rough day

rough day that is starting to get better (i'm trying my best to be optimistic). woke up in more pain than i had the previous night. decided to stay back instead of attending the events today as i was still a little off from the meds and still in a significant amount of pain. think the worst part of the morning was the shower that just seemed to burn all over. more bad news came when i heard that my back wheel was beyond repair. i keep telling myself that it could have been worse and, indeed it could have been, but i am still have a combination of feelings as i replay the events of the last day.

on the positive side of things, i finally got chipotle after a 1+ month hiatus. i also heard from trucian and jordan that they found a cool place in the city and after talking to the landlord, it seems as if it might be a done deal very soon. that is a huge relief for me and the other guys. i also got an email about some award that i wasn't expecting from the department of internal medicine. my guess is that it is something that a bunch of people get, however, on a day like today, i will try to celebrate all the good news that i can.

i think we are still planning on hanging out at a spot tonight so no vicodin for me tonight. thank you for all of you that called today.

fall

i am going to do my best to write something out now but i am a bit loopy from the pain killers. im also on someone else's computer so i will post pics when i can find my own power cord.

yesterday started out amazing. first 30 or so miles out of salida were along the arkansas river in a nice canyon with mountains all around. we made a pretty tight pack and knocked it all out in just over an hr then took a rest stop prior to starting the climb. the first part of the climb was about 20 miles gaining a few thousand feet elevation as we made our way to the rest stop. had a great lunch then continued our climb towards for another 15 or so miles. was kinda rushing it so that i could reach another century prior to getting swept by the vehicles and heading to denver. nate and i were on pace to make it as we flew to the summit and began our descent for the last 30 or so miles.

the descent was a blast as we were flying down very tight and technical turns. one of those times that you can't help but smile the entire time down. about 10 miles into the descent (around mile 80) we hit this series of turns with speed limits of 30 mph, 35 mph, 25 mph then 30 mph. was having a blast and being careful at the same time when i felt the ground move underneath me on a patch of gravel then hit the ground. i think i was going about 30 or so mph as i slipped. it was a tight left turn so my bike continued in the direction i was turning while i hit my left side with some force and whipped around to my back to control my fall so i wouldn't hit the guardrail. i saw nate finish the turn while i was on my back and my only thoughts were "this is going to hurt". luckily the car behind me stopped and made sure i was alright then eventually other riders caught up to check on me. carissa waited for me until i got picked by fernando and bobby. they took me back to get cleaned up and we started heading to denver. overall my left elbow and left hip took the greatest impact but both knees, my right elbow, my ankles and my fingers were all scraped up pretty good. got to our location in denver and started cleaning out the wounds a little better when i noticed the muscle was very well exposed but it was difficult to see if the joint was still intact. decided to take a trip to the ED to get it checked out.

ashley kindly joined me for an evening in the ed as we waited for several hours to get checked out. they got x-rays, then consulted the orthopedic people to make sure my joint capsule was not broken (in fear of an infected joint). in order to test it, they injected blue dye into it to see if it leaked. luckily the joint was fine, however, the dye couldn't be removed so the pain in my elbow is pretty extreme - almost feels like there is a rod from my elbow to my fingers. after they checked the joint, they sewed up the wound with a couple sutures and we were on our way home (at like 4am). glad everything checked out. also glad i have friends like ashley, joe and jess who all kept me company. was a long painstaking evening with the exception of watching juno on ashley's computer.

think i need to lay down, this stuff is strong. peace.

"harder than childbirth"

what an amazing day. we stared out in gunnison, co and worked our way to salida. did about 35 or so easy miles then started our long, high ascent. looking back, the hill was not actually that bad, however, on the bike i felt much differently. usually when you climb several thousand feet, you climb some steep areas, take a break on a relatively light climb or a flat then climb again. monarch pass was more of a constant climb where you continuously saw the road ahead and saw cars and trucks struggling to get up the hill. i actually thought it would be much more difficult to breath at such a high altitude, but surprisingly it was not that bad. decided not to get competitive and took the hill at a slow and steady pace that proved to be the right choice. ended up alone for most of the climb then finished the last few miles with jen. after the climb, marianne stated that it was the hardest thing she has ever done (harder than childbirth - she has three children so she knows). but seriously, this was a really tough climb and all of our riders completed it. i can't say how proud i am to be with all these hardworking people.

a little drama happened at the top when a 20 ton tractor was trying to shovel away ice and ran head first into our van. there were about 5 people in the van at the time (i was napping like every mediratta does after lunch), but luckily everyone walked away without injury and the van was minimally damaged. jen and i also got kicked off of an ice pile for shoveling away the snow to better see what the sign said (i will try to post the video if i can get it on here).

finished the day with about 67 miles at the local sonic (not impressed) then worked our way to the salida high school for our showers and sleeping headquarters. went our for dinner and found this place called amica's where they fired their own pizza and brewed their own beer. i tried the IPA and was very impressed both at the taste and the 3.10 price tag for a pint. food was great, company was great and in kem's opinion, "everything was perfect" (from the lemonade to the music)

view of rockies from salida. this is what we ascended and descended. you can tell the mountain looks sad after being owned by a bunch of amateur riders.


mercury checking out the view from the top. yes, i named my bike (and you should too if you haven't)



proof. the more i bike the more i realize how much adding and removing of clothing you do. when you climb, you take layers off, when you descend, you add layers. it was about 20 degrees but i was perfectly comfortable in my few small spandex layers, that is until i stopped moving. i put on two coats and a face mask to go down the hill.



me at blue mesa lake with future mountains in background on sunday. could not have had a more beautiful ride.


again, from previous day at blue mesa lake and canyon. too many people to identify but i will try. back left josh, katie, jen, erin, bobby, cory. next row tammy, caitlin, nate, kem, marianne. one of the more pretty lunch stops we have had.

big climb tomorrow

nadia - tom cruise was not with katie holmes when i saw her. if i can find a thrift store, i can promise that they have or can have a mug with your name on it.

literally an up and down day. started off in montrose with a 15 or so mile climb then descended to climb again for another 12-15 or so miles. really not all that bad overall with some fun descents. then lunch and an easy 25 more miles to finish around 66 miles at western state college of colorado in gunnison. andrew and chris led the charge for most of the day but had to leave back to ohio after lunch. pretty cool little college that provided us with food, shower, and a place to stay. had a great lecture given by kem, van, and bobby that, unfortunately, didn't reach all that many people. then had a long group meeting about what was going well and what we can do better as a group. people had great ideas for improvement and an overall positive energy from the group.

tomorrow we head to salida as we go through our largest climb thusfar going from somewhere in the 7000 ft range to almost 11300 ft as we cross the continental divide (point in the country where if rain falls on one side, it theoretically will go to the pacific ocean and if on the other side, will go to the atlantic - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_divide).

time is flying, three weeks we will be back in ohio. one month from now is our last event in washington, d.c. in two months i will be living and working in chicago. wow.

colorado is cold

2nd rest stop of the day, i think this was a small town called colona. gotta love the pbr. pabst - for alcoholics, hipsters, and the thrifty.

finally living the big city life! pedaled into montrose, CO and passed a target, wal-mart, and a starbucks! passing through all these tiny towns reminds me of how much i miss some of the little comforts in life like starbucks and target. so as you may predict, bobby and i took an immediate break from the ride, slipped free of the paceline and dove into the starbucks and wow was it delicious. and with bobby's sweet talking, he lined up free coffee for tomorrow morning. yess! didn't want to delay the ride too long so drank about half the coffee and put the rest into my water bottle so i could finish the last several miles. it didn't mix all that well with the lemon-lime powerbar powder that was in the bottle but was still very tasty.

arrived at the montrose methodist church just in time to get to our event at the library speaking about access to healthcare given by ashley, kel and erin. there really wasn't much of a crowd there, but the few people there were very interested and contributed very well to the discussion.

the ride was, in my opinion, very easy today. the first 18 or so miles was downhill and very very cold. next was a few thousand foot climb over 12-13 miles that helped me warm up then a descent into a town called ridgeway that cooled me off again. the summit was not really too dramatic but gave an amazing views of the snow-capped mountains all around. town was nice - had this cool bike shop (peak to peak i think it was called) and a little coffee shop/bookstore (a reoccurring theme in colorado - not the b&n type store but more of a small mom and pops type store). the last 30 or so miles could have been terrible (because of the headwind) had it not been for our teamwork. first 15 miles was van, jen, bobby and i as we took turns pulling about 2 miles at a time. the next 15 miles or so miles we had this gigantic paceline that allowed me to cruise behind a bunch of people and avoid the headwind altogether. overall did about 67 miles then did a little push-up/sit-up session with a few people to avoid some upper body wasting.



after the event, arrived back to the church to a delicious stir-fry dinner with mac and cheese prepared by marianne and caitlin. mmm...mac and cheese. currently sitting at this little coffee with nate and erin while others went to see a movie, went to a bar, or went grocery shopping.

day off

free box, one step better than thrift stores.

katie holmes on left half behind "stop for pedestrians" sign holding baby suri (thanks for the name kate). i didn't feel like getting all papparazzi on her so i just took a shot from far away.

telluride by day. nate on bottom right staring down katie holmes across the street all discreet-like.

hanging out in telluride and have to say i adore it, you can literally walk the entire town in a matter of minutes and see coffee stops (even have coffee street vendor places!) and bakeries every few blocks. went for breakfast at this little spot called maggie's and enjoyed an everything bagel with lox and capers that was phenomenal. walked around town a little bit checking out the stores and looking for a pair of leather chaps to try on for a picture - no luck :( stopped into this little bike shop that had this nice guy that really liked talking and dropping the f-bomb as much as possible ("f*** man, you must be studying and reading all the f***ing time"). spotted katie holmes walking around with her little little daughter. currently sitting in a little bakery/pizzaria for a slice and a pint then probably "home" for some laundry and a nap. have a little event at paragon sports later this evening that should be fun. really love cycling, but the days off are pretty nice too.

evening went well, had the event at paragon sports where peter gave me a steal on a new set of wheels. i don't think i've mentioned this on the blog, but my front wheel was lost from the van somehow so i had to replace it. the front wheel was going to be pretty expensive and the back was not much more so i went with the pair. sexy looking wheels, even more so than my previous wheels (and hopefully just as fast). met up with scott who hooked us up with the places here, he was crazy nice and seems to know everything about anything outdoors on this half of the country. chris from last year and andrew from two years ago came in today for a couple days, should be fun to ride with them.

telluride night

carissa, bobby, jen and josh participating in a circle dance to kelly clarkson dedicated to the one and only katie beck who just returned from cbus.

dear drivers, share the road (please).

me after climbing the snow bank. i am starting to think im part monkey, if i see something i just have to climb it.

ROCKETS! (our support team name is the rockets and this is seth sending the riders out of the rest stop. that kid is hilarious)

riders warming up after climbing. this first rest stop was half resting, half dancing. from left, josh, cory, kel, ashley, nate and jen

had an interesting night tonight. the dinner was amazing as expected with such great cooks. we hung out at our little apartment after dinner and played and intense game of kings. followed that up with another interesting game called "celebrity" where you talk it out one round, charade it out one round then one word it the final round. it was fun, but the repeats like lance armstrong, george w, and the clinton family made it a little easier than expected. then went to the local spot for drinks. ended up playing that picture game for a while then spun some kelly clarkson and other random dance along songs for a while before we headed home to the hot tub for some pre-sleep relaxing. overall a good night despite it being "off season" for this city. tomorrow probably a lot of hanging out with one event planned as far as i know.

it might be worth responding to lalit's comment. so here in colorado (as opposed to utah) there is an amazing variety of different local beverages. we had "shilling 90", "left hand brewery", "fat tire brewery" among other different selections from the area. beats busch light and miller high life by a long shot if you ask me.

on a side note, i decided to keep the "mountain man" beard look for a little longer. don't be surprised if i look like a terrorist in my pictures (sorry mom).

telluride

just arrived in telluride and were given sick (sick is a good word, you could say the new "cool") accommodations thanks to scott. day was beautiful rising from dolores, colorado through rico and finally a downhill to telluride. saw beautiful snow capped mountains for the majority of the time and the riders enjoyed fast times thanks to a little tailwind (i was on support). kinda surprised with this little town - very touristy but very charming at the same time. lot of bikes and coffee spots around and plenty of nice people. got a bunch of beer and wine selections that we will enjoy today and tomorrow. also about to have an amazing lasagna dinner thanks to carissa, kt, and marianne. more details and photos to come. peace.

colorado!

van riding through what looked like the moon's surface (that is if the moon landing wasn't staged). this is a few miles outside of hanksville, UT.

capital reef national park where we got a few tickets. nwa has a few words about police that i can't remember right now (actually we deserved one of those tickets).

just before capital reef st. park. they called this formation "chimney rock"

resting at the top (summit was 9600 ft.)

climbers. i got a flat at the beginning of this ride and lost josh because of it (he probably would have beat me anyway). i try to describe the different terrain, but these last five pictures do a pretty good job as they were all taken on the same day.

at the colorado border. chief holding tobacco, me holding powerbar suntea.

ROOOAAARRR! dinosaur museum in blanding, UT. i can't believe i forgot to mention this before. couple of us stopped here yesterday. it was AWESOME (never too old for dinos).

so now im sitting in a coffeehouse in dolores, colorado with about a dozen deer heads and skulls staring at me. a little creepy to say the least. BUT being in colorado means we have a nice view of the rockies that will undoubtedly destroy us AND we get normal beer (utah has a 3.2% liquor law that makes no sense at all, just ask winterbottom about it).

today was a pretty nice little ride. did 63 miles total in mostly rolling hills finishing at about the same elevation that we started. worked pretty hard with nate and van for most of the day then split off on my own for the last few miles. we just crossed into colorado at the first rest stop then had a lunch stop at cahone (hehe) and another rest at a nice lake about 10 miles outside of dolores. fun day overall, weather was cold to start but warmed up. winds were mostly against us but at a lesser amount than we are used to.

later on, we are going to have a presentation and dinner at a church then staying in the high school.

almost in colorado

im going to be brief here because im sitting on the patio of a closed coffee shop and because a few nice people at st. joseph's catholic church are cooking us dinner here in monticello, UT. briefly, we went from hanksville, UT to natural bridges state park in UT (no towns anywhere near) and are now in monticello. Luckily we found a few cool places to camp out and have continued to have very scenic riding.

i think the ride into hanksville was about 92ish coming from boulder. the ride was gorgeous as we were told. we stopped at a beautiful state park again (im blanking on it right now) where we got a few citations - one for painting on the road in a national state park and two for having an unplanned event (i guess lunch is now an "event" - i swear, utah is the land of rules) then hit some bad, head/side wind for about 40 miles. eventually caught a tailwind that blew us into the camp grounds.

coming out of hansville, we started a little later while jen finished her presentation at hanksville elementary school (those kids were great, full of questions and comments). the first 30 or so mile to the first rest stop was great as a few of us warmed up then started pacelining at a good speed. the next leg was a bit painful with more bad wind and some climbs that were tougher than we expected. views were still amazing as we crossed through glen canyon and also the colorado river. had a lunch stop that was on a ledge in the canyons that let you see for miles in all directions. next leg was tough because of the climbing, wind, heat and the lack of rest stops as our support team was running errands. nate and i, and later, josh hammered out about 35 or so together then waited for another pack of riders. finished the day in the pack with nate, josh, dave, jen, linc, and van as we crossed the century mark again. was pooped by the end, but had a few hrs to check out the natural bridges before sundown. slept in front of the stars again as the temps dropped to just below 32 - apparently this part of utah has the least air pollution and therefore the best star-gazing in the states.

me: "ill finish up in a while...."

three hours later... (now on bobby's computer)

alright, im back. i know i didn't have to make this chronological, but it only makes sense because now i am not sitting on that patio, i'm in the church. so today was a nice break from yesterday. started out with a fairly easy climb to 7100ish ft (i think) from somewhere in the low 6000's. i got a little cocky after i saw some competitive spirit in the other riders. one specific rider stayed close until the last 100 or so meters before the summit (remember the sprints to the new city limits, summits or state lines?) then took off thinking he would reach first. i toyed with him for a little, letting myself recover then flew by in the last 20 yards. all in good fun though. rest of the day was pretty reasonable. had a bunch of rolling hills, some steep, some not so much. short day though, finished with about 63 or so. the people at the church made a great meal with "navaho" tacos which were on a fried soft bread (something between naan and puri), enchiladas and all the fixings. dinner was great and thier company was as well. afterwards, on the way back from loading some laundry nate and i strolled into this place called "MD Ranch Roadhouse" right across the street from where we are staying and convinced the nice people there to move karaoke from friday to tuesday, which they did eagerly. some notables were "gangsta's paradise" (nate and i), "macho man" (kel), "dead or alive" (nate and kel), "i will survive" (cory, bobby and i) and some classics like "sweet caroline" (jen, steph, marianne and samara), "respect" (all ladies), and "summer lovin" (jen, steph and marianne - nate, van and i). the best part was when all the guys surrounded marianne on stage and sang "that loving feeling". a fun night again. karaoke night #1 a success.

time for bed, a little warm in here and i think it smells a little like a combination of eggs, mothballs, and new carpet. guess it is what happens when you cram a bunch of people in a small space made for serving food.

pictures to follow

amazing landscapes

so cute.

boulder, UT hosts - curtis and dianne on left, brian, jamie, tammy and kem on right

me handstandin' for no good reason at all. all that built up energy from sitting in the car i guess.

escalante state park.


nate hammering down on the initial climb, joe not far behind


kem and samara heading towards the steep part of the climb

another support day that i wish i were riding just based on the scenery. jump car was a good place to be though because i was able to see everyone multiple times and take tons of pictures and video (explanation: we have three vehicles – one “jump” car, and two vans. at all points we have a vehicle in front or the lead vehicle and a vehicle in back or the “sweep”. the jump car is the one that usually goes back and forth shuttling water and making sure things are going smoothly and often leads until the other vehicles are ready). went from tropic, ut to boulder, ut on the most beautiful route i have ever seen. it started out amazing with a slow climb through rock formations in all directions. they descended into escalante state park where there was a petrified forest and a gorgeous lake. continued through escalante and after miles of mountains and canyons to near boulder, our hosts – mike, brian, ace, and ashlie – met the riders for the last 10 or so miles into town. We then took a tour of the anasazi indian museum that mike runs as our overnight hosts came to pick us up. my group was jamie, tammy, kem and I and we were hosted by curtis and dianne (and their friend brian) who graciously fed us and amazing dinner and dessert, wined us, and set us up with a great place to sleep and clean up. they have this amazing place in the hills where the views from all windows are breathtaking and you can see for miles in all directions. they also have two adorable dogs. tomorrow we do a relatively easy day to hanksville for another night of camping – we are told that tomorrow will be more beautiful than today - which i find hard to believe. we will soon see. night everyone.

thanks/old pics

couple of us as we make our descent into cedar city - from left me, jen, joe, dave, bobby, and josh (the mountains in the back are what we climbed the following ride)

me in trunk trying to avoid the wind - i was not dressed to ride in weather like that.

thanks for the comments everyone. I'm glad people are checking the blog and glad that there are people watching us cross the country (especially surprised about the seniors in solana beach!). here are some pics from three days ago as we went from panaca, nevada to cedar city, utah.

10,000 feet? please.

proof. people driving called us "tough". can't argue with that. and yes, that is really snow.

couple hundred feet from the summit above cedar city

again, near summit above zion state park - from left, carissa, nate, josh, van, me, cory, joe, kel, and linc. started the day in the low 30's so we had to bundle up.

what an amazing day! we started with a fierce climb from 6000ish ft to 9910 ft over 18 miles and 1 hr 50 min. wasn't as steep as places we've been, but riding at 6-16 mph is tough to do for 2 hrs. the rest of the day we cruised down to a little town called tropic near bryce canyon. the best part was when we descended the mountain, it turned out to be a perfect day to be outside. the last 30 miles was absolutely stunning. we passed red canyon with a crumbly orangish-red stone then cruised through bryce canyons at fast speeds on windy roads (a cyclist's dream). had no idea this area of the country was so beautiful. finished the day with about 86 miles. set up our place at bryce valley high school where tammy was cooking up some tasty grill cheese and tomato soup (funny thing is the home-ec room teacher's name is "mrs. thompson" which happens to be tammy's last name)

really proud of the riders. this was not an easy climb.

my pics from yesterday are on my flash drive that is our "sweep" vehicle today so i will try to post it later this evening.

new state, new terrain

couple of pics that i stole from nate will be posted soon - website isn't working for some reason.

missed a day of blogging so i will try to catch you all up. i noticed that the comment train was on fire for a few days, but then died down quickly. im not going to tell you what to do, but it is very encouraging for me to see little comments, even if they relate to nothing (for example "sonia is THE cutest baby ever", or "don't fall asleep on the bike" or "say team ramrod")

left panaca after being well cared for by the people of lincoln county high school where the students donated 200 dollars to our efforts and the administration gave us access to everything that we needed. thanks again. van and bobby gave what looked to be a phenomenal, interactive presentation to all the students there (just under 200 - for all four grades). because of our long day ahead, we had to leave after the initial introduction. started the day with a big climb up to from 4500ish to 6700 ft over about 12 miles. since it was early, my legs were fresh, but didn't get a proper warm up as the climb seemed to start from the high school. after the climb we all noticed that the cold has officially started. we crossed the nevada-utah border to find cold temperatures and strong winds forcing about 12 people to pile into the jump car to warm up at the first break. i don't even know if it was all that cold, but we had all just sweat our way up a big mountain then descended and were not geared properly for the cold (at least i wasn't). rest of the day stayed windy and cold with the exception of the second climb. descended the mountain to find about 15 miles of heavy side and head wind that made the last few hrs a miserable experience. surprising how much your morale drops when your being slowed by heavy, gusty winds. thought we were heading for a few smaller towns, specifically pioche (PIOOOCHE!) or ely, but pretty much saw nothing until we hit our destination in cedar city. had the two-week guest cyclist, josh, with us pushing us most of the day and added another who looks a bit like lance armstrong and is a serious cyclist (bobby's coworker in atlanta - linc). josh taught us this new game (actually holder told us about it but josh is executing) where every city limit sign, summit sign, or state line you race to - he beat me at the first summit, whereas i got utah and the second summit of that day (thanks to dave running over his own foot somehow).

cedar city has been very nice so far. has about 20-30k people and a small university (suu - providing our showers) but has little comforts like coffee shops with internet, bike shops and multiple food choices. had a 7am lecture about healthcare access, caitlin, chris and i gave a lecture about infectious disease to a few people from valley view medical center where they provided us a great lunch. have another event at 530 today at the church we are staying at (st. jude's episcopal) with dinner and a group of young people. but before then, i have a massage to get (yess!).

and tomorrow, we apparently hit close to 10,000 feet on a two hour climb into the sky. hopefully our guest cyclists are willing to help drag us up the mountains. heading towards more camping and tiny towns, will blog where i can. peace.

cruisin'

haven't taken any pictures in the last few days so i thought i would post the cutest child alive (thanks for the pic david). as you can see, she recently started eating (or trying to) solid foods

another day down. started in alamo, nevada and finished in panaca, about 70 miles away. for some reason, had a tough time staying asleep in the hallway that we were sleeping in last night. not sure what was happening but kept thinking it was time to wake up. either way, support was great and well prepared and we had a relatively easy start to the ride. early on, split into a large group that took out the first 30 miles without much of a problem, then started the ascent that was really not that bad. i think we started around 3500 ft and peaked at 6200ish ft, but the hill was so long that it never really got very steep. had a great lunch at the summit (minus the blowing dust) and cruised down the downhill into a small town called "caliente" (para those who no habla espanol, that means "hot" - that is about as much spanish as i know) where the wind started to kick in . at the bottom of the hill we had this fierce headwind that brought a 30 mph speed down around 20 and really chipped away at the motivation. for the remaining 10-15 miles, we had this crazy side/headwind that forced you to almost lean left so that you would stay upright. finished the day with jen and ashley as we pulled through the last miles together.

suprisingly exhausted from a "short" day, but looking forward to the evening and tomorrow as we have a sweet arrangement (including pingpong tables - 1-0 thusfar - stove, and computer lab) at lincoln county high school. we have an event tomorrow here talking about healthcare access and the barriers that exist. and tonight, we're going back (driving) to caliente for a pizza feast. cheers to another good day!

thank you tailwind

another fun, relaxing day. did about 75 miles from just outside of vegas to a small town called alamo. ride was pleasant with only a little climbing. luckily had a tailwind for much of the time so had a very easy day overall. i know it probably sounds stupid for me to say an easy 75 mile day, but with good winds, fun people to ride with and tight pacelines it really makes a big difference. arrived at alamo just in time to watch nate conclude a lecture about volunteerism and getting involved with healthcare careers to a group of middle school kids at pahranagat high school. the kids were fantastic and enthusiastic and asked a lot of good questions. nate did a great job interacting with a group of kids at a difficult age. the people here were also nice enough to let us sleep in their gym (loaded with basketballs!) and use thier facilities, including the home-economics room where marianne cooked us an amazing dinner. continued on to windmill ridge bakery for some delicious desserts. also a pleasant surprise getting internet today. tomorrow we do another 70-80 mile day to panaca, hoping for similar wind patterns.

vegas baby

my bike scoping out the desert

approaching red rock canyons (im on support this day)

first big climbing day - no one gave us polka dot jerseys

calico - ghost town near barstow. my attempt at being artistic

and im back. not just back, but back 100 dollars less than what i started with. sorry dad, had to play a little in vegas. ill explain a little more later on. to answer your questions, yes i wash my spandex, ive done a few loads already and am actually doing one now, we shower most days but when camping may not have showers. nadia, i spoke to you today, but my knee is holding up and hopefully will continue to do so, but seeing you and chopra in cbus would be fun if you are able to do it (may 17-19th). and i hope we don't have to bike through gary or toledo (no offense micheal jackson and bhyia, respectively).

thursday we did our first real century and finished with about 110 miles total as we rode through the desert and mountains which seems to be a re-occurring theme. had about 15 miles of rough terrain on route 66 but made our way out of it eventually to finish with a nice long ride. thursday, however was the first day that i started to feel the pain of riding on a small saddle for 5+ hrs. i kinda wished i let my family fatten me up a little as a few extra pounds on my bottom would certainly be nice. overall a great day that finished with a great evening as we pulled into "hole in the wall" campgrounds for a nice pasta dinner around a camp fire. on the trip with some real mountain men (dave, winterbottom, nate) who inspired me to sleep outside without a tent. i cannot explain to you how beautiful and clear the sky is in the middle of nowhere california and how pleasant it is to wake up to seeing it in the middle of the night. no shower this day but did change clothes and reapply the assos cream (ahh the cooling sensation).

friday did 94 miles again, through some desert and some mountains and finished in a place called tocopa springs that had natural hotsprings. again had a nice campfire and some dinner then caught a shower before dipping into the springs. so this deserves a little explaining, rules at these springs are 1) shower before entering 2) no swimming trunks and 3) boys and girls separate. so a little odd to be sitting in a pool-like area with a bunch of naked dudes, but the water felt amazing after a long day of riding. again sleeping outside with the stars (wish i could do this more often).

next day was on support as we cruised into vegas. riders did an amazing job throughout the day as they climbed for a big part of it then cruised into red rock canyons near vegas which like much of the scenery we see, was absolutely stunning. found a nice reggae station on the radio so was jammin' in the jump car showing off my tan lines for the day shuttling water and powerbar stuff to the riders. again felt bummed that i was on support, but my legs desperately needed the rest.

arrived into vegas where ashley's mom and stepfather hooked us up with a bunch of condo/time share rooms that are fully furnished with kitchen and laundry (sweet). took a group trip to aladdin's casino that had this giant sushi buffet and pitchers of kirin (sweet). did a little craps at the bellagio and eventually made it back to southpoint casino right next to our place. went in with chris and bobby starting first with some craps (i was on fire for like 8 rolls straight) then eventually lost fire, interest and money at that table. moved to roulette with bobby and ended up staying there until about 5am as my stated losings set in. didn't really mind losing because the drinks kept coming the whole night. oh and got to sleep in a bed when i got back for a couple hrs.

now we are enjoying our day off. spent some time at the pool, took a trip to restock on some needed things (powerbars are gross, gotta stick with my clif and kashi bars). ashley's mom is cooking us dinner tonight so very excited about that. may throw a few dice with nate dogg, we will have to see. anyway, probably gone for another few days as we have much more desert to bike through. lotta climbing on the horizon. peace.

rough day and not so rough day

sorry for missing days everyone, internet is extremely difficult to get around here. actually at Barstow community college now and the people here were nice enough to let us use their computer. pictures will beuploaded later.

yesterday was BRUTAL, easily the most difficult day of cycling i've ever done. did exactly 100 miles (my first century!) with mostly uphills. started out with a long uphill into angeles national forest onto a road (route 2) that apparently had landslides several years ago and therefore was shut down. had to re-route through the mountains and climb again later into the town of wrightwood (about 7000 feet of climbing into there) where there was snow on the mountain and very cold temperatures. surprisingly was really strong in the mountains even though my training was in flat ohio - guess the cold temps helped. at the end of the ride holder, cory, jen, van and i were chasing the sunset to reach our destination, but unfortunately fell short by about 5 miles - funny because my century was actually completed in a denny's parking lot because we stopped at 99.6 miles. overall an awesome but painful day, hit 52mph on the downhill, was screaming down the mountain in the mid 40's for miles, and slept like a baby after an amazing dinner at the Golden Chopstix thanks to van's future in-laws.

today we had a short day with easy terrain compared to the previous day. did about 45 miles from resperia to barstow at a great pace. first, nate dogg, joe, van and i were cruising in a fast paceline at around 20-27 mph for the first 25 miles then a larger group finished the rest of the miles at a good pace. marianne got the half bagel award (minus a bite from seth) for her dedication to the ride by leaving her career and family to spend some time doing and talking about what she loves. and she most definately deserves it. had an event at previously mentioned cc where the town just didn't hear about us. the people who came, however, were very nice and very helpful. they even offered us washers and dryers while we stay in their gymnasium. also got a chance to eat at a 50's diner (patty sue's, i think) which was interesting then checked out Calico ghost town which was also interesting - apparently it was an old silver mining area that was restored in the early 1980's. oh yeah, and we are staying in a gym so midnight basketball anyone?

to answer your questions, i beat the mountains. beat them very slowly and with legs burning, but i beat them.

not sure when we i will be blogging again, but might be this weekend. today was a pleasant surprise. hope everyone is doing well, love you all and miss you very much.

big day tomorrow

spotty internet so i will keep it brief. we had a great day at USC with a decent turnout to our event. staying with an amazing family in alta dena who treated us to dinner and some ncaa basketball (hilarious to see the dad and kids rooting for different teams). glad to be in the guest house with kem and bobby, two really cool, interesting people. i keep saying it but this trip has been a blast so far and will only get better.

tomorrow we tackle 90ish miles mostly uphill. sorry mountains, you are all mine. ill get some pictures from the top.

more "so-cal"

huntington beach at sunset

laguna beach crew

tire dip

bizarre. if you asked me to predict this situation five years ago, i would have been way off. im sitting here at noory's place in koreatown, LA. he is playing a wii version of duck hunt. it is 2008. what? this was the first day of the ride and since i was in LA, i decided to meet up with the noory song.

let me rewind, so i was on support today and had to wake up extra early to get ready for the day. decided to wake up the group with some old school micheal jackson (support teams get to wake up daily riders). day went pretty well considering it was the first one. we started with the annual rear wheel dip into the pacific with friends and family present (sd pauley's joined as well, minus ali) then with the ride up pch. had to re-route the course at carlsbad because of a 5k. no problems though, break went fine even though four riders continued into camp pendelton. ended up as the "sweep" vehicle and did not have to pick a single rider up. great job riders. 78 miles down.

had a mini-event at laguna beach with the people of the laguna beach community clinic. i ended up giving the r4wh overview lecture which went better than the first time, in my opinion. it was small but still fun to have an interested audience. the clinic was impressive too.

finished the evening with a little mexican celebration across the pier at huntington beach then noory picked me up to hang out for the evening (mom, dad, and bhyia - noory says "hi"). had a bite in west hollywood then came back for some wii. fun day, looking forward to tomorrow.

here we go

i guess people are reading (hopefully enjoying) this blog so i think it will have to stay for the remainder of the trip. thanks by the way, it makes it fun for me too knowing my family and friends are interested. alright, done making chit-chat.

so this is the last day in san diego, it's exciting that we are about to begin our journey, but a bit sad that we have to leave this amazing city. kinda winded things down today, the group went for a short ride while me and a few others stayed back (i had to replace my chain) to finish up some last minute stuff. decided to take one last cruise out on PCH (i can call pacific coast highway "pch" now since i've been on it more than a few times) to enjoy the scenery and the weather. can't say how amazing it is to ride with the breeze and scent of the ocean the whole time. i think being out here makes you realize how long the winters are in the midwest. no complaints though, that is until i see the real winter in chicago.

i think i mentioned this before but i am on support the first day so tomorrow is probably more challenging for us than it will be for the riders. since i won't be riding, ill probably grab my bike for a photo opportunity and a quick wheel dip but then quickly throw it on the rack and get moving. apparently there is a 5k about 15 miles up pch that may force me to re-route the day. we will see, sink or swim, right?

fun day (minus chain)

Rob Pauley of PORK ("dirty and delicious") jammin'
pace-lining - probably should not be taking pictures while on the bike - van drops back after hammering for thirty seconds.
group shot minus a few at the top of Mt. Soledad (sp?) - im fourth from the left with the giant thighs (kidding)

another fun day. started out giving the group our infectious disease lecture. maybe wasn't as prepared as i should have been considering i didn't write the lecture, but i think it went alright. later got free smoothies thanks to lori and later free cali pizza kitchen. honestly not sure what we are going to do once we are traveling. eventually went for a nice climbing ride to mt. soledad near la jolla where it was like 800 plus feet in just over a mile - it was a rough climb but somehow everyone who started the climb finished it. hopefully will be a big confidence booster for some. us crazies (holder, joe, dizzle, van, cory) decided to go down then back up again the opposite side of the mountain which was challenging but the 50 mph downhill more than made up for it. on the way home, i was pushing it a little on a downhill and ripped my chain off the bike. which sucks by the way. so i had to wait for someone to pick me up and carry my chainless beautiful bike back to the JCC. a bit frustrating to say the least.

luckily we had the pauley family block party shortly after so i completely forgot about my chain. pulled in seeing robbie running towards the vans in a green chick-a-sauraus t-shirt (love that shirt, by the way) with a look of joy all over his face. the party was amazing with tasty local amber on tap, delicious food (especially the stew), the planning was amazing (thanks again lara), and it was nice to see Ali playing with the tiny kids and meet her friends and Alex breaking loose to "brickhouse" on the drums. oh yeah, and PORK, they were really, really good. the best part was that the people on the ride seemed totally relaxed, which is always refreshing (i think ive mentioned this, but we really have an awesome group riding with us). all in all a great time for all. i should probably get to bed so i can wake up and figure out how to fix my chain. night.

vishal, the answer to your difficult question is "run's house" or "what is 'run's house'", depending on the game

woops

forgot to blog already. this is for yesterday (thursday)

briefly, awesome day with tire repair, chain/bike cleaning, lessens by van. sliced foot by chris (don't ride bikes barefoot!), flat tire by me and van during ride (ironic, huh?) and another nice weather day in san diego. finished the day at the gupta family's house with a great dinner and a bed to sleep in. really great to see them. and that tan line i spoke of the previous day was a touch of a burn so i used sunscreen and will continue to do so.

for those people that called me - raju mama and lalit - i will try to get back to you soon. the 3 hr time difference still throws me. i should probably stop, i have a lecture to prepare. later.

the tan lines begin...

event day prep take 1 (picture left)

what a day.....(for reference, im just kinda making pertinent points of the day, chronologically - if anyone has any comments about how to make this better, please shoot me an email) alright so (i also like using "so" a lot) i woke up a little early this morning with some homemade espresso that was a huge success - maybe larger than i would have liked. and later was surprised to see a load of einstein bagels/coffee given to us by a friend of the ride. awesome. had two more riders join us, caitlin from _____ who starts an mph/nursing degree program in the fall and ashley from portland (shout out to my boy, b. portland, what?!) who will be training in IM in seattle (i don't know anyone in seattle so no shout outs here) .

had a short meeting about r4wh and it's history and a short review of basic riding techniques and eventually started our long 11 mile journey at about 10 mph to the senior center that Lara runs the activities for in Solona Beach. the event was, in my opinion, very successful. joe, kt, and i spoke about the ride and some of the details surrounding it to about 50 seniors then had lunch with them with a few of us sitting at each table so we could chat a little more personally. not to brag (i am a little narcissistic as you will see if you continue this blog), but i had a former ballet dancer from england (danced in front of the king and queen), a former 5x wimbelton tennis pro, and a female physician from the class of 1951. anyway, it was a ton of fun for all the riders and hopefully the seniors as well.

after the event, we split into two groups based on experience and went on a group ride in the perfect sunny san diego day. ended up splitting from the experience group forming a new group with just nate dizzle, van and i as we got ourselves lost in the hills of sd (which was a blast, finally got to ride at decent speeds) then eventually finding ourselves 10 miles north of where we started. and to tie this to the title, i actually avoided all warnings about sunscreen because i wanted my cycling tan lines to start coming in, and indeed, they have started. came home to free chinese food (sweet) and an excellent lecture by seth on poverty and healthcare.

oh yeah, and blogging reminds me of run's house (one of the better tv shows on now), because rev run blogs on his blackberry in the bathtub - with the exception that i am not famous, don't have a blackberry, and don't take bubble baths, among other more obvious reasons.

day 2ish

i say "ish" because it is the second day in SD, but not necessarily the second day of the ride. today was an exciting day because we finally got to meet some of the people that we've been emailing for months. nate and i picked up bobby (works for a non-profit in atlanta aimed at increasing green space by planting trees) and stephanie (4th year from nymc, headed to colorado for IM, actually met her on an interview at michigan) from the airport and a few others came later - carissa from tufts, jamie from osu, seth from michigan, kem who BIKED HERE FROM PHOENIX (by himself, with his stuff - still shocked about that), and van from loma linda who is staying on for IM.

day was relatively relaxing with a few activities planned. started out with a starbucks coffee first thing in the morning (big surprise, i know, thanks nate) then went for a ride on the pacific coast. ended up going down a big hill mostly around 40mph with the potential of another 10+ mph the next time we hit it. basically rode up and down the coast from la jolla up to the encinitas/carlsburg (sp?) areas. reminded me of ny/nj riding because you constantly see cyclists of all levels. all in all, did about 40 miles at a variable pace since we were all riding together for the first time. oh and that hill that i spoke about earlier, yeah that was a brutal climb that had me at a heart rate of upper 180's just to keep a 12-13mph pace. ended up doing dinner at this happy hr mexican joint with 3.00 big draft beers ("mmm...beer"). heard sd is notorious for mexican, specifically fish tacos (not rubbing it in brother) so should probably check out some of the mom and pops mexican places.