Quickly, I need sleep, here is the day.
67 miles into a headwind gusting at 25-30 mph. 3 dog sprints, one was actually a close call with a German Sheppard. Can now say 110% that I do NOT like dogs. Mary, my friend that's riding along, probably agrees. After what she was screaming, as we used adrenaline to pump us away from them, I'm conviced!
We're in Clarion at the Nerliens, Brooke and Adam - you make a mean steak. Thanks for the hospitality!
Tomorrow, final destination. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Northwood here I come. Excited to be off the bike seat and let my butt go back to normal shape. Excited to see everyone. Excited. Excited. Excited!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Pics from the trip thus far!
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| Jorge and Hector. You two are a BIG reason why I'm this far (Ames, Iowa) THANK YOU. |
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| Tent city on Free Wheel |
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| Daniel being attacked by our tent neighbors. |
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| When it rains..............go inside! |
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| If you would have rode this day, you would have jumped in too. |
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| Sexy tan lines. David, Daniel, Barry and Byran...y'all rock. |
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| Entering Missouri |
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| Michelle and Mike.......they paid for me to have a hotel one night. If I didn't accept their offer, they threatened to beat me up. |
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| These little guys must have though I was a fellow deer, came right up to me. |
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| This is Sam. He rode with me the last 10 miles into Des Moines. He's got a killer blog about cycling too. Check it out! |
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| Abby! Wow it's only been a year. |
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| Meet Mary. She's riding with me back to Northwood! |
Friday, June 25, 2010
Is it always flooded in Iowa?
Leave for a year. Come back and things hardly change. Buildings still there. People still working the jobs they love to hate. Restaurants pumping out people on Court Ave and Des Moines, still flooded like always!
Yesterday, around noon I rolled into Des Moines through a mud patch that lasted for....well, forever! I was screaming in excitement. Rolled into town with new cyclist friend Sam, who didn't know it at the time, distracted me from the pain in my legs that had been eating them for the last 30 miles. I fought a head wind and hills for 44 miles yesterday.
This bike trip isn't done yet. Just put on hold a few days while I say my 'holas' to a few Des Moines peeps. And on hold is a great thing due to major soreness happenings, from the bike seat region on my body.
Since my last blog, I've convinced myself that dogs are evil. Chased again. This time tag-teamed from black labs. Their teeth were big. Thus, the sprint lasted a long time. When my ankles and tires were finally out of reach, my legs were shaking, still clipped in, from the left-over adrenaline pumping throughout them. That happened in Missouri. Knock on wood as Iowa hasn't brought me dogs yet, just twin fawns about 4 yards away, lots of cardinals and a retired state troopers front yard for camping in Leon!
Happy to admit, from here to home (roughly 130-150 bike miles) there'll be a bed for me every night! No more ghetto duct taped tent on this trip, now only to replace it for the owner.....
Yesterday, around noon I rolled into Des Moines through a mud patch that lasted for....well, forever! I was screaming in excitement. Rolled into town with new cyclist friend Sam, who didn't know it at the time, distracted me from the pain in my legs that had been eating them for the last 30 miles. I fought a head wind and hills for 44 miles yesterday.
This bike trip isn't done yet. Just put on hold a few days while I say my 'holas' to a few Des Moines peeps. And on hold is a great thing due to major soreness happenings, from the bike seat region on my body.
Since my last blog, I've convinced myself that dogs are evil. Chased again. This time tag-teamed from black labs. Their teeth were big. Thus, the sprint lasted a long time. When my ankles and tires were finally out of reach, my legs were shaking, still clipped in, from the left-over adrenaline pumping throughout them. That happened in Missouri. Knock on wood as Iowa hasn't brought me dogs yet, just twin fawns about 4 yards away, lots of cardinals and a retired state troopers front yard for camping in Leon!
Happy to admit, from here to home (roughly 130-150 bike miles) there'll be a bed for me every night! No more ghetto duct taped tent on this trip, now only to replace it for the owner.....
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
90 miles
Today was character defining. My 'behind' was in the saddle at 6 am. Around noon I found myself doing a sprint away from another ankle biting dog. Only to be completely drained. The day, up to that point had been FILLED with rolling hills. And being self-contained, it was wearing on me.
I roll into Excelsior Springs very fatigued. Hot. And ready to be done. The town was one big giant hill in every direction. A test in itself. From this point, I knew there was 27 miles to go.
I was mentally prepared tho. I'd heard that hwy 69 was new and had a great shoulder. So I thought I'd be rolling into Cameron, where I had a prearranged bed to sleep in, with energy to go again tomorrow. That dream was shot out of the sky after the first 5 miles on 69 provided me with less than 5 inches of shoulder and heavy traffic. So heavy that at one point a over sized semi buzzed me within 2 feet. The suction was enough to scare me into hyperventilating. Then to tears.
I was crying. MAD at myself for lack of planning. HOT, hottest day of the year...heat index at 105. And tired. My breath felt restricted. Calming down to prepare for each hill only to cry once I reached the top. Cars, trucks and semi's still flying by.
I pull off into the shade at a convenience store. Sign says 22 miles to Cameron. 22 miles to air con. 22 miles to a shower and bed. I sit on the blacktop. Drop my head into my hands and cry. The tears formed pools in my sunglasses and drip from my cheeks. I'm Frustrated. Pushed to the limit. Tired and drained. THIS IS INSANE, WHY AM I DOING THIS?
Call my support crew, they tell me to stop if my physical condition can't go further, it's too dangerous. I contemplate hitchhiking. Still crying. I taste the tears/sweat. I taste my own failure. Failure of the days goal, of my lack of planning. I sit there. The clerk comes out to smoke, twice. Think it was to check on me mostly. What to do? Call for a ride? Hitchhike? Camp here? Ride on?
Earlier, I'd decided that character is defined not when you get yourself into a situation, it's defined when you figure out how to get yourself out of that situation. I look down, grab a RB energy shot. Go to the restroom. Look at myself in the mirror. I CAN DO THIS. I CAN. 22 Miles. 22 MILES. I chug water.
The entire 22 miles I was repeating 22 miles in my head. Screaming it out loud as I crawled up the hills. I pumped my arms for semis to honk, feeding off of anything positive. I raced along. Faster than I'd gone all day. Using anything and everything I had in me. A test. 22 miles, I see the 18 miles sign. 22 miles, there goes the 13 mile sign. 22 miles. 22 miles, 8 miles to go. 22 miles, I see the water tower. Another hill. Legs are tight. My body is entirely sweat. Sweat is dripping from my knees, its forming on my forearms. I dump water over my head to cool off. Heat index of 105. It's 2pm. 22 miles and the man outside says "keep going, you've got a mile to go."
And now I'm here. In Cameron. Have had the shower. Washed my clothes and about to eat a steak. Isn't it funny how far we can push ourselves? Positivity can do wonders. Less than 70 miles to Iowa!
I roll into Excelsior Springs very fatigued. Hot. And ready to be done. The town was one big giant hill in every direction. A test in itself. From this point, I knew there was 27 miles to go.
I was mentally prepared tho. I'd heard that hwy 69 was new and had a great shoulder. So I thought I'd be rolling into Cameron, where I had a prearranged bed to sleep in, with energy to go again tomorrow. That dream was shot out of the sky after the first 5 miles on 69 provided me with less than 5 inches of shoulder and heavy traffic. So heavy that at one point a over sized semi buzzed me within 2 feet. The suction was enough to scare me into hyperventilating. Then to tears.
I was crying. MAD at myself for lack of planning. HOT, hottest day of the year...heat index at 105. And tired. My breath felt restricted. Calming down to prepare for each hill only to cry once I reached the top. Cars, trucks and semi's still flying by.
I pull off into the shade at a convenience store. Sign says 22 miles to Cameron. 22 miles to air con. 22 miles to a shower and bed. I sit on the blacktop. Drop my head into my hands and cry. The tears formed pools in my sunglasses and drip from my cheeks. I'm Frustrated. Pushed to the limit. Tired and drained. THIS IS INSANE, WHY AM I DOING THIS?
Call my support crew, they tell me to stop if my physical condition can't go further, it's too dangerous. I contemplate hitchhiking. Still crying. I taste the tears/sweat. I taste my own failure. Failure of the days goal, of my lack of planning. I sit there. The clerk comes out to smoke, twice. Think it was to check on me mostly. What to do? Call for a ride? Hitchhike? Camp here? Ride on?
Earlier, I'd decided that character is defined not when you get yourself into a situation, it's defined when you figure out how to get yourself out of that situation. I look down, grab a RB energy shot. Go to the restroom. Look at myself in the mirror. I CAN DO THIS. I CAN. 22 Miles. 22 MILES. I chug water.
The entire 22 miles I was repeating 22 miles in my head. Screaming it out loud as I crawled up the hills. I pumped my arms for semis to honk, feeding off of anything positive. I raced along. Faster than I'd gone all day. Using anything and everything I had in me. A test. 22 miles, I see the 18 miles sign. 22 miles, there goes the 13 mile sign. 22 miles. 22 miles, 8 miles to go. 22 miles, I see the water tower. Another hill. Legs are tight. My body is entirely sweat. Sweat is dripping from my knees, its forming on my forearms. I dump water over my head to cool off. Heat index of 105. It's 2pm. 22 miles and the man outside says "keep going, you've got a mile to go."
And now I'm here. In Cameron. Have had the shower. Washed my clothes and about to eat a steak. Isn't it funny how far we can push ourselves? Positivity can do wonders. Less than 70 miles to Iowa!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Missouri!
Today marked the end of Freewheel 2010 as we rolled into Joplin' MO.
What an experience with such a motivating group of people.
Had three guys riding / camping next to me for the week....Daniel, David and Larry....all okies and my new groupies! Thanks to them I made it through the week with extra heckling and hugs!
Spoke Spanish with a teacher today..she also advised finding a man to share my time with! I smiled and thanked her for the advice!!!
Then had a New Orleans man buy me a beer at 11 am! Barry-you are awesome!
Alice....girl who rode in and pulled her Achilles before Freewheel even started then proceeded to pass me every day snuck money in my bags today. The kind act still makes me shake my head in disbelief.
Had someone come up and take a picture of me because I'm NUTS and then another ask to take one with me.
All of that and the goodbyes to my new friends had me riding away in tears. Wow such a motivating experience with some phenomenal folks.
Now in Webb City. Alone again. In my tent- in a backyard. Two days of riding and I should be close to KC.
Estimating another 600 or more miles to go!
Thanks Oklahoma for all of the good people you've brought into my life!
Hello Missouri, please be flat!
What an experience with such a motivating group of people.
Had three guys riding / camping next to me for the week....Daniel, David and Larry....all okies and my new groupies! Thanks to them I made it through the week with extra heckling and hugs!
Spoke Spanish with a teacher today..she also advised finding a man to share my time with! I smiled and thanked her for the advice!!!
Then had a New Orleans man buy me a beer at 11 am! Barry-you are awesome!
Alice....girl who rode in and pulled her Achilles before Freewheel even started then proceeded to pass me every day snuck money in my bags today. The kind act still makes me shake my head in disbelief.
Had someone come up and take a picture of me because I'm NUTS and then another ask to take one with me.
All of that and the goodbyes to my new friends had me riding away in tears. Wow such a motivating experience with some phenomenal folks.
Now in Webb City. Alone again. In my tent- in a backyard. Two days of riding and I should be close to KC.
Estimating another 600 or more miles to go!
Thanks Oklahoma for all of the good people you've brought into my life!
Hello Missouri, please be flat!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
free wheel learnings
What can you learn while on a bike?
Well try scraping yourself up off a bridge after you've successfully crashed into a biker ahead of you.
Or learn how much your legs can endure during a mtn climbing day. Somewhere between 4-5 thousand ft of elevation.
Eat an Indian taco with specially made fry bread.
Listen to an old man tell you about how when he was eleven his parents gave him burbon and that's why he likes to drink.
Will be tackling 'how to get sap out of running shorts' here shortly
Also need to find out how to repair sleeping mats with holes.
I've cleaned dog pee out of my tent.
I've gained 10 lbs....how I'm not sure.
Successfully patched 3 sides of my tent after a friendly dog attack.
Washed my clothes in a sink every day.
And have met awesome awesome people....mostly crazies so we mesh really well!
In Pryor Oklahoma tonight after a cake walk of a ride today where we picked wild raspberries....anything would have been easier than yesterday!
Been riding for 7 days now....something around 480 miles!
Well try scraping yourself up off a bridge after you've successfully crashed into a biker ahead of you.
Or learn how much your legs can endure during a mtn climbing day. Somewhere between 4-5 thousand ft of elevation.
Eat an Indian taco with specially made fry bread.
Listen to an old man tell you about how when he was eleven his parents gave him burbon and that's why he likes to drink.
Will be tackling 'how to get sap out of running shorts' here shortly
Also need to find out how to repair sleeping mats with holes.
I've cleaned dog pee out of my tent.
I've gained 10 lbs....how I'm not sure.
Successfully patched 3 sides of my tent after a friendly dog attack.
Washed my clothes in a sink every day.
And have met awesome awesome people....mostly crazies so we mesh really well!
In Pryor Oklahoma tonight after a cake walk of a ride today where we picked wild raspberries....anything would have been easier than yesterday!
Been riding for 7 days now....something around 480 miles!
Monday, June 14, 2010
noodling
So last night I got a verbal lesson on noodling. Y'all know what noodling is? Hahaha. Well to sum it up......its swimming and catching catfish with your bare arms. You stick your hand in their mouth and wrestle them out of the water. No bait needed. Just your fingers are catching 50 lb biters. No bigs. Turns out this is a national pastime in Oklahoma. Now I'm learning a lot!
Can't even begin to explain to lessons ive learned from all these okies. Haha. We've got some true southerns on freewheel. Yesterday afternoon we had Christian rock music playing for 4 hours straight- at the camp site. We alzo have been passing Baptist churches frequently. There's Indian tacos. There's brisket. The OSU fans are just as upset about the Big 12.
The sweat has been dripping. We climbed what I think are mtns today. They say hills and if that's true let me just say they are the BIGGEST hills I've ever seen. Then coasted for a few miles down at 35 mph.
Right now I'm laying in a tornado shelter cooling off....temp feels like 109. We're expecting storms tonight and rain tomorrow.
Butt cream and powder, gatorade and pickle juice, bananas and cliff bars. Sunscreen and cold showers......all things keeping me alive here in Oklahoma!
Wahoo almost at 300 miles in the trip so far!
Can't even begin to explain to lessons ive learned from all these okies. Haha. We've got some true southerns on freewheel. Yesterday afternoon we had Christian rock music playing for 4 hours straight- at the camp site. We alzo have been passing Baptist churches frequently. There's Indian tacos. There's brisket. The OSU fans are just as upset about the Big 12.
The sweat has been dripping. We climbed what I think are mtns today. They say hills and if that's true let me just say they are the BIGGEST hills I've ever seen. Then coasted for a few miles down at 35 mph.
Right now I'm laying in a tornado shelter cooling off....temp feels like 109. We're expecting storms tonight and rain tomorrow.
Butt cream and powder, gatorade and pickle juice, bananas and cliff bars. Sunscreen and cold showers......all things keeping me alive here in Oklahoma!
Wahoo almost at 300 miles in the trip so far!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Hills and Duct Tape
In Oklahoma now. Crossed the Red River. But not without great stories. Yesterday consisted of 71 miles. Hills. Thousands of hills. Newspaper reporters. Cops. Dogs attacking my borrowed tent. Duct tape. More duct tape. Lots OF duct tape. After 123 miles in 93 degree heat I have arrived in Hugo, OK to ride the Oklahoma Free Wheel week long RAGBRAI like state ride. Thus far I've got the most ghetto tent with the most duct tape and had the most questions as to why I want to ride to Iowa. I have already washed my clothes in the sink and for all of you wondering, I have showered twice.
Today I was chased by a dog while I was pedaling uphill. Small cute dog but very vicious. Hope the dog trend does not continue.
This southern drawl is way too much for me to handle!
Updated by Kelly, Hailee's sister, via cell phone.
Today I was chased by a dog while I was pedaling uphill. Small cute dog but very vicious. Hope the dog trend does not continue.
This southern drawl is way too much for me to handle!
Updated by Kelly, Hailee's sister, via cell phone.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Beginning another adventure
Tomorrow, if the rain holds, I'm embarking on my most challenging adventure yet to date. Not jumping a bus to Mexico or a boat to Columbia. Pedaling a bike, north to Iowa actually!
A push mentally and maybe a little physically. Maybe a more than a little. 50 or 70 miles on a bike for 3 weeks. Through the Texas heat. Through tornado alley in Oklahoma. After the Oklahoma Free Wheel, I'll spend a week alone in Missouri. Then the home stretch from border to border in Iowa.
Getting to this point...whoa. THANK YOU JORGE AND HECTOR at REI. I've spent well over 20 hours in their shop with them. Learning. Tweaking. And putting together my bike. You two are bike geniuses!
Have a tent. But I'll make it a goal to sleep inside. Humans are kind! Excited to see what happens. Not sure if my family was ready for this, again. They've sent me off with a phone that has 'road side assistance.'
PS.........Thanks fam for the support. Mary too.....loved seeing your face again, finally!! And Lauren, congrats on graduating from high school, excited to see what you make happen. Quinn---Happy Birthday to you a few days late!
A push mentally and maybe a little physically. Maybe a more than a little. 50 or 70 miles on a bike for 3 weeks. Through the Texas heat. Through tornado alley in Oklahoma. After the Oklahoma Free Wheel, I'll spend a week alone in Missouri. Then the home stretch from border to border in Iowa.
Getting to this point...whoa. THANK YOU JORGE AND HECTOR at REI. I've spent well over 20 hours in their shop with them. Learning. Tweaking. And putting together my bike. You two are bike geniuses!
Have a tent. But I'll make it a goal to sleep inside. Humans are kind! Excited to see what happens. Not sure if my family was ready for this, again. They've sent me off with a phone that has 'road side assistance.'
PS.........Thanks fam for the support. Mary too.....loved seeing your face again, finally!! And Lauren, congrats on graduating from high school, excited to see what you make happen. Quinn---Happy Birthday to you a few days late!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Feelin' the love....wiiings!
Red Bull is in my blood. No wait, it is my blood. HA! Been done working for them since last June, but still feeling the family love. The Wiiings Team...Liz and Michelle, in Dallas just hooked me up with some Energy Shots for my bike trip back to Iowa! Couldn't be more pumped up, maybe it's because I just had my first Red Bull Cola in a year or maybe because I'm looking at A LOT of E-Shots......or maybe its just because they were COOL!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Water bottle Americanisms
Since being back, my eyes have opened to many of things that Americans do, consume, yell, text or say. A sad, reality that hits me via my family, and their friends, every day here in Dallas, is watching the consumption of plastic water bottles. Mission: to have at least one of them convert to a reusable-environmentally friendly stainless steel water bottle.
It's important to use reusable bottles.......because Americans alone buy over 29.8 billion, that's right, BILLION, bottles of water each year. 8 out of 10 goes into landfills. Think back to high school science when your teacher told you about how long it takes for plastic to disintegrate in the earth.......yeah that's right, NEVER.
Do your part people. Please. I'm working on my family!!!
Do your part people. Please. I'm working on my family!!!
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