Big Ride - Day 29 - Owatanna, MN to Winona, MN

It was a rough day. I woke up to my first flat. I heard someone let the air out of my back tire, but it turned out to be a stem flat during the night.

The morning finally wasn't foggy, but it felt like we were trying to out run rain clouds for the first few hours. I kept trying to convince myself we were biking into a sunset to keep from worry about possible on coming rain.

Mid day had a great stop put on by some of the riders from last year's Big Ride: Anne Klomps and her family, Liz, Ben, and one other who's name I didn't get... if you read this, leave a comment and I'll fix this :). Anyway, the snacks were great. Cookies, fruit, donuts, more cookies. In my normal life eating 10 cookies would be nothing. Apparently my cookie metabolism has suffered on this ride as this didn't sit well for the next 20-30 miles of the ride. Oh well, still tasted great at the time.

Shortly after leaving the snack stop we came upon some flashing lights and a bunch of riders standing around. I feared the worst: car accident. As we rolled up, Catie was on the ground, but sitting up and coherent. Greg told us that she hit the lip of the road wrong and fell, but was ok. Luckily Mark was near by so he could take care of her, taking her, along with Letty and Rachel (The God Squad always travels together) to the hospital to get checked out. Being "The Hammer" Catie turned out to be ok and at one SAG stop seemed more upset that she might miss a day of riding than anything else. I must say, she handled the situation like a champ. We all gave her a round of applause at dinner as we were glad to see her smiling and in high spirits.

Not much more happening today. We're in the dorms at the University of Winona which means no tents for the night (always a highlight of the trip) and sitting around shooting pool, watching tv, and blogging.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

91.85 miles

Time:

5:32'24

Avg Speed:

16.58 mph

Max Speed:

38.50 mph

Photos

Downtown Rochester, MN

"The tube is connected to the tire. The tire is connected to the wheel. The wheel is connected to the..." - Ruben
"What's a tire?" - Chad
"A what?" - G-reg

2000 mile mark! Thanks to Liz for marking the spot!

Random sign at an auto body place in Lewiston, MN

Climbing in MN is pretty.

Big Ride - Day 28 - New Ulm, MN to Owatanna, MN

The day started with more morning fog. This time it was really like riding through a rain cloud. There was so much moisture that I had water droplets on my arm hair and drops dripping off my helmet.

Passed through Mankato which was strip mall heaven. Jim and I agreed it was one soccer mom van short of being like a real suburb back home in IL.

I missed out seeing Chipotle in one of the strip malls :(

All together the ride was fast and very simple. I rode with Jim, Ruben, Doug, Tony, and Brendan most of the day. We got in so early that I hit up the bar across from camp with Doug, Jim, and Tony for about 3 hours. We came back and still had an hour to wait for dinner, which was being served around 5:30pm.

At the bar we killed time telling life stories, shooting pool (and getting hustled by a local guy named Doug), and having the waitress explain the highlights of Owatanna.

I spent the rest of the night making phone calls and catching up with friends. Since I'm in Chicago this weekend I wanted to try to make sure everyone's around to go out.

Prank: Ok, this one needs a little story, so here goes. G-reg is engaged. He sleeps at night with a stuffed animal (dog) that his fiance gave him, or something like that. "Someone" took said dog and hung it from a tree while he was at the bar. Sick? Maybe. Funny? Not yet. The sign that was attached said "Sorry, I just couldn't cuddle any more." Now that's comedy.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

73.68 miles

Time:

4:22'52

Avg Speed:

16.82 mph

Max Speed:

39.1 mph

Photos

Safe Cycling: Me taking a picture of Jim taking a picture of Ruben sending a text message.

Old school Dairy Queen...mmmm... Dairy Queen.

The funny part? It only takes like 15 minutes to bike through this town.

"Come here short stack." - Britney, the waitress
"What?... ok" - Jim

My view while on the phone, laying on a bench with the phone charging from the pole

Prank: "I just couldn't cuddle any more."

Big Ride - Day 27 - New Ulm, MN (Rest Day)

Slept in. Did laundry. Mooched free wireless to update the blog. Posted up a ton of pictures and quite a few missing days' stories. Updated stats.

Speaking of stats, here's some interesting numbers from the ride so far:

Total ride time:

118:01'21

# of rides:

22 rides

Total miles:

1951.56 miles

Average speed:

15.88 mph

100+ mile rides:

7

Photos

Are they that nice here that they advertise their police stake out areas?

Big Ride - Day 26 - Taylor, MN to New Ulm, MN

Fast ride today. Anxious to get to our rest day. Morning was extremely foggy and looked like I was riding through the movie Sleepy Hollow. Great shots of some lake. Weather cleared by the 2nd SAG stop so I lost the arm warmers and pushed on. Ruben and Chuck were a head of me and I kept on their tail all the way into camp. Stats were probably around 19-20mph for an average speed. My cycle computer was off in the morning saying I was doing 24mph, then 14mph, then jumping back over 20 while I kept the same speed. I think either the battery is going, or the computer doesn't like wet temperatures.

Hopefully it's the battery.

Got into MLC and got lunch at the Olde World Deli. The wild rice hamburger soup was awesome. Rode back to the dorms to hang out, catch a nap, and txt some friends before dinner. After dinner, did some work on downloading photos before heading out to see The Dark Knight.

The showing was supposed to be at 9 (per Simon's info) but turned out to be at 10:10.

We killed time by climbing street signs and hitting up a bar.

We then killed more time by going to the theater and seeing how many refills we could go through on the large popcorn and sodas before the movie began.

We gave up around the 3rd bag.

The movie was long, but awesome.

Walked back to the dorms and now it's bed time.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

88.90 miles

Time:

5:04'39

Avg Speed:

17.51 mph

Max Speed:

35.30 mph

Photos

Eerie fog over a lake

For the bike geeks out there: street sign near the MLC dorm.

Chair races down the hall: Austin vs. Noah, Part 1

Chair races down the hall: Austin vs. Noah, Part 2

Prank: How much do you put in the vending machine to get Steph's bike?

At the movies, chowing down on popcorn on line

Austin holding the popcorn for the reach arounds

Sign at the local bank

Big Ride - Day 25 - De Smet, SD to Taylor, MN

We were warned of storms and I woke up thinking it was still night time. The storm over night passed but a new one was rolling in.

I packed up my stuff quick in hopes of getting to breakfast before the rains came. I made it to brushing my teeth before having to hide out in the bathroom with Ed, Austin, and Nick as the down pour came.

Finally made it to breakfast about a half hour late as the rains were letting up. By the time we were all done eating, it became a slow drizzle.

This wasn't the last of it though; you could see another storm rolling in. I picked up the pace and took advantage of a slight tailwind as I hit the first SAG stop.

Gatorade in the bottles, I headed out as a drizzle began again. I was hoping to make it to the 2nd stop before the rain so I could wait it out in a town with a restaurant.

Side note: We are riding through towns that don't have food other than convenience stores and bars... and bars aren't open for eating at 7am.

I made it to about 5 miles out from the second SAG stop as the rains caught me. I hid out at the stop with Catie and Brendan, discussing dreams, and what it takes to be a "ride leader" on something like this ride.

When the rain let up I hit the road with Catie riding all the way into sunny skies as we hit a new state: Minnesota!

We were bored and decided to enjoy the good weather and become the ad hoc welcoming committee to the Minnesota sign.

Finally hit the road again and rode with Patty C. for a little bit. I'm trying to get some ride time in with everyone so it was good to get some 1 on 1 with her. She's originally from South Jersey, so needless to say she's cool in my book.

I rode ahead a little later as I got anxious to get off the bike and got a 2nd wind. Arrived at camp to unload the tent and shower.

Started working on the blog when I was interrupted by the info that people were going to the bar in town. Hit it up with Catie, Rachel, and Letty and later by Doug, Ruben, Ed, Austin, and others.

Side note: It was Ed's bday so we started celebrating right then and there.

Around 6 we walked across the street to hit up the pizza buffet at Pizza Ranch. True to form, I ate about 12 slices of pizza, 3 sundaes, some fried chicken, and fries. The goal was to close out the buffet, but by 8pm I couldn't look at the pizza without feeling ill.

On the way out we noticed the SAG SUV's lights on so we headed back into the bar to let Dan know. This turned into another party and some good pool games. Some hours later we finally headed back to camp where I updated my stats online and did little to no blogging.

Sun down hit and it was time to sleep.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

79.84 miles

Time:

4:47'14

Avg Speed:

16.68 mph

Max Speed:

37.6 mph

Photos

Minnesota Sign

Minneta wind farm

Made it to Tyler.

Big Ride - Day 24 - Miller, SD to De Smet, SD

Good sleep on the high school stage.

small breakfast

chasing down towns to find a cafe/restaurant for food

Construction zones and muddy roads

Found it in town #2, bacon cheeseburger and waffle fries + bonus: the Tour was on!

Continued on riding with Rachel and Doug. Met up with Ed, Austin, and Noah at lunch stop and half way point.

Booze Fairy story: Leaving 350 bucks in the cab of a truck and the Booze Fairy will leave you a 6 pack and a hangover in the morning.

Half way across the country!

Strong headwinds coming into camp. Saw Chad's bro and dad heading out to see him.

Took a nap upon arrival. Going to be an early night I think.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

79.23 miles

Time:

5:00'12

Avg Speed:

15.84 mph

Max Speed:

26.8 mph

Photos

Where the west begins

Ed fighting a railroad fire!

Hmm... what kind of massage is this? (Rachel & Ruben)

Noah demonstrating his crash and proper "penguin" technique

Big Ride - Day 23 - Pierre, SD to Miller, SD

Highlights:

• Chad's 21st birthday!
• Light day (in mileage)
• Hanging out in hotel rooms to get a late start
• Chilling at gas station store with Simon, eating snacks and talking
• Drug reference town names: Blunt, SD; Highmore, SD; etc.
• Holabird... holla bird!
• Pace lines with Chad, Greg, and Simon
• Amazing double cheeseburgers at some restaurant/bowling alley
• Pretend drinking as we roll into camp
• Dinner, darts, and the Tour
• Ted and Bob at the bar, and learning how to beat the breathalyzer
• More celebrating of Chad's 21st
• Flash dance the "Swedish masseuse"
• Thin mint blizzard at DQ (best treat ever!)

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

76.56 miles

Time:

5:38'57

Avg Speed:

13.55 mph

Max Speed:

33.1 mph

Photos

Chad's birthday spankings

All classy joints have a "tooth pick shaker" next to their salt, peper, ketchup, and other condiments.

Chad's birthday "cake" at SAG stop #1 thanks to Doug's family

Blunt Cash Store advertising Blunt Fest.

Pace line with cool shadows.

Big Ride - Day 22 - Kadoka, SD to Pierre, SD

Highlights:

• Leaving late and seeing how many people I can pass going into SAG stop #1
• Playing "tag" with Kathleen
• Playing the story game with Rachel and Kathleen: A man is found in the middle of nowhere, naked and with a straw in his hand. What happened?
• Blood sucking deer flies
• Little brown church on the prairie
• I <3 cookies.
• Pizza Ranch pizza and ice cream buffet
• "Watch out for the guy in the Panama hat. That's Dion. He's an opportunist." - local law enforcement
• Heated debates about farting in public on such a trip as this one.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

101.39 miles

Time:

6:28'47

Avg Speed:

15.65 mph

Max Speed:

35.80 mph

Photos

Brendan with a breakfast biscuit tower.

Little brown church on the prairie

Rachel being the good, religious girl that she is.

Me being confused

This is a legit gas station... and no the store did not take credit card.

Thank god for the Varmint Hunters. The deer fly that was eating me stopped when we saw this sign.

Missouri River next to camp in Pierre, SD

Big Ride - Day 21 - Rapid City, SD to Kadoka, SD

Slower morning enjoying the tailwind was then changed by joining a huge pace line. In total we ended up having 18 or so people. Props go out to Simon for leading a big 3 mile pull.

Rolled into the town of Interior, just before the Badlands. Catie had to pee and asked some kids mowing a lawn if she could use their bathroom. Their mom screamed at them to not let strangers in. It was pretty funny to watch.

Rolled through the Badlands. Ate lunch at the Diner, which was nice enough to reserve 3 tables for us as we biked through the area. Left the badlands and stopped for random pictures of a huge Prairie dog statue and some ice cream.

Finished up with random water gun fights at camp.

Dinner was at "the restaurant" in town... we call it this because it is the only restaurant in town. Great fried chicken, roast beef, and baked potatoes. Had a sundae for desert and then hit up the playground near camp. It's becoming a tradition to go on swings and slides whenever possible.

Now it's time for an early bed time as I only got 4 hours of sleep last night in Rapid City (stayed up too late trying to blog and do laundry).

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

104.73 miles

Time:

5:59'10

Avg Speed:

17.50 mph

Max Speed:

33.7 mph

Photos

Big pace line, with Jim pulling off to take a picture as well.

Welcoming sign to Interior, SD

Jail in Interior, SD

Ruben rolling into the Badlands

Jim having an intimate moment with a flower

Ed enjoying a nice granola bar lunch.

Dewayne climbing the Badlands

View from the top

Letty pondering life's tough questions

Austin SAGing it with the GF

The Badlands

Big Ride - Day 20 - Rapid City, SD (Rest Day)

To be filled in later.

Big Ride - Day 19 - Newcastle, WY to Rapid City, SD

By far my FAVORITE day of the ride. To begin this post I have to share a quick background story:

When I was 15 years old my family took a road trip to Mt. Rushmore and eventually to North Dakota to visit some family. While in the Custer, SD area we drove all through the Black Hills National Park site seeing before hitting up Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore. While on the Needles Highway I remember stating "Some day I want to ride my bike through this area".

It took about 12 years, but I found myself back in the area at the 40 mile marker for today's ride. After talking to some other riders, no one wanted to join me in doing an extra 60-70 miles, so I headed up 385 on my own to start biking some of the prettiest country side I've ever seen. I hit up Crazy horse first, which remarkably still has a TON of work to go. I really thought it was going to be further along, but it was great to see it starting to shape up over the past decade when I last was there.

It would be too simple to just bike straight to Mt. Rushmore, so I headed down 87 South to hit up the Needles, some of the coolest rock formations in the area.

Afterwards I cut over on CR-753 to ride up Peter Norbick Scenic Byway. The Byway rocks because it was 3 tunnels in the mountain that frame Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately because of the lighting I couldn't get a good picture that captures the look. The ride was mostly up hill but so worth it. By far one of the most beautiful roads I have ever ridden on.

I hit the end of the Byway and turned on 244 to finally head to Mt. Rushmore. The climb was pretty tough but I was determined, knowing what the prize would be at the end of the climb. The 10% grade seemed even difficult for the cars, and I rode next to a bus that seemed to be chugging along with as much struggle as I was. When I looked up I saw a bus full of people clapping and cheering. At the top I was approached by a nice elderly lady who told me the bus was chanting "you can do it" as they rode past me, and she was proud to see I made it all the way.

At the top I promptly rode up to the far edge of the monument and asked the closest person to take a picture. The guy was nice enough to do so, and then asked if I was at Crazy Horse a few hours ago. It turns out the couple passed me while I was climbing a hill into that park. This theme continued as I got another lunch and was approached by numerous visitors who had seen me over the area. "Were you the guy flying up that hill by the Needles an hour ago?", "Hey, we saw you climbing up the switch backs about a half hour ago, where are you headed?", and so on. One nice couple from Iowa were real nice and I talked to them and their two kids for a good half hour about the trip, why I went off route, and how I got into cycling. Their kids seemed blown away by the idea of biking across the country and I could only think back to when I was their ages and met some folks biking across the state of New Jersey. It was one of the moments that inspired me to set the goal to bike across the country, so who knows, maybe I got the chance to spread that inspiration.

Leaving Mt. Rushmore I got to feel some of the 30mph winds as I fought to stay straight going down all the hills I climbed. I hopped on 16 and headed into Rapid City. I thought dinner was at 6:30 so I was shooting to make it in time. I got in around 6:45 after fighting several head and side winds and some even more climbs. Dan informed me dinner was actually an hour earlier and I missed it. No big deal though, I just ordered a pizza and coke and proceeded to chow down as I shared my stories with fellow riders.

Amped up from the ride, I was anxious to continue our going out tradition. Around 10 James, Sam, Rachel, Catie, Letty, and I hit up some of the local bars in downtown Rapid City. Ed, Austin, and Austin's girlfriend joined us for a little while at the first bar. After hopping around to 3 or 4 bars we headed home at 2:30am to find Nick and Noah up and galavanting around the lounge. Some white board fun and peanut M&Ms later and it was time for bed.

Best day on the ride so far!

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

108.14 miles

Time:

7:38'51

Avg Speed:

14.14 mph

Max Speed:

40.7 mph

Photos

At Crazy Horse

Sylvan Lake

The Needles

Peter Norbick Scenic Byway

Mount Rushmore

Big Ride - Day 17 - Sheridan, WY to Gillette, WY

Trying to catch up on the blog. To be fill in later..

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

113.75 miles

Time:

7:16'48

Avg Speed:

15.63 mph

Max Speed:

37.40 mph

Big Ride - Day 18 - Gillette, WY to Newcastle, WY

Woke up to a prank: our bikes were toilet papered and Saran Wrapped.

I didn't sleep well the night before because someone stole my thermarest. Since it was supposed to be a short day, I hauled ass to get it over with. What should have been an easy, short day was in actuality a long, dragging one. Lots of headwinds, climbs, and gravel road conditions made it worse.

Stopped in Moorcroft for an early lunch and watched as other riders rolled in for breakfast. I found out how close we were to Devil's Tower and debated over and over biking off course to see it. Since my cell battery was almost gone I opted not to. Side note: I've wanted to see Devil's Tower since finding out about it when I was 15. The new plan was to get into camp early and try to get one of the support crew to drive me and some other riders.

Nick was up for the ride, so he drove Doug, Catie, Rachel, Tony, and I to see the Tower. It was pretty amazing and well worth the trip. I kicked myself for not going off course as the country side was waaay better than the route they had us take. We stayed at the senior center, so we had access to lots of stuff: computers, wifi, pool tables, and sleeping in doors. We did a shirt exchange game that night and I ended up with a cool sleeveless jersey.

Went to bed fairly early as I was recovering from the past two days and looking at a big ride the next day as I was going to go off course to visit Mt. Rushmore and some other sites.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

76.58 miles

Time:

4:43'12

Avg Speed:

16.22 mph

Max Speed:

26.9 mph

Photos

Prank: Saran wrap, toilet paper, and some bikes

Devil's Tower and I

Devil's Tower, just outside the park entrance

Devil's Tower is HUGE

At camp: shirt/jersey exchange night

At camp: Noah getting to know Austin better.

Big Ride - Day 16 - Hardin, MT to Sheridan, WY

Rides shorter than 90 miles are becoming pieces of cake now.

Rode most of the day with Ruben, shooting the shit and talking about how life seems to have changed in what we value as important now. For those reading this, the consensus among the riders I've talked to is: tailwinds, food, ice cream, pools/hot tubs/lakes/other bodies of water we can relax in, more food.

Montana is getting boring and we're glad to be leaving it. To pass the time Ruben and I played a chasing game with Noah, Simon, and Stephen. We let them ride ahead for about 3/4th of a mile, while we kept our speed around 10 mph. Then we chased them down, sling shoting off each other to pass them and make it to the rest stop that was coming up with in the next 1 to 1.25 miles.

Side note: I'm not sure if this is a technical term, but we referred to it as sling shotting... where we would ride in a pace line and the back guy would would sling shot around out of drafting to increase in front of the next guy. The now following rider would rest for a few seconds and sling shot again.

We easily got our speeds up to around 30mph to chase down the other group and pass them before the stop.

The lunch stop was cool. Usual PB&J, some cookies, and chips. Bonus for the stray puppy dog that hung out with us. It really like Ash and Paulina as it ran after them, trailing their ride for the next 2-3 miles. Noah and Simon were nice enough to bring the dog back.

Later we passed into Wyoming and got the usual "pose in front of the state" sign. Wyoming's country side is great. Lots of big rolling, grassy hills. It's odd to see cows grazing on such steep hills though.

Stopped at a bar for lunch #2 with Ruben, Stephen, Bob and Darrell. I got some pictures of their great foosball table. To the guys at Orbitz: I told you I'd find one. Unfortunately there wasn't any locals to hussle out of money though. Other highlight of the bar was Sugar: the black lab puppy. I have some cute pictures of rough housing with her while waiting for our pizzas.

After the bar I felt great and found out Jim, who was on the horizon, was chasing down Doug to try to meet him before camp. Jim is a very strong rider, so I thought "what the hell" why not chase him down... it'll make for a good race. After probably 5-7 miles and doing 28-30mph (shout out to the minor tailwind for the help) I caught him. He informed me that he was having an "average" day after I told him I was feeling great and why I chased him down. I was humbled, as usual.

Rolled into camp and did the usual tent stuff. Took a nap. Biked into town to get new bar tape. It's white now, which means I'll go faster (bike joke for those that don't ride). Hit up the hot tub in camp. Dinner was Domino's. Camp had an ice cream party (free dessert!). Now it's time for bed.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

89.40 miles

Time:

5:08'34

Avg Speed:

17.38 mph

Max Speed:

35.0 mph

Big Ride - Day 15 - Billings, MT to Hardin, MT

Trying to catch up on the blog. To be fill in later.. Tried to see the tour and ended up at T&G Diner and Casino, which as we entered, were made aware they did not in fact sell food. Some Diner! Also got an awkward massage from the old lady while everyone ordered drinks. No tour on tv.

Finally left Billings around 9:30am. Rode with Ed, Austin, Nick, Rachel. Lots of horse flies on the route that seemed to surround anyone in the lead.

Along the route: a whole lot of nothing.

SAG stop at the one tree... literally, it was the only tree around.

Had access to the community pool with a diving board area. Did a decent dive but messed up my back. Chilled in the hot tub, sans bubbles.

During dinner, Dwayne and Chad wrestled and Dwayne ended up with a busted lip.

Prank: some people tried to zip tie the girls' tents shut, but failed since they actually zip tied their fly cover zippers incorrectly.

Went to the local bar, Four Aces, to watch the tour.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

60.21 miles

Time:

3:35'32

Avg Speed:

16.76 mph

Max Speed:

39.9 mph

Big Ride - Day 14 - Billings, MT (Rest Day)

Trying to catch up on the blog. To be fill in later..

Big Ride - Day 13 - Harlowton, MT to Billings, MT

Trying to catch up on the blog. To be fill in later..

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

90.59 miles

Time:

4:38'55

Avg Speed:

19.49 mph

Max Speed:

45.6 mph

Big Ride - Day 12 - Townsend, MT to Harlowton, MT

Trying to catch up on the blog. To be fill in later..

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

105.67 miles

Time:

7:14'52

Avg Speed:

14.58 mph

Max Speed:

45.8 mph

Big Ride - Day 11 - Avon, MT to Townsend, MT

Started with a rather cold day and a hard climb. About a 4 mile steep climb to McDonald Pass to cross the Rockies. The climb was easier than I thought and probably should have pushed harder, but the cold of the morning meant sleepy legs. At the top of the pass Mark pointed out that there was a dirt road that headed to a look out area. Ruben and I headed up there, and so glad we did. It felt like we were on top of the world. We looked down east and west of the mountains and watched the sun rise as the morning mist rose from the valleys. I realize the more we ride, pictures can just not capture these moments.

I should take a side moment and mention pictures are going to be lacking now. The new camera I got kind of broke and the LCD screen is shot. I can take pictures but not see what I'm actually taking or how the picture comes out. I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of off center shots or pictures of grass instead of signs and people. Back on the road it was time for the descent. Unfortunately there was a real bad head wind which kept me from picking up any serious speed. I have yet to hit my goal of breaking 45 mph. Oh well, there's always Pennsylvania later in the trip.

A few miles off the base of the mountain we had a lunch stop in the parking lot of a strip mall where there was a bike shop. We all sat around tail gating (read: eating cookies and PB&J) waiting for the store to open. Since it was a short day no one was in a rush to get to camp, especially since the gear truck was going to be in this parking lot for a few hours. We all sat around joking around and eating up a ton of parking spaces, which seemed to confuse the locals. Nick also borrowed a trails bike to try and do some tricks for everyone. That was quickly ended when we thought he blew out a tire and quickly put the bike back.

The rest of the ride was pretty flat with a strong head wind. I rode most of it alone, occasionally seeing Ruben, and used the time on 12 East to practice catching drafts off passing trucks. I think I found the sweet spot just off the white line of the road where a passing truck's wind will pull you in towards it just before propelling you forward because of it's speed. This definitely helped pass the time and fight the headwind that wanted to slow me down.

At camp we all set up in the high school football field, talked, debated more pranks, and finally ate a great pasta dinner prepared by Daniel, our ride leader.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

62.91 miles

Time:

4:02'52

Avg Speed:

15.54 mph

Max Speed:

39.3 mph

Big Ride - Day 10 - Missoula, MT to Avon, MT

Today started as what looked to be a very bad riding day: overcast skies with some good chances of thunderstorms. Luckily the weather held out and turned into one of my favorite riding days.

I started out the day doing pace lines with Darrell, Noah, and Steven. We made some great time catching and passing almost everyone. Because of some rain the night before the roads were pretty messy and people were getting flats left and right. Our pace line ended with Noah getting a flat. Shortly after getting back on the road we caught up with Ruben who also had a flat.

Pulled into Conoco rest stop for lunch and met up with Bob, Tony, Liz and others. Patty and Tracy, who were SAGed for the day were nice enough to treat us to hot cocoa, coffee, or tea, and made PB&J sandwiches.

The rest of the day I rode mostly with Letty, helping her with a flat, and just getting some 1 on 1 time to get to know each other. Near the end we got caught by Ed and Austin who leisurely rode along as we finished up the day. There were some great rolling hills at the end and got a nice cool down by riding through a sun shower for a mile or two. Since the planned mileage was 98.6 miles, I decided to ride past camp and get a century in. If you've come that far, why not hit the 100 mile marker.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

100.38 miles

Time:

6:25'23

Avg Speed:

15.6 mph

Max Speed:

39.0 mph

Big Ride - Day 9 - Missoula, MT (Rest Day)

Rest day was in Missoula, MT at the University of Montana.

Highlights:

• Sleeping in till 9:30am
• "The Farmer" breakfast at Food for Thought that consisted of 2 eggs, toast, hash browns, a pancake, and something that I can't remember. It came on 2 plates and I cleaned both of them.
• 90 minute massage at the Montana School of Massage.
• Wandering all over to find a bike shop with a seat bag (the same one I have at home all ready)
• Ice cream and conversation about Wikipedia pages and Vin Deisel's sexual orientation
• Getting 19 people together for dinner. Being upset when I thought everyone ate my pizza and so happy when it was a prank. It was really good pizza.
• More bike cleaning.
• Catching up with some friends on the phone.

Big Ride - Day 8 - Thompson Falls, MT to Missoula, MT

First century of the trip! I didn't write down much for this day so we're going with highlights:

• First century!
• 100+ degree temps.
• Steap first climb
• Left mosquito town USA: Thompson Falls
• Great lunch next to a lake
• Dorms at University of Montana
• Heat stroke scares
• Luckily seeing everyone ok by the end of the day

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

104.39 miles

Time:

6:39'44

Avg Speed:

15.6 mph

Max Speed:

39.9 mph

Big Ride - Week 1 stats

As some may know, I use this great site www.myclinglog.com to keep my riding stats. It does things like averages, total miles ridden a month/week, and so on. So here's some interesting info about week 1 of The Big Ride:

• Total Ride time was 27 hours 37 minutes and 39 seconds
• Total number of rides: 6
• Total miles ridden: 508.89
• Average speed was 15.63 mph

No wonder I'm beat and looking at getting 9-10 hours of sleep tonight. Hope everyone is enjoying the blog. I'm still working on the photos, should be coming soon.

Big Ride - Day 7 - Sandpoint, ID to Thompson Falls, MT

We finished our first week! We also crossed into a new state: Montana!

It was a pretty rough day. I woke up and didn't really want to ride. I was slow to get packed up, get breakfast, and that resulted in being one of the last out of camp. The beginning ride was gorgeous of course. Idaho really has some of the best scenery I've ever seen. The mountains, lakes, rivers, and valleys look like they are right out of a painting.

About 20 miles into the trip my left leg was starting to ache. The only way I could sum up the pain is that it was similar to shin splints, but this time it was all in the left side of my calf and back of my knee.

22 miles in I realized that it must be my seat height. I removed my seat post on our rest day to see if my rack was making it crack and must have put it in a little high. After two tweaks and icing at the next rest stop (half way point) I was starting to feel good. The rest stop was also a blast since me, Austin, Ed, Rachel, Chad, Greg, and Simon sat around over an hour just relaxing and joking around. I actually passed out for about 5 minutes on the picnic table since I was beat from only getting 7 hours of sleep. Yes, I now realize it takes 8 hours to do this ride comfortably, and probably 9 if you want to really perform.

Anyway, after some caffeine we were back on the road. Rest stops were every 20 miles, with water fill ups every 10. That worked out great seeing as the day started to hit the 100+ degree mark. The last 20-30 miles of the trip went pretty fast as I was loaded on caffeine and looking to get a shower ASAP. When I finally got into Thompson Falls, MT it was about 120 degrees F.

Some other highlights:

• Early morning 1 mile pace line drills with Austin and Ed
• Welcome to Montana sign
• 1-2 hour rest stop to joke around and relax
• Ruffles are awesome for salt
• Redbull and caffeine cure everything
• Ice cream bars at 3rd rest stop (thanks Ed!)
• Pouring ice water on our heads for instant cool down.
• Ice towel at last water stop... brilliant idea Mark!
• Never realizing I could bike like that in 100+ heat.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

91.67 miles

Time:

5:47'00

Avg Speed:

15.8 mph

Max Speed:

33.6 mph

Big Ride - Day 6 - Spokane, WA to Sandpoint, ID

We crossed over our first state. We're out of Washington and in Idaho for the day before starting a long trek across Montana. Yesterday's rest day was perfect and woke up feeling fresh and ready to go. Some of that went away as the cue sheet was confusing and some thought the Letty, Rachel, and Cati were lost, so I sprinted to try and track them down. Turns out they weren't lost and I didn't have to do around 22-25mph to catch them. Oh well, it was a fun way to start the day. I met up with the regular I ride with at the first SAG stop where we made our PB&J sandwiches and the luxury of some ice cold Reese's peanut butter cups. I continued on down the road and ended up riding with Noah and Doug. While riding along Diamond Lake, Noah got the great idea to stop and dip out feet in. That was the most refreshing stop ever on this trip so far. Many thanks to the gentleman who let us go in his back yard and use his pier to take pictures of the lake and enjoy the water.

The 2nd SAG stop was in the middle of the Rodeo parade where I ate some pizza for lunch. I hidden PB&J was in one of the SAG cars that weren't at this stop. Not the best pizza but I was starving only have eaten a clif bar since breakfast. We rode out as a big group and crossed into Idaho. Lots of pictures were taken in front of the welcome sign.

Once in Idaho we found some tough climbs as we biked along some river. The road and river made for some gorgeous pictures.

Finally we got into camp. I quickly set up my tent and changed as we were planning to hit up the river beach to go swimming. The water felt great and we got yelled at for breaking almost all the rules: no diving off the dock, no swimming beyond the logs, no shoving each other in, etc.

Afterwards it was back to camp for dinner and a pleasant surprise: it was Clifford's 69th birthday, so we had cake and ice cream. Now it's time to shower and hit the hay as tomorrow looks like a 100 degree day and another 80+ miles.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

84.50 miles

Time:

5:36'56

Avg Speed:

15.0 mph

Max Speed:

30.6 mph

Big Ride - Day 5 - Spokane (Rest Day)

Loooots of food. Up at 7am-ish and hit up a breakfast buffet. Had some tea which was a first in a few months. Went to REI for the first time. Some cool stuff, debated asking when the rock climbing wall would be open, but then realized my legs would never get me up a wall. Back to the dorm and it was nap time. More food at David's pizza. Got to the library finally to update/fix the blog. Uploaded a ton of pictures to Flickr and realized I hit my limit for the month. Looks like I'll have to figure out a new way to host and post thumbnails. Back to the dorms for some chain cleaning with everyone. Then off to get more food and visit my first Sonic. The burger was "eh" but the Reese's Sonic Blast was great. Traded massages with Rachel and never realized how knotted my back gets. Did some laundry, stretched, and hit the couch to get some sleep. It was back to the 5am schedule in the morning.

Big Ride - Day 4 - Odessa to Spokane

One of the most fun riding days so far. Left in a big group riding with Greg, Chad, Noah, Austin, Ed, Ruben, and Steven.

Highlights included:

• "Musical Day"
• Singing any song that came to mind and doing a good rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody as we headed down the road
• Coming up with ideas for the first ever Country Cat - an Ally Cat style race that will occur during one of our more boring riding days. We'll have to do something crazy at each SAG stop before getting sign off from Nick, Mark, or Dan and continue on our way.
• Great brunch in Davenport
• Welcome to Reardan sign that we turned into Welcome to Rear
• Meeting another group of riders biking across the country
• A joke of a "9 mile climb"
• Great tailwinds
• Gorgeous views as we rolled into Spokane along the river and up some steep late day climbs
• David's pizza and talking to the manager about cycling for almost an hour
• Pita Pit and junk food for dinner #3 around 11pm
• Prank planning and hanging out in the lounge with everyone till around 2am

Big Ride - Day 3 - Vantage to Odessa

Great ride from Vantage to the the high school field where we camped out in Odessa, WA.

Not enough time to blog about the day so I'll have to get to it later. Lots of pictures... lots of "scrub land" and rode with Rocketman Steven most of the day.

Stats were lost while chowing down at Subway with Bob and Steven. Average was around 15.6-15.8 mph

Big Ride - Day 2 - Easton to Vantage

Felt great with 8 hours of sleep. Woke up 4:15am hungry, but decided to sleep another 45 min and wait for breakfast. Woke up again at 5am fresh and ready to ride. Packed up camp and then got some bagels w/ cream cheese for breakfast. 46 degrees out was might cold. Last minute clothing change from fleece and pants to riding gear and I was off. I was one of the last 3 out of camp and quickly caught up to people. By the time we hit some serious climbs I was with Noah, Simon, 3 girls from DC. Hit the down hill and passed Kevin, Steph, and Patty Harm. Got scared by logging truck parked on the side of the road as we went downhill into a turn. Road on and off with Noah, Cati, and simon for a while into rest stop along the hills/rest stop. I pulled off on a side road to see if there was an outlook by some hay stacks and a barn but no luck. Got to the rest stop and took some pictures with everyone. Took off again. Eventually the roads became mundane and took off with Noah. Rolled into rest stop by Red Dragon (?). Found out there was an electronics store near by and got a real camera... cell phone pics weren't doing it. That delay kept me from catching Noah, Simon, Ruben, and Steven. Found the 3 DC girls at a star bucks as I head back out but quickly lost them as we hit the long, low grade climb. Rode the rest of the way alone. The 10 mile downhill into camp was AWESOME. I pedalled hard to get my mph above 40, getting around 42-43 before turning into some nasty side winds that blew me a little too much on the road, so I kept it at about 30-35mph.

Got into camp and set up the tent. Got lunch at Blustery's with Bob, Ruben, Steven, and Noah. Came back and made some calls to friends and family. It was great hearing from them and how proud they were about what I'm doing. Sometimes I really forget how impressive this trip is... to me it's become just like a vacation to Hawaii, but longer... and more fun... and more peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. After the calls Ruben, Noah, Steven, Simon, and Nick (mechanic) headed down to the Columbia river where we dove off the pier and just shot the shit. Came back to shower and get dinner again at Blustery's... they are nice enough to make us free dinner AND breakfast. Dinner was great and we celebrated Steven's birthday... who will now be called "rocket man".

Side Story: Steven was riding today w/ no shirt and only a camelback on. He has tan lines like he's a superhero that flies around with a jetpack... hence the new nickname: Rocketman.

After dinner I headed back to camp to catch up on the blog and write down today's events. All around a great day, great weather, and great ride. Can't wait to see what's in store tomorrow.

Stats:

distance:

76.64

avg:

17.4

max:

42.5

time:

4:23'01

Big Ride - Day 1 - Seattle to Easton

Day 1 was good. Stayed at the University of Washington dorms the night before, rooming with Nick the mechanic for our trip. Woke up at 4:40am and headed off to the start around 6am. The opening ceremony was nice and our top fundraisers presented the American Lung Association of Washington with a check for about $250,000. Lots of pictures and then Tony, our top fundraiser led the group out of Seattle.

I started the ride riding with Jim, a fellow Illinois local from Elgin. Later I was riding with Patty Harm, Stephanie, and Kevin Stone. Patty, being the local lead us down the bike path as we rolled along a beautiful river. We quickly learned that we need to focus more to the cue sheets while talking as we hit the end of the path and realized we missed a turn... yay bonus miles!

Side Note: Bonus miles are what we call extra miles we do when we get lost or adventure off the path laid out to us. 90% of the time it is because we get lost.

The rest of the path ride was real nice. One highlight was seeing a parking lot taken over by wild chickens. I guess they are the Washington equivalent of Canadian Geese that have taken over most of the New Jersey parks back home.

After the next water stop I rode a while with the three girls from DC. I lost them though when we started climbing up to the falls (forgot the name so I'll get it later). There was a great rest stop at the falls where we got to go to the overlook and see a gorgeous waterfall. Snapped some quick pictures on my cell phone.

As we pulled out of the falls I lost the girls again and found myself riding with Ruben from Minneapolis. He was a real cool guy and we rode most of the way together. As we approached I-90 we had a quick debate on how crazy it was to ride on a major interstate... but the cue sheet tells us where to go so a quick left and we were on the entrance ramp and riding the shoulder next to cars and trucks flying by at 70+ mph.

As we went into the biggest climb of the day I found myself not able to get a good pace or body temperature (I wore to many layers for the day). Rueben dropped me and I just took my time climbing to the summit.

After the summit I found myself back on I-90 along a river. I shot a great cell phone video of the contrasting tranquil waterfront and the 2 ton trucks flying by on my left.

Finally I found myself off I-90 heading downhill with a great tailwind. I only know about the great tailwind because I blew past the camp site and tacked on a few extra bonus miles for the day. Turning around I realize just how strong the wind was as I struggled uphill to get into camp.

Camp was good. Found a spot with Dan, our riding guide, Rosie, a fellow Agile fan, and Tracy. The showers sucked as it took a token to get 3 minutes of hot water. After 95 miles it was the greatest 3 minutes of my life, followed by the worst 30 seconds as I finished washing my hair in ice cold water.

Next we had dinner, which was prepared by some alumni riders, and then celebratory cake and ice cream. Then it was time to make our PB&J lunches for the next day and off to bed.

Final Ride Stats

Mileage:

94.08 miles

Time:

6:25'42

Avg Speed:

14.6 mph

Max Speed:

36.1 mph

Get a Fit at Get a Grip

Where do I even begin to talk about the bike fitting and the awesome people at Get a Grip Cycles?

What is a bike fitting?

Let's start with what is a bike fitting and why it is important. When you get into serious road biking, typically you are looking at riding distances of 20, 30, 40, up to 100+ miles in a single ride. To make this as efficient as possible you get clip-less pedals/shoes which essentially connect your foot to a pedal so if you push down or pull up with your foot, you will be propelling the bicycle forward. Now imagine doing these long 4-8 hour rides, connected to your bike like your legs are pistons, and you can start to see how being comfortable and having the bike properly adjusted could be important.

Since I bought my Trek 2200 road bike in 2004 I have upgraded the pedal, bike shoes, cleats that connect the shoe to the pedal, bike seat, and so on. During all these upgrades I would make minor adjustments to try to make the bike "feel" more comfortable and "faster". Sometimes I tweaked the right thing and it would eliminate a small pain in my calf, and sometimes I tweaked it wrong and would end up with my hip hurting for 2-3 weeks.

The Get a Grip fitting

Now as I looked to embark on a 3,300 mile journey across the country, I decided to get a proper bike fitting. But where to go? Some shops do an hour fitting and charge 50-100 bucks. Some offer 3 hour fittings costing much more. I continued to ask around to some friends and online forums and one name kept surprisingly popping up: Get a Grip. A quick look at their site and I was sold.

I should mention how intimidated I was walking into this shop. You walk in the door and hanging on the wall was easily a bike that cost as much as my rent... for an entire year! This intimidation was quickly calmed by Kevin, who happily greeted me with a hand shake and a friendly "come on in and sit down." It was the kind of greeting where if you told him you were there to buy your first bike in 20 years, or an $8,000 Orbea road bike, he would have treated you exactly the same. It also helped that he walked me to the back to hang out in what felt like a bicyclist's dream lounge. We're talking fully stocked bar, plasma TVs showing the lates