E of madrid,KY

2009-06-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Got a late start around 9:30 and ran into 3 guys just outside of town. They told us about the double L grocery that had showers and would let you sleep under the awning of the store. It was cool out today with some cloud cover, which was nice to get a little break from the heat. The hills were a little bit longer, but not as steep as we have had the last couple of days. Me and mike seem to ride well together. We are about the same fitness and get along well. I started hamering agin at the end of the day to try and get to the store not too late. We crossed into eastern standard time which now puts me 3 hours ahead of everyone back home. Found the double L grocery and talked to the owners arnold and lucy. They are really nice. They fed us 2 delicious hamburgers each and some green beans from their garden. I am always amazed that people let total strangers into thier homes and lives without knowing a thing about you except that you are riding a bicycle. Talked with them for a bit and then went to sleep outsie on a recliner.

6/11 58 98mi 7:16 sebree,KY

2009-06-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

Woke up to a little rain and my cycling clothes being soaked and having mud on them. I guess i'm wearing my other shorts/jersey pair today. Packed up all my wet stuff and headed out. I met up with mike in Elizabethtown and he ended up breaking his chain after he got all his spoke stuff figured out. He is rolling along on a walmart chain now! Met a guy named mack from seattle and he was heading west. Saw an omish guy and some omish girls today. Should have stopped in at thier store, but I wanted to make some miles today. Took a ferry for free into Kentucky across the ohio river and now Mike and I only have Kentucky and Virginia to go. I have ridden by the ohio, little arkansas and mississippi rivers without entering those states. I just think its kind of funny. We had heard about a church in sebree that was like a hostel adn they would feed you dinner for free, so we decided to try and make it there. We were about 20 miles from sebree and I started hammering it. I felt a little bad for mike, but he hung in there cadel evans on a mountain stage. We got absolutely pelted with rain. I mean it was coming down sideways and it stung your skin. A lady in an suv rolled up to us and told us there was a tornado warning until midnight for the county we were in. Me and mike looked at each other shrugged and told her we could make it to the next town which was only about 4-5 miles away. The road was pretty flat and we made really good time like 16-17m.p.h. average for that last little bit. We stopped and downed some coke and pushed on the last 12 miles to sebree. We only got rained on for about 45 minutes and then it stopped. Made it to the church just as it opened up again and were shown around by pastor rob. We each got a shower and then met 3 other cyclist who had just graduated and were going to the west coast. I don't remember their names, but I remember their nicknames poo man, red man, and chicken man. They were all pretty cool and we all ate dinner together at rob and violet's house. It was a lot af food and it was all very good. We finished with dinner and sat round fora bit. Around 11 o' clock i couldn't keep my eyes open any more and went to sleep.

6/10 57 102mi 7:46 10mi W of eddysville,IL

2009-06-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

Woke up hungover and tired. I mean really hungover. I thought I was going to vomit and I felt sick for the first hour of riding. Didn't get on the road until 10:15 in the morning. Met a guy who helps run the adventure cycling tours and was switching off driving the support van for the supported (no bags, aka wussy) riders doing the transam. I passed a bunch of them today in the morning and they are mostly older folks. There was one couple who was around my age. Anyway, I took the mississipps river alternate. Once you got off the main highway and away from all the semi-trucks it was awesome. It was flat country roads with absolutely no cars and you could catch glimpses of the river to my right. The rivers out here just kind of flow along, there aren't any big boulders or rapids in them at all. Just a wide lazy flowing river. Great for floating I would imagine. Got off route going into carbondale, but I managed to get back on track without to much trouble. I rode through the crab orchard national refuge and it was awesome. No cars and tree lined roads. I saw a bunck of deer and some other wildlife. It was cool. Rode until it got dark and I almost pulled into a campground but then I thought better of it and continued up the road. I rode until it got dark and I camped by th side of the road next to what I think was an old construction site. I set up my tent with my rainfly and ate some peanut butter and crackers for dinner. I set my bike on its side with the cover over it and my cycling clothes on top of it. Laid down in my tent in my boxers and I was to hot to sleep. It is so humid here that you don't really cool off and you just feel sticky and gross for most of the night if it has been a hot day. 10 minutes later it started raining with thunder and lightning which was awesome. That brought the temperature down and cooled me off a little. I decided to go outside and let the rain wash a little of the days grime off me. I stood outside for about 10 minutes and tried to wipe some of the sweat and road grime off me. Every 5-8 seconds the night would be lit up by a lightning flash. There were only a couple of times when the thunderclap was really close. There were some windgusts that would bend the tent around my body and I would stretch out an arm and leg to make it regain its shape. I didn't stake down the tent because the ground was so hard packed. My rainfly/vestibule collapsed into the sides of the tent because the rocks that were acting as stakes got blown around. I just kind of laughed and figured that its just another part of the adventure. Today was great. After my hangover wore off in the morning it was beautifulThe roads were good with little traffic and the scenery was great. The storm at the end of the day to cap it off was like icing on the cake. It did make it a little difficults to sleep though. I guess I would call this zen day number 2.

6/9 56 81mi 6:41 chester,IL

2009-06-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

TOm picked me up around 9:30 and drove me up to festus with all my stuff. There are actually 2 bike shops in festus and I called the emerald city shop and he drove me to the crescent city shop. The guy at the shop didn't have any rims in stock and he called around and no other shops near him did either, He ended up pulling a rim off a biek in the store and selling it to me. Swapped out the cassette and tire and I was ready to go again. I thanked tom and then headed back down to farmington. It was about 30 miles back down to farmington to get back on route with my maps. I wasn't going to go back and reride the 80 miles that I hitchhiked and I am o.k. with missing that little chunk. Stopped in at a ryan's buffet and the manager recognized me from sunday.A nice lady gave me a coupon when I was in line for the buffet and saved me some money. A couple of patrons and waitresses came up and talked to me about my trip because they had over heard me talking about it. I was like a mini-celebrity, it was odd. Took off and was a little ways from the illinios border. The terrain was flat to slightly rolling and I made some good time. I got rained on for about the last hour and a half. Made it there around 6-7 and saw the mississippi river. I walked my bike about halfway across because there was no shoulder and then waited for no cars and pedaled the rest of the way across the bridge. I was wandering around trying to find the eagles club which I heard I could stay at and a guy waved me over to his porch. He was hanging out there with his girlfriend and he asked about my trip. His name was ed and he was a master riverboat captain. He thought that I had warrents in oregon and that was why I was on my trip. He told me not to go to the eagles club because 'it was to political'. He told me to go a bar called the moose further in town. His girlfriend was nice and tried to give me directions to the park and he kept interrupting her. Ed told me that he rode a mtorcycle across the country once, like I was supposed to be impressed of in awe of him or something. Ed was a jackass! Called the eagles club and asked about camping they said it was o.k. and I pulled up a couple minutes later soaked and glad to get a place to stay for the night. I got a shower for $5 and they said I could sleep under the pavillion in th back. I ate a whole fried chicken for dinner for $6 and then had some beers. There was a guy who was watching bowling who bought me a beer which I really appreciated. Actually, I had a lot of beers and closed down the bar at 1a.m. I staggered out to my sleeping pad on a picnic table and fell asleep. happy birthday LIZ!

6/8 55 0mi farmington,MO

2009-06-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Woke up and saw frank roll out. Waited arouind with the guys for the shift change. Walked around town a little bit and tried to find some gifts for the family, but they were all lame or way too big. Went to a restaurant in town and ate 2 appetizers because they me4ssed up my first one and made me my original order for free. Had a couple beers and went back to the firehouse. Guy named jimmy showed up and I went and talked to him a bit while he had dinner. He is getting really late starts and only putting in like 40-50 miles a day. Went to bed and I wasn't nearly as cold as last night. Kind of wanting to get going again and make some miles toward the coast.

6/7 36mi 3:13 +75mi hitchhiking farmington,MO

2009-06-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

Woke up and trued my back wheel so it doesn't hit my brake pads any more. It is still wobbly, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Got an early start around 7-8am. Met some riders who were on an adventure cyclign group tour and talked to some of them for a while. I also got chased by 3 dogs at once which was fine except that 1 of them was in front of me and you don't really know what he is going to do. If the dogs are behind me I don't worry about them and just ignore them for the most part. More rollers and the road is a lot more twisty. Had some bugs escorting me after about an hour of riding which was pretty annoying. They just fly in front of your face and circle around your head buzzing in your ears. My back tire started to wobble pretty bad and I pulled over on an uphill to see what was going on. Cracked rear rim. I think that I overtightened a spoke or something because the nipple is pulled in towards the hub and the area around it is cracked. I didn't want to ride on it and have it explode on a descent. I hit 50m.p.h. on a descent today and I don't want to go down at those speeds. Stuck my thumb out and a lady named tammy (sp) stopped and gave me a ride to ellington which was bout 10 miles away. I sat in ellington for about a half hour before a guy named rafi (sp) picked me up and gave me a ride to farmington which ws 65 miles away. Some people would give me a wave when I had my thumb out which I thought was funny/aggrevating. I saw a lot of boats and it seemed that everyone was floating the river or going boating today. Rafi dropped me off at the firehouse in farmington and they let me stay for the night. I guess they get a lot of cyclists through there and let them stay and use the facilities which is great. They said that the town is turning some little building into a kind of free hostel for bike tourists sometime soon. It sounds really cool. I got a shower and walked to a buffet called ryan's steakhouse which was really good, but I ate way too much and kind of didn't feel good as I wlked back to town. I sat on a bench to let the food settle and who rolls up but frank. I flagged him down and told him where I was staying. He rolled his bike tothe firehouse and them met his best friend who had just randomly seen him on the road and they went off to get some dinner. One of the firemen, Tom, called around and found that the nearest bike shop is in festus which is 40 miles north of here. He said he would give me a ride up there on tuesday morning because the shop is closed on mondays:( I got to ride i the fire truck when they went to lower some mast on a mobile command unit over at the police station. It was pretty neat. I'm going to sleep in the lounge with frank tonight and just hand out in town tomorrow.

6/6 53 104mi 8:20 summersville,MO

2009-06-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

Woke up kind of early because the girls wanted to leave early. Gale made us pancakes which was a great way to start the morning. Ate up, got my stuff together and took some pictures and then we all rolled out. Pumped up my tires which was a good thing because my tire pressure was down to around 50 pounds which is about 30 below the normal. About 20 minutes into the ride I met a german couple on a tandem. They were really nice and I learned how to say hello, goodbye and see you around. Actually I forgot how to say goodbye, but I remember the other 2 words. I was making good time and decided to try and make it to summersville. The terrain is hilly with some steep rollers, but its not anything super hard. My back tire is really wobbly and I stopped to tighten some of the spokes at a gas station because some of them had no tension on them at all. There were a couple of idiots in cars, well trucks today. I guy had his hand out the window and flipped me off as he was riding by, another guy honked for about 10 seconds as he was coming up behind me, another passenger yelled something out his window as he went by. oh well, you get people like that anywhere and 98% of the drivers have been nothing short of great so far, so I can't complain. Saw mike in houston and he was opushing his bike around town. He had his mom overnight him some spokes, chain whip, cassette removal tool and wrench because he had busted another spoke, but it wasn't going to get there until monday and he was bore to tears with much of the town closed on saturday and sunday. I gave him 'farewell,my subaru' to read since i had finished and wished him luck as I headed off to summersville. Just outside of houston I felt a little light headed and dizzy. I stopped and ate some granola bars and rested for a couple of minutes and felt better. I thought I had been keeping up on my eating all day, but apparently not. I got into summersville and was pretty beat. Ate an ice cream bar and had a coke to perk me up. Found the 'city park and set up camp. Ate some dinner of couscous and tried to straighten my wheel out with the little bit of daylight I had left. My back rim is so out of shape that aI unhooked my back brake cable to keep the rim from rubbing. Will work on it tomorrow morning and get it sorted out.

6/5 52 73mi 6:11 fair grove,MO

2009-06-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

I got a little bit cold last night and put on my pants in the middle of the night. Decided to try and get a hold of the guy in fair grove and stop there instead of continuing on to marshfield. I got in touch with him and had a lunch of peanut butter/jelly stripes on crackers. Went over a bridge that the road signs said was out, but the new bridge was almost complete and the construction workers let me cross without any trouble. Score another one for the cyclists which makes 3. Glad I didn't have to backtrack because it would have been a 20 mile detour or more. Had to go around some construction later in the day and had to go alongside a 2 lane 1-way highway for about a mile. Heading North I had a nice wide shoulder, but heading south I didn't have any shoulder at all and it was kind of scary. Stopped at the library in fair grove to wait for his call and he ended up showing up and gave me directions to his house. He told me the door was unlocked and to make myself at home. I found the house and took a shower and got cleaned up. It is very weird to be in a complete strangers house without them there. Tom showed up a little while later and I started talking to his wife. There was a knock on the door and 3 female touring cyclists had showed up. These were the first female riders I had seen all trip.
They were all really cool. A couple of them started in kentucky and one started in yorktown. We had spaghetti for dinner with some sketchy garlic bread, but it was really good. I contributed a little parmesian cheese to the mix. Tom and gale went out for a tandem bike ride and we all sat around and talked for a bit. I talked to tom about racing a little bit which was pretty cool. Tom gave me a velonews tour de france preview magazine to read and that was cool to catch up on some racing news before falling asleep.

6/4 51 94mi 7:19 golden city,MO

2009-06-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Woke up kind of early and ate some pop-tarts. Got everything all packed up and hit the road. Felt really good and had good legs all day. Really happy to get back on the bike as odd as it may sound. Stopped in a town and updated my blog. Met a young guy named drew who was heading west and another guy who was on his way to florence which I think is in kansas. Met a runner named danny who was riding to the west coast. I had a head/crosiwnd all day from the NW, but it wasn't very strong. Mostly rolling hills today and I don't think that I have used my smal ring since Colorado. I heard that the hills here are pretty steep, but they aren't mountains so they can't be that bad. I had a great day today. It was nice to be back on my bike and not in pain. It was sunny out and a little cloudy so it didn't get ridiculously hot. Was in a real good mood all day today. The only thing missing was some bob marley music in the background and it would have been perfect! I was happy to be making progress toward the coast again and not holed up in a motel room wondering if my trip was over. Passed into Missouri which was sweet, its always nice to be finished with a state. Only IL, KE and VA left.

6/3 50 0mi chanute,KS

2009-06-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Woke up and organized my stuff. Took a prescription pill and the label read drink with plenty of water and avoid prolonged exposure to direst or artificial sunlight. um.... I don't know how that is going to work but o.k. Maybe I'll turn into a vampire or something. Anyways went to the library and then mailed some stuff home including my sleeping bag and bought some stuff at wallmart. Also did all the laundry that I forgot to do yesterday. Went to the santa fe park and ate dinner. After dinner 2 cyclists came up an they were riding from indianapolis to colorado. One of them, eric, was going to participate in a 50 mile mountain bike race. The other had done the transamerica trail back in 1976 and had toured a bunch in other places. We sat around and talked a bit and then I started reading 'in defense of food' which I'm really excited about.

6/2 49 0mi chanute,KS

2009-06-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

Mike, Framk and Ralph left early this morning and so now I'm alone here. Did some laundry and asked about a clinic. I walked over there and they let me see a doc. When I showed it to him he said, 'that's impressive.' He cut it and pushed all the fluid out and told me not to ride on it for a day to let it drain out. He also pushed some gauaze in there to keep it open. Had my vitals checked and my resting heart rate is 47 and my weight is 177 pounds, I lost about 10 pounds since I started. Sat around and watched some t.v. and watched the UW womens softball team wih the national chammpionship which was kind of fun. Watched earth 2100 on abc which was very interesting. Could almost fall asleep in a normal position.

6/1 0mi chanute,KS

2009-06-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

woke up and had bled/pus all over the sheets. I feel really,really, bad for the roomservice lady. Walked to walmart and bought some fruit,yogurt and stuff to make sandwiches. Sat around all day and took some epson salt baths to try and bring the swelling down and infection out. Heard a knock on our door and frank and ralph greeted us. Ate dinner with them and caught up with frank about how his trip was going. Its tough because I can't sit down normally and have to keep shifting from cheek to cheek and laying on my back for the most part. Swelling went down a bit from last night and it was easier to be comfortable.

5/31 47 70mi 6:09 Chanute,KS

2009-06-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

today sucked.Didn't sleep very well at the park. I have lots of insect bites all over me now. I woke up covered in sweat once , that was really sweet. Then a breeze came througha and I got chilled. oh the joys of sleeping in the great outdoors! It was o.k. though. Ate the last of my organic northern california oatmeal. I have been carrying that stuff forever. Its hard to eat oatmeal in the morning when you are sweating standing around in your boxers at 8:30 in the morning. Hot food just isn't really appealing, I don't know why. I never really got comfortable all day. My ass was in agony all freaking day. Stopped in a little town to eat and met a 91yr old man named glen. We talked to him for a bit and then headed on our way. Mike was struggling the last half of the day. I was in pain from my infection, so we didn't talk to much. Had a little bit of confusion trying to find a road but found it right where it was supposed to be. Ran into a guy from holland travelling east. He told us the store that we were planning on stopping at was closed on sundays. We got to the store and found a pump in the back so We could fill our bottles. We dranka bunch and then just sat around for about an hour. It was excrutiating getting back on the bike. I was walking around like a bow legged cowboy and I couldn't get comfortable on the bike. I had been riding all day with as little of my right side on the seat as possible. My knee was sticking out a good 2 inches from normal so that I wouldn't put pressure down there. I smacked my handlebars a couple times out of frustration. We ate at a salad and pizza bar for dinner and I wanted a hotel room, so we split one. Plan to take a rest day tomorrow and hopefully figure out a way to heal up. Don't want to quit. not this 'close' to the end. The hard part is over, just have to finish these last ~1700 miles.

5/30 46 78mi 5:24 Eureka,KS

2009-06-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

Woke up and susan,Ray's wife, had made us french toast which was great. A couple of the girls had drawn us some pictures/notes for encouragement and that was really cute. Headed out and felt o.k. Had a tailwind and crossed paths with some charity ride. Met a guy from switzerland named mike who lit up a cigarette when we were talking to him. He was traveling to Oregon and later an older guy fron amsterdam named Gaap showed up. It was fun talking to those 2. Coming into Rosalia I was on my last legs. Stopped and grabbed a couple of gatorades and a mountain dew. Chatted with the owner of the place joe and signed his guestbook. Shawne Camp was there 2 days ahead of us. Learned a little about ranching from joe and a bull will eat 50lbs of hay and drink 35gallons of water a day! Also heard a story from joe about a boy who fell and broke his leg in a pigpen and a pig bit the bone that was sticking out of his leg and started swinging the kid around. He screamed for about 10 seconds before he passed out. Hopefully no one just puked on their computer screen. Anyway mad e it into Eureka and had 2 bison doublecheeseburgers for lunch at a littel drive up joint that were really good. I can't sit down normally anymore and I try to lay down flat on the ground if I can. Camping at the city park and jumped in the pool after everyone left to wash all the grime off our bodies. It rained for a little bit, maybe a half hour and there was some thunder, but it wasn't a full on storm.

5/29 45 82mi 5:48 newton,KS

2009-06-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

Woke up and had some swelling down by the right side of my perenium. It took me agood 10-20 minutes to get sort of comfortable on the saddle. My right testicle didn't hurt anymore which was good news. Had a tailwind today and it felt awesome. I was climbing standing a lot more and I felt really fatigued whenever I would get off the bike. I hated to stand around and would sit if I could and lie down whenever possible. I have never felt this level of fatigue the whole trip. Finally made it into newton and ate at an all you can eat buffet. I wasn't walking normally because the pain between my legs was so great. We were going to camp down the road a couple of miles when a guy in a company van stopped and invited us to sleep in his house. His name was Ray and he had a bunch of little grandkids over. He put us upstairs in his huge house and we each got a room to ourselves. His house was old but well maintained and I took a bath in a claw footed tub. I haven't taken a bath like that since, well I don't know when. Read a little bit and then fell asleep. It felt great just to rest my legs and get a shower. It has been really hot lately especially in the middle of the day.

5/28 44 94mi 6:35 30mi W of larned,KS

2009-06-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

Woke up and headed out around 9am. Rode with micheal all day, we seem to ride about the same speed. He is from boise,ID and wants to be an RN so he can travel the world. I couldn't get comfortable on my seat all day and every time we would stop my right testicle would hurt for about 10 minutes. Like I had just gotten hit there or something. Stopped in a grocery store in Larned and bought some groceries and had some subway. Heard that the public pool was free for bikers so we headed over because it was so hot out. We were the oldest people there by far. It felt a little bit weird. All of the staff was like 15-16, so it was odd to see bo adult supervision at all. we just stood in the shallow end and talked for a while. The water was pretty cold and we went down the waterslide before we left. Pushed on toward mickerson which was over 50 miles away and rode until it was dark. Camped on a dirt road next to an aminal wildlife preserve and we could hear all sorts of animals all night long.

5/27 43 67mi 4:44 bazine,KS

2009-06-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

had the leftovers from last nights dinner and rode out to an overcast day. Stopped to update my blog and came back out to sunshine. Got into bazine around 4p.m. and took my time today. I am staying at elaine's bicycle oasis and I planned my last two days so that I would stay here tonight. Dan is her husband and is a rancher. He told me he bales hay/alfalfa for people. Had ashower which was wonderful and a guy named micheal showed up. He had broken a spoke and walked 3 miles to get to the oasis. I had an extra spoke and changed out his broken one for him. We had 'haystacks' for dinner and then dan made up some popcorn. We sat around and talked and then me and mike slept out on their porch. You can't beat that for $10. It has been a while since I slept in my tent.

5/26 42 74mi 6:20 scott city,KS

2009-05-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

woke up to rain. Made some oatmeal on the stovetop and headed out. About 12 miles into the day I crossed into Kansas. Ate lunch in a diner and had 2 doublecheeseburgers. Kept riding and stopped at a gas station to let my hands warm up. Bought a hot chocolate and talked to some old tymers sitting there about my trip. It was cold,windy and raining all day. It was fine though, just felt like another long training ride back home except there weren't any hills. Made it to scott city around 6pm and found the athleticlub. It is a pool/gymastics/weight training facility where they let me sleep in there lounge and get a shower for $10. Put my wet clothes in the laundry and went to the grocery store in town. Called a couple people and read for a bit. Trying to finish 'dreams of my russian summers' so I can start on one of my other books. Today was the first day I got rained on all day and I can't complain. halfway through the trip and only one full day of rain, thats easy.

5/25 41 84mi 7:20 sheridan lake,CO

2009-05-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

woke up and took a shower and headed over to that pancake breakfast. $5 got me sausage,eggs and pancakes. I filled up and got on my way. Saw a lot of emty railcars sitting on the tracks. Have been paralelling a railroad all day. Ate lunch at a city park and saw a couple of snakes on the shoulder that I avoided didn't know if they were dead or alive. Had a crosswind from the north again today. Met a german named 'claus' who was riding from 'chicago to the middle mountains of the usa and then to oregon.' Got rained on about the last hour of riding. pulled into the gas station at sheridan lake and saw a sign that said cyclists are welcome to use the basement of our church. I asked a kid shooting hoops where the basement was and he showed it to me. Took him over to my bike and showed him all the stuff I was carrying. Set up in the basement and read for a bit then fell asleep. Had some right quad pain but my tendons on my left knee felt better.

5/24 day40 27mi 2:20 sugar city,CO

2009-05-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

got up and had breakfast downstairs in the lobby. Ate a lot. Updated my blog in the computer room. Saw larry adn joni before they left for the spanish peaks and had a little bit more to eat. Got on the road and got rained on for about 5 minutes and then it was sunny except for a crosswind from the north. Backtracked and got back onto the adventure cycling route and just really, really didn't feel like riding. Stopped at sugar city and went into a bar called smitty's. Talked to the bartender/owner shari for a bit and showed her some pictures of my trip. A little while later 2 guys named golbert and mel showed up. They were 2 brothers who had retired from the railroad. I talked with them for a whle and then headed across the street to eat a a little cafe. Had a burger there and then came back to smitty's. A little while later another brother named billy came in and he was married to shari. I sat around and talked to them for hours and shari was nice enough to find me a place to sleep so I didn't have to sleep in the park. I slept on the couch of her mom's house while her and billy slept in another room. I was very glad that I stopped in and met all of them. It wasnice to relax and not think about riding or anything and just chat with people for a bit. I need to try and do more of that. Found out about a pancake breakfast tomorrow morning from the lady who runs the cafe and will definitely hit that up.

5/23 day39 93mi 6:58 la junta,CO

2009-05-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

woke up and got an early start. started off wearing knickers and ls jersey. Got into pueblo after a couple of hours and changed into shorts and a shortsdleeve jersey. Rode through a city park with a zoo in it and it was nice. Rode through some quiet residential neighborhoods and it was nice to be off highways for a couple of miles. Called larry and left a message that I would be there around 3-4. Got out of pueblo and a sign said 60 miles to la junta. I thought great I am going to get there at like 6-7 at night. An hour or so later I got rained on for an hour and stopped to put on booties,arm warmers,leg warmers and gloves. Then after it stopped I took them all off. I was taking my clothes on and off so much I felt like a stripper. had a head/tail/crosswind for the last couple of hours and actually made really good time and got to the hotel around 4. Tooka quick shower and then met larry and joni in the lobby. We talked for a bit and then I showed larry some pictures and some of my gear in my room. Later on we went and and ate dinner at a place called 'a taste of tuscany' and it was very good. dropped about 2000ft elevation total and had a lot of slow rolling hills today. Met 2 guys who were riding from missouri to san fran. My right inside quad had a knot in it but after the rainshower it loosened up and felt fine. Some tendons on my right leg by my knee running up into my hamstring/quad are kind of achy. Not sure where I'll go tomorrow, but its about 25 miles to get back on my route and then I'll just head east. I'm going to try and take it easy.

5/22 day38 73mi 6:50 wetmore,Co

2009-05-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

Stayed up late last night talking to mellisa who came into the hostel late. Split a 6 pack with her and got to bed around midnight 1 a.m. Woke up early and made chocolate chip/banana waffles which turned out better than I thought considering I haven't made waffles in years and have never added anything to them. Chris and Mellisa ate the leftovers becaus eI had made way too many. Walked around the city of salida with Mellisa and they had an amphitheatre which was pretty neat. Bought a book for $5 at a used bookstore. The problem with bookstores is that I see 4-5 books tht look good, so I pick the cheapest one and then write down the others to hopefully find later. Swapped my front and rear tires and lubed my chain. checked my e-mail and uncle larry is going to be in la junta, CO around saterday afternoon. I gave hima call and left about noon so that I could get over the last of the climbs of colorado. My front tire wasn't seated properly and I had to let the air out and reinflate it as I left town. Started raining just past cotopaxi and the road A1 was a bunch of cracked red pavement. Rained pretty much the rest of the day. Got over the summit at around 9,000 ft and then started the descent. Got hailed on for about 10 minutes. It seems like the more miserable the conditions the more I like it and I get some wierd satisfaction riding in them. It would have been a fun descent if it was dry, but wet it was petty treacherous. Took a bad line through one corner and went into the oncoming lane witha car coming. Tried to motion sorry my fault to the driver, but I don't know if he understood my arm movements. Got really cold coming off the descent. Got shivering/shaking cold. got my lower jar is jackhammering my teeth cold. Saw patches of snow on the ground as I was trying to make it to wetmore. finally made it and pulled up to a steakhouse/general store. A girl wa standing outside and asked if I was eating. I mumbled yes and then stripped off all my layers and put on a dry longsleeve shirt. Went inside and just sat down and tried not to spill some hot chocolate that I got. It took me about 30 minutes to warm up. The owner saw how cold I was and gave me a blanket to wrap myself in. She also threw my clothes in her dryer at her house to dry them out a little and called to see if I could camp by the community/library building just up the road. The hospitality and kindness just blew me away. I ended up camping on top of a picnic table with a little roof overhead and just laid out my sleeping bag. Had to walk around in the dark for a bit trying to find a guy named alvin and there was this dog that was barking its head off and you could hear its cahin scraping against things as it ran back and forth. It was kind of unnerving. ended up sleeping o.k. after the dog finally shutup.

day37 72mi 6:40 salida,CO

2009-05-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Woke up early at 6a.m. to overcast skies and it was cold. Put some embrocation on my legs and headed out. Got into gunnison and had some tea at a coffee shop becasue My fingers weren't working to good becaus eI was too lazy to put on my full fingered gloves. Changed into knickers and put on my gloves and headed out. made decent time to the the start of the climb and got rained on for about an hour. Reminded me of washington and I was wondering when I would run into some bad weather. This was the biggest and pretty much last pass that I had to go over. Monarch pass is over 11,300 feet high and marks the continental divide for my trip. I am also about halfway done with my trip, around 2200 more miles to go. I met a biker who was from belgium who was touring and he was warming up after the descent by the side of the road. We talked for awhile and he told me it was raining at the top and the road was good pavement but steep. Saw a sign that read 7 miles to the summit and started to climb. It started raining and I put my raincoat back on, knee warmers under my knickers and booties with another pair of wool socks. I love smartwool socks, they are awesome. Climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed some more. A red jeep passed and started honking and yelled and gave me a fist pump out the window and that cheered me up for about 20 yards. I never went above 6m.p.h. the whole climb. It took me 2 hours of contiuous climbing to get to the top. That is like a 3.5 mile an hour average. That climb was brutal and cold and windy and raining. I stopped at the top and got a picture of the sign for the continental divide and then went inside to warm up and who was in there but shawne. I couldn't believe it. He was sick for a couple of days and I caught up to him. We sat around and talked for a bit and decided to descend the nountain together. He was going to push on about 50 more miles and I was going to try ands tay ina hostel in salida because nicky said it was cool and I have been wanting to stay in 1 since I started the trip. 2 hrs to climb it and 20 minutes to descend it. We rolled into salida 23 miles away in 40 minutes. I asked around an found the hostel and shwne continued on. Got a hot shower and am going to do some laundry. Went to a laundromat and stopped at a bar to wait for it to get done washing. Met a girl named jackie there and she was very supportive of the trip and encouraging. Got to talk to miles and pat and steve as I was folding my laundry/walking home and I really feel happy and good about what I've accomplished. Somehow going over the continental divide boosted my spirits. I'm about halfway done and I fell really good about today. Went through some nasty weather, met some cool people, got a shower, had a beer, met up with shawne. Today was a good day. I'm very content right now. That also might b the 3 beers talking. I don't know.

I am 2 days away from pueblo,Co. If the boulder girls want me to come up and hang out I will, but I really don't want to backtrack once I'm past pueblo, so shoot me an e-mail leftd@usa.com and I will ride up there, otherwise maybe I'll see you around.

day36 85mi 7:20 5mi E of gunnison,CO

2009-05-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

Woke up and made some oatmeal in the house. Got a late start around 8:30. Made really good time into montrose 27 miles in 1:47 about 16m.p.h. average. It was slightly downhill though. Loaded up on groceries at walmart which was really cheap and bought 'in defense of food' which they had on sale and I had been wanting to read. Ate at areally good chinese buffet and gorged myself. Ate way too much and felt sluggish on the rollout of town. rode a couple miles and then started a 4 mile climb. got over it and then an hour or so down the road started aother 4 mile climb. Got over that one and then rode along a river/resevior awhich was really pretty. Most of the roads I have been taking are right along rivers or cliffs which is really cool. The grades are pretty gradual and everywehre you look are mountains. In ridgway I was surrounded on all sides by mountains. At night you can see so many stars, I remember loking out my tent one night and staring right at the big dipper. Stopped at the elk creek visitor center and ate 6 bratwurst warapped with pita bread. Actually only 2 of them were wrapped in pita bread, the rest Ate ate as they were. Called some people and as I was leaving met a runner named john? He was training to try and Qualify for boston which is 3:15. I ran a 1:36 for seattle and I can't imagine holding that 7:20 pace for 26 miles. Go out and run a mile as fast as you can and see if you get anywhere near 7:20. Then imagine running that fast for over 3 hours! I was riding on the right side of the road and he was running on the left side of the road just like you are supposed to. We had to shout across the traffic to hear each other. It was kind of funny. Camping out at a park and sleeping on a picnic table. Go over the continental divide tomorrow and I heard its a beast.

day35 64mi 5:50 ridgway,Co

2009-05-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Had a really weird time getting going this morning. I don't know what it was. Just didn't want to ride my bike. Made some oatmeal, which I bought in northern California and hopped on the ol saddle. Decided to try and make it over 2 passes today, lizard head and devils gate. The first pass was very gradual and I met a guy named nicky (sp) who was riding from chicago to phoenix. Talked to him for a while and continued on. 4 miles from the summit of lizard head it started to rain, 2.5 miles and it started to snow/sleet. Summited and then went down the wet descent. Rain really hurts when you are going 40+. There were a couple more uphills before the final descent started and by the time I got to the bottom I was soaked and my hands weren't working very well. Stopped at a gas station and ate a baked potato and warmed up with some hot chocolate. Climbed over devils gate which was very gradual and got rained on that descent too. Hit a new top speed today.58m.p.h. in the rain and wind. I was hoping to touch 60 but it wasn't to be. If you honestly think about it, I am in more danger riding in a paceline going 25m.p.h. than alone on a descent. Unless something catastrophic happens I'm in not much danger at all. Stopped in at a bike shop in ridgway and then warmed up with some chai tea at a place called cups. Met a guy there named Aria who offered to let me use his shower and sleep in his backyard instead of paying for camping. This sounded great since I was soaked and was covered in road grime. He is gay and lived with his partner bailey. Aria made some homemade tortillas and we had fajitas for dinner then sat around and talked. He rode from astoria to san fransisco when he was 17 with a bunch of other kids his age. Talked about books and life for abit before I headed off to bed.

day34 72mi 6:00 stoner,Co

2009-05-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

Got into Colorado fairly quickly and and stopped at dove creek to mail some cold weather gear, books and gifts home. updated my last blogs at an elementary school library. It was kind of wierd sitting there with some kids who were doing some type of science project paper. The landscapes of Nevada are green and rolling and it was very hot today. A ladybug crawled onto my helmet when I stopped to fill up my water bottles and it crawled around for a bit before I tried to gently remove him. Bought some multivitamins and sports drink in dolores. I don't feel bad, but it can't hurt to take them once in a while. Bought some more peanut butter because I finished off the last can. Camped on the side of the road and cooked dinner, which I don't normally do when i campout. Tried not to set the grass on fire because the ground was uneven and my stove isn't very stable.

day33 90mi 9:09 6mi E of monticello,UT

2009-05-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Woke up really early and ate some nuts and chocolate chips since I didn't pick up anything for breakfast that didn't use water. Got on the road and it was mostly rollers. Stopped about 3 and a half hours in and ate some peatut butter slathered on granola bars. Decided to wait until 20 miles to town before the mike and ikes and 10 miles to go before the can of pepsi. Didn't really start to get hot until 4 hrs into the ride. About 17 miles into the ride I realized that I would have enough water and left one of my 51oz bottles on the side of the road for someone who needed it more than me. 10 miles before blanding the road turned into a wall. The road was about 5-12% for about 3/4 of a mile. I was having difficulty turning over the pedals and I was sweating lke crazy. I could feel the dull ache creeping into my legs and just tried to relax as much as possible. Sweat running down your glasses leaving streaks. Breathing like your hyperventilating. Trying to relax everything as much as possible, so much that your lower lips quivers when you hit a bump in the road. Nothing matters except the summit and just deal with it. Its only pain.
It will end....eventually. All over the bike, clawing your way up the mountain. Your mind is forcing your body to continue. No other thought except to keep pumping your legs. Finally at last the summit. Now you find that little bit extra click up 2 gears and stand as you punch over the top. I don't know why I like climbing so much. Maybe its the views, the suffering, the exhilerating descents, watching others blew up behind you, because its there, i'm not sure. Got into blanding and ate a salad and burrito at a restaurant. The library was closed and after waiting around for the heat to die down I continued on and pulled off to the side of the road as it was getting dark. Longest day in the saddle yet. I will be in Colorado tomorrow and crawl over 11,000ft lizard head pass the day after.

day32 113mi 8:20 17mi E of hite rec. area

2009-05-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Got an early start and stopped at the capitol reef visitor center. looked at a map of Colorado and boulder is only 150 miles from pueblo. Think I'll visit those girls in Boulder it the offer is still open. Stopped just before hanksville and gave a hitchhiker who was going to mexico some water and chatted with him for a bit. Made good time into hanksville and loaded up on water and set off for the hite recreation area. Its was 50 miles away and mostley flat to downhill with a few little wrinkles. The first 85 miles of the day were flat/downhill and I was flying. I felt good and just enjoyed the riding.Saw 2 touring cyclists heading west. Made it to hite, but the store closed at 4 and it was 4:30. I asked a guy in a truck there if there was anything else open and he said no, but his wife was closing up and would ask if she could let me get some stuff. His wife said yes and I got a gatorade, fruit cocktail, candy and ice cream bar. I went over to the visitor center which waas also closed and cooked up some dinner. Then I laid down for about an hour ant rested. I filled up my bottles and wrung out my shirt in the sink to give me some cooling when I started. Every mile that I did that evening was one less that I had to do tomorrow in the heat of the day. It was 75 miles until blanding and there was about 5000 ft of climbing. All the downhill that I had today I have to climb up tomorrow. Pulled off to the side of the road and set up my tent and tried to sleep.

day31 71mi 6:50 torrey,UT

2009-05-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Had breakfast at the couple that runs the place's house and had swedish pancakes, fruit, granola,toast,yogurt. I loaded up on food. The 3 guys passed me going to a waterfall and slowed down to chat for a little. THe waterfall looked cool, but my legs don't have the energy for that and it was 6 miles roundtrip in sandals, not good. Came down into a canyon and had some vicious rollers 10-14% and then back down again thenup again. That really took the starch out of my legs. There were big red rock cliffs that rose up on both sides fo you. Stopped at an Anasazi museum which was pretty interesting. The 'kokopelli' figure was actually a flute player who would entrance the villages with his music and then ferform lewd acts with members of the opposite sex. Kind of funny that you see that symbol everywhere now. Met a guy who had just finished an outdoor survival school in boulder and talked to him while I ate lunch. The 3 guys passed me again about 3 and a half hours into the ride to tell me the big climb was just ahead. they asked how my legs were and I told them they were dead. It was about 9 miles of climbing with a couple of false summits at the top. I suffered like a dog up that climb. I got some shade with about 4 miles left to climb which was a relief. I stopped to take a picture at an overlook and felt a couple of drops of rain. I put on my vest and started agian right away. Made it to the summit and put on armwarmers for the descent. Almost caught backup to a group of bikers after putting on my vest. That would have been cool. ! of my 51oz bottles of water slipped off of my front left pannier and exploded behind me. Lucky it didn't roll under my wheel as I was going about 30m.p.h. at the time. Camping just past torrey on the side of the road with a bunch of other people.

day30 65mi 4:52 escalante,UT

2009-05-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Took a shower this morning because I felt like it and was waiting for the grocery store to open. Bought some food and rolled out. Entered bryce national park and saw a bunch of french bikers touring the U.S. One of them was wearing a stars and stripes bandana which I thought was ironic. Thought he would be rocking the red,white and blue french stripes. The scenery was amazing. There is a bike/pedestrian path along the road for about 4-6 miles and I met a mountain biker named heather from Canada. Took a lot of photos because the scenery is so pretty. Today was hot. I was baking. Crested a summit and took a corner going 50m.p.h. in a tuck. The climb before escalante seemed to take forever. I got some encouragement from a group of bikers thumbs up, waves and one actually started clapping. Lots of people have been doing tha, but that was the first group of bikers who all did something and I have never gotten anyone to clap for me. The final push before the summit was like 12% for a couple of hundred yards. I was crawling going 3m.p.h. and had spittle dangling off my chin. It was hard toswallow my throat was so dry and I was scared to take a drink for fear of falling over. I stopped at the summit and sat down by a restroom in some shade and drank water and made myself a snack. I got up to leave after about 5 minutes and 3 guys were there. One of them started talking to me and it turns out they were staying at a B&B and had one of their buddies cancel. They invited me to stay the night and gave me directions. I tooka wrong turn and crossed a stream and pushed my bike up a sandy hill before I realized my mistake and turned around. Found the B&B and got a nice hot shower. We went into town and me and another guy split a pizza. Got back and had trouble falling asleep for some reason, It might have been the 2 cokes at dinner.

day29 57mi 5:46 panguitch,UT

2009-05-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Grabbed a cup of o.j. and 2 small danishs from the continental breakfast and then ate breakfast at a cafe around the corner. Got on the road and there was about 3 miles of slightly rising roller and then the climb started right away. Met an english guy named chris from essex,U.K. and we rode together for about 40 minutes. IT was difficult to talk and climb at the same time. I was gasping for breath. Anything above around 8,000ft and I can't get a full breath. Chris pulled off and I followed him, we ate alittle and thenIwas getting chilly so I started up again. Route 148 was closed and I decided to go for it because I could always turn around and come back down if it was too bad. The road was dry and I went around the sign and started climbing. I had already passed a sign for 9900ft and I knew I only had about 600ft of climbing left. 3 park vehicles came down the road and I flagged the last one down and he said that it was clear except for a couple of patches of snow. THe road wound around these high alpine meadows and it was wonderful not having to worry about cars. I saw some fantastic panorama views and got some pictures. I didn't see a summit sign which was a little disappointing. I came to the end and went around the closed sign and sat down for lunch. Score another one for the cyclists which makes 2, but the cars are still winning. I iced my achilles in a snowbank as I ate some peanut butter/banana crackers. A guy on a time trial bike saw me and came over to talk. He was doing about 15,000 ft/climbing that day. The first nine miles of the descent were fun except for the cracks in the road. My butt did not like those at all. I camped at a koa and should have kept going because it was only 4:30. I['m getting kind of sick paying $20 just to sleep on some grass and get a shower, maybe. Walked to the store to get some groceries and saw a handcycle on a trailer. I aksed a man I saw if it was his and he said 'yes.' I talked with him for a bit and he said that he rides up 6-7 miles up the road and then turns around and comes back down. That road is uphill and steep. I hit 40+ coming into town. It was very humbling and grounding to talk to him. It kind of slapped me across the face and made me realize that I'm not doing anything compared to him. I ate dinner and was laying in my tent and decided to eat another dinner in town. I had some brisket whichI've never had before and it was good even though it was expensive. I came out to my bike and someone had tried to cut my bike lock. I left all my bags at camp, but I was still a little disappointed. I guess you just have to be carefull wherever you are. Went back to my tent and fell asleep.

day28 24mi 2:14 ceder city,UT

2009-05-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

Rolled into ceder city just after 9a.m. Did some laundry at a koa and met a guy who did the laundry for the koa for a fee. He was in the navy for 28yrs and now he works here. picked up some groceries and ate in a park. 2 older guys were there who talked to me about riding and they both lived up in the hills and were kind of bitter and everybody was out to screw them blah,blah,blah. I really just watned to eat my lunch in silence, but I was nice enough. They kept telling me to wear a hunting/fishing vest and I could carry a lot more on it than my bike jersey. I wanted to try and catch a movie, but they started showings at 4:30 and I didn't want to wait that long. I scheduled a massage for the earliest time at 5'o clock. Got a hotel and just put my feet up. Today was an active recovery day. Stopped by a bike shop and picked up an extra spoke. Got a massage froma girl named bridgette and she tried to work the knot out of my quad. Not as great as stephanie back home, but good. Stopped at a braun books and picked up 'the road' that mielko had read and said was good. Got a bloody nose before I fell asleep and wasn't looking forward to the 10,000 foot pass tomorrow.

day27 91mi 8:14 12mi N of ceder city,UT

2009-05-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

Would love to come visit you girls in boulder, its only about 300 miles out of the way. Shoot me an e-mail leftd@usa.com

Woke up and got started around 8:30. I couple of climbs to start the day and I got into milford around lunch and ate at penny's cafe. Had a triple decker sandwich and iot was pretty gtood. I had a head/crosswind for about 15 miles, but it wasn't that bad and I got to see how I would do if the wind shifted into my face instead of at my back. I rode up a neverending summit and decided to camp after the descent.I reached the descent and I saw a town just a little down the road. It was actually about 20 miles away and my sense of distance was thrown off by the lights. I decided stupidly to try and make it into town. It was getting dark and I put on my reflective vest but couldn't find my red light. I think I forgot it in my tent and when I shook the dust out in the morning it fell out. I eventually came to my senses after it got completely dark and stopped by a low stone wall and camped on the side of the road.

day26 97mi 7:35 30mi se of gunnison,UT

2009-05-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Agony & Ecstacy
Today was agony and ecstacy. Woke up and left early. I'm kind of getting sick of eating oatmeal for breakfast. It was cold so I had arma nd knee warmers on. It got cold last night, Once I got out of my tent to pee and was shaking by the time I came back from the restrooms 20yds away. My left inside quad decided it didn't want to play fairly early and that made the uphills pretty miserable. My achilles felt relatively fine and I ended up taking out my insole before lunch. The first pass felt kind of long and I ended up stopping on the descent at majors junction to refill my bottles and grab a bag of cheetos. The old owner of the bar was talking about pot plants wich was kind of odd to me, but to each his own. The sacramento pass climb seemed to go on forever and I kept hoping,wishing, praying for the summit sign around every corner. Eventually I summitted but I had to stop a 4-5 times for my left quad because I would get a sharp pain every once in a while. Just after getting into baker I saw another cyclist and we rolled over to a restaurant he said was good. They opened at 3:30, so I bought a cream soda and we talked for a bit. His name was jeremy and he was a hippie/stoner from austin going to san fransisco. I waited around for a while, bought another cream soda and eventually ate across the road because it was almost 5 and the restaurant still hadn't opened. Jeremy left before I ate and told me he rode the milford to baker stretch at night and no cares ast him. He said there was a full moon and enough moonlight to see by. I ate a pizza and then decided to roll out. I stretched in town and massaged my quads. I filled up my bottles and rolled out. I passed into utah and the pavement once you hit utah was red for acouple of miles. It was a nice break from the varying shades of gray I have been seeing. I passed through gunnison and 2 dogs came out and started barking. 1 of them had broken its chain and it was dragging about 15 feet behind him. They just ran alongside and barked, but it was still unnerving. I came to one of those fake cattle gaurds across the road and one of them stopped for a second and then they kept on going. About 30 yds after that they both stopped and turned around. I was thinking about getting my pepper spray out, but it was in my handlebar bag and I needed the manueverability of both my hands and neeeded to keep an eye on what they were doing. I passed through a herd of cattle and the young ones were alitle skittish and would run along the side of the road. The others just stood there in the road loking at you with a bored expression on thier faces. I passed through another little herd of cattle and just down the road a car coming my way stopped and rolled down thier windows. It was 3 college girls from boulder on a roadtrip. They couldn't believe I was riding my bike across the country. We chatted for a while with their care sitting in the middle of the road. Eventually another car came by and the girls pulled over to the side of the road. I got some water from them and gave them directions to great basin national park which is where they were planning on camping. They drove off after wishin me good luck and I pedaled on. I kept riding and since I started in garrison only 5 cars had passed me in anhour and a half. It was absolutly perfect. I was having one of those zen days that holly talks about when everything is just 'right'. I think that I finally just relaxed and didn't worry about mileage, food,camping, friends, speed, terrain, anything. I kept riding glancing behind me every once in a while to check out the sunset. I didn't need to check behind me for traffic since you would hear the cars miles before they passed you. After a while some stars came out and I stopped to put on arm and knee warmers. I started up some ascent and it was amazing. It was like you weren't even moving or that you were in space. There was enough light to see about 10-20 feet in front of you and that was enough. It was so cool just to roll along and be content. I got a picture of whatever summit I reached and started down the backside. I sat up and just kept to the left of the white line. After I started to get chilly and not being able to warmup by pedaling I turned on a little side road for about 50 ft and set up my tent for the night. A total of 7 vehicles passed me after leaving gunnison 30 miles ago. Talk about desolate. I wke up to the full moon shining at me sometime in the night. It was so bright that I thought it was a car! There is no light pollution out her and you can see so many stars its incredible. It was an amazing day. The first half was agony with my quad and those never ending climbs that dragged on. The second half of the day was ecstacy with not acare in the world and being able to experience something that very few people get too. My quad didn't even bother me at al and my achilles felt pretty good.
How is the giro de talia and the maglia rosa going?

day25 82mi 6:21 ely,NV

2009-05-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

Woke up and had breakfast with leeann and collin at 7:30. She made homemade biscuits and some egg,potato, sausage goulash. I filled up and had a couple of glasses of water for the day ahead. I hepled them load a 4wheeler onto a trailer and slipped on the loading ramp. I was o.k. and we got it on there without any trouble. I started out and immediately thought that something was wrong with my legs, but I was going up a false flat. Most of the terrain here is gradual climbing and descending with a valley in between. The terrain was gradual 6-10mph on the uphills and 15-30 on the downhills. I ate an apple and banana a couple of hours into my ride at the top of a summit and planted the apple core and poured a little bit of water on it to help it grow. Hopefully it will grow, but I'm not holding my breath. It has been a little greener today thatn the other days though. There has been little tufts of grass on the side f the road. not a lot, but some. Saw a deer or baby elk? on the opposite side of the road from me and it stayed about 100-150yds ahead of me trying to find a gap in the fence. After about 10 minutes of pedaling it finally found one, slipped through and bounded away from me. You don't see that in car. That is what is so neat about riding is that you see things that you normally wouldn't notice or find. Same thing with hiking. Anyway, I left a full 32oz bottle of water on the side of the road 30 miles before ely because I had enough to make it to and hopefully someone else could use it if they ran into trouble. I was peeing a lot more today and actually went while riding twice because I didn't want to stop. You just get going on a downhill, check the wind direction lean over to the left, check for traffic and go for it. Be quiet, its not that gross pros do it all the time and usually a teammate pushes them, opposite side of course. I rolled into ely and was excited to stay in a hostel, but no one knew what or where a hostel was so I camped at a koa down the road. Chatted with a girl who worked at the koa about my trip and about the navy since she contepplating maybe going in as a d.c.man or woman to be pc. Ate my last can of expired mixed veggies mar31 with some tuna and couscous. Had some fruit cocktail for desert. A biker (biker=motorcycle) stopped by and inquired about my trip and the gear I was using. Another of the koa employees stopped by and chatted with me for a while because he used to go cycling when he lived in massachusetts. Took a shower and noticed a lump on my right underarm, looks like an insect bite and I wil keep my eye on it. The 80 miles today didn't feel nearly as bad as going to eureka. I was better hydrated and left earlier in the day. I had to stop a couple of times for the pain in my right inside quad, but it would come and go.

day24 0 miles eureka,NV

2009-05-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

Woke up early in my hotel room and couldn't fall asleep again. Shawne dropped by before he rolled out to ely. Laid around in bed all morning watching t.v. and made some couscous which I ended up throwing away because it tasted like crap. I think I should have used boiling water instead of hot water. Did some laundry and undated my ournal for the last couple days. bought some groceries and mailed home some more clothes and a couple of books that I finished. Took off my underside of the downtube bottle holder and sent it home because no bottles will fit without rubbing the tire. I think it is meant for those smaller euro bottles that are thinner and not as tall.Stopped by an antique museum and chatted with the lady there for awhile. Leeann (sp?) was nice enough to lend me her phone so I could call home. thanks again. I stopped in later after updating my blog at the library and she invited me to breakfast with her and her husband, rollin (sp?), the next morning. It was very refreshing to talk to her and chat with someone who shares a lot of the same views as I have. I accepted her gracious offer of a free breakfast and wandered off to eat lunch. Had another steak for lunch to try and get some iron in me. Shaved my face today because its so hot out and it is very wierd to be clean shaven after almost 3 months of scruff. Thought about shaving my legs because they are getting fuzzy and decided against it. I bougth some blackberries and ate them and they tasted like gross. They didn't taste like blackberries at all. It was pretty wierd. Watched a couple of basketball games and fell asleep.Thanks for the advice chris. I know what I should be doing, but sometimes I don't follow the advice. It is very hard to bring enough water for these huges tretches between towns and the water gets warm which makes it that much tougher to want to drink.

day23 102mi 7:44 eureka,nv

2009-05-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Woke up before the sun came over the tops of the mountains and drifted in and out until it finally punched over the top of them. Packed up and got on the road. Austin is located on a hillside and it is steep, about 8%. Made it into austin fairly early for lunch and had a sandwich and piece of pie. Talked with a couple of bikers, motorcyclists, who were on a weeklong vacation and one of them had done stp some years ago in a day and a half. There were 2 guys, dave and sam, sitting down to lunch also and they struck up a conversation with me about my trip and sam is doing the aids ride down in socal in the summer. He was nice enough to pick up my tab and gave me some granola bars before I took off. I bought some more water because the next town or anything was 70 miles away! I decided to try and make it there get a hotel and rest the next day. I set off and immediately hit 3-4 long switchbacks. There were a couple of lower passes that weren't that bad ,around 6500, and then a long relatively flat stretch for like 20-30 miles. Your sense of depth out here is really distorted. The road doesn't look that long before it turns, but it goes on for miles. Highway 50 is called the loneliest road in america. There is nothing out here. There is absolutely NOTHING out here. All you have to amuse yourself with are your thoughts. A lot of people would wave at me or give me a thumbs up as they drove by which boosted my spirits a bit. I took a little nature break at a rest stop that only had some trash cans and 2 picnic tables with an awning over them. A man in a pickup told me that there were 3 cyclists ahead of me and one guy on a recumbent heading west. I knew one of them was shawne but had no idea who the other 2 cyclists were. I was getting pretty tired and trying to make good time with the tailwind. I was eating a granola bar every hour and drinking nuun and taking endurolytes, but I still wasn't peeing that much. I was going through a lot of liquid. I didn't eat dinner last night and breakfast was nutella on some crackers. I haven't been very good about eating on the bike. I usually have a bottle and a half of nuun an hour and take a shot block about every hour, unless I forget. I think my main meals might be too big and that is why I feel sluggish after eating. It could also be the heat combined with the altitude. I don't really actually know whats going on, I just like to ride my bike and when I reach the atlantic ocean I have to stop because you can't ride your bike in the ocean silly. Maybe I've been out here by myself to long? The last 5 miles into eureka dragged on so long. I was crawling, going like 8 m.p.h. At this point you just play silly little mind games to keep yourself turning over the pedals. I was absolutely shot when I rolled into town. I asked around for the cheapest motel and just after I finished paying for the room shawne burst in the door and said whats up. He had gotten here around 3pm and was just bumming around town. He had already gotten a room for the night and I wish that we could have split one, but oh well. Unloaded all of my gear in my room and had my first shower in 2 days. I ate a good steak at the owl club casino and had 2 beers because well, I deserved them and tomorrow was a rest day. Shawne joined me for dinner and we sat around for a bit. He is leaving tomorrow for elle and said he would stop by in the morning before he took off. He rode 300 miles in 3 days. He is an ANIMAL. These aren't super flat either and there were stretches of 30,60 and 70 miles where there was nothing between you and the next town. Its 80 miles before you hit elle and there are some passes to climb. After dinner walked to chevron and bought a bunch of junk food. Streched for alittle bit, massaged my legs and tried to get tis huge knot out of my right quad. I drank about 50 ounces of water,no joke, and watched t.v. because I couldn't fall asleep. They have no pay phones in this town! and my cell doesn't get service. Sorry mom.

day22 127mi 7:32 16 mi N of cold spr. station

2009-05-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

Woke up early in dayton and had a huge tailwind. I was flying. I had the wind at my back and ripped off 50 miles before 11:00. I saw frank on the side of the road and he was changing a flat. He said that shawne made it to fallon the day before. I don't know if I talked about these guys yet but frank is 60+ and shawne is 41. Shawne is doing the ride for the american lung association and is raising money because he has had one of his lungs spontaneously deflate. He is a baller.
I stopped and ate at roundtable pizza and ate pizza and breadsticks for lunch. I was kind of running out of water because there is nothing for 30 miles where I stopped for lunch. I saw a windmill with a cistern below it that a pipe was pouring water into and I pulled over took a picture and climbed up on top of it to fillup a couple of bottles. A little later on I stopped in middlegate and had a burger and fries that I couldn't finish and a beer. All the patrons in there were watching trivial pursuit on t.v. and I talked to some old guy who used to ride out by the grand canyon on a 15 speed a long time ago. Bought some more water there and then headed off for cold creek springs. I rooled up to cold spring station which according to the map had camping, showers and restrooms. I turned in and didn't see much. A jeep pulled up and the driver said the owner was his brother and to knock on his door. I rolled my bike over to a fence and leaned it against it and knocked on the door. A man answered and told me that the restaurant/showers/restrooms had burned down. I told him that was fine and I just needed someplace to camp. He said to find any grassy spot and refused to take any money for it. His brother , from the jeep, came over and talked to me about my trip for a couple minutes and then headed off to get some dinner or something.I hadn't eat dinner yet because I was still full from the food I had eaten earlier and wasn't very hungry. I was sitting down and just about to write in my journal when My stomach started rumbling. Iwalked back to the house and asked the guy if I could use his restroom very politely. He blew up, screamed no a bunch of times and told me to camp somewhere else. I stood there shocked for a second and then hurriedly packed up my stuff. I was kind of mad. I packed up and decided to just ride as far as the light would let me because it was cooler now and the next place to get anything was 45 miles away in austin. I Put my flashing red light in my pocket and turned around every so often to scan for traffic behind me. I rode with some water in my mouth and just breathed through my nose, so I wouldn't be taking sips all the time to relieve my dry throat. I rode hard and finally saw a chain installation pulloff at the side of the road as it was getting dark. I rode 16 miles in 55 minutes with that wonderful tailwind. What a long day in the saddle. I pulled off the blacktop about 20 yards and set up my tent. A semi pulled in as I was reading, i am the messenger which I finished, but didn't bother me at all.

day21 66 miles dayton,nv

2009-05-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry about that last post I was hurrying to finish up before they kicked me off the computer. I should have elaborated on the thoughts I had while climbing. I also misspelled a lot of words at the end. I won't let time constraints sacrifice the quality of my writing in the future.

Woke up and I replaced my broken spoke. It was on the nondrive side. I had to take off amy cassette to get to it. I have no idea how tight its supposed to be. I just tightened it until it 'felt' about as tight as the other spokes on that side. The only thing I know is that drive side spokes are tighter than non drive side. Tht exhausts my knowledge of wheel trueing. We all rolled out at 9 am all bundled up and I was wearing my bandana for the descent. Still had about 500 feet of climbing before we hit the top of carson pass, 8500 ft. Shawne and I had dropped frank just after starting and stopped to wait for him. A little while after frank caught up with us a highway patrolman stopped and told us 'You can't sit here in the road, you will get hit by a car ' and drove off. Nice to see you too. We decided to get to the top all together and I wound up in front doing a nice slow tempo. I didn't want to drop anybody because this moment was to important for all of us. At this altitude its ahrd to get a full breathe. It feels llike you can't get a nnice deep breath. Its because there is less air pressure and you can't get as much oxygen into your lungs. We finally crested the last little bit and high fived as we saw the carson pass signpost. Melody had driven up behind us and we took a bunch of pictures. This is the highest I have ever been and I only used my legs to get me here. Amazing. Shawne had a camera that he mounted to his handlebar/stem and was going to tape the descent. The pavement was good and I led off down the mountain. Shawne said he hit 54m.p.h and I was pulling away from him. I was in a pretty good tuck and just tried to not let the wind push me around to much. The trick with descending is that you just turn your brain off. The last thing you think about is falling off. You go down at these speeds and they are going to scrape you off the pavement anyway, so don't think about it and be loose and relaxed. I probably hit the high fifties and might have flirted with 60m.p.h. The first 15 miles or so I pretty much soft pedalled except for that climb to the top of carson pass. The border into nevada was lame. It was just a signpost with nevada on one side and california on the other with a white stripe across the road. I stopped in Genoa to change and had a blueberry ice cream cone. Stopped in carson city to get some money and found a bike shop where I got an extra spoke, 2 water bottles, nuun and some clif blocks. The guy at the shop was nice enough to fiddle around with my bike computer and got it working again. Stopped in the library and updated my blog. Camped at dayton state park and met a guy who wrote a little article about highway 50 that was published about 12 years ago. He gave me some tips on some places to stop along the way. I won't be leaving 50 for a looong time. I broke another spoke today sometime and changed it out after dinner. I was looking at my maps and didn't realize tht Colorado is like 900 miles away. Had a strong tailwind for most of the day.

day20 57miles ? 11,000ft/climing kirkwood,ca

2009-05-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ended up paying $28 DOLLARS for that crappy campsite last night. I should have just kept on riding down the road and slept somewhere else. Stopped at somerset and had a croissant and some chai tea. Talked to the waitress a bit about my trip and then rode off. Had dido running through my head for some reason as I was climbing all morning. I think its because that is always what I listen to before hiking and it reminded me of driving up for a hike. Had lunch about 1/4 mile before the junction to 88. Stopped at cooks station and had a twix and a sierra nevada. I just sat there zoned out and I kind of wanted to just curl up and go to sleep and not face the rest of the climbing I had to do today. I was climbing around 1000ft/hr according to the elevation markers 4000ft, 5000ft, 6000ft, I should get to my campsite real soon. man, this long. I'm so sick of climbing. Why did I bring so much stuff? 7000ft my hand s are getting really cold. I stopped and sat in a snowbank and drank 1 of the sodas I had saved from john. I put on some gloves and figured that I would climb and then descend into kirkwood and get a hotel because my feet were going numb and my fingers were getting really cold. The last 3 miles to kirkwood felt like 10. I finally get to kirkwood about 7ish. I don't know what time it is because my watch broke a while ago and my bike computer decided to stop working this morning. Finally got to kirkwood and turned into the all season resort and it was deserted. No cars and no lights, so I just kept going down that main road and an suv that had passed me a bunch of times earlier in the day started honking at me. They had a bike rack on the back so I knew they were good people. I roll up to the driver side window and they tell me to follow them. They got a room and nothing is open. The whole resort closes may 1. I follow them dump my bike in their room and then I take a shower while they make reservations for dinner 15 miles down the road. There was another guy named shawne that the couple, frank and melody, met at a bed and breakfast the night before. We ate at a place in woodfords and we demolished some huge plates of pasta. We even had dessert too. It started raining while we were eating and we were all so glad that we weren't huddled in our sleeping bags trying to stay out of the wind and rain. We drove through snow to get back to our room and me and shawne sat around and talked for a bit. He had called his girlfriend earlier and gotten the weather for tomorrow. gusts up to 50m.p.h. 36' in the morning and a coule of inches of snow! Linda called a number left on a door and reached a lady who was leaving for carson city in a couple of minutes. She eneded up giving us a room and they saw me rolling by as they were looking for someplace to eat. The timing of all of that was amazing. We have anice fire going right now and I broke a spoke today climbing somewhere. I will repalce it tomorrow. We only have about 500ft before the summit of carson pass. This is the highest I have ever been on my bike and I still have 500ft to go. My legs are stiffening up and they feel soo tired. My achilles felt o.k. today and I will get into Nevada tomorrow.

day19 112km ? somerset,ca

2009-05-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

Woke up and it was raining on and off.ls jersey, raincoat, booties, knickers, no gloves. Started to rain kind of hard when I rode through sac st. to the american river bike trail. It was wierd because I ran in the american river half-marathon a year ago and I remember water stops and certain points along the course. They must have had it on saturday because there were still some barriers and a bunch of porta-potties by the start/finish line. Saw a lot of cyclists and runners. It was raining on and off, but it wasn't cold. It felt like june to me. The trail is nice, but there were some big puddles that covered the whole trail. It took you all the way into fulsom and was probably 25-30 miles long. I passed some type of collegiate crew competition they were having on a lake or something. I climbed about 1000ft total to get to placerville and then sort of stair-stepped after that. My right rear pannier bolt came out agian and I had tostop and replace it. Chucked my rear fender. They have been nothing but problems. My front fender I threw in the trash in san fransisco. A policeman stopped his suv and asked if I was o.k. while I was replacing the bolt. Decided to camp at sly campground which was 6 miles out of the way and I regret it. 6 miles of climbing!!! I was climbing for 50 minutes. I finally get to the campsite and there are pit toilets and no showers. A guy, john, and his dog were there and when he went to start up his truck it wouldn't start. He used my phone and made a couple of phone calls to try and get a jump. A van was passing by a while later which he flagged down and got a jump from. A couple was driving the vand and the husband, ed, had done some touring along the coast of oregon last year. He was great and offered to help me out If I ran into trouble over carson pass. John was awesome too. He gave me 2 sodas and some leftover chow mein he wasn't going to eat. A truck stopped by sometime after dark and drove around before asking me where the guy was who needed the jump. I told him that he had gotten a jump earlier and he left.

day18 0 km sacramento,ca

2009-05-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

Woke up to rain today and I really, really didn't feel like getting on the bike. I know, I know. I'm losing my hardman, i'll ride in anything status. But it gives me another day to rest and ice my achilles and hang out withthe wonderful funny family that is the thorne's. Tara, Miles and I wnet to IKEA around noon and then stopped by his new condo that he bought. Rode to the bike shop and bought a rear light for carson pass. It was Art's birthday today and we had some good food and great wine to celebrate. I have definitely got my fill of antioxidants while staying here. I bought some optygen at r.e.i. so will see how that goes. Art used to ride a long time ago before everything started getting developed and we talked about riding for a bit.

day17 0 km sacramento,ca

2009-05-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

Tara had an interview this morning. Miles and I went to r.e.i. to pick up some stuff and then swung back and picked up Tara after she was done. The bike shop called and said my bike was done, so I had Miles drop me off at the shop. I had broken a driveside spoke and they replaced it. They also gave me some extras and showed me how to replace them. Rode it back to the house and started reading 'the rider' which I picked up at r.e.i and iced my achilles.

day16 85km 4:14

2009-05-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

got an early start today (7:30) and it turns out I was 12 miles away from the campsite. No way I would have made it with the light I had left. There was a bike path going into davis,ca and I got turned around and rode through the campus. There were bikes everywhere. I mean everywhere. Everyone was riding. Stopped and ate at crepeville, it was yummy. Got back on the bike and took some flat farm roads and then the yolo causeway, which paralells 50 going into sacramento. I was tryiing to find the biekt rail again after crossing over the river in sac and a policeman on a bike told me 'you have to walk it through the tunnel.' I said I was from out of town and just trying to find a friends house and he gave me some good directions to miles parents place. I showed up to their house at about noon and rang the doorbell, nothing. So I called thier phone and just after his mom, debbie, picked up my phone died. I tried the doorbell again to no answer and was rolling my bike out to ride off to a pay phone when she called out from thier side gate area. I quickly went over and explained who I was so she wouldn't be alarmed. She told me of a bike shop down the street and I rode down to get my bike a new chain put on. I walked back to the house and took a nice hot shower. She left to pick up miles and tara from the airport and I iced my achilles for a while and read. We had an awesome pasta salad for dinner that was suprisingly simple but delicious. Slept on a futon and not in my sleeping bag:)

day15 125km 6:33 fairfield

2009-04-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

Had an early start this morning. Got going around 8a.m. and my fingers were really cold. The stretch of road leaving the state park was bad, ruts and changing pavement and patches. There was a nice bike path coming into san fransisco and I saw a lot of cool little shops. Made a detour up some hill because I couldn't read my map correctly. Saw a lot of cyclists, 2-3 groups, solo riders, women riders. Everyone seemed to be wearing some type of kit. Don't any of these people have jobs. Just before the bridge I crested a hill and caught up to a land rover on the descent because it was kind of twisty and went through a speed trap at 38m.p.h. Rode over the golden gate bridge and it was nice. Got a couple of pictures of the bridge and then was starting down to the bike path and my front fender got caught in my fork. I put my fenders on backwards because I am an idiot and never changed them around. My front tire locked up and my back tire lifted up and I almost went over the bars before I coul unclip. I rode around the waterfront and ate at a restaurant called nonna rose's. The host spoke italian, french, spanish and english trying to entice people to come into the restaurant. I almost got t-boned by a bus while making a left turn. I got off the ferry, which was an hour, and tried to make it to the campsite for the night. I got a little turned around when I couldn't read a street sign for some reason. It was getting late and I was still over 12 miles away. I stopped in the town of fairfield at an iced craem cream shop and asked about any campgrounds. A man with his family suggested a day park about 5 miles away. I followed his directions which was the way I was heading anyways and found the park by a lake. It was pretty big and I just hung out under a picnic awning until everyone left and I had a couple of energy bars for dinner. I used my bike as a wind shield with my cover over it. Set up my pad and sleeping bag on top of a picnic table because I saw 2 snakes in the road today and was worried about them however irrational that is.

day14 79km 3:37 lagunitas

2009-04-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

Did my clothes at a laundromat and met a a couple of people who traveled around the country in their r.v. He was a vietnam vet and his wife told me about a hot springs called mystic run by the guy who made the gratefull dead 'dancing bear' stickers. Its out by reno somewhere. Saw a couple of cyclists and rode on a nice bike path to samuel p taylor state park. I rode up to the store to grab dinner and ran into the cyclists I saw earlier. They were from vancouver and were on vacation. He was riding a pinarello! Met a larger rider who was starting from san francisco to seattle. I don't envy him with those headwinds. He came over and talked a bit, he is going pretty minimal. He doesn't have rain gear or front panniers. Finished the school humor book. achilles feels the same.

day13 54km 2:38 bodega bay

2009-04-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

I took it easy today because I want to meet up with miles in sacramento on thursday. Thanks for the offer chris, but I just checked my blog today and already had accommodations set up. I appreciate it though. Bought some food organic oats, pop tarts, fruit and trail mix. Met a group of roadies hanging out at a cafe and chatted with them for a while. They were all older and wished me luck. One of them was nice enough to buy me a chai tea and candy ice cream bar. I love candy ice cream bars. nothing tastes better than cold, chocolatey, ice cream, caramel goodness. Just past the turnoff to 1 was an accident and I had to wait about 5 minutes before I could go. The officer waved me up ahead of the cars. He also told me to watch out for debris. 1 car got ahead of me when I started, but both sides started to go at once. The cars came to a standstill and I threaded my way through and continued up the road. Score one for the cyclists! Made some phone calls since I made camp so early and washed my clothes in the sink and strung up a bad clothesline because it was so windy. Didn't really dry them out as much as I though it would. My achilles feels the same and my ears are still sunburnt and driving me crazy.

day12 115km 5:24 fort ross

2009-04-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ate an orange for breakfast and stopped in albion for food. Met up with a guy named mike who was an officer in the navy for 12 years and had done a lot of touring with his wife. This was his first solo tour and he was taking his time. He spent 2 days in brandon and only rode 8 miles one day! I rode with him for a bit and had a lunch of hummus and tomato on bread. Hit a new top speed sometime today 77k/hr or 47m.p.h! Had a strong tailwind today and was feeling good and rode over 80km in 4rhs. Went into a ditch on an uphill, lost momentum trying to wave a car past and rode into a ditch. I had a little a moment after that and was like' screw it, i'm not waving any more cars through.' Later in the day I was riding up a hill and my rear wheel locked up. I pulled over and my left upper bolt and rear rigth bolt on my rear rack were missing. This had caused my load to lift back and rub on my rear tire. I replaced the bolts and checked that the rest of my bolts were tight. I hadn't eaten since lunch and was getting pretty low on energy and booked it to the campsite. I found a campsite dumped my stuff off and raced to a store up the road. I was almost shaking when I paid for my food can of coke, twix and cookies. I don't know why I didn't eat for 3 1/2 hours after lunch, but you know how it goes. Rode back to camp and finished up dinner, couscouswith veggies and a tylenol, when rob and chris rolled in. The campground host was awesome. He made us all ham and cheese sandwiches, a big bag of chips, chocolate and some firewood. One of the guys built a fire and we sat around for a bit talking. I finished airframe and my achilles hasn't gotten any worse or better. The heel lift seems to have helped and there is no new pains, so I don't think its affecting the mechanics of my pedalstroke.

day11 95km 4:39 little river

2009-04-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

Left before chris and rob today. Bought some groceries in legget. Started a climb after a chilly little downhill. Climbed for a bit, about 700 ft, and then flew down a descent leaning hard into the corners with my front brake squealing the whole time. Ate lunch after the rockport climb and had a tailwind on some rollers by the coast. There were 2 back to back 15 mph corners that were really fun. Stopped at a walgreen's and bought an insole for my left shoe. Ate dinner at the little river inn because I forgot to grab breakfast when I had the chance to buy groceries. I'm probably going to just eat an orange for breakfast anyway, so I don't know why I ate out.

day10 110km 5:28 legget

2009-04-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

Slept under a gazebo last night at an rv park and didn't even set up my tent. Slept on top of this cot with a piece of plywood over the springs. Should have gotten a picture of it. I suck at remembering to take pictures of stuff. haven't been able to upload any because the library computers don't allow it. couldn't decide what to wear today because of the weather, overcast, and decided on 3/4 tights (knickers) and ls jersey with a base layer and short-fingered gloves. Rode through the 'avenue of the giants' and they were huge redwoods all over the place. I decided not to do the 'lost coast route' because in the description it said over 60 miles with over 6500 feet of climbing. Ouch! My achilles started acting up again and if I took my foot out of my shoe and pedaled with it on top it didn't hurt. I have been doing that on the flats and climbs and putting it back in for the added security of descending. Decided not to push it to legget ( there is a climb right after it). I went down to the river and tried to ice my foot in the water, but it wasn't very cold. I also massaged my achilles a little and tried to stretch my calf a little. At the hiker/biker site I met a couple of guys from N.Y who are riding prom portland to san fransisco. We decided to go up the road about a mile and split a pizza. You are always hungry and able to eat because your burning like 5-6000 calories a day. An oversize load truck came through and he honked right as he was passing me and chris. We were already almost in the ditch and I though 'we are gonna get sliced in half/run over by some wide thing on the back of this truck.' luckily nothing happened. The truck passed us and later we concluded that he was probably honking at a car in the oncoming lane to get over. We finished with the pizza as it was getting twilight and they stopped at a store, but I decided to go down to camp because I didn't bring any bike lights. I had my headlamp with me and with my helmet on it was somewhere between my eyes and my nose. Descending was scary, because the cars had their lights on and it would illuminate the road ahead of you and you didn't know if they saw you or not. Probably one of the top three dumbest things I've done on my bike. Made it back to camp safely though. I was sitting in my tent writing in my journal when i heard singing with a guitar. They played a couple
of songs I knew and then I thought 'I wish they would play some death cab'. The very next song played was I will follow you into the dark. I got out of bed and wandered over to their campsite and it was a girl (mariasa) singing and a guy (kieth) playing a guitar. They played about five or six more and then called it a night. It was really cool.

day9 88km 4:24 stafford

2009-04-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Left the earliest I have all trip 8:40. My watch stopped working last ight as I was trying to reset the day. Got a little lost in eureka and the library didn't open until noon, so I found a mall and got a new phone with my same old phone number. Not everyone's number transferred over, so if you aren't one of the lucky 9, then I don't have your number. Ate to much at a hometown buffet and was burping up stuff for a couple of miles after that. My left achilles tendon started to ache just about an hour before I found a campsite. I think that I might have had my shoes cranked down to tight yesterday, or overuse, orleg length discrepancies, or..... The tops of my ears also are itchy/hurt. I don't know if its a sunburn or the helmet straps/sunglasses rubbing or what. I am getting an awesome cyclist tan. I will try to baby my achilles tomorrow as much as I can, but what can you do?

day8 ~135km in ~7:30 arcata

2009-04-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

I always seem to ride better when I'm angry. I was angry today. Angry at myself, angry at california and angry I got a hotel room. Got out the door at 9 am and started a climb right away. Today was the longest day and most climbing i've done all trip, probably 3-4,000 feet. Met up with matt at a state park and he is going to stay with friends in mckinnleyville. Newton b. drury parkway was cool. A bunch of exotic cars passed me going the opposite way. I saw a maserati, bentley, ferrari's ect. Just after trinidad was a surf spot and the road was very bad and dirt/gravel in places. I had to pay very close attention to the path I was taking because of huge potholes, but managed to get through it o.k. Coming into arcata started on a bike path and then a bunch of flat windy farm roads. I remember taking a hard left hand turn on bad pavement and imagining I was in the tour of flanders. Stopped at an rv park, but they wanted $18 with no showers, so i continued on to a koa just past arcata. Did my laundry and got a hot shower. The town of arcata was pretty cool. I was on bike paths the whole time and there were tons of people riding. i wanted to hang out in town, but it was getting late and I hadn't set up accommodations for the night.Matt gave me his house number and said his roommates would be happy to put me up, but no one answered and I didn't feel like waiting around when it was getting late.

day7 122km 6:21 crescent city

2009-04-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

A truck pulled in and out of the park last night. I woke up to it and waited for doors to open but there was nothing. There was a climb right after gold beach and I stoppeed in gold beach and bought some used books 'airframe' by crighton, 'eat to win' about sports nutrition from 1982 and some random classroom/education humor book. Now I won't lay in my sleeping bag for hours trying to fall asleep. Had another tailwind today and met a nice lady named barbara before smith river. She said she has a niece/granddaughter who wants to do this after she graduates college. Barbara was nice enough to offer me a glass of juice and some mixed nuts at her house which I gladly accepted. Her husband was shining some new brass fixtures they had gotten and it reminded me of my old job. Another georgeous day today and think that I burnt the outside of my elbows. After smish river I crossed into cali at 4pm and got a picture of the sign. I rode with an older black man for about 5 miles and he was riding an old hybrid. We talked about all kinds of cycling things, crashes, places to ride, cars, ect until he turned off on his street. I didn't see any signs for camping like in Oregon and it was getting late. Two cyclists, ron and his friend, talked to me and tried to give me directions to a campsite. I missed it the first time and only found rv parks, but found it on the way back. They wanted 18.75 and no showers, so I gave ron a call and he checked around for me but he couldn't get in touch with anybody. I was pretty angry at this point and just decided screw it and got ahotel room, because I hadn't showered since 2 days ago and didn't want to camp out so close to a town. It was all right 47 bucks and I got a shower, washed my clothes in the sink and watched a stanley cup playoff game. I will just have to pay better attention next time.

day6 120km 5:51 neskowin bay

2009-04-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Woke up to foggy low clouds and no dew on the groung which is a first for this trip. Rolled out at 9:30 wearing the same gear as yesterday and climbed up seven devils rode. I freakin love this rode!!! It was amazing. The landscape reminded me when your at 'top of the world' at the stottlemeyer trails. Very few cars with some rollers and good pavement and then painted on the road before an awesome descent is ' here comes the fun part'. oh, yes. it was fun. leaning into corners going 45kph and taking the whole lane. it was just amazing. If anyone gets the chance do this section its unbelieveable. I took my phone out to call my lovely mom while I was riding and I fumbled it and dropped it. It landed on my front right pannier, so I slowed down and then it dropped down and my front tire ran right over it and it exploded into a bunch of pieces. I was mad for about 5 seconds and then just started laughing. I saved the sim card though. I caught up to matt and we met a guy named 'dog' at a little store and he told us a good place to eat. Matt and I cooked up some soup for dinner and are stealth camping at a state park. My legs felt good today, but I think it was because of a tailwind and very few hills. It was beautfull all day and I should be in california tomorrow.

day5 89km 4:51 charleston

2009-04-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

The three of us ate breakfast this morning and then we all kind of rolled out. I rode with knee and arm warmers today and got a late start 10:30. I almost passed matt and mitch who had ate at a burrito stand just down the road from where I had my lunch. I stopped and put on some sunscreen and chatted a bit. I ran into mitch again after I filled my bottles at a dune buggy rental place. I rode by a lot of sand dunes today right by the ocean. I had just passed through a town and a lady sitting in the pasenger side of a truck was nice enough to tell me 'there is a bike lane right there.' I had been riding just to the inside of the white line. Oh, really. I didn't notice the bike lane which was covered in gravel. glass and broken pavement. ugh. Sometimes I hate motorists. I stopped in charleston to ask for directions and some guy who reminded me of rob potts asked me a bunch of questions about my trip and was really excited for me. Anyway had some salami, a box of ritz crackers and cheese for dinner. I had to be carefull though because there were some crows scoping out my dinner when I went to fill up my bottles.Kind of miss talking to mitch and matt which is kind of wierd because I only knew them for a day and a half. I know its a ways off, but i'm excited and terrified about nevada.

day4 84km 4:12 florence

2009-04-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Woke up and it was cold. My oatmeal lid got knocked off and dumped inside one of my panniers. I stopped at waldorf and used their library to do my last update. It warmed up and got sunny after the library. Was able to see the ocean without any fog or cloud cover finally and it was beautiful. I met a touring rider matt today who was hitting up skateparks all along the coast. He started in victoria b.c. and got snowed on up in washington burr... Dinner was a can of mixed veggies, couscous, an orange, an avacado, string cheese and the remains of a pound of deli ham I bought for lunch. It was so much food that I ate it in two sittings. I got done showering and cleaning my pans and another touring rider had camped next to me. His name was mitch and he is riding a 10 speed! its an old bike. He is headed down to california. We sat around and talked until dark. They both aren't carrying very much compared to me, and matt doesn't even have a tent. We talked about life, our trips, my time in the navy and the responses you get from people after you tell them about your trip.

response#1- wow, that is so cool. I want to do something like that some day.

response#2- why would you want to do that? be safe. good luck.

even if I explained to person #2 why I am doing it ( even though sometimes I myself don't know). Any answer I gave wouldn't satisfy them.

day3 81km in 4:26 newport

2009-04-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

Woke up and ate some oatmeal. It was very lightly sprinkling and I got drizzled on for a little over an hour, but it stopped just before lunch and it was cloudy for the rest of the day. Took a 1 lane road with a bike path that ran right along the coastline about 4-5 miles and it was awesome. Not a lot of cars and the sun would break through every once in a while and the tops of the waves would sparkle. The descent off it was nice and fun. Did some laundry at a laundromat and met my first eccentric guy who was walking a cross along the side of the highway with a wheel along the base of it.I talked to him for a couple of minutes, but he never answered why he was doing it. He didn't seem to be on anything or 'out there' at all. He wished me good luck and I did the same and I forgot to get his picture. how lame am I. I was debating wether to pick up some groceries or stop for dinner when I saw a little pizza joint and thought about it and ended up turning around and stopping in. I had a white spinach vegan pizza and it was great. One of the owners gave me a free beer off a new keg of rogue (rogue brewery is literally 5 miles away) he had brought in. The other owner told me if I stayed for a while he would give me a ride to south beach state park, so I stuck around to listen to a band that came in and played. A girl came over and asked about my bike and I told her about my trip and we talked for a while about all kinds of things. She also gave me acouple of her favorite book selections. Around 7-8ish I got a ride to the campground down the road and set up my tent in the dark and fell happily asleep.

day2 85km 4:35 pacific city

2009-04-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

Not much went on today, I'm still rearranging stuff in my panniers. 2 climbs today and on the second one my mind wasn't doing very well. I ended up going a couple miles farther than I planned so that I could have a campsite with hot showers. There were 3 or 4 black bunnies running around and seagulls flying around the campsite. Had a couple of beers at the pelican bay pub and brewery. It started rainging a couple of minutes after AI got into my tent and I couldn't fall asleep. I don't know if it was from the beers, the sound of the rain on my tent or dreading packinf and eating breakfast in the rain tomorrow.

day 1 4/15 38 miles 4 hrs

2009-04-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Parents were nice enough to wake up super early and drop me off at fort clatsop state park. Its is just south of astoria, Or. I travelled along a nice road that had a decent climb for a little bit and then a nice twisty descent. I was almost into the town of seaside coming off the descent when I heard a rubbing and my back tire was rubbing against my seatstay. My rear quick-release lever had somehow came loose and my rear tire shifted in my dropouts! I had to take all the stuff off my rear rack and then remount the tire in the dropouts. First mechanical issue solved. I stopped in seaside and rolled my bike out to the surf and dipped the back tire in the pacific ocean being careful not to let the water touch my front tire. I have to wait for the atlantic ocean to do that. I took a couple of deep breaths, said a little prayer and walked it back to the bike path. There were about 3-4 little climbs of 200-600 feet and they all felt over 10% even though they were only 3-4%. Even with my rediculously low gearing its tiring to push it up hills. I passed through a tunnel and they had a button to push if you were a cyclist going through to let motorists know that there are bicycles in the tunnel. Any car that passed through sounded like a jet by the time it was right behind you with the acoustics of the tunnel. I also climbed up a road where they were filming a 'boxer films' movie. they had closed down the road to 1 lane and from what I saw of the trailers and whatnot it looked like some type of car chase scene. I spilled my dinner of couscous all over a book I was planning to read, so I ended up eating oatmeal with raisins. Had a free hot shower and only paid $4 for ahiker/biker site at nehalem bay state park.

my stuff

2009-04-14T18:30:00.001-07:00

here is a gear list if anyone cares:

tent with rainfly and footprint, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, pocket rocket stove, msr cookset, lighter, spoon, fork, foldable bowl, 2 gas canisters, can opener, headlamp, leatherman, 1 pair city pants, rain pants, 1 pair thermals, t-shirt, 1 pair wicking underwear, 1 pair running shorts, sandels, toiletries kit, medical kit with road rash supplies, random bike stuff ( chain lube, zip ties, bolts, allen keys, spare tubes, ect). chamois cream( for my booty), embrocation ( warming gel), massage cream ( for my poor little leggies) sunglasses, helmet, mountain bike cycling shoes, wool hat, cycling cap, arm warmers, knee warmers, 2 short sleeve jerseys, 2 longsleeve jerseys, 2 longsleeve undershirts, 1 rainproof jacket, 1 rainjacket, 1 shortsleeve base layer, 2 pair cycling shorts, 1 pair cycling tights, 1 pair cycling knickers, 2 pair wool sock liners, 2 pairs wool socks, 3 pairs ankle socks, 1 pair wool gloves, 1 pair wind/waterproof gloves, 1 pair winter gloves, 1 pair short fingered cycling gloves, booties, pepper spray, knife, camera, maps, journal, pen. I'm sure there is more but I don't think it matters.

SHOUT OUT

I wanna say thanks to some people before I begin the journey.

thankyou to mom, dad, my sisters, sarah (for the inspiration), everyone at B.i.cycle tom clune, alex, the saturday morning group dan, dave, greg, greg, ty, chris, and everyone else. Everyone at Poulsbo Running chris, brooke, lynly and the sunday morning trailrunners, ben, allen and the gang, bay street ale house for the yummy beers. john, mickey, brent, morgan, nicky, diane and everyone at kitsap physical therapy. Stephanie who revived my legs all summer and listened to my ramblings. my navy shipmates kev, porno, miles, sam, jared, danny mac, zippo, micah, watanabe, so much ice they yell 'skate dave' williams, mike, chris, ste holly. grandma and grandpa and the whole micheal family, frank and caroline up in canada. sorry if I spelled some names wrong. tomorrow is the grand depart.

if you want to win something run 100 yards. if you want to experience something run a marathon!

cycling 101

2009-03-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

Like most sports, cycling features unique terminology. Below is a list of the most commonly used words and phrases in the sport of cycling.
Abandon: when a rider quits a race

Angel of the mountains: superb climber

Attack: A sudden attempt to get away from another rider

blow up: to suddenly be unable to continue at the required pace due to overexertion.also "detonate", "explode", "popped", "cooked", "shattered"

Bonk: Known as "hitting the wall" in marathon running, this is when a rider completely runs out of energy. I have done this once and I almost cried and threw my bike in the woods. It is no fun at all.

Breakaway: A rider of group of riders who have separated themselves ahead of the main pack

Bridge the Gap: When a rider or group of riders is attempting to reach a group farther ahead

Chasers: Riders who are attempting to "bridge the gap" to catch the lead group

Cadence: the number of times during a minute that a pedal stroke is completed. average is between 60-90.

Century: 100 miles. a metric century is 62 miles

Chainring: a front sprocket. 2 sprockets is known as a "double" and 3 a "triple

Chamois:Chamois is a type of leather made from sheep. It is very soft and supple. Traditional cycling shorts were lined with a pad of chamois leather for comfort.Genuine chamois is expensive and requires extra care in washing and treatment to preserve it, so it is no longer in common use for cycling shorts. Most newer cycling shorts have artificial "chamois" made of specially woven cloth.

Clydesdale: a large rider

Derailleur: The mechanism that moves the chain from one gear to another

Domestique: A rider who sacrifices any individual honors for the team. grabs water bottles, food, rides tempo, protects the leader.

Drops: The lower parts of a drop handlebar, the area below the brake levers.

Drafting: Riding closely behind another rider, which creates a slipstream, or air pocket. The lead rider
expends up to 30 percent more energy than the following rider does

Drop: To leave another rider behind

Fred: a rider who spends a lot of money on a bike and clothing but can't ride. a person who has a mishmash of old gear, doesn't care at all about technology or fashion, didn't race or follow racing

Granny gear: Slang term for the smallest chainring on a triple.

Gap: The distance between individual or groups

Hammering: Very steady, strenuous pedaling.

Hanging On: Barely keeping contact at the back of the pack

Jump: A sudden acceleration, often at the start of the sprint. also known as "snap"

Kick: The final burst of speed in a sprint

Lead Out: An often sacrificial move where one rider begins a sprint to give a head start to
another rider (usually a teammate) on his rear wheel, who then comes around at an even faster speed to take the lead

Mechanical - Slang for a mechanical problem with the bicycle.

Paceline: A line of riders taking orderly turns at the lead so that each rider will get maximum
protection from the wind.

Pannier: A bag that hangs alongside one of the wheels of a bicycle

Peleton: The main group of riders, also known as the "pack," "field," or "bunch"

Pull: To take a turn at the front and break the wind for the other riders in the pack

Puncture: flat tire

Rack: An accessory framework which attaches to a bicycle for carrying baggage, often used with panniers or other bags

Road rash: large abrasions on a rider's body caused by a crash on asphalt

Saddle: bike seat

Saddle sores: skin problems in the crotch that develop from chafing caused by pedaling action. Sores can range from tender raw spots to boil-like lesions if infection occurs

Sag wagon: A car or truck that carries gear and picks up or otherwise assists riders who have had to stop riding, either due to fatigue, injury, or mechanical failure

Shimmy: a term for a harmonic shaking of the bicyle, which usually occurs at a fairly high speed.

Sitting In: When one rider refuses to take a pull and break the wind for the group in which he/she is riding. A derogatory term is "Wheel Sucker"

Sprint: A sudden burst of speed

Squirrel: a nervous or unstable rider who can't be trusted to maintain a steady line

Take a Flyer: When one rider goes off the front of the pack, usually alone

Technical: A descent or other portion of a race that is twisty, steep or otherwise challenging from the point of view of bike handling.

Time Trial: An individual race against the clock, often called the "race of truth"

Full tuck: an extremely crouched position used for maximum speed on descents. Unstable but very fast. I have reached speeds of 54 m.p.h in a tuck before.

Wheel Sucker: A derogatory term, referring to a rider who always sits in and never expends any energy by taking a pull at the front.