Greg's Trans-America Cycle 2009

Day Seventy-Five - Grand Finale.

2009-07-16T03:01:00.002+01:00

Sorry for the delay in writing this, by the time I arrived last night I wasn't really feeling up to writing. Also, if you've messaged me and I havn't responsed, I promise it's on my to-do list, I've not had Internet access for very long here.

I woke up early today, obviously full of excitement. I'd heard the weather was going to be hot, but I'd heard that the whole way accross the western part of the trip so it didn't phase me too much. I went accross for my continental breakfast, and got on the road by 8:30.

The first part of the day was spent along cycle paths leaving Davis, including roundabouts dedicated solely to bicycles. This lead me out of town, and onto back country roads. I encountered an eastbound cyclist who was actually cycling round the world, dwarfing the trip I've done. He'd been on the road for 12 months, which is a LONG time. I continued onwards, through back country roads and grape fields, eventually arriving at somewhere that I cannot remember the name of for a break. Because the weater was baking hot by this point, I was feeling a bit lethargic and not great. Even on the last day, I'm learning new things about how to ride better, this lesson being "don't eat complimentary continental breakfasts because they don't fill you up enough." I bought a half gallon of apple juice (safeway apparently doesn't sell refrigerated soft drinks), and drank it down probably way too fast, and felt grim with stomach ache for the next bit. I wasn't sure if it was hunger (I didn't feel like eating) or what, but I didn't feel good. It was weird too, because I needed to stop not too further up for another drink in the shade, being both completely bloated with liquid and feeling dehydrated..

Anyway, after this drink I took a detour from my route, probably saving me a good few miles. The route took me two sides of a triangle, when there was an abandoned road that 'everyone knows about', which is just about good enough to cycle down. I did have to take my panniers off to get under the gate, but I encountered a cop down there who only asked if I got through okay. I decende into Valejo, and managed to follow my nose to the ferry port. I must stress at this point that it was around 4:30pm. I knew I had a full day ahead of me, but with all this talk of 'nearly there', I forgot how 60 miles is still a long way. I boarded the ferry, and despite it going seemingly ridiculously fast for a boat, it took an hour to get to San Francisco.

On arrival, I didn't need my map, and just turned right and found my way round the bay and up to the bridge. This took ages too, I never apreciated how far out of town it was. I reached the far side by at 7pm, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

My story doesn't end there though, as I had to get to a place called Danville on the outskirts of town. To do this I had to head back into town and catch a BART train out. This was a challenge in itself, as I was relying on google maps to take me there. I eventually arrived there, to discover that it was like a tube station with no lifts, meaning I had to get my bike down stairs. I don't know if you've felt/lifted a packed bike, but it's heavy. They also have a tendency to want to roll down the stairs, meaning you're holding the brakes with every ounce of strength you have in your fingers. After negotiating the stairs, the next obstacle was the ticket barrier. The barrier system here is a lot like two spanish fans opening and closing, with the edges meeting in the middle. I must not have been thinking straight, as I pushed my bike through slowly, meaning the gate shut with me and half my bike still on the outside. I went up to a desk with a guy who didn't want to hear it, so I figured that if I jump over I would either get away with it, or he would hear me out. I had a perfectly valid ticket just so you know, I was well within my rights. Upon reaching the other side, I had an escalator to go down, which was harder than the stairs and I ended up clutching onto the bike for dear life, not letting go for fear of mauling the people further down.

I eventually made it to the platform, and got my train with relative ease. I had a slight scare that I was going the wrong way on it, but made it to my stop fine. By this point it was gone 10 and I was exhausted, so I took a cab to the house that I'm staying at. Taxi Drivers are very good queuers, and despite the fact that there were people carriers further back, I had to get in a 'normal' car. It all just about fitted, though my chainring (I think that's what it's called..?) made a bit of a mess of the back seat. Hey, if you make me go in this car, you can't complain when...

So that's the end of my story, or just about. I've now got a week off doing a cross between touristy things, sorting my bike out and just generally resting. I slept like a baby last night so I think this rest is a bit overdue. I will probably do a couple of summary posts in a few days, but I won't keep a day to day one (as it's become a bit of a chore of late). Other than that, I thankyou very much for your loyal readership, and that if you havn't done so already, could you please sponsor me through my website. It's an amazing charity who do great work, I'm sure you'll agree. The address is:

http://gregstransamericacycle.co.uk

Day Seventy-Four - Penultimacy.

2009-07-14T05:36:00.002+01:00

After yesterday, I was very much hoping for an easy, stress free day. No such luck.

After going out to eat breakfast around 9, I was ready to go about half an hour later. I rolled out of the car park, over to the other side of the road, and got a flat. I couldn't believe it. It wasn't just a puncture either, the whole valve had sheered completely leaving a gaping hole. I had no choice to change it. Some time later, and I was on my way.

No more than 200m further up the line, I felt the rumbling of metal on concrete, to find it had punctured AGAIN. It was a 'normal' puncture this time, fixable with a repair kit. Because of all this, I was running low on spare tubes, so I had to pedal back uphill to the placerville bike shop. It was around 11 before I left Placerville.

The first part of the ride was down quiet backroads through lots of winery's and grape fields. I arrived at Folsom 20 miles later, where I was to pick up a bike trail. Not before another puncture though, with the valve sheering off again. I'm not really sure how it happened, I was stationary when I heard it fall on the floor next to me. Yesterday was only the second time that I'd put a presta valve tube on, and thought O might have been doing something fundamentally wrong. The tube has a little nut that comes screwed on, which I put between the inner tube and the rim rather than on the outside. Shout if you have no idea what I'm talking about. With the benefit of hindsight, this seemed to have done the trick. I didn't know this at the time though, and spent the rest of the day being overcautious to the extent of paranoia that I'd get another one.

After picking up the bike trail, I rode for about 30 miles, mostly along a river. It took me 'through' Sacremento, but it seemed as though I was in wilderness most of the time. The path was well used though, so I couldn't be too far from anywhere. Not a whole lot to report, except that I chatted to a guy wearing the Team GB Jersey/Short combo (I'm assuming he bought it rather than earnt it, but I could be wrong), on a very serious looking bike. By serious, I mean that the handlebars were so low that they bent over the front wheel, meaning the rider needs to duck down to hold this / aero bars, or ride with no hands the whole time like he did.

At around 55 miles, I stopped for a break after leaving the trail. I wasn't feeling great, the trail wasn't how I imagined at all, and there wasn't much oppertunity to buy anything. Before stopping, I went down a road that I later decided was the wrong way, and so after resting set off in the other direction. I later found this to be the complete wrong direction, and I was right the first time. I'm sorry, but it's near impossible to navigate somewhere like Sacremento with some roads and all road names left off. I resorted to turning on Google Maps and got that to take me.

I found my way a good while later, and went through Old Sacrememto to Davis. Old Sac. isn't as nice as you might assume, it was just a street full of motel after motel. I was glad I wasn't staying there, as it'd have been a nightmare to compare prices. I took another cycle path parallel to a freeway to Davis, this one being nowhere near as well maintained as the other. I was glad to just make it through without getting a flat or catching anything.

And so I arrived in Davis. It is a very green place I've found, meaning there is no room / need for big tall signs in the air. I didn't realise how much I relied upon these, but after finding that there was less a 'main street' and more a 'downtown', I had no idea where I was going. It was probably by chance that I found the Best Western there, and decided that I'd pay the price for a bit of luxury. To be honest, it's not a huge amount better than yesterday, but at 6:40pm I was in no mood to continue looking.

Tonight I ate at a little Chinese restaurant, which was just okay. I was the only person in there for a while, something I didn't realise from outside, meaning it was hugely lacking in atmosphere. That, and my food came in about 4 minutes flat, which I hate. At least pretend like you didn't have it ready... The reason I didn't go to somewhere in the heart of downtown was because there was a bike race on, a circular track round about 3 blocks up and one block wide, meaning the bordering restaurants were rammed. They had lots of races on, I saw some singlespeeds bombing round on the walk to, and racing bikes on the way back. Seeing how fast they can go so effortlessly makes me want one a lot.

There isn't really much point in saying where I'm heading to tomorrow, I've been counting down to it for weeks. It's not a short ride though, probably into the 60 mile mark by the time I arrive. I therefore expect to be there mid afternoon, but from today I'm sure you can see how that can all change. Fingers and toes crossed it all goes smoothly, literally.

Day Seventy-Three - Final Decent.

2009-07-13T04:09:00.002+01:00

Despite the fact that I had no TV to distract me, a phonecall to home and slow service in the only place open for breakfast (it was full of cyclists from the day before. It was probably closer to 10 by the time I eventually left. I didn't mind too much though, as my map told me that I was defending from 8000ft to almost sea level.

I started out with an uphill, which I knew about, which lasted about 15 miles or so before I came down. I had some support from passing cars with racing bikes on roof racks in the form of waves, honks and the ocasional 'woop!'. Soon enough, I was on the far side of this, and began the downwards run. The downhill wasn't as I expected. Instead of being one long road that was continually downwards to the bottom, it was downwards for a bit, then had a steep uphill for about a quarter/half mile. This wasn't so bad to begin with, but it got a bit of a drag after a while. After 30 miles, I decided it was time for a rest.

After about an hour, I headed back out and onto the back roads down to Placerville. I knew they were the back roads because there was a big sign telling me how snow ploughs didn't go down there, and it could be icy. I decided to take my chances, and headed off. This was quite uncomfortable down here, as the road was very bumpy.

Not a lot else happened until I reached somewhere called 'Fair Play'. This was where the mostly downhill turned to mostly uphill in the foothills. They weren't particularly long, but were nearly vertical in incline. I've also discovered how it being so much lower has made a significant difference to how hot it is.

About 3 miles outside of Placerville, disaster struck, and I got a flat. I couldn't believe my luck. I wasn't sure how close Placerville was from my current location, so I was forced to stop and fix it. After this, I had a small roll down thehbill into town and got a room for $48, less than half price to what I had yesterday, and the TV works. shocking.

Tomorrow is my penultimate ride, and so it would seem fitting that I go to somewhere called Davis, the so called bicycle capital of the world. I'm not quite sure how this is the case, but I know they have roundabouts just for bikes. I also go through Sacremento, the hometown of a whole load of massive computer organisations amongst other things that I'm not too sure of.

Day Seventy-Two - Final Ascent.

2009-07-12T05:00:00.002+01:00

My alarm went off the same time as usual, but somehow I managed to fritter away three hours before finally getting on the road. I was pleased to see that my puncture repair hadn't gone down overnight, though I was paranoid that it was going down. When me and all my stuff are on it, the tire can look a bit flat at a glance, even though it isn't.

The first part of my ride went fairly quickly. I made it to a town called Genoa in the length of one album, and then the Nevada/California border in the length of the next one. It was all either flat or very slightly upill, which made it easy going. The wind hadn't picked up yet either. Once I'd crossed the border, no sooner than about 300m had passed before I was in my lowest gear on the side of a mountain. That was to be the way the rest of the day would be, though I didn't know this yet.

I stopped at Woodfords for a break, where I had planned to stop at before plans changed. It had an extortionate sandwich bar attached to it, leaving me little choice but to have a liquid/Hersheys based lunch. The owner of the shop was a bit of a busybody too. She asked me literally a couple of minutes after I bought my first round of drinks if I'd paid for them, and also told this mother and son (a son aged about 5 I might add) that he could have no part in the scratching process of a scratchcard. Please, it wasn't as if he was going to try and claim it if it won..

Anyway, I set back off again and discovered that there was a bike event going on up the same route I was going. I felt very conspicuous amongst all these riders in their sponsored jerseys and carbon fibre bikes, with me and my fully loaded bike. I felt a lot like those people that run the marathon dressed as something ridiculous. I'm pleased to say I held my own though, even overtaking a couple of people. Of course, the majority overtook me, but I didn't mind that after the first 100. It was 15 miles to the top of Carson Pass, and it took me about 2 hours 45 to do. It may well have taken me longer, but the other cyclists around and people supporting at the side provided a welcome distraction. By the time I'd reached the top, it was around 4pm, and I had planned to to a further 25 miles. The weather was closing in very fast though, and I was grateful to make it to Kirkwood before the heavens opened. I decided that it would be better to stay here since tomorrow would have been short anyway, and because of the rain. I chatted to a guy called Forest for a bit, and to cut a long story short, is enquiring about me staying at his Parents house in Sacremento, apparently it backs on to the bike route I'm going on. It would make for a long day tomorrow, but i've got loads of down so it might not be too bad. I'm waiting to hear back though.

I went to the only hotel here, which I knew would be expensive. Even after my 20% discount it came to $108. For that I get an apartment/condo type thing. They told me up front that the Cable didn't work, and that I could have a go at fixing it if I wanted. I think this place has been bought by someone, and they lease it put through the hotel. I opted for the DVD option, but still gave fixing it a go. I spent hours trying to fix it, so much so that I didn't leave myself enough time to watch one of the DVD's I got. I eventually went out for a meal, and now I'm back.

A I said, not sure where I'm going tomorrow, but it's definitely downhill. :)

Day Seventy-One - Carson City.

2009-07-11T04:19:00.002+01:00

After another early start, I was just about set to hit the road around 8:30, before finding out that the complimentary breakfast was cereal. I like cereal, but I'd have to have eaten so much of it that I didn't have the time or the patience. I therefore went to Sonic, before heading out by around 9.

The ride was fairly boring today, with the ground being mainy flat with a few small uphills. It was still through the desert, but there were much more service stops along the way. I stopped for a drink at somewhere called Stagecoach. I was quite lucky with the wind too, but it kicked up with 15 miles to go to be fairly strong, meaning I could only go about 10 or 11mph. For 95% of today, I had a lane/hard shoulder to myself, which was great because I didn't have to watch out for traffic. I did however have to watch out for tiny stones to avoid a puncture. I did so well at this until about 3 miles out, where I picked up a puncture at the back. I managed to pump it up to limp the next mile, but I was having to stop to re-pump that I decided to just push, as I was only about 2 miles away from where I wanted to be.

I eventually arrived at my hotel in Carson City, checked in, and fixed the puncture. I ordered a pizza to the room because I couldn't be bothered to go out (the pizza guy tried to take my $20 for a $16 order.. the cheek), and I'm now watching the first Harry Potter, to which I listened to a lot of the audiobook today.

Tomorrow I'm heading to something creek reservoir resort park, I can't remember what. It'll be the last significant uphill of the trip, with the following day being a return to almost sea level.

Day Seventy - Hold Up.

2009-07-10T04:51:00.002+01:00

I woke up this morning at 5:30 to the sound of shooting, but only coming from someone watching a spaghetti western next door. I didn't get up until 6:20, and went over to the bar to eat. I didn't fully have my appetite back from last nights shennanigans, so it was a bit of a case of eating because I ought to. I eventually got on the road at 9 or so.

The first 15-20 miles or so were the last of this part of the mountains, leaving only the Sierra-Nevadas to go in a couple of days time. I decended into the desert plains. This is a lot more how you or I might expect the desert to be, rather than the dry, sandy mountains that I've been going through this far. The road was painfully straight and boring along here too. The scenery is amazing, but it's kind of like staring at the same postcard for hours on end.

So really, not a lot happened for the next 30 miles to Fallon. I stopped for lunch, which was quite a novelty as it was the first time I'd reached civilisation during the day. I ate lunch, and took my maps inside to change them over. It was here I noticed a typo on the map. I'll try my best to explain it. My map has panels of about 22-40 miles roughly, and when you get to one 'matchline', you go up to the next matchline above it. Silver Springs is exactly on the matchline, which means it is shown on both map panels. After the name 'Silver Springs', there are a list of symbols of facilities that there are there, and when there is a star, it basically means it's a good place to stop, and has somewhere to stay, a grocery, a restaurant, and a couple of other things. The Silver Springs that was written on the lower map panel had a star, but the Silver Springs above had everything but somewhere to stay. I looked on the back, and sure enough, there was nowhere to stay. I think the most likely explanation was that there used to be somewhere there, but not anymore, and the crude people at the Adventure Cycling Association havnt updated the map properly.

As a result, I've been forced to stay in Fallon tonight. I'll try and head to Woodfords still tomorrow, but that's 90 miles from here, so I'll have to see how it goes. If I don't make it that far, it means i'll have a longer day the day after, hopefully still ending up in Placerville on schedule. It doesn't matter too much now for timing because I'm so close.

Day Sixty-Nine - Relief.

2009-07-09T04:48:00.002+01:00

I set my alarm for 6:20 this morning, which felt like a long lie in compared to my 5:45 starts of recent. I packed everything up, and was out by 7:30, set off at 8:30. I did speak to a couple of eastbound cyclists though, one of whom was 18, and other who was significantly older. We chatted for a bit, before setting out on our seperate ways.

The first few miles were an easy downhill, before reaching the first summit of the day. Compared to yesterday, this summit was easy, and K was up and over it in not too much time. There was a second one about 6 miles on, but again that didn't take too long. I was 26 miles in by this point, and had a mainly downhill stretch to the finish. I was also surprised that the wind wasn't blowing strongly at all, and the sun wasn't too feirce. To be honest this stretch was quite boring, because the road was straight, and the scenery only changed once every 20 miles or so. The only company I had (other than traffic) were some fighter jets way up high playing about. I only realised they were there from a sonic boom from one, making me jump out my skin. I guess it must have been too high to see.

I was hoping to stop for a break at a place called cold springs. I arrived there 5 miles after the wind had picked up, looking everywhere for the cafe in the 'cafe and RV park'. I stopped to ponder, and noticed a flat area of tiled flooring, and a tree that was scorched on one side. It had obviously burnt down. Reluctantly I went off to my finishing point. It was only 15 miles away, but I was in the mood for a sit down break.

I arrived at 2:30 or so, and went into one of two buildings that are in this place. Middlegate used to be a stop over place for people on the pony express, but became redundant after the invention of the telegraph. As a result, it's fairly tired looking, and most things that are here are old. By that, I mean there is a rusted Ford Model-T parked outside from goodness knows when, next to a horse cart that's been there even longer. I went into the bar and got my usual massive drink, and discovered that they somehow have wireless there. I guess the telephone box in the middle of the car park outside is also redundant now. I caught up on business, before deciding that I wanted to get a room rather than slum it in a car park. It only cost $30, which frankly is a bargain. Everything here is 'adequate' rather than 'nice', but it's a darn sight better than my sleeping bag. I don't get any TV channels, so the bar has a load of DVD's you can watch, which was cool.

After settling in and watching 'Not Another Teen Movie', I went back to eat. I noticed this on the menu earlier, but couldn't manage it rgwb, but felt very up for it now. It was called a monster burger, and was basically a big mac on steroids. By that, I mean it was well over 6" tall and had 1lb of beef in it. The deal was that you get that and a portion of French fries, and if you eat it all you get a t-shirt. It needed to be done, so I got it. I don't know if you've ever seem a pound of meat in front of you on a plate, but it's a lot. The knife they give you to eat it with is more of an offensive weapon than a utencil. I am pleased to report that I was successful, and have my T-shirt. It has a typo on it and is a tiny bit moth eaten, but I wasn't going to wear it anyway so it just adds to the sentimentality.

I'm off to Silver Springs tomorrow, which is on my last map! I spoke to an eastbounder who is staying here too, who told me about how awful a stretch is coming up, the day I'm doing 84 miles to Placerville. Apparently the hills are hugely rolling. As much as I want to believe him, I do go from 8000ft to sea level, and he did the opposite, so I think the odds are in my favour.

Day Sixty-Eight - The Final Countdown.

2009-07-08T03:59:00.002+01:00

Today marks one week until I am hoping to arrive in San Francisco!

I woke up this morning at 5:45, to find it absolutely freezing cold. I knew it got cold overnight in the desert, but up until now I'd never experienced it. I had to try and find my hat and gloves at the bottom of my bag before getting ready, which in turn was made harder because my hands were so cold. I went down the road for an omlette, that was completely unsatisfying, leading me to order two slices of French toast. This came to $18 after tip, so perhaps I'll fill up on stuff from a petrol station next time. There was also a powercut for about half an hour, so all this was done in darkness.

I got on the road by 8:30, and started out with a downhill for about 10 miles. This was followed by a very straight road for about 30 miles. This was relatively painless, and I hit halfway in about two and a half hours. The wind began picking up though, which as usual spoilt plans. It probably was blowing harder than it has done ever before, making me hope that the windspeed doesn't increase exponecially the further west I go. I also passed a man wandering in the desert without anything. I didn't stop to ask him if he needed anything though, because I assumed that if he did then he would ask.

I reached 55 miles or so only encountering one hill, which was quite good going. The last 15 miles or so would prove to be awful though, and took probably as long as the first half (if not more) to do. It was a combination of the midday heat, an inquenchable thirst due to the dry air and my overall tiredness finished me off, and I had to prop my bike up to make a small amount of shade and rest for a bit.

The rest of the ride took close to two hours to do 10 miles, 3 of which were downhill. I guess that shows how often I had to stop. It's not so
much that the temperature isn't hot (because it is), it's more the strengh that the sun is shining down on you. It completely saps your energy, and there is no shade to escape to.

Enough complaining. I rolled down into Austin at around 3pm having lost all the time i'd made up earlier. I went for my now routine massive rehydradion from a petrol station, before thinking about somewhere to stay. I'm starting to find that because Nevada is so sparse, they tend to do motels rather than csmpsites because they are more popular, especially in the quiet in-between towns like this one. That, and the fact that I was feeling positively grim made the decision to stay in a motel a no-brainer. I went to the one called the Cozy Mountain Motel, because it had been recently refurbished and had the best sign. It was only $40 too. I let a guy go in front of me in the queue, who ended up getting the last queen bed in the place, but I'm fine with what I have.

Tomorrow I'm planning a lie-in of sorts, before heading out on the main route (as opposed to the Carroll Summit Alternate) to another tiny place called Middlegate. The Carroll Alternate takes you off Highway 50 'for a change', up and over a summit. I'd much rather stay on the main route and take the long downhill, with one smaller summit. After then, I'm not sure where because it's on my last map, which is exciting because it's becoming more real now.

Day Sixty-Seven - Second Month.

2009-07-07T02:32:00.001+01:00

I woke up at 5:30 again today, beating my alarm again. Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep for 15 minutes, I seized the moment and got up. My new favourite TV channel TBS is the same broadcasting nationwide, so the TV I used to watch between 7-10 eastern time now starts at 4, so it kind of works in my favour. After a quick chat on the phone (mornings are way more convenient now), I went over to the first McDonalds I'd seen in a while. I knew that I had a long day ahead, so I made the effort to eat as much as I could to get the whole way through. I therefore went for the deluxe breakfast, consisting of a hash brown, scrambled egg, a flat sausage (like a burger), a biscuit (like a fried looking English muffin, i'm not too fond) and three pancakes. I also had a fountain drink (which are unlimited here) and a large vanilla milkshake. As I'm sure you can appreciate, this took a while to tackle, and as planned, I was stuffed. I decided that feeling overly full at the start was better than being completely empty at the end, which more often than not happens anyway because I can't carry enough food to satisfy my appetite during the day.

I set off at 9am eventually, having been chatting to a couple who's son had done this trip a couple of years ago from Oregon to Virginia. They were telling me all of the things he was suffering from when he got back, all of which I can empathise with. I was straight into my first hill on leaving, which was really easy to be honest. It was an 18 mile gradual climb to the top, which was made easier by the fact that it was the first of the day. I thought it was 22 miles to the next summit from here, which upon later inspection was actually 25. I didn't realise this when I was climbing up the side of the hill though, going round every corner and switchback at 7mph wondering why I wasn't at the top yet. I eventually made it, and began down the other side.

The wind had been blowing from the west all morning, but I think it must have kicked up a gear at this point because the downhill was hugely unsatisfying for all the hard work i'd put in. I was thinking of the best way to explain this to someone earlier, and best analagy I could think of is this. You know when you're walking in a swimming pool, but you obviously can't walk as easily or as fast? That's exactly the same as pedalling into a headwind. Downhill in a headwind is slightly better, but you just don't go that fast and get completely battered by the air.

Anyway, by this point I had two more summits to reach. One was a kind of mini-looking one on the map, and I should have known better to think it was. It was a short and steep one, which are always the deceptive ones. I had a longish gradual downhill from here into the wind, that was hard work but better than uphill. Because the landscape is so vast, you can see the straight road ahead of you for 20 miles. I thought I saw a petrol station way off in the distance that was something to aim for, but by the time I got to it I realised it was just a tree. Damn. To put me in a further bad mood, my cycling pet peeve of all pet peeves occurred. The one thing that annoys me more than anything is the need for overtaking on a road that everyone is going the same speed on anyway. It doesn't affect me usually, because I always get overtaken. But people overtaking other people when they are oncoming does affect me, because it means I've got a car travelling at about 70mph in my lane towards me, leaving me no choice but to have to pull right over onto the verge to make rude gestures at them.

The final hill was a long one, partly because it was long in actual milage, and partly because I was feeling sapped from 7 hours in the sun. I'm not sure how well time translates over here, but well over an hour on a hill is a long time. When I was at the top I had a 4 mile
downhill to Eureka where I was stopping. On arrival, I went to the only petrol station I could see, and helped myself to a 44 floz fountain drink. (I don't know what that is in normal measurements but it was just what I needed.) I found a tiny bit of wifi from somewhere and managed to get emails. While I was sat there, someone told me which of two RV parks were better to stay at, fortunately it was the one that was about a mile back uphill. Excellent, I thought, and begrudgingly got back on and went up to it. I was glad I did when I arrived, the other one looked a bit of a dump. I'm not adverse to having a shower in one that has been a bit neglected, but I am fairly partial to the clean ones, which made the uphill worth it. The woman that saw me only charged me $5 to camp, and the piece of grass I'm on is well sprincled, which is quite a luxury when it comes to putting tent pegs into the driest state in the US.

That pretty much brings me to now, I'm in a Diner/Casino, though though think less Las Vegas and more Wild Wild West. The casino part is in a side room to where I am now, making it seem slightly taboo to go in there. I had traditional fish and chips tonight, which I must say was a good effort. The fish was Halibert rather than Cod, but I can't really fault them on that because I'm not sure they know what a cod is here.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Austin, a place that shares it's name with the hometown of Lance Armstrong. It's a 68 mile ride, and is easier than today was (I hope), with the rest of this downhill I'm on now, followed by a very slow uphill, and then a weird kind of mountain complex that is a bit like a crab claw. The only thing that will mess it up is the wind, so I think I'll try and get some good
miles in while the air is cooler. That reminds me, I somehow got sunburnt on my shoulders THROUGH my top, and managed to miss putting suncream round my eyes this morning so I look a bit like a panda now.

Day Sixty-Six - Winds.

2009-07-06T03:38:00.002+01:00

I had quite a disturbed night last night, I found out that I'd put my tent up in a place that fighting animals frequented, with bouts every couple of hours. I woke up at about 5:30 though, feeling fairly refreshed. I packed everything up, and wanted to go to the place accross the street to eat, but it wasn't open, so I had to go to the place I camped at. This was no big deal really, but I kind of resented paying $10 for an omlette. The guy that owned it was nice, but miserable, and had a note in the menu telling 'foreigners' what is the US custom for tipping, which was again the upper bound of what I've been doing.

So I set off at about 8 o'clock, and I was straight onto my first hill. It was 15 miles long from bottom to top, and because of the time difference I'd lost an hour, so it was hotter an hour earlier. I also was down to my navy blue top, something that I hadn't worn for a while because it would make me too hot, and it did just that. It didn't take too long to get to the top though, and I was onto the downhill the far side. The downhill is where I usually make up time that I lost on the uphill, but this wasn't to be re case here. The downhill was straight into the wind, that both made progress about as slow as I was going uphill, but also sapped my energy. This went on for about 12 miles before turning west and out of the headwind. It was still affecting me from the side though, and luckily there was an unmarked pub that I could stop at at around halfway. I stopped here for about an hour, before heading the 5 miles to the summit of the next pass. It was steeper this time, and the fact that it was hot didn't help. It took close to an hour to get to the top, after which I had a 20 mile steady downhill to Ely, the end point for today. The wind picked up again here, and held me up further.

I eventually made it to Ely, and went straight to the Motel I was staying at. It was a Motel 6, which are I think the cheapest of the big chains. I was completely sapped of energy by this point, and the nearest campsite was a few miles out of town. I booked in, went for something to eat, and then came back to do some much needed handwashing of clothes.

Tomorrow I head to Eureka (another one), which is 78 miles and 4 passes away. It sounds tough, but the uphill gradients aren't too steep so it should be easier than the past couple of days.

Day Sixty-Five - Independance Day.

2009-07-05T02:17:00.002+01:00

I woke up at 5:45 today, keen to get on the road as early as possible. I knew today would be long, but I wasn't sure how long, so by setting out early I could make the best of it.

I left my room at about 7:30, and went in search of food. The person who I asked at the restaurant last night told me everything would be shut, but I found a petrol station that wasn't. I opted for the only thing I could find - preheated breakfast muffins in a heater. They weren't great, and were expensive for what they were, but it had to do. I left at around 8am, but not before my bike decided to spontaneously fall over (it does that a lot because of the uneven weight spread over it), crushing all of the Doritos I'd planned for lunch. Great.

So I set off, passing a diner and a nice hotel on my way out. I was a bit annoyed, but there was no way to know it was there before, and I wasn't going to stop again. As I said yesterday, the route was over three passed, with two valleys and a long drawn out downhill to the 84 mile finish line. The first pass wasn't too bad, partly because it wasn't too high or too hot, and partly because I was feeling relatively fresh. I can't remember exactly how far it was, but it didn't take too long to reach the top, and I went over and down into a massive valley. It was deceptive how big it was, but put it this way, from the top of one side, you could probably see the road about 15-20 miles further up on the other mountains the far side. If you spotted the tiny spec of a car coming down, you could easily wait 10 minutes before it overtook you. Massive.

Luckily, I could freewheel about two-thirds of the way accross, because the far side was steep. This took me quite a lot longer to conquer, especially as it was hotting up by this point. I reached the top, and freewheeled down the far side, to a view that was fairly similar to what I had just come accross. The downhill wasn't as long this time though, and had to pedal a lot of the valley. There was a tree by the side of the road though, that I thought would be a good place for a break. Unfortunately though, many many ants and other bugs called that shade home, and I quickly got back into the sun to escape being eaten alive.

So I started up the third hill, which wasn't as bad as the second but harder than the first. I remember the exact mileage was 52 miles at the third summit, leaving a long, gradual downhill to my end point. This wasn't as easy as i'd thought it'd be. I was getting tired by this point, but then I knew I would because I always do when I miss out on a proper lunch. A headwind was brewing like usual, and a thunderstorm with occasional lightning bolts were on the horizon.

Progress slowed, but I arrived at about 3pm local time having crossed the state line into Nevada, marking my transition into Pacific time. I stopped for a drink in the first place I saw, which happened to be a coffee shop, restaurant, campsite and motel. I didn't know all this until I arrived, and the guy who served me told me that I could camp for free if I ate there. Sounded good to me, so I accepted and here I am eating. At $17 for a Thai curry, it's a little pricy, but I prefer to think of it as camping with a $2 meal.

I think I'm heading to a place called Ely tomorrow, said 'ellie' rather than 'ee-lie'. I can't remember how far it is, it's either 63 or 78. I'm hoping for the former.

Day Sixty-Four - Easy Start.

2009-07-04T02:57:00.000+01:00

I had a fairly restless night last night, facing a catch 22 situation of being either too hot, or waking up with a headache because it's too cold. As a result I didn't get up until 6:25, and didn't get on the road until about 9:30, after going to a hardware store to pick up some better tape to fix the front racks better.

The first 20 miles or so were easy, a gentle decline through landscape that was wide open, something that was quite a novelty compared to what I'd been going through recently. After that, I had a fairly steady uphill, that was surprisingly easy going, and not as steep as I was expecting. It didn't slow me up too much either. I soon reached the 6500ft summit, and cruised downhill to Minersville.

I stopped for lunch in a petrol station/diner combo for around an hour, not minding the time because Milford was only about 15 miles away. I eventually left and headed down the road, again taking less time than I thought. I was quite grateful for this, because historically the days after rest days have been hard to get back into the swing of cycling.

When I arrived in Milford, I was quite surprised at how quiet it was, I was expecting a town slightly larger. Anyway, I followed the directions to the RV park where it suggested camping, which was basically a shingle car park with a tap in the middle. There are so many reasons why this place wasn't suitable, so many that I can't be bothered to mention. I therefore headed to a motel that advertised '$34.99 rooms.' Brilliant, I thought. It turned out that sign was painted years ago, and I couldn't really dispute it because the owners barely spoke English. So I got into my room, spoke to home, and went out to eat at the restaurant next to where I was. It was here that it struck me as to the relevance to tomorrow, in that I think EVERYWHERE will be shut. I therefore stocked up on snacks, and I'm just hoping that somewhere is.

I've got an 84 mile stretch to a place called Baker tomorrow, which is the longest stretch without services I have left. I do have plenty more of 70 and 60 miles, but I suppose I can take some kind of milestone from it. I also pass into Nevada, and Pacific Time in about the last 5 miles. The route consists of three hills, two with an incline roughly like today, and one that is quite a bit steeper. We will see how all that pans out.

Day Sixty-Three - Rest Day V.

2009-07-03T03:47:00.002+01:00

Today was a very lazy day, spent doing nothing more than venturing out twice for food, and snoozing / watching TV. The weather was fairy overcast and didn't get any higher than about 70 degrees, so it wasn't as though I missed out on a huge amount.

Tomorrow I am heading to a place called Milford, which is around 55-60 miles or so. It's also fairly flat too, something I'm quite glad about. I say flat, it has one hill, but I don't think it goes on for longer than about 10 miles or so. The route is due north however, which is annoying, but it's going up to Highway 50 which is pretty direct, so I don't mind too much.

Day Sixty-Two - Cedar Breaks.

2009-07-02T05:06:00.002+01:00

Today was another slow start, but the thought of having a rest day tomorrow was motivation enough. I was on the road again by 8:30, and was straight onto the uphill I had to overcome today.

The climb today has only one word to describe it. Long. It was 36 miles of continual uphill through terrain that reminded me quite a lot of that in Missiouri, very green, with pine trees on either side. There wasn't a huge amount going on either side of the road to be honest, and the only thing worth commenting on was how it got quite a lot cooler by the time I had reached the top. It was also increasingly overcast, with ominous looking black clouds coming overhead.

It took exactly four hours to get to the top, but the downhill into cedar city of about 25 miles took about half an hour/ 45 minutes. On arrival, I found a motel that had everything I needed for $36 per night. Bargain. It's perfectly adequate inside too, so I'm happy

Sorry for the briefness of this post, I was just about asleep before remembering I hadn't done one, and I wanted to make sure I got the main stuff down. If I remember anything else I'll put it on tomorrow.

Day Sixty-One - Change of Fortune.

2009-07-01T03:00:00.004+01:00

Today was a slow start, almost like a hangover from last nights lethargy. I persuaded myself to get up (it's 6am at this time), and was packed up by 7:30 or so. I made sure I had a good breakfast, and was off by 8:45, after realising the only petrol station around was back at the other end of town. (I needed to buy bottled water because the stuff out the ground was cloudy.)

I can't remember if I said this yesterday, but the overall plan for today was up, down, up, down, all in roughly equal proportions. The first 18 to the top took exactly two hours. (I know this because I listened to a 2 hour Kissy Sell Out show from Radio1.) This was hard work as it was heating up quickly, but by the time I got to the top I didn't mind because I could cool down on the decent. I swept past about four eastbound cyclists, who only could manage to say to me 'how far?' in reference to the climb. I'm assuming it was a tough uphill. I cruised downhill, and made it to a place called Tropic for lunch. I was grateful for the stop by this point, I was feeling tired and a bit dehydrated by this point. (I had no need to be, but I couldn't be bothered to stop two miles out to refill.)

I had a hamburger from the only restaurant I could find, fortunately having WiFi. Over an hour passed, and I thought I'd better leave. I wasn't full from lunch though, so stopped in a shop for an energy drink. I don't know / doubt you've been following, but on Twitter I bet someone I could find a bigger can of one than they could, something that I succeeded in doing here. 946ml is the total to beat. I had that, and was absolutely wired on B Vitamins and sugar. I'm not sure if it was this (I expect it was) or my choice of music (a guy who goes by the name of Arnej), but I shot up the next hill with ease. It was ridiculously steep, but it only went on for less than 10 miles so either it didn't take too long, or I was well entertained in the process. I went past turn offs to Bryce Canyon, which I've been told is very nice, and into Red Canyon. Along here I was diverted onto a cycle path, the first I'd been on in literally thousands of miles. It felt really weird to be honest, everything on it was like a normal road, but minature, making me feel like an absolute giant thundering down a normal road. This was all good fun, I took lots of photos, etc etc, and before too long I was back onto the road and on the final decent into (I can never remember the name of this place....) Panguitch.

I found where I was camping, set up my tent, and went to find somewhere to eat. I wasn't up for something expensive, so walked past the place that looked expensive, and went to somewhere that looked a bit run down from the outside. Of course, it would have to be the case that I'd got it wrong with my pricing assumptions, and ended up ordering the cheapest thing on the menu at $13.50. It was very nice, but to be honest it was wasted on me because I'd have probably just as soon had a mcdonalds if there was one.

Anyway I'm back at my campsite now, about to get an early night for tomorrows monumental climb to Cedar City. It's a bit like today, only both of the uphills are one after another, followed by both downhills one after the other.

The title of this post is in reference to my front rack (as well as me finding it a lot easier than anticipated) because in a similar way to what happened when I broke the first side, I found another bungee cord at the side of the road, meaning it will probably last until California now. :)

Day Sixty - Exhausted.

2009-06-30T02:45:00.004+01:00

I set my alarm for 5:45 today, in an effort to try and beat the heat that I knew was coming. I got on the road eventually at 8:30, after an ordeal at a petrol station trying to get some cash back from one of my two cards since the ATM was empty. Neither of them worked (the guy must not have known what he was doing because one of the two always works), so I was forced to leave with only pocket change.

The first 25 miles were mostly uphill, with a few deceptive downhills that made me think I was further than I was. Eventually the downhill did come, just in time for the rain. Rain again in Utah!! Luckily it was only really at the top, so having put all my rain stuff on, I was peeling it off 10 minutes later,

The downhill went way too fast for my liking, and I was in 'Boulder Town' before I knew it. I pulled into a place that was a museum type building, and got talking to four young-ish people. It turned out (though they may well have been lying, it seems kind of weird) that two of them were on their honeymoon, and the other two were tagging along. They were doing backpacking, so perhaps it was to make up numbers. They fed me a small assortment of weird foods such as Wasabi peas and peanut butter filled pretzls. (they were from Oregon, apparently they're all quirky up there..). They drove off, and I went inside to ask if there was an ATM around so I could get money out. The woman snapped 'no.' quickly back at me, so I left. It was only 20something miles from here to Escalante, so I thought I'd just go for it.

My map told me that it was almost all downhill into Escalante with the exception if a short uphill. It turned out that this short uphill hadn't been drawn to scale, as I must have spent the best part of 45 minutes getting up it. It felt like it was vertical (which it almost was, as steep as any hill in the Appalacians). Once at the peak of that, it was downhill to the finish, but luckily for me my old friend the headwind was back, meaning I had to pedal downhill to maintain a mere 11mph.

I eventually made it, and stopped in the first place I saw, which luckily had a subway. Of course, I couldn't buy anything until I withdrew money, which meant going back to a petrol station I'd passed. I decided not to pedal back uphill, making my walk seem like hours. To cut a long story short, I eventually ate, but I was already beyond lethargic. I eventually persuaded myself to leave the unlimited drink machine in peace, and went up to put my tent up in the RV park. The earth here is as good as concrete, so I've had to do another bench tye-up to hold my tent up.

So tomorrow I've got a 67 mile ride to Panguitch, involving an up and over of two 'hills' (though at 7400ft and 7900ft or so, they have the potential to be killers). After Panguich, I have a steep 33 miles uphill from 6650ft or so up to 10500ft, and then an equally steep decent into Cedar City, for a much needed rest day. I also need to have a look at front racks there, because my right one has snapped in the same way as the left one has. I wasn't so bad when it was just one, because I moved all the essential items into the working bag, but now they're both out, they're both out of action. Either that, or I'll need to have a major reshuffle and prioritisation of stuff.

Day Fifty-Nine - Bitten.

2009-06-29T02:13:00.002+01:00

After a fairly restless night, I was up by 6:25 and on the road by 8:30.

To be honest, today was mostly uneventful. My route today was straight along the same road for 50 miles to a place called Torrey, with the incline being progressively uphill the whole way. The first part was fairly flat, and I was able to average around 14mph, but towards the end it got a lot steeper. It also was very hot today, though this could have been because I wasn't moving very fast. I got bitten a fair amount by Mosquitos, the only creatures that seem to survive in the desert. Perhaps it was me smelling, or my legs, or that my panniers are flourescent yellow. I need to pick up some repellent at some point, they are a nightmare.

I arrived in Torrey at around 1:30, and decided that I wanted to stay in a hotel to get out the heat. I opted for the Sandstone Inn, which is $74 per night. I didn't mind that too much though, I've earnt a surplus from camping the past couple of days.

Tomorrow I'm heading to a place called Escalante, an even 60 or so, including the peak I've been working towards today. This is my third-to-last major peak (over 8000ft), with the next one the day after tomorrow and the last being before I swoop down to sea level. I've worked out that I have 14 more cycling days to go, throw in a rest day and that means I'll be arriving in San Francisco on the 13th July. Exciting Stuff!

Day Fifty-Eight - Day in the Desert II.

2009-06-28T02:51:00.002+01:00

I set my alarm for the same time as yesterday, but that was obviously optimistic because after my fourth 'snooze' I set a new alar
for 6:30. I managed to haul myself up, and after a breakfast of protein-type cereal bars, I set off at 8:00 on the dot.

My riding was progressively up for the first half, and progressively down for the second half. It was more of the same scenery while I was going up, moving between the shade of the massive canyons either side of me and the hot sun that was still low in the sky. I could have taken pictures all day, but it was again kind of important to reach my destination before I got grilled, There was no danger of rain today.

The last 10 miles or so were in more what I would call 'desert', with wide open views and scrub bushes scattered about. I'm looking forward to my first piece of tumbleweed, but today wasn't the day.

I arrived into Hanksville at.. I don't know what time. Lunchtime. I pulled up at a service station, that was relatively heaving. I was surprised to see so many people there, I guess it was because it's the last stop before the desert. One thing that surprised me was that there were a huge amount of water-going vessels. Powerboats, Jetskis, Canoes, the lot. I couldn't help thinking that they were a couple of hundred million years too late, but I guess there must be something here for them.

I went to the only campsite I could find, which was conveniently not far away. It has wifi too, which was great. The only problem I found was that it was hotting up now I didn't have my self-generated breeze in my face. I chatted to people on Facebook for a little while, before deciding enough was enough, and I didn't want to be hot anymore. I went for a shower and then as fast as I could went back to where I had lunch, where I promptly froze. This must seem like a completely irrelevant problem to peoples everyday stresses back home, but for me this is about the size of it. I left there after taking full advantage of the unlimited refill policy, and went to the restaurant conjoined to my campsite, getting some much needed vegetables, which brings me to now, where I've been typing up yesterday and todays blogs which has taken me hours. I rather short sightedly put my yet under a fruit tree, thinking it'd offer me shade. It didn't, but it does have a whole load of flies that enjoy eating the fallen fruit on the floor.

I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow, but I know it's almost all uphill. I'm not sure what your preconceptions of Utah are, but it is a lot hillier than I thought. It is by no means flat open plains that I was expecting, making this quite a tough place for riding.

Day Fifty-Seven - Day in the Desert I.

2009-06-28T01:56:00.002+01:00

This post refers to Friday 26th June.

I set my alarm early this morning (5:25) so I could get on the road as soon as possible. I wanted to make it to my stopping destination at a tiny place called Hite by the time their shop shut at 4pm so I could stock up on snacks and fluids.

As it turned out, the place I went to breakfast (I found out that the my hotel in fact only serves morning coffee) were leisurely in service and large in portions, meaning 8:30 was the best I could manage. By then, it had already rained twice, which was bizzarre because I thought it didn't rain in the desert? Anyway, my first 20-30 miles were mostly uphill, and took me quite a while to complete. It was getting hot by this point, but nowhere near what I thought. To be honest it was like any other hot day I've had. After these 30 miles, the rest was progressively downhill, very much appreciated. It meant I could get some miles in a lot faster.

During the latter part of the ride, I noticed black clouds and darkness following me (made to look pretty appcalyptic through my sunglasses), so I had a new challenge - beat the rain.

As it happened, I arrived at my stop place with two hours to spare, partly because the shop was open an hour later than I expected it to be. Hite was quite an interesting place as it turned out, it has only existed in it's current form for about 40 or 50 years because old Hite is now underwater from a dam that's been built. It's got the population of something ridiculous like 20, and is a settlement that only came about due to a gold rush a while back. They have a communal telephone (there I was thinking I might get wifi...), a grocery store/petrol station, helipad/runway, and that's about it.

I went inside the grocery store to buy some drinks and spoke to someone who had a badge that looked like one of those old sherrif badges, so I assume he was either a sherrif or a park ranger. He showed me a nice spot on the porch of a building next to the helipad I could camp on. It as concrete again, but at least it wasn't shingle. To be honest, I had more facilities than I was expecting, I had a public toilet all to my myself and some picnic benches under the porch to tie my tent up to. While I was doing that, two bikers pulled up, asking about the route I'd come. It turned out they'd been there for two days, waiting the right conditions to head out to blanding. They eventually did at 4pm, meaning they wouldn't arrive until pretty late tonight. Very late in fact. Almost right as they left, it started to rain, prompting two motorcyclists to pull up, one who lipped for half an hour and the other who I spoke to. It turned out they had rode from Telluride today, making my days seem ridiculously short compared to theirs. They left when it stopped raining, and I ate snacks and read the cycling magazine I bought at Heathrow for the rest of the evening. I found that magazine painfully boring, but for some reason it's become interesting. Perhaps I've become a bike geek.

Tomorrow I'll be off to a town called Hanksville, which is only 50 or so miles, but as I mentioned before I'm dictacted by where towns are slightly. I'm hoping to get some Internet / some sort of signal, I feel quite disconnected at the moment.

Day Fifty-Six - Preparation.

2009-06-26T00:39:00.002+01:00

Today was a part rest day, having only furthered myself 20 miles.

Last night was uncomfortable at best, and my optimism of last night was... optimistic. It didn't matter too much though, because I wasn't going far. I packed up, went to the restaurant next door for an omlette, and was on the road by 8:30. To be honest, the riding was mostly uneventful, but I could definitely tell I was moving into desert, with the ground gradually turning into red dust.

I arrived in Blanding at about 10:30, and realised that I didn't really have anywhere to go. At 11 I went down to the Super8, where they luckily had a room available for me. After getting in, I chatted to home for a bit, went out to eat and bu stuff for tomorrow / the next day, and currently my laundry is tumble drying.

Tomorrow I am heading out into the desert overnight, and am camping at a place called Hite Recreation Park. There is a campsite and grocery there, so It's not as if there will be NOTHING. The following day I'll be heading to a place called Hanksville. I've found with Utah that in a similar way to Kansas, you are fairly dictated to how far you go each day by how the towns are laid out, so some days will be longer than others.

Day Fifty- Five - Utah.

2009-06-25T01:59:00.000+01:00

I've invented a new alarm on my phone called 'lie in', that goes off at 06:45. Today was the first time I tried it, and it worked wonderfully. After much faffing about and talking on IM to home (seems to be the only way at the moment), I was ready to go by about 9:45. After yesterdays shennnigans, I concluded that my inner tubes that I'd spent were beyond repair, as in each case the valve was damaged. I rolled up to the bike shop to find that it opened at 10. No big deal, I thought. 10:20 came and went, without any sign of it opening. I did speak to a guy who was at the shop on behalf of his family, buying tyres. Apparently there were four of them who had come from San Francisco and were going to somewhere up in Canada. I asked how long ago they left, to which he replied 3 and a half weeks. Fair enough, but he then went on to tell me that they were only doing 20-30 miles per day. There must have been a breakdown in communication somewhere...

Anyway, the shop eventually opened, and I got 2 tubes for $10. bargain. Time was pressing on, and so I said my goodbyes and left. I was quite pleased to find that my corridor between mountains opened out into rolling countryside, much like that of western Kansas. I had fairly simple navigation too, 10 miles on one road, 50something on another. Just as I was coming down a hill and preparing to make the transition from one to the other, I felt a searing pain on my stomach, so much so that I had to pull over to see what it was. It turned out I'd either had a bee back into me at 30mph, or I'd caught it up, and it was hanging off me by it's sting. I quickly discarded it, and went for some bite cream, witch on opening wouldn't stop coming out, must be the pressure or something.. anyway. I tended to that, and was back on my way.

The riding for today was mostly uneventful. The roads were back to being straight, but there were a lot of undulations. The Ozarks of the West would be the best way to describe it, only they were slightly more drawn out than the real thing. They were plenty tiring enough though, and by the time the state border came with 18 miles to go, I'd had enough for today. I plodded on into the headwind (that's what you get for hanging about in the morning), and eventually reached Montecello (the second one I've been to since being here, I can't remember where the other was, all I can remember is Bert the Dutch guy saying it in his accent, so it must be Virginia). I had the option to go on 20 miles to Blanding, but I opted against, having been told there is a big hill between here and there.

I found my RV park of choice, which was absolutely deserted. I was prompted to pay at an ATM machine thing for the site ($15), and I could have wherever I wanted. While I was deciding where, it began to pour, so I made for a sheltered driveway area and decided that would be it. It is on gravel, but I've slept on concrete before since being here (Telluride was rock solid too), so I prioritized staying dry with comfort. I put my tent up spectacularly (I have a photo that I'll eventually get round to putting on here), without the use of any tent pegs. My tent isn't free-standing either, which makes it even better. It is a bit of a death trap getting in and out of, but ducking under ropes and over a strategically placed bike is a minor inconvenence I'm willing to put up with.

I'm now writing this in an ice cream parlour, having had an Oreo Malt. I didn't spot my usual hot fudge until after I sat down, it was on special offer today at $1.99. Dang.

Anyway, I'm off to Blanding tomorrow, the grand total of 21 or so miles away. The reason for doing this are as follows - It's cheaper than getting a room for two nights, I don't need to spend a day going 0 miles, and there is nothing for 74 miles west of there, so I kind of have to go there. It will give me a chance to do some laundry and all that kind of stuff too.

Day Fifty-Four - Punctures.

2009-06-24T04:05:00.002+01:00

My alarm went off at 5:50am this morning, in the hope that I'd get up earlier. It didn't work, and I just hit snooze a couple more times. I went up to the bakery that I ate at last night, and ended up having an apple fritter pastry thing, and a chocolate brownie. Traditional breakfast items were way overpriced compared to cakes, so I beat the system on that one.

I hit the road at 8:30, and started the long uphill to Lizard Head Pass. at 10,000ft, thi was the second highest pass I've done. It was a 16 mile uphill, and it took just over two hours to complete. The weather was good at this point, so it wasn't anywhere near as cold as it was over monument pass. The rest of the day was to be downhill, which I was very much looking forward to.

13 miles later, and I stopped at a place called Rico for lunch / a break. Here, my luck changed for the worse. Just as I arrived, a rain / hailstorm did too, and I was forced to wait for about an hour for it to blow over. Luckily, it did, and I didn't get wet. I set off again, but after no more than 6 or 7 miles, my brand new supposed 'super tough flat tyre resistant' tyre failed me, and I got a flat. Great, I thought. I quickly fixed that, and got on my way. Little did I know that a tiny stone had gotten between the valve and the rim when I changed the inner tube, so after a further 100m it was flat again. I must mention that I keep my inner tubes in the pannier I have to tie to the rack, so it's a pain to have to go into the bag. It was for that reason that I attempted to tape up the hole to see if that worked, which of course it didn't. I therefore decided another new tube was needed, so I undid all the rope, and fitted a new tube, this time with a Presta valve. Just as I was packed up and ready to go, it was flat. AGAIN. I realised it was because the inner part of the valve was bent, making the air come straight back out. I was spitting blood at this point with frustration, and went back into the bag for my last schrader valve tube. After fitting this and snapping both my tyre levers in the process (they were cheap and plastic anyway, I have others), I finally got going. I was absolutely paranoid about getting another puncture, knowing that I wouldn't be able to fix it without digging out the puncture repair kit.

The rest of the ride was largely uneventful, though paranoia was on my mind the whole time, and I stopped probably twice to put more air in unnecessarily. As far as I'm aware it's okay now, but I need to get a couple of tubes tomorrow, the ones I used today are beyond repair.

I'm staying in a motel tonight, overpriced but necessary because the weather is closing in. I also feel in need of a good nights sleep. Tomorrow I'm heading to Monticello, Utah, and the day after that is a really short day to a place called Blanding, the reason being I have a 74 mile stretch without anything, and then a tiny campsite place called Hite Recreation Area where I think I'll stay, and then a 54 mile stretch of nothing before the next place. Some do the 124 miles in one day, but I honestly don't think I can do that.

Day Fifty-Three - To Hell You Ride.

2009-06-23T03:03:00.002+01:00

This morning was an early start, as a always the way when you're camping. My first thought of the day was how ridiculously cold it was, which it was. By 7:30 I'd completely packed up, and headed down to Sonic again, who's breakfasts are comparably cheap compared to similar places. I opted for the breakfast burrito with tater tots, like little hash brown nuggets. I've decided 'tater tots' should only ever be ordered by an American, saying those two words in my english accent just makes me sound ridiculous.

I was off by 8:30, and onwards and upwards, literally. Out of the 67 scheduled miles for today, 54 of them were uphill, with only a 13 mile downhill from a mountain pass as compensation for my hard work. It wasn't as steep as I'd thought it would be, and for a lot of the time I maintained a speed around 11/12mph. There were about 7 or 8 miles that I'd class as steep, miles where I was pinned in my lowest gear and plodding upwards only just faster than walking pace.

I stopped at a little shop at a place called placerville, 13 miles from Telluride, at the bottom of my 13 mile downhill. I spoke to two cyclists here who had come down from Telluride, and were quick to tell me how steep the uphill was. They also told me that they had been at a bluegrass festival there all weekend, and so camping in the park would be fine. Great, I thought. It was while I was stopped here that I noticed my back tire. It was completely bald, and my inner tube was punctured. Quite frankly I was gutted, I had come this far without a puncture, and getting one now was a kick in the teeth. I was more worried about my tire though, Having spent this entire trip going past shredded car tires at the side of the road, I didn't want that to be me in the middle of the desert. I pumped it up as best I could, and started my final ascent of the day. It was nowhere near as steep as I was told, except for maybe the last couple of miles. It did take a while though,
I had to keep stopping to pump up the problematic tire.

Eventually I arrived in Telluride, a place that I was quickly told is not named after hell, but after Tellinium (something like that) that was mined here. Whatever, my map says it got my nickname because in it's hayday it had something like 24 saloons and brothels in a tiny area. Another urban myth is that skiing was invented here by scandinavians (apparently) who wanted to get down the mountain faster than the others on payday. A famous bank robbery also took place here, were someone just waltzed in and took $10,000 (in the 19th century) unchallenged.

Enough trivia. It became obvious that this place was indeed the Monaco of the ski world, for the high rollers and celebrities as it had been described to me. There is a weird right of way system that is the exact opposite to normal, pedestrians priporitise over bikes (of which there are a LOT), who prioritize over cars. There are lots of expensive restaurants, and even more expensive hotels. Camping it was then.

When in Rome, I managed to spend $95 in about 10 minutes. $65 on a tire (which is extortionate, but it's meant to be the American Schwalbe Marathon, so fingers crossed), and $30 on a BUFF!!! I managed to find a shop that sells them!! (Again, for an extortionate price, but I wasn't in a position to argue It's a bit smaller than I remember them, but then again I have grown considerably since I last had one).

I went to my campsite, paid my $15 for my spot, had a cold shower ($3 for 5 mind of hot water? I don't think so), and went out to find food. I ended up in a little bakery place, where I had a Calzone pizza. I've decided that olives should be left out by default, and if you want them then they can put them in. Nobody likes olives...

Anyway, I must go, as it's getting dark, and I fear I'm outstaying my welcome with my phone charger in the wall. Tomorrow I'm going to Dolores, the end point on this map, perhaps further if there is a better place further up. Watch this space.

Day Fifty-Two - Downhill.

2009-06-22T02:00:00.003+01:00

Another early start saw me on the road at around 9am, having fitted in a phonecall home during that time. I went to Sonic for breakfast, a fast food place that you usually have to drive in, but this one had an indoors. You still have to talk into a microphone though.

My route for today was simple - Highway 50 all the way. It was also a lot of downhill. This meant that I'd done the first 25 miles in around an hour and a half. I then had an uphill of about 5 or 6 miles, more downhill, uphill of anoter 5 miles and then a 14 mile downhill to the finish. I actually spent around a third of my riding time on the uphill even though they took up a much smaller portion of the distance.

You would think that this would have been a dream day, and you would nearly be right. The weather was nearly perfect, but the morning became fairly overcast and thus making it quite cool. The traffic was also a bit of a problem, in that there was a lot of it. Historically, Sundays have been good for riding because they have meant for quiet roads, but not today, in fact the opposite. This meant that although there weren't many commercial vehicles, there were a lot of massive RV's and Pickups towing trailers and caravans. I can't complain too much, there were some sections that had hard shoulders larger than the road itself, complete with rumble strips that could rattle my eyeballs out my head if I go over them, but enough to deter cars and the like.

I arrived in Montrose at around 3pm in glorious sunshine, and went to the campsite I'd chosen to stay at. $27.14. I thought camping was meant to be cheap!! Anyway, I paid and got my tent set up. The sun was shining and there was the unmistakable smell of barbeque in the air, so I was content. Montrose is in a massive valley, between the continental divide I've just rode over and a long, steady uphill slope in front of me. I feel tomorrow will be serious payback for all the downhill of today.

So I had a shower, and went back to my tent to wait until a good time to eat. I hadn't really thought that through though, and within minutes I was sweltering. By the time 6pm came, I could wait no longer and headed out. I ended up at a Thai restaurant, I couldn't resist as it's been the first I'd seen. I opted for a green curry, a good benchmark. I'm not sure if it's my tastebuds not being used to spicy food, but medium spiced had my nose running and gasping for water. It was very tasty though.

I'm now sitting outside at another Sonic, satisfying my craving for malts that has come on over the last few days. I'll miss this when I go home..

Day Fifty-One - Saturation.

2009-06-21T03:15:00.002+01:00

Having gone to bed by 8:30 last night, I felt relatively rested by the time 6:15 came around. I was pretty much ready to go by 7:00, but breakfast was offered to me which I couldn't refuse. I got on the road by 8:30, and began my ascent to Monument Pass, topping out at 11,312 feet. The climb was about 24 miles from Salida to the peak.

The going was good up until about 14 miles in, when it got a lot steeper, and 6mph was about the best I could manage. As you can imagine, it took a while to get to the top, especially seeing as I needed to stop every mile or so to catch my breath in the last few. I was also surprised at how cold it got as I got higher, cold enough that there was snow at the side of the road and being able to see your breath. I thought I would be able to just scoot over the top and come back down without needing to put on layers, but each time I had to stop I ended up putting a layer on. It was with around three miles to go that the rain started. It had been an overcast day up until then, but I wasn't expecting it until much later. This meant that by the time I had reached the top I was cold and very wet. There was a cafe/ gift shop at the top that I went into and contemplated stopping there for lunch.

I decided that the cafe was too much for too little, and i'd brave the 10 miles downhill to 'Sargents' and eat there. I'd already experienced downhill in the wet in the Appalacians, and it was freezing cold at only 3,000ft. I tried to prepare myself for the cold by putting socks on my hands to fight the wind chill on my wet hands (I do have gloves, but they were at the bottom of the bag that I now tie on my front rack, so were as good as unaccessable). The result of this was having to stop every half mile or so to try to warm my saturated hands and relieve the cramp in my hands from squeezing the brakes. After about two miles of downhill I gave up, and put on a ridiculous number of layers and put on real gloves, which did the trick down the rest of the mountain.

I stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was probably more expensive than the previous place, but it was better food. I was caught at a moment of weakness and ordered a slice of premium pie, at $4.50 a slice. Ouch. It hit the spot though, and I was just about thawed out from the decent after finishing. You can imagine my disappointment when I stepped outside to find that the rain that I'd beaten down the hill caught me up, and it was hammering off the road. I was offered a ride to Gunnison (my stopping point by two different people, and had to explain to them both that as much as I'd love a ride, it'd confound my entire trip and I'd never be able to live with myself if I had. So off I went into the rain.

The rest of the day was largely uneventful, 30something long miles in rain/hail to Gunnison. By the time I arrived, I was desperate to find a room to dry myself and my clothes out in. After a very similar routine to that in biblical times, all of the motels/hotels were full on the east side of town. Apparently there is a softball tournament in town, and it's a weekend night so people go away anyway. I eventually found a cheap-looking place called the ABC Motel, that I ended up paying $69 for a room that isn't worth a penny above $45.

So that's the story of today, tomorrow I have an easier day to a town called Montrose. Tomorrow night there is a 0% chance of rain, which are odds I very much like as far as camping is concerned.

Day Fifty - Half Century.

2009-06-20T01:02:00.002+01:00

Today was an energetic start, but I managed to stall over breakfast and ended up leaving at 9:30. I went for breakfast at the place I ate at last night, where I had an unexpected ridiculously large breakfast. It came with a pancake that was about 9" diameter, and about 1" thick. (Amercan Imperial measurements seemed to have rubbed off on me...)

The first part of my day was easy going, I was continuing down the same downhill I finished on last night. It gave me time to take a good look around at the scenery, which was a lot clearer in the bright morning sun. It was along here that I spoke to two guys called Mitch and Stephen, who were headed to Pueblo today. They were the first riders I'd come accross on this part of the route, and painted a better picture than how others had described it. They were heading home to Indiana, and today was their 20th day on the road. That sounds quite ambitious to me, but it's still in the not-too-distant future. They also told me about a festival thing that was happening this weekend in Salida, and reccomended I stayed there.

Onwards I headed onto Highway 50, a road that I'll be seeing a lot of in the coming days/weeks. Further up it is famously known as the 'lonliest road in America'. That definitely wasn't the case here, and I was being overtaken by cars, HGV's and RV's at ridiculous speeds. It became apparent that drivers assume it's safe to overtake unless they see otherwise, rather than vice versa, leading to some near misses for the cars and me being forced into the verge.

I arrived in Salida at around 2pm, and decided that this was where I was going to stop. It wasn't immediately obvious where 'downtown' was, as all the globalised places had set up camp along the highway. I found my way, and all of the fesival things that were going on. I stopped in two shops in search of a buff (as is the norm nowadays), and in both I had people asking if I needed somewhere to stay. The choices were camping in someones yard, or staying indoors. I opted for the second, and was told I had to wait an hour to see if it was okay. It was, but in the meantime I sat and watched some people playing in the white water in kayaks. I was approached by a couple who were interested in what I was doing, and after a chat, they gave me $10! It was soon time to go over to where I was staying, in a terraced house that looked a little greek from the outside. My tenants names are Jack and Patty, and are very hospitable. They live up in Minnesota, with this as their retirement holiday home.

I went in and chatted to them for a bit, before showering and heading out to Taco Bell for food and WiFi. I'm not sure why I hadn't been to one of these before, I'd never really fancied it. It was good, but not filling enough. I think I'll head over the road for a mcflurry, and then to bed for an early night. I've got Monarch pass to do in the morning, which is roughly 20 degrees farenheit cooler than where I am now at over 11,000ft high. I can't remember what Jack said, I think he said it was three miles above sea level.. but after that it's plain cruising to Gunnison I think it's called, 65 miles away.

Day Forty-Nine - First Mountain.

2009-06-19T02:59:00.002+01:00

Today was a slow start like a Monday morning, a headache didn't help matters. It didn't help that I had a heavy-footed, 5am rising door slammer upstairs from me. I eventuallu got going at around 9:30.

It took me ages to get through and out of Pueblo, the town is full of one way roads. After a few detours including dodging a marching band, I was out into the wilderness. The first part of my riding today was through scenery that was a lot more interesting than that from the east of Pueblo. It was very desert-like, with open rock faces and Mountains as a backdrop. It was along here that I noticed that part of my front rack has snapped, meaning my front left pannier was clinging on by one hook. I taped that up as best I could (so not very well) and continued on.

It wasn't long before the tape came back out again, my right Achilles gradually bacame painful the more the incline of the road increased. I taped my ancle up, which seemed to do the trick. I had a long climb in the afternoon, so I stopped for a break at a store in a small village for a bit. It wasn't particularly steep (steep enough to need to be in my lowest gear), but at around 15-16 miles long it took ages to climb to the top. The highest point was about 9200ft, over twice the height of Ben Nevis, and you could definitely tell that the air was thinner. It's quite a weird feeling, breathing in was somehow less satisfying than before, making you need to stop to catch your breath frequently.

I arrived at the top, looking forward to my nice long downhill to Westcliffe. The wind had other plans, and gave me a strong headwind that stopped me going downhill faster than 15mph. Eventually I arrived to a very windy Main St. and went to look for the campsite. I discovered that it was 1.5 miles out of town, which is fairly inconvenient when you don't have a stove. After much umming and ahhing, I reluctantly decided to get a room, based upon the howling winds and black clouds coming over the mountains.

Tomorrow I'm heading to one of three places - Salida, Poncha Springs or Maysville. Salida is meant to be a nice place to stay, but the campsite is 3 miles out, Maysville has only a grocery store for food and Poncha Springs has only a Motel. I'll decide closer to the time, but Salida is probably the best choice. They also have two bike shops there, I might have a look at front racks. I found a long piece of rope at the side of the road, so perhaps that'll do. Any advice?

Day Forty-Eight - Rest Day IV.

2009-06-18T03:30:00.002+01:00

Nothing really to report about today, I did precious little other than ride into town for a tour of shops looking for a buff, with no luck. I did manage to pick up sunburn on my hands though, forgetting that they are still as white as when I left (because of my mitts).

I'm off to a town called Westcliffe tomorrow, about 57 miles away. I do have a nice climb from 4900ft to over 9000ft, but it's over a distance of about 40 miles so I hope it won't be too bad.

Day Forty-Seven - End of an Era.

2009-06-17T03:39:00.002+01:00

So, I find myself writing this in Pueblo, where I now head west to San Francisco, rather than going up North to Oregon. It's a fairly big milestone for me, I definitely feel like i'm on the home straight (a long one mind you).

I didn't set my alarm this morning, mostly because I knew I wasn't going far today. I went for breakfast at the local restaurant that was now open (I forgot to mention that I had trouble finding somewhere to eat last night, what restaurant is only open 6-2?!) I headed back up to the 96, and went up the 36 or so miles to Pueblo. The Rockies are now firmly in sight, a couple of mountains of which have snow peaks.

I arrived in town at about 11:30, but it wasn't until about 2:30 until I got into a room. I've decided that cycling here is a NIGHTMARE, the roads are uneven and cars aren't too cycle-friendly. Since then, I spoke to home, and went back out in search of bank that doesn't charge you $2.50 to get at your money.

I'm having a rest day tomorrow, where I am going to the ski, hike and bike (or something like that) shop to hopefullly finally buy a buff once and for all. That, and I'm going to take advantage of the laundry room here, I'm surprised my socks havnt walked off on their own yet!

Day Forty-Six - Crawling.

2009-06-16T04:17:00.003+01:00

Another early start saw me back on the road at 8:30 this morning. The weather was surprisingly good, with only a slight headwind.

The first part of the day was to a place called Sugar City, where I'd initially thought about stopping tonight. This stretch took me through landscape that seemed even more wide open than before. I think it was because when you look north or south, it was only the curvature of the earth that stopped you from seeing any further.

I stopped in a cafe for lunch having reached Sugar City in good time, where I decided to aim for a town called Fowler, a further 24 miles up the road. I spoke to a guy in this cafe who wanted to show me the 100 year old garage and house outside, which I saw before leaving. The following miles were also fairly uneventful, it had become apparent though that I was entering desert scrubland, the ground at side of the road has now become very dry and sandy.

Ive had to get a room again tonight, there is a storm coming over in the night sometime that I don't fancy being in a tent in. I'll be in Pueblo for the next two nights too, but after that, camping it is.

A brief post today, not a lot has happened today to be honest. I promise some exciting stories west of Pueblo, that's when the fun starts in the Rockies.

Edit - I completely forgot to mention why I called this post 'crawling'. It was in reference to the number of flies/critters that decided to tag along with me by sticking to my legs and clothes as I went past. You'd think I'd have learnt to cycle with my mouth shut by now wouldn't you..

Day Forty-Five - Colorado.

2009-06-15T03:45:00.002+01:00

As has been the story of much of the last week, today has been a day like any other on the flats.

I very much enjoyed my lie-in this morning until what felt like 7:30, even though it was 6:30. However, it meant that I set out an hour later than I would have usually, which may have had something to do with how the wind had picked up. This put me in a bad mood and I made
relatively slow progress to a place called Seridan Lake. I'd looked forward to stopping for a drink here, but apparently they're shut on Sunday. I stopped for a bit outside anyway, before continuing on.

I met two cyclists going in the opposite direction who looked very keen. They were doing my route in reverse, and were glad to tell me about how hard the Rockies are. I've decided that eastbound cyclists have conspired to say such things to westbounders, and I feel I should do the same if they ask about the Appalacians or Ozarks. I looked at my maps this evening, and to be honest, the Appalacians look worse on paper. Perhaps it's because the mountains are on such a large scale, but they don't look as steep or as tiring. I think they are just sour because it's their first mountain range and they are relatively new in starting out. Famous last words...

I've had a truly awful day as far as foods concerned, because it seems petrol stations are the only places open around here on a sunday. I've therefore eaten a wide range of microwaved food. Perhaps tomrrow I'll be able to get some REAL fast food. haha

Tomorrow I have a choice of places to stay, and where that is depends on the weather, and to whether I camp or not. Today was the eigth day of severe weather warnings in Colorado, but apparently it's getting better. I can only hope..

Day Forty-Four - Mountain Time.

2009-06-14T01:38:00.002+01:00

I'd love to write something super interesting about today, but it was probably about as routine as my days get.

- I woke up at 6:30 again.
- Got on the road at 8:30.
- Cycled down the '96', a road that I today realised I've been on since the beginning of this map, and will be until I reach Pueblo, possibly even further.
- Arrived in Tribune at 10:30 local time, having crossed the time zone line about 20 miles prior.

That's pretty much it. My actual riding time was really short because I caught a slight tailwind, luckily which blew until I arrived. The place I am staying at luckily has an 'honour system', where you can take a room key, and then pay later on.

So that's my day. I've also decided that I'm going to camp more, just because today I entertained the idea of having money when I come home, rather than spending it all here. However, weather is playing an important factor at the moment, with frequent storms at night, tonight being no exception. After that, camping.

Day Forty-Three - Time Trials.

2009-06-13T03:35:00.002+01:00

This morning was another grim start, but like yesterday, procrastination prevailed and by 9:15 or so the sun was shining. I stopped by a petrol station for an energy drink perk-me-up. I'm not too sure why or how, but I cycled super fast today. Perhaps I had a slight tailwind, and the fact that it was fairly flat. Without exaggerating, my average speed was about 21mph.

After an hour and forty minutes or so, I was 30something miles down, and I stopped for a short break. In this time, things changed. It was a combination of the wind changing direction, me becoming complacent in my days progress, and that my legs were crying out at me for going so fast. The second part of the day as a result was slower, but Ibwas still going 17-18mph. A further hour and twenty, and I'd arrived at Scott City, my end point for today. I could have gone further, but I am finishing at the same place tomorrow regardless, so it didn't matter too much.

I found where I was staying, so I went to eat and kill some time. An hour and a half later, still not ready. It wasn't until 5:15 before I got into my room. A bit of a waste of a day, but nevermind. Not a lot else to today other than meeting two cyclists who were going from Pueblo, Colorado to the East coast.

I'm not 100% sure where I'm going tomorrow, but it's in GMT-7 = mountain time! I'm going to try to stay on central time though, so I can get up an hour earlier in the morning without much effort. I'm not sure though, I do fancy a lie in!

Day Forty-Two - Trans-Am Home Straight.

2009-06-12T03:32:00.002+01:00

I woke up early again today, with the intention of setting out early. However, it was bucketing down with rain and I didn't much feel like getting wet. I sat around and had a leisurely breakfast, while chatting to the first cyclists I'd see today. They were doing my trip in reverse, only they were doing it supported. They told me stories about what to expect of the Rockies, and quite frankly didn't make me feel great about them. Apparently I need to be really clues up on the weather, as it can change in 20 minutes for the worse.

I got on my way at around 9:30, and did the first 10 without much trouble. The next 20 were into the wind, which was not a lot of fun at all. I was on the bottom of my handlebars for most of the time, which is good for aerodynamics but not for my not-yet-strong-enough neck. I stopped at a place called Rush Centre for a much needed lunch. The place I went to had a menu with four choices - 1/4lb burger, 1/4lb cheeseburger, 1/2lb burger, 1/2lb cheeseburger, all with fries. I went for option 4, and even with two drinks the bill came to $6.

On the next stretch, I met three more cyclists, one who was riding on his own, and two other guys that was desperately trying to catch the first guy up. The rest of the day was uneventful other than me changing onto my last transam map, before I move onto the Western Express. I cruised at 20mph to Ness City, and am now at the Derrick Inn. This place looks a bit dodgy from the outside, it doesn't look like a normal hotel. I now realise this is because the building is inside out, and all of the doors are inside. Imagine a shopping mall, with bedrooms instead of shops. There is also a pool in the middle, but I didn't fancy using it because it's like being on stage, everyone can look out their windows at you.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Scott City, the last night I will spend in Central Time, before moving to Mountain Time, GMT-7. The day after that, I'll cross into Colorado and start warming up for the Rockies.

On a side note, there is a hiking/skiing shop in Pueblo, CO. Will my quest for a buff finally come to an end?!

Day Forty-One - 70 Mile Sprint.

2009-06-11T02:46:00.000+01:00

After writing my last blog post, I got turfed out of the library before my photos had finished uploading, and I found out that unless you upload them all, none of them went, so I've got that all to do again. I left the library, and went for a slow ride round town to explore. I pretty much stumbled upon a space museum down the far end of the road I was staying on. Apparently it's the second largest collection of space stuff other than the Smithsonian. I have no idea what that means, but the fact they had a massive rocket outside and a jet fighter hanging inside the lobby justified the $9 entry. It was a pretty impressive place, the highlight being the actual Apollo XIII at the end. That was amazing.

After all this excitement, I went back to the church where I was staying and got an earlyish night.

This morning was an early start, and I got on the road by 8:30, after another tour of town finding somewhere that was open. The weather was miserable, there was a really fine rain that wasn't cold, but soaks you. The first 10 miles or so were out to Nickerson, the last civilisation before my end point. After a further 8 or so, I reached 95th Avenue, which was the road that went straight to Larned, where I am now. It was divided into three sections of 15, 15 and 20 miles (in my head, I found it easier to divide it up.) There isn't a lot to tell about this, since the road was dead straight and it was fields the whole way on either side. A school bus driver did stop and give me two mini chocolate bars when I was stopped at an intersection before starting the 20 mile stretch, which was very welcome.

Oh I did pass 2000 miles on my computer today too. woohoo!

With about 2 miles to go to Larned, it started raining again, just enough to get me wet before arriving. It was about 1:45 at this point. I basically sat and relaxed in my
room until early evening, where I went out to search for the Chinese restaurant, involving walking half a mile in the wrong direction before realising.

So tomorrow I'm heading to Ness City, which is on my next and last map on the Trans-America trail, before heading onto the Western Express. There is no elevation profile on this map either, but they do openly admit that there are hills in parts. I don't understand why they they don't just put it on...

Day Forty - Part Rest Day.

2009-06-09T22:58:00.003+01:00

As I write this, I am in a public library uploading photos. They amount to just less than 1GB so far, and it says I've got 4 hours or so remaining. I wonder if it'll be faster once all these people clear off.

I deliberately didn't set my alarm for this morning, mostly because I knew I wasn't going to be going that far and it wouldn't be taking me that long. I also had a ridiculously wide bed, making it even harder to persuade my legs for me to get up. I did at around 8, and got going around 10, which felt weird knowing that I'd been getting up at that time before.

I was expecting to go about 30something miles today, but it turned into about 46 by the time I'd found where I was staying.

The main part of the riding today was along the same road for 22 miles, with about 14 miles from my hotel up through Newton and further north to said road. I couldn't decide which was the wind was blowing, it seemed to be breezy from every direction. It didn't stop me from pretty much blitzing the miles, and I arrived at the turn off towards Hutchinson after not much more than hour. The only hold ups I had down this stretch was a car accident (where I think someone had missed the bridge all together) and the road surface. I'm no expert in road works, but I think if they're planning on relaying it, they score the previous layer all up. They'd done all this to long sections of the road, so my bike was vibrating fairly violently at times.

I briefly spoke to a cyclist who was doing some supported ride across the State, I wasn't sure if he was racing or he just didn't want to hang around for very long. I turned onto the road into Newton, which was fairly busy with very little shoulder. I don't mind cars so much, it's the juggernauts that refuse to slow down because it'll take so long to re-accelerate the other side of me. I was only on this stretch for 6 miles, before turning onto 17th Avenue and the same sort of business district that I've gotten used to. There were plenty of places to stay up there, but instead I ploughed onwards for what seemed like ages (Hutchinson is a big place) to Main Street. After going the wrong way down it, I eventually found the bike shop, where I bought a bike lock, a new Livestrong band to wear while I find some way to sterilise the festering one I've worn this far, and got the key for the cyclist hotel at a local church.

The young guy in the shop gave me some really ropey directions, and just as I thought I was lost, he'd pedaled the route I'd come and caught up to show me where it was. I let myself in, and went for a shower. I was expecting this place to be a bit like an apartment in the back of a church, instead it's like a village hall with a bed on the stage, and a kitchen and bathroom out in a different room. I think they're airbeds too, they're ridiculously bouncy.

I didn't see any point in hanging around at there, I didn't get any WiFi and the TV only tunes to one channel. I got back on my bike (something that I found quite tricky without any bags on it, it's wobbly) and went in search of food. After that, I came straight to the library to try and put some photos online, but it's taking so long that I'm not sure I'll be able to do them all at once. I'll eventually get round to putting some photos into my blog posts, one day.

As for tonight, I'll probably go to choose from the vast selection of fast food restaurants I have nearly on my doorstep, though I think I'll have to ride to them because they aren't THAT close. Remember I said before about some places that were built AFTER the invention of the car? the outskirts of this place definitely falls into that category.

Day Thirty-Nine - Halfway.

2009-06-09T03:12:00.002+01:00

Today marks the halfway mark in my trip, I passed the 1892 mile mark.

I wound my alarm back to 6:25 this morning, meaning I was on the road at 8:10. I think it was just coiciedence that this was 10 minutes before I left yesterday.

Overnight, a thunderstorm had gone through, resulting in the wind switching from south to north. It wasn't THAT bad for the first 18 miles west, but the following 17 straight into the wind was killer. I met two more cyclists right before I started this leg, Anne-Marie and John I think their names were. I chatted to them for a bit, and found out that they had just graduated from 'college', and were cycling from St. Louis to Seatle.

I left them in my wake and headed off into the wind. After 17 long miles, I arrived in Cassoday. I stopped at a service station where I planned to get a snack and a drink. Instead I opted for the three course all you can eat buffet, of which the main course was... pizza. For $7 I couldn't really complain, and got a good helping of salad.

Just as I was thinking of leaving, the two cyclists I'd met earlier came in and sat down with me. It'd have been rude to leave straight away, so I sat with them for a bit before I went. The next leg of the day was a 38 mile slog, with nothing in between. I didn't mind that too much, the fact that you just have to keep going forwards and there wasn't a lot around stopped me from getting distracted and stopping. The wind had died down considerably too which helped.

So now I'm in a town called Newton. Tomorrow, I'm planning on going only about 30 something miles to Hutchinson, where I'm going to replace my bike lock and stay in my first Church Hostel of the trip. The day after that I've got a 58 mile stretch with very little, so I'll have to stock up on supplies.

Day Thirty-Eight - Eureka.

2009-06-08T01:29:00.002+01:00

Today I am in the small town of Eureka.

I set my alarm for 6:35 this morning, ambitious I know. I did get up then though, and managed to get on the road by 8:20. I was disappointed that the diner over the road wasn't open, and I had to go to McDonalds for breakfast. There are funny types at McDonalds early in the morning, they remind me of the guys that go to the pub at 9 in the morning. From what I heard, the only conversation topic was trying to describe to the other person where abouts they lived.

I quite liked being on the road at that time, the roads were especially quiet as it was a Sunday. I managed to hammer through the first few miles fairly fast, there was definitely a wind, but it wasn't very strong. I found myself going north quite a bit today too, again enabling me to have a relatively easy ride.

I didn't go past a huge amount other than fields today, there were a couple of towns though. The first was a town called Coyville, which had very little there. There was a sign with a little synopsis about the town, and how it was the first town in the county. Fair enough, I thought. The sign then proceded to list a massive list of other things that they were first to do, things that would happen all the time in any town if it were there. Things like 'the first marriage in the county', 'first hanging in the county', 'first school in the county', you get the idea. It seems a little unnecessary to me.

I proceded up to Toronto, where I planned on stopping in a cafe for a drink. The waitress reeled off a special they had going, and before I knew it I was eating a roast dinner. I'd got talking to a table just over from me about my trip, a group of four who arrived on two motorcycles. They weren't the biker type that you often see with long beards and black clothes, they were just people on bikes. Anyway, they took a massive interest in everything I was doing on my trip and in life. My bill came while I was playing on my phone (I've bought a game called Flight Control for 59p which is HIDEOUSLY addictive), so I didn't pay it straight away. About 7 or 8 minutes later, a waitress came over and took my bill away, telling me that the table I was talking to had paid for it for me. I was shocked, and wasn't really sure what to do other than say thankyou a lot. They told me that they'd probably see me when I was on the road as we were going the same way.

20 minutes passed, and the group caught up with me right outside the cafe. My bike lock had completely siezed up, and I couldn't do a thing to pull it apart. After I tried lubricating it all, a guy walked past who asked if I was having trouble, and I explained the situation. To cut a story short, he went into a house to find a guy who had some wire cutters, and cut my bike free.

After all this, I got on my way and polished off the last 19 miles in not too much time. The southerly wind had picked up by this point, and was blowing fairly hard. It wasn't so bad going directly west, but I travelled roughly west south west for a bit which was straight into the wind.

I arrived in Eureka at about 2:45, and after looking at what very little Main Street had to offer, booked into a motel. They've been quite cheap since being in Kansas. I didn't do very much else today, other than clean my salty clothes and go out to get pizza. I hate having the same thing twice in a row, but I got a truckload of coupons yesterday that were burning a hole in my pocket.

I'm heading to Newton tomorrow, a route that involves 17 miles of riding north, a 38 mile stint of not a lot, and I should pass my halfway mileage right at the end of the day. It won't be my actual halfway because of all extra miles I've done going off route and round towns, but it's as best as I can do. My actual halfway will be sometime the day after (or even the day after, I'm having a short day the day after tomorrow).

oh ps. my ahilles is better today having adjusted my saddle, let's hope it stays that way.

Day Thirty-Seven - First Month II.

2009-06-07T02:40:00.002+01:00

Today marks one month of me leaving the comfort of Yorktown, VA, and hitting the road. It seems like YEARS ago.

I tried a new strategy this morning, set my alarm backwards. It worked, in that I woke up earlier than I have been before. I just need to learn to not press 'snooze' now... I got all my stuff together, and went down for breakfast at 8am. When I saw how the lobby was absolutely heaving, I remembered how the person at the front desk mentioned a baseball thing going on. The result of this was that there was very little food left. I managed to salvage a couple of English muffins and went back to my room. I eventually got on the road at around 9:30, I had to go to Walmart to get a couple of things.

The first 15 miles were to the edge of the map, which were pretty simple. There was a wind coming up from the south (I think that makes it a southernly wind..?) which made riding along fairly turbulent at times. Because I'm heading further west, almost all of the roads were built after the invention of the car, which makes the road network like a massive grid. I found myself travelling north for a little bit, which felt completely bizarre (not because of the direction, because of the wind). It was like cycling in a vaccume, no matter how much you pedalled you wouldn't feel any wind on your face. I got up to 30mph on flat ground with the wind behind me, before deciding that was foolish and slowed down.

The most part of my day was spent heading west though, which ended up being not too bad considering. As I said, there was a sidewind from the south, blowing you from side to side, but not affecting your forward progress too much. There were times that it shifted to slightly more of a headwind, but that wasn't too often. ALSO, Kansas isn't as flat as they'd have you believe, I was definitely going gradually uphill at times. They may not have put an elevation profile on this map, but they aren't fooling anyone. I know a hill when I see one. My right achilles was painful again earlier, I think it was because my saddle may be too high. I dropped it down a bit, and I think that's done the trick.

I'm currently in a town called Chanute, a smallish 'main street' town with all the usual. I went for a walk earlier up to a lake over the road, but despite suncream I was beginning to burn, and so came back to my room, leaving again only for pizza.

Tomorrow I'm heading to either Eureka or Cassoday, though probably not Cassoday because it'll throw me out of sync with towns, in that i'll need a short day to compensate.

Day Thirty-Six - Rest Day Three.

2009-06-06T02:43:00.002+01:00

Today was to be the third rest day of my trip. I got up fairly early this morning, partly because I'd had a restless nights sleep, partly because I wanted to get into the routine of getting up early, and partly because they only offer breakfast between 6-9 here.

I woke up with a headahe this morning, which made me feel uninclined to do very much. At 12 or so, I went out on my courtesy bike in search of the other bike shop in Pittsburg. I found it, but it looked pretty shut up, and when I went to open the door, a dog
came bounding out and up at the door. I decided that this shop wasn't going to stock buffs, and so I left. I then cycled down to the shopping 'mall', again with no luck. It was about 1:25 at this point, and I happened to walk past a cinema, and 'The Hangover' was showing at 1:30. In a moment of spontinaity, I thought 'why not?', and paid my $5. Good film, I recommend you see it whenever it comes out in the UK.

After that, I went back to the bike shop to wait for over an hour while my bike was being finished. I then realised after waiting that I didn't have my credit card, and had to go back to my hotel get it. I eventually got my bike back, and went back to the hotel for a bit. By the way, the chain I now have cost $56. I should check to see if it's gold plated, because that seems extortionate..

I ate tonight at Applebees, a restaurant I'd seen advertised loads but never been to. It was very good, and I'll definitely be going back. I still havn't been to taco bell yet, I should eat there at some point in case I'm missing out on something amazing.

Not sure where I'm going tomorrow, I havn't do much as looked at my map. The guy in the bike shop spoke of a town about 55 miles away, which sounds perfect.

Day Thirty-Five - Onto the Flats.

2009-06-05T04:08:00.002+01:00

I managed to wake up BEFORE my alarm clock today, though only by a few minutes. I got my stuff together, and set off from the Hunting Lodge at around 9:30.

I had to take a detour after my first 10 miles, I had been told that a bridge is being repaired on one of the roads and so is out of use. I probably had to cycle an extra mile overall. It was on this detour that the land had nicely ironed out, though there were a few hills still. I suppose you could compare it to my ironing. Despite this, I was able to make good speed to Golden City.

On reccomendation, I stopped to eat at the Pie Shop. It wasn't immediately obvious that if was where it was. I went inside, and it was absolutely heaving. I while looking for a seat, the guy behind the counter asked if I wanted pie. Of course I wanted pie, and I opted for butterscotch, which was very nice. I didn't realise when choosing my pie that it wasn't exclusively a pie restaurant, and so ended up ordering a chicken sandwich and a baked potato afterwards. I also signed the cyclist log book, a book that contained a few tips on stuff to look out for further up.

I eventually left here, and set off to Pittsburg, my stopping point. I had to take the same road all the way there, and it was as straight as a poker. This was my first experience of really straight roads (other than my very first day, but it wasn't as long and I didn't know any different), and I have to say I quite liked it, though it might have been the novelty of flat ground. It was kind of surreal in a way, everything you go past is spaced out, it was like cycling in slow motion.

I finished the 30 miles to Pittsburg in not much more than 2 hours. I found my hotel, and went to book my bike in for a service. At first, I thought that the service wasn't really necessary, and my bike was running fine. The guys in the bike shop had difference in opinion. My rear brake blocks were shot to pieces, my chain is worn out, which in turn has worn out my cassette and my front wheel needs truing slightly. All of this, and a tune-up comes to the grand total of $195. It seems like an awful lot, I'll look at the recipt when I go back tomorrow. I do have a bike to use while all this is happening, but I can barely ride it. To be honest, I could barely ride my bike without my kit on it, it was VERY twitchy and wobbly. The bike I have now is like a monster truck, a tiny frame and massive wheels.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm doing. My right achilles is quite sore all of a sudden, which is a bit annoying. I'll catch up on emails and the like in the morning, I'm exhausted at the moment.

Day Thirty-Four - Big Ozarks III.

2009-06-04T03:55:00.002+01:00

Today was hopefully my last full day of hills before I get to the Rockies.

I was back to my lethargic starts today, but I managed to fit in a phonecall to home and a restaurant breakfast before 9:45. I set off into the mist, the weather today was like a hangover of the storm from last night, really poor visibility and rain like a mist.

I met a cyclist after about 17 miles who was headed eastbound. We chatted for a bit, and found out that he is pretty much the opposite to my routine, he likes to be on the road by FOUR in the morning so he can be done by 11. I couldn't imagine getting up that early to ride... I'm no stranger to having my photo taken by other cyclists for their blogs, but this time I featured in a short video interview, which caught me by surprise.

The rest of my day was largely uneventful, other than having to carry my bike over some roadworks, and spraying my first dog with my dog spray. That was HUGELY satisfying, it was as though I'd flipped a switch and it stopped. I think I need to be more trigger happy with that stuff..

I entertained the idea of going a further 20something miles to golden city further than my planned stop, but I was tiring when I rolled up to Everton and so stopped here. I'm at a hunting lodge, which is basically an out house (albeit a big one). I had the option of camping for $10, or staying inside for $20, with a stocked(ish) fridge. I have done very little this evening other than attempting to make nachos with the limited resources there are here. I'm hugely grateful for having somewhere inside to stay though.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Pittsburg, just over the state border into Kansas, and a map change. I'm not sure whether I should get my bike serviced or not. It hasn't had one since starting, but everything seems to be working find, so I don't know. Any tips appreciated.

Day Thirty-Three - Big Ozarks II.

2009-06-04T03:07:00.003+01:00

This post refers to Tuesday 2nd June.

Today was another day spent in the Ozarks. It wasn't as up and down as yesterday, but there were definite steep hills that didn't let me forget where I was.

I woke up feeling better today, though I left the air conditioner on on full overnight, making my room about -5 by the time 7:15 came.

I set off around 9:30, where the sun wasn't too strong. Yesterday was blisteringly hot, and my now sunburnt arms made me have to revert back to long sleeves. I was somehow cooler this was, I don't know if it was actually cooler or it was the shirt.

Anyway, today was fairly similar to yesterday, only I went past more farms than anything else. My old friend the headwind was back, but it wasn't so strong that it had a major impact on my speed. Navigation was dead simple again, I followed the same road for about 55 miles. I arrived in Marshfield at about 4:15, but spent 45 minutes looking for somewhere to stay that wasn't ridiculously expensive. I'm now at the 'Plaza Motel', which sounds a lot more grand than it is, but it's adequate all the same.

I went for Mexican food tonight, and had a kind of faster platter l that was again, fairly average.

I then went to a place called 'DQ' or 'Dairy Queen', where I thought I could get WiFi, but it turned out I had to walk into the middle of the car park. I went out with my marshmallow milkshake I'd bought so I could sit in DQ, and began to check my emails. I could hear a storm in the distance, but didn't anticipate how fast it would come overhead, so I didn't get a chance to do everything I wanted. I'll be camping tomorrow, which will probably be wet. A flash flood warning just came up on tv, telling me to switch to channel 4 immediately.

Day Thirty-Two - First Month.

2009-06-02T03:18:00.002+01:00

Today marks one month of being in the States, though not one month of riding yet, courtesy of Delta.

I made sure I got an early night last night in order to wake up early and fresh, instead I woke up late and groggy. I went for an omlette in a local diner, and going at 9:45ish, a time that needs to be improved upon. I was prepared for a hilly day, and a hilly day I got.

My day would be divided up into three sections, 27 miles, 20 miles and 23 miles. The first two parts were both on the same road, and the third part was on what the road became when it changed number. Needless to say, navigation wasn't an issue.

The first part of the day was tough, and by the time I reached the first stop I was ready to stop at the next town. However, I met a cyclist who was headed eastbound from San Francisco. He told me about how good Utah and Nevada were, about how hot it was in the daytime and about the 130 mile day you have to do at one point. I'm not really sure what to make of that, but I'm confident that 70-80 miles in the hills is comparable to a much further flatland distance. He also left a month ago tomorrow (2nd may), which is pretty good going. I learnt of how there wasn't a place to stop in Summersville (contrarary to my map), but the last stretch to Houston was relatively flat.

I stopped for a milkshake at a dairy bar (my new favourite things), and set off onto the second leg of my journey, just as hilly as the first. There wasn't a lot to say about this to be honest. The scenery was nice to look at, with trees lining both sides of the road, and the occasional river, or view over the mountains. The novelty wore off after a while though.

I stopped in Summersville, my second town, where indeed there was nowhere to stay. I wasn't too fussed about that, the town wasn't great anyway. I stopped for some more liquids, and set off for the last 23 miles. This part flew by compared to the rest of the day, mostly because I was averaging faster than 11mph. It was flatter than before, which was good. I arrived into Houston at around 5:30, quite late for me. I went up to the motel that was recommended to me. I booked in, and went out for Chinese soon after. This meal was disappointing to be honest, the food wasn't great. This didn't stop me eating my bodyweight, and I retired back to my room.

I have no idea where I'm heading tomorrow, I havn't looked at my map yet. I know I'm camping soon, I can't remember when. If it's tomorrow, I doubt I'll be able to update this until the day after.

Day Thirty-One - Proper Ozarks.

2009-06-01T02:46:00.002+01:00

I began my day with a lethargic start as always. I got all my stuff together, and was ready to go by 8:45, after I had eaten. I went to go and get my included continental breakfast. I was shocked and appalled to find that there was nothing but bread and cereal left. Thinking on my feet, I decided to head over to White Castle, where I used a coupon to eat for about $3.

I got underway, and opted for a sneaky shortcut that bypassed the town of Bismark. I'm not sure how many miles this saved me, but it's got to be in the region of 5-8 miles. Don't get me wrong, I'm not racing to finish, but I didn't think I would gain a huge amount culturally from that extra bit. It was down this bypass that a tortoise met it's match in a similar way to how the dog met it's match back in Virginia. It differed this time though, in that this tortoise started chasing after me yesterday. Everything about that ordeal was awful, you could see it happening in slow motion. A car went to overtake me and ran it over, making a really loud crunch, after which I pretty much had to swerve to dodge flying debris.

After all of this excitement, the rest of my day was fairly ordinary. The scenery made a nice change, it was all woodland for as far as I could see either side of the road. After my relatively flat start, the hills bit back and I spent the rest of my milage going over what is described as the 'self-propelled rollercoaster'.

I arrived in Ellington at around 4pm, with temperatures still above 80 degrees. After eating in a diner over the road, I retired to bed to watch some of the MTV Movie Awards and write this up. I'm going to get an early night tonight, I'm going 70 miles or so to Denver (not the big Denver). It's only 8 miles further than I went today, but by setting out early I can take my time on the bigger hills.

Day Thirty - Back To The Grind.

2009-05-31T01:52:00.007+01:00

Waking up this morning felt like a Monday morning. I knew it was raining without needing to look out of my window. I got going at around 9:45, which is later than I would have liked, but I was only going about 50 miles today so I didn't mind too much.

The first 10 or so miles saw me go back into the wide open space that I was in the day before yesterday. I also crossed the Mississippi River, signifying my transition from Illinois to Missouri. I don't know if you know/have noticed, but cars in each state have the state they are from written on them. The reason I mention this is because when I go from one state to another, ALL the number plates change. I've gone perhaps 1/4 of a mile out of Illinois to Missiouri along the exact same piece of road, and there is not one Illinois plate in sight. You'd think there would be some sort of crossover..

Anyhow. While I was pondering this, I was pedalling through the vast planes that I'd been in, in the direction of a hill. Once I reached there, it was pretty much non stop up and downs all day long until I reached Farmington (Not Farringdon as I keep calling it) at around 4pm. After going round one way systems and whatnot, I found the obligatory commercial district that I've come to know and love. I booked into a room to seek shelter from the forcast storms (they definitely aren't here, I'm going to write to the weather channel to get my money back, the weather is beautiful), and went accross to a sports store in search of a Buff. Alas, they too had no idea what they were, they seemed far more clued up on guns and crossbows in there. I've decided I'm going to have to try a bike shop to buy one, which is in a few days time I think.

I'm now writing this in a restaurant called Cici's Pizza, where I would be kicking myself for coming to if it weren't for the fact that it's all you can eat for $7. (I managed 15 slices if you're interested, before getting bored of getting up and so retired.). It was a choice of coming here, or a place called 'Steaks and Shakes' that I wish I had opted for, I like both steaks AND shakes, or my trusted friend 'White Castle', but I didn't feel like burgers. I hope by the end of this trip I am sick of junk food, so I can go on with my life living healthily, and not be tempted by it. We will see how that goes.

Anyway, I'm off either for a dip in the pool, or to watch round 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It's so ridiculous. In the UK you would have one final, where all of the hype is around that one game. Here, they play best of 7, with games on every other day. The overall NBA finals start on thursday, and there might a winner by mid june sometime. hahaha.

Day Twenty-Nine - Rest Day Two.

2009-05-30T03:59:00.002+01:00

I tried to have a lay-in as best I could this morning, but 8:30 was the best I could manage. I went for my complimentary continental breakfast, and proceeded to do very little for the best part of the day. I did walk into town for about an hour, where I picked up a set of iPod speakers for $19 from a mini-Walmart (which was about the size of a normal Sainsburys), and a Popeye sticker from the Popeye shop.

It was here that I spoke to a Trans-America cyclist called Dave, who was doing the trip on a more racing-style bike with a trailer. He wasn't staying for long in Chester, so I left him and went back to the hotel. On arrival, I saw a tandem recumbant bicycle parked out the front. I don't know who it belongs to, but it's an amazing looking thing. I wonder if they are more comfortable/ efficient, they look it.

Tonight I went back to the buffet place I went to last night, where I stocked up on some more foliage. It cost me about $4 more tonight than it did last night, I think there was a whole load of fish on offer tonight, but I didn't have any of that.

I'll hopefully be able to write up tomorrow night, I'm staying in motels until I get out of this thunder-storm complex that seems to be plaguing this area. If I had a dollar for everyone that's said to me 'I bet you've got rained on quote a bit..' I'd be rich.

Day Twenty-Eight - Headwind.

2009-05-29T03:44:00.002+01:00

I woke up feeling lethargic this morning, partly becauase I'm just generally tired at the moment, and partly because I'd set myself up for a rest day today. I decided that where I was wasn't somewhere I wanted to spend my day off, which meant going 40 miles down the road to Chester, a town right on the border between Illinois and Missiouri, which also happens to be the home of Popeye the Sailor.

I had the choice of taking two routes today. They were both the same distance, but one was hilly and the other was flat. There was no real choice for me, and I went for the flat route. I set off at around 9:30, and after a few miles I found myself on vast open farmland, that had a strong wind coming from the West. As you can imagine, a fully loaded bike isn't the most streamlined of things, and I struggled to cycle faster than 12mph. what's more, the blowing of the wind past my ears began to give me an earache, but I managed to get back to the main road before it became too bad. The main road into Chester was a nightmare, I was being overtaken by coal trucks every couple of minutes, with drivers giving varying degrees of space.

I eventually arrived in Chester, where I met another westbound cyclist, who was cycling the trans-am route via St. Louis. I chatted to him for a bit, including asking him if he'd come past a hotel, to which he replied no. I then spent the next 45 minutes and 7 miles looking for said hotel, where I eventually found out that he had in fact gone past it. I booked in to a Best Western, where I THINK the person only charged me for one night, I'm not sure.

Since then, I've basically done not a lot other than handwash all my clothes. It wasn't until afterwards that I realised they have a laundry room here, so I may go and tumble dry all that tomorrow.

I went to eat at a Smorgasbord tonight, basically a buffet. I managed to get a plateful of salad though, which made a pleasant change.

I will reply to all emails and stuff tomorrow, I've got all day to do it. :)

Day Twenty-Seven - Little Ozarks.

2009-05-28T04:41:00.015+01:00

Today was a lethargic start, and set off at around 9:30, after checking a couple of emails back at the bank.

I knew today was going to be tough, as the terrain was much like yesterday, roller-coaster up and downs. Other than this fact, the cycling wasn't hugely exciting. After spending more time in Illinois, I've decided it's very much like Western Kentucky. I did spend time in a state park this afternoon, which made for some very nice scenery.

I arrived in Murphysboro after 6 hours of riding, and eventually found my motel. There have been storms forcast to hit in the afternoon, which I managed to miss by about 15 minutes.

I was planning on spending two nights in Murphysboro, but I've decided I'm going to go 40 miles down the road to Chester, the hometown of Popeye, because my shower doesn't work properly, the wireless is tempremental and there isn't a heater, which I need to dry my clothes. I have the choice of staying in a Best Western, with a pool + hot tub etc. for $80 (or $71 if I can blag an AAA membership), or a cheap bog standard motel. I'll decide if I can spare the money tomorrow when I arrive.

Sorry for this post being so short, I'm really tired as I write this. I'll probably edit in some more tomorrow afternoon, but I need to get some rest for now.

Day Twenty-Six - Hello Illinois.

2009-05-28T04:03:00.004+01:00

This post refers to Tuesday 26th May.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning to my sweltering room. I'd left the heating on all night to try and dry my stuff from yesterday, which nearly worked, but some things were still damp. I got going by 8:45 after eating, and rode the last 12 miles of Kentuky to the Ohio River, where I had to get the ferry accross to Illinois. The transition between states this time was a lot more of an occasion. As I got on the ferry, I imagined the Crystal Maze tune, I felt a bit like I was on there.

Anyway, within 30 seconds of touching dry land again, I was chased up a hill by a little mutt of a dog, past smoking barrels. Not great first impressions, and they got worse when I found myself on the side of roller-coaster hills. I spent the next 30 or so miles going up and down over steep 'rolling hill's. I'd heard that they didn't put switchbacks in the roads to save money on concrete. I was pondering this today, and decided it was probably more likely that the hills aren't high enough for them. They only apan a few hundred feet maximum, so they wouldn't really serve much use other than taking up space.

I arrived in Golconda at around midday, and found the motel I was staying at. There was no one there, and I had to call a number to get in. It was then that I had no signal, and I couldn't get any in town. After thinking of what to do (including looking for a payphone, there wasn't one), I decided to look for some WiFi. I found some outside a bank, and contacted home, to try and contact the motel from there. After that failed, I went back to wait for the german cyclists, who had reserved a room. It was 2pm at this point, and I had to wait until 2:45 to be let in.

I relaxed until about 6:45, where I walked back into 'town' for food. The only place I found was a diner, where I got an 8oz steak for $6. Unfortunately, it came between burger buns, but of course I ate it anyway.

Tomorrow Im headed to Murphysboro, where I will be exhausted if today was anything to go by.

Day Twenty-Five - Subway, Sunshine & Storm Clouds.

2009-05-26T01:45:00.002+01:00

I find myself writing this from Subway in a town called Marion, about 12 miles from the Kentucky / Illinois border. I've managed to guess the WiFi password,which is pretty handy seeing as my Motel doesn't have any.

I set my alarm for 7:20 this morning, but it felt like 8:20 because of the time difference. I felt a lot better because of this, and I was in a good mood knowing that this was my last full day in Kentucky. I got out my room at about 8:45, and went to this place called White Castle. This is a fast food restaurant that I saw a film about when I was waiting in my hotel room in Yorktown for my bike to arrive. I don't know if it was a promotional film, or it was made by chance or what, but it was about these two guys that had a craving for White Castle, and their adventure in getting to it on a Friday night. This theme was evident when I went inside, they had all sorts of stuff about satisfying your craving 24 hours a day. I think it's appealing to the American 'Doner Kebab' market. The interesting thing about there though was that they sold small hamburgers in large quantity, rather than large individual ones. I ended up having three, though I only ordered two. He made too many or something, I don't know. For $15.99, you could buy a briefcase of 30 hamburgers. I'd love to give that one a go one day...

After all this, I started on my way. I got distracted after cycling half a mile though having spotted a shopping mall. I've been wanting to buy this thing called a buff, something that is very difficult to describe what it is. It's essentially a piece of headwear that I can wear under my helmet to keep the sun off my head/neck, but also I can wash it, something I can't do with my helmet. I failed miserably at describing what they were to the various shop workers, and concluded that they don't sell them if they don't know what they are. One guy was interested in my trip though, and gave me some energy chewy things. :)

At last, I got on my way, and took a road that would join up with my route further up (If you remember, I had to come off my route to find somewhere to stay). This worked out well in my favour, and I didn't go much further than I would have had I started where I was meant to. These first 20 miles or so were easy, and I did those in not a huge amount longer than an hour. I stopped at a service station to check my map, when all of a sudden the heavens opened. I was under the shelter so didn't get wet. I put my rain gear on nonetheless, by which time the rain had stopped.

Fast forward another 20 miles, and I stopped at a diner for a rest and an Oreo milkshake. By the time I came out of there, it was starting to rain slightly, but I didn't think it would be much more than that. I was wrong though, and after a mile of drizzle it absolutely poured for about 10 minutes. This was enough to soak me through, and so by the time it stopped I was forced to remove any non-essential clothing. By non-essential, I mean my 'over clothes', a t-shirt and shorts I wear on top of my cycling shorts. I don't like wearing just Lycra on it's own, mainly because there is no hiding the fact that it makes you look ridiculous, but I had no choice. After a further 10 minutes, the sun came out on full blast, and I was forced to stop to put on sun cream and get my sunglasses out.

Time went on, and to cut a long story short it absolutely poured again. The rain this time was so bad I couldn't see where I was going and I sought shelter under a tree at the side of the road. A flash of lightning as bright as a camera flash and a deafening clap of thunder made me decide that under a tree wasn't the best place to be, and I pedalled back to a house about a quarter of a mile away where I'd seen children playing in the rain. When the parents saw me at the end of their drive, they ushered me into their garage, where I waited for the storm to blow over. It did, and after declining the offer of food and drink, I set back off.

The last part of my ride was uneventful, it was fairly hilly though, something I didn't really appreciate after spending all day on relative flats. It was made worse by the discovery that my waterproof overshoes aren't in fact waterproof (partly because I've worn a couple if holes in them, and partly because it all got in through the top. Either way, my feet were damp and horrible. I finally arrived at Marion, and found the motel I planned to dry out at after a bit of hunting. I saw a tandem bicycle parked up there, meaning I've caught up some more people in front of me. I didn't get their names, but they are two Germans (different to the other two Germans that I'd met), who are having to stay in Hotels the whole way accross after finding their trailer was too heavy to pull along. I chatted to them for a bit (the owner of the motel had a note on the door of the office saying 'back in the afternoon', they had been waiting since 2pm), and after about 10 minutes the owner arrived. I tried to explain sods law to them, but they didn't get it.

Tomorrow, I'm heading for a town that is only about or so 30 miles away. This is partly because I need a rest, and instead of taking a day off, I can have a half day, and partly because Murphysboro (where my map changes) is too far to go in one, and there isn't another proper town west of where I'm going. I'm yet to decide whether to get up early and get there fast to relax in the afternoon, or take it easy in the morning and get there later in the afternoon. I expect I'll do the former so I can speak to home without it being too late, a problem exacerbated (good word!) by the time difference. I'll also reply to emails and messages then, I havnt forgotten, I just havnt found the time. This mammoth post has taken nearly an hour and a half on my iPhone keyboard, and I think I've got my moneys worth on the free refills. :)

Day Twenty-Four - Damp.

2009-05-25T03:18:00.002+01:00

I managed to stay fairly dry last night, having put my tent under the porch area of the store. I got up and packed all my things away, had a nice cooked breakfast, and got going by 9:30.

The first milestone of the day around after around 30 minutes of cycling, and that was crossing into the next county/time zone. This was a huge anticlimax, there wasn't even a sign that said I had entered a new county. The only reason I knew I'd gone accross was because there was a thing thanking me for driving safely through the previous county.

It was along here that I met a cyclist who was headed eastbound, having started in Kansas. He lives in Sacrememto, CA, somewhere where I've been looking forward to visiting. He's also rode the Western Express, which is what the route is called between San Francisco and Pueblo, CO. He gave me some tips for that part of the ride, and gave me his name and address if I needed somewhere to stay when in Sacrememto, something that I hugely appreciate.

The next milestone of the day was my computer going over 1000 miles. I stopped to take photos, and carried on my way.

The cycling today was fairly uneventful, a lot of ups and downs. The weather was the main factor at play today, there was a slight cool breeze, but it was ridiculously warm and humid, with plenty of showers thrown in for good measure. This meant that it was fine on the (relative) flats and downhills, but uphills were tough.

Dogs were again very little trouble, I'm going to stop mentioning that fact now to be honest, I think now I'm in the West of Kentucky the situation is unlikely to get worse. I did have one dog that looked as though it was going to give a good chase, but it just ran along the side of the road chasing it's tail. Made me laugh.

I had planned to camp again tonight at a place callled Utica. I had two choices of places to camp, either at a Fire Station, or an Elementary School. Today is Memorial day in the US, which is like rememberance Sunday only it's a 4 day weekend. This meant that the Fire Station was deserted, and the School had closed for the summer holidays, and I couldn't see anyone there either. My only option was to come 9 miles off route to Owensboro to get a room. I didn't mind too much because I could dry out properly and sleep well, it's just a pain coming off route. I can take a road to cut the corner off tomorrow morning, so hopefully it shouldn't make a huge difference.

Where I'm staying is a basically FULL of restarants, almost all of which are fast food. I opted for the Chinese buffet, because I can eat my body weight in protien & carbohydrates for less than $10.

I'd love to tell you where I'm going tomorrow, but k havn't looked at the map yet. I think it was called Marion, which is just inside the border between Kentucky & Illinois. I should hopefully have internet though, The weather is forcast to be bad again tomorrow.

Day Twenty-Three - A Day in the Country.

2009-05-25T02:09:00.003+01:00

This post refers to Saturday 23rd May.

Today started out being a bit of a drag, but turned into a pretty good one as it went on.

I got on the road from Bardstown at about 9:30 after having a boring continental breakfast. It had the potential to be a good breakfast, there was a waffle making machine, but a biker (motorcyclist) got in there before me.

Anyhow. I got on my way and went round this roundabout i'd found. It didn't work properly and everyone was giving way in the wrong places, I suppose I should admire the American effort for trying.

That was probably the most eventful thing that happened in the morning, other than the fact that I took a slight shortcut that cut out about 4 miles. It wasn't really a shortcut, the route tried to dodge a road that really didn't need to be dodged, it was deserted.

I got to a town called Sonora at about 2:30, where the weather started looking as though it was on the turn. I don't know the early signs of a tornado, but it got cooler and darker in the space of 20 minutes, and a hole in the clouds opened up above my head. I waited inside for this to blow over, which it did after about 30 minutes. It was still looking fairly grim, but the scary hole in the sky had gone and that was good enough for me.

I arrived at my camp spot 20 miles and an hour and a half later, which is in the middle of absolutely nowhere (though apparently there is a walmart 10 minutes away, but it'd be hard not to be I suppose). I'm also about 10 miles from the time zone line between Eastern and Central time.

When I arrived at the store where I had to check in, I was expecting to be pointed to where to put my tent, and left to it. Instead, I was greeted with a Popsicle and ushered inside, where I met the family that owned the store. It was set up so that it was mostly shelves of things (like a normal shop), but one end had a seating area and kitchen. Before long, I'd had a shower and was being cooked an evening meal. While the meal was being made, I went over with the father to pick some vegetables (yes, I am eating vegetables here!), and also shifted some hay bails from point A to point B. We went in a pickup truck that could be driven on both sides (he is a postman, so needs to be on the right of the car), which was so bizarre for me because I felt like I was meant to be driving, only the steering wheel was turning on it's own!

After all this, we ate, and went down to a creek, where I was told about how it used to be a popular place around the 1900's, but nothing from then is there anymore. We went back, and I got into my bed at about 10:30, absolutely exhausted. All this cycling lark is tiring, and although I don't need another day off just yet, If I reach 1/3 of the distance in less than 1/3 of my time, I probably will take another day off.

Day Twenty-Two - Business as Usual.

2009-05-23T00:42:00.001+01:00

Today was a fairly routine day as far as this trip is concerned.

I woke up with a headache, which put me in an unmotivated mood straight away. I knew I wasn't going to be going that far, so I went back to sleep for a bit. I eventually got on the road at about 9:45. The hills didn't seem to be as yesterday, though I don't know if that was just me being used to it. Anyhow, the riding was fairly uneventful, with the scenery consisting of lots and lots of fields. The sun was hot today, and the greenery made it fairly humid.

Again, dogs weren't too much trouble today, I did have a couple of chases but nothing too big of a deal. Of all creatures, birds and bees seemed to be the theme of today. Birds, because they jump out at you when you go past, and bees, because they seem to all fly into my face at about a million miles an hour.

Another thing that I noticed from today were these little streets that are in the middle of nowhere (I say the middle of nowhere, they tend to be within 15 miles of towns). I've seen them about before, but today I noticed them because there were a few. They're difficult to describe why they look weird, I think its because they look so normal. I know that sounds stupid, but you have to imagine how I see it. You've been cycling through sparse countryside all day, and the only buildings you go past are barns, or old country houses on the road you are going along. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a perfectly formed street of detached houses, back gardens and polished cars on the drive. It's as if the street has been lifted straight out of a city suburb somewhere. I hope you know the kind of thing I mean, I've explained it as best I can. If I see any more, I'll get a picture.

I'm starting to not mind this part of Kentucky so much, the surroundings are a bit nicer than the eastside. I'm currently in Bardstown, which from what I've seen is a nice place. It's special for two reasons - firstly the first full leg amputation in the US took place at a hospital just down the road, and secondly because there is a roundabout (of sorts, it just about works, only you give way to the right at one point...)

Tomorrow, I'm aiming to head to somewhere in the middle of nowhere to camp. It's about 7 or so miles outside of a small town called Hudson, and an even lesser distance to the time-zone line between eastern time and central time. I'm also about to pass the Quarter mark tomorrow, which is roughly 950 miles. :)

I doubt I'll get to update this tomorrow, perhaps not the next day either. After tomorrow, I'll head to Utica to camp again, and then Marion, which is just short of the border to Illinois. That's the plan anyway!

Day Twenty-One - Deceptive Hills.

2009-05-22T02:27:00.002+01:00

I find myself writing this from Harrodsburg, roughly 45 miles from Berea, though my total for the day is closer to 55.

I got out of by room at about 9:00 this morning, and went to have breakfast. Somehow, out of all of the restaurants that were around where I was staying, only one was open before 10am, which happened to be a proper restaurant/diner rather than fast food. I didn't have much choice but to go here, so I didn't actually get on the road until about 10:15.

I planned to stay in a town called Springfield, which is between 60-70 miles from Berea. However, I missed a left turn after 18 miles that I was meant to take, and took the following left. I was blissfully unaware that I was going the wrong way, until a guy on a tractor coming the opposite direction stopped me. He told me in typical country drawl how he'd stopped three cyclists that week going down the same road. In my defense, my cycle computer distance said that that was the right turning, I've come to realise that the mileages on my maps aren't always 100% right. Anyway, I had to go backwards about 5 miles until I got to the 'black top', then take a right.. Apparently black top refers to the road surface, which to me are all black.. I eventually found the turning, with the signpost bent flat to the floor. I later learnt there had been a tornado, which may explain why everyone was having their roof tiled today.

Dogs weren't too much of a problem today, I went the first 25 miles without hearing so much as a bark. I had a couple of encounters later on, but nothing too bad. The biggest challege I faced today were the hills. They aren't the long, drawn out mountains I've been going over recently, they are short, steep ups. They don't last for very long, but there are lots and lots of them, one after the other. You know the Windows default wallpaper with the hills? it's very similar to that.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Bardstown I think, which will be of similar distance to today (or what today would have been had I not gone wrong. I realise now that it's not flat enough yet to make up any more of the time I lost in waiting for my bike, I think I'll leave that until I reach proper flats.

Day Twenty - Day Off.

2009-05-21T02:29:00.002+01:00

Today was spent doing very little, which I definitey needed to do.

I had a nice continental breakfast in bed (though I had to go and fetch it myself, but no big deal), and went for a walk around Berea. There isn't an awful lot in here besides a historic College, and about every fast food place going about 1 mile out of town, where I am. Oh, and a Walmart.

I enjoyed another Chinese buffet this evening, and I'm now watching an NBA playoff game (Orlando Magic vs. Cleveland Caveliers in case you're interested), which makes me want to go see an NBA game live. It looks so fun!

Tomorrow I'm either headed for Harrodsburg (45 miles away), or Bardstown (about 90 miles away). I'll have to see how it goes before I decide, 90 miles seems like a really long way right now..

I also go round a town called Springfield tomorrow, but in order to stay there I'd have to go a fair bit off my route to get to it. It's midway between Harrodsburg and Bardstown though, so it's possible. :)

Day Nineteen - Two in One.

2009-05-20T02:08:00.002+01:00

This is most likely going to be a brief post, because I'm absolutely exhausted.

I left my motel in Hazard in good time, and went to try and find somewhere to eat. I got on my way just before 9, on my way to Booneville, about 45 miles away. The ride to here was pretty easy, it was a bit up and down, but nothing too phasing.

It was on this stretch that I met my first East-Bounder. He had come from South California, and left on April 4th. This means that he'd been on the road for about a month and a half up until that point, so I can half-predict that it shouldn't take me any longer than that for me to get to Calofornia.

I got to Booneville at around 1pm, and bought lunch from a service station. I was feeling good at this point, and it seemed a bit of a waste of time to sit around waiting until tomorrow, especially seeing as there wasn't much at all there. So, against peoples advice, I ploughed onwards to Berea. It was about 50 miles away, which I was fairly sure was reachable without too much trouble.

Well, I did make it, eventually, but I'm absolutely shattered. A combination of being in the sun all day, dehydration and overall fatigue made the last 20 or 30 miles a struggle. The land fluctuated a lot more than the map let on too, which didn't help. 106 miles was too far to go in one day I've decided, though I'm glad now I'm here in Berea, there are far more restaurants and stuff.

The dog situation was awful today. Not a lot to say really, but I must have got chased on no less than 20-30 times today. The whole thing is such a pain. Some of them can really shift too, one particularly large one chased me for half a mile at 25mph... I do have spray, but my first reaction is to get away rather than fight it, so I've not used it yet.. I hope that the situation gets better the further west of the state I go.

I went round the corner to another Oriental buffet, which coincedentally I had the last time I finished a map. Where I'm staying at the moment is like a service city, on the junction of an Interstate. I'm planning on having a rest day tomorrow, so perhaps Ill have a look around downtown after I do all my washing and stuff. Also, Ill reply to all my emails tomorrow, I'm too tired to do all that now.

Until next time...

Day Eighteen - Part Rest Day.

2009-05-19T02:16:00.002+01:00

After my marathon of a day yesterday, I was not up for going far today. I therefore decided that instead of taking a full rest day, I'd cycle for a couple of hours to the next town, and take the afternoon off.

With that in mind, I cycled the grand total of 24 miles to the town of Hazard.

I arrived here at about 12:30 or so, after looking around the first Wallmart I've come accross since being here. I have to say, they are HUGE. Bigger than any Asda I've been in. I had no need to buy anything, but still.

I booked a room at a motel, and spent pretty much all day with my feet up. I've had a bath too, and am feeling a lot better than I did this time yesterday.

Tomorrow, I'm headed for either Booneville or Berea. Berea will be a LONG ride away, and I'm basically deciding whether to take two days or one over it. I'm keen to do it in one, but if my legs are shot to pieces by Booneville, I'll stop.

I'll me you know where I end up tomorrow night, hopefully there will be internet in either place, but to be honest, it's a lottery. If I end up in Booneville, I'll try and get to a library.

Day Seventeen - First State.

2009-05-18T23:35:00.003+01:00

This post refers to Sunday 17th May.

I woke up early this morning, I knew I was going to have a long day ahead. After a service station breakfast, I set off. The first stint was predominantly uphill. I went over the state border after about 12 miles or so, and the transition wasn't immediately obvious. After a few more miles, it was. There wasn't a bricked house in sight, everyone lived in 'trailers', or static caravans. They almost all had too much property than they could fit inside too, so the land surrounding their plot was filled with all their stuff. I was quite overwhelmed & intimidated by all this at first, I felt as though I had left my comfort zone of Virginia.

I later had good reason to be intimidated. Kentucky is FULL of dogs. Thankfully, a fair few are tied up / restrained somehow, but a lot weren't. This means that you have to be on your guard the whole time, in case you have to outrun them, or try and stop them somehow. I've found that by shouting 'NO!' at them works fairly well.

I've decided that I don't much care for Kentucky, nor the Appalacians anymore, so I'm planning on hot-foooting the next bit to Illinois, where I should be by this time next week. Seriously, the dogs get you down, it's just added stress when you're exhausted, or going slowely up a steep hill.

(I realise lots of people reading this will be revising towards exams of some kind, and so complaining about being chased by dogs seems somewhat trivial. I'm not really a dog person at the best of times, and it's just a nuisance I could do without.)

Anyway, I'm in a Motel outside of Hindman. I will be changing onto a new map again in the next few days, which is exciting. My maps will go even faster when I'm on the flats, which is also exciting. I'm not wishing my trip away by any means, but I like to see progress. I've also got a new time zone soon, which is CRAZY.

I'm going to bed now, I put 91 miles on the clock today, though 3 of them were spent cycling back up the side of a mountain I'd just flown down, thinking I'd missed a turn when I hadn't. ugh...

Day Sixteen - Nearing the Border.

2009-05-18T19:49:00.002+01:00

This post refers to Saturday 16th May.

After I made my last blog post, I went for a walk around Damascus to see everything that was going on. There were basically two lines of stalls, with a lot of them either selling tie-dye clothing or hammocks. One table caught my eye because they were selling stickers about bicycles, so naturally $5 for 5 was an offer too good to pass up upon. My bike now features slogans such as 'Bikes not Bombs', and 'I <3 my bike'. I regret it a bit now, but at least it'll remind me of Damascus. Perhaps I'll pick some more up along the way.

::Edit:: Since writing this, I've peeled a couple off. Since I can't be 100% sure of the political stance of the towns I'll be going through, I thought it'd be best to not advertise any 'anti-war' slogans.

Anyway, I managed to find some wireless in a subway in town (even this sleepy town has a subway), and so ate in there. I thought about staying on in Damascus for a bit, but I decided that this wasn't really my scene, since they were all hikers in their little groups, so I went to my tent and got an early night.

I woke up at about 11, 12, 2, 4 and 6:30, when someone cycled past with a horn shouting 'wake up everyone, these mountains aren't getting any closer!!'. As I resented being woken up again, he had a point. I collected my things together, went for some blueberry pancakes and hit the road at about 9am. Today was going to be tough, I had two steep hills that went up over 3000ft. My day started out with the same old countryside that I've become used to, fairly same old same old. I then had an almost deja vu of yesterday afternoon, I had another similar downhill section that was almost as good as the day before.

The first big hill was killer. It was about 4 miles long, but when you're struggling to go faster than about 5mph, 4 miles is a LONG way. Coming down the far side was satisfying (if not slightly steep for my liking), but I knew I had more uphill to come.

If you're a cyclist (or perhaps if you're not), you'll know that dogs chase you when you ride past. As I cycled past a house on my way up to my second big hill of the day, I had two unrestrained dogs that saw me coming. The road I was on was relatively busy compared to what I had been on that morning, which meant that chasing me wouldnt end well for one of the dogs. It bolted straight out in front of a truck / trailer that was overtaking me, and got hit square on. The driver who hit it didn't stop, and I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news to the owner, it could have landed me in a whole load of hassle, so I too continued.

I made it to the top of the second hill after about 45 miles, and pretty much coasted to Council. I looked at the map, and it was another 18 miles to Haysi, which I decided to head for after much umming and ahhing. The road was mainly downhill, but not so downhill that you could freewheel. I arrived in Haysi at about 4:30 - 5pm ( I can't really remember) and was gutted to find that where I was staying was at the top of ANOTHER hill. I had no choice but to stay there, as the next town was unreachable, and I wasn't going to go back to Council. I finally got to the top, paid my $31 and got my room. I was disappointed to find I had no phone signal or room phone. I almost always send a message to let them know I've arrived okay, and I felt bad I hadn't done this. I had a shower and walked back into town to see if I could get any signal. I found some wifi, sent a message out and went for some fairly disappointing enchiladas at a Mexican restaurant. I was slightly bizarre for there to be a Mexican restaurant in the middle if absolutely nowhere, but it was run by real mexicans so I let it go.

I'm not 100% sure where I'll be headed tomorrow, but it'll definitely be in Kentucky. :)

Day Fifteen - Change of Scene.

2009-05-15T21:52:00.002+01:00

Okay, I apologise if the following is a little brief; I have a 15 minute window in which to make this post (I will explain in a bit).

I woke up, etc etc and got onto the road at about 9:45 again, I need to stop being so lazy and start getting up / heading off earlier... Anyhow, I knew that today was going to involve a lot of uphill, so in the same way that I prepared myself for the day when I was cycling the blue-ridge parkway, I decided that it didn't matter how long it would take me to do the miles, and I would take my time on the hills. I've now decided that I hate short and steep hills, but I would quite happily go uphill at 8 or 9mph indefinitely. The countryside was the same as it had been for the past two or three days, lots of farms and country houses. There were a lot of run-down looking houses and farms today, some that look as though they hadn't been occupied in years. All of the animals were looking a bit thin, I guess this part of Virginia is poorer than where I've been before.

There was an absolutely god-awful smell about this morning too, and I'm 100% sure it wasn't me. I'm quite used to holding my breath whilst going past roadkill, but this was kind of like a manure-type spin-off. Whatever it was, it was awful.

Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, everything about where I was changed. I went into a deep forest area, which was gradually climbing uphill. As I said before, I didn't mind inclines like this, so I quite enjoyed this part.

I went upwards for what seemed like ages, but the coming down from the top was amazing. The last 15 miles or so were almost all downhill, and the roads were the stuff that Top Gear would dream of. The only thing I can compare it to would be the roads on The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift, when they're racing up in the mountains. The roads were smooth (though there were parts that had been really awfully tarmac'd, and wouldn't be uncommon on something like Rogue Traders), the air was fresh from the river that was running along side, and everything was good about the rod that I was going along.

I'd better skip forward to where I am now, as my time is running low. The town that I am in now is called Damascus (no, not in Syria), and I stumbled upon like a massive hikers convention thing. There are people with long hair, massive beards and more tye-dye than I've ever seen in one place before. The people all seem really friendly, and in the first hour of me being here, I've inspired someone to go to the A.C.A. to do a trip similar to mine. Cool.

So I'm currently in an 'internet cafe', where I get 15 minutes of internet time to do this.. Though I've been more like 20 by this point. I can justify it though, I've had a lot to talk about today. It also makes a welcome change to type on a real keyboard, my iPhone keyboard drives me insane when I'm writing on this.

Tomorrow I'm headed to a place called 'Council', which is another fairly long day away. I'm coming to the tail end of the aAppalacians though (I THINK), and I hope that by this time next week I'll be on flat ground, where I can start racking up the miles.

Note for the Parents - I get awful signal here, I'll try and send a text later on if I can find somewhere where I can get some bars. :)

Day Fourteen - 'Rolling' Hills.

2009-05-15T02:06:00.003+01:00

I woke up this morning at about 7:30, after a much needed good nights sleep. I had some cereal and a bagel, and got on my way at about 9:45. The weather today was very humid, but not too hot.

My planned day today was slightly shorter than usual, mainly because the weather forcast for tonight is thunder and rain, which I could do without. I'm therefore staying in a $35 motel in Wytheville, about 45 miles from Radford.

My day was very similar to yesterday, fairly up and down without any flat. A lot of the countryside in this part of Virginia is farmland, which doesn't make for the most exciting riding, or interesting stories about my riding.

I was overtaken by a girl (no jokes please, she had no panniers) who was cycling down the east coast, finshing up in Damascus, 50 miles from where I am now. Apparently there is some kind of festival-fair type thing there this weekend, geared towards the Appalacian Trail. I don't think I can afford a rest day yet to go to to the whole of the Saturday, but ill definitely go down tomorrow night. I was hoping to stay in a hostel at a church there, but it's fairly likely that it'll be full, so camping it is. I'll just have to put my
tent somewhere where Ill actually get some sleep.

A couple of people were asking me how I found out about the Lee's where I stayed last night. I got their address from the Cookie Lady, and they said that they were more than happy to have cyclists stay. For any cyclists that are reading this and are interested, email me and I'll give you their address + number, it's not really my place to post it on the Internet.

Anyway. I arrived in Wytheville at about 3pm, booked into my motel, spoke to home, then went for a walk. This town is like a lot of American towns I've been to so far, there is one 'main street' where everything is, and not a lot else.

I'm sorry these posts from the last couple of days have been a bit boring, once I get past these hills in a week (or less with any luck), Ill be moving a lot faster and will be going further, so hopefully that will be better. Tomorrow I have the option of going about a mile off the route to go to Tennessee (sp?). If I'm making good time, I might well just do it, just so I can say I've been there. :)

I don't know if I'll be able to post tomorrow. I'm headed to Damascus tomorrow as I said, and then a place called 'Council' the night after. After then, Im not too sure, but it'll be in Kentucky. :) I'll try my best to update you on my progress asap.

Day Thirteen - Map Change.

2009-05-14T02:39:00.002+01:00

Today is an important milestone as far as this trip is concerned because I went from map 12 to map 11 (they go down to 2 or 3 I think because of the route I'm going). A sure sign of progress. :)

I woke up this morning at around 7:30, and went down to the buffet for breakfast. It wasn't as grand as I had pictured it, the only hot item on offer were eggs, which I didn't fancy. I stocked up on cereal and mini-bagel type things, and was on my way by 9:30. I'd love to tell an interesting story about my cycling today, but to be honest, it was pretty straightforward. I was on the same country road for about 40 miles, and it was very up and down. I've since caught a glimpse of my new map for this week or so, and the elevation profile much resembles a heart rate monitor, so I won't complain for now.

I arrived in Christiansburg at about 2pm, and went to a grocery store for a spot of lunch. By stroke of luck, I found some WiFi floating about, so I got a chance to reply to some fan mail, go on Facebook, all the important stuff. I then phoned Sarah Lee of the Lee family, where I was hoping to stay tonight. They were glad to have me, so I headed down to Radford to find their house. After a fair bit of searching, I found the house, but it was empty. I decided to go up the road to watch some little league baseball, which reminded me of under 11/14 hockey - the parents were more competetive than the people who were playing. I watched about 4 innings, and headed back to the house. They were in this time, and I was that they were buying me dinner at a Mongolian Buffet. I couldn't believe my luck, and went upstairs to shower and get ready. The buffet was massive, about 5 times (at least) of a buffet at a curry house here, and had all of the 'usual' oriental type dishes. After eating my fair share, we came back, and I now find myself here writing this. I'm probably going to head to Wytheville or Rural Retreat, depending on these forcast scattered thunderstorms.. I probably will camp though, I can dry myself out at Damascus the day after. :)

Day Twelve - Downhill.

2009-05-13T03:26:00.003+01:00

Today was a walk in the park as far as my days have gone on this trip, with not all that to report. I had a fairly good nights sleep for the first time in a while, but I couldn't motivate myself to get going once I was awake. I managed to get myself going at about 9:45, and to my delight the first 20 miles were predominantly downhill. I managed to get to the town of Buchanan after about 2 and a half hours, where I stopped to have some leftover pizza I'd strapped to the back of my bike (in a box of course).

I wanted to stay in Troutville this evening, but when I arrived, I realised that the nearest campsite was way back off the route, back where I came from, and I was NOT going to cycle up that big hill I rolled in on. I decided to move on to the next town about 6 miles away, which is kind of a town based upon services, it's right on an I81 intersection. I'm now in a hotel that probably should cost $59.95, if the pool and hot tub had water in them.

Tonight, I ate at a diner over the road, though I have no idea what the place was called. I had a kind of flat burger, which was all of the components of a pizza, but you eat it with a knife and fork. Genius.

I'm sorry if this post is a little brief and not very informative, today was about as uneventful as they've been. Tomorrow, I head to Christiansburg which is about 50 miles away, where my first map goes onto my second one. hurrah!

Hopefully Ill be able to update this tomorrow as Christiansburg is a big place, but really, who knows.

Day Eleven - Uphill Battle.

2009-05-13T02:44:00.003+01:00

This post refers to Sunday 11th May.

I'm going to be an American freight train driver when I'm older, that way they won't wake me up throughout the night. I woke up at about 6:45, and made a tin of spaghetti + meatballs. About 5 minutes before I planned to set off, the heavens opened. I decided that that the rain wasn't going to subside, so I departed. The first 6 or so miles were tough, the roads were very steep up to the blue ridge parkway. While going along here, there were quite a few hills that were long, but not all that steep. Most of the morning involved me sitting in my lowest gear and plodding up hills that finished at over 3200 feet high. I didn't mind the hills all that much if the truth be known, the rushing downhill on the far side tended to be a bit hairy with wet brakes, and the blowing of cold air on wet hands was FREEZING. Anyway, I finished the 20something miles of the BRP in about 3 and a half hours.

Coming down from the ridgeway, I went through a town called Vesuvius, which was where I had first planned to stay. However, It was only about 30 miles into the day, there was NOTHING around there, and to be honest, I wasn't up for camping in the rain. I decide to keep on going to Lexington, on the basis that it was fairly downhill from there, and I could get a motel room to dry out all my stuff. I walked into town to buy some groceries, and ordered dominoes to the room.

Im starting to feel physically tired, and my legs are beginning to feel weary, and I think a rest day would be very welcome in the coming week. I am about on schedule, but I need to go a bit further each day so I can afford to have a rest day.

Day Ten - The Cookie Lady.

2009-05-12T23:51:00.003+01:00

Really sorry about the lack of updates recently, it's hard to find Internet access.. especially seeing as I have an 11 digit phone number, and places like Starbucks and McDonalds require you to register with a 10 digit one, or be an AT&T customer. So basically I rely upon Librarys and Motel wireless access to do all this stuff..

Also, thankyou everyone for your messages and emails, I'll try and reply to them all tonight after I catch up on blog posts.

Anyway, the following refers to Sunday 10th May.

I woke up this morning after a fairly disturbed night due to my acquired roomates snoring, I slept in until about 7:30 or so, got all my stuff together and went out in search of food. Before I left for the US, Taco Bell was reccommended to me, and i've wanted to try one on a number of occassions, but never have. This time was to be no different, it was shut. After a wrap thing from burger king (it was that or McDonalds.. not that much is open early on a Sunday in my defence..), I set off. I'd heard that today was meant to be particularly tough, so I went with the mindset that I had all day to do the distance and speed east hugely important. I find myself getting frustrated if I get stuck going 6mph up the side of a hill, and so by knowing they're coming helps you plan out timescales and distances better. During my cycling, I spoke to quite a few people who were interested in where I was going etc. I also found time to eat some frozen yoghurt from a fruit farm, which was both tasty and hugely satisfying. I had about 6 miles to go until the Cookie Ladys house from here, and my pace didn't go above 10mph. The last two miles were ridiculously steep, if I had stopped moving the I'd have to have pushed. I met Bert again at the top of the hill having set off before me this morning. We walked over the bridge to the cookie ladys house. I should explain who this is for those those who don't know - she is a lady who has lived on the trans-am trail since it's creation 30 years ago, and basically gives water, food and shelter to cyclists passing through. We sat and heard her stories of all the people she's met (she reckons over 12000 cyclists over the years). She then took our polaroids which will eventually go on the Internet, and gave us the keys to the bike house.

This house is where I am now, and it's basically a shrine to the Cookie Lady and the Trans-Am. People leave something here as they pass through, be it a jersey, a postcard, a note, a newspaper cutting, you name it, it's here. There is also a load of tinned food which we can help ourselves to, and sofas to sleep on. I also found out that the outdoor shower is a cold one, which was a necessary but somewhat unpleasant experience. You would be surprised at how cold water can stay in a hosepipe when it's hot outside...

I decided that this would be an ideal time for me to do all my laundry, and I did just that.. ALL my laundry. I got it all hung out to dry by 4pm, where it was still hot, but definitely cooling. I've since brought it all inside, time will tell if I get it all dry in time, or I start tomorrow with wet socks.

Tonight I've eaten a tin of macaroni + chili, which was tasty, but burnt my mouth. I'm going to get an early night tonight, tomorrow may well be even harder than today. Not 100% where I'm going, either a really small place called Vesuvius, or onto Lexington, about 18 miles further.

Day Nine - The Calm Before the Storm.

2009-05-10T02:01:00.003+01:00

I'll pick up from when I last left you, yesterday afternoon.

After going to the library, I went back to the firestation to set up my tent for the first time since being here. I found the Dutch person who I mentioned, he'd already set up his tent and was playing with a stove. I went into the fire station to have a shower, then set up my tent. I went over to a local diner for some grilled chicken, and returned to find two more cyclists had joined camp. They were in their mid-twentys I'd guess, and came from Florida. They are going at an overall slower pace than I am, so I'm not sure if i'll run into them later on.

Anyway. My first night under canvas was disturbed. Partly because my gamble on 50% chance of rain didn't pay off, and partly because of the freight trains that ran through Mineral at night. Now I understand that freight trains need to exist, and I understand that they probably need to run through the night. Fine. But I draw the line at them honking their horns (which are LOUD) repeatedly at both two and four o'clock in the morning, when there are perfectly functioning level crossings. That annoyed me.

I got up at about 6:30, and went over to the store to get some food. I bummed around for a bit, and finally got going at 8:45. It was pretty obvious that Today was going to be harder, the weather was ridiculously humid and the fact that I'm approaching the Appalachans meant there were lots of ups and downs.

I arrived in Charlottesville at about 3:30 or so, having caught up with the group in front of me. I now know that this is a led
tour by the Adventure Cycling Assosiation no less (the people that made my maps and the route). I was having a small problem with my bike, which (with the help of the tour leader and an english cyclist, determined that my lower bracket ( I keep forgetting what it's called) was loose. I managed to go to a bike shop that was open until 8pm, so I got that fixed easily, for the costly price of $5.

Tonight, I went out for Chinese with Bert the dutch guy, who I am also going halves on a room with at the moment. I like it here in Charlottesville, it's the home of the University of Virginia so the age demographics are the closest they've been to my age since being here. Its quite a big place, and I half wish I had more time to stay and explore. However, I'd like to get a few more miles behind my back before I start all that kind of stuff.

I'm almost 99% sure I won't be able to update this tomorrow, I'm camping at the 'Cookie Lady's' house. She's lived way up in the mountains since the route was built, apparently it's a must see. I'll let you know as soon as I can how it's all going.

Day Eight - Settling into a Routine.

2009-05-08T20:20:00.002+01:00

I woke up several times last night, due to trains going through town. The train itself I could bare, but it honks it's horn the whole way through so that people don't drive over the tracks when it's coming. I didn't like Ashland that much anyway. I officially woke up at 7:15, showered, and got all my stuff together by 8:30 or so. I was watching the weather this morning, apparently the chance of rain = 50% for tonight. The weather has been anything but overcast today, so I'm going to take my chances and camp tonight.

Not a lot to report as far as cycling is concerned today, and although my route was hillier than my map would have you believe, I reached Mineral, my stop over at about 2pm. The weather was really hot today (pushing 30 degrees C). Actually, I tell a lie. I encountered a group of about 8-12 (they were fairly spread out), who are also cycling the trans-am, though are finishing in Oregon. They are staying at a private property tonight, and I am going faster than they are, so I left them behind.

I seem to have got into the routine of feeling a bit homesick in the morning, and feeling really motevated in the afternoon. I'm sure / I hope that will get better as time goes on.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Charlottesville, which is another short day away. I'd like to go on further, but there is a massive hill / mountain (over 3000ft, what does that make it..?) right after it, and I want to set off first thing in the morning to tackle that.

It's now 3:30pm and I've spent the last hour and a half in this library updating this, checking emails, etc. I am very disappointed to report that facebook is blocked in this library, so updating all that will have to wait. Tonight, I will either go to the Mineral Restaurant (which looks quite run down, but looks can decieve), or I think I saw a takeaway place somewhere here too. I'm camping outsde a volunteer fire service, a dutch cyclist I spoke to earlier said they have showers, but when I went over there they didn't offer them to me. When I go back, I'll see if he's there.

That's all for now folks, I'll hopefully be able to update tomorrow, Charlottesville is fairly large.

Day Seven - The Morning After.

2009-05-08T19:56:00.002+01:00

(This post refers to the Thursdat 7th May)

I had a fairly disturbed night, yet felt pretty refreshed in the morning. The weather was awful last night, TV reports show that there was a tornado somewere at one point. Weather is/will improve as I both travel west, and time goes on. I think I might camp tomorrow night, if the weather forcast doesn't predict storms.

After a breakfast of eggs, burgers and biscuits (muffin type things), I managed to get away at about 9:30. I set off to go to Mechanicsville, where I planned to stay in Richmond. However, I decided that the 8 mile detour wasn't worth it, and so I stuck to my route for about 15 miles or so, ending up in Ashland. My day today was spent going around the edge of Richmond, Which was a bit annoying because I was heading North for a fair amount of time. I arrived here at about 3:45pm, and booked a room in a very cheap ($45) motel, more storms are forcast for tonight. I phoned home, had a shower and went out in search of food. I decided upon a pizzaria, and managed 2/3 of a pizza, the last 1/3 will do for breakfast.

As I write this, my legs feel as though they've done some excersise, but not completely exhausted. I'm hoping to set off earlyish tomorrow, even though I'm not going very far. Charlottesville is about 100 miles away, which is too far for one day (at the moment anyway, my backside can't take that kind of distance quite yet), resulting in two shorter days. Oh well, at least progress is being made, and if I keep on feeling how I do now, I shouldn't need a rest day for a little while yet.

Day Six - Started.

2009-05-08T19:25:00.002+01:00

(Sorry for the lack of updates, this post refers to Wednesday 6th May.)

Today, I am happy to report that I have started cycling! I checked out of my room at about 10:30am, and got a taxi down to where my bike was being rebuilt. Luckily, it was ready for me on arrival. Perhaps it was the prayer my taxi driver said for me before I got out (he took quite an interest in my travels). I cycled up to Old Yorktown, In particular Victory Momument, and set off at 1pm on the dot. (don't ask me where all that time went, because I have no idea either). It took me a while to cover the first mile, as I had to stop for the obligatory 'dip my rear wheel into the Atlantic'. I set off down a road called 'Colonial Parkway', which had a single lane either way, with an overtaking lane in the middle, which made the whole thing more pleasant than cycling on a normal road. I arrived in Williamsburg, which was like being transported backwards 100? 200? 300? 400? years..? I have no idea about American History, but there were people on horse & cart, and women carrying around pales. I wasn't sure if it was a tourist attraction (there were tourists everywhere, but I don't know if it was how they really all live, or if they're just pretending. It was pretty surreal either way.

I for lost around here for quite a while, I didn't realise where I was was the entirity of the place. I eventually found my way, and continued towards Jamestowne (with an 'e' apparently). I stopped for a quick rest here, but regretted it (sort of) afterwards. There were flies EVERYWHERE! It was probably a combination of me smelling, and being close to water. I left here and headed to Charles City, my stopover point. This was my first taste of how straight American roads can be, and straight they are. So straight that you can still see the car ahead of you that overtook you about 10 minutes ago. I was flagging at this point, my saddle was hurting me (that's what you get
for not riding for a while) and my legs were aching. Since I set off at 1pm, I needed to make sure I made it to Charles City before dark, which I did do, though I don't know what time. Before 6 I think. It was just as well too, because as forcast, the heavens opened, rain thunder and lightning throughout the evening and night. I am staying in a B&B, which is essentially a ladys house with a spare room. She was kind enough to make me cheese on toast earlier, which was nice of her. I can't remember where I'm heading tomorrow because I left my map with my bike, but I'll have more than 5 hours to complete my days cycling. I went about 50 miles of my route today, and about 10 miles getting to my start point. I'm suitably tired, and so will be going to sleep now (9:15pm) in order to be up for breakfast at 8:30am, hopefully on the road by 9.

Day Five - Turn of Events.

2009-05-06T02:06:00.002+01:00

I slept in until about 8:45 this morning, and headed back over to Bojangles for Jambalaya (kind of like a Mexican risotto). Having got back to my room, I found out that my bike status had gone from "we don't know where your bag is" to "your bag will be delivered to your hotel in the next 12 hours." Hurrah!

No sooner had I found this out (literally during the same phonecall), I had a knocking at my door. Sure enough, there was my bike, box (nearly) intact. I therefore decided that I'd go down to the bike shop and get it put together as soon as possible, so I can get going. I went down there, and the earliest they can get it done for is tomorrow, so I'm planning to head down at about 11ish and hope it's done, if not I'll pester them so it gets done. If it gets done in good time, I'll try and head as far as Charles City, which is about 40 miles away, if not then I'll only be able to make it as far as Williamsburg, which is only about 10 or so miles. We'll see how it goes. Rain is falling heavily at the moment, thunder is... well present, if it's really really bad then I won't go far.

Not a lot else to report to be honest, Ive just spent my evening trying to make my two front and two rear panniers equal in weight. My room is like a sauna at the moment, I'm trying to dry my clothes out that I put on to wash earlier.

I'll let everyone know how my first afternoon of cycling goes tomorrow evening, Internet access permitting.

Day Four - A Slight Revelation.

2009-05-05T02:46:00.002+01:00

I spent today in a fairly similar way to how I spent yesterday - waiting to hear about my bike. I woke up at around 6:30ish, so apparently I'm not quite over the jetlag yet. I walked about a mile up the road to a diner which I found on Yelp - a really useful iPhone app. I ordered a cheese and bacon omlette (with the obligatory fries), which filled me up for pretty much the whole day.

I came. back to the room for a bit, and spoke to the parents. I had been having trouble contacting Atlanta airport + Delta to try and track down my bike (my room phone likes to call random people instead), and it's proved easier having them do it for me. The upshot of that was that the bike was checked in at Heathrow, but not at Atlanta, so it's suspected that it's been stolen by the baggage handlers. You can read more of that in a comment below. It looks like i'm going to be setting off on friday at the latest, be it on my lost bike, or my new bike that I will have bought.

So after all this, I went for a walk for a couple of hours, during which I saw a tortoise about to get itself run over so I turned him
round. :)

Not a lot else happened today to be honest. I went to a place called Bojangles to eat tonight, where I had a chicken burger and some very tasty chips (again), I can only compare them to the spicy ones you get in Nandos. I also got the most ridiculously large cup. it's MASSIVE.

Anyway, I'm getting tired, and I'll no doubt have another hard day tomorrow. Speak to you all soon!

P.S. - I feel I should add that I'm using my iPhone to write these, and it tends to decide on random words / spellings to throw in every so often.

Day Three - The Waiting Game.

2009-05-04T17:20:00.002+01:00

Okay, so not a lot to report about today. Went to the supermarkt in the morning to get some general stuff, including some much needed vitamin C. I've decided that the best thing to do is pretty much conserve my money and wait by the phone for anyone to call about the bike.

The only news I have is that it definitely boarded the plane at London Heathrow, so i'm pretty sure it's at Atlanta, I'm pretty sure it isn't at Newport News, and if it is, it'll be sent over soonish. Customs at Atlanta were called too, and it would have definitely got through there (so they say) so it's not there. How many different places could it be?!

Day Two - Finding My Feet.

2009-05-03T02:39:00.002+01:00

I woke up at about 6am this morning feeling a bit better about things. I watched teleshopping for a bit, before heading out to McDonalds for breakfast. I should probably mention that my Hotel is on an intersection, and there are fast-food places on every corner, sink had no choice really.. Anyway. I had a McSkittle Burrito (I think) which was basically steak + other stuff wrapped up like a fajita.

After more mooching around, I got a taxi down to the 'mall', only, some of the shops were the size of a Lidl. Outside of this mega-mall were more massive shops, which were a bit more than a stones throw apart. I feel like I've walked quite a long way today, even though Ive forked out about $45 on taxis. Seriously, you need a car to get ANYWHERE. Having said that, I sat in the front of this taxi that had chrome rims, and we listened to loud rap music. At first I was anxious because it didnt have a meter, but it was cheaper overall anyway. Big up Derrin. :)

My meal tonight consisted if a chicken manderin salad with honey Dijon dressing, which looked and sounded nice, but it was pretty grim tbh. Take it from me, oranges don't belong in salad.

Not a lot else to report to be honest, other than there is still no news on my bike, having waited until the time they suggested to call back. I'm not really sure what to do know, I'm going to call at 11:30ish (if I can stay up that long), as that was the time my flight was yesterday. everything crossed it's on there.

will report back tomorrow with progress.

First Day'n'Nite

2009-05-02T22:43:00.002+01:00

I find myself writing this at 22:10 EST, which is 03:10 BST. I am EXHAUSTED. We took off to go to Newport News about 25 minutes ago, on a tiny little Canadair jet. I'm in row 14 of 14, with a jet engine in my left ear. Making general small talk to my fellow passengers around me - they love my accent, I love theirs, conversation goes along those lines.

Leaving this morning was harder than I thought. It really hit home when I went through passport control on my own. I kept thinking what the person who cut my hair said to me yesterday: "what doesnt kill you will make you stronger". I'm finding a lot of truth in that.

Flight to Atlanta was okay, 9 and a half hours of flyingplus an hour of taxiing in total (no exageration). Spoke to a guy who was flying to Colerado to be a rafting instructor for 6 months, having just spent the last 6 leading dives in Thailand. What a life... So I watched A whole host of films, including Quantum of Solace in Spanish - I didn't realise you could change / I had changed the language on my remote thing.. ah well.

After disembarking I spent an hour at immigration queuing. A flight just got in from Honduras before us, and they took AGES. I finally got through, and found my bag on the carousel. Fine. Went round to the oversize. bag collection, bike was nowhere to be seen. 45 minutes of panicing later, and I was assured by a guy at the airport that it would be sent to me tomorrow. This has put me a day behind already, but I've just got to stay optimistic about it, and hope for the best.. The guy who checked my boarding pass said that it might be on this plane, and I should wait for it just in case. As it stands, I don't know. I was really up for an alcoholic beverage earlier, found the perfect bar too, but of course, I'm not old enough. guh..

Hope all is well at home. :)

::Edit:: this didn't upload last night, got it working now.

Introductions.

2009-04-12T14:20:00.005+01:00

My name is Greg, and I am 19 years old. In two and a half weeks time, I will be setting off on a 3784 mile cycle across the USA, from Yorktown on the East coast to San Fransicso on the West.

Why cycle accross America?

Back in April 2008, I started to think about how I would spend the year between me finishing College and starting University. Initially, I thought about doing a round-the-world backpacking trip like so many others my age, but I quite liked the idea of doing some kind of a challenge.

It was around this time that Mark Beaumont completed his unsupported circumnavigation of the world on a bicycle. I really liked the idea of a bike trip, but there was no way that I was going to try and replicate that (at least not yet...). I wanted to do something that was both shorter in distance and involved going through more developed countries, i.e. something I'd be able to do. A watered down version, if you will.

After much Googling on and around the subject, I came across this blog by someone called Andy, who was midway in cycling coast to coast of the USA at the time. After following the updates for about a week, I decided to contact him about it.

Fast forward to August, and having met up with Andy, Chris (another prospective cyclist) and Dominic (a cyclist who had just arrived back from his own Trans-Am cycle about two weeks prior), I was decided that this was what I wanted to do with my year off. All of my questions and reservations were answered, and I was reassured about how it was something that I would be able to do solo.

In order for me to actually go on this trip, I needed a job. The word recession was on everyones lips by this time, and I spent weeks applying to anything I could. Finally, I managed to get signed on to a local job agency, who found me temporary jobs I could work at for short periods of time. In this time, I found myself working in a laundry at a local boarding school, a roofing paintshop, and inspecting pharmacuticals amongst other jobs in a packaging factory. I'd be lying if I said that this work wasn't ridiculously boring, but in hindsight, it wasn't stressful in the least and it's allowed me to be in the position I am now.

Christmas and my birthday came and went, and I slowly accumulated everything I needed, including my bike at around Febuary time. I went to my local bike shop, who specialise in building bikes to order. I was looking for a bike that would do the job, yet not break the bank. To cut a long story short, I bought a 'pimped out' Bronx RX 1000 T, basically a Dawes Galaxy in disguise. Carbon fibre front forks, aero handlebars and Schwalbe Marathon tyres are amongst things I've added to it. When I get a good one, I'll add a picture.

I opted for panniers rather than a trailer to carry my kit, a trailer just seemed like a whole load more to go wrong while I'm there, not to mention trying to get it there in the first place. On the recommendation of Andy, I forked out £350 for Arkel GT-54's and T-28's (in royal blue :) ), which I must say I am dead chuffed with, and so far are well worth the money. They have about a million pockets, which is useful for someone like me who can never remember where stuff is (providing you remember where you put it in the first place), and for when it's raining so you don't get all of your stuff wet.

I am of course, doing this in aid of a charity. I chose a charity called 'Facing Africa', a charity that deals with treating and preventing a disease called NOMA. I can almost guarantee that you won't of heard of this before, but believe me, it's a worthwhile cause. The more money and awareness I can generate for this cause, the greater a success this it will have been. I suggest you visit the Facing Africa website for some further background reading, I'm sure it'll be evident as to why I am doing this when you do.

I finished working about three weeks ago, and I reckon I've got enough saved to last me the whole way accross now. That said, I will taking a tent and I'm planning to camp about 4 to 5 out of 7 nights along the way, staying in hotels and relying on the generosity of others for the remainder. I've spent my time off training almost everyday, getting myself saddlefit. I recently got back from a weekend trip where I cycled probably more than I will be planning to cycle everyday carrying more kit than I will be, and that indicated that I was nearing the point of being saddlefit enough to sit in a saddle for 8 hours a day.

I will be updating this blog everyday ((wireless) internet access permitting) with my progress, and will be my main point of contact.

For more information and an online donation form, please visit http://gregstransamericacycle.co.uk/

::Edit::

I've just found out that I'm going to be charged $300 by Delta for shipping my bike to the USA. This was partly my fault for not being specific enough when asking my travel agent "Will I be allowed to take my bike to America using Delta?", and partly my travel agent being sneaky and forgetting to mention that it'd cost a bomb. This will probably sound fairly cheeky, but if anyone would like to donate some money towards this setback, please get in touch through my website. Thank you! :)