atlantic ocean

pack heading towards the beach for our last group ride. even though it was a short one, we still had a few flat tires within the group. im going to miss these days and all of these people.

r4wh singing love shack to close the bar down. the girls part of that song is much better than the boys. what are you doing with the girls josh?

"bibs only bandits" after our dip in the ocean. we did a serious picture but this one was too good to pass up.

another karaoke jam. i think this one was lisa loeb. next one was our encore of gangsta's paradise.

finally in the atlantic. its been a long, memorable journey. two months ago this was me in the pacific ocean.

we finally made it. yesterday we arrived in washington, d.c. and today we hit the atlantic ocean. realistically, our 13 mile ceremonial cruise to the ocean was not at all difficult but it really seemed to wrap up the trip in a dramatic fashion. we all grouped together, dipped our front tires together then all jumped in to the water together. realizing now how much i will miss all the people on the ride as we go about our separate lives tomorrow.

we finished the ride at the beach then headed to our nice condo stays right on the water. bobby's mom was nice enough to cook a bunch of ziti for us. hung out with the group playing games, watching slideshows and just enjoying each others' company. eventually headed to a bar near our stay and was greeted by karaoke sounds. of course, we participated in the action until the bar closed then took a late night swim followed by a short ocean walk to close out the night. i don't want to go back to normal life.

quarters. had enough people to do three cups at once. chaotic but fun for hours (clip's intention is to show the chaos).

real virginia!

group pic at state line. this is at the end of a steep climb - 9-12% i think. rest of the day was easy from this point.

team bibs only. kel in the back didn't have bibs on so he just went shirtless eventually. seth, nate, me, joe with kelton in back. we are trying to look tough. don't think it is working.

hiking team number 2 at the top of seneca rocks in menongahela state park (hindi translation "i shook naked"). me, nate, jen, seth. old lady on trail said to me "oh look at your arms, you are like vanilla and chocolate"


did you miss me? i missed you. sorry about the non-blogging, wv is not the best place to get internet. currently in front royal, virginia, essentially done with the ride except for the ceremonial atlantic ocean dip and a support day tomorrow.





last few days have been amazing. on thursday, we had a long 103 mile day from wherever i blogged last into elkins. it was really one of the more tough days because of a lot of climbing early, an early event in smithville and less than ideal road conditions (including people being run off the road by wv drivers - state is absolutely beautiful minus many of the people and cruel drivers).





next day was a short 60 something mile day from elkins into petersburg with an stop in seneca rocks where we took a nice hike up to the top. again, was a lot of climbing but the short mileage made it much more manageable. have to explain one of the pictures here. we have been joking about riding "bibs only" for some time meaning no jersey, simply wearing the shorts that have straps that go over your shoulders (similar to a wrestling singlet). the sun was shining, we only had 22 miles left in the day so a group of us decided to do it and wow did we get some odd looks. was fun though, evening events included pizza hut pitchers and pizza and bowling. finished the day at this fairgrounds where they were nice enough to place us where they auction off the animals and, get this, there was a circus setting up right next to us. i have to admit i was a little freaked out with the place we were staying and also because of the circus-folk. i slept in the van that night.





today was another beautiful one. we left petersburg and hit a couple nice big climbs to start the day and conclude our mountain adventures. i should have been exhausted today considering it was supposed to be my support day (switched with joe so he can ride tomorrow) and i skipped my last support day to ride into columbus. anyway, i was riding on pure emotion today and tore up the hills despite my body asking me to stop. hit virginia, our 11th state around the 50 mile mark and finished around 75. tomorrow we arrive in washington, d.c.





internet connection is weak, i will try to post more pictures in the days to come. you will notice my tan lines are getting pretty bad. please don't call me a freak.

oh yeah, and that cup from the last blog said "coke". i swore it said "cola" and was actually impressed that the waitress wrote coke on one and cola on another to not confuse them when they got refills - i was impressed for no reason because it was supposed to say coke on both.

west virginia

another state down, i think this is our 9th. day was potentially amazing to start with really good weather and a shorter day at 82 miles. we cruised out of athens after going through the city then headed towards some not so great roads for the next 20 miles, including a delay because of road construction. after a couple re-routes we ended up in coolville, ohio for a rest stop (pics to come, i couldn't find my camara in time). tried to keep up-beat about things but one unmarked road then pouring rain led to a flat for marianne then immediately when we were ready to roll, a flat for me. after lunch the day cleared up a bit and we had some more pretty climbs and descents. finished 87 miles and many hours later in harrisville, WV where we are staying at a 4H dormitory. tomorrow we have an event at an elementary school and another 100+ mile day.


cookies and cream ice cream. tasty but it's no jeni's.

strange street/dam near athens. luckily we didn't have to cross this.

so these three pictures are of this crazy lady who demanded her public street parking spot. she made us move our lunch table and bikes so she could almost fit into her spot. the second picture is of the two open parking spots both on the same side and across the street. town was called sugar grove - ironically the people were bitter.

survey - PLEASE vote via comment page. does this say cola or coke? hint: this was at a pizza joint in harrisville, west virginia if that helps.

ou/athens ride in

finally left columbus this morning. really sad to go, i think i even biked sad the first 2 hrs or so pedaling very slowly. we all thought the weather was going to be terrible because we woke up with rain, but that cleared up within an hr of riding and the weather was perfect the rest of the day. ride was actually quite beautiful with all the hills and creeks we passed over. had slow and fast rolling hills the entire way, and besides the traffic getting out of cbus and the few directional mishaps, the day was perfect. we finished with 93 miles that were really not all that bad. funny how a 90 mile day now seems reasonable. finished at ou where nora (1st yr) had set up a great event where bobby, kem, and seth had a great discussion about poverty and health with many at the med school. they also arranged home stays for us here which is always a treat. a few of us are staying with christina, fourth year at oucom who went to centerville, then osu and knows both vishal and namita. small world. columbus wore me out so im gonna go to bed early tonight and maybe post the few pictures from the day at a later time.

cbus day 3

van diesel haming it up in front of the camara as usual. im using this pic as his goodbye picture since he is waving. gonna miss him a bunch.

guess its getting close to leaving time. really sad about that but also excited about biking the way to the finish. had an incredible time in cbus, met up with some of my favorite people a few times and really enjoyed their company as usual. last night a bunch of non-riders and i went to surly girl in the short north. lalit and i split two meals - one was called sausagefest the other chicken and biscuits - that were both very good, especially with some tasty beverages to wash them down with. was way too exhausted to do much after that so headed to the hyatt with lalit and nadia and slept in bed for the first time since i can't remember when. was pretty amazing, hard to believe that i actually do that on a daily basis with my normal life. im a lucky guy. sadly, lalit and nads had to say goodbye after their dental checkup with dr. chitkara. hopefully no cavities for either. lalit, you are not fooling anybody by flossing the night before (no offense).

today we had our event day which went extremely well. had a nbc newscaster mc the event with joe, seth, dr. souba giving a quick intro outside then dr. lucey (male version - malaria expert) and an msf surgeon giving our lecture series. everything went very well, including the food thanks to the one and only hoopes. later there was an event at bar 23 for us to hang out with some of the cbus people which was again a lot of fun. worse part was saying goodbye to one of our favorite riders, van. really, really sad to see him go. guess a wedding and med school graduation is a good excuse.

tomorrow we head to athens as we continue towards the atlantic. trip is flying, we will be done one week from tomorrow. again, columbus and dayton people, love you and miss you very much. glad i was able to see some of you.

pics from last few days.

nate cuddling with graysville stuffed frog. kem woke him up with the stuffed animal spooning him. nice tan lines nate.


my longest riding day ever. this is the day we hit the ohio border. probably the longest i will ever ride.

surly girl dinner. lalit's hand, duffy, em, kate, vishal, jen, nadia, blaire. good times.

floss party at the hyatt. nadia tries to keep us boys in check. the RA in her will never die.

on the way to the ride in at osu med center. look at that formation. impressive. in san diego we not nearly as disciplined.

short video i took while biking towards med center.

cbus day 2

so glad to be here, have i mentioned that already. had an absolute blast last night. cory and lindsey threw a killer bbq at their place with the one and only PBR. later a group of us, including steph (last night until dc - miss her already), went out to the one and only spice bar for a wicked good time. were joined by some favorite people including, nadia and lalit (cutest couple alive), jen and vishal (another very cute couple), neil, duffy, kate, manju, emily and others. probably had a little too much fun because waking up this morning was not easy.

had an amazing event at roll: at easton with a great turnout for both rides, fantastic weather, and great food. glad my parents and family were able to join us again. tonight we are going to surly girl for some more fun with some of my favorite peeps and tomorrow we have our big osu event day. i don't want to leave cbus. cheers.

COLUMBUS!!!

gonna keep it brief and pictureless. arrived into columbus at about 4pm today after a nice ride in. yesterday had my all time high with 116 miles as we arrived to the ohio border ahead of the sweep vehicle. had a really nice cook out at jen and jon's place (joe's sis and bro-in-law) in waynesville last night.

today left waynesville through some familiar territory in dayton then met the family + joshi's in london, ohio for the best lunch break thus far (indian grub). cruised the last 35 miles with a nice tailwind most of the time through more familiar territory. so glad to be here.