YesRide

More Photos!!

2006-08-01T00:13:00.000-06:00

Ty asked for some more pictures and I figure it can't hurt anything to throw some up here.

I told you the 4th of July was sweet and here is a picture to prove it. Note Mississippi River glistening with each firework.

So I got this sweet CU cycling jersey from a friend. It's pretty much perfect, minus the fact that it's a bit long. Notice that when I pull it down a bit, it looks like a skirt. We got bored, as you can tell.

I took this one as we rode through Rhode Island. As you can tell, it was very lush on all sides. The roads we were on in this part of the state were very small, which is nice because you can use the whole road to avoid the massive potholes (see bottom center of picture)

So what are the odds that I get a HUGE staple in my back tire? It's pretty unlikely when you think about the exact angle that I had to hit that thing at for it to staple directly into me. I was a little pissed, but mostly just in awe.

Sorry about this one Mom. So there we were, riding a long 90 plus mile day in tough heat. Luckily the roads we are on are basically deserted. We could hear some sort of large car behind us and what do we see, but a very large piece of farm equipment moving slightly faster than we are. So as it passes us we sprint to catch up and sit right in it's slipstream. Nothing like cruising at 24 mph on flat ground w/o pedaling... just watch his brake lights.

From sea to shining sea

2006-07-28T17:15:00.000-06:00

I know it has been a while since I updated, but unexpectedly as we got into more populated areas I started getting less internet access. Where I last left you we were riding through rural Pennsylvania and getting our asses kicked into shape by some huge hills. We made it through the last mountain range and crossed through the Deleware Gap into New Jersey. Western New Jersey is very pretty and looks exactly like you would picture the Northeast:rolling hills, small towns, thick forests, pretty nice. Eastern New Jersey looks exactly like you would picture it: raging shit hole. The last 20 miles of our 85 mile day into NYC was through a very populated area, at times a ghetto, but with tons of potholes and traffic. On one of these huge potholes (I could not go around it due to a large truck blowing by me at 45 mph) I snapped another spoke on my back tire which sent me wheel badly out of true(wobbly). My only option was to rig my brake not to rub it and ride the last hour hoping the wheel wouldn't bend in half. Luckily, it didn't. Seeing The Empire State Building rise above the horizon was a wonderful sight and a great moment of celebration.

I spent my day in New York getting on the Today Show, which was alright. I think it was a bigger thrill for my folks than for me, but they did get to see how much facial hair I've put on. After that I went to Coney Island with Griff and Dan. It was Griff's birthday and he loves swimming so we went for a dip in the Atlantic. Then we wandered around and enjoyed the ambiance of a wonderful city. Near midnight I met up with Nate Patterson and Dave Gonzales to go out and enjoy my 21st birthday. Kirkendall and Scott were out with us too and we had a good time in the village singing karaoke (Friends in Low Places brought the house down).

The ride from NYC to Boston was supposed to be a wonderful "victory lap". It wasn't. The 25th, my birthday, was the worst ride of the trip for me. 88 miles of stop and go traffic, stoplights, glass, mean people, getting lost in the Bronx, just a bad day. When we asked a cop for directions he just laughed and said "I don't know, but good luck." The 26th was a lot more fun, but a very physically demading 102 mile hilly day. When we got to our church in Rhode Island the church people said they didnt have showers but we more than welcome to swim in their pond. Great pond.

Finally, on Juy 27th at around 11:30 am EDT I arrived at Duxbury Beach, just south of Boston MA and finished cycling across America. It was a wonderdful feeling of accomplishment and relief. We took pictures, hugged, popped some champagne and relaxed. Last night we went out on the town and drank and danced til we couldn't stay awake any longer (turned out to be not very late since we had to wake up at 4:30 the day before). I've spent today exploring Boston with Kevin and preparing my stuff to fly home.

This is me, Jonah, and Andrew. A bunch of us tried to make it the whole trip without a shave or haircut. We are the only 3 that made it.

I haven't had the opportunity to wax poetic about this trip too much, but I'd like to say how proud I am to have accomplished what I have. It was not easy, in fact, it was much harder than I had anticipated. I wanted to stop about 2 weeks ago and sleep in a bed and be regular, but I didn't. In the long run it will be interesting to see what I take away from the trip. At the very least, I have 12 lifelong friends who I love to death. We have bonded so much on this ride and truely care for each other in a special way. I've loved seeing all the towns and meeting all the people in such a personal way. I've loved exploring states I thought I would never go to, and swimming in bodies of water I shouldn't have. My longing for adventure has been temporarily quenched, but I don't think permanently. I'm so glad I came on the ride and rode 3700 miles on my bike, The One Vega, but I would never do it again. I'll probably continue putting more pictures up when I get home if people are still interested, but if not, thanks to everyone who has kept up on me and cheered me on. Honestly, it can get a little lonely sometimes on the bike and it's nice to know I have people back home who care about me.

2006-07-20T19:13:00.000-06:00

Helllllo,

It has been a while since I updated, I know, but we have been so busy and internet time has been hard to come by. In the last week, our daily mileage has been averaging in the high 90s, one day was 124 miles... not so much fun. Tonight I am in State College PA, which is where Penn State is. We're half way between Cleveland and NYC and should be arriving there on Sunday evening. I'm pretty excited to be finishing, I miss having a regular life and doing regular things. It's hard when we finish riding to go out and have fun because we're so tired, but I've tried to take advantage of any opportinity to go out and swim or explore a town. Not that things are all bad, the weather has been pretty good (not too hot) and I've enjoyed the challenge of climbing through the Appalachians.

Some people ask us what we do when it gets real foggy. The answer: just ride baby... Turn on a light, wear bright clothes and hope that semi behind us is going slow. I actually like riding in the fog, it's fun.

Mmmm, nothing like eating corn right off the plant. It tastes like the mini corn in Chinese food.

We stayed at a church in Cleveland with a huge belltower. We climed to the top and this was the view. Ringing the bell late at night was sweet and VERY loud.

Sorry if I look sad in this one, but it was on mile 91 of a 124 miles sufferfest. It wasn't fun. My legs felt fine the whole way, it was just really boring and hot.

Yes, we have seen crazy Amish people in their buggies. Pretty sweet.

Adios my friends. Look for me riding my bike on the Today show on Monday morning, as we are going to set up trainers and ride behind the show. Hopefully we'll be on.

Ohio dogs not as fast as Indiana dogs

2006-07-14T19:02:00.000-06:00

A don't have a ton of stuff to update, mostly just been riding my bicycle a bunch. We crossed Indiana in about 2 days, it was pretty much exactly the same as Illinois, but with slightly more trees. The first day we were riding all along the edge of this massive thunderstorm, but as soon as it looked like we were going to get hit by the rain we would come to a turn in the road and avoid the storm. It was great, my friend Scott is convinced that the lucky bell on his bike (Sancho) wards off evil road spirits that create crashes, storms, and flats. So far, it's worked, so I'm not going to argue. The next day of riding took place in a really thick fog, which was really fun. Not too many semi trucks either.

Riding through extremely rural areas has some positive and negative aspects. The other day we were riding and were running out of water due to the unbelievable heat and humidity, so we stopped at a farmhouse to ask to use the hose. The woman in there was waaaaaay too friendly, giving us ice water and offering us cake and other snacks. When we got to the town we were staying, a man offered to take us to his farm to swim in his pond. Never turning down a good pond-swimming, we went and this pond was so sweet. The water was like a warm bath, but really clear and clean. It had a diving board and slide, so we swam and played for a long time before heading back. Stuff like that is so enjoyable, it makes me feel like a good ol' fashioned country boy. One of the negative things we experience is an amazing number of dogs, and all these country dogs like to chase bicycles. When it's a little weiner dog or jack russell chasing and barking it's not a big deal, but when a HUGE German Sheperd starts barreling down on you (like today), it's not as fun. The thing was running at like 25 mph, pretty scary.

Sorry about the long blogs, but if you don't want to read this much, don't. Now, some photos from the new camera. And Biz, I went relatively cheap, but on the bright side I got it from Office Max.
While in Chi-town we decided to go swimming late at night at Lake Michigan. I took this photo looking back at lake shore drive from the water. It was a very foggy night and a great swim. But Chris, you might be asking yourself, how did you go swimming if you did not have a swimsuit?

This is the farmhouse where we stopped for water. Note the little kids on the deck trying to ride their bikes with us. Also note the corn fields behind house.

Sunrise over a foggy Indiana lake.

In the bosom of my parent's friends... Yes-RIIDE

2006-07-11T10:25:00.000-06:00

The terrible trifecta is now over! That's what I came to call the last three days of riding. In total we covered 330 miles in 90 plus degree heat, just not a good time. The first day was only 97 miles, but with a straight on 15-20mph headwind. It felt like we were going straight up hill all day. It's unbelievably frustrating to get to the top of a large hill and expect to coast down the backside, only to find the wind is so strong that you have to pedal down the hill in order to keep from stopping. When we rolled into the small town of Watseka, a small group of us decided to take a train up to Chicago to spend our rest day in the big city. Kyle Herlache was nice enough to meet me at Union Station and we walked around downtown Chicago on a beautiful evening. I felt like a country bumpkin staring up at all the tall buildings, but I couldn't help it. It felt surreal to sit down and realize that I was actually in Chicago. Sometimes when all you do is spend hours riding through a cornfield you forget where you are, I could just as easily be riding through Colorado as Illinois. You can look at all the signs and maps and tell yourself that you're going across the country, but it wasn't until I was looking at the skyline that reality started to set in. It's a strange feeling to describe, hopefully you get what I am trying to say.
Kyle took me back to Lombard and I crashed at the Herlache residence last night. They were so nice to put me up and give me some chow. I haven't slept in a bed since Montana so this was particularly special. Little things like sleeping in a room by yourself and being able to shower in the morning are luxaries that I miss.
Time on the trip is starting to wind down, it's a 5 day ride to Cleveland and the six days from there to NYC. I'm looking forward to these last challenges and hopefully it will all go alright. Oh, my mom wanted me to tell you about some of the ass issues I'm having, but I'm not going into details. I'll just put it this way: If you've ever had swamp ass on a road trip, mulitply that by 10 and then sit on a bike seat for 8 hours a day.
My camera is completely broken at this point, I'm hopefully going to go out today and find a new one while in Lombard with the Herlaches. Since I can't show you any pictures, I'll make up some descriptions that would probably accompany regular photos.

Here's me in the middle of a cornfield. Next to the cornfield is some soy bean fields. In the distance you may or may not see a farm house, which is next to a cornfield.

This is me on my bike, riding it for many hours in a row.

This is me, living the dream.

Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa.

2006-07-07T18:50:00.000-06:00

So we've done a lot of zig zagging the last few days, mostly following the Mississippi as it makes it's way down from the Twin Cities along the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The river is surrounded by large bluffs that are so gorgeous and covered with thick trees. It's been hard riding, but so fun to climb up and down the bluffs as we skirt the river. We've crossed it back and forth a few times, even spending a couple nights in Wisconsin (I saw a Culvers and a Piggly Wiggly). We crossed into Iowa yesterday and I have loved it all. People are so nice, tonight I am staying at a man's house with one other rider. But the guy is out of town!! He's just trusting strangers to sleep in his home. So amazing. I'm sitting on his porch now, watching the folks walk up and down the main street of the town (Dyersville). Just a perfect midwest evening. Tomorrow is day one of the three day stretch where we go at least 100 miles each day. By the end of it, we'll be at our rest day which is about 60 miles south of Chicago.
Everytown we go through is "famous" for something, or so the locals often like to claim. Dyersville is where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed, and the field is still there in the middle of a cornfield. We went and saw it today and it was fantastic. It was totally free and everyone there was having fun, just throwing a ball, or running the bases. Maybe it helps that it's one of my favorite movies, but I had a blast out there.
My camera is currently going into a stage 7 crap out mode, so my picture quality is slowly decreasing. I tried to take pictures of the fireworks we saw on the fourth, but they didn't really work out. It was a great show, right on the river and you could see the reflections from the fireworks rippling off the water. The town of Red Wing (yes, it's where the shoe compnay is from) sure knows how to put on a good show.

Iowa really is a pretty state, anyone who claims otherwise is probably crazy. But that does make me think of an interesting point. You can't get a good idea of what a state is like when you're driving on the highway. It's too easy to miss all the little details. Even so, I wouldn't ever recommend spending 9 days in Montana, for any reason.

This is an example of when we are up on the bluffs looking down to the river. It's about 500 feet down into the valley, which doesn't sound like much, but try going up and down into the valley like 6 times a day. There is at least a 10 degree temperature change from the top to the bottom, so it's nice to stay close to the river.

Like I said, the field was sweet. Go the distance.

I would also like to give a HUUUUUUGE Louisville Colorado shout-out to the one and only Lance Halladay. For those of you who don't know, Lance is my good buddy who is just getting home today from his two year mormon mission to Canada. Missing his return was almost enough to keep me from going on this trip and I'm very sad that I can't be there to welcome him home. I love you buddy, and I 'll see you in a couple weeks. Rockies in October.

3900 miles, still a lot, still across America

2006-07-03T21:24:00.000-06:00

So as of tomorrow I am back on the bike. YEEEEE-HAW!!! I've gone on a few miny rides while I've been on suspension, but I've certainly been having bike withdrawls since my van suspension started. No longer. I've still got some anger to be worked out with our leadership, but I can do that on the bike. Minneapolis has been a great city, much more "hip" than I was expecting. The neighborhood we're in feels very young and artsy, almost like Boulder but flat and humid. I don't have too many pictures because I wasn't snapping a whole lot of pics in the van, but here are a few. Also, not pictured was the enormous bald eagle I saw flying around. Just a HUGE bird.
HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

Here I am at the Geogrpahic Center of North America. We talked for a long time about how they would actually figure that out, considering the continent isn't evenly shaped. Our best guess was that if you had to balance the continent on a pin, where would you put the pin so it wouldn't fall? But who knows?

The Mall of America has a NASCAR store. Let's just say that I was decked out in Jimmy Johnson memorabilia and talking lots of racing with the people there. So hilarious. For people that don't know, my roommate (TIMMY!!) and I like making fun of the NASCAR.

Twins game at the Metrodome. Cool stadium, and the crowd was amazingly knowledgable about the game. Picture full on cheers for sac flies and strike outs. Those are my boys Michael (in the middle) and Jonah (A Pats fan).

Rockies in October.

Sad but true

2006-06-29T21:24:00.000-06:00

So the rumors you've been hearing are in fact true. I was briefly detained by the law enforcement officers of Fargo ND for the act of consuming beer while 29 days underage. I have since been relegated to the support van by the organizers of the ride(a suspension of sorts). There are many details in there that I am leaving out, mostly because I'm tired of talking about it, but I would like to say that most of the other folks on this ride think it's BS that I'm being punished again, after already taking my punishment from the law. I have been supported by my friends in amazing ways. Two friends (Scott and Griff) have decided that they too will ride in the van for as long as I do, and they have been right there with me for the last two days in the van. Chris Markl (our leader, whom I do not wish to bad-mouth in print, but we can just say that I do not think well of him) told me to "be a man, and accept my consequences" and "I'll learn a lot in the van." Well Chris, I have learned a lot. I've learned so much about friendship and standing up for what one believes is right from Scott and Griff, that I will forever be a better person for it. If it took a night in jail for me to learn these lessons, then maybe I'm better off for it.

Oh, and Chris, if you are reading this: The jerk store called, they're running out of you.

PS Thanks Mom and Dad for your incredible words of wisdom and acceptence of my dumb mistakes. I love you.

Is it healthy to consume 6000 calories a day?

2006-06-24T20:18:00.000-06:00

So everywhere we've been so far has been amazing. We've stayed in churches, schools, rec centers, even people's homes, and all for free. They've cooked for us, donated tons of food for us to eat, it's been unbelievable. The kindness that strangers have shown to us on a day to day basis has been one of the best parts of this trip. I hope it continues as we begin to re-enter civilization, but the folks of Washington, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota have been the greatest.

We've got some soda, some purple stuff... oh sweet man, Sunny D!!

I'm currently sitting in the teacher's lounge of the Minnewauken ND school, enjoying a cool glass of Sunny D. To give you an idea of how small this town is, the graduating class of 2006 was made up of only 5 people, all girls. Kinda like an inverted sausage fest. So there is a big lake here called Devil's Lake. Just ten years ago the lake was more than 13 miles away, and now it's right next to the town. People think it might swallow up some of the town, pretty sweet. Riding has been good, my legs still hurt on some days, but I'm actually getting used to spending 6-8 hours a day on a small saddle. Tomorrow is another century (103 miles), but hopefully the winds will be kind to us. For the next 10 days or so, we head in a SE direction to avoid the great lakes. Our trip is kinda crazy in the fact that if you were going to drive on the interstate from Seattle to Boston it would be like 3000 miles or so, but our trip is around 4300. This is due to our use of back roads and lots of North/South winding. Everyone is looking forward to Fargo in a few days because it's the first real town we've seen since Seattle. I don't know if anyone in the history of mankind has been so excited about going to Fargo, but we are. Much love to everyone back home in the 303, and everywhere else as well.

Kaci- You have become known as the 'pretty girl who feeds her dogs milkbones' among our group due to the pictures I took in Seattle.

Great Places, Great Faces, Sou..... North Dakota

2006-06-21T16:02:00.000-06:00

Seriously, what's in North Dakota that you can think of? Not much. I promised you pictures, so that's what this little update will be. Today we're staying at a rec center on the indian reservation, it's so sweet. Hot tubs and steam rooms are the best. We played b-ball with a bunch of the guys here and they are freakishly talented, I felt like such a whitey but still had some fun.

Alright, I know that river doesn't look that wide from this angle, but trust me, it is. And yes mom, I won't try swimming anymore large bodies of water.

The demolition derby in Glasgow MT. Very entertaining and the announcer literally said "Get ready for some ACTION! ACTION! ACTION!"

Uhhh, do they know? They must know? But... are you serious? That K K Kreeps me out.

Yes, we do other things than ride our bicycles. And yes, that is an apple juice that I am enjoying.

His leather jacket had chains that would jingle...

2006-06-20T10:30:00.000-06:00

One thing I've found out while spending a disgustingly long amount of time on my bicycle is to choose the songs I listen to in the morning very carefully because they will always get stuck in your head. There's nothing worse than singing "C is for Cookie" for 8 hours in a row. Hence, the consistant Tom Petty quoting.
So anyways, we crossed into North Dakota yesterday and we're enjoying some time off in Williston. It's a town of about 12,000 people and is by far the biggest town we've seen since Seattle. Kinda intimidating. We rode the first 40 miles yesterday and stopped at a bridge on the Missouri river for lunch. Being the adventurous young chap that I am, I decided it would be a good idea to swim across it. Turnedut not to be the best choice due to the fact that I'm not a great swimmer and apparantly the Missouri is a really big river. I made it across... barely, and still had to ride the next 50 miles to town. Needless to say I was a little tired when we got in. I'll have some pictures at some point, but I can't load them now because I'm in the library. I'm having a blast and thanks to everyone for commenting. Also, Montana was a very cool state, and the demoltion derby we went to was better than my wildest dreams.

Uncle Bucky-- You should have seen some of the local Montana boys try to act cool and tough at the Demoliton Derby we went to, they all thought we were there to pick up on their 16 year old girl friends. We just wanted to see old beat up fords smash into each other and sling mud into the grand stands.

Lizard-- Yeah, we'll be cruising through Rugby in a couple days, apparently it's the exact center of the North American continent. The first 30 miles of North Dakota have been great, hopefully it doesn't get too bad as we continue. I'm leaving you and Rick in charge of keeping my folks sane while I'm gone, I hope you can handle the immense responsibility.

They both met movie stars, partied and mingled...

Montana... pretty big

2006-06-16T16:33:00.000-06:00

So it turns out... Montana is a really big state. 3rd biggest actually. OUr last three days of riding have gone 111, 106, 91. Miles. Yes, miles. That's over 300 in the last 3 days. My legs are finally getting used to the grind and it's fun to see the landscape change. Today I must have crossed a black cat or something though. I put my jacket on this morning cause it was raining and the zipper busted. Then in the morning my bike felt a little weird and heavy, but I kept riding. After lunch (about 55 miles in) I noticed my rear wheel was out of true and rubbing my brakes. So that's why it seemed hard to pedal. Turns out I had snapped a spoke sometime in the morning and just kept riding. So after we rig the wheel to work right, I ride for another hour or so and get a flat. Oh well, we fixed it and got to town alright. We're in a town called Malta and it's pretty cool. When 15 bikers roll into a town of 500, the folks notice. The locals tend to be real nice and eager to talk, and the teenage boys immediately view us as a threat to their girls, which is hilarious. We're gonna be in the local town parade tonight too. No time for pictures, but you can click the link on the right to see a lot of pictures of the group and our adventures.

Into the Great Wide Open

2006-06-14T21:52:00.000-06:00

We crossed the divide today and descended into the plains. It's amazing how quickly the landscape can change and it's a little daunting to know that the next 1000 miles or so is going to look exactly the same. We went 109 today and should go about 105 tomorrow as we crank across Montana. Two mountain ranges down (Cascades and Rockies), keep on crossing your fingers for winds out of the west.

Guess what state we're in...

Downhill all the way to the mighty mississippi

Pictures

2006-06-12T19:29:00.000-06:00

Again, the pictures got posted out of order, but bear with me.

The first one is from today, we're staying near Glacier National Park and so we drove up and hiked around. It was sooo gorgeous. A bunch of us jumped into a lake which was just above freezing... pretty fun.

The next is on top of Sherman Pass, which is the highest elevation we've gone so far. Pretty challenging climb and it was fun to hang out at the top before running a 4 man train at about 37 mph for the next 90 minutes to our next town.

I was enjoying the view and couldn't help myself...

New state!! New state!!!

I'm having a lot of fun, and enjoying the challenges that get presented to me every day. Keep making comments, I really like hearing what you guys have to say, thanks.

Pictures

2006-06-12T19:23:00.000-06:00

750 miles in...

2006-06-11T21:46:00.000-06:00

Today we went 125 miles, by far the longest ride of my life, and ended up in Whitefish MT. We've been having a blast and riding constantly. My legs hurt so bad, and almost every muscle in my whole body hurts, but it feels good to know you've gone so far already. Everyone here is like a family to each other and we are all changing in a positive way every single day. I'm going to post a bunch of pics tomorrow on our day off after watching the world cup (ENG-E-LAND!), but here is a sneak peak at some of the work I've been up to.

Pictures

2006-06-05T18:08:00.000-06:00

Hey, I'm enjoying an off day in a small town called Okanogan WA. Spent the day relaxing and trying to let my body recover. I've been having so much fun, everyone is already developing a great sense of brotherhood as we suffer with eachother every day. Please call me anytime if you guys want to chat, I'll call you back as soon as I can with cell phone service being spotty as it is here in the countryside. Anyways, on to the pictures, they're a little out of order, but whatever.

The first is of me and Andrew at the top of the big pass the other day, see description below.
All I have to say is that you have to be a natural born bad ass to make it up a climb like that, and I think the picture does us justice.
The next is of our van on the big climb up waiting for other climbers to make their way up, the peak in the background is an example of what was all around us.
The pictures near the water are of everyone dipping their tires in Puget Sound for the grand send off.
The lady is the major of Sedro-Wooley, a town we stayed in. I spent the night at her house drinking beers in the hottub with her husband JR, very cool.
The close up of me was during our century in the middle of a pouring rainstorm, it looked like a rainforest and I took the shot while going about 20 mph on my cycle. So wet after that day.

Anyways, love you all.

-Chris

Pictures

2006-06-05T17:52:00.000-06:00

A long day in the saddle

2006-06-03T23:38:00.000-06:00

So as I wrote earlier, today was one of the hardest single days of the whole summer. 84 miles and 6000 feet of climbing. Here is an section from my journal that I thought summed the day well(I added some details too that I was too lazy to actually write):

All along the road were waterfalls and gorgeous vistas of the gorge we were climbing out of. Andrew and I, who had seperated ourselves off the front of the pack early, reached the top of Rainy Pass (~4600 ft) first and stopped to take photos and talk with some people mulling around. We saw two riders approaching up the road and decided to descend into the saddle between passes and started the very steep final climb up Washington Pass(~5400 ft). As we turn around, it seems Chris K and CW had made a ton of ground on us. We decide that its bullshit to lead all this way and not summit first so we cranked harder and pulled away from them. About a mile from the top, Andrew attacked me (cycling term for speeding up to get away) and opened about a 50 meter gap. I closed and and blew by him as we rounded the final turn. I went as hard as I could with my tired legs and by the time I turned around he was way behind. As I coasted over the crest of the pass(35 miles and 4 hours of pure climbing behind me) arms raised over my head, craggy snow-capped peaks all around, first among all riders to finish, I can honestly say it was one of the greatest feelings of my whole life.

What a day. And we have another 65 miles tomorrow before our first rest day.

Climbing in the Cascades

2006-06-03T13:29:00.000-06:00

I'm writing a quicky post in the middle of North Cascades national Park. They have internet. I haven't been able to get phone reception, nor will I for a few days because we are in the middle of nowhere. But SOOOO gorgeous. We rode 100.4 miles on thursday, 42 yesterday, and today I am through about 25 miles of a 75 miler. We should be climing around 6,000 feet today and have already done 1500. I've had a ton of fun and have great pictures to post whenever we get back to civilization. Hope to hear from you soon, I'll make some calls later in the week.

Much love,

Chris

Quicky

2006-06-01T00:41:00.000-06:00

Spent the day seeing the city and hanging with Kaci and her family. Quite lovely... These aren't my pictures, but you'll see some cool stuff of our epic road trip out here . The site to go to is:

http://web.mac.com/yesride/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html

Check it out. Much love. COH

Seattle!!!

2006-05-30T23:31:00.000-06:00

Yeah, in Seattle. Horribly long journey, will explain more later. Staying with Cool Cat Kaci Callahan. Enjoy some pictures. We broke down in Eastern Washington... had to ride our bikes to the next town ten miles up... 37 hours Boulder to Seattle. The Adventure begins..

Places I'll be

2006-05-25T18:10:00.000-06:00

Here is a list of places I'll be staying throughout the trip. The mileage for that day is shown as well. Some tiny towns in there!

May 31st Seattle, WA 0 miles
June 1st Sedro-Woolley, WA 74 miles
June 2nd Marblemount, WA 64 miles
June 3rd Mazama, WA (climb) 71 miles
June 4th Omak, WA (climb) 58 miles
June 5th Omak, WA (climb) 0 miles
June 6th Republic, WA (climb) 67 miles
June 7th Colville, WA (climb) 57 miles
June 8th Newport, WA 92 miles
June 9th Clark Fork, ID 65 miles
June 10th Libby, MT 71 miles
June 11th Whitefish, MT 115 miles
June 12th Whitefish, MT 0 miles
June 13th Essex, MT 58 miles
June 14th Shelby, MT 73 miles
June 15th Havre, MT 111 miles
June 16th Malta, MT 90 miles
June 17th Glasgow, MT 62 miles
June 18th Poplar, MT 78 miles
June 19th Williston, ND 80 miles
June 20th Williston, ND 0 miles
June 21st New Town, ND 71 miles
June 22nd Minot, ND 73 miles
June 23rd Rugby, ND 74 miles
June 24th Minnewaukan, ND 59 miles
June 25th Cooperstown, ND 93 miles
June 26th Fargo, ND 91 miles
June 27th Fargo, ND 0 miles
June 28th Battle Lake, MN 95.5 miles
June 29th Long Prairie, MN 65 miles
June 30th Milaca, MN 81 miles
July 1st Osceola, MN 84 miles
July 2nd Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN 64 miles
July 3rd Minneapolis/St.Paul, MN 0 miles
July 4th Red Wing, MN 84 miles
July 5th Winona, MN 79 miles
July 6th Marquette, IA 94 miles
July 7th Dyersville, IA 73 miles
July 8th Muscatine, IA 100 miles
July 9th Henry, IL 114 miles
July 10th Watseka, IL 118 miles
July 11th Watseka/chicago, IL 0 miles
July 12th Rensselaer, IN 44miles
July 13th Wabash, IN 87 miles
July 14th Paulding, OH 95 miles
July 15th Fremont, OH 105 miles
July 16th Cleveland, OH 90 miles
July 17th Cleveland, OH 0 miles
July 18th Grove City, PA ~113 miles
July 19th Clearfield, PA ~100 miles
July 20th State College, PA ~70 miles
July 21st Bloomsberg, PA ~90 miles
July 22nd East Stroudsberg, PA ~100 miles
July 23rd Jersey City, NJ ~80 miles
July 24th New York City 0 miles
July 25th New Haven, CT ~89 miles------>> MY BIRTHDAY!!
July 26th Clayville, RI ~87 miles
July 27th Boston, MA ~64 miles

Graduation!!

2006-05-21T23:37:00.000-06:00

...And I'm back

2006-05-21T20:37:00.000-06:00

So the last month has gone by so fast I don't even know what happened. I've been training, fundraising, and also graduating from CU!! Ohhhh baby. As of this point, fundraising is basically all wrapped up, I just need to finalize some stuff and then the only thing left to do is ride my cycle a lot.
My training took a hit recently just because I was so busy with school and then I had to move out of my house because my lease was up. Luckily I saw these distractions coming and had gotten in extremely good shape about 3 weeks ago, and now it won't take me long to get back. I've just been making every ride I go on a crazy suffer-fest, which I enjoy anyways. This next week is going to be filled with rides and saying bye to friends and family. I'm leaving sometime around Memorial Day for the drive to Seattle, still don't know when the exact day is...
I'm so pumped for this summer right now I can barely contain myself.

Booyah

2006-04-14T21:23:00.000-06:00

Been riding a lot, and what a week to do it! Gorgeous weather, lots of fun on the bike. Went up to NCAR the other day and topped out at a solid 47 mph on the way back down until I looked down at the spedometer and almost crapped my pants. Good times.
This weekend begins the first of the yesride's big group rides. I was put in charge/volunteered to organize the group rides, which makes a certain amount of sense because I know of a lot of rides around town. I tried to guess at what people's abilities are, hopefully nobody is overwhelmed tomorrow (I would feel real bad).
So as far as fundraising goes, which I think is going to be pretty hard, my main plan at this point is to send a letter out with my graduation announcements and hope that generates a certain amount of interest.

Until next time, I'll be on my bike.

Hitting it hard

2006-04-07T02:28:00.000-06:00

Ahh, the first day back on the bike... every year it is a glorious day. Too bad it's usually one filled with fatigue and quad cramps. Luckily, I wouldn't have started cycling if I didn't like a little pain, and this time I feel like I'm doing it for a good reason.

I tried to keep my participation in the yes ride on the dl for a while because I wasn't sure how my friends would react. When I finally told them, they were very excited about the ride, but skeptical about the cause and the fundraising. Although I was generally dissapointed in this reaction, I wasn't suprised: it's not like a have a lot of money to donate to charities either. Today I told my friend Eric about the yesride, and before I could even say anything, he was enthusiastically volunteering to help me anyway he could. I'm very grateful for his friendship. I honestly feel that this event will change people's lives, and hopefully inspire people in the future to take matters into their own hands when trying to make a difference.

Hopefully it doesn't snow tomorrow, or I'll be inside on the stationary.

New Blog, New Adventure

2006-04-02T22:16:00.000-06:00

Chris Markl was nice enough to set up a blog site for me, so I figured I would test it out. I'm really looking forward to getting on the bike to start training, and to start fundraising. The challenges that lie ahead have got me exciting, and hopefully this event will not only change my life but the lives of people I'll never meet.