Day 29: Headwind

We waited out the storms this morning by sleeping in. I don't think anyone was complaining about that. However, our attitudes did a 180 when we got out on the roads... We were quite shocked by the unpleasant ride we finally started to embark on at 10:30. The headwinds were out of control and made a should have been easy ride into 85 miles of torture. I think this was my worst day out there. It was brutal. On flat roads like today we usually cruise at 20 mph pretty easily. Today it was a struggle to hit 12-13 mph most of the day. I was just mad for most of the day, resulting in a pictureless day (not that there was much to take pictures of today anyways). Not to mention my head was down most of the time pushing through the invisible brick wall ahead of us. Obviously today was rough, and I can only hope the winds die down tomorrow or better yet, change directions. But once again, we put another day behind us, and are another day closer to Boston.

On a different note, I did an interview over the phone this morning with Mr. Lanny Slevin for his radio show in Peru, IL. The Slevin family (one of my best friend's/teammate's/roommate's family) have been extremely helpful, helping us set up things for our stay in Peru, IL. This is just another example of how generous people have been along the way, which is greatly appreciated and helpful in our attempts to spread the word about the ride and about the FACE AIDS mission.

On another more positive note, maybe one of the few reasons I'm excited to be in the midwest is having the chance to see a lot of familiar faces, particularly once we get into Iowa and Illinois. I have been lucky to also have some other friends scattered throughout the route. These checkpoints are what break up the summer, keeping me going from one chunk to the next.

1. Friends in Boulder, CO

2. Friends in Des Moines, Iowa and Davenport, Iowa

3. Friends in Peru, Illinois

3. Friends at HOME in Batavia, Illinois

4. A bunch of friends in CHICAGO

5. Friends in Washington D.C.

6. Friends in Boston, Massachusetts

If you can't tell, I kinda miss my friends (and family of course) and being able to see any of them along the way is the best thing ever, especially when they pretty much all will join for a day or two of biking. I think I always appreciate my friends and family, but trips like this drive that point home. It's the people in your life that make it meaningful...LOVE YOU ALL!

Sorry... it was a rough day.

Day 28: Back on the Bike

So happy to be back on the bike today. It was a great 65 mile day, flat as can be. We've been following Route 30 the past few days and the next few to come. It's nice to be on one road, not having to worry about directions really or getting lost.

Today had some quite interesting sites, even though we were still pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There were some ranches, an exotic pet stop which definitely had a zebra, and lots of historical markers.

I also had a deer running along side of me and then bound across the street about 5 feet in front of me. Pretty cool with it's big, bushy, white tail. After all, I did see a deer sign....but it seemed to warn to watch out for Rudolph.

We also passed a lot of just neat, old stuff, like these old gas pumps. Things like this always interest me. I'm just into stuff like that. Antique and unique.

Then come, Ozen, about 15 miles outside of Lexington, NE (our destination for the day) was the 100th meridian.

Finally another exciting day despite the "flat, boring" route. I enjoyed taking my time again today and soaking up what I was passing. Things like the deer sign with a huge red reflector as a nose make the trip go on and make me laugh. How can you not? I think those kinds of things are priceless and this trip makes those types of things very accessible. Love it.

Day 27: South Dakota Detour

We spent our rest day touring South Dakota. We started our day off with a stroll through the touristy town and then headed back up to Mount Rushmore. We sat around there for awhile as new debates ensued about anything and everything.

Then we headed up to The Crazy Horse, another carving. This carving is still in progress and is to be the biggest of its kind when it's complete.

Next we drove through The Badlands National Park, which was pretty sweet. The canyons were different from Utah and sported their own unique colors and shapes. A very nice change of pace from the flat midwestern cornfields, that scenery is already getting pretty monotonous.

Shane was on a mission all day to find wild bison, so we ended up following a dirt road for awhile, and we did end up finding two of them amongst thousands of prairie dogs.

Then we hit up the famous Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. It's famous for pretty much being the only thing around back in the day and giving out free ice water to Mount Rushmore visitors, which they still do, along with 5 cent coffee.

After a long, fun day we started our trek back to North Platte, through some crazy, amazing lightning and an awesome double rainbow. Another great day with great experiences.

Day 26: Recuperation

Woke up feeling much better, but still not 100% and super dehydrated, I decided it'd probably be best to sacrifice one day of 50 miles for the long run. I think it was a good decision considering I don't really know how it's possible I could have slept anymore, but managed to pass out in the car pretty much the entire day.

We ended the day in North Platte, NE and entered the Central Time Zone. But we didn't stay much longer than it took to clean out the van and organize our gear. Then we were off to Mount Rushmore, where we will spend our rest day tomorrow. The drive was filled with more hay barrels, fields, cows, horses, and llamas.

We got into town around 9 pm and went to check out the carvings. They're pretty crazy. There was a speech and film that stirred up a lot of patriotism among the thousands of sightseers. Which in turn evoked lots of discussion within our group. Always an interesting conversation. The carvings were lit up and seem to send out a pretty powerful message and representation of America and its foundation.

We'll take another trip back to the park in the morning to view it in the light, hopefully with blue skies. I think we'll also explore the town a bit, considering it is riddled with touristy stuff and other major attractions, such as The Crazy Horse carving.

I'm pretty eager to get back on the bike already, and should be (aka. without a doubt will be) ready to go on Sunday.

Day 25: Goodbye Colorado, Hello Nebraska

For once I was glad it was my turn to drive...I woke up with the FLU! Ugh. If I hate anything more than being sick, it's being sick away from home, especially on a trip like this. Even though the day was overcast by that, it still brought some laughs and great conversations about Nebraska and the ride with some locals.

For instance, Mike was riding with me since he needs to replace his back tire - he keeps getting flats. So we stopped off in Julesburg, in search of the bike shop he had found online. As we pull up, the sign reads "Open Every Other Week, Friday and Saturday. Hours: 1:30-5:00" So that didn't work out. Later he attempted a shop in North Platte...and forgot we change time zones again, so we failed on that one too. Whoops. Anyways...

We drove onto our destination, Ogallala, NE. We're into our 5th state! Unfortunately, we were not able to catch a picture of the state sign because of construction and no place to pull over, but luckily Claire took the time to snap a shot when she passed by. We were once again graced with kindness at the Roadside Inn with the help of staff at a full Comfort Inn. So we ditched all the bags and headed to meet the crew for some lunch. After they hit the road again, we got a call from Jason, filled with confusion...

The construction led us to this next incident. Jason somehow stepped in some wet cement and ended up knee deep in it. Fortunately, a cement truck stopped a few minutes into our attempt to clean him and his bike off with our cooler. The awesome driver let him use the pressurized hose to clean everything up, leaving it as good as new.

Maybe the last event of the day was passing the biggest cow farm I have ever seen. And it definitely cleared out the sinuses...WOW. You could smell this thing for miles. Good thing the group steered off onto a frontage road and bypassed the area's aroma.

The day of driving ended, and I took the opportunity to sleep and rest. Hopefully I'll be back to 100% after tonight and maybe one more day of rest. We'll see what the morning has to bring.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'll get back on being a countryside paparazzi as soon as possible.

Day 24: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rise and shine...or not. Today was quite gloomy. It looked like it was going to downpour and start storming allll day. But, luckily it did hold out on us. And I guess the cooler weather was actually a plus with a long day on the road.

Our route was pretty ambitious today, unbeknownst to us. We originally thought we'd be able to do 140 miles from Denver to Sterling, but that was under the assumption that we would all be well rested and that the route would be completely flat. We couldn't have been more off. I think all of us were pretty worn out after taking advantage of our rest days to explore the surrounding areas. And most of today was actually uphill. Whoops. Guess we were a bit off.

We put in a valiant effort, finally retiring to the van around 7:45 pm with about 120 miles behind us. It was a long day with not a whole lot to look at. We've been spoiled the last couple of weeks with unbelievable views. We already started our segment into corn fields, wheat fields, and lots of (hopefully flat from now on) open road.

Sadly today's highlights were a gazillion grasshoppers, a llama, and turtle roadkill. Hopefully it was just the rainy day atmosphere that took over today's mood on the road. It was a little dull and drab. Even still, grateful to be out there riding and continuing to enjoy what our country has to offer.

Day 23: The Conclusion of the Boulder Experience

My experiences in Boulder were wrapped up today. We fit a ton of stuff into the last day, starting off with a morning rafting trip in Idaho Springs on Clear Creek. It was a little more calm than we were expecting, but still pretty fun nonetheless. Apparently, we missed the tough stuff by a few weeks as the water level has dropped since then. We went through 5 rapids, saw a ton of beautiful sites, and floated by the oldest and biggest gold mine in the state. We also saw a huge water wheel and waterfall. Overall, we were glad we had the rafting experience...I don't think any of us could have left CO without rafting.

Sam, Wally, and I with our Argentinean guide, Ivan.

Then Wally and I hit up Pearl Street for lunch at Paradise, followed by a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. The park was amazing. We saw some more amazing sites, a number of animals (chipmunks, deer, elk, and marmots), and built a snowman. I've always wanted to build a snowman or be in snow in the summertime - and it finally actually came true.

We finished up the day with an awesome dinner at Mad Greens and a stroll around 29th Street. I'm off to Denver in the morning to meet back up with the rest of the crew as we'll all begin our trek forward again, forging on to Sterling, CO.