Yesterday was quite an eventful day. First of all, I was riding "sweep". [Everyday two riders are the designated sweep riders, which means that they wear awesome bright yellow sweep capes and they stay in the back, carry med kits and make sure everyone is okay. You ride the whole day with your sweep partner and stop everytime another rider has a flat, does into a diner to eat, stops by a lake to swim, or just tools around in a small town. So it makes for a long, long, but rewarding day because you end up chatting up a storm with your sweep partner].
I had never been to Kansas prior to this trip, but all I heard about it from others was, "oh man, enjoy the midwest (insert sarcasm). It'll be so boring! Corn corn corn".
Well, I say not true. Kansas is one of the best states I've cycled through. Our first stop was Lawrence, KS - the hometown of our of our riders, Meryl. It's a liberal, college town (Kansas University, home of the Jayhawks) and very much like my university town of Ithaca, NY. Who would have thought that NY and KS could be so similar! But it's true and almost uncanny. The phrase about Lawrence is that it's 25 square miles surrounded by Kansas while the phrase about Ithaca is that it's 10 sq miles surounded by reality. Eco-friendly people and a lot of young, vibrant people. Small shops, few chain stores, very friends and with an AWESOME bike shop called Sunflower (KS is the sunflower state). They tuned up all of our bikes better than I've ever tuned mine up... free of charge.
Yes, Kansas has corn and soybean, but after two days of cycling, the landscape totally changed. We had arrived into the Flint Hills (look it up for pictures). Here, there is litigimate rolling hills (false, KS is certainly NOT all flat) where there is only a very thin layer of topsoil, too thin to grow crops. Instead, it's the perfect land to raise pastured cattle. Cattle everywhere. It's not irrigated here, so it contrasts greatly with the vibrant green cropland. Here, it's dry and dusty and I feel like I'm in the Wild Wild West. There are black, wooden cut-outs of cowboys on horses, or mounted Native Americans chasing buffalo. Here, there are no towns for miles and miles and when my sweep parter, Doug, and I arrived at first lunch, we were out of water. The van had already left in search for more liquids and had to drive for over an hour in order to fill up and bring us back water before we could hit the road again.
We mounted our bikes again and headed toward the "geographic center of the USA" located near Lebanon, KS. We had crossed the half-way mile marker. My odometer read 2000 miles. (actually 2500 including 500 miles of training). Onwards to Nebraska. The "Welcome to Nebraska" sign greeted us with bullet holes.... The sign was totally riddled with holes.... and a picture of a cowboy on a rearing horse. Behind the sign was a landscape totally different from what we had been riding through in KS. Prairies. Wild, preserved prairie land with rolling hills, shrubs, grasses, and no cropland. Thank goodness for a tailwind that pushed us home. 113 degrees. Excrushiatingly hot. So hot. I must have dunk over 6 liters of water that day. But soon the 70 miles appeared on my odometer and we rolled into Red Cloud, NE, our home for the night. We passed the public pool, where we found the other 30 riders who simoultaneously cheered, "super sweep!" Everyone had made it in safely. A bit dehydrated, some with not so great feeling stomachs, but all really satisfied with the eventful day.
Question of the day : is there a difference between a prairie and a plain (the great plains) and if so what is it? Everyone seems to have their own definition of the two words... what is yours? Let me know!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Forging the Mississippi River
We rode into the Great Plains, leaving the Northeast, the Appalachains, my home and familiar region behind. Crossing the Mississippi was for sure, one of the most memorable landmarks so far. Good-bye IL, hello MO. We all stopped and put our feet in water and washed our faces in the River (an symbol indicating that we would one day return to the river's bank).
Some interesting observations of the Midwest - a region in which, prior, I had never set foot:
People here are proud of their connection to the great 16th president of the US. KY was the birthplace of Lincoln, Indiana boasts that it's "Lincoln's boyhood home" and Illinois is the "Land of Lincoln". The churches where we stayed likewise were proud that they had some of the wooden shelves bought by the President's nephew's sister's daughter's cousin's best friend.
Why do I feel like I'm in the Midwest when I've never been here?
Of course there's acres and acres of corn, but also an equal acrage of soybean (I feel like everyone always thinks of corn, but there's just as much of the smaller soybean plant).
But overall, I'd say it's the way the sky looks. There is simply so much sky! It's huge and expansive and the colors of the clouds are like nothing else I've ever seen. They are full of color. Purple, gray, dark blue. We see great sunrises and sunsets and the clouds are giant and fluffy. And from this majestic sky, blows a strong strong wind.
Another interesting asepct of biking across the Midwest is that you become very talented at guessing the milage between where you are and the water tower you spy in the very distance. With the other cyclists, we making guessing games on how far the next water tower is. Sometimes the closest one is 5 miles away, sometimes, it's 15. And you can also guess that where ever you see the closest water tower, is where there is the closest town. So make sure you have enough water with you before you start off cycling!
And speaking of water, we must cross over dozens and dozens of rivers. These rivers are highly irrigated and thus their course is heavily altered by the farmers. It looks like the river banks have been dug such that the river follows are particular direction. They are brown and muddy and usually not too wide. Most of the fields that we've passed, however, have been quite flooded. There has been a lot of rain out here this spring and summer so the corn is small (too wet) and the fields are just swamped. That leaves lots of frog, snake and turtle roadkill to swerve around.
Some interesting observations of the Midwest - a region in which, prior, I had never set foot:
People here are proud of their connection to the great 16th president of the US. KY was the birthplace of Lincoln, Indiana boasts that it's "Lincoln's boyhood home" and Illinois is the "Land of Lincoln". The churches where we stayed likewise were proud that they had some of the wooden shelves bought by the President's nephew's sister's daughter's cousin's best friend.
Why do I feel like I'm in the Midwest when I've never been here?
Of course there's acres and acres of corn, but also an equal acrage of soybean (I feel like everyone always thinks of corn, but there's just as much of the smaller soybean plant).
But overall, I'd say it's the way the sky looks. There is simply so much sky! It's huge and expansive and the colors of the clouds are like nothing else I've ever seen. They are full of color. Purple, gray, dark blue. We see great sunrises and sunsets and the clouds are giant and fluffy. And from this majestic sky, blows a strong strong wind.
Another interesting asepct of biking across the Midwest is that you become very talented at guessing the milage between where you are and the water tower you spy in the very distance. With the other cyclists, we making guessing games on how far the next water tower is. Sometimes the closest one is 5 miles away, sometimes, it's 15. And you can also guess that where ever you see the closest water tower, is where there is the closest town. So make sure you have enough water with you before you start off cycling!
And speaking of water, we must cross over dozens and dozens of rivers. These rivers are highly irrigated and thus their course is heavily altered by the farmers. It looks like the river banks have been dug such that the river follows are particular direction. They are brown and muddy and usually not too wide. Most of the fields that we've passed, however, have been quite flooded. There has been a lot of rain out here this spring and summer so the corn is small (too wet) and the fields are just swamped. That leaves lots of frog, snake and turtle roadkill to swerve around.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
1200 miles later
Here we are in the flat, windy, WINDY Midwest, in Springfield, IL. It's been quite a while since I've had free time to blog - my apologies - it's just that we usually only have a counted number of free minutes in our day. (We're on our bikes oftentimes for 12 hours a day, then need to EAT!, stretch, shower, clean our bikes, and do our daily chores to keep the group moving). However, one person of our group of 32 riders writes a journal entry every day and they are all posted on the Bike & Build website along with lots of photos. So if you're interested in following us more closely, check it out here.
Here are some brief highlights. So far, my favorite states have been West Virginia and Kentucky. We took all back roads (and often times quite gravely) and really saw into the heart of WV. The hills were wonderfully forgiving especially after the hills of CT (which I never knew existed) and the steep mountains of NY and PA. By contrast, WV just kept you continuously shifting gears and enjoying the ups and downs of the terrain.
We crossed over the Ohio River into Kentucky at 6:30 am on a misty, cool morning. It was an eerie sort of feeling along the winding roads that opened up to vast farms and open landscape. The ride from Paris to Louisville KY was covered in brown wooden fences surrounding hundreds of thoroughbreds and hay field after hay field.
Now we're in Illinois and the Gulf Stream is blowing with all it's might against us (we're heading East to West). I am calculating that the winds are around 25 mph - so strong that when I'm going downhill, I need to be in my lowest gear possible just to keep going - (and to give you a reference, I pedal in my lowest gear while biking up a 12% grade up a mountain in PA, and here I'm biking downhill but still need it!) And as you can imagine, we're passing corn field after corn field, with interspersed soybean fields.
The next couple of days will bring an important landmark - the Might Mississippi River - into the Great Plains we come!
Here are some brief highlights. So far, my favorite states have been West Virginia and Kentucky. We took all back roads (and often times quite gravely) and really saw into the heart of WV. The hills were wonderfully forgiving especially after the hills of CT (which I never knew existed) and the steep mountains of NY and PA. By contrast, WV just kept you continuously shifting gears and enjoying the ups and downs of the terrain.
We crossed over the Ohio River into Kentucky at 6:30 am on a misty, cool morning. It was an eerie sort of feeling along the winding roads that opened up to vast farms and open landscape. The ride from Paris to Louisville KY was covered in brown wooden fences surrounding hundreds of thoroughbreds and hay field after hay field.
Now we're in Illinois and the Gulf Stream is blowing with all it's might against us (we're heading East to West). I am calculating that the winds are around 25 mph - so strong that when I'm going downhill, I need to be in my lowest gear possible just to keep going - (and to give you a reference, I pedal in my lowest gear while biking up a 12% grade up a mountain in PA, and here I'm biking downhill but still need it!) And as you can imagine, we're passing corn field after corn field, with interspersed soybean fields.
The next couple of days will bring an important landmark - the Might Mississippi River - into the Great Plains we come!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
And we're off!
June 6. Departure day. Cool morning, light mist. 32 riders outfitted in matching blue and red jerseys cycled excitedly from our host church to the (slippery) Providence dock. Dipping Ceremony. On the count of 3 we all dipped our back tires in the lapping waves of the Atlantic. Now, theres just one direction - West! - Riding towards Pacific.
The streets of Providence were full of potholes and interesting obstacles. As our group of 32 riders snaked along the city's main streets (in snazzy blue spandex), you could hear phrases passed along to from one rider to the rider behind him/her such as "Pothole! " "Slowing!" and frequent jubilant cries of "P2SF!!" [i.e. Providence to San Francisco].
After 10 miles of city streets, we climbed a sloping hill and emerged surrounded by farm fields and old style New England houses. 23 miles later, we caught up with the van + trailer (painted with our mural of bikes and houses and a big map of our route across the U.S.A.) and stopped for lunch. St. Martin's church (our host during our 3 days of Orientation) had cooked us a fabulous departure breakfast of quiche, omelets, and muffins and we were delighted to see that our lunch was comprised of the delicious leftovers supplemented by the standard PPJ.
At the CT welcome sign of course we stopped to shoot about a hundred pictures with all of us riders elated next to the sign. Then, we had a couple of fantastic downhills (where one rider reached 45 mph) which opened up to a valley of quaint houses and stone walls with a landscape dotted with a few cows.
On the day, we cycled 37 miles and spent the afternoon resting at a church in Plainfield, CT - another quaint, New England town. We finished up painting the trailer this afternoon - and man, do we have some artists or what in our group! It looks really sweet. (I'll have to take some pictures to show you). And from what I hear, we have a pretty spectacular dinner awaiting us prepared by the congregation of St. Paul's.
The streets of Providence were full of potholes and interesting obstacles. As our group of 32 riders snaked along the city's main streets (in snazzy blue spandex), you could hear phrases passed along to from one rider to the rider behind him/her such as "Pothole! " "Slowing!" and frequent jubilant cries of "P2SF!!" [i.e. Providence to San Francisco].
After 10 miles of city streets, we climbed a sloping hill and emerged surrounded by farm fields and old style New England houses. 23 miles later, we caught up with the van + trailer (painted with our mural of bikes and houses and a big map of our route across the U.S.A.) and stopped for lunch. St. Martin's church (our host during our 3 days of Orientation) had cooked us a fabulous departure breakfast of quiche, omelets, and muffins and we were delighted to see that our lunch was comprised of the delicious leftovers supplemented by the standard PPJ.
At the CT welcome sign of course we stopped to shoot about a hundred pictures with all of us riders elated next to the sign. Then, we had a couple of fantastic downhills (where one rider reached 45 mph) which opened up to a valley of quaint houses and stone walls with a landscape dotted with a few cows.
On the day, we cycled 37 miles and spent the afternoon resting at a church in Plainfield, CT - another quaint, New England town. We finished up painting the trailer this afternoon - and man, do we have some artists or what in our group! It looks really sweet. (I'll have to take some pictures to show you). And from what I hear, we have a pretty spectacular dinner awaiting us prepared by the congregation of St. Paul's.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thank you for helping me surpass my fund rasing goal of $4000 for affordable housing!
So I made it! Thanks to the the 71 people who sponsored, I have raised (to date) $4125 to benefit affordable housing organizations across the United States.
We are still looking for sponsorships! The more money we raise, the more we can help people desperate for an affordable home! Because each rider must raise a minimum of $4000 in order to participate on the ride, I would ask that instead of sponsoring me, please sponsor my good friend Maxwell Kraft (who is responsible for introducing me to road biking to begin with!) who is a bit short of his $4K goal.
Please visit bikeandbuild.org/donate and click on Kraft, Maxwell to donate and grant him eligibility on this ride of a lifetime!
Thank you again for your continued support.
We are still looking for sponsorships! The more money we raise, the more we can help people desperate for an affordable home! Because each rider must raise a minimum of $4000 in order to participate on the ride, I would ask that instead of sponsoring me, please sponsor my good friend Maxwell Kraft (who is responsible for introducing me to road biking to begin with!) who is a bit short of his $4K goal.
Please visit bikeandbuild.org/donate and click on Kraft, Maxwell to donate and grant him eligibility on this ride of a lifetime!
Thank you again for your continued support.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Here's to my Giant road bike
And here she is! My Giant road bike steed which carry me across the United States. I have been training almost every day now and have introduced her to these NYS hills. America, here I come!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Ghana Bike Project: loading day!
Check out these pictures of the hundreds of bikes we collected from the Ithaca area to send to Ghana to be used in rural development initiatives.
Ghana Pics For Blog
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