The day before last, we rode about 62 miles to Glenview/Northbrook, Illinois, which is in the northern suburbs of Chicago. We didn't have a friendship visit, but we did have a presentation and dinner from a former JOH rider named Seth Klondar who gave us a good presentation on how to apply what we learning on JOH into the workplace and how to use it to help in our future job searches. It was pretty informative.
Also Kozak rode along with us from Glenview into Chicago yesterday so he met us the day before at the YMCA where we were staying, so it was awesome to see him again.
The following day we had to get up early to get out of the Y, so we just rode first to a Dunkin Donuts for coffee and donuts, which was pretty sweet. We then rode about 15 miles to the Neuman Center in Chicago on the north side for a friendship visit and lunch that was a lot of fun. After lunch, we rode all the way down Clark St. to our lodging: the Palmer House Hilton. The ride was cool because even though the street was busy we got to see a lot of the character of the city, but especially cool because we went right by Wrigley Field during a ballgame. It was sweet to ride past the stadium when it was packed and the streets were full of people. Also I was riding with Kozak and we went right past his apartment building. We're staying at the Palmer House, which is a five-star hotel, because they sponsor the team with rooms every year. The hotel, not surprisingly, is incredibly nice. We had a little free time in the afternoon, so I just relaxed and caught up on some of my journal entries. Then dinner was sponsored by Joseph Freed & Associates, a pretty big real estate developer. The dinner was in the break room at their office, which was right in the Loop and awesome. They had foosball, pool, and ping pong. I played foosball and was able to recapture some of my talent from college and only lost one game (by one goal).
After dinner I met with Kozak, Bill Kraus, Sarah Z, Mike Olson, and a couple other folks. Bill just took the Illinois bar exam yesterday so we hung out at his and Sarah's apartment
to celebrate. They have an awesome balcony with a great view of the Sears Tower and the rest of the Loop. We had planned to go out to the bar, but all just decided to take it easy and stay in. It was really nice to just have a fun, relaxing night with some old friends.
Today Bill and Sarah were kind enough to let me use laundry machine in their apartment (and their wi-fi) and I'll be going out with some team members and probably Kozak again tonight.
FYI, this is the eighth post I've done today (sorry again), but the blog only shows the last seven, so there's another new post if you click over to the Older Posts.
So far I'm loving JOH and especially this visit in Chicago.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Milwaukee - Day Three
The last day in Milwaukee we had a busy day of friendship visits. We started off with breakfast at the Independence First offices. Oh and I should give thanks to Kathy of Independence First who planned the whole time we were there, which was awesome.
After breakfast we went to a Milwaukee summer school for kids with disabilities and did our Kids on the Block puppet show, which the kids really enjoyed. Then we got to play on the playground with the kids and that was a blast. The kids were so much fun and it was really cool because we got one of the girls to try to fireman's pole and monkey bars for the first time and she was super-excited.
Afterwards we got to play wheelchair ice hockey at one of the US Olympic training facilities in Milwaukee. Wheelchair hockey was a ton of fun. Gabi from the day before showed up and played as well. It was really hard but the trick was to keep moving because starting was tough because your wheels would spin, but then once moving it was easier to keep going. But there were a couple guys there who were ringers, but we still managed to tie them (although we had about two to three times as many players).
Later that evening we met with a group of adolescent girls from Independence First who were differently abled at a mall. We did a scavenger hunt with them to help them develop confidence and social skills. We also did accessibility surveys of three stores in the mall to determine how "friendly" they are to people with disabilities. Barnes & Noble was good, but lacked braille signage, whereas Starbucks wasn't very good - counters to0 high for a wheelchair, displays cluttered and hindered access in a wheelchair, and they didn't have any braille menus.
It was an awesome couple days in Milwaukee.
After breakfast we went to a Milwaukee summer school for kids with disabilities and did our Kids on the Block puppet show, which the kids really enjoyed. Then we got to play on the playground with the kids and that was a blast. The kids were so much fun and it was really cool because we got one of the girls to try to fireman's pole and monkey bars for the first time and she was super-excited.
Afterwards we got to play wheelchair ice hockey at one of the US Olympic training facilities in Milwaukee. Wheelchair hockey was a ton of fun. Gabi from the day before showed up and played as well. It was really hard but the trick was to keep moving because starting was tough because your wheels would spin, but then once moving it was easier to keep going. But there were a couple guys there who were ringers, but we still managed to tie them (although we had about two to three times as many players).
Later that evening we met with a group of adolescent girls from Independence First who were differently abled at a mall. We did a scavenger hunt with them to help them develop confidence and social skills. We also did accessibility surveys of three stores in the mall to determine how "friendly" they are to people with disabilities. Barnes & Noble was good, but lacked braille signage, whereas Starbucks wasn't very good - counters to0 high for a wheelchair, displays cluttered and hindered access in a wheelchair, and they didn't have any braille menus.
It was an awesome couple days in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee - Days One and Two
From Rockford, Illinois, where we stayed after leaving Iowa, we rode to the suburbs of Milwaukee. We had a friendship visit for lunch and that night went to Pewaukee Lake for a dinner sponsored by the family of a guy who rode a few years back. They had a cool little cottage on the lake and took us out on the boat for a trip around the lake. It really reminded me of northern Michigan. It was a nice relaxing evening.
The following day we had our second shortest ride of the trip of 15 miles to Milwaukee. On the ride into Milwaukee, the city reminded me a lot of Hamtramck, Mich. It just feels very blue-collar. When we arrived we met with Independence First, which is an organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities live on their own. We met Gabi, a little girl with spina bifida who was just a ton of energy and fun. She was really cool. Independence First had a bunch of wheelchairs and we got to play wheelchair basketball, tennis, and softball. Basketball and softball I felt like I could pick up relatively quickly, but tennis was nearly impossible. I could only hit the ball if it was in just the right spot because it was so hard to maneuver the chair laterally. We also played goal ball, a Para-Olympic sport for the visually impaired. Basically three people stand opposite each other and try to roll a ball past the other team. The ball is a little bigger than a basketball and has bells in it. So we played that with blindfolds, which was pretty sweet.
Later on that night we went to a bar on Water St. downtown called Duke's since we had a day off the bike the next day, which was a lot of fun. Ray and I met a couple locals who we were hanging out with who later on gave us a lift back to lodging. It was nice to get out and relax since we had just completed 13 consecutive days of cycling, the longest stretch on the trip.
The following day we had our second shortest ride of the trip of 15 miles to Milwaukee. On the ride into Milwaukee, the city reminded me a lot of Hamtramck, Mich. It just feels very blue-collar. When we arrived we met with Independence First, which is an organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities live on their own. We met Gabi, a little girl with spina bifida who was just a ton of energy and fun. She was really cool. Independence First had a bunch of wheelchairs and we got to play wheelchair basketball, tennis, and softball. Basketball and softball I felt like I could pick up relatively quickly, but tennis was nearly impossible. I could only hit the ball if it was in just the right spot because it was so hard to maneuver the chair laterally. We also played goal ball, a Para-Olympic sport for the visually impaired. Basically three people stand opposite each other and try to roll a ball past the other team. The ball is a little bigger than a basketball and has bells in it. So we played that with blindfolds, which was pretty sweet.
Later on that night we went to a bar on Water St. downtown called Duke's since we had a day off the bike the next day, which was a lot of fun. Ray and I met a couple locals who we were hanging out with who later on gave us a lift back to lodging. It was nice to get out and relax since we had just completed 13 consecutive days of cycling, the longest stretch on the trip.
The Rest of Iowa and crossing the Mississippi
After Winterset we had about another week in Iowa. The rides were all very similar: rolling hills with lots of cornfields. But it was better than Nebraska because the farms were smaller and it was a lot more visually interesting. Plus there weren't many days during which we had bad headwinds. We stayed at a couple camps in Des Moines and Dubuque, which was interesting because they were staffed mostly by college kids from England and Ireland. Evidently there's an organization that staffs all those camps for kids with disabilities and recruits students from overseas.
We had rain on two other days in Iowa: going into Iowa City where University of Iowa is located and again on the way to Davenport. On the ride to Davenport I crashed for the first (and hopefully only) time of the trip. I was riding fifth in a paceline of six when Ray, the third guy, accidentally dropped a wheel off the road down onto the gravel shoulder (did I mention the fact there are no shoulders on the roads anywhere in Iowa). He tumbled over and Matt, who was directly behind him, couldn't avoid him and neither could I. I also couldn't swerve out into the road to avoid it because there was a truck right behind us. So I crashed right into them. Ryan who was behind me was able to drop down off the road on the right and missed the whole crash. Fortunately no one got injured and there were no serious bike damages. Just Matt bent him shift lever and I have two big, nasty bruises on my thigh. But I'll take that any day if that's as bad as it gets.
From Davenport we rode across the Mississippi into Illinois. It was really cool to ride across the Mississippi because it's one of the largest rivers in the world and has been so important in the history of our country. Plus I've always thought of it as one of the major dividers between the east and the west. So it was a great landmark to cross. The first day in Illinois had a couple long climbs that I actually really enjoyed, then in turned into rolling hills. The hills were really dangerous because there was no shoulder, the road was really bad, there was a ton of traffic, and the rolling hills made it hard for cars to see ahead. Fortunately we made it through okay, but the highway patrol told us we couldn't ride the remainder of the day due to minimum speed limits on the road ahead, so unfortunately we had to rack and only got to ride about 65 miles when we were supposed to do 110.
We had rain on two other days in Iowa: going into Iowa City where University of Iowa is located and again on the way to Davenport. On the ride to Davenport I crashed for the first (and hopefully only) time of the trip. I was riding fifth in a paceline of six when Ray, the third guy, accidentally dropped a wheel off the road down onto the gravel shoulder (did I mention the fact there are no shoulders on the roads anywhere in Iowa). He tumbled over and Matt, who was directly behind him, couldn't avoid him and neither could I. I also couldn't swerve out into the road to avoid it because there was a truck right behind us. So I crashed right into them. Ryan who was behind me was able to drop down off the road on the right and missed the whole crash. Fortunately no one got injured and there were no serious bike damages. Just Matt bent him shift lever and I have two big, nasty bruises on my thigh. But I'll take that any day if that's as bad as it gets.
From Davenport we rode across the Mississippi into Illinois. It was really cool to ride across the Mississippi because it's one of the largest rivers in the world and has been so important in the history of our country. Plus I've always thought of it as one of the major dividers between the east and the west. So it was a great landmark to cross. The first day in Illinois had a couple long climbs that I actually really enjoyed, then in turned into rolling hills. The hills were really dangerous because there was no shoulder, the road was really bad, there was a ton of traffic, and the rolling hills made it hard for cars to see ahead. Fortunately we made it through okay, but the highway patrol told us we couldn't ride the remainder of the day due to minimum speed limits on the road ahead, so unfortunately we had to rack and only got to ride about 65 miles when we were supposed to do 110.
Winterset, Iowa - Home of The Duke
After Griswold we rode to Winterset, which was were John Wayne was born. I didn't even know that when we got there, but we went to a laundromat that turned out to be a block away from his childhood home. So naturally we walked over and checked it out. It's really nothing fancy, he obviously didn't come from a privileged background, but it was cool to see it. Plus the foundation that owns the house had sold bricks to raise funds and there were bricks that had been purchased by Presidents George W. Bush and Reagan as well as the governor of Iowa, Warner Brothers Pictures, and Reba McEntire. Somehow it's not surprising to me that John Wayne is popular with Republicans.
We had a sponsored dinner at a church in Winterset that was sweet because it had this awesome contemporary design. I've never seen a church that looked like it before. I'll definitely post pictures when I get back.
That night it turned out the county fair was taking place about a half mile from where we were staying and there was a rodeo there too. I've never been to a rodeo before so it was pretty sweet. They had bull riding, bareback riding, saddle-back bronco riding, and barrel racing. My favorite was probably the bareback riding. The bull riding wasn't as cool as I expected because only one guy out of about ten or twelve actually finished the ride. Also they had little kids riding bulls, which struck me as really inappropriate. Especially after one of the kids failed to get his hand out of the strap and was dragged all the way across the ring by his arm. They managed to stop the bull right in front of us and the kid was crying his eyes out - justifiably so because he probably dislocated his shoulder. And he couldn't have been older than ten. It just seemed really irresponsible to let kids that young ride a wild animal that's like five times their size.
Anyway now I can say I've been to a rodeo and seen John Wayne's hometown.
We had a sponsored dinner at a church in Winterset that was sweet because it had this awesome contemporary design. I've never seen a church that looked like it before. I'll definitely post pictures when I get back.
That night it turned out the county fair was taking place about a half mile from where we were staying and there was a rodeo there too. I've never been to a rodeo before so it was pretty sweet. They had bull riding, bareback riding, saddle-back bronco riding, and barrel racing. My favorite was probably the bareback riding. The bull riding wasn't as cool as I expected because only one guy out of about ten or twelve actually finished the ride. Also they had little kids riding bulls, which struck me as really inappropriate. Especially after one of the kids failed to get his hand out of the strap and was dragged all the way across the ring by his arm. They managed to stop the bull right in front of us and the kid was crying his eyes out - justifiably so because he probably dislocated his shoulder. And he couldn't have been older than ten. It just seemed really irresponsible to let kids that young ride a wild animal that's like five times their size.
Anyway now I can say I've been to a rodeo and seen John Wayne's hometown.
Griswold, Iowa
After Omaha we rode to a camp in Griswold, Iowa. The ride wasn't really long, but Iowa is really hilly. I've found that second to headwinds, rolling hills are the worst for me. I'm not real big, so I have to pedal pretty hard downhill just to keep up with the guys who are bigger and can coast downhill, then I have to pedal pretty hard to roll over the uphill as well. I'd much rather have a long climb than rolling hills.
Then about 20 miles from the end of the ride it started pouring down rain. It was the first real rain we had all trip. Plus several people said they saw lightning and I heard thunder a couple times, so we actually had to stop and sit in the vans until it blew over. Then predictably as soon as we got back on the road it opened up and poured again.
There isn't much in Griswold, so we stayed at a retreat owned by Creighton University, which didn't have hot showers. Fortunately the sun came out and we had dinner and some free time at an old quarry that is now a private recreational lake. We played volleyball and frisbee
and a couple guys went swimming, but I thought it was too cold.
Then about 20 miles from the end of the ride it started pouring down rain. It was the first real rain we had all trip. Plus several people said they saw lightning and I heard thunder a couple times, so we actually had to stop and sit in the vans until it blew over. Then predictably as soon as we got back on the road it opened up and poured again.
There isn't much in Griswold, so we stayed at a retreat owned by Creighton University, which didn't have hot showers. Fortunately the sun came out and we had dinner and some free time at an old quarry that is now a private recreational lake. We played volleyball and frisbee
and a couple guys went swimming, but I thought it was too cold.
Lincoln and Omaha
After Grand Island we rode to Lincoln and then Omaha, Nebraska. The rides were still humid and hot, but the headwinds weren't as bad as the western portion of Nebraska.
Lincoln was cool because we stayed right next to the University of Nebraska campus at the Beta Theta Pi house, which was really nice. Also just down the street with the Nebraska state capitol, which was really unique; it looks a lot like a bell tower.
In Lincoln after a sponsored dinner we went to a dance with the local Arc chapter and they were again really excited to see us. Again I was interviewed on the local news, which was pretty sweet.
In Omaha we got a pretty good lunch at the Saturn of Omaha, which has been a long-time sponsor of JOH. Afterwards we drove across the river to Council Bluffs, Iowa for a friendship visit and then had another friendship visit at the Ollie Webb Center, which is a municipal facility in Omaha for people with disabilities. They served dinner and had a guy who sang and played the guitar for entertainment who was really good. Later on I went out with some of the guys for some wings, which was a good time. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to see downtown Omaha, but the friendship visit was a lot of fun.
Lincoln was cool because we stayed right next to the University of Nebraska campus at the Beta Theta Pi house, which was really nice. Also just down the street with the Nebraska state capitol, which was really unique; it looks a lot like a bell tower.
In Lincoln after a sponsored dinner we went to a dance with the local Arc chapter and they were again really excited to see us. Again I was interviewed on the local news, which was pretty sweet.
In Omaha we got a pretty good lunch at the Saturn of Omaha, which has been a long-time sponsor of JOH. Afterwards we drove across the river to Council Bluffs, Iowa for a friendship visit and then had another friendship visit at the Ollie Webb Center, which is a municipal facility in Omaha for people with disabilities. They served dinner and had a guy who sang and played the guitar for entertainment who was really good. Later on I went out with some of the guys for some wings, which was a good time. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to see downtown Omaha, but the friendship visit was a lot of fun.
Grand Island
Sorry again for the delay in posting. But I'll try to catch up here.
About midway through Nebraska is Grand Island. At about 50,000 people it's the third largest city in the state after Omaha and Lincoln. It's also legendary on JOH because of the Grand Island Ladies (GILs): Sue, Tammy, and Andrea. The GILs all have or have had at least one child with a disability. They were first introduced to JOH about 17 years ago and for the past seven or nine years have been planning and sponsoring two days. They are also all three amazing when you see what they do for people with disabilities in their community and for JOH.
We did an arrival at the Holiday Inn where they put us up and they had decent size contingent to welcome us. It was a short 50 mile ride and after four grueling days prior we were pushing it pretty hard just to get it done with cruising above 20 mph most of the way and about 25 mph the last five miles. The ride itself was uneventful: flat with no serious headwinds, just lots more corn. I feel bad though because I caused Dave to crash when I was in front and slowed down without enough warning, but fortunately he landed in the grass with no damage to himself or the bike.
At the arrival the local news showed up and I did an interview so Joe and I were on TV later that night. That was kind of cool because I think it was the first time I've been on TV. After the arrival we had lunch at Tammy's house and she served us steak, which was a treat. At the lunch I also met Nia who has been coming to visit with JOH teams for about a decade or more, which is really cool.
After lunch we went to St. Francis Medical Center to visit Milly, one of Sue's foster children. Milly is 14 months old and has severely underdeveloped lungs as well as other developmental problems. She was going to Omaha the next day for an operation and so we went to wish her well. She was a beautiful little girl, although she was really small for her age. And she had IVs and tubes that basically kept her alive. I got to hold her, which at first was a little nerve-racking because of all the tubes. But it was really cool.
That night we went to a dinner and dance at the Elks Club sponsored by the Arc of Grand Island. It was cool because all the participants were a lot of fun. I got to meet Andrea's daughter Mallory who is 23 and very low functioning. She's non-verbal, but was pretty cool. What's kind of scary is that Mallory is undiagnosed - in other words they don't know what happened.
The following morning we visited with some kids who were at a summer school for kids with disabilities and then visited the Ashley Park Barrier-Free Playground. The GILs planned and fundraised for the playground and Push America helped install the equipment. Plus the owner of the company that did the mat under the equipment was a PiKapp and did one of the tiles with the Push America logo. It was a lot of fun because we played with another group of summer school kids with special needs.
After a little free time we finished with a picnic back at the playground, which was cool because all the GILs and the folks from the other visits were there too. Also they really loved it when we did our Kids on the Block puppet show, which capped off an awesome couple days in Grand Island.
About midway through Nebraska is Grand Island. At about 50,000 people it's the third largest city in the state after Omaha and Lincoln. It's also legendary on JOH because of the Grand Island Ladies (GILs): Sue, Tammy, and Andrea. The GILs all have or have had at least one child with a disability. They were first introduced to JOH about 17 years ago and for the past seven or nine years have been planning and sponsoring two days. They are also all three amazing when you see what they do for people with disabilities in their community and for JOH.
We did an arrival at the Holiday Inn where they put us up and they had decent size contingent to welcome us. It was a short 50 mile ride and after four grueling days prior we were pushing it pretty hard just to get it done with cruising above 20 mph most of the way and about 25 mph the last five miles. The ride itself was uneventful: flat with no serious headwinds, just lots more corn. I feel bad though because I caused Dave to crash when I was in front and slowed down without enough warning, but fortunately he landed in the grass with no damage to himself or the bike.
At the arrival the local news showed up and I did an interview so Joe and I were on TV later that night. That was kind of cool because I think it was the first time I've been on TV. After the arrival we had lunch at Tammy's house and she served us steak, which was a treat. At the lunch I also met Nia who has been coming to visit with JOH teams for about a decade or more, which is really cool.
After lunch we went to St. Francis Medical Center to visit Milly, one of Sue's foster children. Milly is 14 months old and has severely underdeveloped lungs as well as other developmental problems. She was going to Omaha the next day for an operation and so we went to wish her well. She was a beautiful little girl, although she was really small for her age. And she had IVs and tubes that basically kept her alive. I got to hold her, which at first was a little nerve-racking because of all the tubes. But it was really cool.
That night we went to a dinner and dance at the Elks Club sponsored by the Arc of Grand Island. It was cool because all the participants were a lot of fun. I got to meet Andrea's daughter Mallory who is 23 and very low functioning. She's non-verbal, but was pretty cool. What's kind of scary is that Mallory is undiagnosed - in other words they don't know what happened.
The following morning we visited with some kids who were at a summer school for kids with disabilities and then visited the Ashley Park Barrier-Free Playground. The GILs planned and fundraised for the playground and Push America helped install the equipment. Plus the owner of the company that did the mat under the equipment was a PiKapp and did one of the tiles with the Push America logo. It was a lot of fun because we played with another group of summer school kids with special needs.
After a little free time we finished with a picnic back at the playground, which was cool because all the GILs and the folks from the other visits were there too. Also they really loved it when we did our Kids on the Block puppet show, which capped off an awesome couple days in Grand Island.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Photos and Official Journey of Hope Journal
I know I haven't been updating any photos on Flickr. My plan to take photos on my phone and upload them to Flickr over the summer backfired when I couldn't access Flickr on my phone. Plus it's a nuisance to take two photos: one with my camera and one with my phone. I'll upload all of my photos from my camera after the trip is over, but in the meantime here are two places to check for pics of the trip:
Official Flickr page of Journey of Hope North Route
Traversing America is a photo-documentary being done by Jenkins Chan who rode the North route in 2005. He is documenting all three Journey of Hope routes: North, South, and Trans-America; as well Build America, another summer service project of Push America.
Also Push America's website has a daily journal written by a rider or crew member (click on "Team Journal Entry" for each respective day's entry). It's updated just about every day, so you can continue to follow the team even if I happen to fall behind again.
And all of the above will continue to be updated throughout the summer.
Official Flickr page of Journey of Hope North Route
Traversing America is a photo-documentary being done by Jenkins Chan who rode the North route in 2005. He is documenting all three Journey of Hope routes: North, South, and Trans-America; as well Build America, another summer service project of Push America.
Also Push America's website has a daily journal written by a rider or crew member (click on "Team Journal Entry" for each respective day's entry). It's updated just about every day, so you can continue to follow the team even if I happen to fall behind again.
And all of the above will continue to be updated throughout the summer.
Flats Leaving Denver and Entering Nebraska
Since we left Denver we've had a pretty tough stretch. The riding conditions have been consistently hilly, humid, and into a headwind (and occasionally sunny and hot or overcast and spitting rain).
The day out of Denver to Ft. Morgan, Colorado we were scheduled for 97 miles. However I had terrible luck with four flats. The back tube had a nail and two thorns, the front just blew and I couldn't figure out why. The last blowout was at mile 87 and I had to rack because neither I nor anyone else I was riding with had any tubes left. The Elks Club in Ft. Morgan hosted us and was really nice. Especially since they offered us free popcorn at their lodge; I ate three bowls after dinner, which was delicious.
The following day we rode 87 miles to Wray, Colorado. I managed to make it the whole way without any flats, but the winds were pretty tiring. Plus we rode past some huge cattle feed lots and lots of livestock semis, which smelled terrible. And for a good ten mile stretch the road was covered in grasshoppers and it was kind of disgusting; at one point one got stuck in my derailleur and flew out when I switched gears.
Yesterday we entered Nebraska and the Central Time Zone. Also since we were so close to the border we detoured slightly to Kansas, just to say we rode there. We had all kinds of stops yesterday, which just destroyed our pace. There were four flats in our group (two of which were mine), one guy had his chain and derailleur break, and we had to stop another time because another of our riders was cramping really badly. Plus we were sweeping (last riders on the team each day who make sure everyone else gets in safely), so we had to stop for two other guys who had flats. So all told there were six unexpected stops. Also on my second flat at mile 90, I had to rack again because neither I nor anyone had any tubes again (the whole team has had bad luck with flats and we haven't seen a bike shop since Denver). Later that night we went out to the bar and had a great time hanging out with the townies in McCook, Nebraska.
Today was perhaps the hardest day of the trip. We rode 95 miles to Minden, Nebraska in relentless headwinds. The wind was stiff in our face the entire way and there were some pretty decent size hills over the first 50 miles. Fortunately I had two great guys I was riding with who really helped me through the day - both named Adam actually. We tried to do an all Adam paceline, but the fourth Adam on the team had to rack about ten miles in because of tire trouble. Anyway now I'm tired and sore all over and looking forward to only 50 miles tomorrow then a day off in Grand Island. So it's about bedtime for me.
The day out of Denver to Ft. Morgan, Colorado we were scheduled for 97 miles. However I had terrible luck with four flats. The back tube had a nail and two thorns, the front just blew and I couldn't figure out why. The last blowout was at mile 87 and I had to rack because neither I nor anyone else I was riding with had any tubes left. The Elks Club in Ft. Morgan hosted us and was really nice. Especially since they offered us free popcorn at their lodge; I ate three bowls after dinner, which was delicious.
The following day we rode 87 miles to Wray, Colorado. I managed to make it the whole way without any flats, but the winds were pretty tiring. Plus we rode past some huge cattle feed lots and lots of livestock semis, which smelled terrible. And for a good ten mile stretch the road was covered in grasshoppers and it was kind of disgusting; at one point one got stuck in my derailleur and flew out when I switched gears.
Yesterday we entered Nebraska and the Central Time Zone. Also since we were so close to the border we detoured slightly to Kansas, just to say we rode there. We had all kinds of stops yesterday, which just destroyed our pace. There were four flats in our group (two of which were mine), one guy had his chain and derailleur break, and we had to stop another time because another of our riders was cramping really badly. Plus we were sweeping (last riders on the team each day who make sure everyone else gets in safely), so we had to stop for two other guys who had flats. So all told there were six unexpected stops. Also on my second flat at mile 90, I had to rack again because neither I nor anyone had any tubes again (the whole team has had bad luck with flats and we haven't seen a bike shop since Denver). Later that night we went out to the bar and had a great time hanging out with the townies in McCook, Nebraska.
Today was perhaps the hardest day of the trip. We rode 95 miles to Minden, Nebraska in relentless headwinds. The wind was stiff in our face the entire way and there were some pretty decent size hills over the first 50 miles. Fortunately I had two great guys I was riding with who really helped me through the day - both named Adam actually. We tried to do an all Adam paceline, but the fourth Adam on the team had to rack about ten miles in because of tire trouble. Anyway now I'm tired and sore all over and looking forward to only 50 miles tomorrow then a day off in Grand Island. So it's about bedtime for me.
Day 2 in Denver
On our second day in town we started by getting up early for a team meeting and to watch the team time trial of the Tour de France live. It's cool to see Lance looking so strong. After which we had dinner sponsored by one of the rider's parents at their house in Denver. They got lunch from Chik-fil-a, but the best part was the salads: one had strawberries, cherries, almods, and spinach while another had grapes, apples, walnuts, and spinach (it was a little like a Waldorf salad, but no celery and the dressing was different). We've had salad every day and those two were by far the best we've had. It's rare that I go for seconds on salad.
Later we had a friendship visit at Craig Hospital outside of Denver. Craig Hospital specializes in helping people recover and adapt after spinal injuries. We got a tour of the hospital, but more fun we got to play murderball or quad rugby with their team, The Harlequins. Quad rugby is basically rugby played in specially-designed durable wheelchairs; it's actually a Para-Olympic sport. Two of the guys we played against were on the US team that won a gold medal last year in Beijing, which was pretty awesome. Quad rugby is a blast, but it's pretty hard - and those guys were clearly going easy on us. What was also amazing is that they were all just normal guys who were quadrapalegics or parapalegics due to completely random accidents - things that could happen to anyone. It really made me think about how I would react to a challenge like that.
Afterwards we had dinner provided by another team member's parents. They made steak, which was the first time we've had that on the trip. Also they provided cheesecake, which was delicious. Then we crashed because quad rugby is tiring and our agenda for the next four days was rides of 100, 90, 95, and 95 miles.
Later we had a friendship visit at Craig Hospital outside of Denver. Craig Hospital specializes in helping people recover and adapt after spinal injuries. We got a tour of the hospital, but more fun we got to play murderball or quad rugby with their team, The Harlequins. Quad rugby is basically rugby played in specially-designed durable wheelchairs; it's actually a Para-Olympic sport. Two of the guys we played against were on the US team that won a gold medal last year in Beijing, which was pretty awesome. Quad rugby is a blast, but it's pretty hard - and those guys were clearly going easy on us. What was also amazing is that they were all just normal guys who were quadrapalegics or parapalegics due to completely random accidents - things that could happen to anyone. It really made me think about how I would react to a challenge like that.
Afterwards we had dinner provided by another team member's parents. They made steak, which was the first time we've had that on the trip. Also they provided cheesecake, which was delicious. Then we crashed because quad rugby is tiring and our agenda for the next four days was rides of 100, 90, 95, and 95 miles.
Day 1 in Denver
The following day we rode about 50 miles to Denver. It was a great ride with two last steep climbs before we got out of the mountains, but they were only one and two miles each. Other than those climbs it was nearly all downhill except for a couple streets in town. At one point we crossed an overpass of I-70 and the view was gorgeous. Behind us was a breathtaking view of the Rockies and in front of us the road sloped down and all you could see for miles and miles were flat plains. It was almost metaphorical because we could see the last 1,000 miles behind us and the next 2,000 miles in front of us.
From there we rode through Evergreen to Lookout Mountain. At the top of Lookout Mtn is a gorgeous view of the Denver skyline with plains and mesas all around. It was pretty impressive. From there is one of the wildest downhills we've had. They were the tightest switchbacks we've encountered on the trip so far. We were actually violating the speed limit for most of the descent. Plus we saw three deer, including one that ran across the road right in front of me in the middle of the paceline. I've never before had to slow down to avoid hitting a deer, but it ran right across and jumped over the guardrail on the other side.
From there we road through Golden and right along the Coors brewery and arrived in Denver at Invesco Field where the Broncos play. We actually got to go on the field and they had put "Welcome Journey of Hope" on the jumbotron, which was sweet. After a quick lunch we rode to the state capitol. Joe Martinez from the fraternity showed up at the arrival downtown at the capitol, which was a pleasant surprise. There were also three TV crews and the governor showed up.
After cleaning up we went to Pedal for Pennies, a fundraiser for the Colorado Special Olympics sponsored by Push America and KRG Capital. The athletes get pledges from sponsors based on how many laps they ride around the lake in City Park in Denver in a 45 minute period. After a brief rainstorm, the riders got out and the winner rode 12 laps - he was really moving. I talked to him afterwards and he said he rode everyday, which was obvious from how he rode. Then KRG sponsored dinner, including awesome sundaes with brownies, and we had a dance with the Special Olympics athletes, which was a blast.
After Pedal for Pennies, I went out to a brewpub on 16th Street with a bunch of guys from the team where Joe met up with us. It was a lot of fun to hang out, especially since I don't get to catch up with Joe often enough.
From there we rode through Evergreen to Lookout Mountain. At the top of Lookout Mtn is a gorgeous view of the Denver skyline with plains and mesas all around. It was pretty impressive. From there is one of the wildest downhills we've had. They were the tightest switchbacks we've encountered on the trip so far. We were actually violating the speed limit for most of the descent. Plus we saw three deer, including one that ran across the road right in front of me in the middle of the paceline. I've never before had to slow down to avoid hitting a deer, but it ran right across and jumped over the guardrail on the other side.
From there we road through Golden and right along the Coors brewery and arrived in Denver at Invesco Field where the Broncos play. We actually got to go on the field and they had put "Welcome Journey of Hope" on the jumbotron, which was sweet. After a quick lunch we rode to the state capitol. Joe Martinez from the fraternity showed up at the arrival downtown at the capitol, which was a pleasant surprise. There were also three TV crews and the governor showed up.
After cleaning up we went to Pedal for Pennies, a fundraiser for the Colorado Special Olympics sponsored by Push America and KRG Capital. The athletes get pledges from sponsors based on how many laps they ride around the lake in City Park in Denver in a 45 minute period. After a brief rainstorm, the riders got out and the winner rode 12 laps - he was really moving. I talked to him afterwards and he said he rode everyday, which was obvious from how he rode. Then KRG sponsored dinner, including awesome sundaes with brownies, and we had a dance with the Special Olympics athletes, which was a blast.
After Pedal for Pennies, I went out to a brewpub on 16th Street with a bunch of guys from the team where Joe met up with us. It was a lot of fun to hang out, especially since I don't get to catch up with Joe often enough.
Loveland Pass
After leaving Breckenridge we had one final big climb before we finished the Rockies and it was our biggest climb of the trip. We rode over the Loveland Pass to Empire. Basically the first 24 miles are uphill finishing with a 12 mile climb at grades of 6-7%, which progressively gets steeper towards the top. Plus the pass is at an elevation of 11,990 feet; it was the first time on the trip I felt like I was affected by the thin air, but that also may have just been me getting gassed after 10 plus miles of straight climbing. Also I got to ride with Bruce who was a great cyclist. It was also cool to get to chat with him about cycling and business.
At the top is was freezing cold. I was really glad I put my tights in my back pocket on the way up, they were priceless going down. The next 16 miles were all downhill, which was awesome. After going down the switchbacks from the pass we actually got on I-70 for several miles. The freeway was gridlock because it was the Sunday of the Fourth of July weekend and everyone was driving back to Denver from the resort towns of the Rockies. What was awesome was that we were cruising at around 35 mph on the shoulder and flying past the cars in bumper to bumper traffic. We definitely got some odd looks.
We spent the night at Rocky Mountain Village (RMV) where we also had a friendship visit. RMV is another camp for people with disabilities. We had dinner with their campers and then participated in some skits they were performing. It was cool to see some of the campers come out of their shells in the skits. Afterwards we sang a bunch of camp songs, which was fun, up to a point...
Also that night the sky as the sun was setting in the mountains was impressive. The clouds looked like something from a Renaissance painting- they were almost too beautiful to be real.
At the top is was freezing cold. I was really glad I put my tights in my back pocket on the way up, they were priceless going down. The next 16 miles were all downhill, which was awesome. After going down the switchbacks from the pass we actually got on I-70 for several miles. The freeway was gridlock because it was the Sunday of the Fourth of July weekend and everyone was driving back to Denver from the resort towns of the Rockies. What was awesome was that we were cruising at around 35 mph on the shoulder and flying past the cars in bumper to bumper traffic. We definitely got some odd looks.
We spent the night at Rocky Mountain Village (RMV) where we also had a friendship visit. RMV is another camp for people with disabilities. We had dinner with their campers and then participated in some skits they were performing. It was cool to see some of the campers come out of their shells in the skits. Afterwards we sang a bunch of camp songs, which was fun, up to a point...
Also that night the sky as the sun was setting in the mountains was impressive. The clouds looked like something from a Renaissance painting- they were almost too beautiful to be real.
Breckenridge
After leaving Steamboat we celebrated Independence Day by riding 110 miles to Breckenridge, which was one of the longest and most challenging rides of the trip. It was an exciting day because we actually entered the Rocky Moutains. We started first by riding over the first pass at about mile 18 called Rabbit Ears because of two huge boulders in the distance that stand up and actually look a lot like rabbit ears. It was a pretty consistent 6-8% grade for a seven mile climb. Steamboat is at an elevation of 6,728 and the elevation of Rabbit Ears is 9,426, so we climbed 2,700 feet in seven miles. At the Rabbit Ears Pass we crossed the Continental Divide for the first time.
For those not familiar with grades: 9% is the steepest we encounter on the trip and from the ground basically looks about straight up- you get winded just walking up it for a short distance, 11% is the steepest professional riders will ever climb according to our cycling coach (in Europe because their road grades aren't regulated like ours are in the US), and 18% is unrideable.
After the climb there are about seven miles of rolling hills, then 20+ miles of pretty good downhill. Crossed the Continental Divide again when flying down the mountain. Then it was gradually uphill for the remainder of the ride into Breckenridge. They were basically rolling hills, but the net was uphill and we finished at an elevation of 9,600 feet.
Perhaps the hardest part of the ride was the climb up to lodging, the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC), which is a camp for people with disabilities. BOEC is at the top of a huge hill in a winding neighborhood. So each time we went around a corner we thought the BOEC would be right there, but instead we just kept climbing and it kept getting steeper. It's actually become a joke among the team that lodging is always at the top of a hill, and this was among the most challenging finishes both because of the climb and the fact we had already done 100+ miles.
After the ride we had a dinner sponsored by Bruce Rogers, who did the first Journey of Hope solo in 1987 and was a later a founder of the private equity firm KRG Capital in Denver. We went to the Country Boy mine in Breckenridge, which was a working mine up until World War II. We got a tour of the mine and an idea of what it was like to be a miner in the 19th century - the conditions were absolutely brutal. It made riding a bicycle across the country look like a joke. After the tour we had a catered dinner of BBQ chicken with cornbread, beans, potatoes, and apple crisp, all of which was delicious. Probably my favorite meal of the trip so far.
After dinner a bunch of us walked to downtown Breckenridge to check out the Breckenridge Brewing Company. Downtown Breckenridge was packed for the Fourth with people all over downtown and a free pops concert at an outdoor ampitheatre next to a little river that ran right along Main St. Breckenridge seems like a very cool little town and I'd love a chance to come back and have some more time to check it out.
For those not familiar with grades: 9% is the steepest we encounter on the trip and from the ground basically looks about straight up- you get winded just walking up it for a short distance, 11% is the steepest professional riders will ever climb according to our cycling coach (in Europe because their road grades aren't regulated like ours are in the US), and 18% is unrideable.
After the climb there are about seven miles of rolling hills, then 20+ miles of pretty good downhill. Crossed the Continental Divide again when flying down the mountain. Then it was gradually uphill for the remainder of the ride into Breckenridge. They were basically rolling hills, but the net was uphill and we finished at an elevation of 9,600 feet.
Perhaps the hardest part of the ride was the climb up to lodging, the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center (BOEC), which is a camp for people with disabilities. BOEC is at the top of a huge hill in a winding neighborhood. So each time we went around a corner we thought the BOEC would be right there, but instead we just kept climbing and it kept getting steeper. It's actually become a joke among the team that lodging is always at the top of a hill, and this was among the most challenging finishes both because of the climb and the fact we had already done 100+ miles.
After the ride we had a dinner sponsored by Bruce Rogers, who did the first Journey of Hope solo in 1987 and was a later a founder of the private equity firm KRG Capital in Denver. We went to the Country Boy mine in Breckenridge, which was a working mine up until World War II. We got a tour of the mine and an idea of what it was like to be a miner in the 19th century - the conditions were absolutely brutal. It made riding a bicycle across the country look like a joke. After the tour we had a catered dinner of BBQ chicken with cornbread, beans, potatoes, and apple crisp, all of which was delicious. Probably my favorite meal of the trip so far.
After dinner a bunch of us walked to downtown Breckenridge to check out the Breckenridge Brewing Company. Downtown Breckenridge was packed for the Fourth with people all over downtown and a free pops concert at an outdoor ampitheatre next to a little river that ran right along Main St. Breckenridge seems like a very cool little town and I'd love a chance to come back and have some more time to check it out.
First Three Days in Colorado
I know it's been a while since I updated this, so I'll try to get as much as I can and I'm going to lump a few days together because there have been a couple down days. (perhaps trying to do a blog all summer from my blackberry wasn't a brilliant idea - I'm on a borrowed laptop today).
On the first of the month we entered Colorado and stayed in Dinosaur. It was scheduled for a 90 mile ride but because of construction we actually had to rack the first 89 miles and only rode the last nine, but at least that included the border to Colorado from Utah. Dinosaur is a tiny little place, and we basically took over the only restaurant in town for lunch since our ride was so short. Two guys in our group ordered the one pound burger, Ryan Curran and Ryan Grumble, and raced to see who could finish first. Grumble finished the burger first, but only by a second or two and there was a little debate so they then ate the fries as well to determine the winner, which Curran finished off first. It was definitely the highlight of the day. (fyi, Dinosaur was named after a large cache of dinosaur bones that have been excavated nearby.)
After Dinosaur we rode about 90 miles to Craig, Colorado. The terrain was somewhere between mountainous and rolling hills and it was arid, though not as bad as Nevada. Rather uneventful to be perfectly honest. But the nice thing was that I rode 90 miles and felt great afterward. Once we arrived we hung out at the Boys & Girls Club; I and another guy taught the kids how to play 500 with the football. We also stayed at the Boys & Girls Club, which was sweet because they had a game room with bumper pool and a cool game called carpet ball, which just involved trying to knock your opponents balls off a ledge of a carpeted board. It's hard to explain, but fun.
After Craig we rode only 36 miles to Steamboat Springs. The ride was pretty easy because even though it was mostly uphill the grade was pretty flat. However it rained and I got really muddy, but that was actually cool. We left really early and as a result arrived in Steamboat by 8:10 in the morning, which was sweet because we had a chance to go swimming at the hot springs. I loved the hot springs because it's basically a swimming pool with bathtub temperature water. Awesome. And we got to relax in the hot tub. Later that night after a friendship visit we had a sponsored dinner at the Steamboat Smokehouse. Dinner was delicious because we had pork and turkey with two kinds of BBQ sauce with beans and mashed potatoes.
On the first of the month we entered Colorado and stayed in Dinosaur. It was scheduled for a 90 mile ride but because of construction we actually had to rack the first 89 miles and only rode the last nine, but at least that included the border to Colorado from Utah. Dinosaur is a tiny little place, and we basically took over the only restaurant in town for lunch since our ride was so short. Two guys in our group ordered the one pound burger, Ryan Curran and Ryan Grumble, and raced to see who could finish first. Grumble finished the burger first, but only by a second or two and there was a little debate so they then ate the fries as well to determine the winner, which Curran finished off first. It was definitely the highlight of the day. (fyi, Dinosaur was named after a large cache of dinosaur bones that have been excavated nearby.)
After Dinosaur we rode about 90 miles to Craig, Colorado. The terrain was somewhere between mountainous and rolling hills and it was arid, though not as bad as Nevada. Rather uneventful to be perfectly honest. But the nice thing was that I rode 90 miles and felt great afterward. Once we arrived we hung out at the Boys & Girls Club; I and another guy taught the kids how to play 500 with the football. We also stayed at the Boys & Girls Club, which was sweet because they had a game room with bumper pool and a cool game called carpet ball, which just involved trying to knock your opponents balls off a ledge of a carpeted board. It's hard to explain, but fun.
After Craig we rode only 36 miles to Steamboat Springs. The ride was pretty easy because even though it was mostly uphill the grade was pretty flat. However it rained and I got really muddy, but that was actually cool. We left really early and as a result arrived in Steamboat by 8:10 in the morning, which was sweet because we had a chance to go swimming at the hot springs. I loved the hot springs because it's basically a swimming pool with bathtub temperature water. Awesome. And we got to relax in the hot tub. Later that night after a friendship visit we had a sponsored dinner at the Steamboat Smokehouse. Dinner was delicious because we had pork and turkey with two kinds of BBQ sauce with beans and mashed potatoes.
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