When I got dropped off at home late in the afternoon of August 20th I went to open my screen door but couldn’t. It was what I heard was a typical scorching NC summer afternoon with plenty of humidity to go around, and the door had swollen shut. It always swells shut when it’s hot outside so really nothing had changed since I left. My car keys and wallet were in the same place on my desk and so was the shirt I threw on my couch on my way out the door 10 weeks ago. There was a bit more dust in my room than normal and the weeds in the yard were a bit higher, but really it felt like nothing had changed and I had only been away for a few days at the most. On the other hand I lived what seems like an entire other existence over the summer, completely contained between the two oceans. This alternate life is absolutely packed with memories and experiences and exists only in what seems like a far off land of bike touring while I am back here eating my standard cheerios in the morning and watching SportsCenter in the evenings.

I guess this isn’t a surprise at this point and many of you have cheated and looked at photos on Facebook or the Cycle20Ten site, but we all made it. On the afternoon of Wednesday August 18th our massive crew cranked over a few last remaining hills, into the open flats of the coast, through downtown Anacortes, and up to the pebble beach of Washington Park on the Pacific. We thus completed our 3600+ mile, 66-day journey across the US and most recently completed our final riding exam, The Cascades.

We started talking about the Cascades before the trip even started. At that point they were a mythical mountain range that were so far off in the future we couldn’t even imagine ourselves there, but as legend had it they were big….really big, and stood between us and the coast. We talked about them all trip and compared every hill, steep grade, and pass to the up and coming climbs. Then, all the sudden, we were camping in Colville, Washington and the sun seemed to set quickly that evening as we were in the shadow of Sherman Pass, our first and also biggest pass. That night the group was abuzz with a mix of nervousness, anticipation, and also a curiosity of how it would go.

As is always the case, the night flew by and the alarm woke us at the customary 6am. We packed up, ate, and rode to the base of the climb. According to the maps, the climb was 23 miles long and climbed over 4200 feet to the pass where we’d be camping that evening. If you’ve never climbed a pass on a loaded touring bike, let me assure you, it’s both and experience and remarkably challenging. The days of averaging 12 or 18 mph are long gone, and you put the bike in its lowest gear and crank hard to keep it upright at 4 or 5 mph. At 5 mph that’s four and a half hours of climbing in fully exposed sun….if you don’t take any breaks. We tackled this climb just like any other challenge on the trip, broke it down into manageable chunks and would bike for a few scheduled miles, take a break to drink, then knock out another chunk before a rehydration break. And slowly but surely we cranked around one last switchback to our camp at the pass. Everyone’s legs were pretty taxed and we took the afternoon to relax in the cool mountain air and nap in the shade of evergreens while we hydrated with ice cold water from the old fashioned hand pump on the top of the mountain. Rest was much needed and enjoyed as we had three more passes waiting for us before the Pacific.

Our next day’s pass, Wauconda was thankfully a lot smaller and we made short work of it after some really tasty pancakes in the morning. In the afternoon we finished up an 80+ mile-day by riding across the desert-like Ocanogan valley to the base of Loup Loup. Loup Loup has the reputation of being the hardest pass of them all and the next day we got a late start after a bikeshop visit so started the climb at the steamy hour of 11. Loup Loup very quickly lived up to it’s reputation by having an extremely long and very steep climb in the exposed sun right at the bottom. The first few miles left us cowering in shade and wondering how this could possibly go on for 18 miles to the top. Somehow it did though and our breaks were much more frequent on the relentless grade. I’m not sure how for 18 miles we could climb such a steep grade and not be above Everest but we eventually made the pass and quickly decended into the town of Twisp that held many promises of refreshment. The steep grade of Loup Loup made for a very quick bomb down hill to the famous Cinnamon Twisp bakery where we munched on the tastiest cinnamon rolls of the trip and quickly made our way to the city pool to soak away the heat exhaustion.

The next morning we made our ascent up our final climb, Washington Pass. We had been told that this one would also be tough but as we climbed up we made our way through the snow covered Cascade peaks with incredible vistas in every direction. The scenery was so remarkable that we didn’t have time to notice that we were climbing thousands of vertical feet. Our breaks involved taking tons of photos and before we knew it we were taking a group shot at the sign. We spent the night on top under a clear starry sky with the craggy peaks of the Cascades lit up by moonlight all around us and the following morning we made the steep and cold decent into western Washington.

Our last night of the trip we spent in Concrete, Washington. We had one last group dinner…which just so happened to have karaoke. We had an extended meal while most everyone thoroughly embarrassed themselves in front of what had become an extremely tight knit family over the last 10 weeks. We went back to camp and sat around in the dark on a basketball court with our journals out and spent hours recounting places, people, funny quotes, and close calls. When people spoke of Cleveland or the Appalachians it almost felt as though they were referencing another trip from years ago simply because we had generated so many hundreds of stories and experiences in those 10 short weeks.

The next morning we packed up our dew soaked tents one last time and hit the road for a flat and casual 50 to the beach. We’re pretty strong at this point so we could have crushed it out in a couple short hours, but the breaks somehow ended up pretty close together and seemed to linger just a bit. About 20 miles from our ultimate goal we rolled into a DQ and stopped for some grub. We knew parents and friends were all waiting on the beach for us just a short ride away but we lingered for a long lunch, played a few extra games of cards, and had just one last blizzard. We relished in those last few minutes that we all had together as a group of 16 people that had endured and experienced so much together. As soon as we rolled to the beach and the first person greeted us our dynamic would be forever gone and we’d never be able to get all 16 of us together and be so in the moment ever again.

We ceremonially dipped our front tires in the Pacific and thus successfully completed the Cycle20Ten tour. The events afterwards were a complete blur that included a lot of tasty food, packing bikes, and flying on really early flights that ultimately resulted in me being back in my office….a lot less fun than biking just in case that needed clarifying. Its really challenging to wrap up a 10 week trip on the road with 16 people across America in one quick email and this thing is already getting super long. Maybe browsing the few thousand photos I’ve posted will help. Initially, I was a bit concerned about having 16 people out there since it’s just more opportunity for stuff to go wrong. Now that everyone made it, the large was just more opportunity for craziness each and every day. I usually read a few books on a trip like this, but on this ride the action started at 6 am, add in 70 miles of biking, gas station breaks, long lunches, cards, basketball, swimming pools, football, rivers, Frisbee, more eating and maybe getting caught in an awkward conversation with a drunk redneck and before you know it it’s dark, 11pm, and the 6am alarm is bearing down on you.

The frenzy level of excitement that was with us before we left stayed with us the entire time and now that we are back home it’s still here. People kept telling us that biking across the US was the opportunity of a lifetime. We simply told them it was the opportunity of the summer of 2010. This trip did not quench anyone’s desire for travel or adventure, Rourke might be done camping actually, and we will all be back out on the road racking up photos and memories in very short order.

In addition to bringing everyone home in one piece, even though that piece may have some scrapes and chick magnet scars, we were successful in our efforts for UNC’s Linberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. We beat our 2007 mark by raising over $20,000 with our ride. It’s not too late to donate either if you find you have a surplus of cash hanging around the house. Just hop on the Cycle20Ten site.

Well…We biked it and we loved it. Check back soon, there are talks of hikin’ it and likin’ next summer. I’m off to fix my screen door, or maybe just leave it so it jogs my memory next time I roll in from another epic journey.

You can peep some photos….lots of photos so give yourself some time, on our site www.Cycle20Ten.com or on the troop site at www.Troop845.net.

Brian

Biketrips on Biketrips

So when we leave Maryland, the west coast seems too far away to think about so we have a bunch of mini biketrips along the way and just string them together. As it turns out, each of the biketrips turn out to be very different and adopt their own flavor, unique from the last. Since our last Billings update we’ve gone through three really unique sections and are heading out on an entirely separate fourth trip tomorrow.

When we left Billings we continued our jaunt across the mighty state of Montana, knowing that we had many long and lonely miles left. As we rode west out of Billings we entered the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the long flat sections of open range became a memory of the past as we now found ourselves gaining elevation daily and rolling over progressively larger hills. The towns remained small and places where we stayed such as Judith Gap, Geyser, and Sun River didn’t even have gas stations. Our days of pools and basketball courts were left behind and sometimes the only business in town would be an old style saloon where we could get some dinner and sometimes camp right out back.

The middle of Montana is still wide open range which still has benefits and drawbacks. Most of the evenings in Montana we’d finish dinner and go find a spot to watch the sun set behind the distant mountains as it turned the late day storm clouds a variety of colors. In the day however, this lack of trees lent itself to some strong winds and almost daily we would battle head and cross winds in the afternoons. On our day into Geyser they blasted in our face at 20+ mph and we cranked angrily up hills at 4 mph and had to pedal downhill simply to maintain 8mph. As a cruel joke, Stanton turned around at one point and went 30mph for a quarter mile in the opposite direction with almost no effort, we could only think of how long of a day we could pull off with that wind at our back. In addition to the wind, the lack of gas stations in town led to a decisive lack of gas stations along the road, so we carried tons of water through long stretches as the howling wind and dust continually dry our mouths and cake our skin in road soot.

As we pressed on for 10 consecutive long days we all had the cool lofty peaks of Glacier on our minds for some R and R. We left our last town of Dupeyer and knocked out 40 hilly and dry miles to the infamous Browning, Montana. Known as one of the top meth spots, we were sure to keep an eye on our bikes and make our lunch break short and to the point. Just for fun the wind really cranked up for our last 12 miles and we pressed on at our standard headwind pace of 8 mph, not to be held back from Glacier, our salvation and much needed rest. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon of August 1st and parked our bikes for three consecutive days off, unheard of for the Cycle20Ten team to that point. We spent the afternoon doing absolutely nothing, grabbing some very much needed showers, and throwing in some very salty laundry. The mexican restaurant of Serranos had been hyped up all trip and we finally got our chance to test its reputation. The 16 of us headed out for a celebratory dinner and unlimited chips and salsa did not disappoint.

We rented a van for our time in Glacier so on our first day we drove, that’s right, drove to the top of Logan pass to hike along the Continental Divide. I hadn’t driven in a while and it was a real treat to go faster than 12, the stereo was nice and loud, there was AC, and we could knock out a 3000 foot climb in a couple minutes. Once on top of the pass we hiked Mt Oberlin which took us up a long scree field above tree line to give us a grand 360 degree view of the entire park. We munched on some tasty deli sandwiches before clouds loomed overhead. Despite our quick retreat we got soaked by rain and pounded by some really obnoxious hale. No need to worry though, the van had heat so we were soon warm and dry rather than huddled under a gas station awning with all of our possessions soaked through. We took a lighter hike on our 2nd day that led us around Two Medicine Lake in a quest for the Twin Falls and maybe a grizzly or moose spotting. Much to the delight of the moms, we didn’t find any wild life, but we did find the Twin Falls. When we arrived it was cold and cloudy so we decided not to jump into the 40 degree glacial runoff water. But the machismo of 16 bikers soon prevailed and we were shortly all jumping around on shore, soaked and trying to warm ourselves up. Our time in Glacier flew by and we soon found ourselves on our last day off, heading to a short hike and pizza buffet down at Lake McDonald on the west end of the park. In our final evening, we tried to cram in some journal writing, do some light bike work, and of course visit Serranos for a send off meal. Three days off felt like a short afternoon and thus concluded another trip within our trip.

The section of road between Glacier and Sandpoint is one of the best liked and most majestic on the trip, and just like Serranos it didn’t disappoint either. The morning we left we climbed a few leisurely miles to the top of the Continental Divide to Marias Pass and spent the rest of the day navigating a long and winding decent through evergreen covered Rocky Mountains along streams and lakes and enjoying a refreshing change of scenery and some shade. From our fire station home in Columbia Falls we continued through the Rockies to Eureka traveling through some picturesque valleys and along rivers. In the afternoon we took a long break at Dickey Lake; ice cold, crystal clear, and completely surround by lofty mountains. Over the next couple days from Eureka to Libby and eventually to Sandpoint we traveled through some of the most gorgeous terrain on the trip. We spent long miles in canyons next to lakes, riding along rivers, and making our way west to the seemingly unattainable western border of Montana. Along the way we stopped to swim daily and found a few exciting reservoir jumps….that have drawn some comments on the site. And then finally on the afternoon of August 8th, after 17 long days, we arrived at the Idaho sign. Zach Jansen promptly wrecked on the gravel at the base of the sign, one last parting shot from Montana, our longest state by far.

We are now relaxing on a day off in Sandpoint, Idaho, camped out at the lake enjoying the beach as well as the hot tub and pool that our campsite offers. This town is great for a day off, boasting an infinite amount of activities as well as some great food. However, we take off tomorrow at 6am to begin the last and final biketrip within this biketrip. Tomorrow begins the Cascades. There has been plenty of talk and plenty of nervousness over this next part. Some of the days are quite short, only 29 miles sometimes, but the catch is that they are all uphill. There are 5 huge passes in the Cascades done on 5 consecutive days, some of which are over 4000 feet of climbing on pretty steep grade. But no matter how long the climbs really are, we’ll handle it like we always have for the last 8 weeks, get up at 6, grab a granola bar, plug in some good tunes and crush out each climb one by one. After one last glorious hoorah on Washington pass on August 16th we’ll drop all the way down and roll into Anacortes, our ultimate goal and finish up our last biketrip within a biketrip and begin a couple months of days off.

We’re bikin it….uphill, and likin’ it….at least I am, not sure about the other guys on that hill part.

Brian

July 26th – Day 43 – Mile 2417 – Billings MT

We are truly into the great wide open at this point in the trip. Most of our days the blue sky stretches to the horizon in every direction and our road reaches out to the sky in front of us.

This great wide open shows us amazing beauty but also presents us with a variety of challenges. First and foremost the winds have picked up. On the bad days, such as going into Silver Lake or Clara City the wind blasted in our faces at 20 mph and we formed tight draft trains to squeak out a measly 10 mph only to arrive at the town completely exhausted. On other days the winds are more favorable and carry us easily to our destination. Our day going to Newell South Dakota had 20+ winds at our back and we rode over the rolling prairie at 30 to 40 miles per hour, hoping the winds would hold for the whole 72 mile day.

Towns are getting few and far between these days. Some of our stretches are over 70 miles so we have to stock up on enough water to crank out a full day over hills in the sun and still make it to our destination somewhat hydrated. This also makes for tough planning days. We like to average 70 miles a day and sometimes there are good stopping points at 40 miles and 110 miles so we’re forced to juggle the long expanses and still stay on schedule.

As we make our way through South Dakota and Montana we see signs and advertisements warning us about the dire consequences of meth. Evidently it’s an enormous problem out here so there are extensive campaigns to keep everyone off of it. It’s particularly bad on a few of the indian reservations that we passed through and of course they are in long stretches of limited supplies so we ended up staying in two of the particularly afflicted towns. The locals in the preceding towns warned us against staying in Eagle Butte but it turned out to be our only option. When we arrived in town a local church took us in to sleep in the congregation hall and locked the doors citing extensive crime and theft in the evening hours. We were happy to escape our stay in Eagle Butte with no incident and pressed on. On a later stretch our schedule had us staying in Busby Montana, another notorious meth and crime town, which we were again warned about but just couldn’t work out how to avoid it. When we arrived in town, the only store in town was covered in iron bars and you had to ask for each item you wanted to buy and weren’t allowed to browse, not a good sign for us. We ended up lucking out again as we found a huge abandoned tipi with a cement floor next to the store which not only offered us protection from the blasting sun, but also hid us from site and gave us a safe place to hunker down for the night. Another bullet dodged in meth town and at 5am the next day we were on our way once again.

Coming from a rather active town it’s really impossible to imagine living in the middle of nowhere. When we rolled into Alzada, through a horrible headwind by the way, the sign boasted a population of 50 people. The Stoneville Saloon touted its ‘lousy food’, so we decided to give it a shot. It actually had pretty decent grub and was run by a lady that had been there for nearly two decades. Of the 50 people in Alzada she was the only one we really saw. She keeps the place open year round, during the blazing summer months and snow covered winter months, she’s there for 12 hours a day, every day. Some days no one really comes in at all. We camped in the field out back next to huge bales of hay and watched the sun set over the fields and mountains in the distance. It was one of the more beautiful camp spots of the trips and while we were enjoying the moment we couldn’t help to think of what it would be like to live there, to get up each day and work, and possibly have not a single person come in for twenty years on end. The landscape gives the feeling that it is wide open but the suffocating loneliness there could maybe drive many people insane in a pretty short period of time.

Not that the crew that we biked with in 2005 and 2007 wasn’t strong, they got the job done when it needed to get done, but somehow this year’s crew is a mile crushing machine. Long days in the sun with no water; 90 miles no problem. Early start day after day, lets string together some 80’s. Some awkward town spacing coming up, well we’ll just do 110 miles to Gettysburg SD to get back on track. Today the temp reached into the 90s and we needed to get to Billings MT. 85 miles into the day we encountered a huge pass, most of the crew didn’t even pause before they cranked it out with cold mountain dews on the mind. This will come in handy as we continue the long stretches in Montana and then into the Cascades in the coming weeks. Its nice to know that we have the range when we may need it.

On my birthday last week the crew wrapped my bike and all of my worldly possessions in glad wrap….twice. After I got done unwrapping it we got back to….

bikin’ it and likin’ it

Brian

We’ve been celebrating our mental halfway point by being spoiled rotten here at the Rice Ranch. Our friends Dean and Carol Rice took we 16 bikers in and have cleaned us, fed us extravagantly, washed laundry, and helped us rest physically and mentally for what is next….and boy did we need it. The last week was packed with fun and adventure and resting after biking 70 miles was unfortunately our last priority, so when we arrived at the Rice’s we were totally spent.

We left Henry and spent the 4th of July in Orion Illinois. Unfortunately the Orion celebration was the evening before so we partied it up with some pizza hut and basketball. Not quite the extravagance we’d hoped for, but on a bike trip we kind of take what comes our way. As we rolled into Iowa and crossed the mighty Mississippi the flats of Ohio gave way to some rolling hills and some surrounding storms really cranked up the humidity to make for some brutally hot climbs and really sweaty evenings. For the last week none of us put on dry jerseys or bike shorts in the mornings, not one of my favorite parts of biking.

When we rolled into Dyersville we were treated to the ultimate biking town. We camped right at the city pool under some huge pavilions and the pool itself boasted a diving board and two water slides. After refreshing ourselves for a couple hours we moseyed on over to an all you can eat Chinese buffet to close out a spectacular day of biking. The road then led us out of the supposed endless fields of corn and along the Mississippi for a couple days of absolutely fantastic riding.

We’ve been keeping our daily average at about 70 miles per day so we’re making good progress across the country and are in a very enjoyable section right now. As we make our way up the mighty river we passed through La Cresent where we spent the afternoon at the city pool and camped right next to it. The following day we crushed nice flat miles to Wabasha where we hit yet another city pool, then some live bluegrass, ever classic Chinese food and topped the day off with a couple games of full court basketball. At sunrise the following morning we covered yet another 75 miles and again enjoyed four games of basketball. We are soaking up this enjoyable biking lifestyle as much as we can right now even though it’s leaving us completely exhausted at the end of the days. It’s a struggle to get in bed before 11pm and we absolutely collapse in our tents at night. The next morning 6am comes way too early and we are still tired rolling out of camp, promising ourselves that we’ll take naps at camp, but with 16 people there is always something going on and it seems like it’s always time to get to biking again.

So here we sit at the Rice’s house. Two days off have absolutely flown by but we are very well rested, cleaned, fed, and ready for what comes next. Our route takes us into the remote and hopefully fun plains of South Dakota. Looking at the maps it looks like there is absolutely nothing out there, and the so called towns are simply a collection of a couple small homes with no real services to speak of. Our bikes are well tuned up and we are fully supplied, which is good since we may not see a bike shop for quite some time….or a city pool or shower for that matter. We finished our bike trip to Cleveland and our second bike trip to Minneapolis is now complete so our bike trip to Montana begins tomorrow morning at 6am. We’re hoping for good winds and sane temperatures but one thing is for sure, with 16 bikers it’s going to be a good time.

We’re Ricin’ it and we’re likin’ it

Brian
www.Cycle20Ten.com

Pancakes for eating and riding –
We left Cleveland Ohio with the promise of flat riding. Ohio delivered, big time. For most of the first day we rode along the lake and then later ducked into the now very familiar corn fields. We quickly discovered that corn fields are great for flat riding, but they are also conducive to lots of wind, some of which is not in our favor. Our first night out of Cleveland took us to the sleepy town of Clyde, sleepy except for the train that blares it’s horn at all hours for its entire time in the town, not great for sleeping at night.
Day two out of Cleveland saw more enjoyable and relaxing flat riding but as the day progressed, strong storms formed in the west. Our group was spread out along the country road heading into town so when the first huge bolt of lightning hit some people were already in camp and some of us sought shelter in the closest farm house. My group happened to knock on a grandma’s door that just finished baking brownies and was watching the world cup so we stuffed ourselves, caught up on soccer and watch nature rage outside. Later when we made it to Napoleon another band of storms hammered us and we watched from the protection of horse stables the lightning and sheets of rain outside.
We moved west into Indiana where we stayed in Monroeville, one of our favorite towns to date. They have a dedicated biker hostel with local people that bring fresh fruit, basketball courts, showers, washing machines, an ice cream place a block away….a basic biker heaven. It was tough only staying the night, but we pressed on early the next morning to put 70 more miles under our belt.
A couple days ago the winds turned in our favor so we upped our miles to try and put miles in the bank while the riding is good. Our first good day we put down 90 miles by 2pm while the winds were at our back all day at 10mph. The next day the winds helped us again, and we enjoyed a bike trip classic by stopping for a warm breakfast of pancakes with 50 miles under our belt by 10am. We’ve gotten in the good habit these days of riding in the morning after a quick granola bar and stopping for a more substantial breakfast about 25 miles into the day. This is helping us get bigger miles under our belt as well as be more efficient with our days and get to town at a reasonable hour.
We are now in Henry Illinois for a day off. This is a super classic biker town and after two 90 mile days and crossing the 1000 mile mark we are really enjoying ourselves here. We’re camped on the Illinois River right next to the city pool and very close to the Dairy Queen. The fair is in town right now and we enjoyed grilled chicken and live bluegrass last night before heading to bed without an alarm set. Today there is plenty of pool time, visits to the DQ, football, naps, bike maintenance. Tomorrow we begin our trip to Minneapolis, one small step at a time.
Some random notes from the road:
Rourke Bauers quote: This bike trip has changed me a lot so far, I used to not sit near graveyards and here I am. I also used to wear seatbelts a lot and now I don’t.
David Hare cooked Ramen noodles in Big Red soda, didn’t go so well.
Alex has broken nine spokes in the last week and has to do wheel maintenance nightly.
We’re bikin’ it and we’re likin’ it.
Brian
www.Cycle20Ten.com

The hills of Pennsylvania were much harder than I remembered. Maybe it was because we took a different route through last time, or maybe is was that I blocked out the torture of the PA ups and downs from my last ride across. Either way, I actually stopped on one of the longer climbs to see if my brakes were stuck in the on position or if something was jammed in my wheel since I felt like the grade wasn’t thaaaat steep but I was somehow going 3 mph. When I got to what I thought was the top….turned out we had another mile of climbing….I joked that it felt like I was dragging a piano up the mountain. Everyone confessed that they felt the same way, so it assuaged my fear somewhat that I was just older and weaker than everyone in the crew.

The hills did take a serious toll on the group. Everyday was a battle of steep ups followed by treacherous downs, followed immediately by another steep up…..all day long. It was impossible to make any time since we couldn’t get into a good rhythm of riding. We found ourselves stopping some days after 35 miles of riding and just absolutely exhausted. Every local that we asked assured us that just over that hill to the west it was ‘flat as a pancake’. After this went on for days on end we gathered that these people had simply never ventured west of their town and the world could have ended over yonder for all they knew. As legs got ever more tired the groups frustration with the hills grew. We were ready to make some miles and for some leisurely riding. We finally got what we hoped for as we exited Pennsylvania on our 7th day and entered into some open farmlands. We left the hills behind us for a while and were able to finally crank out 75 miles and still make town with some energy and sunlight left in the day.

Traveling with a group of 15 is an interesting experience to say the least. It is an event everywhere we go. Meals at a small diner can overwhelm a place for hours, we take up significant space in a parking lot, and getting water out of a sink can take a considerable amount of time. We have had a few great ultimate Frisbee games in the fields where we’re camping, we played a game of pickup baseball recently (how often do you have enough people hanging around to play pickup baseball) and when we play basketball, it’s tournament style.

Despite our large size, it hasn’t prevented people from really helping us out. On our first night we stayed in Stuartstown, PA where we took shelter in huge pavilion, watched some baseball, presented to a local scout troop, and the next morning we were all invited to the Timson’s house for a breakfast buffet. A couple days later a stranger picked up our lunch buffet tab and walked out, and firemen have opened up their hall for us to sleep and shower in. Even with rolling 15 people deep a drunk guy at the pool in Gettysburg was being really obnoxious towards us and decided to pick on Alex, the most ripped up guy in our crew. Alex narrowly avoided ‘eliminating’ the problem when the manager showed up, kicked the guy out, and gave us a free luxury cabin for the evening.

Spirits are soaring now that we are in Cleveland for a day off with the mountains behind us. Biketrip #1 is done, now we begin a biketrip to Minneapolis. Should be a lot less hills, a lot more pools, and hopefully more showers….since we went a week without one. We’ve made sure to take care of the showering situation now that we’re in Cleveland and have spent some time roaming the mall, watching world cup, cooking out, tweaking our bikes and generally resting up for the next leg. We’re staying at Josh DiMauro’s house and he’ll be joining us for the next couple weeks. He biked with us in 2003 for a month, 2005 for the whole time, 2007 for a couple days and since it appears you can’ have a bike trip without Josh, he’ll be bringing his good luck out with us into the midwest….making our numbers 16 strong.

With so many bikers there are simply too many stories to recount so you’ll have to check our daily blog for events and quotes. It is one heck of an adventure every single day, that’s for sure.

We’re bikin’ it and we’re likin’ it.

Brian
www.Cycle20Ten.com

We all saw Favre retire from the Packers, then go to the Jets, then retire from the Jets and go the Vikings. The guy just can’t stay retired. I retired from cross country biking back in 2007. I was happy with this decision for many many months. Then spring happened and the touring bike remained hanging in the shed, built up a bit of pollen, and it made me sad to look at it. Then another spring came and the touring bike still hung in the shed and got another even crustier layer of pollen on it. Then this spring happened and I caved and took her out, put on some new shiny parts, fresh kevlar tires, and am taking her for a dip in the Atlantic tomorrow morning.

Thus the Cycle 20Ten Tour begins. There are 15 of us total and on a very simple level our plan is to bike from the Atlantic Ocean in Maryland to the Pacific Ocean in Washington, covering 3700 miles over the next 10 weeks. Our group composition is rather wide, we are mainly a group of Scouts from Troop 845, some high school students from Chapel Hill, some UNC students doing projects, and some friends who simply felt it would be more fun to bike for a summer than to work…can’t say that I blame them really.

We take off on our bikes heading west with about 40 pounds of camping gear and food, and will be biking about 70 miles a day. We have no vehicle support so we’ll find places to stay every evening; town parks and fire stations are our favorite. Along the way we’ll experience America at a nice slow pace through city pools and basketball games as make our way across the northern portion of the United States; Badlands, South Dakota; Glacier, Montana; and finally the Cascades of Washington State.

When we did a similar ride in 2007, the WaBu Cycle Tour, we worked with the Lineberger Cancer Center here at UNC and raised over $18,000 over the summer. This year we’ve partnered with them again and are well on our way to beating our mark from last time. We’ll be spreading the word while we’re out there so help us out and spread the words to your friends and co-workers.

With 15 people, I honestly have no idea how it will turn out. One things for sure, we’ll always have plenty of people to get a good basketball game, diners that are having a slow day will love us, and anyone that offers us their shower had better be ready for us to wreck it. As we figure things out this summer you can follow our tribulations at our site www.Cycle20Ten.com; check out daily photos and text updates as well as live GPS tracking of where we are…..here’s a hint if we completely stop for 2 hours at 1pm we’re catching a fatty nap in the shade of a big oak.

Well, the hills of Pennsylvania await.

About to be bikin’ it and surely to be likin’ it.

Brian