Thank You

I'd like to thank everyone who helped with this adventure.

Thanks to all the supporters of the Achievement First Bridgeport Academy. This school is making a real difference in lives of many young people. Your generosity is making it possible. Between the website and checks you've sent in, we've raised about $30,000.

Thanks to the scholars at the Bridgeport Academy. You guys really inspired me when I visited. I thought of you often during the ride and hope to see you all again soon.

Thanks to everyone who has read the blog and commented or sent emails. It's nice to know someone is out there reading. It also was one of my few connections to my "real" life and friends.

Thanks to Steven, for inventing the hairy challenge and being so generous. Here's the final pic:

The beard actually came in much better than expected. I last tried this in grad school, and the results were truly pitiful. I guess I've gone through puberty since then.

Thanks to all my fellow tourers and the staff at Crossroads. You are truly an exceptional group of people. I hope to see you all at a reunion. Stay safe and keep riding.

Thanks most of all to my wife, Peggy, for letting me do various crazy things, including this trip. This one's out of my system now but I've been thinking about....

Hello Atlantic Ocean!!!

Here I am at Revere (pronounced locally as Ra-vee-ah) Beach just north of Boston. It's all over. 3481 miles, 42 days of riding, lots of new friends and countless memories. I'm feeling lost right now. Getting up in the morning and heading east on the bike is what I do. My fellow tourers are a closeknit team. You get to know people pretty well when you ride with them for several hours a day, share meals, stay at the same hotels and work towards a common goal.

Here's the whole gang.

Congratulations to everyone. There were about 15 of us who went coast-to-coast, with some others doing segments, and about six who are "EFI" riders, riding Every Inch of the way (some took the SAG occasionally). I am younger and a more serious cyclist than most in this group. For some, it showed incredible determination and mental strength to make it. Of course, Roy is a whole story on his own. The story will be told in his commitment papers.

There was some confusion at the beach.

Here's Roy, Stu, me, Greg and Sandy. When Stu got to the beach, he thought it was a triathlon and started swimming to London. A local fisherman found him and returned him to Revere.

I'm honestly in a bit of a state of shock. A way of life has come to an end. I'll put up another post tomorrow, once I've had a chance to reflect some. Maybe I can pretend to have deep insights on life.

AND... THE FINAL PHOTO OF THE HAIRY CHALLENGE.

We can smell the Atlantic...

I'm sitting in Burlington, MA, a mere 18 miles from Revere beach, where we will ride to tomorrow. It's hard to believe we've come this far.

AND ROY MADE IT!

Today's 92 mile ride took us through three states and lots of classic New England terrain. There was also lots of steep climbing on old New England roads, with grades as high as 12%. However, we could smell the barn at the end of the road. Greg and I powered through the route, our determination evidenced by no stops for coffee or pastry. Since we were in tourist country much of the day, the temptations were many, but we persevered. We also passed on homemade ice cream, "mile high" apple pie and numerous other forms of cardiovascular stimulants.

The quick ones among you already figured this out - since we were in three states, there were two state line crossings today.

New Hampshire is still sticking with their classic "Live Free or Die" motto. Most people assume that this goes back to the revolutionary war. Actually, it wasn't adopted as the state motto until 1945, although it is a quote from a toast in 1809 written by General John Stark, a hero of the battle of Bennington. So it's some fairly recent new Hampshirans who thought this was a good way to promote their state. Don't hire them for your own marketing campaign.

Massachusetts wins the award for plainest sign. No imagination whatsoever. Even the font screams "we're boring".

I have a suggestion for the Massachusetts government. Add the following motto - "Live free but die if you try to ride a bike here". The roads are narrow, the pavement poor, and the drivers clearly consider cyclist endangerment a sport. It was "interesting" getting to Burlington. Maybe it was appropriate for our last big day.

Please refer to blogs from the Midwestern states to understand the difference between folks here and there. Simply insert a negative and apply it to the drivers of Massachusetts.

This makes a total of 15 states visited on our tour. 35 left to visit by bike some other time.

Here are a few shots of typical New England scenes. This is from Brattleboro, VT last night.

And this is from Ashuelot, NH today.

We also pedaled through Concord and Lexington today. We made sure to point out to the Brits on tour how badly they got their butts kicked. I think we don't appreciate what's nearby, opting instead to go to Italy or France to cycle. There's lots to see right here in New England, and it's different when you see it by bike. Having said that, I hear that Montenegro is a great place to cycle...

Wretched Excess

Since we're approaching the end of the tour and should be in great shape by now, it shouldn't surprise you that Greg and I set not one, but TWO personal bests today. We consumed FIVE pastries and made THREE separate stops during the ride for coffee.

The pastry extravaganza started with a Dunkin Donuts doughnut at the first SAG (accompanied by coffee, of course). Seven miles down the road we passed Crazy Russian Girls Bakery.

They had a sign out front saying "free coffee for cyclists", so we had to stop. I had a cinnamon raisin scone. This place was indeed run by crazy Russian girls, although they really were part Russian, part Swiss. Crazy Swiss Girls would only confuse people, I guess. Crazy Swiss girls is definitely an oxymoron.

At our second SAG, we were greeted by Vera, the Strudel Queen. I kid you not. That's her license plate. She's a friend of fellow tourers Sandy and Stu, and lives nearby. Her strudel is to die for:

Apple rhubarb raisin strudel, homemade by Vera with the fruit grown on her property. Unbelievable. Note also the chocolate chip cookies at the upper left, supplied by Janie's sister. That brings our total to four, counting cookies as pastry.

Finally, after a tasty sandwich in Brattleboro, Greg and I stopped in Mocha Joe's for a latte. I couldn't resist the coffee cake, bringing us to FIVE. I believe we have set the bar high for a standard of wretched excess.

We also had a fine selection of critters today, including crawfish

and a few strangely painted moose.

When we weren't eating or drinking, we did manage to take in some of the best scenery of the tour.

The Green Mountains in Vermont match anything we saw in the west, although in a more subtle way. This is great biking territory. We had a lot of climbing today (6000 ft. in 80 miles), including one sustained climb of 1600 ft. out of Bennington, but we stopped and enjoyed the scenery, the pastry and the coffee. One of the top days of the entire tour.

We only have one more serious day of cycling. It's hard to believe.

A Hotel With Extras

Three cracked ribs weren't enough to keep Roy down today. Here he is heading off on today's 71 mile ride.

He took it slower than usual, but still finished at a decent time. Way to go Roy!

Our hotel last night in Little Falls, the Knights Inn, came with some unanticipated extras. The hallway to my room smelled heavily of cigarette smoke, but my room smelled more like old, damp rags. The hallway smell made the room smell good. Very clever and much appreciated.

It was clear that they had been saving this room for me for quite some time. Also appreciated. They didn't make a big deal out of it, but the  secret slipped out when I spotted a large spider web spanning the headboard to the bed spread, complete with large spider.

Maybe best of all was the view.

That's a train rumbling by. They did their homework, obviously reading this blog and knowing how much I enjoyed riding along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe in the southwest. Did you know that freight trains run all night and are capable of shaking teeth right out of your jaw?

The riding today was  mostly through the Mohawk River valley.

This was quite scenic, but the real reason to include the photo is to show off my bike jersey. Peg brought three fresh jerseys when she visited. This is my favorite jersey in my extensive collection. I was the envy of the entire tour. Note that it's an overcast day, appropriate for a sun absorbing black jersey. Points for style and function today.

We're definitely back on the East Coast. Here's a shot just outside Schenectady.

Everything has become older. Also, riding along the Mohawk River, we saw lots of old mill towns that have seen much better days. There were plenty of run down towns in the west, but not with the same old feel like these.

I must be getting close to home...

The Heart of a Lion

My buddy Roy took a fall today. It happened 12 miles into a 78 mile ride. He was taken to the hospital to get checked out, but seemed in pretty good shape. When he left the hospital, he was taken back to the point where he fell, and continued the ride. As of right now, he's out there determined to complete every inch of our cross country adventure. As I've said before, he's an incredible person. His courage and determination are an inspiration.

GO ROY!

I'm still in shock from the surprise Fathers Day visit yesterday from Peg and Michael. I'm even more impressed that Michael got up this morning at 6 a.m. this morning to have breakfast with me and see me off. What a great kid!

The visit limited my blogging yesterday, so I'll catch up on two days riding here. Yesterday, we rode by a few of the finger lakes and had a beautiful day for riding. Along the way, we saw the following sign, hearing gun shots as passed by. Notice that the sign has several bullet holes in it. At first I was confused, since gunshots and a wildlife refuge don't seem to go together. However, it all make perfect sense. This is the Clara M. Stevenson Wildlife Refuge Memorial. It's NOT the Clara M. Stevens Memorial Wildlife Refuge. Just read the sign. This means it is a memorial to a wildlife refuge, hence the gunshots and bullet holes. It's not a memorial to Clara. Not knowing if homo spandexus was in season, we quickly left the area.

This memorial was near the famous Erie Canal. Here's the canal. Kind of pathetic, huh? You have to use your imagination to think of this as a major thoroughfare.

Today, we had 79 miles of fairly flat riding through more of scenic upstate New York, ending in Little Falls. A short walk from our hotel is a lock on the New York State Canal System. This system replaced the Erie Canal.
This engineering marvel lifts boats 40 feet, allowing them to navigate around the not so little falls on the Mohawk River in Little Falls. I didn't realize canals like this were still used. The operator of this lock explained that the canal system is like a highway, with exits along the way to various bodies of water.

This morning at the hotel, we all got excited when we spotted this:

We thought this was the food for our SAG stop, but that would have been udderly ridiculous.

However, it did provide inspiration for Greg and I. During the ride we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and had coffee and glazed apple fritters.

Note that the fritter is about the size of Greg's head. It was also quite dense, like my head. The Dunkin Donuts website claims these mutants are only 400 calories, but I find that hard to believe.

About 3 miles down the road we caught up with a few of our fellow tourers. They invited us to stop for lunch with them at a pizza place. So, about 20 minutes after coffee and fritter, I ate a giant slice of garlic pizza and a 20 oz. pepsi. It all seemed to make sense at the time.

The Best Fathers Day EVER

Guess who showed up and surprised me at lunch today in Syracuse. Peg and Michael! This is my best Fathers Day ever.

Beating the storm

Today marked another milestone - 3000 miles cycled to date. Here's the proof:
3000 miles feels like a big deal. Much more than 1000 or 2000. I think we all know we can complete the trip, assuming no catastrophes.

Peg asked me an interesting question last night - How much further do you think you could go? Mentally, I'm looking forward to being done, back with family and off the bike for a spell. Physically, I could do this forever. I asked the question of a group of fellow tourers and they all agree - physically, our daily mileage is normal. It's what we do. It's not a strain on the system. I wondered before the trip if the high mileage would wear the body down over time, but that hasn't been the case.

However, I'm not feeling like Forrest Gump after he ran across the county a few times and said "I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going." I aspire to be Forrest Gump, but haven't quite gotten there.

We had a 95 mile ride today with rolling terrain almost all day. It might have been a hard day, but we found two coffee stops to keep us charged up. I faced a moral dilemna about 80 miles into the ride. I was riding with Roy most of the day, and had gotten a little ahead of him at this point. I figured I'd stop and wait for him, and turned around to see where he was. There was Roy, and right behind him was a line of dark black clouds.

I thought a good friend would wait and hope we could outrun the storm together. On the other hand, I've only known Roy six weeks, and while him getting electrocuted in a thunderstorm would be a bit sad, I'd be no worse off than I was six weeks ago. Also, he had a bottle of fine Kosta Browne pinot waiting at the hotel. That would be a good way to toast Roy's demise, and with Roy not there, there would be more for me.

It turned out not to be a difficult decision, and I bolted off at max speed, arriving at the hotel just ahead of the deluge.
Roy was not so fortunate, but did arrive safe but soaked. The wine was still good, although another glass would have been nice.

I Love New York

We crossed the border into New York today. Here I am with Roy and Greg for our 11th state line photo op. I can ride my bike from home to NY in about 2 hours, so I ought to be able to ride home from here in about 2 hours, right? Even if that logic doesn't quite work, it feels like we're almost there. We've ridden from California to New York, which sounds like riding coast to coast to most people.

We left Erie, Pa with a police escort this morning. An anonymous tour member named Roy ate breakfast early down the street from the hotel. He chatted with a motorcycle cop there and we ended up with the escort. This is the same anonymous tour member named Roy who talks strangers into lending him their Cadillacs. I am in awe of his talents.

We lined up two abreast for the four mile ride out of the city. The two motorcycle cops stopped traffic at all the lights and waved us through. That's the way to travel by bike.

Almost the entire 80 miles today was along the shore of Lake Erie.

Not a bad spot for a home, huh? That's a grape vine in the foreground at the right. We passed thousands of acres of grapes. Wine making along the shore is a big industry.

The weather today was perfect - not a cloud to be seen, mid-70's and no wind. A great day to enjoy the views of the lakeshore and grapevines. There was no reason to hurry, so we rode really fast for parts of the ride.

Dinner tonight was at Dennys. Sandy commented that there were a lot of strange looking people in the restaurant. Sandy just rejoined the tour, having left in Albuquerque. Those of us going the full distance thought the people tonight looked perfectly normal. Perspectives change. For more information on this topic please consult peopleofwalmart.com.


I thought this was a clever idea.

However, after pedaling a few blocks and extracting the drink, I noticed that the foam from the latte had sprayed up and onto the seat tube of the bike. I licked it off the frame, but the mix of foam, dirt and road oil probably won't make the menu at Starbucks.

Bared fangs and foaming at the mouth...

I did something for the first time in my life - call 911. It was a bizarre experience.

Roy and I were having a very pleasant ride on a nice backroad when we spotted a man and two dogs on the road ahead. We slowed and could hear the man screaming in our direction. As we got closer, we realized he was screaming expletives that I won't repeat. We had absolutely no clue what he was worked up about. At this point, he was holding a beautiful Saint Bernard by the collar. The dog wasn't excited at all. I think it just wanted to play.

I asked the man what he wanted us to do, and he just kept the expletives coming. If you removed those words, I think he was upset that we were riding on the road and getting his dogs excited. His face was purple and swollen in a rage. The dogs weren't the ones getting excited. We still had no idea what he wanted us to do.

We rolled slowly forward to where the second dog and a woman were standing. I asked why the man was so upset, and she flew into a similar rage using similar language. Her dog was another Saint Bernard, and wasn't the least bit threatening. Her shade was more of a crimson. The couple threatened to send their dogs after us, which may have resulted in a severe licking, so we rolled down the road a bit.

There were about 15 riders a few miles behind us. This seemed like a dangerous situation, so I called 911. The woman basically told me to go away. We called some of the Crossroads staff to alert them of the situation, but the crazy people and dogs were gone by the time the next group arrived. Roy and I speculated that they may have been drunk or on drugs. We thought they might bring out guns when the next cyclists came by. It was completely weird.

Luckily, there was an old fashioned root beer stand, the White Turkey Drive-In, a few miles ahead in Conneaut, Ohio. I highly recommend a lunch of a turkey sandwich (real turkey roasted and shredded), french fries and a root beer float. It was the perfect cure for human insanity.

Here's a shot of Roy's float.

He asked for the smallest, because he's not a manly man. Isn't the face on it adorable? As it melted the candy eyes melted and it was crying. Aaaawwww.

This was our 10th state line crossing, entering Pennsylvania.

This is the new winner for most pathetic state line sign. Also, there were a bunch of other ugly signs near it, making sure the views were spoiled in all directions.

We're in Erie, Pennsylvania for a rest day today. Time to do laundry, buy a few needed items at a bike shop, and sightsee. We just completed seven straight days and 630 miles of riding. That seems like a lot, but I guess we're all getting used to this. We have 8 more days of riding, so we can smell the finish line. I'm anxious to be done, but still enjoying every moment of this journey.

Susan got my goat

The highlight of the day was actually meeting Susan, the winner of the "name that critter" contest. Check out the comments from yesterday's post. Susan not only won, but earned extra credit with her identification and description of the fairly rare Toggenburg goat. It turns out that Susan is the sister-in-law of my fellow tourer Sam, and lives not far from here in Ohio. She and some others were at our SAG stop to see Sam. I was honored to meet such an authority on goats/critters.

We saw some other interesting creatures today, all alive this time. Here's what I'm guessing is an alpaca. And here are the mini-ponies (that's the latin term) that shared the same grazing area.

And last, here's the species homo spandexus gawking at the above creatures.

Our ride today was one of transition. It began with more farmland, but with an increasing population density. It transitioned to more industrial as we went through the Akron/Canton area and to tonight's destination near Youngstown. We knew the world had changed when we passed "U.A.W. Local XXX Ballfields". Most folks in the U.A.W. probably have a lot of time to play ball these days.

Interestingly, the roads deteriorated as we got to the more urban areas. On second thought, that's not very interesting at all, so I'll call it quits for today.

Disturbing images

I found this disturbing. The marker on the side of the road looks like a memorial to someone. Someone needs to explain the possum skins on top. Some sort of weird Ohio custom to honor loved ones? Disturbing...

What made it more disturbing was the setting. Here's what you saw when looked past the marker.

Really beautiful. Lots of birds out on the water and pretty farms beyond. But those possum skins were creepy.

I also found this disturbing.

This mural was on the wall of a Mexican restaurant. A cowboy and a Mexican hombre are stepping on the toes of a little Chinese guy. Their cigars are poised to light his hat on fire. Disturbing...

All of this came during a very nice 98 mile ride. The weather cooperated once again, with storms around us but never on top of us.

We rode through more Amish country today. Here's a home with the buggy out front. There's a cute kid in the front yard running around the wash, but he's tough to see. I played a bit of peekaboo with him.

The couple below make what I'm doing look like nothing. They're from England, and started their journey in South America in January. They biked around there for a few months, then flew to L.A. and headed towards New York.

As you can see, they are carrying their own luggage, and are camping on the trip. No wimpy luggage vans and hotels for them. I'm feeling inadequate, but felt pretty smart after the hot shower and latte today. These folks are heading to Australia next, then to Asia. It's a year-long adventure. Very cool, but they don't have a blog. I guess they stay at campgrounds with no wi-fi.
How primitive.

Susan pointed out that the critters in yesterday's post were goats. I'll give her only partial credit. They may be goats, but they're not the normal sort of goat you see at state fairs. They must be some kind of fancy goat, or Amish goat. Check out the white markings, and lack of any goat beards. I'll send her my next set of neck hair trimmings, but not the full beard shave, so the contest is still open.

A, O, Way to go Ohio

We rode through 105 miles of beautiful farmland today, crossing the Ohio border just 2 miles into the ride. I can't figure out what Chrissie Hynde was singing about when she said "the farms of Ohio had been replaced by shopping malls and muzak filled the air." Not only were we in farmland all day, but I listened hard for muzak and didn't hear any. We asked these folks where we could find muzak, but they also were at a loss.

Actually, it was really cool to see a few Amish families headed for church. The buggies are works of art. I'm told they're not crazy about having their pictures taken, so I didn't go for the closeup.

If you want to learn more about Amish culture, I recommend seeing the movie "Kingpin", with Randy Quaid playing an Amish bowler.
We didn't spot any bowling alleys, but I'm sure there were lots of them.

We did see several barns with quilt patterns on the sides.

The countryside here is very picturesque. Although it is mostly farmland, it has a very different look and feel than the huge farms of Kansas. The population density is much higher, and the terrain is way more interesting.


EXCITING CONTEST!

I spotted the critters below on today's ride, and have absolutely no clue what they are.

If you are the first to identify these cuties, I'll send you the clippings from my beard when I shave it at the end of the trip. I know that's very generous of me, but that's the kind guy I am.

Karma

Today marked the first day of riding in the rain. Considering that we've been riding for five weeks, that's remarkable. Also, it was a nice rain to ride in - not too heavy, no wind, no lightning and warm temps. However, this meant that my camera spent the day in a ziploc bag, so only one photo.

We rode through Amish country today. I was expecting to get some nice pictures of horse-drawn carts, but didn't see a single one. Amish have more sense than cyclists, and stay inside when it rains. However, I did see an Amish dude riding a foot powered scooter. I guess that's an acceptable form of transportation.

To make up for the lack of Amish photos, I'll tell an Amish joke, as related to me by Rick. I bet most of you have never heard an Amish joke. Here goes:

Olga, a proper Amish woman, takes her horse-drawn buggy into town. On the way out she gets stopped by a highway patrolman.

The patrolman says "Your rear reflector is loose. You should have your husband take a look at that when you get home".

"Why thank you, kind sir. I'll let my husband know when I get home" Olga responds.

"You also may want to have your husband take a look at the reins. One is wrapped around the horse's penis."

"Why thank you, kind sir. I'll let my husband know when I get home".

Olga returns home and tells her husband "A nice patrolman stopped me and pointed out that the rear reflector is loose. He suggested you take a look at it. He also thought you should look at the emergency brake".

Have I been on the road too long? Maybe.

Riding in a light rain means that all the dirt on the road flys up and sticks to you and the bike. The rain wasn't hard enough to wash any of that dirt off. Here's a shot of part of my bike where you can see where the crud accumulated.

Of course, I gave the bike a thorough cleaning, probably more thorough than I gave myself. Keeping the bicycle happy is key on this trip.

Here's a Google Earth shot of our progress on this trip so far. Geoff, one of my fellow tourers, put it together. Pretty cool, huh? Looks like we're almost home. Actually, after today we have less than 1000 miles remaining. Piece of cake.

Now to the title of today's post - karma. If you've been reading this blog regularly, you know that Roy and I have stopped at every espresso bar we passed. Today, wanting to keep going in the rain, we passed a Starbucks and didn't go in. Bad karma. Roy had two flats in the next few miles. Now we know better. As the population density increases in the East, this probably means we will suffer caffeine poisoning, but that's the plan.

I stayed with Roy after the first flat, and helped him fix it. After the second, we spotted a support van. I abandoned him and left him with the staff. I guess I'm a one flat only kind of friend.

Major Taylor Velodrome

Today we visited the Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis. This was one of the highlights of the trip, for a few reasons. For the non-bike geeks, a velodrome is an oval track with highly banked turns that is used for bicycle racing. I couldn't get the whole track in one picture. It's pretty big. The ancient Greeks had hippodromes for horse and chariot racing. Hippodrome is derived from the Greek hippos (horse) and dromos (course). The velodrome is the modern version, with velo coming from velocipede, an alternate word for a bicycle. This replaced the hippodrome because bicycles are easier to clean up after.

I took several laps around the track. The banking of the turns is meant to match the centrifugal force generated by a track cyclist in a race, so it's quite steep. If you're leisurely circling the track, you feel like you might just slide down to the bottom. You can't touch the brakes or change gears on the turns, or you might lose traction and actually slide down. (Track bikes don't have gears or brakes. That makes track cyclists macho.) Serious track cylclists are odd looking humans. They have enormous quadriceps to generate maximum power for short periods of time. And like all cyclists, no upper body. If you get in a fight with one, just don't let him kick you.

Riding the track was a trip highlight, but another was visiting the track named after Indianapolis native Marshall "Major" Taylor.

As the plaque says, Taylor was a cycling world champion. He won the world championship in 1899. As an African-American, he had to overcome incredible discrimination to get there. He had to move to Connecticut to enter races, because he wasn't allowed to compete in the South. Even in the North, people threw things at him during races, including nails in front of his tires. You can read more about him here. He led an interesting life, so take a look.

Today also marked another two major milestones. Roy ate his first hamburger in 10 years. Not only a hamburger, but a double bacon cheeseburger. Much to my surprise, his heart didn't stop. I was ready with the camera just in case.
The burger was at Five Guys. They claim to use better ingredients than other chains, so that's probably why Roy is alive.

The other milestone was TWO Starbucks stops during the ride. We're definitely back in civilization and definitely well caffeinated. Life is good. And visit Indianapolis sometime. It's a very nice city containing things other than the Indianapolis Colts.