Friday, June 27, 2008
Additional Blogs
For more blogging from the road, check out Claire Brisendine's blog at http://mmmmclaire.livejournal.com/ or Mike Rhodes' at http://clockworko.blogspot.com/
Wichita, Kansas
Greetings everyone! We apologize that we haven't updated the blog in a while. We think that our feet are finally off the ground with this project, and we hope to be updating a lot more in the near future.
The entire crew hasn't been together until the week before last. Our time has been full of side trips, and just a few minor injuries that have left the group temprarily fragmented. Nonetheless, we're finally all together and making good time! From western Virginia, most of the group headed into Kentucky, which was not our favorite state. There were lots of hills, lots of angry dogs, and lots of angry coal truck drivers barreling down the road. Stavros and Daniel missed the eastern half of Kentucky due to a detour down to Asheville.
After Kentucky we rode through southern Illinois, a beautiful area with lots of national parks, lakes, and vineyards. We took a "zero" in Carbondale, Illinois where we were hosted by some extremely generous couchsurfers named Ashley Cline, Felipe Panchiera, and Aur Beck. We would like to thank them for taking us in, giving us a place to stay, and showing us a great time in Carbondale. Aur (who is the chief technician for Advanced Energy Solutions) provided the group with a solar panel, a 12 volt battery, and some more equipment so that we can power a boombox and charge cell phones and ipods as we ride.
And then there were the Ozarks. Most people think that the Rocky Mountains would be the hardest part of a cross country bike ride, but that's not the case. A fifty or so mile stretch of the Ozarks was the hardest part we've ridden so far, and we've been told that's the hardest stretch of the entire trail. The reason is that the hills are so much steeper than in the Rockies or the Appalachians (even though the relief isn't as great), so that you actually end up climbing more in the Ozarks than in a day of Appalachians or Rockies. However, Missouri was perhaps the most beautiful place we've seen so far, which made up for the difficult terrain. We've never seen water so clear. However, the weather was nuts in Missouri. It seems that every day and every night there's a 30% chance of thunderstorms, and we had several times where they came out of nowhere, got everything soaking wet, and disappeared back into nowhere.
And finally, we are in the great city of Wichita, Kansas! Our stove fuel is very low, and it was worth a sidetrip here to resupply. The first thing that struck us about Kansas is how hot and windy it is. It's not all that flat yet, but it's getting flatter with every mile. The direction and speed of the wind will determine how fast we can get through Kansas. For the most part, the wind has been from the south so far, which has given us a cross-wind. As long as the wind doesn't pick up from the west, though, we should be able to cover lots of miles in Kansas.
Some members of our group have made side trips into cities along the way, with Wichita being one of them. It's interesting that the most inaccessable places to bikes are the places that the most people want to go to. Today, we had to ride 60 miles on Kansas Rt. 54 (which is kinda like an interstate, but bikes are allowed on the shoulders) to get into Wichita. The ride was tough, and the traffic for the most part was unaccomodating, but now that we are in town, we're not finding it any easier to get around. Wouldn't it make sense for cities to be the most accessible to bikes? The roads in Wichita, St. Louis, and Springfield, MO (the biggest cities we've visited) were all clearly made only with cars in mind.
We will head to Hutchinson, Kansas tomorrow, and hope to be in Boulder, Colorado around July 4th. Peace!
The entire crew hasn't been together until the week before last. Our time has been full of side trips, and just a few minor injuries that have left the group temprarily fragmented. Nonetheless, we're finally all together and making good time! From western Virginia, most of the group headed into Kentucky, which was not our favorite state. There were lots of hills, lots of angry dogs, and lots of angry coal truck drivers barreling down the road. Stavros and Daniel missed the eastern half of Kentucky due to a detour down to Asheville.
After Kentucky we rode through southern Illinois, a beautiful area with lots of national parks, lakes, and vineyards. We took a "zero" in Carbondale, Illinois where we were hosted by some extremely generous couchsurfers named Ashley Cline, Felipe Panchiera, and Aur Beck. We would like to thank them for taking us in, giving us a place to stay, and showing us a great time in Carbondale. Aur (who is the chief technician for Advanced Energy Solutions) provided the group with a solar panel, a 12 volt battery, and some more equipment so that we can power a boombox and charge cell phones and ipods as we ride.
And then there were the Ozarks. Most people think that the Rocky Mountains would be the hardest part of a cross country bike ride, but that's not the case. A fifty or so mile stretch of the Ozarks was the hardest part we've ridden so far, and we've been told that's the hardest stretch of the entire trail. The reason is that the hills are so much steeper than in the Rockies or the Appalachians (even though the relief isn't as great), so that you actually end up climbing more in the Ozarks than in a day of Appalachians or Rockies. However, Missouri was perhaps the most beautiful place we've seen so far, which made up for the difficult terrain. We've never seen water so clear. However, the weather was nuts in Missouri. It seems that every day and every night there's a 30% chance of thunderstorms, and we had several times where they came out of nowhere, got everything soaking wet, and disappeared back into nowhere.
And finally, we are in the great city of Wichita, Kansas! Our stove fuel is very low, and it was worth a sidetrip here to resupply. The first thing that struck us about Kansas is how hot and windy it is. It's not all that flat yet, but it's getting flatter with every mile. The direction and speed of the wind will determine how fast we can get through Kansas. For the most part, the wind has been from the south so far, which has given us a cross-wind. As long as the wind doesn't pick up from the west, though, we should be able to cover lots of miles in Kansas.
Some members of our group have made side trips into cities along the way, with Wichita being one of them. It's interesting that the most inaccessable places to bikes are the places that the most people want to go to. Today, we had to ride 60 miles on Kansas Rt. 54 (which is kinda like an interstate, but bikes are allowed on the shoulders) to get into Wichita. The ride was tough, and the traffic for the most part was unaccomodating, but now that we are in town, we're not finding it any easier to get around. Wouldn't it make sense for cities to be the most accessible to bikes? The roads in Wichita, St. Louis, and Springfield, MO (the biggest cities we've visited) were all clearly made only with cars in mind.
We will head to Hutchinson, Kansas tomorrow, and hope to be in Boulder, Colorado around July 4th. Peace!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
It's a lot more difficult than we anticipated giving online updates on the road, but, by popular demand, here is a day-by-day of Across the Rockies so far:
Thursday, May 22:
Trevor, Nathan, Stavros, Claire, Calum and Michelle met at 9 AM at the News Channel 6 Station. News cameras, family members, and friends sent off our loaded-down bikes, and we set off up Bike Route 1 through Ashland where we met up with the Transamerica Trail (Bike Route 76). The trailers and panniers definitely made travel a bit more difficult than anticipated, and we also learned that staying together as a group would be quite a task with so many of us. The trail was beautiful; riding around Lake Anna in the early evening was probably the highlight. Nathan, Stavros, and Michelle made it to the awesome fire station in Mineral Virginia after a few minor mis-turns along the trail where we were greeted with hot showers, access to a kitchen, TV, washer/dryers, and anything else we could possibly need. Charlie, a high school EMT at the Mineral station, showed us around and made us all feel welcome, even offering to let us sleep inside if we wanted. Claire, Calum, and Trevor were not quite so fortunate; they got a bit lost in Bumpass, and at nightfall, a nice man allowed them to camp on his property.
Friday, May 23:
Trevor, Claire, and Calum set off early along a short-cut from Bumpass to Mineral to meet the rest of the group, allowing Nathan, Stavros, and Michelle a lazy morning around the Mineral fire station waiting. Claire's hips and knees were hurting, so she and Calum stayed around the fire station to talk to an EMT, and Michelle, Trevor, Stavros, and Nathan set off along a "short-cut" to Charlottesville. The EMT had good news for Claire that she could keep riding on her knee. For the rest of us, once again, a beautiful ride, but the road had a lot more traffic than the trail roads themselves. Made it to Charlottesville by evening where we rid ourselves of any unnecessary weight from our trailers and panniers for the big mountain rides to come.
Saturday, May 24:
The Charlottesville crew went to the Charlottesville farmer's market and the grocery store this morning to stock up for the ride, and then met up with Dan and his friend Luke from the UVA Cycling Team. Dan's bike needed some work, so he and Luke went to the bike repair shop while the rest of us headed off to face the ever-growing foothills and climb our first mountains of the trip. After the steepest climb of the trip up Afton Mountain, we ended up at the bike house of June Curry, the infamous cookie lady. We had a wonderful time listening to her stories of the trail over the years and Afton when it was a booming railroad town, exploring the museum of a bike house plastered with 32 years worth of memorabilia, postcards, and newspaper articles from the trail, and eating the delicious foods (not just cookies!) with which she kept the bike house stocked. On the way up the mountain, Trevor could barely bike because his achilles tendon was hurting so badly, so he put it on ice and decided to take a day off at the cookie lady's house the next day to wait for Claire and Calum who had just made it to Charlottesville.
Sunday, May 25:
Nathan, Michelle, Stavros, and Dan wished the cookie lady and Trevor goodbye to tackle the huge climb onto and on the Blue Ridge Parkway (counting the ride up to Afton, we went uphill for close to 12 miles without a break). We could not have asked for better weather to ride the parkway -- the visibility was great for all of our incredible mountain views. We stopped at the Humpback Rock museum to listen to some bluegrass in the afternoon. Michelle and Nathan made it almost to Lexington when they got lost and had to get a bed along Route 11 as it was getting darker, and Dan and Stavros made it to Vesuvius on the down-side of the parkway where they met the preacher at the local church, who fed them a nice meal and invited them to camp on his property. Claire and Calum met Trevor at the cookie lady's in Afton. Trevor's heel still didn't feel one hundred percent to ride in the morning, so his mom planned to come get him for a break and a doctor's visit in the morning.
Monday, May 26:
We took Memorial Day easy to meet up in Lexington and run some much-needed errands. As Stavros and Dan were casually riding the last few miles into Lexington, they ran into a couple who lived just outside Lexington who had ridden the trail together last summer. They invited offered them a ride to their home to stay for the night, and when Stravros told them that there were two others in Lexington, they extended the offer to Nathan and Michelle as well. A few hours later, Alan came back with his bike rack, and we miraculously fit four bikes, two trailers, and two sets of panniers into his small car. We rode on windy gravel roads up a mountain to their lovely home, where Deb fed us a delicious meal and dessert. They gave us all kinds of great advice for the road, access to their wealth of bike tools and outdoor gear, and an entire floor of their home to use as our own complete with bedrooms and beds and showers. We were utterly overwhelmed by their generosity and our luck. Stavros even got to play a guitar. Claire and Calum made it to Vesuvius where they met up with the same preacher that Stavros and Dan had seen the night before. Trevor was bummed to have to go back to Richmond to rest his heel.
Tuesday, May 27:
Alan and Deb fed Stavros, Dan, Michelle, and Nathan french toast and coffee at 6 AM and then dropped us back off on the trail outside Lexington. We were thrilled to get an early start and beat some of the afternoon heat. We stopped by the James River in Buchanan about halfway along our route and then made it to Troutville, where Cecil met us in the public park to show us around, give us some tips, and tell us all the facilities that were available to us. All of us were exhausted from the day's ride and barely managed to make ourselves dinner before collapsing asleep. Stavros talked to the Pew Environmental lobbying group who asked us to detour by Jim Webb's office in Roanoke in order to lobby for the new global warming bill in the Senate. Claire and Calum made it to Buchanan (only a few miles behind the first part of the group).
Wednesday, May 28:
Dan, Michelle, Stavros, and Nathan woke up to driving rain, rode to the far side of Roanoke with some problematic directions that ended up keeping us on crowded roads where cars weren't remotely accustomed to bikers or accomodating of them. We barely noticed because it was so rainy and cold. When we finally got to Senator Webb's office (a little behind schedule thanks to the rain and traffic), his aide had already left the office, so we passed on our wishes to the nice receptionist Debbie and faced the storm once again. We finally met back up with the trail after our twenty-mile detour and got so cold and demoralized that we spent a couple of hours in a gas station a few miles past Salem before the rain settled down and we could go on. Were met in Christiansburg by Steven Dickens who led us by bike to his parents' home in Radford and gave us encouraging words to keep us going for the last few miles of our longest day yet (almost 70 miles), where we were fed and housed and wonderfully welcomed. Steven rode the Transamerica trail in 1976, the year the trail was made and shared old photos from his trip with us. Claire and Calum made it to Blacksburg.
Thursday, May 22:
Trevor, Nathan, Stavros, Claire, Calum and Michelle met at 9 AM at the News Channel 6 Station. News cameras, family members, and friends sent off our loaded-down bikes, and we set off up Bike Route 1 through Ashland where we met up with the Transamerica Trail (Bike Route 76). The trailers and panniers definitely made travel a bit more difficult than anticipated, and we also learned that staying together as a group would be quite a task with so many of us. The trail was beautiful; riding around Lake Anna in the early evening was probably the highlight. Nathan, Stavros, and Michelle made it to the awesome fire station in Mineral Virginia after a few minor mis-turns along the trail where we were greeted with hot showers, access to a kitchen, TV, washer/dryers, and anything else we could possibly need. Charlie, a high school EMT at the Mineral station, showed us around and made us all feel welcome, even offering to let us sleep inside if we wanted. Claire, Calum, and Trevor were not quite so fortunate; they got a bit lost in Bumpass, and at nightfall, a nice man allowed them to camp on his property.
Friday, May 23:
Trevor, Claire, and Calum set off early along a short-cut from Bumpass to Mineral to meet the rest of the group, allowing Nathan, Stavros, and Michelle a lazy morning around the Mineral fire station waiting. Claire's hips and knees were hurting, so she and Calum stayed around the fire station to talk to an EMT, and Michelle, Trevor, Stavros, and Nathan set off along a "short-cut" to Charlottesville. The EMT had good news for Claire that she could keep riding on her knee. For the rest of us, once again, a beautiful ride, but the road had a lot more traffic than the trail roads themselves. Made it to Charlottesville by evening where we rid ourselves of any unnecessary weight from our trailers and panniers for the big mountain rides to come.
Saturday, May 24:
The Charlottesville crew went to the Charlottesville farmer's market and the grocery store this morning to stock up for the ride, and then met up with Dan and his friend Luke from the UVA Cycling Team. Dan's bike needed some work, so he and Luke went to the bike repair shop while the rest of us headed off to face the ever-growing foothills and climb our first mountains of the trip. After the steepest climb of the trip up Afton Mountain, we ended up at the bike house of June Curry, the infamous cookie lady. We had a wonderful time listening to her stories of the trail over the years and Afton when it was a booming railroad town, exploring the museum of a bike house plastered with 32 years worth of memorabilia, postcards, and newspaper articles from the trail, and eating the delicious foods (not just cookies!) with which she kept the bike house stocked. On the way up the mountain, Trevor could barely bike because his achilles tendon was hurting so badly, so he put it on ice and decided to take a day off at the cookie lady's house the next day to wait for Claire and Calum who had just made it to Charlottesville.
Sunday, May 25:
Nathan, Michelle, Stavros, and Dan wished the cookie lady and Trevor goodbye to tackle the huge climb onto and on the Blue Ridge Parkway (counting the ride up to Afton, we went uphill for close to 12 miles without a break). We could not have asked for better weather to ride the parkway -- the visibility was great for all of our incredible mountain views. We stopped at the Humpback Rock museum to listen to some bluegrass in the afternoon. Michelle and Nathan made it almost to Lexington when they got lost and had to get a bed along Route 11 as it was getting darker, and Dan and Stavros made it to Vesuvius on the down-side of the parkway where they met the preacher at the local church, who fed them a nice meal and invited them to camp on his property. Claire and Calum met Trevor at the cookie lady's in Afton. Trevor's heel still didn't feel one hundred percent to ride in the morning, so his mom planned to come get him for a break and a doctor's visit in the morning.
Monday, May 26:
We took Memorial Day easy to meet up in Lexington and run some much-needed errands. As Stavros and Dan were casually riding the last few miles into Lexington, they ran into a couple who lived just outside Lexington who had ridden the trail together last summer. They invited offered them a ride to their home to stay for the night, and when Stravros told them that there were two others in Lexington, they extended the offer to Nathan and Michelle as well. A few hours later, Alan came back with his bike rack, and we miraculously fit four bikes, two trailers, and two sets of panniers into his small car. We rode on windy gravel roads up a mountain to their lovely home, where Deb fed us a delicious meal and dessert. They gave us all kinds of great advice for the road, access to their wealth of bike tools and outdoor gear, and an entire floor of their home to use as our own complete with bedrooms and beds and showers. We were utterly overwhelmed by their generosity and our luck. Stavros even got to play a guitar. Claire and Calum made it to Vesuvius where they met up with the same preacher that Stavros and Dan had seen the night before. Trevor was bummed to have to go back to Richmond to rest his heel.
Tuesday, May 27:
Alan and Deb fed Stavros, Dan, Michelle, and Nathan french toast and coffee at 6 AM and then dropped us back off on the trail outside Lexington. We were thrilled to get an early start and beat some of the afternoon heat. We stopped by the James River in Buchanan about halfway along our route and then made it to Troutville, where Cecil met us in the public park to show us around, give us some tips, and tell us all the facilities that were available to us. All of us were exhausted from the day's ride and barely managed to make ourselves dinner before collapsing asleep. Stavros talked to the Pew Environmental lobbying group who asked us to detour by Jim Webb's office in Roanoke in order to lobby for the new global warming bill in the Senate. Claire and Calum made it to Buchanan (only a few miles behind the first part of the group).
Wednesday, May 28:
Dan, Michelle, Stavros, and Nathan woke up to driving rain, rode to the far side of Roanoke with some problematic directions that ended up keeping us on crowded roads where cars weren't remotely accustomed to bikers or accomodating of them. We barely noticed because it was so rainy and cold. When we finally got to Senator Webb's office (a little behind schedule thanks to the rain and traffic), his aide had already left the office, so we passed on our wishes to the nice receptionist Debbie and faced the storm once again. We finally met back up with the trail after our twenty-mile detour and got so cold and demoralized that we spent a couple of hours in a gas station a few miles past Salem before the rain settled down and we could go on. Were met in Christiansburg by Steven Dickens who led us by bike to his parents' home in Radford and gave us encouraging words to keep us going for the last few miles of our longest day yet (almost 70 miles), where we were fed and housed and wonderfully welcomed. Steven rode the Transamerica trail in 1976, the year the trail was made and shared old photos from his trip with us. Claire and Calum made it to Blacksburg.
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