Hello, it's Andy, the guy who got off in Chicago. I went to Washington DC in a plane to visit girlfriend and here's a blog.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Ryan: The Big Blue Salty Puddle
We made it to the Atlantic!!! It was pretty awesome to see that massive amount of water, then to dive in it, then to get really cold but feel its necessary to body check some waves, then get out and have the water evaporate and salt crustify on your body (this must be what Stu feels like all the time...).
We've explored almost all of the places people have said to camp. Including but not limited to; Peoples yards, inside churches, outside churches, city parks, baseball field dugouts, behind movie theaters (we made this one up, but it works), in parks that are not necessarily public, highway rest stops, and on picnic tables... The two places we haven't stayed yet are the firehouse or a cemetery. We did however eat at a restaurant in Boonville, NY called the Hulbert house, and it is haunted... About time we found something haunted on this trip.
Short blog, weird right? I'm tired, we got up to see the sunrise this morning on the east coast (I usually get one sun rise in a year)... It was pretty spectacular though. Oh, and we called Andy from the Atlantic- he's in Washington D.C. visiting girlfriend, so I guess he beat us (using his calories inefficiently: DID YOU KNOW: the bicycle is the most efficient way for any animal to travel the most miles for the least amount of calories? Cars and batteries not included).
Ryan C. Kolegas
We've explored almost all of the places people have said to camp. Including but not limited to; Peoples yards, inside churches, outside churches, city parks, baseball field dugouts, behind movie theaters (we made this one up, but it works), in parks that are not necessarily public, highway rest stops, and on picnic tables... The two places we haven't stayed yet are the firehouse or a cemetery. We did however eat at a restaurant in Boonville, NY called the Hulbert house, and it is haunted... About time we found something haunted on this trip.
Short blog, weird right? I'm tired, we got up to see the sunrise this morning on the east coast (I usually get one sun rise in a year)... It was pretty spectacular though. Oh, and we called Andy from the Atlantic- he's in Washington D.C. visiting girlfriend, so I guess he beat us (using his calories inefficiently: DID YOU KNOW: the bicycle is the most efficient way for any animal to travel the most miles for the least amount of calories? Cars and batteries not included).
Ryan C. Kolegas
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Ryan- Sweet home Chicago: And farewell
I know this is a little late to write about Chicago, but since we've been averaging about 100 miles a day in rainy weather across the midwest, I figure its better late than never...
Chicago was a great place to stop for a couple days. Our fund raiser was stellar and everybody got to see their family and friends.
(Just a suggestion, when you go on a cross country bike trip, move entirely out of your apartment first so that you don't have to spend hours and hours cleaning and moving when you're passing through your hometown).
It was so nice to feel support for this trip and this film from all the people I care about, yet there can never be enough time, so before I knew it we were on the road again.
Luckily, the few people who got word that we wanted to ride out with friends all showed up to the train station on Monday morning and 7 other people got to experience a typical day on the road (for about 10 or 15 miles). It started slow, we left about 30 minutes after said time, Matt rolled up with a flat that needed to be pumped, we went four blocks in about 10 minutes (lots of little stops), we went the wrong way down a one way, Stu endangered his own life, and then we finally got moving. Mid way through the trip Jimmy Robin got a flat tire, so we got to give him a crash course on flat fixin' on the road. About ten miles out most people turned back and a winner appeared- Dave Safford (my hero)... who stuck it out long enough to get the true pay off of riding: Ice Cream. Dave also fell into the Scott trap (where you try and keep up and Scott just keeps riding faster and faster. Needless to say, by the time we got ice cream, we were all ready for a little break).
It was so nice that people took the time to ride and to see us off. So to our fellow riders: Brian Morrison, Elliot Tagtmeier, Dave Safford, Jimmy Robin, Andy Junk, Rich Sandford, Larry Gress, Thank you, and I hope you enjoyed the ride.
On a side note... I finally believe Andy is quitting. I told him I wouldn't believe it until he rode with us and turned back. And sure enough he turned back. Bummer. (I don't know why he stopped blogging though- I'm still curious as to what he's up to).
The midwest was flat and awesome. We've met several farmers, while Matt or I change our flat tires (which have grown exponentially since Chicago), who have held fun conversations or offered us water on the side of the road. Other points I could touch on are:
* Drinking welch's grape juice from a farm that grows the grapes,
* Eating fresh apples from Apple Trees
* Days of misery- Wet and cold- The trip is finally legitimate (what's an adventure without misery?)
* Our longest day yet (and first real night ride) 128 miles
* Camping in people's yards- we have yet to be turned away, people are pretty incredible.
* Camping outside a motel, and outside a Mall (movie theatre).
* There's so much more, but there's some stuff you can ask us about if you wanna hear a story... Nighty night for now.
Sincerely,
Ryan C. Kolegas
Chicago was a great place to stop for a couple days. Our fund raiser was stellar and everybody got to see their family and friends.
(Just a suggestion, when you go on a cross country bike trip, move entirely out of your apartment first so that you don't have to spend hours and hours cleaning and moving when you're passing through your hometown).
It was so nice to feel support for this trip and this film from all the people I care about, yet there can never be enough time, so before I knew it we were on the road again.
Luckily, the few people who got word that we wanted to ride out with friends all showed up to the train station on Monday morning and 7 other people got to experience a typical day on the road (for about 10 or 15 miles). It started slow, we left about 30 minutes after said time, Matt rolled up with a flat that needed to be pumped, we went four blocks in about 10 minutes (lots of little stops), we went the wrong way down a one way, Stu endangered his own life, and then we finally got moving. Mid way through the trip Jimmy Robin got a flat tire, so we got to give him a crash course on flat fixin' on the road. About ten miles out most people turned back and a winner appeared- Dave Safford (my hero)... who stuck it out long enough to get the true pay off of riding: Ice Cream. Dave also fell into the Scott trap (where you try and keep up and Scott just keeps riding faster and faster. Needless to say, by the time we got ice cream, we were all ready for a little break).
It was so nice that people took the time to ride and to see us off. So to our fellow riders: Brian Morrison, Elliot Tagtmeier, Dave Safford, Jimmy Robin, Andy Junk, Rich Sandford, Larry Gress, Thank you, and I hope you enjoyed the ride.
On a side note... I finally believe Andy is quitting. I told him I wouldn't believe it until he rode with us and turned back. And sure enough he turned back. Bummer. (I don't know why he stopped blogging though- I'm still curious as to what he's up to).
The midwest was flat and awesome. We've met several farmers, while Matt or I change our flat tires (which have grown exponentially since Chicago), who have held fun conversations or offered us water on the side of the road. Other points I could touch on are:
* Drinking welch's grape juice from a farm that grows the grapes,
* Eating fresh apples from Apple Trees
* Days of misery- Wet and cold- The trip is finally legitimate (what's an adventure without misery?)
* Our longest day yet (and first real night ride) 128 miles
* Camping in people's yards- we have yet to be turned away, people are pretty incredible.
* Camping outside a motel, and outside a Mall (movie theatre).
* There's so much more, but there's some stuff you can ask us about if you wanna hear a story... Nighty night for now.
Sincerely,
Ryan C. Kolegas
Stuart: Cleveland, Oh hello!
We rode onto the rainy, empty streets of Cleveland on Sunday. Eventually, we found the lakeside path (reminiscent of Chicago) and sure enough a bicycle rider with huge legs caught up with us and engaged us in conversation. His name was Bill and he was a retired fire fighter who's lived in the Cleavland area for most of his life. We caught him on his daily 27-30 mile bicycle ride (not so bad considering he was over 60!), which coincidentally took him straight through the city to the east side of town, in the exact direction we needed to go. It also happened that his house was a half mile off the road and he had some orange juice that he was willing to share with us so he invited us over for a glass. Bill poured us some orange juice, got out a whole assortment of nuts and seeds, fruit and offered us beer too! It was quite the feast and he told us that he likes to pass on the kindness that he received when he went on a long bicycle tour in the 1970s with his friend (so it was a glimpse into our future). He told us funny stories about being a fireman, like when a “big-boned” woman got hopelessly stuck between her toilet and the bathtub. They tried everything, oil, grease, tugging, but at last they had to shut off the water and take out the toilet. He said those stories were the ones they try and hold on to because there were gruesome stories too that are still difficult to deal with. We had such a good time over there, we invited him to come along (after he said that he wanted to), but it turned out he couldn't because his girlfriend from Florida was flying in to visit for a month. It was a bummer for us, but great for him. Stuffed with nuts, fruits and orange juice, we left Bill in his cozy, dry home for the soaking wet outside world. It was tough. Thanks Bill!
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