Once again, starting from today and working backwards!
Van Buren (Fort Smith), AR to Henryetta, OK. State line day, but I didn't get to bike the state line this morning. I woke up (at 4:30 am) with a horrible migraine to the point of feeling nauseous. I was going to bike to the state line then van it to lunch, but I knew I wouldn't make it. So I sacrificed it, but I did get my picture at the state line at least. At the first lunch stop at 35 miles I decided to get on the bike with Preston and Ride out the rest of the day. I unfortunately did not get my Century (100 miles) today, but I managed a good 71. Tomorrow is a 98 miler, so I'll be sure to tack on a few extra miles to hit my 100 mark.
On a side note, I figured I should inform everyone. We had a rider struck by a car this morning. He is doing fine. He was hit two miles into the ride, but rode Travis' bike (since he was driving the van) and finished the last 104 miles anyway. He broke his bike and was scraped up a bit. Dangers are out there, but we do everything we can to prevent them. Just keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers for a safe trip.
Russelville, AR to Van Buren, AR. 80 mile day and I busted ass all day long. Preston was on sweep so I decided to ride pretty hard this day, especially since i felt like my thigh was doing a lot better. I started out with Sebass, Scott, Tyler, Natalie Travis and Eugene (the fast group basically). I kept up for about 8 miles before I had to drop off, but I figured I'd keep pushing hard just to see how I could do. I made it to the first $ stop (B$'s dad is setting up in between stops for us on these long days to help out) pretty quick. I did the first 20 miles in 1hr and 15min or so. I left from there after the two fast groups left and rode by myself for the next 20 miles to the lunch stop. Pretty good scenery all day. I made it to the lunch stop where Ryan M., Eugene and Travis gave me a very warm welcome since I'm never used to seeing the lead groups at lunch. They were just as excited to see me kicking ass as I was. It wasn't about me getting their in front of anyone at all. It was definitely about me pushing myself and proving to myself that after a hard week of thigh issues and mental issues that I was still strong enough to do this. As Ryan M., Travis and Eugene were leaving they said 'Alright, Speedy Gonzalez, are you coming with us or what?' I wasn't really sure that I'd ever ride with them this summer, so I couldn't pass up the chance. I kept up at a 20mph average for about 10 miles or so managing to pull them in a paceline for all of 1 mile of it but still. It was fun nice to be riding at the very front for once. I definitely won't be up there much, but it definitely boosted my confidence on the bike. Thanks a lot to Ryan Miller, Travis and Eugene for the kind words.
Well, as for the rest of the day. After dropping off from the front pack I had my first flat tire of the campaign before the second $ stop. No big deal, I fixed it and kept going. After the $ stop I jumped on board with B$, Katie R, Katie K, Zac, Varun and Paul where we met up with Ryan Kern and Craig. They had managed to donation magic at a paintball field. We had an amazing deal and couldn't pass up some paintball games. Angela ended up joining in so we had some 5 v. 5 going on. It was such a fun time. To bad we wore ourselves out and still had about 20 miles of biking left. Angela and I finished out the day with Sonic milkshakes.
Little Rock, AR to Russelville, AR. 80 miles of riding. We crossed the Big Dam Bridge which is the largest pedestrian and biking bridge in the world that is specifically built for this purpose. We had some really good scenery getting back into some hills. Not much else happened that I can think of. I was having a great riding day though, I do know that.
Stuttgart, AR to Little Rock, AR and the day off in Little Rock. Leaving Stuttgart was flat flat flat with some headwinds. The day before I had some thigh pain still towards the end of our 95 mile ride. I decided since it was only a 50 miler I wouldn't take it too hard, but still push myself a little. Preston and I hit the rode and would alternate pulling each other through the headwinds for a bit. I noticed we were keeping up a very nice pace. We made it to the lunch stop at mile 25 and were told a lot of people were just heading into Little Rock to a pub for lunch since it was only another 25 miles away. So Preston and I just refilled water and gatorade and hit the road again. I was feeling really well and noticed myself breaking away from Preston pretty often. Without thigh pain I just like to move. We made it into Little Rock by 11:45am and got some lunch at this awesome Irish pub.
Now for the Day Off. I spent the day at Heifer International which is such an awesome organization. Their building is so awesome and beautiful. Afterwards, I went down to the River Market and ate some lunch. Met some really cool people interested in Bike and Build. Then made my way to see "La Petite Roche" or the little rock. Pretty unimpressive but fun nonetheless. I made it to the Clinton Library and Museum but it was just full of so much information it was hard to process everything. But the Highlight of the day by far was watching the sunset over the Arkansas River. It was just peaceful and calming. I loved it!
Well, that is it for now. Catch you in a week or two!.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tupelo, MS to Stuttgart, AR
Well, we made it in and out of Mississippi as quick as we could. We'll do the same as the past post by starting with today's ride and working backwards.
Clarksdale, MS to Stuttgart, AR. Well, today was an up and down day. My thigh felt prett good this morning (morning being 5am). We had 94 miles to ride which included two lunch stops at 33 miles and 66 miles. The first third of the trip went by so smoothly. I broke away from a small group I started with pretty early and was cuising at 17mph or so on my own. I caught up with Katie K and Karen and rode with them until first lunch. We hit a stretch of rode where we didn't turn for 15 miles so it was just cruising. I was leading these two for a bit and figured 15-16 was a good pace until I realized I was pulling them at 18-20 at some points. The winds were definitely in our favor at that point. We made it to the Mississippi River in Helena and crossed over into Arkansas. After Lunch, Kelsey and I rode the rest of the trip together through the roughest headwinds I've had yet. It definitely slowed the pace down a lot. This is also when my knee started to get a little intense. Tough last 20 miles, but I made it.
Oxford,MS to Clarksdale, MS. Oxford was cool town, but I'll talk about next in the section about that ride day. This ride day SUCKED. I felt great in the morning and jumped on the B$ train (brian aka. B$ is one of the leaders) with Katie R, Zac and Preston and we were booking it for a bit. After Preston and I got dropped from that, my knee started to absolutely kill. It hurt, I stopped for a few. It hurt again, so I stopped and put icyhot on it. It hurt again, I stopped again, put my bike down, threw my helmet and called Megan in the van to come get me. So this was my first and hopefully only missed riding day. I missed 60 miles because of my knee. I was absolutely pissed off, and upset and just everything. At the end of the day though I knew I made the right decision. I'm learning about the physical barriers and challenges involved. I've never done something this physically exhausting and I'm finding out my limits every day. I also had to learn how to swallow my pride for once and ask for help. It's not really something I'm used to doing.
Tupelo, MS to Oxford, MS. This was a 60 mile day in the absolute nastiest heat and humidity. Semi-decent ride on some iffy roads as far as quality. Oxford was a pretty cool little town. Home of the University of Mississippi otherwise known as Ole Miss. Nice campus that they were having a little concert at, but I'll get to that in a short bit. We had dinner and swimming at one of the cycling club of Oxford members house. Swimming pool and beer for everyone, plus a pretty awesome dinner. It was kind of nice to spend some time eating and having some fun outside of a gymnasium. Afterwards, some of us attended the small folk concert on the lawn at Ole Miss campus. Preston and I went with the intention of throwing the frisbee around and eventually developed a nice group of people. So we of course started a nice game of ultimate frisbee with 12 of us. I've never actually played a game before, but thats to the lessons from Kate Clark in MN I was a natural. I had so much fun playing though.
Thats pretty much it for now. We get to Little Rock tomorrow and we get a day off on Thursday.
Clarksdale, MS to Stuttgart, AR. Well, today was an up and down day. My thigh felt prett good this morning (morning being 5am). We had 94 miles to ride which included two lunch stops at 33 miles and 66 miles. The first third of the trip went by so smoothly. I broke away from a small group I started with pretty early and was cuising at 17mph or so on my own. I caught up with Katie K and Karen and rode with them until first lunch. We hit a stretch of rode where we didn't turn for 15 miles so it was just cruising. I was leading these two for a bit and figured 15-16 was a good pace until I realized I was pulling them at 18-20 at some points. The winds were definitely in our favor at that point. We made it to the Mississippi River in Helena and crossed over into Arkansas. After Lunch, Kelsey and I rode the rest of the trip together through the roughest headwinds I've had yet. It definitely slowed the pace down a lot. This is also when my knee started to get a little intense. Tough last 20 miles, but I made it.
Oxford,MS to Clarksdale, MS. Oxford was cool town, but I'll talk about next in the section about that ride day. This ride day SUCKED. I felt great in the morning and jumped on the B$ train (brian aka. B$ is one of the leaders) with Katie R, Zac and Preston and we were booking it for a bit. After Preston and I got dropped from that, my knee started to absolutely kill. It hurt, I stopped for a few. It hurt again, so I stopped and put icyhot on it. It hurt again, I stopped again, put my bike down, threw my helmet and called Megan in the van to come get me. So this was my first and hopefully only missed riding day. I missed 60 miles because of my knee. I was absolutely pissed off, and upset and just everything. At the end of the day though I knew I made the right decision. I'm learning about the physical barriers and challenges involved. I've never done something this physically exhausting and I'm finding out my limits every day. I also had to learn how to swallow my pride for once and ask for help. It's not really something I'm used to doing.
Tupelo, MS to Oxford, MS. This was a 60 mile day in the absolute nastiest heat and humidity. Semi-decent ride on some iffy roads as far as quality. Oxford was a pretty cool little town. Home of the University of Mississippi otherwise known as Ole Miss. Nice campus that they were having a little concert at, but I'll get to that in a short bit. We had dinner and swimming at one of the cycling club of Oxford members house. Swimming pool and beer for everyone, plus a pretty awesome dinner. It was kind of nice to spend some time eating and having some fun outside of a gymnasium. Afterwards, some of us attended the small folk concert on the lawn at Ole Miss campus. Preston and I went with the intention of throwing the frisbee around and eventually developed a nice group of people. So we of course started a nice game of ultimate frisbee with 12 of us. I've never actually played a game before, but thats to the lessons from Kate Clark in MN I was a natural. I had so much fun playing though.
Thats pretty much it for now. We get to Little Rock tomorrow and we get a day off on Thursday.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Norcross, GA to Tupelo, MS
Wow, I don't get to update this thing nearly enough. I'm going to do this post backwards. Starting with today since it just happened and I remember it more clearly.
Today, we are in Tupelo, MS. We arrived in yesterday afternoon after a 50 mile HOT and HUMID day coming from Hamilton, AL. I was sweep for the first time yesterday. Sweep is defined as the two riders who stay at the back to 'sweep' up riders throughout the day. Meaning we ride at an easy pace and stop at as many places as we can. Basically, giving everyone time to get moving and then show up if anyone is in trouble. Sweep is always on the bike the longest, and I like to think of sweep as the heroes of the day. We stopped at a gas station after we crossed the state line to take a break and let one of the riders get up a head a little ways. There were a lot of old southern men hanging out in front of the store just talking away. The owner/employee of the store soon came out without us talking to anyone and offered us free Powerade. Everyone had seen the rest of the group ride by and I guess we were the only ones that stopped in. He also came back with glass bottled souvenir Elvis pepsi from 1999. He gave it as a token of visiting MS on our trip. They were a great bunch of guys at the store. The last part of the day was just biking biking biking through the heat.
Today consisted of the other half of our agenda...Building! Today we put down the floor beams and flooring of a house(plus some other minor things before hand). All in all a great day. We made our goal for the day...but oh man, was it hot. I have never sweat so much in my life.
Before that was Decatur to Hamilton, AL. A long day at 80 miles even. My thigh had been acting up for a few days, but it felt pretty good on this day. We were mostly on rolling hills all day long. The end of the trip got hot as usual and my lef started to hurt, but nothing major and we rolled in just in time for showers and an amazing meal.
Scottsboro, AL to Decatur...well, here's the deal. I took a spill for the first time. Katie R, Paul, Zac, Nichole, B$ and myself were all just riding together and chatting when all of a sudden....I fell. I still don't really understand what happened. I think I might have clipped Katie's rear tire, or I just started to swerve and over corrected or something. Either way, I hit the ground at 16mph I think. Nothing but a couple of scrapes and some road rash. I just had to get back up and keep going for another 50 miles. Unfortunately, my leg was in no shape to finish. It had nothing to do with the wreck though. The day before I noticed a tightness that only got worse. This it was a cramp and I could work it out, I had ridden into town almost in agony. Well, on this day it started back up and never ceased. I fought the pain for longer than I should have but managed to limp into the host location in Decatur.
We also had a build day here. We were putting up siding when the clouds opened up and dumped on us for a while. We managed to do a decent amount of work, but I know we could have gotten more done given better circumstances. Oh well...
Rome, GA to Scottsboro, AL. A state line crossing day. I absolutely loved this day of riding. Amazing scenery, some awesome climbs and insane descents. Also, the beginnings of some muscle pain, but oh well. I managed to hit 47mph coming down our last descent of the day. It was awesome! except for the HUGE pothole in the road that I managed to squeeze by. Preston however decided to fly over it. On our way out of town we stopped at the Unclaimed Baggage store. Basically, all unclaimed baggage from airlines gets purchased by this store and they resell it. I bought a 2 dollar camera case that I can strap to my camelbak for easy access. It was such an odd store.
Norcross,GA to Rome, GA. Climbed Lead Mountain on this day...don't worry, its not as exciting as you think. It was an O.K. climb. The best part of the day was arriving at the host to see a masseuse, chiropractor and bike mechanic around.
I need to start figuring this journal thing out more. Pictures are up on Facebook. I'll eventually get them up onto the trips picasa account also. I'm just a little tired of being on a computer right now. I hope you all are enjoying reading about my travels. I feel like it's turning into a daily, 'i did this...then this.' sort of thing which is getting boring. I'll try and spice it up a bit next time.
Today, we are in Tupelo, MS. We arrived in yesterday afternoon after a 50 mile HOT and HUMID day coming from Hamilton, AL. I was sweep for the first time yesterday. Sweep is defined as the two riders who stay at the back to 'sweep' up riders throughout the day. Meaning we ride at an easy pace and stop at as many places as we can. Basically, giving everyone time to get moving and then show up if anyone is in trouble. Sweep is always on the bike the longest, and I like to think of sweep as the heroes of the day. We stopped at a gas station after we crossed the state line to take a break and let one of the riders get up a head a little ways. There were a lot of old southern men hanging out in front of the store just talking away. The owner/employee of the store soon came out without us talking to anyone and offered us free Powerade. Everyone had seen the rest of the group ride by and I guess we were the only ones that stopped in. He also came back with glass bottled souvenir Elvis pepsi from 1999. He gave it as a token of visiting MS on our trip. They were a great bunch of guys at the store. The last part of the day was just biking biking biking through the heat.
Today consisted of the other half of our agenda...Building! Today we put down the floor beams and flooring of a house(plus some other minor things before hand). All in all a great day. We made our goal for the day...but oh man, was it hot. I have never sweat so much in my life.
Before that was Decatur to Hamilton, AL. A long day at 80 miles even. My thigh had been acting up for a few days, but it felt pretty good on this day. We were mostly on rolling hills all day long. The end of the trip got hot as usual and my lef started to hurt, but nothing major and we rolled in just in time for showers and an amazing meal.
Scottsboro, AL to Decatur...well, here's the deal. I took a spill for the first time. Katie R, Paul, Zac, Nichole, B$ and myself were all just riding together and chatting when all of a sudden....I fell. I still don't really understand what happened. I think I might have clipped Katie's rear tire, or I just started to swerve and over corrected or something. Either way, I hit the ground at 16mph I think. Nothing but a couple of scrapes and some road rash. I just had to get back up and keep going for another 50 miles. Unfortunately, my leg was in no shape to finish. It had nothing to do with the wreck though. The day before I noticed a tightness that only got worse. This it was a cramp and I could work it out, I had ridden into town almost in agony. Well, on this day it started back up and never ceased. I fought the pain for longer than I should have but managed to limp into the host location in Decatur.
We also had a build day here. We were putting up siding when the clouds opened up and dumped on us for a while. We managed to do a decent amount of work, but I know we could have gotten more done given better circumstances. Oh well...
Rome, GA to Scottsboro, AL. A state line crossing day. I absolutely loved this day of riding. Amazing scenery, some awesome climbs and insane descents. Also, the beginnings of some muscle pain, but oh well. I managed to hit 47mph coming down our last descent of the day. It was awesome! except for the HUGE pothole in the road that I managed to squeeze by. Preston however decided to fly over it. On our way out of town we stopped at the Unclaimed Baggage store. Basically, all unclaimed baggage from airlines gets purchased by this store and they resell it. I bought a 2 dollar camera case that I can strap to my camelbak for easy access. It was such an odd store.
Norcross,GA to Rome, GA. Climbed Lead Mountain on this day...don't worry, its not as exciting as you think. It was an O.K. climb. The best part of the day was arriving at the host to see a masseuse, chiropractor and bike mechanic around.
I need to start figuring this journal thing out more. Pictures are up on Facebook. I'll eventually get them up onto the trips picasa account also. I'm just a little tired of being on a computer right now. I hope you all are enjoying reading about my travels. I feel like it's turning into a daily, 'i did this...then this.' sort of thing which is getting boring. I'll try and spice it up a bit next time.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Greenville, SC to Norcross, GA
Well...Since my last update we've done quite a few things.
First off was our day off in Greenville, SC. We met with the people at Hincapie Sportswear, who manufactures our jerseys and shorts and other apparel. They were some really cool guys and were excited to hear about our trip. It's great to have support from an organization like that. George wasn't there but his brother Rich was. After that a few of us stopped by the Art Museum where they had a pretty sweet Andrew Wyeth show up. I was glad to get an art fix. That night we had an awesome pizza dinner provided to us by Bill West, one of our the board members for Bike and Build.
We shoved off the next day with beautiful weather and an amazing ride. Of all the riding days so far, I think the ride into Hartwell, GA has been my favorite. Every day has been great but this day was especially nice. Mainly, we crossed our first state line into Georgia. It's pretty crazy to think that we just biked across an entire state, even though we have about another dozen or so to go. This combined with awesome weather made this day just wonderful. Our host was amazing in Hartwell. An amazing dinner and just very excited to be helping us out.
We left bright and early the next morning to head to Athens where we would spend a day doing a build with Habitat. The last 5-10 miles of this day were very steep to say the least. We hit a lot of hills but I actually enjoyed them quite a bit. Our hosts at Holy Cross Lutheran Church were absolutely amazing. They fed us two dinners and two breakfasts, all of which were fit for kings. I met a lovely lady who I spent all of dinner conversing with about the trip and everything else that came up. It's always amazing to meet people like this. It definitely gives us the extra fuel and desire to pedal with enthusiasm.
And all this leads me to today...a long, hot and hilly ride. It was crazy humid out today which totally zapped my energy pretty early. I can definitely tell I'm getting stronger and more comfortable riding long distances, but sometimes it just hurts. Preston and I managed to make it to the lunch stop with no real problem. Hung out at lunch for a bit and got right back on the road. The last leg of the day consisted of 2+ mile detour through the gnarliest hills we've seen yet. Definitely a humbling experience when earlier in the day I felt great about my abilities. Definitely a slower last half of the day, but made it unscathed. Dinner tonight was provided by a local church who organized with an executive chef to cook some down home southern bar-b-que, brisket and some eggplant parmesan. Simply put, an amazing meal...and he just kept making it as long as we kept eating it. We have definitely been spoiled thus far by hosts.
I'm trying ot do better about taking more pictures and getting a lot posted. Right now all of the pictures are on my Facebook. We started an online gallery and are just dumping all of our images onto it. So you can visit http://picasaweb.google.com/sc2sc10 to check out everyones pictures.
Hope this update serves you well.
-David
First off was our day off in Greenville, SC. We met with the people at Hincapie Sportswear, who manufactures our jerseys and shorts and other apparel. They were some really cool guys and were excited to hear about our trip. It's great to have support from an organization like that. George wasn't there but his brother Rich was. After that a few of us stopped by the Art Museum where they had a pretty sweet Andrew Wyeth show up. I was glad to get an art fix. That night we had an awesome pizza dinner provided to us by Bill West, one of our the board members for Bike and Build.
We shoved off the next day with beautiful weather and an amazing ride. Of all the riding days so far, I think the ride into Hartwell, GA has been my favorite. Every day has been great but this day was especially nice. Mainly, we crossed our first state line into Georgia. It's pretty crazy to think that we just biked across an entire state, even though we have about another dozen or so to go. This combined with awesome weather made this day just wonderful. Our host was amazing in Hartwell. An amazing dinner and just very excited to be helping us out.
We left bright and early the next morning to head to Athens where we would spend a day doing a build with Habitat. The last 5-10 miles of this day were very steep to say the least. We hit a lot of hills but I actually enjoyed them quite a bit. Our hosts at Holy Cross Lutheran Church were absolutely amazing. They fed us two dinners and two breakfasts, all of which were fit for kings. I met a lovely lady who I spent all of dinner conversing with about the trip and everything else that came up. It's always amazing to meet people like this. It definitely gives us the extra fuel and desire to pedal with enthusiasm.
And all this leads me to today...a long, hot and hilly ride. It was crazy humid out today which totally zapped my energy pretty early. I can definitely tell I'm getting stronger and more comfortable riding long distances, but sometimes it just hurts. Preston and I managed to make it to the lunch stop with no real problem. Hung out at lunch for a bit and got right back on the road. The last leg of the day consisted of 2+ mile detour through the gnarliest hills we've seen yet. Definitely a humbling experience when earlier in the day I felt great about my abilities. Definitely a slower last half of the day, but made it unscathed. Dinner tonight was provided by a local church who organized with an executive chef to cook some down home southern bar-b-que, brisket and some eggplant parmesan. Simply put, an amazing meal...and he just kept making it as long as we kept eating it. We have definitely been spoiled thus far by hosts.
I'm trying ot do better about taking more pictures and getting a lot posted. Right now all of the pictures are on my Facebook. We started an online gallery and are just dumping all of our images onto it. So you can visit http://picasaweb.google.com/sc2sc10 to check out everyones pictures.
Hope this update serves you well.
-David
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Greenville, SC
Quick update. Got caught in the rain for the last ten miles into Newberry but biked across a pretty sweet dam earlier in the day. Yesterday was a 70 miler into Greenville with about 55 of those miles in some heavy rain. It was still a really good ride though. I am loving every second of this. Today is a day off and we are going to tour the hincapie facility. They are major sponsors of ours and make a lot of our gear for us. Plus we get a free dinner tonight from one of our board members. Eventually I'll be able to post some pictures for you all. So keep on the look out. We cross the border to georgia tomorrow then to Athens for a build day!
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