X-America by Bicycle

Willies casual bike ride part II

2010-07-07T16:40:00.002+03:00

COMPLETE. THE END.

2010-06-27T20:12:00.004+03:00

The Golden Gate Bridge, shrouded in mist, and one of the numerous signs we ignored to cycle into the freezing cold pacific.

Day 64 - Sacramento to SAN FRANCISCO. 110 miles, 2 burgers FINISH! 6292.9KMS

Maybe its because we know we won't have to cycle at all once we are done, maybe its because the air at sea level is easier to breathe than the air at 4000ft (we have been above 4000ft for the last month) or maybe its because we are so damn fit, but we smashed out 95 miles to get to the ferry terminal at Vallejo by 13.30. 150kms in 8 hours including breaks.

We left Sacramento at the absurd hour of 5.30am. To do this we woke up at the even more absurd hour of 4.30am. Thank you so much to Sherri for waking up when we did, and making breakfast, we couldn't have got here without it. Also thank you for bicycling with us to the bike path, getting lost 200m from the house we were staying at is an unpleasant but surprisingly common happening for us.

We were smashing our personal bests all day today, from 20 miles (32K) by 7am, 43 miles (69k) by 9am, 67 by 11, to 95 miles (150k) by 1.30pm. When we left Sacramento, we were aiming to catch the 4pm ferry, but we started so fast that we realized by 10 that we could just scrape the 2pm ferry - the ferry was only every 2 hours.

We stopped only three times in 8 hours, cycling at an average of 22kph for 7 hours. The second time we stopped, we picked up a footlong sub from subway for us to eat on the ferry, there was no time to eat it before. The countryside we cruised through was fantastic - the Napa valley - world famous for its wine, contained not only vineyards but also many colourful ornamental flowers. We saw more flowers in the napa and neighbouring valleys than we have on the whole trip. Great scenery, and plenty of other cyclists out enjoying the sun this weekend - we saw (another new record) 3 tandems!

The weather was awesome, until we got to San Francisco. Apparently San Francisco is always around 10 Celsius colder than the other side of the bay, and so it was - the fog was down over the golden gate bridge, so our first view of this iconic landmark was towers getting lost in the clouds. It was freezing on the bridge, the wind roared through the pillars, and the fog soaked our tired bodies. But it was awesome. I was so excited to be done, that it didn't matter what the weather was like, just that we had finished. Last year, doing more than 6000 kms on a bicycle seemed inconceivable, and now it's done, I'm still in disbelief - what I do know though, is that we have come a long way, seen a myriad of things: from the normal to the nuts - that I will remember for the rest of my life.

But now back to reality, ish... It is Gay Pride Weekend here in San Francisco, and there is a parade to watch - apparently not much normal, way too many nuts on show. We will enjoy San Francisco until Tuesday when we fly back to New York, having found a spot to box up our bikes somewhere between the sightseeing.

We are FINISHED

2010-06-27T18:29:00.001+03:00

Yes thats right-64 days, 3878 miles and two tired legs but we have finished our epic journey.

Yesterday i had trouble sleeping, finding it hard to suppress my excitement of what was to come the next day. After just two hours sleep we woke at 4:30, so we could complete the final 95 miles to Vallejo, before 4:30, where we would take the ferry over to San Fran. Leaving from just east of Sacramento. We were set on our way with a great set of directions prepared for us by cherri.

Setting out at 5:30, we cycled with the sun rising on our backs, whilst on a fantastic bike path-a perfect start to our last day. We covered 30 miles by 8am and 43 by 9am, so we were making cracking progress. We realised that we could. if we cycled hard, could make the 2pm ferry over to San Fran, which would be much better than the 4:30 one as it would quite simply give us more time in San Fran. We cycled really hard and managed to make the 2pm ferry, cycling 97 miles in 7 hours of riding and doing it over a period of 8 hours.....thats fast!

Arriving in Frisco, we cycled round the bay towards the pacific and the Golden Gate bridge. The geography in frisco, is fascinating not only its infamous topography, but also the weather. It is 10 degrees colder than just across the bay in Vallejo, and it is also vulnerable to fog, so as we arrived at the bridge, it was cold and very much covered by the wet fog. Nevertheless we did come great photos and wandered out ont the bridge. Afterwards we headed round towards Golden gate park, so we could complete our adventure and reached the sea. As we got there we renaged on cycling into the sea, until we had had food. So we ate a lavish meal (cost us $80, each burger was $25!!!)

Into the sea we went, the cold sea, filmed by two rather confused and amused tourists, got very cold and wet, but finally completed our adventure in style!! Our contact who we were meant to be staying with, texted saying we could come when we finished work at 11pm, not idea after a 100 mile day and having just cycled into the cold sea. As we were sitting there, trying to sort out a place to stay for the night, a young couple approached us, Claire and Jay who had done a little cycle touring themselves, kindly offered us a place to stay. So we pitched up at their flat, and indulged in a some beers and chatted away with them into the night. Eventually i crashed, and was asleep. Turned out to be a really nice end to our final day.

This morning we woke early to watch the England game, and as i write this it is 3-1 to the enemy and we have been robbed of a goal...oh dear. Lets hope the rest of the day will be better as we go out and explore the city.

5 miles to go.

2010-06-27T00:35:00.002+03:00

Very excited - 95 miles done today, by 13.30, having left at 5.30, now on the ferry across to San Francisco. Golden gate bridge 5 miles away.

If there is neither a tidal wave nor a hurricane, we have done it!

Sacramento, Yosemite - The Penultimate day!

2010-06-26T08:43:00.002+03:00

Day 61 – Kirkwood, CA to Sacramento, CA 101 miles, 5 burgers, 2 waves SIX THOUSAND KILOMETRES!

Day 62 – “Rest Day” – Yosemite National Park – walked 10 miles up 1000ft, 2 burgers

Day 63 – “Rest Day” – Yosemite National Park – 1 burger

The cold woke me up this morning, but kept me in bed slightly longer than planned. I got up at 5.50 to take the cover off the tent and start packing up, and it was only then that I realized that we had camped 3 metres from a massive pile of snow. Definitely a first for both of us! Neither of us can wait to get to proper beds, and a nice lie in. Although camping is great, we were both very happy last night in the knowledge that this was our last night in a tent for quite a while.

We were on our bikes by 6.28 – 38 mins between get up and go, we are getting better – but it has taken 61 days! We cycled 25 miles by 9am, and had a big breakfast at Ham Station – the first breakfast place we came to. The first bit was tough – with a lot of uphill, despite having already past the highest point we’ll reach for the rest of the trip. Although from the start of the day at 7100ft to the end of the day at 30ft, our average speed was slower than it would have been on the flat: the hills down were steep, but very twisty so we had to go slow downhill, and then there were extremely steep, short, sharp uphill’s to contend with. We also had to contend with 0 degrees at the start of the day and 30 degrees in the middle of the day, with a very sudden change between the two. After possibly our last McDonalds for lunch in Placerville – having covered 70 miles to get there, we headed out on the last 30 miles, and were lucky to be helped by a passing cyclist to point us in the right direction to the bike path. We have come out of one hazard – lack of services – and back into the original hazards: getting lost and traffic.

I worked out that we have had 3 roads 96, 56 and lots of 50 for more than half of the last 2000 miles, since Jefferson City in Missouri, so it was a shock today to have to do so many turns (more turns in one hour today than the last month). There were more road changes today than we have done in the last month. It’s an odd feeling and we may have to resort to listing name changes again (like we did in the beginning).

We got to Sacramento to the Brown’s house, and were posed with the question: Shower, Cold drink, or Swimming pool… not many questions I prefer, and the best thing to hear after 8 hours of cycling. The answer of course is all 3, so we duly accepted first the drink, then the pool, and finally the shower.

That evening we started chatting and worked out that we could and should go to check out Yosemite national park. So, plans were changed rapidly, and early the next morning Peter and his daughter Katya, and Alex and I set out to the park. It is a very long way away, so we had to go out overnight to make the most of it. We thought we were done with camping, but the next evening found us back in our tent, camped on the side of the road just out of the park.

Yosemite is a great place, but so big and varied that to fully appreciate it, at least a week is needed. As it was, we had 1 and a half days, and we were too tired to really go at it. We still had a good time, and saw some amazing things. Thank you to Peter for giving us the opportunity to go.

Tomorrow we are up at 4.15 for our last day! We aim to catch the 4.30pm ferry 95 miles away, and then cycle to the Golden Gate bridge, before cruising down the beach into the freezing cold sea. We are sure our jubilation at having completed this will keep us warm against the pacific’s icy tendrils.

Detour

2010-06-24T09:30:00.000+03:00

Today we had the intention of riding roughly 100 miles, so we could reach just east of Sacramento, where we were due to stay with some family friends of Williams. The night was a cold one, but comforted by the knowledge that it would be amongst our last in a tent. To put it into perspective we pitched our tent, which we discovered this morning was surrounded by snow.

We started our big decent. But soon discovered that it was not just down, but a decent followed by a slightly smaller ascent. This set the tone for the rat of the day really. If we cycle the same distance on the flat we would have averaged a higher speed. The temperature change was rapid, and quickly i went from wearing 5 layers, to wearing just a vest. A temperature range of 30 from the start of the day to the end, would be about right.

The days total miles was just over 100 and we finally reached our destination at around 7:30, where we were warmly welcomed by Sherri and Peter. They have kindly offered to take us to Yosemite for a 2 day trip, so although missing out on 2 days in San Fran we will get a chance to see the infamous trees of Yosemite. We wee going to arrive tomorrow but we will probably arrive on Saturday now.

June 22nd- Into California

2010-06-24T08:27:00.004+03:00

Yesterday was a fantastic. We had, by our standards, a big lie in till 7:30!! We sourced out a company offering para sailing near by, but they told us, to our absolute dismay, that they were only flying on Wednesdays...However our hopes were dashed only for a brief moment as we were sent in the direction of South Lake Tahoe, where we would almost certainly find the illustrious sport of para sailing.

We ventured forth 10 miles round the vast lake, crossing the Nevada/California divide in the process. We reached south lake Tahoe and booked ourselves onto the next available 'flight'. What can i say- para sailing was phenomenal- Soaring like a bird above the clear blue waters, created a ethereal haze of wonder and beauty, encapsulating us in a sense of sheer freedom.

Getting back on our bikes, much later than expected, we climbed and climbed. Eventually up to carson pass 8500ft, which we approached like a prowling cat. We savoured the moment, as we knew in the next 200 miles we would descend over 8000ft to san fran, without having to climb back up again. We went about another 6 miles or so where we stopped for the night near the small town of kirkwood. There we indulged on the lavish beef stew. Whilst in the bar, a couple of other x-America bikers approached us, and in turn we ended up stealth camping with them on a very secluded side road. Despite the icy breath of mother nature upon us we threw down the tent and dived in.

17 States

2010-06-24T08:20:00.002+03:00

Day 60 - Lake Tahoe, NV to Kirkwood, CA, 40 miles, 2 waves, NEW STATE: CALIFORNIA - Totals: 5962 kms, 120 Waves, 17 States

Today we reached our final state; California, and it didn't disappoint. The hills were among the top ten toughest, but top three for beauty. First though, an explanation as to why we "only" did 40 miles today.

We had a lie in this morning - we were aiming to do some parasailing, but the office only opened at 9, so we had to wait until then before making a move. Unfortunately, when we got there at 9, it was only to be told that there was no parasailing today - so we did what we have always done when a decision needs to be made - ate. In this case, it was all-you-can-eat pancakes from the Zephyr Cove Resort's Lodge. Alex ate 4, I ate 6 - and we both felt like we had done well from the deal, the pancakes were huge!

Stuffed to the core with Pancakes, we decided parasailing was still a good idea, so we cycled 8 miles around the lake in the direction we were meant to be going - towards South Lake Tahoe. By this time, it was 11.30, and turning into a nice warm day. We got booked onto the next available parasailing outing, which wasn't until one o clock, so we killed time (not something we have had a chance to do for two months) by chucking a tennis ball around on the beach of the lake. Bearing in mind that when you see snow, swimming is not clever, we took a little dip, but didn't last long - although it was a warm day, the lake was not far from freezing.

We then headed off on the boat, and were launched off into the sky hanging from a kite, being towed by a boat. It was awesome. The view from 800ft above the water and the snowy mountains was fantastic, and hanging so high above the water was nerveracking enough to get the adrenaline going. We took alot of pictures, and once we have caught up on the writing, we will put those up.

After our flight, we had lunch - making an error in judgement of food consumption for the first time this trip. We have got so used to ordering the biggest and cheapest meal on the menu, that we forgot we weren't very hungry - I spent 2 hours forcing the whole dish down, and Alex gave up on it. We left Tahoe after 3 with our favourite aim - get as far as we can before dark. We had two high passes to go over - we started at 6200ft at Lake Tahoe, got to Luther's pass at 7700ft after some hard work and a lot of roadworks making things interesting. Then we headed down for a short time before heading up to Carson's pass (8500ft) - from where we thought we could coast to the coast.

The nice thing about the passes was the beauty. Although cycling uphill is not pleasant, this trip was made bearable by the scenery. All the nearby mountains are covered in snow, and the white reflected the sunset, while the green pine forests provided some contrast.

It was exciting to reach California, something we have been looking forward to doing for a long time - but we weren't expecting it to be this cold - isn't summer meant to have started?! There is more snow here than there is on the Rocky's, and the night was freezing - we camped with 4 other cross country cyclists less than 10 ft from a 3ft deep portion of snow (they were going the other way - I will show their blog later).

I am going to bed now, I will post the next day's (today's) blog tomorrow. We got to Sacramento after 101 miles of cycling from Kirkwood, and are staying with the Brown's. We have changed plans completely, instead of pushing on and finishing tomorrow, we are taking a large side trip to Yosemite, and will finish on Saturday.

We would love to hear what we should spent our time doing in San Francisco if you have any tips.

Tahoe!

2010-06-22T18:18:00.000+03:00

Yesterday we left early having camped at a beautiful spot by a National park lake. Our ACA maps dont actually take us near lake tahoe but we have been told by many that it is worth going the extra miles and going to see the tahoe, described by one as the 'most beautiful spot in America'. So our plan was to get to do 38 miles to carson city and decide from there, perhaps go into a bike shop and ask advice from some fellow cyclists.

Upon our arrival into Carson city, we had a early lunch, whilst taking advantage of the Wifi and trying to sort out places to stay in San Francisco. Visiting the bike shop was great, as they not only gave us solid advice on going up to lake Tahoe, but also we lubed our chains(both our bikes have started making funny noises). Going up to the lake, we worked out is only about 6 miles further than the ACA route, so we thought why not!

It was a bit of a climb, ascending 2200 ft in 6 miles, to get over the basin into the Tahoe area, but it was sure worth it. The lake is huge and very stunning. It is said the water is so clear at some spots, you can see 67 ft down into the water. There are some other fascinating stats. which after reading them i quickly forgot, nonetheless, it is a fantastic place.

We found a touristy spot by the lake about 15 miles down, where there was a campsite and the usual other water sports facilities provided, eg water skiing, sailing etc. So this morning we are going to pursue the possibility of para sailing which would be awesome! We camped for vast expense last night, after a very expensive meal, but that is the price you pay(liturally) when you come to the busy tourist spots. Today we will have a bit of fun on the lake, and then will do 50 miles or so to near the top of Carson's pass(8500ft), which would leave us with two fairly big days to san fran, but then we are done!!!

THE END IS NEARING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lake Tahoe, NV

2010-06-22T07:57:00.003+03:00

Day 59 - Silver Springs to Lake Tahoe, 60 miles, 4 burgers, 4 waves - Totals: 5888kms, 127 burgers, 118 waves

We set off early to evade the camp fees at Lahontan Reservoir, and just managed - we left the park at 7.05, having packed up and cycled a mile, and were lucky; the tired ranger who had got in 5 minutes earlier, didn't hear us wizz passt.

We cycled fast 8 miles to the first town to get some food to tide us by the 35 miles to Carson City and Lunch. Carson City is the capital of Nevada, and is markedly different to the rest of Nevada - there are trees! It is going to be interesting adjusting back to city cycling, we are far too relaxed at the moment.

We left Carson City at 3.30 - having been there for four hours, but we needed it. Emails to attend to, and final plans to sort out. I am sorry if I haven't replied, things will be hectic for the next couple of days.

From Carson City, at 4700ft, it was uphill for 10 miles to 7100ft, before dropping 700ft to the level of the lake. Lake Tahoe is on the national leaderboard's for deepest lake, largest lakes and lake at highest elevation - no mean feat - if this blog has told you nothing over the last 2 months, one thing to take away is that America is huge!

We will try and go parasailing tomorrow morning, taking in some of Lake Tahoe's beauty, before cycling as far as we can in the rest of the day, arriving in Sacramento on Wednesday, and finishing on Thursday. We both can't wait to cycle into the sea!

Silver Springs, NV

2010-06-22T07:55:00.001+03:00

Day 58 - Middlegate station to Silver Springs - 80 miles, total 5789kms

A day that starts with Pancakes, eggs and bacon is a good day. We were done with our breakfast by7.30, but hung around until 8.30 slowly packingup. We were thinking today about how this felt like a relaxed late start - whereas in the first three weeks, 8.30 was our earliest start by quite a way.

We were headed to Fallon for lunch - 50 miles away and our last long stretch with no services in between. Although it was mostly the same as the rest of Nevada (up and down, dry with spindly, wiry plants and salt plains) we did see a couple of more interesting things: sand mountain - a massive sand dune covered in quad bikes cruising up and down, and also a couple of the target area's for the "Top Gun" fighter pilots. Then we cruised through a large salt pan, where people have written their names into the barren landscape by rearranging rocks.

Along the way we passed a whole bunch (about 25) of people, cycling supported to Washington DC, but they didn't stop to chat - they cruised past us in long lines on fancy road bikes. We did talk to a random couple of other cross country cyclists, one old man cycling home to minnesota having retired from work and having finished with San Francisco, and another guy who had quit his job and was seeing america from the relative comfort of a recumbent bicycle.

In Fallon, we relaxed in Taco Bell for a couple of hours - great place - as much as it takes to fill us up, in Taco Bell it costs only $5, including a refillable soda. We moved on just before 4, after slaloming through Safeway's car park to find some more suncream - the heat in Utah meant that we finished our second bottle.

We took it easy and reached Silver springs at 6, after a long chat with Will Macdonald, another cyclist, 5 days in to his cross-country mission. I will remember Will for his comment on my Icebreaker cycling shirt: "Awesome, Icebreaker! (dramatic pause) - proof that man was meant to enslave sheep!" We had good pizza and pasta and then headed to a campsite by the Lahontan reservoir.

The sport of 'shoe hurling'

2010-06-20T09:55:00.002+03:00

We decided to rest today, instead to doing a short day of 50 miles to fallon. Having a rest day today means that we have 5 days riding left consisting of an average of just 74 miles a day to reach frisco on the 24th. Having a few big days has made or task for the next 5 days that much easier.

Last night we actually rode past one of the few highlights of highway 50, that being the 'shoe tree'. There are very few trees in Nevada(in the whole state less than 3 or 4 by my reckoning), so to come across on which has thousands of old shoes thrown upon it makes it even more of a spectacle. As it was dark we completely missed it, so rode back to see the tree and throw some shoes up the tree(as one does). After at least an hour of shoe throwing we returned and had a nice relaxing afternoon, sorting out the next few days, and trying to sort out where we will stay in San Fran. We will do about 80-100 miles tomorrow, depending on how feel. We are now on the 'home stretch'! only 370 miles to go.

The 'Big one'

2010-06-20T09:49:00.001+03:00

Day 56. Total miles 3456. Days miles: 112.

Yesterday was a LONG day, 112 miles in total, just over 9 hours of riding. The previous day, we had covered 101 miles so followinf that another big day and we would be rewarded with a rest day. We had camped 20 miles west of Eureka, and it was a cold night. So much so that i woke up several times and eventually had to put on my raincoat, which as you can imagine is not that comfortable to sleep in. It has become apparent that even after hotter days, due to the lack of cloud cover, the nights are cool if not cold in Nevada.

We set off quite early at around 7:30 covered 30 miles or so, and soon ran into a rather strange cyclist coming the other way. Most of the people we ride past are 'normal', this one was not. Anyway after a brief as possible encounter with 'Mr Strange' we bumped into couple riding. We talked for quite a while and the gave us great advice on minor detours we should take, including a route to lake Tahoe. They said we should certainly go out of our way to visit it. After a lengthy session of banter about the soccer world cup, sorry i have become Americanised-i mean the 'football world cup', and an interesting observation that we looked thirty years old, we forged on slightly behind schedule. I think that the long hair and the beard makes me look slightly older. However, being a true 'cycle tourer' i will not cut my hair or shave until i return, it adds to the persona that all cycle tourers are hardened men. Anyway we arrived into Austin at around 3, and had only covered 48 miles, so over 60 miles to go after a very late lunch. At Austin we chatted with the gas station attendant, who claimed to be best mates with the top gear crew who had passed through the little town the previous year. His stories of the drunken Jeremy Clarkson were amusing even if the validity of them were questionable.

By the time we left Austin it was 4pm at least, so we could tell it was going to be a long one, but we put our heads down and forged on. I have, after 50 odd days of riding, eventually acquired some saddle sores. In addition my cycling shorts are on their last legs, so are falling apart in all the wrong places, creating a constant rubbing. This slowed my process somewhat, as had to adopt for a large stretch of the afternoon, a 'standing riding' position.....bit tiring on the already lethargic muscles. Nevertheless we pulled into Middlegate, about 50 miles west of Fallon, at about 9pm, finishing our ride in the dark. To our relief there was a bar, so we indulged in two huge burgers and a couple of beers a piece. The bar which also doubled as a bar/motel/restaurant/camping ground/pool house/meeting place of local drunks, had a shack which they offered us for $10. The shack had a couple of bunks and a shower house next door. We snapped up the offer quick, as a night out of the clod and off the hard floor of a tent, is always a welcome relief. Even though when i pulled back the blankets from the bad a rather large Caterpillar scuttled away, it provided a great nights sleep.

Rest Day, Shoe Tree

2010-06-20T09:04:00.000+03:00

Alex throwing some shoes!

Day 57 - Rest Day 9, 3 burgers, total 123 burgers

We had a think in the morning and decided that it would be nicer to stay here (Middlegate station, NV) than ride 50 miles to find somewhere in the town of Fallon - with cheap beds, food, water and wifi plus beautiful scenery and nice people, it was a no-brainer.

We visited the Shoe tree - a large tree with thousands of shoes thrown into it by passing travellers - it looks ridiculous, photo's to come - but if you can't wait - search "Shoe Tree, Nevada" in google images. It now has a few more shoes in it - although we didn't have our own shoes to throw, there were hundred's of shoes at the bottom which had been displaced by storms over the years, and we had a good time throwing shoes for a while. Definitely a thing to set up in England, not sure it would work in Kenya. I broke my flip-flop jumping down to collect some shoes, but there is no better place to break a flip-flop! I had a choice of colours and of style in my size, so I acquired some more.

We spent the rest of the day eating, drinking and trying to catch up on emails, I also tried to book my flight from San Francisco to New York. We have 5 days of cycling left - 370 miles, almost the same as London to Edinburgh.

Not sure where we'll end up tomorrow - but it will be between 25 miles and 50 miles east of Fallon - between 75 miles and 100miles away. We'll find out when we are on our way - the wind is misbehaving as I write, but hopefully it will finish its quota of blowing tonight.

One thing I forgot to write about is that we are near the Top Gun training centre - Alex saw some jets flying through the valley's - They use Nevada's deserted valley's to hone their skills. Apparently they often pop up in helicopters to have a burger with the locals here.

New Record - Longest Day

2010-06-20T08:40:00.002+03:00

To me, this cow looks scared - as I was saying earlier - it often gets shot at.
We camped in an awesome spot by the side of the road.

Day 56 - Side of the Road to Middlegate Station, NV - 13 waves, 3 burgers, 112 miles - Totals 114 waves, 120 burgers, 5658kms LONGEST DAY!

I got up early because the sun was up, and getting up was the quickest way off the really cold ground - nights in Nevada are cold, however warm the day is. Alex did not quite take this approach and stayed snug in his sleeping for quite a while longer, until he needed to go to the loo so badly that he had to get up. I call this a lie-in, but still, we were both up by 6.30. Alex did quite a funny dance looking for a loo spot and ended up having to duck under a fence to find suitable cover.

We left by 7.40, after a relaxing breakfast - eating our few remaining provisions - I had bread and honey, a couple of pop-tarts and a cob of caramel popcorn! These are some of the cheap things that have been our staples when calories are needed (always - the number of pop-tarts must be almost more than the number of burgers). We cruised the first 2 hours at 25kph, until we met a couple of seasoned tourer's from San Francisco heading across country. We chatted to this husband and wife team for quite a while and they gave us a bunch of tips about which places to go for the rest of our trip. She has managed to get herself on our all-time worst guesses board - up there with me being from Belgium and Alex being 35, by guessing we were both 30! Well done wherever you are, and good luck with the rest of your trip.

This was a long chat, and soon after we met another cyclist who confirmed our hypothesis that while most of the people who cycle long-distances are in fact normal and nice, 3 in 10 are just really odd. "USA guy" as we have christened him - was definitely out there: the first 2 minutes of meeting him, he said nothing but USA - and we worked out after some time that he was making a reference to the draw with England in the World Cup. I don't know where he was going.
We pushed on up a steep hill and then over the top of a couple of big hills - our last real ones in Nevada, getting to Austin at 1.30. We had an expensive but nice burger for lunch, and then posted some posters from Bryce Canyon back to New York - to stop them getting wet along the rest of the way (they barely survived the attack of the sprinklers).

The last 60 miles we had to do fast - it was 60 miles to get food, and although we could have stopped and camped anywhere - we wanted supper, so we kept going. The first bit was slow going, a long long hill, and then another, meant we had 45 miles to do in 3 hours of light. We managed, but only just - getting in to Middlegate station at 20 to 9 after 112 miles - it was dark enough that we missed seeing the Shoe Tree - a local landmark right by the road.

We had great burgers and beer, and then splashed out $5 for the "shack"; a bunkhouse that sheltered us from the wind and the cold - too much camping recently and we had earned it after 212 miles in the last two days. We also get beds! A luxury - even if my feet are about a foot off the end.

June 17th-The 'loneliest Road in America'

2010-06-20T00:17:00.001+03:00

On the 17th, having reneged on going any further than 28 miles to Ely the previous day, we set out for a big day. Our aim was to cover 78 miles to Eureka(no services between), and then try and do at least another 20 miles and camp in on the side of the road. The day started poorly as my phone, which also act as our alarm, somehow keeps resetting itself to eastern time so instead of waking us at 5, woke me at 2 and then at 3. After overusing the snooze function, i decided to turn off the phone, confused that it was 6:30 but still not light! Anyway we did wake up properly at about 6 to a glorious day, not too hot, not too cold. Despite the alarm fiasco we were fresh after spending the night in a Motel, so were all ready for a big day.

On the way to Eureka we went over 4 passes, all but one over 7000 ft, but although it sounds like a lot of climbing, they go up very gradually, creating situations when you are confused whether you are going up or down! Two points about highway 50- one is that it is all the same, no variety, and really quite boring. Two although dubbed in the 1980's as 'the loneliest road in America', it is not in fact that quite. There is far more traffic than a lot of the stretches we had in Utah and even parts of eastern Colorado.

In the morning we ran into 2 more Trans Am cyclists. Passing cyclists is becoming a more regular occurrence, every day now we bump into at least 3 people, most of them going the whole way across. Both the guys, Kevin and John, were riding for breast cancer. It is always a nice break to stop and talk with the other cyclists, exchanging advice and so on. They were both also keeping a blog, Kevin-www.3781miles.org and John http://www.cycleforgailsangels.com/.

We reached Eureka at about 3:30, having no real trouble with the 78 miles, actually enjoying the passes(especially because of the humorous names), such as 'pancake summit' and 'Little Antelope summit'. We enjoyed a big lunch in Eureka and stocked up on bits- supper, snacks and of course water. It was another decent stretch of 68 miles with no services until Austin. carrying water is not such a problem as it was in Utah, as it is simply just that much colder. Instead of drinking a litre an hour, we are drinking about half that in Nevada. We though that it would be unbearably hot, but in the nights and mornings it is cold, not more than 10 degrees Celsius, and in the middle of the day not more than 25 degrees. From Austin we did another 23 miles, stopping and setting up camp at around ten to eight, We were riding as the sun set, creating an stunning orange sky. For me it was one of those moments that makes the hard days worth it: No cars, no people, no Wifi, just us and the sunset.

101 miles from Nowhere to Nowhere

2010-06-19T20:54:00.001+03:00

This photo pretty much sums up Nevada - big basin's with not much in them at all - the sign warning of cows come every 60 miles or so, and they always have at least 3 bulletholes - no wonder the cow looks scared (see picture to come of cow in detail.) Each basin is at least 30 miles from Crest to Crest - usually more like 50.

Day 55 counting again but not actually sure on days?? Ely, NV to a spot by the side of the road 23 miles west of Eureka. 8 waves, 2 burgers, 101 miles - totals: 117 burgers, 101 waves, 5478 kms

We set off early, but not as early as we had planned. After a relaxing day of only 27 miles the day before, we were aiming for a hundred today. We had stocked up the day before in a big market and so set off soon after waking up. The donuts you can get at some of these markets are awesome.

I am enjoying Nevada - the hills look really steep from far, but are in fact really gradual. We are munching through the miles, despite a day of only 27, we have done 302 miles in the last 4 days - thats roughly what we covered on our tour of England, in a week. We will probably try and do another hundred tomorrow.

I am sure I have mentioned before that we are cycling "the wrong way" - conventional wisdom says the wind goes west to east, and most cyclists are wise to this. But, one of the best things about cycling "the wrong way" across country, is that you meet everyone going the other way - whereas they only meet the very few lunatics going the wrong way - and a few people who are going either very slow or very fast. We on the other hand, meet them all. We have seen 4 people a day for the last few days - all interesting people on their own little mission.

Kevin is cycling for breast cancer because he lost his mum to it, and we will remember him, because he gave us pink wristbands with his blog address: www.3781miles.org and "NEVER GIVE UP" - his mum's favourite phrase stamped on it.
John is also cycling for breast cancer and is now going with Kevin - they are similar ages and left SF on the same day, but didn't know! Blog: www.cycleforgailsangels.com

An interesting thing about Kevin and John is that they were both cycling with only front panniers and a tent on the back - John sent back probably 25kgs only after seeing Kevin's novel set up.

We met another guy on a shorter trip - from SF to Pueblo, as well as Tyler, cycling the from SF to New York, in the same length of time as us and the same route, just the opposite direction. He was in college, and raising money for the Haiti Relief fund - search "Here to Haiti" on facebook, or click here for the page.

We dived off the road at 10 to 8, giving us 40 mins more light (the time change means it gets dark earlier) we put up our tent, took some sunset photo's, and ate some of the food we had brought with us - asleep by 9.15.

Will put details tomorrow

2010-06-19T08:20:00.001+03:00

101 miles yesterday, 112 miles today = very tired - will put more up tomorrow - for now, bedtime.

Nevada - Mountains, Wind, Cold, and nothing.

2010-06-17T00:24:00.004+03:00

Day 52 - Majors Junction, NV to Ely, NV 27 miles, 8 waves, 3 burgers Total 5300kms

We were planning on another 30 miles today, but from Ely we have another long stretch with nothing - 78 miles with no services. After a look at the weather forecast, we decided against riding further - it is no fun to camp when it's -2C, windy and raining. Instead we'll take a break and do a longer day tomorrow, when the wind dies down abit.

We took off Alex's cassette (the gear thing on the back) this morning, moved the bungy cord (which had somehow got extremely stuck), and put it all back together, in about 5 minutes - we are getting good at fixing bikes.

The wind is tough to ride against - to put it into perspective: yesterday Alex and I set new top speeds of 54mph, down a 5 mile hill at 6% gradient. Today, we had another 5 mile hill at 6% gradient, but despite pedalling hard, neither of us got above 25mph. The difference - the wind. It is depressing to go down a steep hill using so much energy yet going so slowly. Winds of over 30 mph are happening today - scheduled to go down tomorrow luckily.

2010-06-17T00:12:00.000+03:00

Yesterday we woke early and set out on our 60 miles we had left to do of the '84 miles with no services'. Nevada as we have been told by the numerous passing cyclists, consists of many huge valleys, 11 passes in total i think. The climbs are gradual, but long, as with the decents. We did 3 passes yesterday and did over 94 miles, so a really long day...eigt and a half hours riding. We stopped in centeral junction for the night, and did 28 mies this morning to Ely. We now have a 78 mile stretch with no services!

Camping on Rock

2010-06-17T00:03:00.003+03:00

Day 51 - Ranch in Wah-Wah Valley, UT - Majors Junction, NV 95 miles, 2 burgers, 19 waves, NEW STATE Nevada, Totals: 5257kms, 112 burgers, 85 waves, 16 states NEW TOP SPEED: 54.4MPH Alex, 86KPH Me.

We left the ranch by eight this morning, having dried out as much of our kit as possible after the attack of the sprinklers. We cycled 7 miles uphill in the first hour, then 20 miles downhill the second hour. The up and downs look severe from a distance, yet they are really gradual - the only thing severe is the distance - the average valley is 30 miles, 10 up 10 down and 10 in between.

We made good time, partly because there was no reason to stop - we still had 57 miles to go before we could get more water and food. After several ups and downs we were flying along, slightly downhill with the wind behind us, when we met John, the first person we have met while we were cycling with the wind. It was good to meet him - his blog is: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/7076

We had lunch in baker at the end of the 84 mile stretch with no services having set our watches back another hour - we are now 8 hours ahead of England. After lunch we set out on a 63 mile stretch of nothing, taking minimal food and water because we thought we could get some at Major's Junction where our maps said there was a campsite and a bar. We cruised the first bit, with the wind helping us along - so much so in fact that down our last hill of the day we both set new top speeds, Alex sneaking out of my slipstream to set an even higher one.

But, at the bottom of the hill, we turned left straight in to the full force of the wind and struggled for an hour against the wind, going 5 miles. Luckily we didn't continue south for long, but we worn out from that stretch (and the other 80 miles that day) so we got into the only place in Majors Junction at 8.30 New time - sun had gone down. The good news was the had water and beer, the bad news was no food.

Tomorrow we will go to Ely early on, and then probably another 30 miles, taking a relative rest day - much needed with this offensive wind. Both of us are craving a car trip uphill and against the wind as well as a nice bowl of crunchy nut clusters and strawberry's for breakfast.

After beer in Major's Junction, finding a place to sleep was much easier - it was all gravel, but we were so tired we didn't care and set the tent up on the only concrete available - lying in it really quickly because it was windy and we couldn't put pegs in. In the confusion of setting up, Alex got his bungy cord wrapped around the inside of the cassette so we will have to take that off in the morning.

FIVE THOUSAND KILOMETRES

2010-06-16T01:19:00.003+03:00

Day 50 - Cedar City to Ranch in Wah-Wah Valley - 81 miles, 6 waves, 2 burgers FIVE THOUSAND KILOMETRES! - Total 5091kms, 66 waves, 110 burgers

When we were planning this trip, we wrote down a few things which sounded epic for the top of the blog: we would face huge temperature changes; 0- 30Celsius, and cycle 5000kms. Expectations have been exceeded on all those counts. We have faced temperatures from -2 to 45Celsius, and have cycled 5000 kms with 1000kms still to go. Anyway...

Today we had a lie in until 8, when we dominated the motels breakfast and cleared up before heading to find a bike shop. Cedar City is our last bike shop for nearly 500 miles - we don't want to get stuck in between - but it was also the first bike shop we have been to when we don't actually have a real problem. Despite our bikes lacking urgent problems, we bought a new rear tire each - the wheel had been worn down so much at the back that it was square not round (when I say "real" problem, I mean a problem that stops us cycling). I also bought a set of brake pads as a spare, I am nearly through my second set.

We left Cedar City late, at 12, but still managed 81 miles in the day. We met Jeff, Kevin and a Kiwi cyclist along the way, having nice chats about things to come in both directions. We knew we would have fun with Jeff and Kevin - as we cycled towards them, mad waves were exchanged. We stopped beside a car that was also stopped: a pole - concreted into the ground, off the road and extremely immobile had "jumped up and hit the wing mirror".

We embarked on our longest stretch with no services today (84 miles), and should finish it tomorrow. Stocking up in Milford with micro-wave meals and plenty of water, we headed out into nothing. The landscape has changed yet again, to long rolling valleys with mountains either side. I think that this landscape will continue almost all the way through Nevada to California. Pictures to come.

We camped in a massive valley, in a ranch which provided an oasis of action among a sea of nothing. It was getting late when we crested Frisco Summit, but we didn't stop along the way down - it was just so much fun cruising down the hill. This meant that we quickly left the large vegetation of the hill and ended up in the plain at the bottom with nowhere to hide behind. We spotted the only grove of tree's in 20 miles and headed towards it only to find a ranch underneath. But, by this time it was too dark to set up camp somewhere else, so we asked nicely and were given a really green manicured lawn to camp on outside their house. The lawn was so green for such an otherwise deserted area, we should have asked why. It was so comfy that we only awoke some time in the middle of the night to what sounded like a huge rainstorm. It turns out the kind farmer forgot to turn off the sprinkler system, much of our kit got a drenching, and our tent was tested yet again.

Finishing with a challenge: Guess what type of birds were making a loud noise and strolling around the yard of the ranch?!

Cedar City, UT

2010-06-16T00:49:00.000+03:00

Alex and I shivering after hot chocolate and pancakes halfway up Cedar Mountain - plenty of layers on.

Day 49 - Gas station on junction of 14 and 89 to Cedar City, 40 miles, 5 waves, Total 60 waves, 4964kms

A short day, 40 miles - the catch being it was over a big mountain. The other catch was it was very cold at 7000ft when we started, so it was even colder at 10,000ft when we got to the top. We stopped halfway up the hill and munched a warming hot chocolate and some pancakes, before watching the end of the Formula 1.
We got to the top, put on even more layers and then bombed it down the hill to Cedar City and our first Pizza Hut since Kansas. $10 and 16 inches of pizza each later, we cruised down the strip of motels and booked in - our third night that we have paid for since Pueblo.

After a shower and a rest, we set off to the cinema - taking a slightly longer route than necessary but getting to Shrek 4 in 3D in just enough time.

Then back to the motel to watch Forrest Gump and sleep. A great time, some great movies and a great rest. Tomorrow will be a long day - it is 54 miles to Milford, and then we embark on our longest stretch with no services, 84 miles between Milford and Baker. We will camp somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

1-1 between Will and I

2010-06-14T06:24:00.001+03:00

After a great days rest in bryce canyon, yesterday turned a bit sower. It has been amazing how the temperature has shifted so dramatically. Less that a week ago we were battling against the raging heat, yesterday morning we awoke to the bitter cold, after a night of rain. We set out into the rain, which was reminiscent of our trip in England. Battling through the rain and cold we covered 35 miles in the morning, but then disaster! I am now even with Will. I had left my iPhone plugged in at the campsite 30 odd miles back. So leaving Will in a gas station, i began my adventure back to the campsite. I managed to hitch a lift fairly easily back to Bryce, just by simply asking a couple at the gas station. They happened to be heading straight back to the canyon, so that worked out quite nicely. I collected my phone and began the 'harder stretch' back to the gas station. I walked about a mile back up to the intersection, all the while trying to catch a lift. Two guys from Moldova eventually picked me up and took me 15 miles of the stretch. Then however their car broke down about 6 times, the rain was affecting the car battery. Anyway they eventually got it going but had to leave me whilst they headed home. So yet again i stuck out my thumb and waited. By this time it was raining hard and it was SO COLD! I was only with my rain jacket, still in my cycling shorts. After a hour of no joy, i was soaked and very cold. enough was enough so i started walking to a motel nearby, perhaps even book into a room for the night as it was getting late as well. Luckily a woman kindly picked me up. She was not even going in my direction, but obviously took pity on me as i set shivering in her car, and took me over 20 miles out of her way back to the gas station. All in all i would describe my journey, which took me over 4 and a half hours, 'absolute crap'. As Will sat in the gas station all that time we got a offer to stay the night by someone who worked at the gas station, Carroll. Carroll was so kind to invite us into her home, and it was great meeting and chatting with her and her husband Mike.

This morning we only set out to do 40 miles, to Cedar city. The day started with a 25 mile gradual climb, which took us to over 10000 ft. It was very cold. We did 7 miles and then ducked into a cafe for a hot chocolate. It felt like we were skiing and had nipped into a slope side restaurant for a break, rather than cycling in Mid June in one of the hottest states in America. After that we put on lots of layers and finished off the last 20 miles or so up to the top. We thought we waved good by to the snow when we left Colorado, but no, there was an abundance of snow at the top(a couple of snowballs were thrown, to mark the occasion). A quick decent into cedar city, was followed by a large pizza and a we booked into a motel for the night. We used the unusual free time and went to watch a film, 'shreck'. We have had two half rest days so tomorrow we will try and hammer out a big day, only after we visit our last bike shop for the next 400 miles.

Hitchhiking

2010-06-13T20:55:00.000+03:00

Alex complete with birthday balloon's on yet another endless vista

Day 48 - Ruby's Inn - Gas Station on junction of 14 and 86. - 38 miles - 2 waves, 2 burgers: Totals - 55 waves, 108 burgers

In the gas station, I stayed in the same place for a longer time than I have for over 2 months. Alex's hitchhiking escapades were epic, but he got back in the end. We waited in the Gas Station until Carol had finished work, and followed her husband Mike to their house nearby. After a long chat about politics, guns and war - Mike is retired Special Forces - we hit the floor and were asleep instantly.

The result of this short day is that we have two half rest days - it is only 40 miles tomorrow to Cedar City, although we do have to go over a 10,000ft pass, with more snow a likelihood. We need to break in Cedar City to wait for the bike shop to open on Monday - this will be our last bike shop for 480 miles and we need to buy new brake pads and tires if we are to cross Nevada safely.

We will miss out on Zion national park, which is a shame but not a disaster - the rocks will still be there when we come back another time and it wouldn't be so special in 5 degrees wearing all the clothes we have with us.

Snow!

2010-06-13T00:20:00.002+03:00

I am sitting in a cozy cafe and gas station waiting for Alex. He has left his phone 38 miles back where we camped. Luckily his phone is safe, and he is on the way back to get it as I write.

The bad news is that it is very cold and raining, and as well as making for miserable riding, it means that there is a snowstorm on the 10,000ft pass that we are meant to be crossing now. It looks like it could take until tomorrow noon before we can go over it.

The good news is that the attendant in the gas station has done a long distance cycling trip, and knows how this feels so has offered us a place to stay tonight.

REST DAY - Number 8 - Bryce Canyon

2010-06-12T03:39:00.000+03:00

You never know what you'll see by the side of the road - one of the joys of being on a bicycle is that you can stop to have a look at crazy things like toilets in the shade of rocks, 15 metres from the road.

Pulling a cheeky one to avoid an outrageous camping fee by hoping that the camping people have so many people staying that they don't realise we are staying an extra night, we are having a great rest day. We started late this morning, a hard earned lie in till 8.30, before a casual breakfast. We said goodbye to Carl, Sierra and Max - our friendly camping neighbours for the last two nights and generous donor's of a great meal last night.

We then bought tickets to enter Bryce Canyon and, by using the free shuttle buses they provide to prevent traffic in the park, explored it thoroughly. We went to all the main viewpoints, and I took a 3 mile walk into the abyss among the hoodoo's that are typical of Bryce Canyon - Alex chose to preserve the rest day and shuttled back to the campsite. Bryce Canyon is not actually a Canyon - more an amphitheatre of Geology in action - 200 nights a year below freezing mean that frost shattering has eroded the rocks from above, so all that remains is a forest of hoodoo's (towers of rock). I extended the walk by quite a way, taking every little animal track off the main trail (too much of a highway for my liking). It was awesome - another must-see on an American adventure.

We are working on laundry, have caught up on our blog, and will try and respond to your emails - recently too much pedaling, not enough rest and no battery in the computer, means that we have not replied to your emails (although we did read them) - sorry to be slow.

Time to sample the Campground's Hot-Tub!

Windy!

2010-06-12T03:16:00.000+03:00

If the wind howls more often like it did today, this rock will be blown off its precarious perch.

Day 46 - Calf Creek Campground to Bryce Canyon (Ruby's Inn), 70 miles, bad head winds. 7 waves Totals - 52 waves, 4826 kms

We set off quite early, it was amazing how early the campsite emptied; we were among the late leavers at 7. We cycled up for a while to Escalante for breakfast, with some photo's along the way taken by Carl, who we had met in Calf Creek. After a great breakfast, we headed into the wind for 30 miles, taking nearly 5 hours to get to Cannonville. The wind was so angry it was howling like Kevin Pietersen does when the hairdresser gets it wrong. But though the going has been slower the last couple of days, we have met a whole lot of interesting people, and many more cyclists - some great, some odd, and some crazy!

The going from Cannonville was much easier, despite a 2000ft hill to climb - climbing hills is easier than fighting the wind - at least when you are working hard up a hill, you get a nice downhill afterwards - with the wind, a headwind doesn't mean you'll get a headwind to compensate. The worst thing with the wind is that you are expecting to be going so much faster, and its those expectations which take their toll - both mentally and physically.

When we reached the top of the hill, we found Ruby's Inn and the campground, as well as Carl and his family (from Calf Creek). The campgrounds were expensive, so we shared a site, and they then very kindly took us out to dinner, after a short trip to Sunset point in the park above Bryce Canyon. At dinner we dominated an "all you can eat" buffet, our first for many thousands of miles. We will have a rest day tomorrow, before heading southwest towards Cedar City and hopefully Zion National Park.

One long hill and a waterfall

2010-06-12T03:06:00.000+03:00

Day 45 - Torrey to Calf Creek Campground, 50 miles, 4 more burgers, 6 hours riding, 12 more waves - totals 106 burgers, 45 waves, 4708kms

We battled for hours to get up Boulder Mountain, taking 3 hours of riding, but 5 hours in total - any excuse to stop, we stopped. We had some great chats with several cyclists and some motorcyclists from England at a viewpoint. It took us such a long time to get up because the wind wasn't being helpful, and we were just too tired. We have gone since Pueblo without a rest day. This hill reminded us that its not possible to go that far for that long. Your mind thinks you can, but the legs say stop.

Once over the top, at 4.15 having started the day at 10.15, we stopped in the little town of Boulder, for lunch/supper - a huge burger each, for a huge price. After relaxing in the restaurant for a couple of hours, we set off again, aiming for a campground 13 miles away and mostly downhill. After about 8 miles, you come to a section call the Hogback. Our maps describe it as either the Terror or Highlight of the route; a thin section of road with sheer 1000ft drops either side, and no guardrails or shoulders - "Ride Carefully and Defensively". When you combine this with the steepest gradient we have faced in Utah: 14% downhill, some hairpin bends along the ridge and 50 mile winds, you get an epic 4 miles. It was AWESOME. When I come back to America, I will make sure I come back to the Hogback, and if you go, you should too. It is pretty hectic even in a van! They call it the Miracle highway - and you can understand why, it is impossible to imagine how it was built.

Calf creek campground was underneath the Hogback, a noisy but nice campground in the gorge. It is amazing how the energy comes back as soon as you get off your bike - we had seen pictures of a waterfall accessible from Calf Creek in some of the postcards we've seen, so we thought we had to go have a swim. It was also the only shower in 15 miles. This meant quickly popping up our tent, and then going 3 miles to the waterfall and 3 miles back, apparently a 3-4 hour hike, in the last remaining hour of daylight. I took off, running along in my flipflops, while Alex walked steadfastly in his riding shoes (we sent our trainers back in St Louis). I got there at 8.30, and had a great dip and took some pictures. Then I started on the long run back. A little way back I got in amongst a herd of deer and stopped dead still because they hadn't moved. I watched them for 5 minutes, until suddenly they all took flight, and Alex appeared! I had sent a message back with the only other person on the trail to tell him to go back - after 20 minutes of running, I was still a mile away, and I knew we might regret this little escapade after about mile 30 of 80 the next day. But he had carrried on, so we turned back and went for another dip, before finally heading to back to bed in the dark. Luckily Alex had his headtorch, and the stars were bright, so we got back safely at 10, and went straight to sleep.

Tired

2010-06-12T01:07:00.000+03:00

The past couple of days no blog, due to a lack of time/wifi/computer power.

On the 9th, we left from Torey with the aim of getting to tropic or Cannonville, which was roughly about 100 miles away. Would have been a long day, but that would have left us only a very short day to Bryce canyon, where we would take a rest day. It turned out as just one of those days which didn't go to plan. We had a tough 15 mile climb to start the day, which was just really tough. Not necessarily because of the gradient but we were just so tired mentally and physically, as this was our 8 day on the trot, without a proper break. It took us over 4 hours to get to the top. However, this was also due to the fact we me lots of interesting people on the way up. The first lot f people was a group of Brits, fulfilling their 'American dream' of cruising around the USA on Harley's. We had a great time chatting with them, and then 1 mile up the road we ran into two girls coming the other way, Lulu and Sue, so we exchanged advice and stories for quite a while. Another half a mile and we ran into yet another cyclist, Jeff, so more banter ensued.

After we finally reached the top, we scooted down the hill and reached Boulder at around 3:30(only 38 miles from where we had started). We had been recommended to go to a special grill restaurant in Boulder, but it was closed, so we ended up in a really nice grill house just down the road. We ended up spending over 3 hours there. Whilst there i drank over 3 litres of coke, just indicating how dehydrated i was without knowing(they refused to fill up my glass eventually) We realised how tired we were, so reneged on our initial plans to go so far that day, so we decided to do another 13 miles or so to a recommended campsite. At the campsite there was a great waterfall 3 miles away, which can only be reached by foot. The waterfall was great, and although we got back at around 10:15, it was so worth it.

Yesterday, the 10th, we set off from the campsite with just over 65 miles to do in the day. We started with a 6 mile climb of 6-8%, the hard way to warm up! We stopped for breakfast and then set out on a 17 mile climb. We were only going up around 1500 ft, so a really gentle climb, but against the wind this was really tough! The wind was so strong, one of the worst we have had. I think we covered the 17 miles in around two and a half hours. Battling against the wind is like Gordan Brown-Very dull and frustrating. We finally reached Bryce canyon and camped with a kind family who we befriended the night before at the previous campsite. They also kindly took us out to dinner.... Then straight to bed!

Birthday boy

2010-06-09T18:06:00.001+03:00

Yesterday was indeed my birthday. We had the longest of lie ins till 8am, where upon we were awoken by the heat of the sun, piercing through the shell of the tent. We only intended to have a relaxed day, cycling just 50 miles to Torey. After a birthday brunch and a extended skype calls to parents, we finally set off at around 2. Will have been kind enough to source out some balloons, from god knows where. so they accompanied me on the back of the bike, adding a little more resistance, but nonetheless very festive.

Our aim was to get to a little visitors center/kiosk locate in the 'Capitol Reef' national park, 38 miles away, where we could stock up on water and try their 'famous pies'. They closed at five, and as we had set off so late we arrived there about 10 minutes late! However the visitors center remained open till 6, and happened to have a spare pie from the kiosk lying around, so we munch on the birthday pie.

After a little rest we only had 11 miles to cover to reach Torey, but we started our big hill climb, which today will take us up to 9500ft. There were some tough sections, it was so hot and for some reason this section of Utah is host to 'super Mosquito's'. They attack throughout the day, and it seems can fly over 16mph, whilst there is a headwind. As a result whilst cycling we are constantly being bitten. On my right arm along i have over 20 bites! Not nice. Anyway we arrived in Torey around 8 and settled down at a nice campsite.

Tomorrow we will cover over 80 miles, which will take us close to Bryce canyon.

An Interesting Birthday

2010-06-09T17:11:00.005+03:00

Day 44 - 50 Miles, Alex 1 year older, 4 more burgers - A CENTURY OF BURGERS! 5 more waves - Total 102 burgers - 4628 kms - 33 waves

Hanksville, UT - Torrey, UT

I'm sure that Alex will remember this Birthday for a long time. We took it easy leaving Hanksville at 2, after meeting many cyclists in Blondies, a great milkshake and burger place, perfect for aching legs. We got 10% off for each of the three meals we had there - thanks to Alex's Birthday.

Cycling was hot, but not as bad as yesterday, and it was interesting to see how our bodies have adapted - heat that would kill most of the old people in Britain and reduce the rest to a standstill, barely had us fazed. We cruised halfway up a big hill from Hanksville to Torrey, stopping often to take photo's of the beautiful scenery through Capitol Reef National Park, as well as a couple of other more interesting things - One of Alex's birthday balloons, happily riding along beside him, ended up tied on a flagpole, after we had had a great free pie from the fruitas historic district (clearly a district historic for fruit). **

Battery about to die so I will put this quickly up now - we are going over 9,500ft and then down past Escalante and Boulder, stopping near Bryce Canyon, where we will take a day off.

** Added later - One observation I have about America is that it is too big and too varied to be a country; but wherever we go, the names of things remain obvious. Having a country this big with only one language means that the names of all things are limited by the number of words in existence, when they aren't using the grid system - numbered streets in squares. Most towns have streets named after states, and most creeks are named after animals.

Sweat, Blood and HOT HOT HOT

2010-06-08T17:30:00.004+03:00

Day 43 - 104 miles - to Hanksville, UT - total - 98 burgers, 4547kms - 1020miles to go!

New Challenge - $1 for every driver that spontaneously waves at us. Backdated 3 days - previous days totals: 8, 5, and 15. Total:28
- To add a new challenge, or add money to an existing challenge, just email me.

The day with 15 waves was out of a total of 24 cars - yesterday - mostly feeling sorry for us struggling on in the heat!

We were on our bikes by 6, heading the last 2 miles up a massive hill having camped by the side of the road the night before. Then, 40 miles mostly downhill to the only services in 50 miles any direction. We relaxed there a little bit (there was air con in the very limited shop), and put up blogs, before taking off again.

We rode from 11.30 till 2, when we stopped and lay down in the shade for 3 hours. Now this didn't bring us much relief - it was 43C in the sun, and a shade under 40C in the shade... Small mercies though, and I slept soundly for two hours.

At 5 we set off again on the last 35 miles to Hanksville. We covered the miles very quickly, despite large uphill stretches and 40 degree heat until 7.45 that evening, when it cooled down a bit. We arrived in Hanksville 10 mins later and went straight to Blondies, for a milkshake and a burger.

That it was HOT, I am sure you will have worked out, and that we were sweating you will have no doubt, but where was the blood from?! We both had nosebleeds, caused by the extreme heat - one of the bodies more extreme reactions to cool you down. Alex's was ok, and then I had a really bad one, by which time we had run out of tissues. I was leaning over on the side of the road, blood pouring off my face, and luckily looked so bad that the first car to pass stopped immediately, and pulled out a wad of tissues, asking if I had crashed. The tissues stemmed the flow, and the kind stranger then offered water, which I asked him to take to Alex instead and to say what had happened. He was 2 miles further on up the road, with not much water left.

When we arrived in Hanksville, we met Alex and Evan, two cyclists travelling the other way, raising money for cancer - www.willwemakeitacross.blogspot.com. We had a burger with them before going to the campground and managing to get a free place to stay with Showers, wifi, and electrics. They carried on eastwards this morning, and we will head westwards shortly. I have just been on a full tour of hanksville, searching for Balloons for Alex's birthday - eventually after seeing the 4 shops, I went to the post office, to ask if she might know anyone who would know where to find balloons. After 7 phone calls, we found the one, and Alex now has some balloons, and happy birthday ribbon, to tie to the back of his bike!

Time to head out - above 34C already - going to Caineville for lunch, before visiting Capitol Reef National Park. But first, just one more milkshake!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!

2010-06-08T17:27:00.002+03:00

We cycled 104 miles yesterday through temperatures around 110F or 40 Celsius. Definitely time for a rest, and to celebrate Alex's birthday. Click "nice one" or comment to wish Alex a happy birthday and a great days rest.

Utah!

2010-06-07T21:10:00.000+03:00

Total miles-2704, Days miles: 74

Again we had another really eary start, a contrast to this time one month ago! We set off at 6:40, in an attempt to avoid the worst of the heat, as it now really starting to get hot. I think that it got up to over 40 degrees during the hottest art of the day. Having done 45 miles, crossing the state border into Utah, we stopped in Blanding. In blanding we had a early lunch and then went and lay in the shade for about 2 hours, during the middle of the day. It was one of the few opportunities we have had just to chill out and do nothing-no planning, no thinking! so that was a really nice. Also a woman who had just come the way we were going, named Helen, came over whilst we were sitting there, and gave us loads of useful tips, like where to sto pfor water and the good places to eat.

Reluctantly we set off into the tremendous heat, with the aim of going as far as we could in the evening. As there were no services for the 75 miles, we really stocked up on supplies. Water was the main concern on a long stretch like this. We both carries about 7-8 litres of liquid, plus a whole load of food for the evening and morning. we managed only another 30 miles, mainly as we were going uphill most of the way. We stopped at around 8:45, not before the sun set, blanketing the surrounding landscape in a brilliant shade of orange, which was spectacular. We camped just of the side of the road in the bushes, and munched our cold microwave dinners. Piece of advice- dont ever get chicken and rice with gravy microwave meal and eat it cold...it tastes like dog food.

Tomorrow we will try and get to Hanksville, which is 100 miles away, so we have set the alarm for 4:45, so we can get in as many miles as we can before the heat sets in.

UTAH! Hot, Beautiful.

2010-06-07T20:57:00.000+03:00

Day 41 - New top speed! - 76.9kph

Day 42 - 77 miles, New Top Speed - 77.5kph, New state UTAH! Dove Creeks, CO to a secluded clearing 30 miles west of Blanding 10 metres north of HWY 95.

Alarms at 5.30 - we finally hit the road at 6.47am, still tired, we went to bed late after food and laundry. It got hot - into the high 30's, by 8.45, so we will try and leave even earlier tomorrow - alarm at 4.40. We cruised straight on through the first town, stopping only to top up water, munching toast and honey along the way. When we got to Blanding though, everything was closed - Sunday's really are a day of Rest in Utah. Luckily, a chinese restaurant had been employed to feed the National Guard, and they let us in too. The supermarket was also open, so we stocked up with huge amounts of food to tide us through the next 74 miles. We left with heavier bikes than we have ever had - I had 8 litres of water, and a kilogram of food. We eat alot, and drink a litre an hour, so the extra baggage is completely necessary. This meant that uphills were alot slower, 9kgs makes a huge amount of difference, and downhills were faster - but far more precarious, all the weight is on the back so it swings a bit. Nonetheless, the hills of Utah are steep, and I hit a new top speed.

Utah is a desert, harsh soils, serious heat but is stunning despite it all. The rock formations are awesome and widespread, and the sunset was fantastic.

We have begun estivation (hiding from the heat of the day) and slept under a park bench in blanding from 12.30 to 4. We will find a canyon to do the same tomorrow. This means we have to ride early and late, which means adjusting our sleep patterns to suit.

A break has caused an end to the trip

2010-06-06T15:06:00.001+03:00

Come so far, but now unfortunately a breakage has caused a end to the trip. But don't worry its only the end of the trip for my camera!We are both still intact. An unfortunate incident at 10200 ft, with the camera set up precariously on a back of an RV. A very kind American, who felt guilty about the accident, actually gave me his camera as a replacement. Shame, but the photos are the important thing not the camera, so not all bad. Better the camera than the bike or us!

On the cycling side of things we had a great day, covering over 96 miles, and in the process leaving the Rockies behind us. This morning we woke at 6 and checked out the hot air balloon festival in Telluride. 15 or so Balloons set of just after sunrise, which along with the sun hitting the peaks of the mountains, created a awesome sight. Our only real challenge of the morning was to climb 'Lizards Head Pass' which is at 10220 ft. This was a far easier climb than the one we had a few days ago, Monarch pass, which was at 11200 ft. We made the job much easier for ourselves by doing a good chunk of the climb yesterday evening.

At the top we met a road cyclist, who told us that he had cycled x-america 3 times. Once is enough for me i think! In the last week or so, we have passed quite a few tourers, like us. Through beautiful Colorado, it is no surprise it is a common route for all tourers.

From the top of the pass we descended 3000ft and covered 48 miles in just over 2 and a half hours, which took us into the town of Dolares, where we lunched and rested for quite a while. After lunch we decided to do a further 36 miles, which would take us to the town of Dove creek, which is just short of the Utah border. It was amazing, leaving Dolores it felt as though we were back into kansas. Rolling hills and hot. We left the mountains behind so quickly. A real shame to be out of the Rockies, but we are told that Utah is something to really look forward to.

Tomorrow we will begin a stretch of 75 miles with no services, so it will be our first real test of carrying all we need for a day or so. I can confidently say we will not have a Wifi connection tomorrow night!

Day 41 - Out of the Mountains

2010-06-06T08:13:00.000+03:00

Telluride, CO - Dove Creek, CO - 1 more burger, 99 miles, totals: 96 burgers, 4259kms

Today we cashed in some of our elevation gains, travelling the first 100kms in 3hrs 55mins by lunchtime, having watched 10 hot air balloons take off early this morning in Telluride. The first 10 miles were uphill, going over 10,200ft at Lizards Head Pass, before going downhill all the way to Dolores at 6,950ft. It was hot - over 33 Celsius, but the wind didn't cause any problems so we made good time.

We worked out that it must be a Saturday from the number of other bicyclist's we saw on the road today - we would otherwise have little idea of the day of the week without asking someone.

We go into Utah tomorrow, into the desert. 74 miles with no services is not straightforward - we will have to pack at least 7 litres of water each, and take plenty of food. It is also too hot to ride for much of the day, so we are limited to very early morning, and late evening to cover a lot of miles. The other issue is that we are likely to get stung by the small and random service station at the other end - with no competition within 50 miles, it is sure to have outrageous prices.

Unfortunately, while taking our photograph with some kind RV tourists at the top of Lizard's Head Pass, Alex's camera met it's demise. A fall while turned on is never good for a camera, and for his camera it was the end. But, we still have mine and the people whose RV it fell off gave us their spare camera, which means we'll still be able to capture most of the stunning views that we are lucky enough to see.

We are staying in a motel tonight, a nice change from sleeping bags, and a much needed chance to do some laundry and use the internet for slightly longer than normal.

Plan for next 3 weeks

2010-06-06T08:07:00.000+03:00

One of many desktop screensavers we will have at the end of the trip.

From Pueblo to San Francisco, we are following some special cycling maps because services are extremely sparse. There are some sections wehere we won't be able to find water or food for 80 miles. We have four sets of maps that will take us the 1580 miles (from Pueblo) to the end. We aim to finish by the 24th June, giving us some time on the beach and among the Redwoods in Yosemite National Park at the other end. With no rest days, we would have to average 63 miles a day. But, seeing as we are passing through some of the most spectacular places in the world, it would be a shame to ride on by, so we will take 5 rest days. This means that we must average 80 miles for the days that we ride.

A tough schedule, but one which lets us do more with our time, seeing more along the way and lets us have enough time to chat to the people that make this trip interesting. We have three hurdles, The Rocky's, the desert, and the Sierra's. Hurdle one has been overcome - we are now through the Rocky's. We had a great time in them (despite the uphill pedalling), and I think that it is a must to go there for anyone who visits America. We are out of the hills, and into the Desert now, with our first long stretch with no services coming tomorrow. We have 74 miles of nothing but searing heat, rock formations, and the dotted white lines on the road.

Telluride, CO

2010-06-06T00:04:00.001+03:00

Days - 41 Colona 6000ft to Telluride 8500ft, 58 miles total: 4095kms, burgers - 95

When you are cycling down a hill and want to be cycling up it, something is wrong. Today, the wind was as friendly as a nail is to a tire. The wind blew and blew, all in the wrong direction. The worst section was after going up a 10 mile hill, there was a 13 mile downhill, and we had to pedal most of the way with the wind slowing us down from 30 mph to 10 mph. People warned us before we went that we were going the "wrong" way - but our reasoning for doing so was sound. Today was one of the days we questioned our reasoning. This in itself makes cycling tougher, as you are thinking about going the other way, which ruins your mental health - something that is more important than our physical health in cycle touring.

Of the 3 people we have met going our way across America, one is in hospital, the other is in Illinois, and the third is somewhere, but no-one knows. I hope we can continue to have good luck!

We started out with a great bowl of cereal, provided by the stand in managers of the RV Camp we stayed in last night. We topped this up with a footlong sub after 15 miles, and a couple of burgers after 45 miles, with a couple more later in the evening. This was not an easy day - but as we are 2500ft higher, I reckon we are in credit for some downhill which should come after 10 miles of tomorrow. We first have to go up and conquer lizrd head pass - 10,230ft, and then its downhill all the way to Utah.

We are staying tonight in Telluride, because everyone said it is a great place to go, and there is a small hot air balloon festival tomorrow morning which we are keen to check out.

Downhill!

2010-06-04T15:45:00.002+03:00

78 miles, 1 puncture, total - 4005kms 4 Thousand Kilometres!!

The best thing about going uphill is that you get to come down them. We started today in Gunnison after a hectic start catching an early bus from Crested Butte, after our free Izzy's breakfast. We were at 7,700 ft in Gunnison, then had a couple of 5 mile climbs, up to above 8,000ft, before going all the way down to 5,800 ft in Montrose, down one long long hill. The good thing is, it wasn't very hard. the bad thing is, we have to climb back up to 8000 ft this morning, and 10,000ft in the afternoon!

We stopped at almost all the scenic places, if we had stopped at them all we wouldn't have made it here. We are now camped in an RV camp, having paid for our first night since Pueblo. We will go as far as we can today - stopping at Telluride, where there is apparently a balloon festival happening. Time to wake Alex up, its getting warmer...

Ups and downs

2010-06-04T07:48:00.001+03:00

As the title suggests there were lots of long climbs and fast descents today. Not a tough day , though i think that if we had cycled what we did today 2 months ago, it would have been 'game over'. So it shows how our fitness has drastically improved!

This morning was a bit hectic. We overslept, having had a great ening th eday before, hosted by sarah, who had loads of friends round, lots of them fellow cycle tourers, so lots to talk about, so anyway it gave us 45 minutes to get ready, pack up all our stuff, get over to 'izzys cafe' for a on the house breakfast, kindly offered to us by craig the owner, and catch the bus down to Gunnison at 8:05. We made it however, with minutes to spare, and enjoyed being on the bus even more than usual! The morning ride went fine(got a puncture then as well), even though there are a few tough hills to climb, cycling through the mountains is so worth it. At the top of every hill we climb, we are greeted by sublime views. For lunch we sat outside a gas station(in Cimmaron, a town that contained only a gas station and a very small post office), taking the opporiunity just to relax and appreciate where we are. The afternoon was one big climb and one very fast and long decent(15 miles). We descended over 2500 ft today and have ended up in a campsite, about 15 miles south of Montrose (we have started to go south again, following the maps, to Dolares, before we cross over into Utah).

Tomorrow we have a big day. We will climb to Dallas divide pass which is 9000 ft, and as we are at 5500 ft now it will be a long, but hopefully rewarding day. Tonight should be much warmer than previous nights in the tent, because as we have decended over 4000 ft it should be at least 8 degrees warmer.

Crested Butte, CO

2010-06-03T05:58:00.002+03:00

Crested Butte is the wildflower and mountain biking capital of Colorado. It is at 8888ft, and is a vibrant ski town, with an amazing mixture of people who have chosen to live here. But first, we started out today in Sargents: "Population high, Elevation few" is apparently written on one of the signs nearby.

We left Sargents early this morning despite the cold when we woke up, we were more prepared after yesterday, and both went to bed with over 4 layers on. Our maps told us that it was mostly downhill to Gunnison - 7703ft, but the wind was once again against us so we covered the 33 miles slightly slower than we expected. We got to Gunnison at 10.30 and went straight to the tourist office to find what we could do for a day nearby. We were told (for the third time in the last 3 days) that we should head up to Crested Butte, catching the free bus that left at 10.55.

We have met only nice people in Crested Butte - a lady we met on the bus up told us we must visit the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame - the biggest Mountain biking museum in the world. She called her friend Flo to open it up for us to have a private viewing - it only opens in 2 weeks time. After we'd had a look at the museum, Flo realized we were hungry and sent us to her friend Craig - the owner of Izzy's; a staple for most Crested Butte people.

At Izzy's, we found the biggest pancake ever invented, and ate far too much food. We were also persuaded to stay the night in Crested Butte - and are now staying with Sarah, and her 7 roomates nearby. After mango and tofu stir fry, and a one hour hike to a waterfall below a great mountain.

Great day, 33 miles covered - rest day the rest, in a great place. We will go back to gunnison on the bus, after a 6am bear hunt (searching for bear's on bikes with camera's - thursday morning = garbage day, therefore many bears!) then a 7am free breakfast at Izzy's and an 8am bus. We will then cycle at least 68 miles to Montrose.

A Serendipity!

2010-06-03T05:53:00.000+03:00

We had a cold early start, leaving at 7:45. Our plan was to ride to Gunnison, 32 miles away, and check it out with a view to perhaps taking a while to look around and perhaps even take a rest day, as we have been told by a few people that it is worth spending some time in the area. When we arrived we went into the visitors center, to ask what we could do. They suggested we go up to crested bute, a great mountain biking area and a ski resort. So we hopped on the bus, upon arrival we experienced a very nice linking of help. First of all a woman told us to visit the Mountain biking museum, which she called the owner to open, as it was not actually due to open for another few weeks! We got a nice private free tour. We were then recommend to go to a local cafe for lunch, where we not only have got a free breakfast from, but we also got out of it a place to stay for the night!

One of the waitresses working at the cafe, Sarah, had also cycled across the USA the previous year, and was very kind to offer us a place to stay for the night. So we thought why not saty in a great place for a night, even if not planned. We wandered around crested bute for a while, which is the most amazing little town, right at teh foot of the mountains, full of people with a great approach to life, in my opinion. Ski in the winter, bike and hike in the summer, and the rest of the time enjoy being in the beautiful mountains. We went on a great scenic walk to a huge waterfall. Tomorrow we will take the bus back to Gunnison, and then 65 miles to Montrose.

Highs and lows

2010-06-02T07:52:00.001+03:00

A very indifferent day. This morning we started bright and early at 6:30, though the cold didnt exactly make us jump out from our sleeping bags. Throughout the trip we have had some very hot and humid nights in the tent and some very cold ones. last night was one of the coldest. So much so i was wearing a thick pair of socks, tracksuit bottoms, a Lycra top, a vest, two t-shirts, a jumper and using a sleeping bag liner as well as a sleeping bag. Verdict...I was still unbelievably cold. I have purchased a woolly hat so that might make all the difference!

We ate breakfast soon after starting in cotopaxi and rode through the beautiful valleys and gorges in the morning until we reached Salida(7500ft), 30 miles away at around 11:30. Stopping at a Macdonalds, disaster! Will had left his wallet 30 miles back at where we had had breakfast. So i enjoyed the unrivaled ambiance of macdonalds, whilst he hitch-hiked back to collect his wallet. NICE ONE WILL!! iT It has to be said the situation could have been alot worse, as he wasnt gone too long and at least the wallet was found after all.

So after this escapade, we set out to cycle to the highest point on our trip, that being monarch pass at 11312 ft. Not going to lie it was tough, not helped by the wind which was as angry, just like a old man trying to send back soup in a deli. The last 6 miles to the summit took 1 hour and 25 minutes.... Slow going. It was noticable how the temperature changed as we went up, and it was very strange cycling past a ski lift and actually a fair amount of snow. From salida we cycled 25 miles, rising over 4000 foot, so it was a tough afternoon, but very rewarding shooting down the other side of the mountain, covering 10 miles in little over 20 mins. We found a nice little campsite at the foot of the mountain, and managed to bargin a good price. (original price=$22, our price $0).Tomorrow to Gunnison, which, we are told, is stunning.

The Luckiest Fool in the US of A

2010-06-02T07:01:00.002+03:00

Today could have been a lot better, but could easily have been far far worse. We left Sweetwater campsite at 8, 2 hours after we had planned to, but having decided it was far too cold to get up at 5, we lay in for a while. We got to Salida at 11.30 after a stop for breakfast in Cotopaxi. We started the day at 6000ft, increased to 7000ft by Salida (first 30 miles), then all the way up to 11,513ft over Monarch Pass, before dropping to 9000ft - where we are camped in the tiny town of Sargents.

When we arrived in Salida, and went to find food, I discovered that my wallet was missing. After a thorough search of all 4 panniers (didn't take long - we don't have much stuff) my wallet was still lost. After a burger and a soda and some memory retracing, I worked out that it disappeared after visiting the cafe for breakfast in Cotopaxi. We rung the Cafe, but they hadn't seen it, despite a thorough search. After 6mins on hold with Travelex Card Enquiries, trying to block the card, I checked my email to pass the time (McDonald's Wifi) and saw one come in from Arkansas River Rafting that instant. It said someone had just given them my wallet! I called them , and found that nothing was missing, and that they had traced me because I had one last business card still in my wallet. So I left Alex sorting stuff out in Mcdonalds, and hitchhiked back 24 miles to Cotopaxi. The 48 mile round trip, I completed in 1 hour, and 3 separate lifts, to find a full wallet at one end and another burger waiting for me at the other in McDonalds.

I am lucky someone found my wallet, I am lucky they handed it in, not nick it, and I am lucky I had a business card in it. I am also lucky I got so many lifts so fast, getting there and back in a time similar to a taxi.

We then started the trek up Monarch's pass, 5000ft of climbing, 4hours of riding, and 25 miles. It was an epic hill, which we struggled over - suffering due to heat exposure early in the day, Cold exposure late in the day, and having to adjust too quickly to altitude changes. We got to the top at 10 past 6 to find that the cafe we were planning on eating at had closed, and that there was no water anywhere. We finished 4 litres each up the hill. We flew down it, Alex slightly more sedately than me - I haven't crashed downhill yet, so am far more daring/crazy. I did 10 miles in 15 minutes, and we found a place to eat and sleep at the bottom. But, we are only sleeping for free if we are out of here by 7 when the boss comes back, and we could face problems with the cold. We are at 9,000 ft, 10 miles from a ski resort, and it is -1 at 7 in the evening - could get very very cold tonight - we are wearing all the clothes we have with us. To Gunnison tomorrow morning, where we will decide on a plan of action.

An Awesome Day

2010-06-01T15:26:00.001+03:00

Day 37, 30 days riding: Pueblo, CO to Just Past Texas Creek, CO 67 miles - WHITE WATER RAFTING

We left Pueblo much later than we wanted,but it all turned out well. We detoured from the adventure cycling maps (which we are using through the mountains to show us where to find food and water) in order to find a place to go White Water Rafting as this is one of the best places in the world to do it. Great views, Big Rapids and warm weather. We pitched up at a random rafting place, not expecting them to have a place - all the people that we had telephoned had said we should book. But they did have space, leaving immediately - so we swapped our clip-on cycling shoes for wetsuit booties, cycling helmets for river helmets and put spray jackets over our lycra and we were off!

We had a great time, hitting all the biggest rapids in a 14 mile stretch of the Arkansas River. After finishing up, we dried out a bit in the sun before setting off again. An 8 mile hill to find food, and then a lightning but long downhill, before cruising alongside the river through the gorge we had just rafted down. We managed 67 miles which was pretty much perfect, as it is equivalent to 74 miles had we been following the maps, and we still managed 3 hours of rafting!

We found a great campsite and checked the price - $22! But, after some talking, generously got given the night for free. A perfect end to a perfect day. We have monarch pass to go up tomorrow - 11,512 ft... Snow, Freezing temperatures and a 15 mile climb!

Into the Mountains!

2010-06-01T07:58:00.002+03:00

Miles today: 67

Today was one of our best days. The previous day we had looked into whitewater rafting, and it had turned out that on of the best places to do it was at canon city, which was only about 35 miles from pueblo. So we set off fairly late at around 8:45 and did the 35 miles or so with no problem after a good days rest behind us. In canon city we popped into the welcome center and they recommenced a place a few miles further on. so we pitched up, not knowing what to expect. We were so lucky, as we walked in a trip was leaving with a couple of spaces on it, so a quick change of attire and we were off. The trip was great, a fantastic first whitewater rafting experience.

After this, we set out to do as many miles as possible with the remaining daylight. We started off with a 5/6 mile hill climb, but after that it was amazing. We have so quickly gone from nothingness into great scenic mountains. The gorges are breathtaking, and it was great cycling at around 6-7 pm, whilst there was hardly any traffic. We stopped at a small campsite just off the road 20 miles on, where we have been given free lodging for the night, by the kind owner. It is very idyllic. I write this blog in the tent, under the stars, 3 metres away from the river and surrounded by mountains. A perfect end to a perfect day!

The Kindness Of Strangers

2010-05-31T09:05:00.001+03:00

Along with liberal helpings of inch thick pancakes and eggs and bacon - your donations give us the motivation to keep going, so keep 'em coming! Spread the word.

5 burgers, 0 miles = Good Rest! Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~Mark Twain

Today was our first real rest day since the 4th April. We lay in till 8, then ate all the doughnuts at our hotel's breakfast, before retiring back to bed. We spent the morning sorting out laundry, and emailing, and working out where it will be best to go white-water rafting.

At 1 we went for lunch in Taco Bell, a mexican fast food chain. While munching on the burrito's we got chatting to Lynn and Eric, who started talking to us because we were both wearing our ride T-shirts - Big thank you to Serena and Johnny for the T-shirts! After some chatting about us and what we were doing, we left Taco Bell with a donation for autism and an invite to dinner!

At 4.30, after a lot more admin - we set off for barbecued burgers in a Chilli Sauce - with Pueblo Green Peppers - apparently a delicacy not to be missed while in Pueblo. It was amazing - great to have lots of well cooked home food, and even better to chat to a very nice family and their friends, about everything from Pueblo and its beautiful environs, to whether or not we have peanut butter and ketchup in England!

Huge Thank you to all of you - it was great to meet you.

Time for bed now - we will go up highway 50 tomorrow, through Canon city, towards Salida, dodging the Adventure Cycling maps in the hope of finding some White water rafting at Canon City (as well as avoiding a 5000ft climb - postponing the inevitable.)

We say good bye to Highway 96 tomorrow, a quiet highway which we have followed for 335 miles and many, many hours! Highway 96 was like an empty dance floor - flat and deserted, but with the potential for fun when you stop. Among those we have met along the way are someone who has lived at the South Pole for a year, an SAS sniper, and a man in a liquor store who said "No Kidding", and then burst out laughing more than 20 times in 10 minutes. We also had a car overtake us using the ditchside, not the road.

I am really looking forward to the scenic mountains of Western Colorado, however much snow we have to go through. I will bear in mind along the way that "Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” as well as the old favourite in endurance sports - "Pain is weakness leaving the body!" - Tough climbs ahead, but the views should be worth it.

Pueblo, CO

2010-05-31T08:17:00.000+03:00

A rare photo of the two of us - some no hands skill required...

Day 35 Ordway to Pueblo, 55 miles, 1 burger, Alex's tire acting up. Total 3609kms, 82 burgers (29 days riding - average 76.7 miles per day)

As usual with days when we have a long time to do not very much, we did this 55 miles very slowly. We left the motel at 8 having eaten, and slowly moved our way into the wind and the heat (it was more than 30 degrees by 9).

We met two other cyclist's, who seemed extremely similar to us - they were going from San Francisco to Washington, in two months - having just finished college. They had come over the Rocky's the same way we are going, and it was great to hear from them what it was like. I am really looking forward to it, despite the 6000ft climb we are doing tomorrow morning. They said that they came through snow-storms, and boiling heat and that the scenery was amazing but that it really is "the loneliest road in america" there are some stretches with no services for 70 miles! Have a look at their blog - www.baa3000.blogspot.com - They cycled 170 miles in the day we saw them - in celebration of finally hitting the flats and making good use of the serious head winds we faced.

We carried on - having to stop every half hour or so to pump up Alex's tire which was constantly getting flats. We checked the tyre for thorns and spikes and found none - but no matter how many tubes we put in there, they kept going down. We decided just to keep pumping and limp in. Thank you so much to Tom for the pump he gave us - we had to throw out our pumps in St Louis, as neither had survived the first third of our trip (don't buy a Topeak Mini morph pump).

We got to Pueblo just after 1.30, and went straight to a mexican restaurant. The mexican restaurants in Pueblo are special. We didn't want to go straight to the much needed bike shop, as we knew neither of us were thinking straight - too much heat and not enough food.

After our taco's and burrito's, we went to The Great Divide bike shop - who helped us a lot - they taught us how to fix gear cables, and we bought a spare in case Alex's gives out too. They also managed to fix Alex's tire, and he has brought a special heavy puncture resistant tube because the tires are beginning to wear out after being ridden on for more the 2500 miles. This means it is likely that we will get more punctures. If you would like to add to the donation of 5 pounds a puncture the Morton's have sponsored, send me an email. We also bought extra spare spokes - we don't think that there will be very many places to get them in the next 1000 miles.

Our Couchsurfing efforts didn't come through, there was a lot of confusion and we ended up checking into a motel that gave us a good rate. We went all out at supper and got a whole load of beer and beef to celebrate being done with nothingness!

Kansas was hot and windy and mostly flat (although do not tell someone from Kansas it is flat - they celebrate every molehill - we often got told about the "serious" hill's we would come to in western kansas - lies). The nice thing was that Kansas was also very green. There are consistent storms from the mountains, and this has been a rainy year. It is flat and monotonous, but would have been a whole lot worse had it been dusty and dirty and brown.

Eastern Colorado was much like Kansas, just slightly more desert like - the soils were sandier, which meant vegetation was courser - spindly and hard - drought-resistant. It was a remarkable change, one of many along the way. I think it is because Eastern Colorado is in the rainshadow of the rocky's: getting only 25 inches of rain a year, compared to the 40 inches a year in western kansas, and the 60 inches a year in Kansas city. (To put it in perspective London and Nairobi both average 40 inches a year).

Pueblo, CO

2010-05-31T06:47:00.004+03:00

Total Miles: 2250 Total miles to go: 1550

Yesterday no blog, quite simply because we were both shattered and after visiting a local Irish pub and sampling the local ale, we came back and straight to bed! Unfortunately we were actually supposed to be couch surfing, however that fell through so we have stayed the last 2 nights in a motel. Yesterday we covered the final 50 miles into pueblo without too much problem, but we were also lucky enough to run into some more TransAm Cyclists. To put it simply they were us but coming the other way! Very similar in lots of respects. They were doing the trip after graduating from college, were taking 2 months and were pretty much half way like we were and were very much novice tourers just like us! So we had a great time chatting to them for a bit. We wish them all the best for the rest of their trip. You can check out their blog at www.baa3000.blogspot.com. Arriving in pueblo not much after lunchtime we spend lots of time in the bike shop, will getting his gear cable replaced and i sorting out the root of my series of slow punctures that i have been having.

Today was really the first day in the whole trip where we had basically the whole day to relax and sort all sorts of bit and bobs out. I spent pretty the whole morning trying to sort out my student loan, and as you can imagine trying to deal with that out of the country is a bit of a nightmare. Looking at the route for the next few days, not to mention the next few weeks looks like it will be really amazing. Great gorges, breathtaking views perhaps a bit of whitewater rafting. Although the Rockies will be a bit hilly, i think we are both really looking forward to the next stretch of our trip. It will be a stark contrast to the flatness of Kansas and western Colorado. Whilst having lunch in a 'Taco Bell', a kind lady approached us to inquire into what we were doing. 15 minutes later, we had another donation and a dinner invite! So we headed over to Lynn's for a Pueblo special of 'sloppers': burgers covered in a hot chilli sauce....Yum. We had a great dinner and were made to feel most welcome. Would we be invited such generosity by a strangers and invited home for dinner in the uk...not so sure we would!

Yey Colorado

Pueblo-A common stop over city for transam cyclists

No more of this nothingness!

Ordway, CO

2010-05-29T23:36:00.002+03:00

Sheridan Lake, CO to Ordway, CO 90 miles, 1 snapped gear cable, 2 more burgers, temperature high - 98 fahrenheit, 37 celsius, total 3534kms, 81 burgers

We were woken up at 5.10 by an awesome sunrise and left by 6. We were making good time, when my gear cable snapped - after this, we made better time for the first 3 miles - I couldn't slow down, it was stuck in the highest gear, and I didn't want to stop as I knew it would be tough to get going again. I worked out what I needed to do to make it work till Pueblo, and changed the limits on the gears so that the chain was stuck somewhere near the middle, not right down at the bottom. This means that I have 3 gears to get me to Pueblo! We will get the cable fixed in Pueblo, and buy a spare because if mine is broken, it is highly likely that Alex's is about to break too.

At 6.15 in the morning we had what is definitely a highlight - but only through its oddness - we were cycling along casually, using up a little bit of the road, when a car came and piled into the ditch alongside us, before rising back out of the ditch onto the road in front of us, and speeding away.

We cruised the first 25 miles, limped the next 24 - it was getting hot and the wind wasn't helping. We then used the time we had gained by starting so early, and relaxed at the service station in Haswell for a couple of hours. The 20 miles after Haswell were tough - it was hot, and we were tired. But then a huge storm came, threatening to completely soak us/tornado/hail, which made us speed up dramatically, and cooled everything down - the clouds blocked out the sun.

We spent the night at the Hotel Ordway - which has a special rate for cyclists, because so many come through. Off to Pueblo today - 50 miles, hopefully with slightly cooler weather.

First day in Colorado

2010-05-29T06:23:00.002+03:00

This morning we set off really early before 6, waking up with an amazing sunrise at 5:10. Our aim was to do 90 miles today, so we would be left with only 50 to do tomorrow to Pueblo. Riding early was great, even though a little chilly at first. We covered 28 miles and had some breakfast and were away by 9:30. (Will early on snapped a deraileur wire, so lost use of his rear gears, so he will ride the rest of ride to pueblo, where we will get it fixed on 3 gears rather than 27!) Getting some miles in early was a good idea as it started to heat up. By the time we came into the small town of Haswell, it must have been approaching the high 30's. Due to the early start, this afforded us the luxury of being able to spend a few hours, during the hottest part of the day in a gas station relaxing under the shade. Reluctantly we set off with a further 40 to do until our final destination of ordwell. This 49 miles was slow, mainly due to the heat and a small wind which wasn't really in our favour. So far i can say Eastern Colorado is essentially the same as Kansas; there is a whole lot of nothing. However i thing things are going to change dramatically after Pueblo; mountains will provide a dramatic change of scene.

tomorrow only 50 miles so should be a far easier day.

Sheridan Lake, COLORADO

2010-05-28T19:02:00.000+03:00

Scott City, KS - Sheridan Lake, CO: 78 miles, 6.5 hours, 1 slow puncture. NEW STATE - Colorado Totals - 3377kms, 1 more burger, 14 States, 4 punctures. Time Change, back one more hour.

After a hearty breakfast courtesy of Marcia and Craig, a great ending to a fun time with them, we set off to the west. The wind in the early morning started from the east but by the time we got going at around 10, it was turning into a southerly wind, blowing across us. We weren't helped much by the wind, but 78 miles is easy following the bigger days we have been pulling off recently. Kansas has a reputation for being hot and windy, and it didn't disappoint. Eastern Colorado seems to be not much better, so we are planning on waking at 5 tomorrow, to get a few hours in before the wind starts, and the heat comes.

We split the day into three, as is becoming habit, 30 miles is about right for a proper break, with a small one at 15miles. The middle third was toughest today - as I have already mentioned, it is hot and windy, and it is hottest and windiest in the early afternoon. Riding with a cross wind is tough, you have to constantly lean into the wind, and lorries blow you about, oncoming ones stop us in our tracks, and trucks going our way pull us along, but suck us out into the middle of the road - which is not great when more traffic is coming. Luckily, there traffic is sparse, and for the last third of the day, between Tribune KS and Sheridan Lake was great - we took it easy, and spirits lifted by the border sign (finally leaving Kansas behind!) Alex rigged up his IPod with the speakers, and we pedalled along happily to the tune of "Sweet Home Alabama".

We are now bedded down by Sheridan Lake, set for a 5.30 wake up tomorrow, and we'll end up where we are when it gets dark, having probably taken a rest to avoid the midday heat and wind.

First Tuesday, then Wednesday - No Wifi in Kansas.

2010-05-27T08:18:00.002+03:00

Tuesday 25th May - McPherson - Rush Centre 95 miles, 3 burgers, 1 spoke - 11 spokes, 3108kms, 31 days, 78 burgers

Today was a day easily divided in thirds. We did 95 miles, 3 sets of 30ish. First, after leaving Courtney and Dave's at 10 - refreshed and relaxed after a good meal, shower and sleep - we got to the town of Lyons - passing the 3000km milestone on main street. Shortly afterwards I broke yet another spoke, but decided to fix it in Great Bend 30 miles on. We ate lunch in Dairy Queen in Lyons - branching out our fast food tasting mission - then cycled to Golden Bike Shop in Great Bend (named as it comes at a big junction, and highway 56's only bend in Kansas). Here we fixed our spoke, and had a load of help from the owner, concerning gears and chains and bicycling Kansas.

We then embarked on the final third of our trip - leaving Great Bend late, after a KFC buffet. We got to Rush Center at 8.40, and went straight to the liquor store to find a spot to camp and something to celebrate our cycling efforts with. Great, peaceful campsite, near the highway (peaceful highway). Until 11 o Clock that is, when, as we started to sleep - the tent started collapsing on Alex's head because of the high winds. The rain meant that quick fixes with extra ropes, and sticks as pegs were out of the question (the tent only comes with minimal pegs - and as such is "not suitable for severe weather"). This weather was certainly severe. Hail the size of golfballs was falling 20 miles north of us, and the lightning was sharp and widespread. We decided to leap out, take all the pegs out, and drag the tent to the other side of the park we were camping in - to be in the lee of a big warehouse 50m away. Now 50m could be done in 5 secs by Usain Bolt on a clear day, but for a night time race in "adverse" weather conditions dragging a tent against the wind with a sandpit and a tap as an obstacle - I think we set a record. I was back in the tent, in my sleeping bag, all pegs back in, and kit back under cover (second trip) within a minute.

In the process of moving, we ripped a small hole in the bottom of the tent, which meant that I used the mattress donated to me by a rider on "the ride for world health" (see leitchfield, KY post) to lift me out of the wet on the floor! The rain came down pretty hard for 6 hours, which meant the ground was not dry. But, I have now fixed the hole, so we are ready to brave whatever Colorado has to throw at us. Hopefully we won't get snow in the Rocky's.
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Wednesday 26th May - Rush Centre - Scott City, 88 miles, 4 burgers - 3250kms, 32 days, 82 burgers

Averages - per day - 102kms, per cycling day - 125kms/78miles, burgers each per day - 1.2, 1 spoke every 3 days.

I woke up at 5.30 (as you do in a tent when the last thing you thought before you went to sleep was "will I be dry in the morning?") and took a peek outside from the safety of my sleeping bag. It was still raining! I made an executive decision not to go ahead with plan A to leave at 6, and rolled over for another couple of hours. At about plan H we decided it was time to get up, and ended up leacing Rush Centre at 10. In the calm aftermath of the storm we made good time - it was cool, clear and not windy. We divided today up into thirds as well, because it worked so well yesterday (and because there is only water every 30 miles) so we arrived in Ness City for Lunch at 12.30. For breakfast we had finished off most of KFC's buffet from yesterday - smuggled out of the restaurant in an inconspicuous big red box.

Another 31 miles took us to Dighton, where we had supper/tea, and a quick 24 miles later took us to Marcia's in Scott City. We covered the 140kms in just over 6 hours, crusing along with East winds helping us on our way. Apparently extremely unusual to have east winds, but suits us just fine. They should continue into tomorrow, and we will make a decision whether to do 75 miles to Sheridan Lake, or 100 miles to EADS, when we get to Sheridan. It would be great to make the most of the East Winds, but 100 miles is a long way anyday, and there is nowhere in between in case we don't make EADS - we'll see how we go.

As I said in my update - wifi is sparse, corn is abundant, and "nothingness" stretches forever. This is a pretty apt description of Kansas - one of the things that has kept me going is the mile markers on the left hand side of the road - every mile there is a number on a little green sign, we started in Kansas City on 421 miles, and 4 days later we are on 53, so we haven't done badly - we have covered the last 700 miles in 9 days from St Louis at 85 miles per riding day, with one rest day. The monotony has brought my "no-hands" skills to a new level, I have cycled 5 continuous kms! - I only stopped because that too got boring - I can also take my raincoat out of my panniers and put it on and take it off. But, all this is tiring, and plenty of miles still to go - we passed the halfway mark yesterday - so another 3000 kms, of deserts and mountains, time to sleep ready for the challenges of tomorrow.

There ain't much in kansas!

2010-05-27T05:44:00.003+03:00

Yesterday we set off at around 10 having had a quite superb nights sleep after riding 108 miles the previous day. We cycled from Mcpherson to a very small town (population less than 30 me thinks), which was a total of 95 miles. However the winds had shifted in our favour so although not quite a tail wind, it certainly didnt hinder our progress like the previous day. Just before lunch Will broke another spoke (what else would it be!?). Luckily enough there was a bike shop where we had lunch, so we visited yet another bike shop. We have become more and more adept at fixing our own problems, so without the help of a mechanic Will fixed his spoke and we both did a little service on each of our bikes. Now we can do basic mechanics on the bikes, it saves us a minimum of $15 every time we get a problem on the bikes. Will and I were completly unaware that spokes could cause us this much issue. Never ever had a problem with them before the trip, so a slight shock to the system. I think that we can conclude that, in fact, although the bikes as a whole are good bikes; Evans cycles(who we bought the bikes from), were slightly cheeky. They had obviously changed a few bits and bobs on the bikes before they sold them to us to save them a few! So they must have changed the spokes that were originally made with the bike and replaced them with far less sturdy ones(we think they did this with the hub and pedals' as well). Anyway with the spoke fixed we forged on and reached our destination at around 8:30. We set up camp on a very small park area, which was a really nice spot. We got a couple of beers and drank tham as the sun set whilst listening to some music....great end to the day. 30 mins later as we settled down to bed the weather took a turn for the worse, the wind really picked up and heavy rain started. The tent didnt like the wind at all, so we were forced, in the dark and in the rain, to move the tent next to a building for some wind shelter. An 'interesting experience' i will say. In the process of moving the tent we also ripped the bottom of it, only a small tear, but annoying nonetheless.

Today we set out for scott city, 88 miles away. To be honest there isnt really much news from today, as we saw very little apart from fields of corn and lots of flat land for miles around. People warned us that there isnt much to see out here, and they were right. It would be a lie to say it is boring but there is hint of monotony about kansas. Towns are at least 30 miles apart and often there are very little services in them. A few times today it did feel as though we were on the of the edge of the earth, as in front of us we could only see flat road, as far as the eye can see. However it is very peaceful out here, which is a nice change from busy roads, no more than 30 cars an hour pass us. Tonight we are residing with some friends of Tony and Stacey, who we stayed with in Kansas city. Tomorrow we may just get into Colorado, but it depends on the winds. We have 215 miles to pueblo where we will have a rest day. This might be two long days or three shortish ones, but we will see.

Safe in Scott City, KS

2010-05-27T05:00:00.002+03:00

Much more to follow - but just a quick update - we have cycled 188 miles in the last two days to get from McPherson to Scott City. A hectic night last night in a storm, but tonight we get beds courtesy of another friend of Tony's - Marcia - which will be great!

Wifi is sparse, Corn is abundant, and 'nothingness' stretches forever! It is not flat, but gradually uphill, which would not be fun if the wind wasn't being extremely helpful and blowing from the East.

More news to come, many stories to share.

Kansas City - McPherson KS - 190 miles, 2 days

2010-05-25T07:04:00.001+03:00

2950kms, Burgers 75, days 30 (Riding days 24 - average 122kms - 76 miles/day).

Pizza Hut - Osage City, Kansas
70 miles so far today, we left Kansas city late this morning, after our last Bob Evans Breakfast! - Bob Evans is a chain of Breakfast shops, and we were lucky enough to be given a gift voucher by the manager of one in Owensboro, Indiana. We had to use up the voucher by the time we left Kansas City because there are no stores west of Kansas City. The breakfast was great, and it was a good ending to a fun time with Tony and Stacy, who we have been staying with.
We have managed 70 miles as I write this at 6.30 sitting waiting for my massive pizza in Pizza Hut. They have a special deal - you can have any size pizza, with any extra toppings all for $10. We have gone all out on this, and apparently our pizza has to be cooked twice because it has so much stuff on it. Looking forward to it.
We will carry on until it gets dark, getting as far as we can before putting up our tent in a quiet spot. We plan to wake up at 6 tomorrow, because it is so much nicer riding early in the day: it has been around 30 degrees for most of today.

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We camped last night in a random field - and got almost every bit of stealth camping wrong. We left the road at 8.15 - as it was getting dark, but still too early - it only got completely dark at 9. We tried to keep heading in towards the tree's, and ended up by a swamp with no place to set our tent - then, Alex remembered Tom's warning about Poison Ivy - possibly slightly too late - it was all around us... Not sure if we've been stung, but will let you know if everything starts hurting. We then just chucked the tent up in an Ivy free spot, and hopped in very fast, so that the swamp's vibrant insect life didn't disturb us any more.

As we were going to bed, a coyote started howling very near at hand - with little ones yapping away - so Alex quickly stuck the leftovers from our huge pizza in thedry bag and hung it up.

---------

We set off at 6.45 this morning, and managed 22 miles by breakfast at 9. This has been our earliest start by a long way, and made a good start to what was to be our longest day so far. We were headed to McPherson, KS, where we are being put up by Courtney and Dave, friends of Tony and Stacy. Our plans to do a 105miles in a day took a hit when we only managed 18 miles in 3 hours after breakfast. This was because of huge headwinds when going south, gusting at 30 mph. In the midst of these, my only hopes were of Kansas reverting to a sea, and my bike changing to my Laser (sailing boat) - it was tough. We then ran out of water, and when we eventually found a spot to fill them up - found a WW2 Vet with an antiques store, who very kindly gave us water and a free book. The Water wasn't drinkable however - too much sulphur, so we searched and searched along the route - looking in all the cow trough's for taps, until we finally found one in a deserted farmhouse.

We eventually rolled into McPherson at quarter to 8 after some late afternoon lunch, and some helpful winds later in the day.
We plan on heading to Scott City for Wednesday, we aren't sure where we'll end up tomorrow. Wifi is sparse, but cows are abundant - the plains of Kansas look just like a much bigger version of the Maasai Mara, with Black Angus Cows instead of Buffalo, and pick-up trucks instead of Mini-vans. Very tired, 108 miles (as it turned out) is not a small feat, and it took us 9 hours of riding time to complete - which means that now I have been awake for 18 hours, therefore - bedtime.

We are on track - tomorrow we should pass the line marking the centre of America. (not an actual line - but a few cities claim to be right in the middle, and we will pass close to them.)

O' so windy

2010-05-25T05:42:00.000+03:00

Today was our longest day by at least 10 miles. We actually ended up doing 108 miles, over a period of 14 hours and over 9 hours of riding time.

Just to fill you in on yesterday, we covered 85 miles and as towns/services are getting few and far between, last night was the first time we stealth camped. We found a field and set up our tent...simple as that. It was however a very hot and humid night, so not the most comfortable sleep. Anyway, this morning we decided to take a bold step and get up at 6, so that we could ride the long distance of over 100 miles to Macpherson, KS, all in the light. It has to be said riding at 7 is very nice. It is cool and pleasant and the traffic levels are low. After breakfast, at roughly 10am , we were really hit hard by the wind, and i mean really hard. The wind was coming from a south westerly direction, and for over 3 hours we were heading straight into it. To put it into perspective we covered 20 miles a shade under 3 hours, so working really hard and moving at half our normal speed. In addition to this we really did not anticipate how sparse the landscape is. No services for about 50-60 miles indicates this. So there were a couple of times where we were very low on water and food.

Due to the lack of towns, we eventually lunched at 4pm, having covered 80 miles. Luckily the winds shifted slightly in the afternoon, so it was no where near as hard as some of the morning. The last 20 odd miles were not too hard, however after 100 miles and 9 hours of riding the mind is tired the legs are tired and my knees are sore! But(a big but) 108 miles is a very long way and it is a good chunk closer to our final goal. This evening we are staying with some friends of friends, so a nice welcome after a very long day.

Rest day in Kansas City

2010-05-23T05:49:00.002+03:00

After a tough day yesterday we relished a day off. Kansas city can probably be considered the last reasonable city, going west, for quite a way. Planning the route today, it was obvious that soon we will have to plan ahead carefully in terms of taking extra provisions and water. Civilisation(along with water) really seems to dry up! Things like MacDonald's wifi may become a bit of a rarity, so our blogging may become sporadic. Western kansas is known for long flat stretches of nothing and only corn fields to keep us company.

Earlier today, after a really nice lie we headed out for a nice Mexican lunch and explored a local market. Although we are mostly 'out of touch' in terms of what is going on at home sporting and news wise, we were lucky enough to watch the champions league final today, which especially for my self is a 'must watch' game of the year, so it was nice to do that!

We will now do 560 miles to Pueblo, Colorado, in 7 days. That averages at around 90 miles a day so it will be a tough week, but we will cover lots of miles.

Rest Day Number 6

2010-05-23T05:35:00.002+03:00

Rest day's are much needed breaks to cycling, giving our muscles a chance to recuperate, and our minds a chance to rest before we have to start thinking about where to eat, where to sleep and which roads to ride on once again.

We have been lucky enough to stay these last two nights with Tony and Stacy in Kansas City, seeing the sights, eating good food, and resting. Thank you very much to them for putting us up.

We will now set off to Pueblo in Colorado, 580miles, in the next 7 days.

Kansas City, KS

2010-05-22T07:00:00.002+03:00

78 miles, New State - Kansas Total: 2634kms 22 days riding, 27 days total. 69 burgers. States: 13

Missouri was meant to be flat. But, one thing that is very dangerous to have is expectations that things will be easy - if you think it will be flat, it never is. We rode the first 35 miles with Geoff and Alon who we met yesterday - www.bikeintothewind.com - This meant slip-streaming with a line of 4 people, which meant that even into the wind, our average speed was above 22kph - despite hills and headwinds. But this great progress got held up for a while as we waited for Alon to fix a puncture, which he did... 3 tubes, 2 tires and 90 mins later, we were on the road again, Alon cursing his bad luck. Some more speedy slipstreaming took us to Lone Jack for pancakes, egg and bacon for lunch. Then we parted ways, they headed towards downtown Kansas City, while we headed west - skirting the southern border of Kansas City, aiming for the southwest corner - Olathe.

We are staying tonight with Stacy and Tony, Thank you very much to Ben, Leslie and Teresa for helping us work it out, and thank you to Stacy and Tony for hosting us.

We plan on taking a rest day in Kansas city before heading out across nothing for 600 miles. We have covered 80 miles each of the last three days, at record speeds, so our legs definitely deserve a rest.

Change of Plan

2010-05-21T04:46:00.002+03:00

Between the tornado sirens, the torrential rain (flooding) and the lightning, we came to the decision (an obvious deduction some may say) that camping was not sensible. We are now in an Econolodge, staying with the two cyclists we met along the way.

Tornado!

2010-05-21T03:09:00.004+03:00

This morning the previous days rain had cleared, and although slightly cold it was pleasant enough. I think that today was the first time we were properly aided by a tailwind. Our progress was swift, not only due to the wind, but also we were on just one road for a long stretch which solved our problems of navigation but it was also a good surface quality. At one stage we covered 24 miles in less than one hour and twenty mins(very quick for us).

This afternoon we met some more x-america cyclists! (on two wheels this time) They started out in Phili and have followed a route similar to us. We cycled the last 20 miles or so together into Knob Noster. It started to pour as we approached our destination. Things did start to get exciting when a tornado warning went out as we sat in MacDonald's together! Alas, there was no real wind to be seen(as we all watched excitingly out of the window, expecting to see cars and people flying around outside....bit of a let down really).

Tomorrow we will get to Kansas city, where we will decide whether to have a rest day there, or just press on into Kansas.

Tailwind!

2010-05-21T02:42:00.001+03:00

Jefferson City to Knob Noster - 85 miles. 69 burgers, 21 days riding - 26 days

The picture is of me riding down the corridor to our room in the motel - it is a mission pushing loaded bikes, so much easier to roll!

There is a massive storm system over us (and three other states) which means we've had lightning, rain, thunder and even tornado sirens. But we are dry and warm, and have just filled up in McDonalds.

We had the fastest average speed of all our days today by quite a way - averaging just over 25kph - helped by the wind. Our aim of California and San Francisco seems closer than it is, in the Motel last night the soap was made by the San Francisco soap company, and today we went through the town of California. We will camp tonight in the state park at Knob Noster, with two other cross-country cyclists: www.bikeintothewind.com.

Tomorrow, off to Kansas City.

Into the storm

2010-05-20T07:30:00.000+03:00

142kms, 1 broken spoke, NEW TOP SPEED - 76.6kph/ 47.5mph Totals: 2373kms, 9 broken spokes, 61 burgers.

Today, we left the Katy Trial, away from the flat calm paths with no cars, up to the hills and busy roads. We cycled the first 20 miles of the day along the trail, before crossing the Missouri river into Hermann. Unfortunately this is where we broke our 9th spoke - my fourth. Luckily it didn't stop us for long, and we still managed 85 miles in the day.

The last bit of the day was seriously hilly - steep short sharp hills - tough on the legs, but great downhills. I clocked 47.5mph down one hill - the speed limit was 35mph... Awesome. But then the rain came. They expect 1.5inches to fall on this area in the next day and a half - with flood warnings all over. We treated ourselves to a motel this evening to keep morale high, cycling in the rain is not much fun, and camping in the rain would not have been a good rest!

We will now follow highway 50 for almost all of the next 500 miles, going through Kansas City into Kansas on Friday.

More spoke issues -May 18th

2010-05-20T06:47:00.002+03:00

1 broken spoke, 53 miles - totals: 61 burgers, 8 broken spokes, 12 states, 2230kms

I was right when I said that starting again after our long break would be tough - we only set off after many hours of sorting, and a great breakfast (again many thanks to Tom) at 11.20am. We made it a mile and a half, before exactly the same thing as had happened to Alex, happened to me. We thought that it would be good to have the same bikes because our problems will be the same, and they have been - but the problem is that whenever we get one problem, we are almost guaranteed to get two. Another bit of copycat problems came this morning - both of our pumps are broken - after not much use. Luckily Tom had a spare and very good one, which we hope will treat us well for the rest of the trip.

My chain got caught in the wheel, which ripped up my spokes - as happened to Alex last week, and one spoke even broke on the impact. We limped back to the bike shop that had rebuilt Alex's wheel (twice) - Big Shark Bicycles of St Louis - and asked them very nicely if they would do the same to mine! Luckily they weren't busy, and they fixed my wheel while we enjoyed a reviving hot chocolate from Starbucks. Apparently the problem came because the derailleur may have been bent a bit which puts the gears out of line so we sorted that out too. We eventually set off again at 2.20pm, 3 hours later after a quick check back at the house to see if Alex's parcel had arrived (it hadn't).

We then cycled 15 miles up to the Katy Trail before heading west along it - along the banks of the Missouri River. The Katy Trail is a converted railroad - that has had tightly packed, small gravel poured over it. Many thanks to Megan who helped us find it - it made the start of today a lot easier than it could have been - tired and wet and frustrated as we were. We were tired and frustrated by having to fix bikes, and wet because of the flooding we had to go through to get to the Katy Trail - where all others turned back, we had no option but to plough through a deep section of flooding - having a great time in the process, but soaking everything below the level of a foot and a half.

We then had a casual 35 miles up to Marthasville on the trail, going at a decent pace, and arriving at just after 7. We are now camped beside a baseball pitch where there has been a competition all evening - the annoying thing is that we haven't yet got to sleep - the floodlights are still on.

Pedalo out of St Louis

2010-05-20T06:15:00.002+03:00

It has been a while since my last blog, so there is much to tell! We had a great few days in St Louis, watching a baseball game, going up the gateway arch(195 meters high), but best of all eating non-junk food and having a really good rest. I must thank Tom, Will's Uncle in law, who was so kind to look after us and take us around. I got my bike properly fixed (only after it was fixed the first time, but then broke again as i rode away from the shop and i had to walk a mile or so back to the shop with the bike on my back!)

Yesterday started out as a bit of a disaster, as about 300m from the house Will's chain popped off, just like mine did which has caused all my problems, and completely screwed up the back wheel, breaking lots of spokes in the process. So back to the bike shop we went. It appears all of our chain/spoke problems occur as a result of having a bent derailleur. After a lengthy wait whilst Will's wheel was fixed, we finally set off, away from St Louis at about 2pm.

There has been a lot of rain in the past few days, so there were a few interesting moments(as my title would suggest) where we were at least in a foot of water on the cycle path. Very Amusing. Anyway having pioneered a new water sport of 'water biking', we crossed the Missouri River and cycled roughly 45 miles on the 'Katy trail', which was like riding down a toe path....no cars, completely flat, great weather = perfect. We arrived to our camping spot quite late as a result of the delay in the morning, which was situated next to a baseball pitch, where a game was occurring. All i can say is that cricket is definitely a far better game!

Today we set off nice and early with the intention of riding 85 miles to Jefferson city, Missouri. The 25 miles we did on the Katy trail passed quickly and we turned off the trail back onto the roads. As we came into Hermann at roughly 12 another spoke problem! ANOTHER spoke broke on Will's rear wheel. We were lucky that in Hermann there was a bike shop, so we got it mended quickly. In the morning we set out into glorious sunshine but the weather turned dramatically in the afternoon. Rain and lots of it. Nevertheless we have reached Jefferson city and have treated ourselves to a motel. Setting up a tent in the pouring rain, already soaking wet surprisingly did not appeal! We have got just over 140 miles to Kansas city which we hope to reach in two days time, so not too a hard day tomorrow. Total miles done=1462.

Wake up time.

2010-05-18T08:14:00.002+03:00

Coming to the end of any break is tough, be it a 5 minute coffee break at work, a half term break from school, or a 3 month break from exercise. We are reaching the end of a 3-day break from cycling 75 miles a day - its tough! The knowledge that we have to cycle 75 miles tomorrow is ok - its what we are here to do, but the issue is that we also have to pack up all our kit - when we get comfortable in a place kit spreads out all over everything! We also have to plot the finer bits of our route - we have the general plans, but there are a couple of issues with flooding from the Mississippi river and the Missouri river that we will have to divert round.

I fixed the spoke that I broke 10m from the house on Friday, and Alex had a whole new set of spokes put in, twice. He has also spent time making a video of our photo's so far,
- viewable at this youtube link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4He1nognvU

In the mean time, I sorted places to stay and the route to take. We will be going west along the Katy Trail, before heading to Kansas City. From Kansas City we will continue westwards gradually climbing off the plains into the Rocky Mountains at Pueblo in Colorado. If you know anyone on the way who would be happy to have two tired slightly crazy cyclists, send us an email!

Wake up time is in 7 hours, we had a late night, because we managed to squeeze in a baseball game which was great! The St Louis Cardinals thumped the Washington Nats, thank you very much to Tom for taking us.

St Louis, Missouri

2010-05-15T06:15:00.001+03:00

Nashville, IL to St Louis, MO – 65 miles, 2 broken spokes (1W, 1A) 1 Fall, 3 burgers, New State = Missouri. Totals – 3 punctures, 7 broken spokes, 3 falls, 51 burgers, 2136km, 12 states. 20 days – 18 riding.

Today was long. Although 65 miles is well below our average per riding day of 75 miles, the tough bit today was knowing we had a really long time to do it in – which means that “why not stop for just a little while!?” is a very hard question to say no to! We are also mentally drained – I haven’t worked for 18 out of 20 days since the Christmas rush at Black Mountains Smokery - www.smoked-foods.co.uk – check it out – good food, delivered to your door anywhere in the UK. I think that we would have been in danger of really mucking up in the traffic later on in the day, had I not taken a tumble early on in the day.

Now falling off a bike is not perfect – the aim is to keep riding. But nevertheless, there is such a thing as a perfect fall. Today I managed to do a perfect fall. After 2hrs and 25 minutes of riding, your body has just gone into autopilot, your mind is relaxed. A bit too relaxed in my case – A gust of wind took my front tire into Alex’s back left pannier and pinned me there. Soon after – and I’m not clear how - I was somersaulting down a grassy verge on the right side of the road, my bike having flipped to a standstill. The perfect part of the fall, is that it took up no extra time – serving as a more dramatic way to stop for a loo break, it didn’t injure me or the bike, and it acted as a wake-up call that cycling is dangerous if you switch off. Although I have already ploughed through a couple of ditches on this trip – this is my first fall, the other times I stayed on my bike which means that Alex is winning the falls category and the puncture category 2-1, and the spokes category 5–2.

On arrival in St Louis, we went to the bike shop, after a quick visit to hold up the Arch; a huge monument, the biggest in America. We left Alex’s bike with the bike shop, for them to rebuild his wheel. I then rode on, to my uncle’s house where we will stay until Tuesday. Last week we shunted a rest day forward – so that we could wait long enough in St Louis to get Alex’s tire fixed. This made us more tired last week but means that I now don’t have to put on my Lycra shorts or get on a bike for the next 3 days – a thing you would also enjoy – after 2000kms of riding and 18 days of Lycra.

Time to relax, and read, and watch 20/20 cricket! But, we must also fix my spoke and plot the route up to Pueblo, Colorado.

As a side note – the picture is of a big red plane that we found hanging in the only cafe in a small town called Belle Rive. It has only 200 people, and the cafe doubles as the shop. It was a classic. To set the scene, imagine this: A pump action shotgun lying on the customer side of the counter, ready for action, a deer rifle by the till, and a massive bow and arrow (“take out a deer at 200 yards”) on the shelf. It is run by a husband and wife team - and they are not at all business minded - it was marked closed outside, and they would have a look outside at the few people who came past, and select even fewer to let in! On hearing of our mission, they plied us with chocolate bars and water, and told us stories of how dangerous the roads were. But, to me, the most interesting thing was the model aeroplanes hanging above us. My dad has always had a soft spot for model aeroplanes, which means that I take an interest, but these ones were so big one could not fail to see them. When I asked about them, the owner said that they all flew, they were remote control planes made by a local lad, crafted in wood and powered by the engines of old lawnmowers. Truly awesome machines. The plate is a standard size, which I made Alex lift up to give you a scale.

Finally arrived in St Louis!

2010-05-15T04:18:00.003+03:00

The last day before a rest day, especially a 3 day break, is always going to be tough. Not because the terrain or we are really tired but mainly because we have the knowledge that come the end of the day, we have a nice comfy bed and we can get out of the cycling shorts and stay out of them!(for a little while at least)

So the morning went very slowly. It was one of those moments where i thought that the odometer was going to start clocking back the miles. Anyway we did stop for a spot of lunch at an 'Arbys', where we got given another donation and someone wanted our photo taken with them, which is always nice.

As soon as we reached the outskirts of the city, the ride became far more pleasurable, as we saw the huge gateway arch of St Louis approaching(195 metres tall and wide). As we crossed over the Mississippi, also crossing the state line into Missouri we went over Eads bridge, which was the first bridge to use steel as its primary structural material(a little fun fact for the day). We took some great photos next to the arch and then headed over to the bike shop. I have left my bike there over the weekend so hopefully come Monday it will be all sorted and one less thing to have to worry about. Tom, Will's aunt's husband, has kindly offered to let us stay with him over the next few days. Will an I were discussing today, how actually, we are probably more mentally tired than physically, as we are constantly having to think about our next move: directions, where to eat/drink, where to stay, maintenance of the bikes, looking out for cars...all sorts of things. So it will be really nice over the next few days to give our brains a good rest too!

Nashville,IL

2010-05-14T07:07:00.000+03:00

Today we didnt have the greatest of starts. We set off after a slow morning, and after roughly a mile i broke another spoke. This is not a surprise, but just really frustrating nonetheless. We found a garage to borrow a wrench and set about trying to fix the wheel. This was our first time fixing a spoke on our own, so it was a true example definition of 'learning on the job'. Even after fixing the spoke the wheel was still wobbling all over the place (a sign that the wheel is not true). It was another reminder of how badly the wheel needs a proper servicing and a new set of spokes. After a lot of fiddling around(loosening and tightening of the spokes)eventually i got the wheel running slightly better, but still not perfect. After all of this we properly set off around 1:30.

After such late start we hoped only to reach Nashville, IL, which was about 50 miles away. There was a slight headwind, but we did the miles fairly quickly, in the process passing the 2000 km mark. About 1 mile away from Nashville i broke yet another spoke. I think i will just brave it until St Louis, which is only 60 miles away. I cannot wait to get there not only to have a much needed rest but also so i can stop worrying about my wheel, which is only causing me anguish! An eraly start tomorrow so we can have as much time in St Louis as possible.

Nashville, IL

2010-05-14T06:05:00.000+03:00

McLeansboro – Nashville, IL – 55miles, 2 broken spokes, 5 burgers. Totals – 3 punctures, 6 broken spokes, 48 burgers, 2027km, 11 states

A foot long sandwich from Subway was an interesting start to a long day. The first time we set off from McLeansboro was just before 12, and we made it just less than a mile before we had to turn back to a garage to borrow a spanner to fix a spoke on Alex’s wheel. We spent an hour and a half, at www.kingsautosalesinc.com. We took the wheel off, the tube off, the cassette off, and then changed the spoke. After you change a spoke, you have to true the wheel – because the tension is wrong, the wheel wobbles. Alex’s wheel is mucked up – the spokes are much weaker, so we couldn’t quite get it true. It lasted 45 miles, until just out of Nashville, then another spoke broke. The problems come because the chain cut into the spokes and weakened all of the spokes on one side, which means that they are breaking one by one.

We hope to reach St Louis tomorrow, where Alex will get his tire fixed, and we will take three days’ rest. We will have been riding 18 of the last 20 days, and as a consequence we passed the 2000km milestone today.

We finished the day with another foot long sub from Subway, before heading to Best Western Motel for the night – Thank you to everyone who helped us get here!

Where we have come from!

2010-05-13T16:39:00.001+03:00

X-America by Bicycle - Google Maps

The route so far - I am still working on the line! But each of the balloon's marks a stop. Click on X-America by Bicycle - Google Maps to take you to the map.

Illinois

2010-05-13T06:27:00.001+03:00

This is what I wrote yesterday but it only went up as a draft so here it is:

Having done a big day yesterday, we have made the next few days far easier as we only needed to do 180 miles to St Louis. Today we managed a casual 65 miles to the small town of Macleansboro. This morning we had a late start, but that gave us time to really get ourselves sorted for the next few days. We got all our maps and route sorted until St Louis, and i have booked my bike in to have my back wheel and spokes sorted out at a shop in St Louis. We originally planned to take a day off in Evansville(where we were yesterday), but having a 3 day break in St Louis, combined with the fact that Evansville seemed pretty dull, persuaded us to do 7 straight days riding instead.

The days riding went fine, with just one puncture on my bike, which was easy to fix and didn't take too much time. We also have entered the state of Illinois. It has got slightly hotter than the previous few days, and it is very humid. We arrived in Macleansboro at around 6:15, had a nice dinner and set about trying to find a place to stay for the night. However the only campsite was 8 miles in the direction we just came, so that ruled that out! we went to the police station to see if we could pitch our tent anywhere in the town, however there was no one there. So we trundled over to the B&B, expecting to have to pay a handsome price for the night. To our luck they had no room but were happy for us to pitch our tent in the back yard, and offered us use of the bathroom. So it has turned out very nicely. It has been few long days, so we are using the opportunity to get a early nights sleep!

11 States visited

2010-05-13T06:04:00.000+03:00

Day 18 - 65 miles, 1 puncture. Totals: 1940 kms, 43 burgers, 3 punctures, 11 states

We are out of horse territory and into corn. But, storms are still around and the corn is under a foot of water. This meant that we had to adjust our route yesterday - not what you want to have to work out after riding for 80 miles - but meant that we were prepared today. Yesterday it was the Ohio river which had caused the flooding, today it was the Wabash - a tributary of the Ohio but it still looks bigger than the Thames!

We heard a ticking sound coming from Alex's wheel this morning, but when we stopped to investigate, found nothing. The spokes were fine, the brakes were fine, the fenders were fine - but the ticking still happened. When we set off again, I noticed a massive metal spike coming out of his wheel... and then he got a puncture. When we were changing the tubes we noticed that it wasn't the massive metal spike that had caused the puncture - that had been stopped by the kevlar lining of our tires - but an even bigger metal spike that he had picked up in an unrelated spot. We fixed the puncture quickly despite Alex's pump breaking as we laboured to get the pressure in our tires up to 85psi.

We are camping in the yard of a bed and breakfast here in McLeansboro, ready for the remaining 120 miles to St Louis in the next 2 days. We are now in Illinois - having crossed the bottom of Indiana yesterday and today.

Hampered by spokes

2010-05-12T08:10:00.003+03:00

Yesterday was one of those days where initially we thought it was going to be a bit of a nightmare, but actually turned out to be an absolute gem of a day! We woke to a very cold, cloudy morning. Just as we were setting off I discovered that I had broken yet another spoke on my back wheel. We did fiddle around and try to fix it ourselves, alas, we really didn't have the right tools or experience to successfully repair it. Having been told by a bike mechanic in Knoxville, that riding on even one broken spoke is not a good idea, and can cause much further damage if not repaired sharpish. We searched for the nearest bike shop, but that was still 60 miles away. There was nothing for it but to go for it and hope for the best. Our aim for the day was 70 miles however we decide we would get to Leitchfield (60 miles away), where the bike shop was, and decide what to do from there in terms of where we would stay for the night and have supper. 30 miles away from Leitchfield. I called ahead and spoke to the owner of the bike shop 'Rick'. I explained the problem and he kindly agreed to stay on past the closing rime of 5pm so he could help me with my spoke. (I must add, during this hectic day, we actually passed the 1000 mile mark). The day really started getting better as soon as we arrived at the bike shop. Rick swiftly repaired the spoke, whilst giving us a little lesson on how to repair it and what to do if it broke again. I addition he kitted us out with the necessary tools so we could fix it properly ourselves. Rick then had to shoot off to join a group 25 of x-America cyclists(going from west to east), who were being hosted but the local ‘Lions club for dinner’. Rick kindly invited us along to join them for the ‘all you can eat’ at pizza hut. We had a great dinner mingling with the fellow cyclists, and sharing some of our experiences. They were staying very close by so we were quickly offered lodgings with them for the night. So what a result from having a busted wheel in the morning, to having a free dinner, a free nights sleep, free beer and top banter with the other cyclists thrown in for good measure.

Although we got lots of benefits by having the broken spoke, we did not cover our scheduled 70 miles for the previous day, so today we set out with the ambitious intention of riding 95 miles to Evansville. We set out very early (up at 6:30, away by 8:10). Before 11 we had covered over 30 miles. Just after the 30 mile point, I broke another spoke! It was at that moment that it became quite a big concern. To break 1 spoke, fine. To break two spokes, unlucky. To break 3 spokes, especially all within the space of 5 days......there is something fundamentally wrong. Despite this we continued to Owensboro, where, after being given a free lunch at ‘Bob Evans’ and a $40 free gift card, we visited yet another bike shop. As the avid readers of the blog might recall, a couple of days ago i got my chain very stuck behind the cassette. It has become apparent that actually damaged 2 or 3 spokes, just by bending them. This in turn put a whole load of unnatural strain on the other spokes. Basically i need to replace all the spokes in my wheel, and have the whole wheel ‘made true’ again. This i will do in St Louis in 3 days time. The mechanic patched the wheel up best he could so it will hopefully survive the 200 miles to St Louis. This as you can imagine is very frustrating, not only because of the trouble, but it will also cost me roughly $80 to fix. Then again, on the other hand, at least it is something fixable, and not something that will cause too much disruption to our trip. We polished off the remaining 45 miles in the afternoon, with a fair amount of ease, meanwhile crossing into another sate, Indiana. Tonight we have treated ourselves to a motel, after a few fairly stressful days. We originally planned to have a rest day here in Evansville, but we will probably press on so we can have more time in St Louis.

LONGEST DAY EVER

2010-05-12T06:58:00.000+03:00

Waking up at 6.30 meant that today would be a long one. We woke, ate breakfast and packed the tent up by 7.30 – in time to watch the 25 medics hit the road on their amazing carbon road bikes – excited to have a massive tailwind. We were worried that this meant headwind for us – and with the storms around, the wind was strong. Luckily for us the wind stayed as a crosswind, with occasional shifts to help or hinder us – we were pushed up some hills, but had to pedal down some in return.

We managed our fastest average speed – 22.2kph, and yet also our greatest distance ever in 1 day – 150kms, just under 100 miles. We managed this despite Alex breaking his 3rd spoke in a week. We took the bike to a bike shop, because 3 spokes in a week is not right and they recommended that he change all his spokes when we get to St Louis. The weak spokes were I think caused by his accident with the chain – which sheared them in half. This put more pressure on the spokes on the other side, which means that they break more often.

We are now in Evansville – relaxing at a Quality Inn. We plan to skip a rest day, and head straight up to St Louis – to arrive by Friday, so that we have more time to fix his tire and get set for the next part of the trip. FUNFACT: Evansville schools have longer breaks than most schools because during those times, they used to have to move the horses they came to school on into the shade.

We had a great happening at lunch – Thank you very much to Dan and Alex from Bob Evans Restaurant – They gave us a large gift voucher so we can get our fill of eggs and pancakes in the mornings at any Bob Evans. I am seriously tired – today was the longest day either of us have ever done, and we plan to do another long day tomorrow.

Leitchfield KY - Monday 10th May

2010-05-11T22:02:00.001+03:00

The worst possible start to the day – once we’d finished packing up our kit, we discovered that yet another spoke had broken on Alex’s rear wheel; bringing our broken spokes count up above our puncture count. Spokes however are a much bigger problem than punctures, because to fix them, you need a tool (which we didn’t have) to take the cassette off (a cassette is what you call the thing where the cogs live on the back wheel).

We were well equipped, with spare spokes, but couldn’t put the spoke in, because we couldn’t get the cassette off. The really annoying thing was that before we worked that out, Alex had taken the air out of the tire, and the tire off the rim. Eventually we left at 11ish, far too late, and with a spoke still broken. Alex’s tire was wobbling away, so we had to unhook the back brake to stop it rubbing. We limped 60 miles into Leitchfield, KY to the nearest bike shop at very high speed – an average of 21kph, stopping only for short periods, eating leftover pizza from the night before.

The first bit of the day was tough – Alex constantly had the thought that every mile could be damaging his wheel, as well as the lack of a back brake to contend with and a not quite full tyre to slow him down. But, we made it through to Leitchfield at 5.20pm, having rung up the bike shop to ask them to close later if possible.

When we got to the bike shop, we were met by Rick, who was amazing. He fixed the spoke, and taught us how to, and gave us the tools we need, and some energy bars all for $20. Not content with that, he then told us that there were 20 cross-country cyclists meeting the local lions club of Leitchfield, and that they had put on a meal for them, and would happily have us too. We were extremely grateful to the Lions club for their help and the stacks of pizza. We are now camping in the fairground, beside the other cyclists. They are cycling the other way, and are supported by 3 vans. It’s amazing to see their incredible road bikes, and look at the logistics of their trip, all from the comparative sanity of our one day at a time routine. They are all medical students cycling to raise money for global health.

Time for bed – we will wake when they do, at 6.30!! Can you imagine... Then we will go as far as we can towards Evansville – which will be a mammoth 95 miles if we manage.

Edmonton, KY

2010-05-10T15:42:00.001+03:00

Today was a day where a lot more could have gone wrong. Luckily it didn't, so we are now lying in our comfy sleeping bags on Austin's lawn in Edmonton, Kentucky.

It started out well, an early start and a great all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet for $3.99 is a close to perfect beginning to the day. We rode at a decent pace up and down many hills, until at the bottom of one we came across two other guys with bikes. These guys had 3 times as much stuff as us, and on their bikes were all the possessions they had. They said that they aimed to live in the same manner as the early christians - sell all that they own and trust that the Lord will provide for them. We talked to them for a long time – a fun discussion about all things from learning Hebrew to stealing seatposts for bicycles.
We crossed the border from Tennessee to Kentucky at lunchtime today, the ninth state that we have visited on this trip. I should also mention that the clocks have changed, a very unusual occurrence – but good in that it means we are definitely moving west.

We rode on, along roads where there were more animals than cars (which makes a nice change). I saw a snake and some deer as well as another woodpecker, and there are now fields of cows and horses wherever we look. Our first obstacle was called Subtle Rd. The subtlety of this particular road became evident soon after we entered it, without the sign, it would not be called a road, more like a Himalayan trail for Tibetan Yaks. The locals said that they had never seen anyone bicycle up it, so I did. It was tough – and I finished all my remaining water going up it, in constant danger of falling off and of a puncture – it was an extremely steep hill, covered in gravel. Once we had made it over that hill, we had some pleasant views, and a nice run down along a more agreeable, less subtle road. The lucky bit was being forewarned about the subtle hill by the locals, if we hadn’t, we probably would have turned round on seeing it and done a 30 mile detour to get past it.

On the next hill after the run down, Alex’s chain came off and jammed extremely firmly between the cassette and the spokes. Despite a lot of yanking and levering and pulling, we couldn’t get his chain unstuck. Given that we were 1 mile away from a garage – Alex hitched a lift in a pickup, and I cycled up to meet him at the garage in Edmonton. It took a while, but we managed to fix it, and then headed off to find some food and some wifi to find a place to go. – note here how lucky we were to have a good supply of pick-ups to hitch with and a friendly garage with stacks of tools, open at 7pm on a Sunday.

We found the food, but no wifi access, so after a couple of burgers and yet another $10 massive Pizza, we were abit stuck. This is where things could have gone wrong again; we had nowhere to stay – the GPS said the nearest campsite was 20 miles, and the motels office was empty. Luckily, I got chatting to the employee’s of pizza hut, and sourced us a place for free and with wifi, Thank you so much to Austin for all your help.

Tomorrow we will ride 60 miles to Clarkson, then plot some new maps, and try another 20 miles. We have ridden 1570 kilometres, eaten 37 burgers, and I have a new top speed! 41.3mph or 66.4 kph. See below for what I say about yesterday, and what Alex says for the two days.

Jamestown, TN - 8th May

2010-05-10T06:51:00.002+03:00

No internet yesterday - here is what I wrote.

Although the movie yesterday cost us only $2, today it cost us some more – we only left at 12.30, because of our late night yesterday. Today was the first day heading northwest towards St Louis, and it was a beautiful day. But, beautiful day or not – we needed to do 70 miles to get to civilisation, the town nearest here is 30 miles. 70 miles and leaving late is not a good combination; we work on an average of about 10 miles an hour including breaks and stops which meant that we eventually scraped in at ten past 8.

We went through some extremely scenic areas which was great, the unfortunate thing is that scenic areas are hilly areas and we are reliant on our legs to take us up them. The fun thing is that what goes up comes down, and we had some epic descents. I clocked 64kph – 40 mph, which seems to be about the maximum that we can manage fully loaded. One particular section, round a bend downhill through a forest was about to be a highlight for me – cruising round the bend at 30miles an hour, but when I looked back, Alex was in the ditch. He went too fast round the bend and came off the side in a dramatic but luckily not too serious tumble. He has some stinging grazes that will be a reminder to use the brakes a bit more, but no real structural damage. The bike was ok, although the handlebars bent substantially, one tug was sufficient to bend them back into shape.

Tomorrow we intend to do at least another 70 miles, starting at 9ish, and seeing how far we get.

Anyone got some stabilisers?

2010-05-10T06:48:00.001+03:00

A lot has happened since our last blog. As we move further and further to the west, it is becoming increasingly more rural, thus less opportunities to use MacDonald’s free wifi! On Saturday we set out with the aim of covering the 500 miles to St Louis in 8 days, one of those being a rest day. That averages at about 72 miles a day. However, having braved the worst of the Appalachians, 70 miles a day is not too strenuous at all. We didn’t get off to a fantastic start, as the very late night we had in Knoxville, made things come Saturday morning very slow. We only left at 12:30, but we covered really good ground and had done 60 miles or so by 6:30.

Now to explain my title...I thought it would be a good idea to have another tumble. Trying to experience G-Force, on a touring bike, going round a sharp corner, at the end of a steep hill = NOT A GOOD IDEA. Only minor cuts and bruises. I have to say; in the last 2 months I have fallen off my bike more times than I think I have in my entire life!

This morning there was a big drop in temperature...although sunny it was only about 8c. In the morning we ran into two fellow cycle tourers. We chatted to them for about 1 hour. They were both devout Christians, who cycle round the country for a living. They have no income and no credit cards, however leave it up to God to provide for them. How is this possible you may wonder? We asked the very same question, but they do it and it clearly works, as it became apparent that one of them had been on the road, not necessarily cycling, but living off no income since 1984. Eventually, after a good teaching of the Christian faith we got on our way and by 6:30 we had done roughly 70 miles. With only a couple of miles to go till Edmonston, my chain somehow got ridiculously stuck and tangled as I was changing down a gear. So we tugged and pulled for about half an hour, trying to yank the chain out...however no joy. The chain was stuck in a way that the back wheel could not go round, so I couldn’t even walk with the bike at all. I hitch hiked the last mile into Edmonston where I sourced out a car mechanics. There Will and I finally sorted out the problem (with a little help from a local southerner). We couldn’t find a wifi, which we really needed, not only to write a blog but also so we could work out where we would spend the night whether it be a motel or a nearby campsite. So we headed to pizza hut. Fast food always solves our problems. Whilst there Will chatted nicely to the employees and managed to get a place to stay, in the form of a front lawn. One of the workers at pizza hut kindly said we could camp on his front lawn. So after a bit of searching in the dark, we found his house and I am currently sitting in the tent on the lawn, writing this blog! All in all we covered the distance we set out to do and have got a place to stay for the night so it has been a good day.

Rest Day, Knoxville, TN

2010-05-08T08:58:00.002+03:00

Rest day's should be restful, but there is always so much to do - we spent 3 hours fixing our bikes in West Bicycles, Thank you very much to Kelly for all your help. We now have bikes that are fully serviceable - no wobbly back wheel due to missing spokes, and a new set of brake pads on each of our back wheels. It is amazing how finished our brake pads are - and in only one month since getting the bikes!

After an energizing pizza we went back to Ben's house - yet another couchsurfing success story, where we relaxed all afternoon. We did a bit of oiling and cleaning on our bikes, and some admin. Since then we have plotted a route for the next 180 miles (2.5 days) - still using our envelope technique - see earlier posts if you missed out on how exactly we know where to go (involves writing down a long list of each new road on the back of whatever paper is available - I don't advise the free paper pad from motels, it is too thin.)

We will be going through Kentucky, leaving Tennessee on Sunday. From the maps it seems that the towns are spreading out - we will have to be a bit more careful about water provision and wifi access. Just a little sidenote about spreading out: Knoxville is a city, but not densely populated as it is spread over more than 25 miles. This means that the only way to get around is by car - bicycles are extremely foreign and walking is unheard of. This means that crossing roads is a mission - akin to walking across a motorway - there are no spots for pedestrians. It also means that the BMI of Knoxville residents is generally extremely large - especially when combined with the multitude of cheap fast food; why spend more/take longer to cook a meal when you can get a double cheeseburger for $1.19 in less than a minute?

We have also found out that while our bikes are heavy, we are unable to do a MacDonalds drive-thru on them - the voice that takes your order is activated by a weight sensor that needs much more than just a tent and some bikes and a couple of guys.

We are now headed Northwest to St Louis, MO - just under 500miles, to be done in the next 8 days. We plan to take 7 days riding and stop in Evansville, KT for a rest day. This means an average of just over 70 miles per day, which means bed time, Now. - PS sherlock holmes is a good movie... definitely worth the $2 we paid - cinema tickets are exceptionally cheap!

A much needed rest

2010-05-08T08:10:00.000+03:00

Today there isn't an awful lot to tell as we did very little, which is perfect for us because its just what we needed! We did venture along to the bike shop where we got our spokes fixed and a few other bits and bobs sorted out. Ben, or couch surfing host, kindly took us to a movie, this evening 'Sherlock Holmes', and then gave us a little night time tour of knoxville. He showed us one of the biggest Footballl stadiums in the States. A capacity of 125,000 people, belonging to the college of Tennessee. But now bedtime as it is nearly 1am here and we will ride about 70 miles tomorrow, starting our 8 days to St Louis. Tomorrow big storms are predicted but fingers crossed this wont hinder our progress.

Knoxville, TN

2010-05-07T06:33:00.001+03:00

We started out late today and took it easy to begin with, cycling along the 30 mile long cherokee lake which we had camped beside. It is getting hot again and I reckon that means a storm on Saturday.

It was one long highway with a small space for bikes, but many bumps if we strayed from that space - not good on broken spokes.

One of the good things about having the same bike is that we get the same problems, the bad thing is that when one of us gets a problem, so does the other. This happened to us recently - we now both have a broken spoke on the back wheel - Alex broke one yesterday, I broke it today.

We comfortably nailed the 55miles into Knoxville today, and were relaxing in McDonalds when we found out that the place we are couchsurfing was 20 miles down the road - nearly 2 hours. But we have made it and are now relaxing - our first rest day in 8 days - 500miles.

Laundry, recharge legs and battery's, haircuts and bike fixing tomorrow, as well as learning to ride a unicycle.

Tennessee

2010-05-07T05:31:00.002+03:00

Yesterday we couldn't put up a blog as we were in a very beautiful but secluded campsite in northern Tenessee, which did not have wifi. Yesterday was another great day, though it did start with a minor hiccup. On my bike there was a continuous clicking sound, after a bit of home mechanics we discovered that one of my spokes is broken. Having reneged on bringing spare spokes, and no apparent bike shop for miles, i crossed my fingers and started to pedal. Come the end of the day there was no further problem, so it seems that i can survive with one less spoke. Tomorrow we can sort out the problem. Last night after the 70 mile ride, coincidentally, Will also discovered that he has a broken spoke as well, so we are now in the same boat! I have to say in fairness, the Cannondale bikes which we bought, having done over 1000 miles in total, have only had between them: two punctures and two broken spokes. So all in all we are still pleased with our purchase.

The days seem to get easier and easier at the moment. I suppose it is a combination of increasing fitness and the terrain starting to flatten out. We were discussing yesterday that we cannot remember what it is like to cycle on flat ground again, as though it was one of those far off distant memories.

This morning we awoke to the beautiful view of the sun rising over the lake which we were camped beside. With only 55 miles to Knoxville we set out in high spirits, but thoroughly looking forward to a days break. The miles were slightly tougher than usual, perhaps because we are worn out or maybe because we had a nice comfy bed to look forward to tonight. We arrived in Knoxville at around 5pm, where we checked where the address of our destination tonight. It turned out however that it was another 20 miles to where of bed for the night was...bit of a letdown, nevertheless we got on our bikes and polished off the miles. Tomorrow we will have a good rest, do some much needed laundry and fix the bikes.

Here are a couple of older photos which are quite good............

Using a random wifi connection in the middle of a secluded park

A Historic moment!

Camping

2010-05-06T23:32:00.000+03:00

Sorry, no wifi yesterday, but here is what I wrote.

Camping in America is very different. We saw a sign to a campsite yesterday which we followed up some steep hills to a forest. This would have been an awesome campsite, but they had poured gravel everywhere, to make it easier for cars. The World War 2 veteran in charge of the campsite told us many stories as we were trying in vain to find a spot for our tent, all of them interesting, but none of them helpful – except for the fact that “as long as I can recall – only 4 people have pitched a tent in this campground” – which didn’t help our dwindling resolves (bearing in mind we had just finished 70 miles and it was getting dark).

Today’s cycling on the contrary was excellent – we made great time – setting one of our fastest average speeds for the day: 22km/hr, and seldom stopping. We are by no means out of the Appalachian’s, but it has been flat nonetheless – we are cruising down a highway that goes down one of the valleys.

One minor problem is that a spoke on Alex’s back wheel has broken – but we hope to get it fixed in Knoxville tomorrow. We have a relaxing next two days – we hope – 50miles tomorrow, and then a rest day the next day.

We are camping today at Cherokee Lake Campground, and the Owner has given us the night for free as his donation to autism which we are very grateful for. It is a scenic campground for weekend RV owners, with a lake shore and a swimming pool – if you are ever near Rogersville, Tennessee, have a look!

Abingdon and Bristol

2010-05-05T02:01:00.003+03:00

I can't go as far as to say that today has been easy - the day I say that 60 miles uphill against the wind is easy will be after the day I get my motorbike licence. But, the weather was perfect, our legs strong and the countryside pleasant.

We left late this morning - relaxing in a great campground was way too appealing. We travelled the first 10 miles of today with Sky, our friend the unicyclist. This is so much fun, because while a few people are curious about what we are doing, when they see Sky, without fail everyone is astounded! Wouldn't you be? How many people do you know that can ride a Unicycle? Let alone a massive one for 4000miles. You can check his blog out at www.thirtysixer.com (thirty six inches is the diameter of his wheel).

I have had my first casualty of the tour, and unlike Alex, it isn't with my equipment (his bottle exploded and his pedal snapped): I on the other hand have lost control of the 3rd and 4th fingers on my left hand. This is not good. I think its due to too much pressure on my hand as I ride, so I will carry on trying to ride no-hands to give it a break.

We are camping again tonight, in ten miles time - so I must turn this off, the sun is on its way down. We are staying between Abingdon and Bristol - they steal all our names.

Awesome day

2010-05-05T01:57:00.000+03:00

As i write this blog, we are currently eating a 'all you can eat buffet' in a pizza inn. Restaurants rue the day that they let us loose on the offer of 'all you can eat'. The phrases 'complete domination' and 'lions let loose in a chickens pen' spring to mind. Anyway back to the cycling bit...We left at around 11 with the new addition to the gang of the unicyclist.(He is cycling along behind us in the photo, sorry its not that clear). The weather couldn't have been better, bright sunshine and not too humid as it has been in the previous few days. There was a slight headwind, but nothing too severe, thus we have made good progress. Cycling through the gentle hills of west Virginia can draw comparisons with cycling through the most beautiful parts of the UK during the great British summer (no, not the rainy British summer we all know and despise, but the one we always look forward to and are disappointed when it never comes)

Days like today make the miles seem easy, which is just what we needed, having had a couple of fairly tough days. It seems we have got over the worst of the Appalachians. From here we have a casual 10 mile ride to the outskirts of Bristol where we will camp for the night. Having finally used the tent last night, camping is no longer surrounded by the initial worries and fears we had. For example it being too small etc...It was a comfy night, with only minor hiccups of Will occasionally kicking me in the face....he will have his comeuppance . Tomorrow we will ride about 65 miles, so not too a strenuous day.

2010-05-04T06:46:00.001+03:00

Having had a good nights sleep, we set out at 9:30 with the aim of riding to Wytheville,
which was 75 miles or so away from Salem. Being in the heart of the appellations comes with it a very beautiful but also a very hilly area. We were warned prior to our trip that riding through the Appellations is actually harder than riding over the Rockies. The reason for this is that, although the Rockies go much much higher, they ascend far more gradually, whereas in the appellations the climbs are steep and the descents are fast! So progress this morning wasn't very fast, however by starting early we had covered over 30 miles by lunch, which is much better than usual (our 12:30 starts are a thing of the past.......i hope).

This morning was the first time that a few aches and pains have become apparent. The thigh muscles are getting bigger but 5 days on the trot with out a rest does mean that they are getting more and more tired. It takes a while to get into a good rhythm. The knees are also slightly sore, not too bad, but i think they are just looking forward to a good rest in a few days time.

At lunch we decided to stop at a MacDonald's( the first of of trip, which is surprising), and proceeded to eat 5 hamburgers and fries...EACH. That considerably increased our burger count, not to mention our waistlines, however at a $1 each, who can blame us? As we were leaving the infamous MacDonald's we ran into another Trans America cyclist! He did however approach us not on two wheels, but on one! No he wasn't doing a wheelie, he was in fact a unicyclist. I thought that crossing the USA on two wheels was epic, but this takes the biscuit. He is in fact going a very similar route to us, following the ACA route as we are. "Hats off to him" is all i can say.

After lunch we covered the 40 odd miles fairly slowly due to the 5 burgers and fries rumbling around inside. Nevertheless we reached Wytheville at around 7:30 and pitched our tent for the first time, also meeting the unicyclist, Sky, who is also camping here for the night. The tent seems to be a good buy, sold and surprisingly roomy for a 2 man tent. Somehow we have managed to pick up wifi in a random park, so this is how i am able to write this blog.

At supper we sat next to a rather large American who proceeded to challenge the owner of the restaurant that he could eat 35 inches(nearlt 3ft) of cheese steak sandwich in under 30 mins, and if he succeeded he would eat for free. To the amazement of both the owner and us he completed this feat with ease......definitely the highlight of the day.

A day of new things...

2010-05-04T05:27:00.002+03:00

...some good, some bad. We set off early-ish today, leaving at 9.30. I had bad feelings about it - despite some great waffles and good cereal in the motel, Alex's legs were knackered before reaching the 2 mile mark. We are aiming towards Knoxville, Tennessee, but keeping one eye on the weather channel - there has been widespread flooding in that area recently.

We had only managed 30 miles by 2pm, 4.5hrs later, due to an enormous climb up into Christiansburg. We went up more than 1000ft - uphill for 3kms, taking 20 mins. This has been the first proper hill, and for us marks the real start of the Appalachian mountain range that will stay with us for a while. Although this means that the scenery is amazing, it is without doubt one of the worst things as a bicyclist to be looking upwards no matter what direction you look - a common occurence today.

We stopped for lunch at 2, in a Macdonalds - the first of the trip. We went all out on their $1 Cheeseburger, and ate 5 each! This was over 3000 calories, and had the effect of slowing us down for the next 20 miles, although it nearly doubled our burger count.

As we waddled out of MacDonalds, we found an even more unusual sight than our reflections; we have been waiting to find another person cycling across America, and today we finally did! The only catch was, while we are doing it on two wheels, he is doing it on 1! But he is going a similar speed to us nonetheless, and we are now camped 10 yards from him in a park in Wytheville, VA.

By the end of the day, we had managed 72 miles, and are now happily lying in Patsy (our tent's first night out) - using some seriously random wifi, having eaten a massive pizza.

One other new thing - other than the tent and the burgers and the mountains and the unicyclist, was that I am now taking video's on my camera which may appear up here shortly - filmed while riding with no-hands - a feat I managed for a 3km long single stretch today.

Salem, VA

2010-05-03T07:14:00.003+03:00

We slept in today, and after our complimentary breakfast thanks to Bernadette - owner of the Hash House, Lynchburg - we set off late at 12.30. We had 5 days (now 4) to get to Knoxville, Tennessee a total of 320miles - now 257. This is just more than 60 miles a day, which would be easy, but we have already done 4 days in a row of 65 miles a day and with one extremely late night. So 9 days continuous cycling - before a rest day in Knoxville, and then 500 miles to St Louis (in 8 days - 7 and 1 rest day).

It was still hot, and windy, and hilly, but we are coping better now and managed 62miles before it got too dark. We are staying at a Quality Inn tonight - special because it has a swimming pool, and a hot breakfast tomorrow. We plan on leaving by 9, and cycling as far as we feel like - we have our route written out - back of the envelope trick still working, and are going with the motto that every mile more that we do today, is one less to do tomorrow.

We officially passed £7000 today - which unofficially puts us at £11000 raised so far. We also hit the 500 miles milestone. We are both getting some serious tan lines - we each have a brown spot on our white hands - where the sun gets through the one hole in our gloves. Bedtime.

How you can help us!

2010-05-03T07:11:00.001+03:00

Does anybody out there have 30 mins a day to spare to help two of your friends and Autism? We are cycling for 8 hours a day, and spend the rest of the time eating, sleeping and planning our route, so have no time to do some of the important work of raising awareness for autism along the way.

What we would like you to do:
- Find and Email Newspapers and Radio stations in towns along our way before we get to them
- Find and Email Autism Associations in towns along our way before we get to them
- Put up a few tweets now and then on our twitter site – a mix of news and motivational quotes

What you will get from it:
- Helping out your friends on their epic X-America4autism challenge
- Mentions in some random small town newspapers
- And a couple of good lines for your CV

If you can help for a minimum of a week – send an email to me at ruddyonline@googlemail.com – telling me when you would be able to help us between now and the 1st July.

Thanks for your help.

Hot.Hilly.Windy

2010-05-02T06:29:00.000+03:00

After quite a late night we had a tough morning, and as my title indicates it was hot. Temperatures must have been 30c if not hotter, and as the terrain was so up and down it was hard work. We tried to work out how much water we drank but today we must be pushing nearly 10 litres. It was slightly frustrating when we have to pedal downhill as the wind is so strong, nevertheless we covered a good distance of roughly 65 miles. I think we are starting to get into a good rhythm, so now 65-80 miles does not seem too far at all whereas a few weeks ago we would have considered 60 miles to be a long day.

South Virginia is a beautiful place, rolling hills surrounded by deep woods and forest. We have been reminded to enjoy it while we can, as we all know what the mid-west has in store for us(a whole lot of nothingness basically). We arrived at Lynchburg quite late around 8 but it is a great little town, and it is a shame we will not have more time here to explore. At dinner we were given more money, which is becoming a regular occurrence. Over the last couple of days we must have collected about $150, including £20 from two British guys(who ever said the British were stingy). Tomorrow we will ride to Christiansburg, where we will encounter the beginnings of the Appalachians, so more hills to come!

P.S. At dinner an english speaking America, asked us what language we were speaking...very amusing

Lynchburg, VA

2010-05-02T04:31:00.003+03:00

We stayed up quite late last night, which meant that today was always going to be a tough one. Luckily we survived - and arrived in Lynchburg, VA at 7.30 this evening. We have had great burgers from the "Hash House" and good donations from its owner as well as breakfast tomorrow on the house.

As we get deeper into America, the woods lining the roads are getting thicker, the accent's of the people stronger, and their astonishment at seeing two crazy cyclists is greater - which is often very amusing. Most are extremely generous, happy to give cash straight to us as donations.

I have been keeping myself amused on the road by looking out for anything that moves in the tree's either side - it is odd not to know all the names of the wildlife, but I am working on it. Yesterday, I spotted a Black Vulture on a road kill, and today saw a Pileated Woodpecker - A woodpecker with the classic red head, but as big as a crow. The Cardinal - the state bird of Virginia, is a beautiful red bird we saw flitting around a road side. I have also seen animals - terrapins, rabbits, deer, and even a beaver!

Bicycling is monotonous and long - but vigilance is always needed, cars in America are huge, and take up most of the road (they have six-wheeled super pick-ups with engines as loud as lorries). It is interesting how the size of the hard shoulder - where we do most of our riding, varies depending on the county we are passing through, today was a shoulder-less day.

It has been seriously hot, 30+ degrees, which is fine, but means sweat pours off us, and that a thunderstorm is on its way. We are aiming towards Christiansburg tomorrow.

Charlottesville, VA

2010-05-01T15:10:00.002+03:00

We started westwards yesterday - we took a picture of the rather insignificant corner that marked our departure from the Southern Route as we feel its a significant milestone. Westwards from Fredericksburg we started to get out of the general conurbation of the Atlantic coast and into the (ever-present) rolling hills of rural Virginia.

Unfortunately, now we are in Charlottesville, the rolling hills that we have grown to like become the Appalachian mountain range, a slightly bigger test for our tired legs. We are working on negotiating a route through the mountains.

We stayed last night with Ginny and some other helpful friends - all students at the Uni of Virginia. A fun night, including a tour of Charlottesville, and a talk about the American Civil War, which we need to learn more about - we have just been through some of the main battlefields, and there are many great stories to learn.

Up and Down

2010-04-30T04:38:00.002+03:00

Today was an extremely up and down day. It started on an up - we were given a tour around and through the "bowels" of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (Thank you so much Kay) including the new human evolution department. It was great to see the interactive displays, and many Kenyan fossils, all with no-one else in the whole museum! I loved seeing the stuffed brush tailed porcupine - I will cycle a kilometre with no hands if someone reading this has seen a living one in the wild - I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one in Rukinga.

The down with seeing the museum was that we left Washington 2 hours late at Two O Clock, which meant that we were time pressured all the way to Fredericksburg. We aim to get quicker at setting off - we haven't set off on time yet.
We did meet some Brits at the foot of the Washington monument, who were very generous and took some photo's and donated some money - a great start to the day..

The route the whole way to Fredericksburg was up then down (we had no more than 10 miles of flat) - which made it tough going - especially as at the bottom of each down, some genius road developer has put a traffic light! Riding a loaded bicycle is fine, as long as you keep a constant speed - acceleration is a mission. This meant that we couldn't use any of our speed from going down the hill to go back up the next one, which meant that we only got in to Fredericksburg with very tired legs at 7.

But we are lucky enough to be couchsurfing with the Myers family here, and have had a great evening, discussing all sorts of hot topics - Alex and I haven't had a clue about current events so its been great to have an update - especially on the maelstrom that is British Politics - from Steve who runs an internet newspaper: www.pageonedaily.com.

We have also changed plans and are heading Westwards finally! We are going to go straight to Charlottesville, instead of down to Richmond first (doing one side of a triangle instead of two). We will then go southwest to Lynchburg, along the very scenic route 29 - before cutting Westwards over the Appalachians.

Washington

2010-04-29T05:02:00.002+03:00

As you can see we have worked out how to upload pictures onto an individual post so i have picked out a few which highlight not only today but also Washington DC in all its glory. We did all the touristy bits in the afternoon, having sorted out a GPS in the morning. The GPS will hopefully solve our navigational issues, and preventing us cycling too much further than we already have to go!

Washington is an amazing city, very clean, fantastic architecture and has lots of history behind it. It seems that if anything needs remembering or commemorating it happens here, in the capital. Memorials of all the recent wars in American history are plentiful. Although there is lots to see, all the attractions are based in a small area, so for us trying to do it all in an afternoon, it was great. Its not like London or other cities where all the 'must see bits' are spread out.

We also went to a Bike shop in the afternoon, where they kindly gave me a set of old pedals for free solving the slight problem I had. Tomorrow we start our two day trip to Richmond, virginia. It is a 60 mile ride tomorrow, where we have got a place to stay in Fredericksberg.

We hate fizzy drinks

2010-04-28T17:01:00.005+03:00

Yesterday we set out into the sunshine with the intention of riding over 85 miles in the day. We had set a leaving time of 8 , but again this was too ambitious and we ended up leaving at 9. We have discovered that things always take longer than expected, whether it is getting up and going or our estimated time of arrival at our next destination.

At breakfast we really took advantage of the free buffet and were a bit naughty and took ALOT of muffins. However, fueled by this extra source of carbs, we covered lots of miles by lunch, just over 50 i think. It is interesting because although we were riding on very busy roads (3 if not 4 lanes) they all have big hard shoulders, which act as perfect cycle lanes for us away from the traffic. On the big roads, as it is with A roads in the UK, you alawys cover more distance per hours as you don't have as many hills and there are far fewer directional issues. At 1:30 we stopped for 30 mins or so and munched the remains of our cold pizza from the night before...Yum!

After lunch our envelope directions let us down a little (again), but the upside of getting lost is that we can ask the locals for directions, who invariably, after learning what we are doing, use the words 'crazy' and 'stupid' lots, which is always amusing. A kind gentlemen gave us a can of WD40 as well, which was nice. After lunch we also learnt another thing: NEVER put fizzy drinks in our water bottles. One- after about a mile of purchase my bottle exploded from the pressure( i thought my tyre exploded so at least it wasnt that), then a car ran over the bottle which was lying in the middle of the road. Two- it gets very very sticky, which then transcends to the whole bike becoming sticky.

Today we can rest, clean off our sticky bikes, take in DC, and it will give me the opportunity to go to a bike shop and fix my pedal which is slightly broken.

Washington, D.C

2010-04-28T05:35:00.001+03:00

We have been 290 miles over the last 4 days, going between New York and Washington D.C. It has been long – averaging over 70 miles a day – and tough; instructions on the back of an envelope, rolling hills, and all the while riding on the wrong side of the road.

Today was the longest day either of us have ever cycled: 90 miles. We woke early, dominated our motel’s complimentary breakfast as well as taking 12 extra muffins for the road, and were on the road by 10 to Nine. We cycled continuously until 2 in the afternoon, stopping only for energy bars, muffins and loo visits. At two we stopped for a picnic on a quiet road, to eat our leftover pizza from the night before in Pizza hut (those who know me may not remember the last time I failed to finish one – especially after a tough day, but these Pizza’s were massive!). We then cycled for another 4.5 hours to Washington, mostly along highways.

Along the way, we passed through Aberdeen and Glasgow as well as Essex (not a usual combination for bicyclists!) and took some photographs at the World Trade Centre... (in Baltimore – now 30 stories taller than the New York variety) – and even saw a submarine in the Baltimore marina.

Tomorrow, a much needed rest day, for Alex to check out the sights of Washington, and fix some issues with his bike. We will also buy a GPS and make some plans for the next few days.

We put some thought today into what we miss most from “normal” life, and came up with 3 things – knowing where we will sleep at night, beer (the adverts along the roads are tantalising), and driving cars!