Oh, Canada!

We are off to Ontario today!

Lucky breaks

Outside Kalamazoo, I broke a soke on the drive side of my rear wheel. As I realize i cant get the spoke out, an ex mmechanic, now semi pro racer and team co-owner, Mark drives by. He runs to his house to get parallel wire cutters which let the broken spoke slide out, but he cant get the free wheel off. Because I am riding an older bike, it still has a free wheel system rather than a cassette system. Mark only had a cassette tool, but told me where to go in town. He also mentioned his friend who had comleted race across America in 9 days solo. Someone please look this up.

Luckily, Ashley and Craig, her cousin, who we were staying with camme to get us because my wheel was so wraped it couldnt clear the break enough to roll. When I went to the shop, Alfred E., turns out Mark had called ahead. His teammate Evan and another mechanic were able to fit us in to the packed schedule take a look at Rachels computer and my wheel. Rachels computer is working, but my wheel was done. I will make it into a clock when I get home. Any guidance areciated on that.

Hell's creek is not aptly named

Just had a swim in the nce swimmng pool and now oft to a nce warm shower.

And then there were three...

W ell, but not in the classic sense.  Ashley H has joined us! She's another div student, taking a leap by joining us on this trip.

We left Ashley's awesome cousins' yesterday. Thanks, guys!

We are headed toward Hell Creek in Michigan today. It's rainy!

Homeward bound

Left the northside of Chicago, made it through Indiana, and now in Michigan and back finally in eastern standard time.

Hammond, IN!

After five days in Chicago, we are on our way again!

The bouquet, thrown to me

No comment

Will dancing

With my awesome friend Sandra

A wonderful wedding day!

A treat

Inexpensive sushi in Evanston

Chicago

We are in Chicago, where I used to live.

The first night, We stayed at the White Rose Catholic Worker in Chicago.  If you get a chance, look up some of the history and values of the.Catholic worker movement.  They have a full house at the WR right now, including a young man who just got out of a 6-month prison term for trespassing into the School of the Americas.  It's incredible, humbling, and inspiring to be with people who are.giving their lives to work for peace.  Thank you, friends.  I hope to continue to learn from you.

On Wednesday I got to see a tiny new baby in the DeSantiago-Cardenas family. Super sweet! She folds her legs up like a tiny frog when she's on her mama or dad.  Little Delilah Adele! We love you.

Last night I went to hear my bro's band, the Lowdown Brass Band, play at the Mayne (stage?) Theater on Morse.  They are great and I had mucho fun.  Check 'em out:

http://www.google.com/m?hl=en&gl=us&client=ms-android-verizon&source=android-launcher-widget&action=devloc&q=lowdown+brass+band

Waukegan, IL

"Mmm. You make that outfit look so good, baby."

Repeated

What a champ

What a champ

Colossal failure

Before reading this, mother, please remember I am complete fine. I have not a scratch on me aside from the endless number of mosquito bites on my arm. Keep that in mind as you coontinue reading. For those of you who care, Rachel is fine too.

So for a while now, I've been riding with a bent derailer hanger. Anyone with bike knowledge can now tell me I'm a complete fool. So, I was still able to shift quite easily, but the chain had a tendency to drop if I coasted too long. This didnt happen everytime, so it wasn't easy to gather what was happening. I went to a couple of bike shops, but it was a repair that would have taken a while and as always time was limited to make it to the wedding in Chicago.

After lengthy observation, I have no real clue what was going on but I am guessing the derailer allowed the chain to hang too loose which allowed me cassette to move when the wheel san fast enough, throwing my chain.

After a while I've gotten pretty good about managing to get the chain back on while still on the bike, but recently the chain was falling off the cogs of the derailer. This means I had to get off the bike to fix it, but Chicago was 4 days away. I just had to make it that far.

Saturday, we were climbing out of La Crosse (Wisconsin has real hills, who knew?). Having made it up to St. Josephs Ridge we were going down to Coon Valley. As the names suggest, there is a difference in elevation. The hill was about under a mile of 8%; nothing bad, but I knew my chain would probably be an issue.

I let Rachel go down first, assuming I would need the space and might be a little dangerous to be near. While I was right, it was a big mistake.

Very quickly, the chain fell off, even though I was going slowly (under 25 mph). I tried to pedal it back on and had mitigated success, but it was not to last. The chain fell off and I could feel it was off the derailer. I spotted a pull off where I could fix and tried to maintain control. All of a sudden, the back wheel jammed up and I started skidding out of control. I managed to remain up right. I unclipped as I neared the pull out, braking the whole time. I put down my right foot, unclipping the other foot as I turned into the pullout. I let the bike slid out from under me, and managed to land standing. The bike, protected by my panniers, came to a rest a few feet in front of me.

Sounds pretty badass, right? Thats because I left out the part where I was freaking out like an idiot.

The chain had wrapped itself between the cassette and my spokes, preventing the wheel from spinning.

There was a 50 foot skid mark behind me. It looked awesome. I wore straight through a new gator skin, so there is a quarter sized hole of nothing and scraped thin area in an inch around it. The derailer was bent, the cogs had snapped, but the body of the derailer, and the wheel had survived well.

While I was trying to get my bike fixed on the side of the highway, only three people stopped. Two were bikers who tried to help me before going to explain my predicament to Rachel (she did bike up a mile and a half to help me). The only driver who stopped was a young guy who made sure I was alright before going on to find Rachel. I even tried to hail down the pickups to get a ride to the campsite that was only a mile and a half down the hill. I like to think it means something that in a region of farm land in a state known for being friendly, only someone of my generation stopped. Take that all you who complain about the young. (Sorry for the rant. Its annoying people ignoring your pleas for help.)

Anyway, Rachel made it up the hill, helped me get the chain free, and tape the derailer to the frame. It was downhill all the way to the campsite, so I put a new tube in. The tube looked like a child crowning out of the tire and maybe made it a few rotation before exploding loudly.

After a long walk down, we ended up camping in the town park. Of course, all the bike shops in the nearby towns were closed on Sunday and I couldn't even pedal a foot. However, Rachel's friend Katy (Snacks), who was in the area graciously volunteered to pick us up.

I took my bike to Ben's cyclery in Milwaukee, an awesome bike that has a theater as a warehouse, which managed to squeeze my bike in for reppairs and got me running. They informed me I had also managed to break my freewheel, but its all good now and we head to chicago tomorrow.

Ok. That's it.

More

Lots of kitten fans out there...

my broken spoke

Number 2! We fixed it ourselves and I did a quick true at the campsite. The kittens helped.

Best.campsite.ever.

Cats love bikes. It's a fact.

We are not alone

So I forget who asked us if a book could come of this trip. Yes, this trip is interesting enough to write a book about. However, I think people underestimate the relative ubiquity of this trip.

Some people, upon seeing our bikes, know exactly what we doing. Adventure cycling association ppublishes maps that are quite popular, and back when we were on one of the routes we would see multiple groups a day.

Even, when we were in the middle of South Dakota, far from any routes, we met a couple from Alaska who were doing the trip.

The groups we have seen generally come in three flavors: two young men, a college age couple, or a retired couple. Of course, there are exceptions. We met a father son pair, a married couple between jobs, and even a large group of retired people.

Yesterday, we were lost getting out of st. Paul and a commuting cyclist, Mike, offered to guide us in the direction he was going home (he also let us use his computer to check our route and fed us pizza. Thanks.) He was wearing a cycling shirt that had a cross country route on it. It turned out his wifes family had done it as a big group.

A NY times columnist is doing the trip solo for his second time.

So all types of groups do it.

Life on the road

Fun: pulling into a coffee shop to get out of a storm, meeting the locals, getting a history of the local areas

Less fun: setting out again, only to realize you need to find cover because two bolts of lightning strike a hundred yards down the road

Fun: watching the said lightning from cover

Btw, you were right, Pete. The storm did not break. Thanks again

You had to be there

W: you are such a failure

R: at what?

W: Digesting

R: Racoon!

dear parents

We do indeed take cover when there's lightning. Dear Wisconsin: that's enough for today.

Willard Scott over here

Referring to the thunderstorm with mucho lightning that we are waiting on to pass:

W: "the eye of the storm is passing."

R: (long look)."you're fun."

W: "I know I make up shit."

Prescott, WI

Bring on the cheese curds! We visited some yds/school friends yesterday and today and it was swell.  Now we will head southeast again!

Today

We started off in rain with wet tents stuffed into their bags. Rode in the rain for a while.  The weather cleared. 

Will had the first flat since Montana.  Then I got one later- another staple.  Then I found this broken spoke.  I consulted with Cale, an great bike friend, but couldn't quite get it in.  Plus it was late and we were on the side of a highway.  And mosquitos.

Minnesota: 10,000 lakes and 10,000,000,000,000 mosquitos.  I just went back and added more zeros so that you'll get my point.

If you were to talk to me now I might whine a little, perhaps about this rain jacket that no longer seems to be.waterproof.  But then I'd remember that I'm typing this to you on a phone and about to drink water from a tap and will continue on a bike ride tomorrow.  So.

My dinner involved the following: sardines (in water, NOT in mustard sauce, que no me gustan, cabbage, ramen (the vegan top ramen "oriental" flavor, instant lentil soup mix, and salt.  The sardines and cabbage were on sale.

I ate it in my tent because 10,000 of the mosquitos were hanging around our spot tonight.

70 ish miles.  Le Sueur, MN.  Minneapolis tomorrow, we plan.

Como una jefe

So my theory is that rachel's electric personality combines with the rotation of her rims to create a magnetic field that attracts staples. We were eleven miles from camp and the staple was holding tight, so she decides to ride on it. She makes it six miles. While replacing the tube, she notices a spoke is broken. So right now we are half way done with our first spoke replacement. (All the others were done by shops because I magically only broke spokes there/ only noticed)

It's raining

We have to get on the road.  Some kind of covered space would be awesome right now so we could pack up our stuff and keep it dry


Dems da breaks

Edit: Joyce, the campground host let us eat breakfast on her porch! And we chatted a lot.

the story ended! Well!

So, I contacted devils gear, who knew it would be best if I called Sram directly.  I did all that, and they gave me the option of an Apex in Kalispell or a Force in Whitefish.  I chose Whitefish.  It was on our way to Glacier and..... well....(don't worry if the bike parts stuff doesn't mean anything to ya.)

Ron at Glacier Cyclery was waiting for me!  (It took us about two days to get there.) A Force would have been a sweet upgrade, but the problem was that Force is a road der. and I still needed all my gears for mountain climbing.  So he took an Apex der. off of a stock bike, got a new 10 speed chain, and set me up!  We had fun consulting the numbers and all that just to make sure that the Force wouldn't work.  (And I got my bike math right!) 

So, I'm stick with my big mtn cassette, an Apex Der., and the lovely double in front.  If anyone with a keyboard wants to explain some of this in the comments, please have at it.

I got to meet two local bike shops in all this fun and get really great service. What's your local bike shop?

For Matt

Buffalo Gap National Grassland

Prairies are nice

Caption contest!

At sunset

Go

Why weather matters

Weather changes everything on this trip. It can put a serious damper on a site, like the storm did to mount rushmore, or the setting sun can make the badlands stunning. The wind can push us along and make the day so much fun, or it can sap us of all our energy.

Today the heat destoryed us in the afternoon, plus we lost an hour at the time zone line. we upgraded to a "rustic cabin" for just a bit extra and now we will be sleeping with ac. Amazing

Badlands

24 miles of.riding through the upper part of the park. 


Go to here. It's incredible.

Badlands

Cute. Lethal.

Well...

Two more faces

Wyoming, just before South Dakota

He already had a new tire

Deadman's Basin - MT

Cheat?

I have a clear conscience.


sundance, WY

We cheated :(

Many years from now when I brag about this trip, I hope no one finds this blog because I will lie through my teeth about today. We are taking a ride.

Honestly, it pains me to take this ride and I can't forgive myself. I know there's no excuse. That being said, here's my list of excuses:

1: It is the fourth of July. Not only do we deserve a holiday, it is a bad day to ride. We got buzzed so many times yesterday, I was scarred about riding today.

2. I am suffering two mechanical issues. My seat bolt is stripped so badly that after I made a small adjustment the seat wont stay tight. Its fine to ride, but uncomfortable. Also, my tire has a two inch gash on the top layer; the bottom layer is fine but still not what I want to ride on. I have a back up tire in Sheridan. Of course, all bike shops are closed today.

3. We have a dealine. Rachel has to be in Chicago by the 21st. This ride saves us a day, which cuts our average by 5 miles a day. Trust me, that makes a huge difference.

4. The ride is mostly south. We are only gaining 45 miles east. We have done more extra than that. In fact, from Seattle to Billings it is only 822 miles on roads. We have done over 1500 miles already. Just going to glacier pretty much covered this trip. If we had gone straight to chicago from seattle, we would be 500 miles outside it right now.

5. There was no camping on the Res, so we had no idea where we would camp tonight.

6. We havent taken a full day off, so we like the rest after our two past big days.

7. Rachel's Steripen needed its battery replaced. She did not know this. Bad water makes a day even harder.

8. Our hosts just happened to be going to Sheridan. Plus, they are hilarious. We have been laughing none stop.

Ive had a lot of time to come up with these excuses.

If it isnt obvious, i feel bad about taking this ride, but I'm enjoying the AC. Rachel calls it tactical advancing. I guess part of this trip is not letting my ego in the way of enjoying the trip.

I will deny this every happened in the future

Big rides

Yesterday, I did my first century ride. Admittedly, I did not set any speed and I had to turn around to get the remaining 4.62 miles to make it a clean 100, but I did every mile with the panniers on. There was even a headwind most of the day.

There was a point when we didnt think we would make it to our fallback of 70 miles.

Of course, today was the opposite. We started really strong for the first 20 miles, but hit a rough headwind that destroyed us in a valley. As it was our hottest day yet, it descimated us. In fact, the only reason we made it to 100 was a thunderstorm gave us a massive tailwind that allowed us to clear 20 miles in little over an hour. Of course, it eventually caught us and we had to take shelter, which was a blessing in disguise. A couple in a car pointed us to an airpport hanger where some WWII planes were on display as part of a show. We just missed the B52 trying to land in the thunderstorm.

Hi!

We stopped in missoula for a night and had a really great time thanks to some new friends.  We had had a second 80 mile day and were pooped.  Having a futon to sleep on was simply maaaaarvelous.  Thanks, Roe and co.! 

Then we proceeded east on 200 out of missoula and camped at the Russell Gates campground.  RG is one of Montana's many fishing campgrounds. Note: MT charges you more to visit, camp, and fish if you are not a resident. 

Then we headed to Helena, which promised a campsite on the state map but did not deliver. We were pooooped again, and in asking a family at the park if they knew of a campground close, Will secured us a place to sleep on the family's new lot.  Way to go, W!  Conversation can be so productive!  Also, we cleared the continental divide at McDonald Pass, which was much easier than Washington Pass, possibly because we were already much higher.

Will got a voice recorder and a small radio in Helena, and the radio has been super sweet.  Classic rock has re-entered my life and it is indeed a pleasure.  Also, it keeps the extrovert AND the introvert happy on this trip.

Yesterday we made it to Skidway campground in Helena National Forest. We saw a moose!

Most of hwy 200, 12, and 294 have been incredibly beautiful. I saw one of the most beautiful places I've seen in through rolling hills out here. The photo is on my camera, though, so it will have to wait until August.

Will is pounding back the trailmix and encouraging me to eat more. I'm trying. I learned that a cinnamon roll is not good for a ride snack. Calorically it's fine, but it sits heeeeavy. Will knew this. I did not. So riding yesterday was tough for me. Will says I did not train right for the trip. That is, not enough junk food.

We are aiming for 90 miles today, so I better jet!

Also! I left some shorts and a jersey somewhere. Maybe missoula. So, I'm down to two shorts and oneish jersey. .:)

Still here!,

Super long days, little juice, and little reception, though.