2017 - Day 40 - Kathryn, ND

Sometimes we stay in pretty remote places, and Kathryn, ND is one of them.  It’s off a road which is off a road which is off the highway which isn’t even really a highway, in the middle of nowhere in a state which is already the middle of nowhere.  Population 52.  We had dinner in the Sheyenne Saloon, which only opens from 5-6 PM and the owner sticks around if people show up.  It was very clean and nice inside though, and beers were cheap.  There’s a post office, where I mailed off a postcard to my “lunch buddy” from the MS clinic in Cleveland.  Life is good, but I’m ready to get off the road and get home!  I have a lot to look forward to, and I’ve started thinking more and more about my life off the bike.  But before we get there, there is a 97 mile day tomorrow, in the heat, starting at 5:30 AM!

Today’s riding was predictable, with a few hills at the end.  My physical ability on the bike has been steadily improving, balanced out by my fatigue and the pounding of the sun and the road.  I should be set up well to train for the half ironman in August.  I also can’t wait to get back to my job!  So many exciting things coming up, I love it that the end of the trip just feels like yet another beginning.

2017 - Day 38/39 - Fergus Falls, MN and Fargo, ND

To be honest, I really don't feel like updating my blog.  It's 11 pm and I'm in my tent with my little light on, sweating.  But I missed yesterday, and for posterity sake, and also because I like to be consistent, I want to update.  Days like the last 2 are hard to write about.  I'm honestly not - despite what some might think - a negative person.  Tony today had to remind me "this is something you enjoy doing".  And of course he's right - I love this, and I loved the last couple of days.  But it's been a tough love.  Last night was one of the hardest nights camping I've ever had.  The day before that day had been the wreck, and the night before I hadn't slept much.  So I was tired.  Then, we had a Fourth of July celebration, including a "Trailer Bar" which was amazing and fun but I drank a leeeetle bit too much.  When I went to go to sleep, my arm started pounding for some reason.  But after some ibuprofen, I managed to nod off for a bit, only to be woken by a terrifying Minnesota thunderstorm.  I felt like a prey animal out on the Serengeti, fearing for my life.  Finally I ran for the safety of one of the vans and cowered for an hour.  When I got back to my tent though I realized I had left the flap open and it was full of mosquitos.  The skeeters are really bad out here and they are cramping my style.  One of my fellow riders Brian got bit 30 (!) times on just his kneecap because it was touching his tent wall. 

Anyway, OK, enough.  If it sucks so much why am I out here?  A few answers there: one, it doesn't actually suck that much.  It's actually great.  The bike riding is great, for example.  I love the feeling of the road under my tires and it was a good day riding.  The company is amazing; I love my fellow riders.  But also, I ride because it makes all my experiences so vivid.  I ride because it builds memories, and turns the mundane into amazing.  After a long day on the bike, even a really boring hamburger in a crappy air conditioned dive bar becomes haute cuisine.  I don't suffer on purpose, but it is true that suffering builds character.  I bond with these folks out here over this; we're all in it together.  I'll be happy to leave, but also terribly sad. 

Oh, and North Dakota: put up a damn "welcome to North Dakota" sign!!

2017 - Day 37 - Osakis, MN

So, there we were, riding down the smooth, beautiful Lake Wobegon Bike Path (of Prairie Home Companion fame), tooling along at about 16-17 miles per hour, flashing past beautiful scenery.  It was, to be honest, perhaps a bit boring, and so Eric and I were chatting with each other.  He reached back to adjust his jersey and then, in a flash, we hit a bump hiding in a shadow.  Both of us swerved, he swerved to correct, flailed his front wheel, got caught between my wheel and my pedals, and then I was going down, sliding into the path as he fell near me, tumbling into the grass.  From behind I heard a tiny "Oh No" and Kaylyn hit me, rolling up onto my back.  And then it was over, and I was lying in the grass, panting and moaning or, as Eric said, "trying to have a baby".

Yep, I got in a wreck.  After 10000 miles, I guess I was due.  All told, I got pretty lucky.  Considering it was a full speed crash it could've been worse.  My hip hurts, my back and neck are sore, and my elbow took the brunt of it; there's a big gash on it and it hurts like hell.  The front wheel of my bike was bent (and thus unrideable), so for the first time ever, I got in the van.  I always said it would take a crash to get me in that van, and there you go.  I only missed about 25 miles of some fairly easy riding so nobody can say I chickened out.  There were some positives to the day; I got to go to Culver's (yay!) with Amanda and Bob (remind me someday to tell the story of Bob and pain and the thumb).  The bike is fixed and I'll be riding again today, so that's pretty good, only 25 miles missed.  And it was fun to hang out in the van.  Kaylyn did a great job of patching me up on the spot, tweezering out the gravel, wiping me down, wrapping it up.  And Jennifer V. has been keeping an eye on it, so I think it'll be OK.  I didn't crack my phone or my watch, which is kind of amazing really.

Whenever something like this happens, you realize - as I've often said - how important health is and how much we take it for granted.  I am so lucky to generally be healthy and able to ride and do this, and it can really all be gone in a flash.  Being grateful is not just some hippie trippy thing; it's a logical response to the way life works.  We have to value what we have while we have it.

2017 - Day 36 - Royalton, MN

Once again, the riding today was fairly uneventful, and the scenery, while pleasant, was not really worth remarking on.  When we arrived at camp, we got an immediate invitation to go tubing on the Mississippi - right now! - so Tony and I went and tubed with the family that runs the campsite, who gave us tubes and beer and let us hang out with their family.  Then, the local MS chapter showed up to make us all dinner - which was amazing - and after dinner we went around and talked.  Once again, the theme was how incredibly grateful they all were for what we were doing.

I've remarked on this before, but it really hit me today.  I understand that, to these folks, what we are doing is amazing, and they see it as a sacrifice that we're making in order to make their lives better.  But I don't, and can't, see it that way.  I'm doing this because I love it.  No - more than that - I'm doing it because I *have* to.  Because it's in my soul.  To not do it would feel terrible and awful and sad.  So it feels weird to have someone thank me for what I would do anyway, for what I am in fact paying to be out here doing.  I always just smile and say thank you, of course.  I guess maybe this is what life is about: doing something that makes you happy but also helps others, so you never have to choose between the two.

2017 - Day 35 - Dalbo, MN

Welcome to Dalbo, MN, an unremarkable stretch of Route 47 north of Minneapolis - with one exception for cyclists, which is the Bicycle Bunkhouse.  Picture the world's best treehouse, a two story barn with all the things a cyclist wants; bunks, cots, free (or very low cost) food, a coffee maker, a TV, wifi, power outlets.  All in a really classy hand-built barn structure that smells of delicious wood.  Couches scattered around, a beautiful piece of land, woodowrking tools on the walls, a table for playing hearts (which we did), and a couple that made us watermelon slices and sloppy joes.  Basically it's just the most amazing thing.  I feel instantly at home here.  We watched a movie made by a Scottish couple in 2010 about their own trip across country.  As happy as I am to get getting back to my life, I have to say it would be nice to just hang out here for a week or two.  Did I mention we're also allowed to use the house's basement?  Showers, beds, pool table - we didn't even get to use most of the amenities.  Oh, and an old grain silo that has a couple of cots in it as well.

Ah, life is so good.

2017 - Day 33/34 - Minneapolis, MN

The last two days were rest days here in Minneapolis.  Short version: Minneapolis is really nice.  It reminds me a lot of Portland, OR, and I mean that in a good way.  They have a killer mountaineering store, amazing bike paths, a super great and completely free art museum, and everybody has been super nice.  It feels like a slightly bigger city than Portland, even though I know it isn't, population-wise.  I know some of it is misleading because the weather is so good right now, but it does make me feel like this is somewhere I could live.  I listened to a special on NPR months back about all the immigrants here in Minneapolis and the refugees and how open Minneapolis has been, but to see it in action is interesting.  We had great Ethiopian food last night; there's a neighborhood right next to the dorm that is essentially all Africans (not African-Americans, either).   

A quick note about bike paths, because Minneapolis really does them right: a bike path is a nice thought, but for those of us that use a bike as transportation, a bike path is the car equivalent of a small, windy country road; maybe nice to take a stroll on, but not a good way to get someplace.  Normal bike paths are frustrating, so much so that usually we ride on the road right next to them.  Because, just like drivers, we want to get where we're going.  But here in Minneapolis, the bike paths are amazing, they are more like bike superhighways.  Even through campus, they are fully marked and signed like roads, wide, flat, straight and easy to follow.  The greenway even goes under the roads so you never have to worry about interacting with cars. 

And I didn't even get to talk about the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art).  So amazing, and totally free! 

I need to come back here sometime to visit. 

2017 - Day 32 - Minneapolis, MN

We're here!  Yesterday we had an easy ride into Minneapolis, where we will spend two rest days.  The morning we woke up in the church to the sound of pouring rain, and we had a hard time convincing ourselves to go out into it, but once we got out there, it wasn't that bad in the end.  The ride itself was uneventful.  I continue to be struck by this group's willingness to ride in a group, everyone at about the same ability level; no racers, and no scrubs.  Then, we met Mike in Stillwater!  Yay!  That was really good, to see him.  He's doing well and we're going to see his show tomorrow.  He took us along a beautiful bike path that really reminded me of the one in Portland.  In fact, Minneapolis reminds me of Portland in a lot of ways.  We went to the National MS Society office; I might have more to say about that later.  Then I helped Tony go and look for bikes; I think we found him one.  We're staying in the dorms at U of M; it's fun to be back in a dorm and these are actually pretty nice, for dorms; very small, but functional.  And the weather is great.  I fell asleep to wind blowing in through my little window and slept like a rock.  

Today I'm riding out to buy some new fancy wheels for my bike.  More later!

2017 - Day 31 - Prescott, WI

Wisconsin!  Today we rode about 70 miles into Wisconsin.  It was, once again, beautiful and deliriously awesome riding, which unfortunately makes for a boring blog post (who wants to hear about my 2 mile 35-40 mph descent on smooth roads), so I'll have to just talk about other things, like being excited to get to Minneapolis and see Mike Swan.  A lot of folks took shortcuts today, meaning they rode a shorter route than what was on the ACA maps.  I'm the only person who rode the entire route as it was printed on the maps.  That may seem pedantic, but to me, it's the only way to go.  In my view, I invested a lot of time and money to come out here and ride my bike; the last thing I want to do is shortchange myself!  Not only that, but I have a lot of respect for the ACA, and I like their style in general.  The route I took was a beautiful lonely country road that, yes, went up and down and around, but I still got there, and I got to see some cool goats.  And I got a souvenir!  When I went to take pictures of the goats, I found a Minnesota license plate buried in the road so I picked it up.  Kind of my own personal totem of my journey in life and the joy of taking "longcuts", to coin a phrase.

Welcome to Wisconsin!

2017 - Day 30 - Wabasha, MN

Yesterday was another day of fairly uneventful riding.  I continue to be impressed by how beautiful Iowa and Minnesota are, especially as compared to Indiana and Illinois.  The scenery has begun to change, from lush greenery to a more deciduous, forested look.  We're still riding along the mighty Mississippi; we had lunch along the banks overlooking the water, and you got to see up close how fast the water is moving and just how big the river is.  I have new tires, and they are road tires so I feel super fast; it makes a huge difference and I'm considering investing now in some new racing wheels and tires when I get to Minneapolis.  Can't wait to see Mike Swan and explore Minneapolis and have a couple of days off, maybe even get some work done!  I can feel the end of the trip coming and I'm actually looking forward to getting back to my life.

We biked straight to the National Eagle Center yesterday and took in the live Bald Eagle show, where they brought out a captive eagle.  It was very cool.  Learned a lot about how the birds live and work.  Few interesting facts; even though they look enormous, they're actually only about 10-15 pounds full grown.  80% of them die in infancy or childhood.  They live about 20-25 years if they make it to adulthood, 40+ in captivity.  They will try to scare things away from their food instead of running because they're an apex predator; and that includes cars or even a train (!).  So, yeah, they go hard.

I drank a 38oz margarita yesterday at dinner and we all (including me) got to laugh at Drunk Adam for a bit.  I think I'm off drinking for a while.  :) . Too much sugar and I love my body too much.

Oh, last thing: I'm definitely losing some weight.  I can feel it in my body!

2017 - Day 29 - Brownsville, MN

Goodbye, Iowa.  YOu will be missed for your beautiful greenery and how polished your small towns are.  Hello, Minnesota, where the people seem friendly; home of my favorite TV show ever, Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Last night we stayed in a church again, and the route leaders made us chili, and now I'm here sitting in this diner.  Other than collecting "Welcome to This State" signs, I feel like I'm riding towards my future; a future full of relationships, success, safety and exploration.  I feel much more confident about myself on this trip than I have in the past.   

Plus, I now have some really cool Wheaties socks, courtesy of Jenn who talked me into them.  And a new sticker for my bike - first one this trip! - for the Effigy Mounds national monument.   

2017 - Day 28 - Elkader, IA

Today was another difficult day, and my body is starting to wear down, but I still have a positive mental attitude.  There were more winds, more hills.  Iowa is surprisingly, even startlingly beautiful; manicured, polished and green, the sort of landscape you imagine on a movie set.  I wish I had more time to look at it but it's flying by.  At the end of today I got chased into camp the last 8 miles by a rainstorm mixed with thunder which scared me a little bit.  I managed to beat it, though.  Our mileage estimate for the day was wrong by about 8 miles so I kept thinking camp was right around the corner.

Elkader itself is surprisingly nice.  We had dinner at an excellent little Algerian restaurant, of all things.

The highlight of the day was stopping by the Field of Dreams, which is where they shot the movie of the same name.  It was a really nice little spot; they have kept it just like it was in the movie, and avoided commercializing it too much; it's free to just walk up and swing a bat.  We rode our bikes around the bases.  Iowa really is the best of middle America; what rural America aspires to be.  It's a shame we're working so hard that I feel like I can't fully enjoy it!

2017 - Day 27 - Oxford Junction, IA

Yesterday’s riding itself was fairly uneventful.  It was a long day, 92 miles through the Illinois and Iowa countryside.  We crossed over the Mississippi, but that was surprisingly uneventful as well.  What I want to write about today is to capture some vignettes of living in a small town.  We’re staying at the Senior Center in Oxford Junction, Iowa.   I don’t know what the population is but I’d be very surprised if it was over 1000.  Last night we ate dinner at Shackey’s Place, home of the All-We-Care-To-Serve-You fried chicken, fish and shrimp.  It was hilarious because you had to "reorder" the food, and the woman passive aggressively kept us from ordering too much (because of course we were hungry cyclists).  Nice lady, though.  I said to Tony that there's a time in a man's life when he decides if he really wants to make somebody go back there and fry up another piece of crappy cod, and the answer for me was "no".  She told us that they don’t take credit cards anymore because the Visa company said they needed to get online to continue to use their account, and they don’t have a computer so they said “no thanks”.  There’s one gas station, no stop lights, and you can see the grain elevator at the end of town no matter where you stand.  I’m sitting outside the public library because that’s where they told us we could get wifi.  There is nobody here, but the sun is shining off the main intersection in town, highlights glancing off the Oxford Junction City Hall.  I do dearly love small towns like this, and I value this trip so much because of the access it gives us to them.  If I came here on my own, I would never get much of the town.  I wouldn’t meet the mayor or the city council, as I have many times.  I wouldn’t know the library wifi code.  I wouldn’t have friends to eat at Shackey’s with.  I could never live in a place like this; I would go crazy with boredom.  But I love, love love to visit and see them.

P.S. In the middle of a 94 mile day, if you stop at McDonalds, don’t get 20 Chicken McNuggets.

2017 - Day 26 - Orion, IL

We're about to run out of Illinois!  One last night staying at a Methodist church; again with the way-too-much-food, the super nice hosts, the amazing shower.  Some ping pong, some Candy Land with Amanda.  Today was fairly uneventful riding, about 72 miles.  We did have an excellent meal at the Barnhouse Restaurant in Kaweeka, Illinois.  For $7 you get a breaded chicken sandwich with swiss and mushrooms, french fries, and a bowl of chicken soup.  And super nice ladies.  Again, everyone is awesome.

An incident happened yesterday; I lost about a week worth of my GPX tracks from the ride.  We won't go into how it happened because it's boring, but suffice it to say that I'm an idiot.  But I didn't flip out or freak out; I just calmly solved the problem by asking a fellow rider Kurt for his tracks.  Hooray for maturity!

Tomorrow might be a serious thing; 94 miles, and it's hot and humid.  Stay tuned.

2017 - Day 25 - Henry, IL

Okay.  Today was great cycling; 55 miles of tailwind biking.  We were done by 11:30, at the campground.  A few locals gave us some catfish they caught in the Illinois river, and some teammates filleted and cooked them with cajun spices.  Unbelievably good.  I'm up in a local coffee shop, updating the blog.  Life gets simple out here, you can focus on what's important to you.  Basics like shelter and food become your world.  It's a simpler way of life.

Not much is going on in Henry, IL, to be honest.  The public library doesn't have wifi.  We'll probably play some cards.  At some point I have to think about the future.  But today is just Henry.

2017 - Day 24 - Odell, IL

Wind wind wind wind.  Wind?  Wind wind wind; wind wind wind wind wind.  Wind wind, wind wind wind wind wind wind, wind wind wind.  Wind wind wind wind.  Wind!  Wind wind wind.

Corn corn corn?  Corn!  Corn; corn corn corn corn corn corn.  Corn corn corn, corn corn corn corn corn corn corn corn corn corn.  Corn corn corn corn corn corn corn corn, corn corn corn.  Corn corn corn corn corn.

Flat flat flat flat.

Also, we went to a really interesting conspiracy theory bookstore in Kempton, IL.  Funny little place in the middle of nowhere that self-published their own conspiracy theory books.  And the diner in Odell was pretty good.  Today should be an easier day; only 55 miles and possibly even a tailwind.

Oh!  And we got to go to our first community pool.  Regular readers of last year’s blog will remember the pools as a small town staple out here.

2017 - Day 23 - Iroquois, IL

Here we are in Illinois!  There is essentially no difference between Illinois and Indiana.  It's the first time I crossed a state line and it was so rural that we didn't have a "Welcome to Illinois" sign.  There was no visible indication that had happened.

I love these little towns.  I was waiting for us to get out far enough to find these places, where there is one bar/restaurant (which I'm sitting in right now), a small market, maaaaybe a post office, and a park we can stay in with some sort of weird shower situation.  There's a few reasons I like these places: one, they care about cyclists.  Two, there's not much to do so we tend to bond as a team; when there's only one restaurant, we're all going to eat there, you know?  And three, you see/hear/witness some weird stuff.  This town for example has this weird Communist market where they only have one of everything: one box of cereal, one can of soup, etc.  Oh, and the local paper had a front page story: Local Resident Becomes An Eagle Scout.  That's the news in Iroquois, IL.

Today was 94 miles; I did most of it in a pace line.  We got an early start so we did most of the miles without too much wind, but the last 20 miles were really tough.  I feel really good physically - finally! - mostly because I think I finally kicked the cold.  

2017 - Day 22 - Denver, IN

It's funny how what this trip is "about" changes so much from day to day.  At times it's about where we're going through, seeing the sights.  At other times it's about the group, and getting to know new people.  Lately, it's just been about the raw physical challenge.  Yesterday was about 82 miles in a strong headwind, and it was tough.  I had enough energy just to take a nap, play a round of waffle ball, and then pretty much pass out.  Just to wake up and do 94 miles today.  I know I will accomplish it, because I have a strong will and I never quit.  But I think it's going to test me to the utmost.  It's reminding me of my marathons, to be honest.

Again I'm struck by the kindness of others; a full home-cooked meal by the baptist Church here.  Also, one upside of the difficult cycling is that we are bonding more as a group.  Also it was Eric's birthday.  Oh!  And one of my riders from the Pac Coast last year may come up today and hang out with us, which would be awesome.

2017 - Day 21 - Monroeville, IN

today is a difficult day to write about.  I had a great day, don't eat me wrong.  But I continue to be a bit sick and the toll of the riding is adding up.  There was a ton of wind today and we did about 85-90 miles, with the same tomorrow.  Tony and I did the last stretch together.

one thing worth noting was Dooger, a guy who stopped at the state line and gave us free cold water and chatted.  I loved Dooger.  People are so great out here.  Thanks, Dooger, you're our hero! 

Oh, and we're back to small farming towns, which are my favorite!  Feels like home! 

2017 - Day 20 - Bowling Green, OH

Today was 69 miles across Ohio.  I didn't realize that Ohio was so much of a farming area; the part we just went through could've been Iowa or Idaho for how flat it was and how much farming was happening.  It's one of those parts of the country where the roads are all at perfect 90 degree angles because there's no reason for them not to be.  We're staying in the yard of an awesome couple who live out here and do this every year.  They own a donut shop in Bowling Green, which is a college town, and they have Evil Dead posters everywhere.  It often happens that the people in rural areas really surprise me with how cast against stereotype they are.

This year's group, as I've mentioned, is very easy-going and low-key, and one way that manifests is in these genuine - and large - pace lines, which is groups of cyclists working together.  I struggled to keep up today because the plague is still leaving my body and I haven't been eating enough to keep my body fighting the disease and also riding my bike.

Sorry for the lack of interesting pictures today but there wasn't as much to take pictures of.

2017 - Day 19 - Huron, OH

Days are like today are hard to write about because in some sense nothing happened and yet in another sense they are the essence of these tours and why I love to ride.  It was an easy day; only about 50 miles on flat ground.  We didn't pass anything particularly interesting really; the strip west of Cleveland is mostly just residential.  It would have been a really easy day but I was still feeling a bit sick.  It was a good "team" day; we rode most of the day together, sometimes even as one big group, and we had a few mechanical issues that we fixed together.  Then we got to the gym we're staying at early, so we got to hang out and just do normal team stuff; play a little basketball, go get coffee, hang out at a bar.  Days like today are why I come out here; for the camaraderie.  Pretty soon we'll get into some serious riding and high mileage, so this is a nice bit of a break.