Episodes 7 and 8!

 

 

 

Made it to San Fran! Coming soon..a blog post! :}

BUSMS Episode 6!

 

Larned, KS to Gunnison, CO!

Headin’ into Colorado!

Colorado is by far one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to. I was really sad when we left CO to go into UT (even though I’d find UT to be awesome as well).

Eastern CO was still pretty similar to Kansas – there were many grain elevators and the heat was on. It was early in July and the group wanted to make it into Pueblo on the 4th of July in order to see the fireworks. So we decided on our second Colorado day to keep riding into Pueblo instead of stopping in Ordway – we rode 120 total that day! On our way we passed these train cars that seemed to be abandoned on the track. The cars went on for miles and miles, through towns..for like a dozen miles.

That was pretty early in the day, and by the time we’d gotten to Ordway we were pumped to get into Pueblo. On the way in we saw some wild prairie dogs scattering about on the side of the road; it doesn’t really sound too exciting but it's the first time I’d seen these guys out in the wild (a very similar experience to when I got excited to see squirrels when I first came to the states).

We had a great time in Pueblo – we stayed in a hotel, walked around town a lot, got to see the fireworks at night, all in a town of over 100,000 people which is pretty much the most populated town we’d gone to. We had a rest day the next day, which meant we all ran around and took care of errands, visited local bike shops, etc. It was really hot outside so in my case there was a lot of hotel hanging out and tv watching (we don’t get to do this much anymore so it was nice).

The day after the rest day we were set to go into Cotopaxi. We had to climb up over 8000 feet, our first time making climbs to these elevations. The climb was as beautiful as it was challenging – my body wasn’t used to such high elevations so while I would be climbing normally at a lower elevation, now my heart was racing at speeds as slow as 4mph. I couldn’t even drink water and pedal at the same time – I would have to stop under some shade, catch my breath, drink, then keep going. You could definitely tell your body was having to work much harder due to decreased oxygen levels.

The descent from there was soo beautiful. I even had this doe gallop like 10 feet away from me on the side of the road, cut in front of me, then keep galloping towards a mountain on the other side. It was awesome and was one of the things that started my love for Colorado. Here’s a vid I took during the descent.

 

The ride into Cotopaxi that day was pretty nice – winds weren’t a problem and it was relatively flat with some small rolling hills. I was a little nervous this day since I didn’t grab any lights for my bike and I was running short on time to be able to get  to camp. Luckily I was able to speed over in time before dark. The areas around Cotopaxi were a little different than in the video from the descent – it looked more like desert. There was a cool small river going by the road that also went through our campsite that looked like the water was a gunmetal blue color. Soo pretty. We also got a beautiful red sunset that day.

The next day we rode into Salida, one of the cooler towns out of the whole trip. It was a very alternative, artsy kind of town – and also expensive. At this point I was trying to find a Colorado jersey (because CO is so awesome) and went into this store called Absolute Bikes and got them to give the group 10% off. I got this really pretty orange Monarch Pass jersey since we would be going over the pass the next day. After some Mexican food in a local restaurant and watching the world cup, we started making our way up to Monarch Mountain – the highest we would climb throughout the whole trip…

 

On the next blog post coming very soon! :)

Windy Kansas

Kansas started out with a bang. The first city we went to was Pittsburg, where we got a lot of hookups: first we got a yummy free lunch buffet at a place called Wheat State Pizza, got to stay at a nice school, and had local people in an MS group make dinner for us. We met a lady that had MS at the pizza place; she had a Yorkshire Terrier as a service dog, which really surprised me since you don’t usually see service dogs this small. She knitted red, white, and blue angel pins and gave one to each of us so we could wear them on our ride. After lunch we settled into a local school and listened to her touching story and battle with MS. You can see her popping a wheelie on her motorized wheelchair in BUSMS Episode 5. It’s always inspiring to see someone who is so cheery and determined despite such adversity.

A couple days later we would ride one of our first centuries into Cassoday! It sounds like a lot, but Kansas was getting flat by this point so it wasn’t too horrible. Here’s a video I took somewhere in eastern Kansas. You can tell it’s pretty flat but super windy, which makes riding so much harder.

 

The eastern side of Kansas has lots of open grasslands with cows in ranges and feedlots, but once you start heading more to the west the views turn more into endless wheat fields all around you.  So basically it’d go from this

     to this   

There weren’t many trees so you could see for long distances all around you – one of the ways to tell you were getting close to a town was from seeing faraway water towers. You would see them and think you’d be close but it’d take sooo long to get to them.

The winds at first were pretty mild but as we kept pressing on they kept getting more intense, culminating in one particular day being a little dangerous - the day we were riding into Leoti. That morning we decided to have a 25mi day instead of a longer one that was already scheduled. This brought much delight to everyone since we were all tired from biking 120 miles into Scott City the day before – another century! Anyway, during our ride to Leoti the wind gusts went up to almost 40mph! These were crosswinds that were powerful enough to push a couple of our cyclists off the shoulder. Add to that a ton of semis (we were riding through Kansas right in the middle of harvest so there was a lot of transport going on) that would suck you into the road as they zoomed by and push you back as they rode past you and you have a scary combination of forces pushing you all over the place in a small shoulder. We were all pretty happy it was a short day so we didn’t have to deal with that for too long, but it was pretty scary indeed.

Aside from that most of Kansas was pretty flat and uneventful, and people were very hospitable and friendly. One day Rose and I were biking to the park in Nickerson when this one woman called us over to say hi and talk to us about how much faith she had in God. While she got into a few weird details about her devotion (her family’s death would not bother her as long as she had faith), she was super nice, wished us a safe ride, and said she would pray for our safety.

All in all, Kansas was a nice state to go through: we got to ride through some beautiful open grasslands, drank wine as a group while we watched the sunset in Scott City, got a couple centuries done, met some nice people…if only it wasn’t so windy!

To close it up, a picture of another industry we got a peek of while riding through:

Oil drilling! These guys were a common sight.

 

Up next: Colorado!

Missouri

Missouri was one of the hottest, strangest, most challenging state that we’d come to deal with. I had never heard about the Ozark mountains before we hit MO and just recently having come out of the Appalachians I wasn’t the most excited to deal with more mountains. The Ozarks turned out to be one of the most beautiful and funnest (this should be a word) places we’d gone to.

We left Chester and entered MO and the first thing I saw was huge fireworks retailers. All of these places shroomed up right after the state line. These first couple days on MO also turned out to be some of the hottest so far. I also ended up getting a bunch of flats towards the beginning.

Changing flats - not as fun as it sounds

The first day in MO had us go into Farmingtown, where we got to stay at a sweet bike hostel that looked like an apartment as well as go to a waterpark in town which turned out to be a big hit – we lounged in the lazy river for hours, sometime clogging the flow of people with all of us linking our tubes together along the river.

The day after we made our way to Eminence. On the route we ended up spending some time in the Current river. After that day we got into another river and ended up climbing this cliff and jumping into the water from like 30 feet above – you can see people jumping off in Episode 5.

A few of us had to deal with random and weird MO people: some kid threw fruit punch at one of us, changed BUSMS signs around on us, and even had a disgruntled logging trucker chase a touring friend of ours while yelling and waving around an axe – you can’t make this kinda stuff up.

Pictured: MO style

Aside from the strange people, we got to see a lot of pretty rolling hillsides and mountains in the Ozark mountain range. The route leaders had been saying that by that point, after having gone through VA, we would be ready for the Ozarks. They turned out to be much more challenging than I imagined. There were lots of rolling hills and steep climbs that we had to get through. This also meant there were some nice downhills – I think it was at this point that people in the group hit highs over 50mph. I don’t go too crazy on the downhills so I’m sure I was nowhere near that.

Another nice thing that came out of MO was one of the most delicious breakfasts I’ve had in my entire life. I forgot what it was called, but I’ll always remember it.

BEHOLD. Delicious french toast goodness:

This guy had two slices of french toast with cream cheese stuffed in between. The bread was covered in eggs and corn flakes and fried to artery clogging perfection. This was topped off with whip cream, strawberries, and a side of sausage. This is the kinda stuff we eat on this trip – so horrible for the average person but delicious to us calorie burning, biking machines.

Well, that’s it for MO. Kansas coming up next!

Episode 5 – Carbondale, IL to Larned, KS

Kentucky and Illinois

Whew! It’s certainly been a while since I last blogged; I guess I’ve been getting caught up on the trip too much ;)

Before we get into the nitty gritty, here’s the 4th episode showing the ride from Hindman, KY to Carbondale, IL.

After my last post, we made it over to the Rough River Dam, where we stayed at a nice camping area by the dam. They had a really nice lodge with a buffet that left many of the cyclists paralyzed with food babies.

After that we made our way to Sebree, KY where we stayed at a church that had an awesome area for youth groups complete with a large TV, entertainment area..the works. The people at the church were also so generous that they made us a feast. It really hit me that day how generous people can be to cyclists and to our cause. At one point during the dinner they came out and explained more about their history of hosting cyclists (pictured).

There we met a few fellow TransAmers - a young couple, and one guy that was biking the TransAm on a mountain bike with a HUGE backpack on his back. I have no idea at this point how he's doing, but that kind of setup would make it really hard to ride day to day, I would think.

Soon after Sebree we were making our way into Illinois, one of the states that I had the best times in. In order to go to IL we had to get on a boat that would ferry us from KY into IL across the Ohio River. I was expecting it to be this really large river that would take us a while to cross but it ended up being way narrower and shorter than that. Still, it was a great experience to take your bike on a boat and ferry across. We were all pretty excited to be going into IL since we would have a rest day coming up ahead in Carbondale. Several of the cyclists are from Carbondale so we knew we would have a great time there.

After crossing the river into Cave in Rock, IL we were greeted by one of the cyclist’s family members with delicious fruits and drinks. We hung out there for a while – eating watermelons, having plenty of laughs, and letting the reality of being in a new state sink in. Later that night we had dinner at a local restaurant and explored the caves by the river shore.

After Cave in Rock we rode over to Carbondale, where we would stay a couple days and enjoy a poolside party and do some volunteer work during our rest day. The first thing we did during our rest day was volunteer yardwork for a local lady that had MS. I ended up washing her car and pulling some weeds mostly, while other people mowed the lawn, cleared ivy from the house walls, etc. Afterwards a few of us went to another house that had a ramp built on the front yard for another lady that had MS. Part of our fundraising money went to make this ramp. After taking pictures we headed back to where we were staying during our rest day – one of the cyclists parents house. There we caught up with much needed rest time, mostly spent watching the world cup, playing frisbee in the front lawn, splashing around in the pool (and starting an awesome whirlpool of over 30 people), and checking out the family’s farm animals (an awesome donkey named Bella and a couple curious goats). I had such a great time that day and in Carbondale in general.

The next day we got some yummy breakfast in town and were featured in a local radio station. We all said our names and where we were from and then a few of us took over and explained more about our organization and how the ride was going.

We then set out to make our way to Chester, IL – the home of Popeye the Sailor! The town is very proud of this fact, and have statues and images of Popeye in pretty much anything you can imagine. In the picture you can see how proud they are – as soon as you get into Illinois from Missouri you can see the welcome to IL sign as well as the welcome to Chester sign with a big ‘ole Popeye on it. It was pretty funny in an endearing way.

And that was actually the last time we would be in IL – sadly we only had a couple days in the state before moving onto Missouri. A bridge over the Mississippi River would take us into MO..where I’m going to be picking up on the next blog post. :)

Third video!

The third video is up! From Blacksburg, VA to Hindman, KY!

Oh, Kentucky

It’s been a few days since we’ve gone into KY and I’ve already experienced all the rumors we heard about the state. We’d heard about being chased by dogs, coal trucks blazing by, and interesting behavior by locals in general. It’s the first time I’d go into the state so I was pretty pumped.

We had a pretty pleasant night before in the Breaks Park where the group watched the sun go down from a nice overlook. You could see roads in the distance and cars look like little toy cars.

 

The next morning we rode into KY, and of course we all took a picture of the sign as soon as we crossed state lines. Right behind the sign there was a road where coal trucks were already riding into the roads. This was only a taste of what was to come. It’s crazy how as soon at you cross into the next state things are completely different.

 

The second rumor that turned out to be very true is about the dogs. Everyone had warned us about how the dogs in this state are not leashed and they will run out at you and chase you as soon as you head by their house. This has turned out to be annoyingly true. I’ve never been chased by so many dogs in my life. How do we deal with this do you wonder? Different people have different techniques – some people bark back, some yell and wave their hands, and what I do which is just ignoring them and pedaling through. It’s so nervewracking because the dogs are right there at your feet as you’re pedaling by, barking/snarling/wanting to eat you..but I haven’t been bit yet so I figure its working for me. Just the other day someone sprayed this “Halt” spray in front of them and that did the job very well..the dog didn’t even want to chase us coming behind them due to the spray. It’s crazy how people will just leave their dogs out there unleashed, but that’s how its been here.

The first few days in KY were pretty different from what we’ve been experiencing lately. There were a lot of coal trucks and close and rides along routes that looked like this..in the rain..not so fun.

But lately the scenery has been changing, especially since we’ve left the Appalachians behind. The rides are getting flatter and more like rolling hills. We’ve been going through a lot of lakes and pretty areas, which has been a nice contrast to the darker, more coal mining oriented areas we went through first.

One awesome achievement I’ve had is doing a century – riding 100 miles. That day was ridiculous..I got rained on in the morning, got lost later in the day and had to take a scary ride along an interstate..but I got it all done and by the end of the day I was feeling pretty good.

Another good thing I’ve been getting into lately is milkshakes and ice cream..I’ve become sooo addicted it’s not even funny. By the end of the day I’ve had at least one or two. Here you can see us hitting up a dairy spot for some delicious goodness.

 

 

Well..it’s getting dark and I gotta head back. Till later. :)

600 miles into the trip - Breaks Interstate Park, VA/KY

Today we rode into the Breaks Park, located between VA and KY. The ride itself was pretty smooth for most of the day, right up until we got close to the park in Breaks..

We started the day out with some delicious pancakes made by one of the cyclists. Fresh yummy pancakes and some tea in the morning will definitely brighten you up and get you ready for the day.

The ride today was much shorter and easier than yesterdays, even though we hit a couple holdups in the way..

Second time we’ve had to deal with this in VA. It’s funny how you wait all this time and end up seeing this little tractor truck rolling down the hill and then you can go.

I also got this nifty little “tattoo” on the back of my leg, courtesy of Bret Taylor. Everyone that rode by kept asking if I was bleeding since that’s what it looked like from a distance. As soon as they got closer, they’d go “OH..that’s just a fake tattoo!” Maybe I should just call that the the iron calf? Ha. :)

The fun started when we were reaching the park. While the hills weren’t as bad as they were on Hayter’s gap yesterday, they were still tough to go up on. Right as we were going up into the park we stumbled onto the Lover’s Leap overlook, where I was able to get a couple good pictures. As the story goes, a couple from warring tribes jumped into the river since their love was forbidden.

A little bit further up and we’re in the park! We got in the early afternoon..a pretty short day compared to yesterday.

After a delicious hot shower, we rode over to the Lodge, where we stuffed ourselves with yummy dinner and a free hot fudge dessert! We also met a little furry visitor that apparently frequents this area for scraps..

We didn’t give her food or anything, but she was very forward..coming very close to see if we were going to give her something. I ended up calling her “Susie”. Dunno why..it had a cute ring to it. :)

Tomorrow we'll be riding out of VA and into KY..soo excited! I've never been there! I wonder what it'll bring..

Video of the first week

Here’s the video of the first week of the trip..from Yorktown to Blacksburg!

Over a week into it!

It’s been a little while since I last posted – every day is so busy and by the time you get to your destination you’re so tired and hungry that there’s not too much time to blog (in my case, at least :p)

The ride has been amazing so far; there’s times where you’re tired and all you’re doing is pedaling..but by the end of the day you’re so glad for all the experiences that it doesn’t really matter.

The days have kind of been blurring together, so I’ll mention the highlights so far.

The first day was awesome – we dipped our back tires in the Atlantic coast in Yorktown, VA. We will be repeating this on our front tires when we get to San Francisco, CA.

One of the route leaders has started a project to see how our bodies will change during the trip. He’s taking pictures of our tan lines and legs and will do a time lapse progression at the end. It’s going to be interesting to see how much your legs bulk up with this kind of exercise.

On our way to Charlottesville we stopped in the James Q. Miller MS Clinic, where they talked to us about the clinic’s history and gave us a small tour of the facility. This is the only MS specific clinic in the area, and is the one we will be donating money to fund a nurse practitioner’s position.

Later this day we stayed at the King’s house, where we were greeted with a banquet of delicious and much appreciated food.

On the next day, we climbed up Afton mountain and descended Vesuvius. The climb into Afton was pretty intense, but it was there that we stumbled into June Curry, otherwise known as the “Cookie Lady.” This lady has had a bike stop since the beginning of time, and has pictures and a whole house next to her own full of biker paraphernalia and postcards from all kinds of people that have gone through her house and talked to her. As soon as you go into her house, she shows you all sorts of pictures from the bike stop in the old days and also her collection of dolls – some of which sing and dance. She was particularly excited about this 4ft tall Santa doll, which sang 6 songs. It was a great treat to be able to visit this sweet lady at the end of a particularly nasty climb.

After her house, we ascended Mount Vesuvius – up to 3200ft high! The descent was awesome..I think it took like 6 minutes to go down the whole thing.

Here’s a video from one of last year’s riders, Bret Taylor, so you can get an idea of what it was like.

 

On our way to Troutville on the next day, a few of us went down to the James river while we were in Buchanan, VA. I didn’t end up getting in since I was worried I would have a hard time with my wet chamois..but as I found out today, that’s not a big deal. Next time there’s a river on a hot day, I’m definitely jumping in! At the end of the day we bumped into this station that had massive cups of ice cream for only $1.60. I had a delicious strawberry cheesecake and orange sherbert mixture..it was heavenly. But the last few miles to our destination was hard! A tired belly full of ice cream makes riding a little difficult.

On the next day we rode into Blacksburg. We were met up with a few more riders as part of Bike the Burg, where other people would ride to town with us from either Troutville or Catawba. Here’s a pic of the group at the Catawba general store. A few riders from last years bike trip joined us as well!

Where a party was waiting for us in the Farmer’s Market and Champs. This was a pretty short day, so I got to enjoy some time back home.

The following day was a rest day, which I mostly spend running about doing errands and getting random bike things that I needed.

The next day to Rural Retreat was a pretty brutal one. We ended up riding all day – and I got a good taste of what it’s like to have a tired day and have to keep trucking to get to your destination.

And now we’re up to today..which was an awesome and eventful day. Several of us were pretty scared of Hayter’s Gap..a 1,500ft ascent over only 4 miles. Early in the day we stopped at a little food place and loaded up on some delicious breakfast…today was gonna be ridiculous, so we might as well fuel up!

We ended up getting rained on pretty bad today..but the descent into Damascus made up for it. After a long time of descending, we were met with Pepper, another TransAmer that owns a bike shop. He’s been riding with us on some of the days since the beginning..and he treated us to some free pizza! More fuel to get ready for Hayter’s Gap.

We rode over to the bottom of the mountain and resigned ourselves to a very intense ascent..which would be as tiring as it would be gratifying. After getting into a nice grinding pace, and after a few stops on the way up we made it to the top! All 1,500 feet of it. As I was reaching the top I could hear everyone cheering on the people that were getting to the top. After some more pushing up, I was greeted by the group that had already made it up. Everyone was cheering and yelling, which made getting there all the more fun. My legs were tired and I was pretty beat..but it was all worth it.

A quick descent later and we got to our destination for the day. So now it’s a little late and I’m tired! Time to pack up for the night and get some rest for tomorrow. :)

BIKE the US for MS 2010 : Episode 1

Video from the first couple days of the bike trip. I haven't been able to blog so much lately since we've been soo busy after getting to our resting spots for the day. By the time we clean up, eat, set up shop for the night, and wind down it's already time for bed.

The rides so far have been awesome. The terrain has been pretty flat so far so it hasn't been TOO hard..even though today we biked 82 miles! That's a new record for me..last one being from yesterday, where we did over 60 miles. In the next couple days we will be going over more and more mountainous terrain, which will definitely test my endurance..but as long as I keep my legs moving I'll be allright. :)

Pictures and more in depth coverage of the first couple days coming soon! Nite!

One week 'till departure!

It's been about a month since my last blog..been so busy with school and finals that I've had no time to update here. Now that I'm done with classes and am a week away from starting the trip I'll be able to make more frequent posts!

Just today I reached the $3,000 fundraising minimum! Thanks to BUSMS events and personal donations I've finally been able to get to the goal..and of course I'm not stopping. At this point I'm wondering how much more I can raise and what kind of personal goals to set for myself..let's see how far I can take it! We've been able to raise $72,000 so far, which is incredible..but we still have much more to go as a group of almost 30 cyclists raising money for the cause.

Training has also been going steady. Just recently I went up Mountain Lake (where they filmed Dirty Dancing!), an almost 7 mile climb in Pembroke, VA. It was pretty brutal, considering the whole way is nothing but up, up, up..but it was really good practice for what awaits me in the state of VA. Here's a couple pics of the view while we took a little break.

You can see some cows in the distance

Sip sip!

I'm still having issues with the clip-in pedals, but for that I just need more practice. It's getting to be a little embarrassing to fall over while I'm not even riding! But that's all just part of getting used to your bike.

Speaking of which, I've got some upgrades/goodies for my bike - I ordered a Brooks Flyer S (leather saddle made specially for women) and an Ortlieb handlebar bag.

Aside from that I've also been getting gear/camping stuff in general. Chamois shorts, gloves, helmet mirrors, sleeping bags, mess kits..the whole shebang. I think I'm pretty ready with supplies at this point, but I'm sure I'm still missing a lot. You never know what else you're going to need until you start packing everything up and getting ready to go, so I'm sure I'm still going to be running around trying to get supplies as the time draws near for departure...in ONE WEEK! I'm soo excited. :)

The Fens next to the support trailer!