Pedal for Peace 2008

Well, we’re officially in the NORTH!!  Yesterday, Pete and I crossed the Ohio river into Cincinati, Ohio from Kentucky–we’re above the Mason Dixon line!  Yeeehaw!!

And today has been WONDERFUL!  After 3,200 miles of pedaling, we’ve been welcomed into the Northern region of the country with 80 miles of BIKE PATH!  I’m talking about silky smooth blacktop with nary a car in sight!!!  It’s a great transition from route 27 we had to ride all day yesterday–100 miles of 4 lane, no shoulder, stressful riding.  Pete and I have been saying that today has been the best “day off” all trip–it doesn’t even feel like we’re peadaling.  It’s a ‘no-chain’ (effortless) 16mph!!

Pete recounts last night and this morning

Last night we rolled into a hoshy-poshy suburb of Cincinatti (beutiful city by the way) and asked a cop where we could camp. He was not impressed and basically asked us to leave town. We rode a few miles down the road and asked these Harley biker dudes if they knew of a place to set up a tent. They sent us to the American Legion. There was a HUGE BBQ going on with a full band, food, bar, and a bunch of great Ohioans hangin out. We met the man in charge “Harley” and he gave us permission to set up camp right in the middle of all the festivities. That is exactly what we did. We listened to aweful live music, ate sausages and had a blast. This morning these girls at a bakery gave us tons of free muffins, and cookies to start off our day!!

 

And today has been great!  (Even the $200 [ouch!] I had to drop on a new rear wheel couldn’t damper our spirits!)

We’re off to pedal–enjoy the photos!

Crossin’ the purple bridge into the ‘Natti!

Made it!  Lexington to Cincinati in 1 day!

Nice river view

After leaving Lexington, my bike is so loaded down from goodies that my parentals and Delilah sent me… the trail-mix is relegated to the rear rack!

We’re lovin’ the bike path!

We traded our bikes straight up for these hogs!

Running full-tilt into the cornfield… quite spacious after you make it through the first part!

It’s been a phenomenal past 2 days here in Lexington, KY.  Pete’s childhood friend, Colgan, put us up for a 2 day layover where we did a whole lot of not pedaling!  It’s 6am and Pete and I have to run out to do the 100 mile blast through Lexington to Cincinati–more updates to come!  Check below for some pics which recaps Missouri/Illinois/Kentucky.

Thanks so much Colgan and Laura, we really appreciate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crossin’ The MISSISSIPPI

Welcome to Illinois!

Pete bought some new gloves in Carbondale, IL!

Biggest horns ever?!

Crossin’ the Ohio on the FERRY!

Welcome to KY!

Want to buy some Poultry anyone?!

KY sunset ride.

Hangin’ out with Colgan and his hunting trophies!

Laura hooked us up with some Bison!  Thanks so much Colgan and Laura!!!

Wow!!!!

2,300 miles came up quick!  Pete and I are writing to you from the wonderfully air conditioned confines of the Golden City, Missouri public library!  We really don’t know what else to say other than we’re half way and we’re feeling great!  The past couple days has had us riding some serious hourage on the saddle, but it’s paid off as we hit the 2,300 mile mark yesterday on day 28–several days ahead of schedule!  If this pace keeps up, we’ll be home a week early!  (Yay!)

That’s not to say that we are not having an amazing time and meeting the greatest people on the planet every single day, it’s just that with the scenery so, well, flat… and the sun beating down, there really isin’t too much exciting to see; might as well pedal then!

Yup, they weren’t lying when they said Kansas was FLAT!  (At least the Western half is!)

Quick run-down of the past couple days:

Tuesday: 105 miles (Jenn showed up in Scott City!!!!!!)

Wednesday: 0 miles (Day off in Scott City!!!!)

Thursday: 142 miles (Riding until 11pm w/ headlamps!!)

Proof!!!

Friday: 94 miles (Feeling hung-over from the 142 mile pedal-fest)

Saturday: 94 miles (Pouring, pouring rain!!)

Sunday: 105 miles (2,300 miles, done with map #6, new State (MO), and HALF WAY!!!)

We made some great time through Kansas, even with some headwinds and adverse weather conditions–that rain was something FIERCE!  (And there is nothing quite like riding down the highway and getting BLASTED by pig feces from the spray thrown up by the cattle trucks driving by the other way!!!!  Delicious!!)

Pete and I are loving MO right now, it’s been a great morning and we’re looking to get to Colgan’s by July 25th–very doable, and then we’ll have another well-deserved rest.

That’s all for now, Pete and I are off to pedal some bikes!!

(Mom, I’m 1/2 way home!!!!)

Believe it or not, this is not the biggest thing we’ve seen hauled down KS roads!

Here’s a picture of Pete and I with the best family we’ve met on the trip!  As the father said when we rolled up: “We’re the biggest group of red-neck SOBs you’ve ever met!”

Thanks so much for the water and the stories, guys!

Riding the emotional high Peter and I had crossing Monarch pass, we got ready for our final mountain climb and the descent into Pueblo, CO. We woke up in Westcliff, CO–an amazing town where Pete and I sat down to a nice meal of Mexican food and I enjoyed one of the best beers in the world–Fat Tire ale! It was a great night where we got to camp on the back lawn of the Custer County Realty–thanks Sarah!

Pete and I finished our last mountain climb at about 9am and we got ready for our descent to Pueblo.

We’re done with the Rockies!@!!!!! Yeeeehaw!!! Bring on the FLATS!

Getting into Pueblo, Pete and I needed to find a bike shop so he could get his rear wheel checked out and I could swap out my front tire as it had a slow leak in it. We called every bicycle shop in town and the only one open was Vance’s Bicycle World–off we went. There we met Vance, his wife Judi, their daughter Brandy, and the other amazing people at the shop. What happened next really defies description, as it is one of the most amazing things that has happened to Pete and I during this trip. As Pete keeps saying, “this trip keeps restoring our faith in humanity” and Vance and his family are sure one of the main examples of that.

When we got there, Vance pretty much dropped everything else he was working on to help Pete and two other cross-country riders who needed help with their bikes–he didn’t even charge Pete for a truing and a new tube!! They checked the weather for us and we found out that there was some nasty weather coming through, so they let us chill out in the store. Pete and i were discussing how were going to get to the Verizon store (which is 8 miles away and a long ways for us to go off route on our bikes) to get the cellphone issue sorted when Brandy offered to take us there!!! We had some great conversations with Vance and his family about our travels, his fundraising and riding for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, As we were leaving, Vance gave Pete and I some Jerseys from the JDRF ride in 2007 made by Hincape! Thank you so much, Vance and family–we are wearing the Jersey’s with pride and we’ll always remember how much you helped us out!!

I saw today the awesome power pushing myself to my limit, while motivated by so many loving people, can bring. Amazing things are possible.

Pete and I have pedaled our bikes 19 days in a row. Through desert, mountain, plateau, and today I pushed myself further than I ever felt possible to get up to 11,312 feet-the exertion of which broguht down my internal wall to the emotions of how powerful and important love, togetherness, and my family are in my life. This internal wall was a block which has not enabled me to truly find my heart and put out there what it is that I truly feel about the importance of this trip to me and the people in my life.

The climb today crushed that. With 2 miles to go I broke down in tears of joy as I kept pedaling to the top–pedaling for a unification, for teamwork, for a partnership–and that brought down the wall and opened me up to the awesomeness that is a love of something I can’t quite describe: of being alive, of looking down a 1000 foot drop to a running creek, to straddling the continental divide–to understanding a lot of the signs that have been put before me and how I am going to follow them. Uncontrolled tears, a weeping of happiness that I have only ever experienced during Yoga classes led by Nitya and Heather and other moments of complete connectedness.

To feel that and now know that I need to share my feelings of passion, motivated by love and spur me forward to action is an amazing thing.

Pedaling the bike is one thing, the deep profound symbolic and real feelings I have are quite another. I just hope that my feeling of empowerment translates so others can feel it too: by either reading this post or through sponsoring a new microcredit loan being given out to a new client in Nicaragua through a donation collected on this website.

The idea of connecting empowerment to my experience today came to me this evening after riding up the pass while I was reveling in the effects of this positive energy and I got to thinking about how lucky I am to be able to have this opportunity to feel the self-love I have and find a way to transform it into love for others. Luckily, this feeling I have can translate, in a very tangible and powerful way, to others–if you are reading this, please donate to FINCA today and help spread the creation of microcredit banks throughout Nicaragua.

This time last year, I was working to form microcredit banks in Nueva Guinea, Nicaragua and it wasn’t just the physical changes that made me optimistic about microcredit’s ability to help alleviate poverty in the region. With the microcredit loans, borrowers were able to purchase new food for their pulperia (general store), build a new addition for their comedor (reasturant), or purchase a new pig to fatten and sell–real changes in an area of few opportunitites.

Then there were the borrowers themselves telling me how much the new loan had done for them or how excited they were for the new opportunity their new loan would bring them. These were very heartening changes in a region where the per-capita income is 23 cents a day. Real changes. And while it is not a panacea, microcredit is something that helps and something that you can help share in right now.

Please, please please if you are moved by this piece, if you have read to here, please donate to FINCA here. Help share empowerment a world away which really does make a difference.

Thank you.

For more information about microcredit in Nicaragua, click here

For my story about FINCA in Nueva Guinea, click here

Thank you.

These feelings are still very real and in the forefront of my consciousness and I hope to bring this positivity, motivation and love to everything I do and everyone I meet.

At 10,222 feet, Lizzard Head Pass was the second highest elevation we were going to pass through on our journey through the United States. But all of our “training” in Utah must have paid off because this ~25 mile climb felt like nothing on the legs! We kept wondering when the hard part was going to come! Wow, was that beautiful scenery at the top of Lizzard Head, snow capped peaks in July!!

At the top of LIzzard Head!

The descent down to Telluride was even more amazing with the high mountains surrounding us on all sides, the downhill was a good time to really enjoy the twisty roads and amazing scenery!

In Telluride, it was time for some unscheduled bike maintenance, of course! Pete and I both got new chains as we got ready for the five remaining mountain climbs in CO and the blast through Kansas to Lexington, KY.

We finished up the day with a final climb up the Dallas Divide, to 8,970, where we camped out for the night. The one thing Pete and I promised each other was that if we got to the top of a mountain, even if it was getting late, we would descend down so we wouldn’t get buffeted by the winds and the cold in the AM! But, of course, the view was so spectacularily amazing that we decided to set up camp–and if you check out the pictures, you’ll see why!

2 climbs down and 4 to go, then we’re down with the high mountains!!! Bring ‘em on!!!

Best site for a campsite ever!

It’s 6:38 in the morning and Pete and I just had round one with the "DELUXE" Continental breakfast at the Best Western here in Monticello, Utah! Now it’s back to bed until 8:45 so we can hit it for round two and all the free processed food we can eat before it closes @ 9!!  Pete and I are enjoying some well deserved rest here @ the BW after our 3 day blast through Utah where we covered 85+ miles a day through the hilliest (and most beautiful) terrain we’ve encountered. The first day brought us from Escalante to Torrey where we climbed Boulder mountain–30 straight miles of uphill with one section of 4 miles @ a 14% grade!! We climbed 4,500 feet in elevation up to 9,600–not our highest pass (that’s yet to come at Monarch pass in the CO @ 11,300) but one of the most beautiful parts of the ride so far. While the beauty of the scenery sure didn’t pedal the bikes for us, the white birch forests, the running streams, and the deer on the side of the road sure made the pedaling easier!

  We went UP that hill!

Did I mention that the terrain in Utah is varied?! Because the next day, after the running water and green grass, just 5 miles into our ride we were back in the desert–107 degrees! (And while 107 is "cool" compared to the 118 in Glamis, CA–it sure does up the h2o intake!) From Torrey to Hite was our next days push–99.1 miles! We rode 50 miles to Hanksville and got there @ 2pm. Looking at the map, we saw that we had 127 miles to go with only one stop for water between the two!!!! It was 50 miles between Hanksville and Hite, and as I said "when there’s no choice, the choice is easy" so we loaded up on 2 days worth of food and 1 day worth of water, and started our blast @ 4pm through the desert. We got the 50 miles to Hite, but we rolled in @ 10pm with our reflector vests on and headlights blarin’. There was a great ranger station with a water fountain and park benches where we set up shop for the night.

The next day was 74 miles with no services…. with a 50 mile uphill at a 5% grade!!!!!!! Did we mention that there was the most insane headwind EVER for the climb?  (Yes, the climb really was FIFTY miles!!!!) At one point, Pete and I were up out of the saddle pedaling as hard as we could, we looked down, and we were only going 3.5 mph!!!!!! We were in the saddle for 9 hours and 4 minutes that day and had to go 8 miles off route to get water at the 40 mile mark. One amazing thing about the day was this family from texas who stopped and gave us each a litre of ice-cold water!

 THAT was a big climb!

So now we are resting. We are getting a hotel every 1000 miles and we’re 1200 miles into this journey. That was our celebration yesterday and today–6 straight hours of useless TV doing nothing in the BW!  Pete says: "Thanks to my family who take care of me with amazing birthday gifts (the hotel). I’m gonna get my $70 worth with the free continental breakfast alone… nevermind the 12 showers I will take in 12 hours and the amount of soap and shampoo I will use up!!! IPOD and phone will be fully charged and so will I!!"

I gotta thank my family for all the help with the long-distance website finagaling to get the donation link all set up and ready to go–it is!! Thanks to everyone whos left us words of support and encouragment, it means so much to us to read those messages–it keeps us going!! Sorry if I haven’t had a chance to e-mail or reply to any messages, it’s really busy out here on the road–thank you for the support!

We’re 20 miles from the CO border… bring on Colorado!\

One more story from Pete’s e-mail to friends:

Oh..,. I can’t sign off without first sharing with you all the "Sprinkler Incident!" So last night we came into the town of Blanding UT after 3 days of nothing but riding through Timbuktoo up and down mountains. We met the nice lady who runs the camp ground (yeah we splurged $9 each). She asked us to pitch our tent in a certain location. When she wasn’t looking we chose a different sweet spot with super soft green grass behind a big RV where she wouldn’t see us. We set up shop after the most intense 3 days ever and ate then passed out. At 3:30 am the biggest freakin’ thunder shower I have ever heard was pounding at our tent. As we have yet to see a rain drop since leaving the east coast, we just leave stuff uncovered all night. So I blasted out of the tent to get stuff like my electrical chargers and whatnot.. Thinking "it doesn’t rain out here in the west!" I exited the tent. As I did I got punch-sprayed in the privates by a powerful blast of water!! The electronic sprinklers were going off like the 4th of July fireworks and we couldn’t have chosen a more central location to get hit by ALL of them. I first thought.. Somehow able to stay on my feet I thought, "If I can hold this one and keep it from oscillating, Patch can move the bikes, tent, and stuff out of waters way." So I grabbed it and didn’t let it rotate. Then I noticed the sprinkler I was holding was one of 6!!! AAAHHH so we just grabbed everything and brought it out to the gravel road and finished the night sleeping there on the small compact Utah stones! That was our big night of rest! YEEHHHAAWW!!

We are loving this adventure and love that we can never predict what will happen next!!!

Again… thank you all for your kind words and amazing support. Please keep the guestbook and inbox full of love.  We have nothing but love and gratitude encompassing our entire beings right now!!

Mom I am 1/5 of the way home!!!!

Well, it has been a week since our last post, and wow have things transformed from a week ago. Pete and I are both calling Arizona “The Learning State” because of what we learned not only about riding across country, but also about ourselves. It was a rough go in the beginning, but thanks to the help of so many people, we’re cruising now! Thank you to everyone who has helped us get to Utah!

One thing before we begin with the stories, the donation link is now the correct web address, so if you were trying to donate before and it wasn’t going through, it will now!

Since time is a bit limited before the library closes here in Kanab, Utah (798 miles into the trip!) we were thinking the best way to share the past week was through a photo and then a story. Please keep the support and words of encouragement coming, thanks for all the well-wishes!

(I don’t know how to flip the photo on this computer–sorry!) The first six days started out rough with a bunch of mechanicals–I needed new chain rings in San Diego, Pete needed a new chain and cassette, and then came the flats. I got 12 flats in 6 days, and tore the sidewall out of 2 tires… the stress of these flats was compounded by the 118 degree heat of the Desert!!!! The photo is of me with flat number 9! (Oh, and if you can’t tell in the photo, my jersey broke also!)

But Pete and I pushed on and made it to…

Hope, Arizona… where our luck changed! In the last picture above, we had just used our last tube, and only had 2 tube patches left… and then as we rolled into Hope, there were two bikers who were doing their own cross-country trip. They had a support vehicle and handed us over another tube! Yes!

Then started our 125 miles blitz to try to get to Prescott, Arizona, where the next bike shop was located, while trying not to get a flat! We made it to Prescott (we used that last tube!) and there at High Gear we met Cindy who got me the tires I needed and hooked us up with free parts and labor! Thank you so much to Cindy and everyone at High Gear!

The next stop after Prescott was the GRAND CANYON! it was such a huge milestone for Pete and I to reach a point that looking at a map 6 months ago meant something completely different to us than what we felt when we actually made it–Amazing.

To be able to be here after the difficulty of the heat and the bike problems of the first week meant so much to Pete and I!

——————————————————-

In a crazy turn of events, we met up with Kevin and Sherry Lentz and their family–a couple we met while Pete and I were overheated at a rest stop right as we entered Arizona off the freeway. It was so funny to see a familiar face after 400 miles of riding! They hooked us up with some PB&J and Oreos and Pete and I were off to tackle the rest of the Canyon.

We also met up with Pat and Holly from Wisconsin who really believed in what we were riding for, promised to go to the website and donate to FINCA and also gave us $20 for avocados! We can’t express how much we appreciate all the people that we have met who have helped us and are helping us make this journey a reality! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Our words of thanks don’t do justice to the gratitude Pete and I both feel for everything that has gotten to this point. We’ll keep pedaling until we reach Boston and validate all the support that has been given to us. Thank you, everyone!

Below are a couple pictures from our campsites, and the “Pete and Patch special” roadstop break-time!

Campsite on the side of US 71 in Arizona!

Campsite in the Navajo Reservation outside Cameron, AZ

On the side of 89A in ‘Zona!

Welcome to Fredonia, Arizona!

I put this on the toptube of my bicycle to remind myself and others what this trip means to me!

There’s a lot left unsaid, and what has been said does not give justice to the experiences Pete and I have had and the gratitude we feel to everyone who has helped us get to this point! Thank you to everyone, and until next time, keep pedaling!

We don’t have much time for a post today, the library closes in 8 minutes so just a stolen write up from Pete’s e-mail to people!

After crossing the Colorado river today from Cali into Zona - Patch and I pedaled our ankles off to get to this library in quite possibly the dryest and hottest town in all of the USA. Quartsite, AZ!

We spent the last 3 days pedaling through the desert of Cali. We camped on the tops of some hills where I had my water bottle mouthpiece nibbled off by some thirsty desert rodent. Getting up at 4:30 to get as many miles as possible before the heat hits is getting easier, but the “heat of the day” starts around 8 am and stops around 7 pm. At every chance we get - we get water and AC and the locals look at us and all say the same thing. “You guys are crazy, nuts, loco, ridiculous, sweating,…” and whatever else spills out of their mouths, when they see me standing next to my bike.

2 nights ago we coasted into a tiny desert town called Seeley CA where the center of town consisted of a market and a bar. Fortunately for me, the bar was playing the Celts game. So I sat in that tiny air condidtioned paradise watching the celts trounce the lakers. All of the mexican locals (did I mention that our path graced the mexican border?) were cheering against me, but they were amazingly friendly. The bartender asked me not to pay for my for two 7-ups (with tons of ice) and wished me a happy travel! I will never forget that night where I sat proudly with the only non-bike riding shirt I brought on this trip… My Kevin Garnett jersey!

As we came through the desert yesterday we rode up through the most amazing set of sand dunes I have ever seen. It was just lush sand as far as you could see. Nothing growing, no rocks, nothing… just 2 ridiculous white boys pedaling through it with more water than Sea World attached to the bikes!!!

Well, I hope you are all enjoying your summer… you know I am. I thrive on the challenge of this stuff. If you want to know how I really am doing, please don’t ask my dad.. \He tends to get down on the negative aspects of the trip!!! What is wrong with some delays and unexpected expenses?… that is why I worked 5 jobs all year!!!!

Well… I’ll shout a big Hi to all the cactuses for you all!
Much Love and happiness.. the librarian is breathing down my neck…

keep the emails coming!!!

thank you kurt, kendra, graham, danna, and tope for all your help!

108 in the Shade!  (At 10am!)

Shade comes in the form of a palm tree?!

Welcome to the Dunes!!!!

And now we’re riding through ‘em!

Can you feel the Ocean breeze?!??

The Eagles have landed! We’re writing to ya from the Left Coast!!!

It’s been quite an adventure already! Pete’s buddy Kurt picked us up from the San Diego airport and we spent the night with him and his wife, tracking dirt and grease all throughout their home as we assembled the bikes in their garage! Thanks so much you two, we really appreciate it!

Then it was up bright and early to pack up all the gear, load up the bikes (they’re as heavy as an 18 Wheeler!) and then it was time to roll off to PB! (That’s Pacific Beach for everyone not from the area!) Thanks to UPS’ fine shipping skills, we were on a mission to find ourselves a bikeshop to true the wheels they were banged up on the journey over here. Other than the wheels, the rest of the bike was perfect, thankfully!

We’re already meeting the most incredible people on this trip! Jim rode up along side us going up this big hill and directed us to an amazing bikeshop with super friendly people who HOOKED us with repairs! Thanks so much Jim and the guys at UC Cylery!

Today was also the wheel dipping ceremony! 22+months of planning and we finally did it! After 30 miles today, we’re ready to tackle the DESERT (as in…. sand everywhere!) tomorrow! Check out some photos from the trip today, and we’ll write more soon!

Thanks for reading!

Putting the bikes together!

Kendra helping Pete check out his wheels

Packing up in the AM

The odometers are ZEROED!

The bikes all loaded up leaving Kurt and Kendra’s… we’re off!

Pete’s bike gets a new cassette and chain at UC Cyclery

The wheels are dipped!

That’s all for now, check back some for some new stories!