We rode into Kalamazoo two days ago. I wrote the Official JOH journal entry for the first day in Michigan when we rode to K-Zoo. The entry isn't posted yet, but once it is I'll try to put up the link since I don't want to re-write an entry for that day.
Today we rode from Kalamazoo to Lansing. We started with a continental breakfast at the Sherman YMCA last night, which is near Gull Lake. Today's ride was a little hillier than yesterday, but it wasn't bad. The pace was pretty high; for a while we were cruising on the flats at 24-25 mph and going uphill at 20 mph with no wind. We rode in near downtown Lansing and could see the top of the capitol, but that was about it. We also rode through part of the Michigan State campus and right past the Breslin Center where the basketball team plays.
We arrived at the Lusters' house here in East Lansing just before lunch. Ben Luster was a JOH rider from UofM who rode in 2006 and his parents' and the parents of a couple other former riders sponsored the team in Kalamazoo and Lansing. I hadn't met Ben before today, but had a chance to chat earlier today so it was cool to share experiences. They provided us with goodie bags that had Michigan JOH t-shirts, a window sticker for our cars, and snacks, which was awesome.
Actually all of the Lusters' neighbors prepared us dinner and are generous enough to put us up in their homes tonight, which is incredible. It's awesome just to be in a house, as weird as that sounds; it really gives a sense of normalcy to be in a house, even someone else's house.
Tomorrow we ride to Ann Arbor, which is incredibly exciting because Mom will be there as well as Matt and Sherri. Plus, it will be cool just to be some place that I know.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Chicago to South Bend
None of us wanted to leave Chicago. We woke up early and had a sponsored breakfast in the park overlooking the city. Breakfast was awesome and so was the view.
We started out riding south along the bike path in the park until it dead-ended on the south side of the city. The view of the city and the lake early in the morning was beautiful. We stopped and took pictures of the skyline from in front of the aquarium. Once we got off the bike path, it wasn't quite as scenic. We entered Indiana without much fanfare because we were riding through a pretty heavy industrial area east of the city. From there we rode through Gary, Indiana, which a lot of guys said was a scary ride. The neighborhood was pretty bad, but all the people who came and talked to us were really nice. They had a great big banner in the middle of town in memory of Michael Jackson since that was his hometown. Also there was a nice little minor league ballpark in Gary too. Once we left Gary it became a lot more rural and the riding was much more relaxed.
Unfortunately we got racked at mile 70 when we were scheduled for 90 because we had to get to town to do our Kids on the Block puppet show. However it was totally worth getting racked because the show at the HealthWorks Kids' Museum in South Bend was hilarious. It was probably the best show all summer.
After dinner, which was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, I went to McDonald's with most of the rest of the time to witness the 10K Challenge. All summer guys have been attempting several different challenges on the bike to make the ride more interesting, such as:
- No Seat Challenge - don't sit on the saddle all day
- Saltine Challenge - nothing to eat on the bike all day, but saltines and water
- Black Coffee Challenge - black coffee in the water bottle all day instead of water or gatorade
- Starvin' Marvin Challenge - eat nothing on the bike all day
The 10K Challenge was to eat almost nothing on the bike all day and then make up for it by eating 10,000 calories in two hours at McDonald's. Three guys signed up. No one came close. But Scott Asher ate 6,600 calories before losing nearly all of them on the side of the road on the way home. The most impressive part might have been the fact that he started off by consuming over 3,500 calories in the first 20 minutes we were there. It started off entertaining to watch, then progressively got less fun.
We started out riding south along the bike path in the park until it dead-ended on the south side of the city. The view of the city and the lake early in the morning was beautiful. We stopped and took pictures of the skyline from in front of the aquarium. Once we got off the bike path, it wasn't quite as scenic. We entered Indiana without much fanfare because we were riding through a pretty heavy industrial area east of the city. From there we rode through Gary, Indiana, which a lot of guys said was a scary ride. The neighborhood was pretty bad, but all the people who came and talked to us were really nice. They had a great big banner in the middle of town in memory of Michael Jackson since that was his hometown. Also there was a nice little minor league ballpark in Gary too. Once we left Gary it became a lot more rural and the riding was much more relaxed.
Unfortunately we got racked at mile 70 when we were scheduled for 90 because we had to get to town to do our Kids on the Block puppet show. However it was totally worth getting racked because the show at the HealthWorks Kids' Museum in South Bend was hilarious. It was probably the best show all summer.
After dinner, which was sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, I went to McDonald's with most of the rest of the time to witness the 10K Challenge. All summer guys have been attempting several different challenges on the bike to make the ride more interesting, such as:
- No Seat Challenge - don't sit on the saddle all day
- Saltine Challenge - nothing to eat on the bike all day, but saltines and water
- Black Coffee Challenge - black coffee in the water bottle all day instead of water or gatorade
- Starvin' Marvin Challenge - eat nothing on the bike all day
The 10K Challenge was to eat almost nothing on the bike all day and then make up for it by eating 10,000 calories in two hours at McDonald's. Three guys signed up. No one came close. But Scott Asher ate 6,600 calories before losing nearly all of them on the side of the road on the way home. The most impressive part might have been the fact that he started off by consuming over 3,500 calories in the first 20 minutes we were there. It started off entertaining to watch, then progressively got less fun.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Chicago Day Two
The second day in Chicago as I mentioned Bill and Sarah were nice enough to let me do my laundry at their apartment. Plus I got to watch Fast & Furious with Bill.
Afterwards we had lunch at sponsored by a former JOH rider at Chipotle on State St. at Division. It was delicious, but I overdid it with the Tabasco.
The afternoon I spent pretty lazily. Picked my laundry since it wasn't done drying before lunch. Got a cup of coffee. And cleaned up before dinner.
Dinner was at a pizza place called Lou Malnati's on Wells St. It was good, authentic Chicago-style pizza. The sponsor was Adam Solarz from Miami of Ohio who looked really familiar. And it turns out he graduated in 2006 and rode that same year and knows Adam Dick, Jon Bos, and the Brothers Kozak.
Also on our last night in Chicago, the Art Institute had free admission after five o'clock, so Ray and I met Kozak who came straight from work. We didn't have a lot of time, so we just saw the Impressionists, some of the contemporary galleries, and an exhibit on architecture and design. The architecture and design exhibit was really cool. Also they just opened a new wing for the contemporary and modern collections along Millenium Park and it seemed really cool, I wish had had more time to check it out.
Also as an aside we determined that the circumference of the Earth is just over 24,000 miles. So our trip this summer is just shy of one eighth of the circumference of the entire planet. Pretty crazy when you consider most of the planet it covered in water.
Afterwards we had lunch at sponsored by a former JOH rider at Chipotle on State St. at Division. It was delicious, but I overdid it with the Tabasco.
The afternoon I spent pretty lazily. Picked my laundry since it wasn't done drying before lunch. Got a cup of coffee. And cleaned up before dinner.
Dinner was at a pizza place called Lou Malnati's on Wells St. It was good, authentic Chicago-style pizza. The sponsor was Adam Solarz from Miami of Ohio who looked really familiar. And it turns out he graduated in 2006 and rode that same year and knows Adam Dick, Jon Bos, and the Brothers Kozak.
Also on our last night in Chicago, the Art Institute had free admission after five o'clock, so Ray and I met Kozak who came straight from work. We didn't have a lot of time, so we just saw the Impressionists, some of the contemporary galleries, and an exhibit on architecture and design. The architecture and design exhibit was really cool. Also they just opened a new wing for the contemporary and modern collections along Millenium Park and it seemed really cool, I wish had had more time to check it out.
Also as an aside we determined that the circumference of the Earth is just over 24,000 miles. So our trip this summer is just shy of one eighth of the circumference of the entire planet. Pretty crazy when you consider most of the planet it covered in water.
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