Sunday, August 29, 2010

I MADE IT!! -my bike didn't:(

Cue the horn section, alert the fireworks brigade and the cheerleaders, rattle the rattle snakes, because

I'M IN SAN FRANCISCO!!!!

I want to send an enormous thanks to my family for their support, my friends for cheering me on, and all of the great people I met along the way (you guys were what truly made the trip memorable).



O yea, also:



(my bike got stolen)... haha. Yes. 64 miles from the finish line. While I was out getting the tire to fix it. So, since my big finish was stolen, I still don't quiet have closure. I will need to go and burn the new tire I got and pour it over the Golden Gate Bridge or the equivalent. Aside from the few valuables I lost, I haven't lost the trip (as cliche as it sounds). I made it to San Francisco! And tomorrow my long-awaited exploration of the city begins. As Lyubomir says, its just part of the journey, not a short end to it. And he's right, the trip has been like a fine wine with a dull finish.


With love from Andrew Leblanc's,
Miroslav

Friday, August 27, 2010

Hmm, what to do?


Hey all!

So yesterday I left for highways 89 and 88 that Rick suggested, and it was by far the most beautiful ride I've had this entire trip. I summitted Luther and Carson passes, and went through the Sierra Nevada's snow capped mountains, green valleys, deep blue lakes among mountains, jagged mountains, and down from ~8500 ft to sea level. Though I was expecting all downhill from Carson Pass on, it was more of downhill separated by uphill sections, 2 of which (Carson Spur and an unnamed hill) were similar to climbing Luther, though a bit shorter. I modified my route from what Rick suggested to take 88 all the way to Jackson , and then highway 12 pretty much to Vallejo, where I would catch the ferry into San Francisco.



Anyways, details aside, highway 88 ended up being very busy and practically shoulderless, so once it got dark, I just set up for the night in some woods across the street from a gas station (convenient wake up!). I set off this morning, descending into Calavera County, where California's landscape here hit me- dry lands, hilly, but with trees. Instead of green grass, dry wheatgrass. So you get yellow hills with green trees. It's really something- I've never been in a landscape like this. I heard it was in the 100s today, which makes sense, since I've never stopped so many times for ice, icecream, and cold drinks.

Here's where the twist happens. I was hoping to get as close to Vallejo as possible, a 100+ mile ride that I was up for. However, my tire gave up on me:/ While in Nevada, I wore through my original tire, and had to put on my spare, which was an older, used tire. Yesterday I started noticing a strange wobble. Today I realized that the sidewall of the tire was shredding away. By the end of the day I got a flat in Valley Springs. I tried to fix it twice, but then my tire gave a final explosion, and I was done for. So I walked for about 2 miles, 6 to go to the nearest motel, when an old Keiser stopped in front of me, and Phil, the driver offered a ride to Lodi. He headed home and came back with his old pick up and drove me over into town. And that's where I am.

Now I have to decide what to do. I can try to find a bike shop and get a new tire (costly, wouldn't get a great tire, not worth it). I can take apart my bike here and ship it home from Lodi and then either 1) try to find public transit to San Fran, or 2) call the friend I'm staying with to pick me up (but this is the least climactic way of finishing the trip!).

So that's where I am! Lodi, less than 100 miles from the end. Bike finished, haha:/ O well, lesson learned- keep a NEW spare tire. One way or another, I'll be in San Francisco tomorrow:)

EDIT: There's a bike shop in town. Screw it, I'm buying a tire and finishing strong. San Fran or Bust!!!




-Miroslav

Thursday, August 26, 2010

In California! -Lake Tahoe Fortune

Today I crossed over Spooner Pass, the first of the Sierras into Californian(!!) and the Lake Tahoe area. Lake Tahoe truly is a beautiful place. On my way through South Lake Tahoe, I stopped at a beach easily accessible from highway 50. This whole summer I've been missing the beach and feeling kind of sorry that I wouldn't get too much time to spend on the water. So once I took my shoes off and stepped into the sand and the waters of Lake Tahoe, I was compelled to stick around (and Marianna's suggestion from Facebook "to make sure you take time to enjoy Lake Tahoe" kept echoing in my head). I decided I would just hang out all day on the beach and sleep there as well, though it's technically not allowed. I thought I'd make up the mileage (40 or so extra miles) to Sacramento tomorrow.

In order to get to the beach, you need to walk down a flight of stairs from the main street. So I left my bike at the top and went down to enjoy the lake. As I was sitting around on the beach, working on fixing my crazy stark biker tan (think farmers tan, plus gloves), I heard someone upstairs asking someone else whether they were on a bike tour. The man acknowledged that he was and that he was from Germany. I had a slight suspicion that there must have been some confusion about my bike and who it belonged too, but I looked up and saw someone with a bike, so I ignored it. Then my curiosity peaked, and I decided I would go up to my bike to make sure no one would be pretending it's theirs, and then ride off with it. I also wanted to get my maps to replan my route for tomorrow. As I got up there, the person wondering who was doing the touring realized they made a mistake and that I was the real person that was on a bike tour. The German man had to awkwardly acknowledge that my bike actually wasn't his... lol.

Rick Gunn, the man wondering who my bike belonged to, offered for me to stay at his place if I needed without hesitation. He said he had done touring in the past and needed to make up Karma for other people's hospitality. It turns out, Rick recently toured across the world, covering 33 countries in 3 years. We ran into each other as Rick was returning home to cook dinner for his friend's 60th birthday- so, with Rick's wonderful benevolence, I got a place to stay for the night, good food, and great company from lots of fellow bike tourers (one of Rick's friends just returned from biking across the country taking the southern route, and another is planning a tour in Maui with Rick).

Rick's story is pretty fascinating in terms of both the immensity of the journey, and the implications of doing something like this around the world. You can check out his website, including his great photo galleries, at (soulcycler.com). For various reasons, Rick decided he wanted to make sure he followed through on his dreams before it was too late, so he, a photographer for newspapers, decided he would follow through with his ambition to bike across the world. In the process, while transitioning between Europe's first world countries on eastward, he was overwhelmed by a sense of guilt for being a meer passerby through a plethora of dramatically impoverished and historically ravished areas. So he says he went through a period of transformation where he felt that his trip needed to have greater meaning beyond his personal, ego-oriented goals. A photographer, Rick documented his trip along the way and did a few news stories for newspapers back home while volunteering wherever he could. And thus he built up a collection of experiences and stories that he is still carrying and being shaped by today. Currently he organizes viewings and does talks on his experience, trying to expose people in the US to various issues, people, and places that he encountered on his journey. He says his goal is to make others aware of problems around the world. He hopes people's gaining a greater sense of a worldwide community may do something to alleviate the many problems he encountered. He may also have a book and a documentary coming soon.

I watched a part of his photo slideshow, and a really interesting person he met stands out to me. Rick volunteered with an organization in (Laos?) that worked to remove many of the leftover mines from US bombings during Vietnam in the region. He says communities are confined and cannot expand their farming as they grow because people get maimed by left over mines. There is a German ex-soldier who left the army to take on finding and removing these mines. I would love to hear what inspired that man to do what he does.

When Rick facebook friended me, it turns out we have a mutual friend- a biking-community friend that Jim Long, who I met in Wyoming and who took the great photos of my biking up Morton Pass, suggested to me. What's more, Rick personally knows Tim and Cindie Travis, the couple that's famous for planning to bike the world for the rest of their lives. They have the most visited touring site on the net, and I relied on it when I first started planning my trip (http://downtheroad.org/). So, as I come to an end on this trip, things seem to be coming full circle as well. What a great run-in to end the trip.


From Lake Tahoe! CALIFORNIA! Sacramento tomorrow (Rick and his buddies convinced me to take the more mountainous, but beautiful route to Sacramento through Luther Pass on highways 89 and 88).

If you're reading this Rick, thank you for your wonderful hospitality and your inspiration. I couldn't imagine a better end to my trip that both plants a seed for future adventures, and leaves me with fodder for thinking beyond this trip.

-Miroslav


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bike Fixed, Recharging, Work Day

Last night I stayed up until 4 in the morning watching Dave and Cody surviving in 3 episodes of environments, downloaded Bear Grylls for the first time to top things off, and chatted it up on Facebook. This morning I decided to take the day off, get my bike sorted out, and do some work.

I found the hallowed bike shop I've been anticipating, and I enjoyed the find. It's run by a great guy named Dan, who, in my opinion, sounds like he's carrying Carson City's biking spirit. Entering bike shops is like entering safe-zones for me now. I hung around chatting with the owner about the biking in the area, chopped-off fingers in chain rings, and the economy in Reno and Carson City. Dan, if you're reading this, I got the simple, but much-needed tube in and I'm ready to roll with my morale high in that new Sugino Cap and with the momento spoke card, haha. It was a pleasure to meet you, and a highlight of the trip. After the bike shop, I stopped at one of the city's many thrift shops and got some new pants, since my favorite pair was torn up by now (I had one fall on this trip, when my shoe lace wrapped around my crankarm and caused me to fall over onto the gravel road- luckily no cars around).

I'm at the public library right now, about to snack on the last of the snack bars I got from the Motel continental breakfast, and do some work. Tomorrow, rested, I'll head over the mountains into California for the last leg of the trip.

I've figured out a place to stay, my Amtrak tickets to Portland and Seattle are purchased, as well as my return flight home- So I'll be around the coast and home soon! Hopefully more joy rides await;)

-Miroslav

Crossing Paths, breaking down at the Navy Base

Today, I'm writing from Carson City, NV! I crossed paths with lots of people, and this is how it happened:

I solved Nevada's headwind problem by riding at night the last 2 days. I figured out that the headwind dies down completely at sunset the night of my last post, and I ended up having a nice ride to a campground 26 miles from Austin (though I had a run in with 2 asshole drivers, one tried to claim his territory and my supposed wrong doing being there by flying by me honking, as though he owns the highway, and when I flicked him off, the guy behind him, some young kid, went out of his way, turned around, and tried to cut me off at an intersection. He just looked stupid doing it, because he did it too far away from me to be intimidating). All in all the ride was great, and even my tire cooperated. I only had to pump it up once on the ride! Yesterday morning I crossed over the largest mountain passes along highway 50 in central Nevada (by walking up the 2 peaks for about 2 to 3 hours), and rode into Austin. There I couldn't find the bike shop I was potentially promised. It turns out it was closed a while ago. So I ate lunch and hung around the town in the afternoon waiting out the wind for the evening. I picked up a book (I don't even remember the name now, by Cussler, part of the NUMA Files series) at a KOA campground book swap, that I read. It's not great, it's like a bad action movie about glaciers, some guy in a plane, monsters in Scotland- the confusing plot is still developing.

Anyways, I started the 111 mile bike ride from Austin to Fallon last night, thinking I might be able to do most of the ride at night. The catch about riding at night here is that it gets very very cold (low 40s). It was so cold I had to put on all of my winter clothes (winter coat, pants, neck gaiter) to stay warm while biking. I ended up caving in and setting up camp behind some thorny bushes at midnight 45 miles into the ride (I could feel my heart was getting tired). After a chilly night I rode on to Fallon.

That gets me to my day of meeting people:

10 miles into the ride, I ran into my first touring biker on the road this entire trip. This biker was headed from Reno to Ely on his first ever bike tour. We chatted for about 45 minutes on the side of the highway, excited by one another's presence. He gave me a detailed account of what to expect from all of the roads around Lake Tahoe that cross through the mountain range into California. It was great talking with another biker kindred spirit. He decided to do the trip after getting laid off and collecting the gear to do the trip over the last few years. He also recommended I stop at the next Pony Express stop at Middlegate to get lunch, but run out if the bar tender whips out his guitar, because he got stuck there the other night and then the next day with a huge hangover, haha. So I did that heeding his words, and had a great burger.

From there I passed a famous big tree here on highway 50 that stands out (since there are no trees around) and because it's covered in shoes people have thrown on it. I was daydreaming and I almost missed it had it not been for a nice Harley parked in front of it. I ended up having a nice chat with the biker, Wayne, who also recently got laid off like the touring biker I met earlier, so he's been biking around the US from place to place for the last 2 months. Wayne was from Colorado, originally from New Hampshire, if I remember right. He's always owned motorcycles more than cars. Wayne also did a lot of cycling in Colorado until recently. He took some pictures of me by the tree and his bike, which he promised to send me if he gets around to a computer. He also gave me an "I survived Highway 50" pin he picked up in Austin, saying I deserved it more, haha. I left him with a RUB (Rich Urban Biker, as he told me they're called) that he just finished down talking (he passed through Sturgis as well, though he said he came early, to avoid the crowds and the RUBs). It was painful seeing the 50-something guy come up to him after our conversation about RUBs, saying "I just bought a Harley, I haven't picked it up yet though, it's still in the shop" and the guys wife asking "Now, before you go, do the Harley's come sounding the way they do, or do you do something" as I rode off, haha. Sorry Wayne.

Then I rode through Nevada's Navy training grounds, where I watched jets doing laps and blowing things up (well at least I heard it). It was nice going slow, as opposed to the 70mph cars, because I could see the jet coming back over and over again. But then, after all of my struggles with the tube, the end came.

My rear tire finally wore out to its last thread. So I had to change it to my spare tire. However, that didn't bode well for my leaking valve. It didn't like the new tire, and wouldn't hold air. So I started trying to fix it again, and went to plan C: Do surgery on the tube. I cut a slit in the tube, since the slime I bought can't go into a presta valve, and pumped up the tire with the sealant, hoping it would seal the valve leak. However, I couldn't get the patches to stay on top of the slit I had to cut (about 2mm). That's when I gave up after 2 hours, and was about to start thumbing for a ride, but luckily, I survived the tire problem thanks to a wonderful couple and their kids traveling from Salt Lake City to Sacramento. Both Curtis and Melissa are nurses in Salt Lake City, and they were headed to see Curtis's family in Sacramento. Curtis used to live in the San Francisco area when he attended college there. He used to race and he was a bike messenger in both San Francisco and Sacramento (he says he's been hit by cars 4 times). I had a great ride with them. If you guys are checking out this blog, I really appreciate you stopping and offering the ride, you really helped me out, and I had a great time talking (even with Tommy screaming! haha) Thanks so much!

So tomorrow, I'll be crossing over into CALIFORNIA if all goes well!! For now it's time to shower, because it's been days. Then making up that motel day with snacks that never came until now;)


Saturday, August 21, 2010

Ok, Nostalgia over

I had a bad day today. I only rode 40 miles yesterday since I started so late, and because I only slept a little the night before working. As a result, I was short on water today, had a horrible head wind, and then got a leak from a tear on my tube's valve. I tried fixing it with my spare used tube, but the valve head on that tube ripped off because of my stupid pump. So I improvised a patch for the original tube's valve, which didn't work well (as expected, valve tears are the end of a tube). I had to repump the tire every few miles... There are no bike shops anywhere in Nevada. Let alone on the loneliest highway in America (which is a gimmick, this is the busiest lonely highway I've been on). Hardware stores don't have my tube size. I haven't seen a bike store since Nebraska. Luckily I found some tire slime stuff at a hardware store, so maybe that will work. Otherwise I'll have to ride and pump every few miles for the next 200 when I hit Carson. I was nostalgic about being done, but now I actually want to be done -_-. But in other news that makes my day, for those of you that have heard about Ivan, it seems that he will be released on Monday! I am so extremely happy about that. I shed a tear here sitting in the parking lot when I saw the news on Facebook. Ivan will finally have the ability to live a normal life as a documented citizen if all works out. I can't believe that.

I think I'll try to either bike the majority of the 70 miles to Austin right now, or camp out and start riding at midnight. It says online that the 25 mile an hour winds with 50 mile an hour gusts that I have been facing today will die down to 10 miles per hour after midnight...

And I ride on:/

(Eureka, NV)

Edit: I just found out the slime is only made to fit Schraeder valves, not Presta. Siiigh...

Thursday, August 19, 2010

8
DAYS
OF
RIDING
LEFT

Chicago to...
Ely> Eureka> Austin> Fallon (x2 days)> Carson City>
Pollock Pines, CA> Sacramento, CA> SAN FRANCISCO!!!





Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Lightning Adventure, Salt Lake Wells, and Hot hot heat

Hey everyone,

So I crossed through Utah in 2 days, and got to Nevada 2 nights ago, and stayed in Montello. Last night I decided to take a break day and get a motel that I heard good things about in West Wendover, NV, so I biked over here.

Utah was beautiful. There was pretty much a dramatic shift from Wyoming's barren mountains to pine tree mountains and lakes as I crossed the border. Bear Lake had fun looking beaches and a touristy town that was big on raspberries (though I decided to give in and buy some too late!). There were some big hills I had to walk, but I ended up having a gorgeous 40ish mile ride downhill through tree lined canyons and the logan river. It was probably the best ride I've had so far, though there was a lot of weekend traffic on the highway, no shoulder, and an asshole that honked and screamed something out of his car as he drove buy. I just ignored him. I took some video of the ride, so I'm looking forward to compiling the movie in the end, so you can see everything I've been talking about come to fruition in moving picture form at the end (I have that literally in time lapses!). The first night in Utah I stayed at Cache National Forest at a beautiful campground near the logan river. The highlight there was campfire reading at night and then a chilly morning bath in the river before heading out.

From there I biked to Western Utah, taking a 32 mile dirt road through mountains around the Great Salt Lake. This state has so many different contrasting, gorgeous landscapes! I set up on top of the tallest hill before a descent at the halfway point of the 32 mile dirt road leading to the highway out of Utah. I got to face the sunset over the mountains in the West with the Salt Lake in the distance to the South, with its amazing mountainous islands in the middle. (My camera is at the other side of the campground, but I might have enough time to run and get it and upload the photos before heading out. I feel like it would be unjust if I didn't put them up to give you a sense of how cool it was).

Funny thing happened though. It was a bit chilly around 3am, so I opened my eyes a bit, and I saw a brief flash through my tent. I thought, "is someone out there with a flashlight?" (I get paranoid sometimes when I'm camping in undesignated places- I'm too conditioned to campgrounds...though this was probably public land anyways, and there were no "no trespassing" signs). It flashes again, in rhythm, and I think, weird, is there a plane beacon on top of the hill? But then the flash doesn't come in rhythmn again. So I open my tent door, facing west, and there's a clear, starry sky. So I close the door and try to see if there's a rhythmn again, thinking it has to be a beacon. And there isn't, so that narrows things down to one thing- a lightning storm. I come out of my tent, and to the East of me, there's a huge cloud with vicious lightning flashing, but I can't hear it. Let me tell you, being on top of a mountain during a lightning storm is pretty much the best way to get hit by lightning. When I was in Nebraska, the nurse guy, Jeremy, randomly told me a story from the news lately about some guy that went up on a mountain to propose to his fiance, and she got hit by lightning and died because a storm came as he was doing it (ouch). SO, I packed as FAST. AS. I. COULD. I got my tent down and everything packed in 10 frantic minutes- (what usually takes me like 45-60 minutes)- and I ran/rolled the bike down the hill, and started pedaling as fast as I could on the dirt road, with 2 priorities in my head- 1) get off the mountain to low ground 2) find a shelter somehow. I solved priority one to find that low ground meant I was surrounded by nothing but "Salt Wells" and flat land. So in essence, I was being served up on a platter with salt to the lightning thanks to the salt flats. I thought I was pretty screwed and would have to do the 30-30 lightning maneuver I emailed the outdoor listhost to find out about (if you hear thunder 30 seconds after seeing lightning, assume the lightning position for 30 minutes- which is sitting on your pack, touching ankles, and wrapping your hands around your thighs so that if you get hit by lightning, it arch through your lower body rather than your upper heart area). Luckily, after about 40 minutes or an hour of riding, I started to hit hilly area again with boulders. I stopped at one boulder thinking I can find shelter, but they were too narrow. Then, amazingly, luckily, I found a REAL cave. What are the chances of that?? The lightning storm was still far off, it turned out I got a flat tire in the process of my frantic gravel biking, but I set up cozily in the cave, and even made breakfast/dinner before dozing off to wait for sunrise. It actually ended up being really great in the end, and the storm never came/passed through the Northwest. I woke up to sunshine and the remnants of the storm clouds to my North. Hurray.

That day I biked about 90 gruelling miles, and my adventure for that day was running out of water, since I was going 2 days without contact with civilization. Fortunately, the gravel road I took had signs to Highway 30 that took me North earlier than I planned, which ended up taking me to a small town where I found a faucet behind an abondoned? motel. I'm glad I found water, because it was getting really uncomfortable for the 40min I knew I was completely out of water, thinking I was elsewhere on highway 30, and would probably have 50 miles of nothing. To add to that, the 50 miles of highway 30 to the border are through my first real desert. It was probably 100 degrees in the sun, though biking, I get a breeze so it's not that bad. After a gruelling day, and a painful last 10 miles from the border to Montello, where the motels where sold out but I stayed in the park, I finally got to Nevada- in 2 days!

That brings me to yesterday, where I planned to bike the 53 miles to West Wendover, to a motel a guy in the park told me cost $22 dollars with a 2.99 breakfast. Unfortunately, I came to town during it's busiest tourist week of the year- Bonneville Speedfest on the Salt Flats. Motel prices went from $32 a night to $140. So my dream of having a day in bed watching movies and eating pizza and junk food died:( in the sun:*( I also got found my bike had a flat coming out of the motel disillusioned. I try not to be pessimistic in my blog posts, but there are times where everything just seems to go wrong on the trip when you hope for the best, and it really sucks. But then you have to suck it up, and just make the best of the situation and tell yourself, just fix it, and get on with it. So I fixed the flat and compromised with the KOA campground (yay wifi, yay first shower in a week). And to make up for it, I bought a large pizza, 16 chicken wings, a party tray of veggies and dip, a cantelope, and pop. Then I streamed things online and brought my spirits up:) And I've eaten most of it since last night, haha. (As a side note, I've found myself spoiling myself more with food towards the end of the trip because I'm sick of Lipton dinners and I need the extra boosts.)

The Bonneville Speedfest actually looks like it would be fun to attend. People bring their old cars and motorcycles from around the US (and Canada?) and race them on the salt flats. I see cars with salt sud all over them in the parking lots. In fact, there's salt all over the roads. West Wendover itself is a main road with lots of Casinos, and a flashing neon cowboy at the entrance, "wendover will". Even the supermarket has little casino games at the entrance. lol.

Also, I didn't mention, riding over "three mile hill" into town from I-80 was surreal. You get the strangest angle perspective of the town at the corner of the Salt Flats that go flatly, without features, straight into the horizon towards the South (I'm looking from the west), reflecting the sky, and highway I-80 going in a perfectly straight line to the Northeast probably 8 miles into the horizon. The highway was the most striking part, it looked like the massive landscapes of Blade Runner, but without all of the buildings, just the road.

Tomorrow I'll end the day in Ely, NV, the starting point of highway 50, "the loneliest highway in America". I should be on it for 4 or 5 days before I hit the Lake Tahoe area, cross over to California, make it to Sacramento, and then to San Francisco!!! I should have less than 10 days left!!! And I'm really looking forward to getting there finally and then getting back to my real life! Wooo!


Quick Photo update!

Hey all!

My battery is about to die, but quick photo update! Thanks to Jim Long for these photos taken at Morton Pass near Laramie, WY:





More blogging to come tomorrow morning. I'm in Nevada!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Almost 4 weeks in annnnddd...

This Sunday it'll be 4 weeks into the trip, and I'm starting to feel pretty worn out. I was reading someone else's across the US in 6 weeks blog (Crazy Guy on Bike Blog), and they wore out at 30 days as well (though they gave up due to back pain). Last night I left late in tired spirits and encountered the worst head wind I've ever experienced. I could only travel about 20 miles in 4 hours, the distance it took me to get from Green River to Little America. When I got there, I seriously contemplated stopping for the day, I was so wiped out. Sitting around eating a 50 cent ice cream cone, I got into a conversation with a guy named Patrick, traveling with his mom from Austin, TX to Seattle, where he was moving to. After chatting for a bit about my trip, he offered for me to crash on the floor of the hotel room with his mom and him. It was super tempting because it was cold (it gets into the 40s here at night) and I was tired, but I didn't want to do that. I ultimately decided the better thing to do would be to try to get to Kemerrer (this was around 7pm). Sooo, I headed out, and luckily the wind died down as I switched roads. Nonetheless, my legs could only carry me 27 miles more, and I gave up near Opal, and slept in my improvised sleeping place #4- highway underpass, lol. It was actually the best ISP so far. Little wind, hidden away, cozy (yes). This morning I biked over to Kemmerrer, another 15 miles away (the home of the first JC Penney!). I'm here now, and I've decided to take the day off, because I don't think my legs will carry me too far today.

Unlike the guy in the blog above, the only thing keeping me down is low energy and motivation, not nerve injuries. And, looking at his blog (he was going from San Fran to the east coast), I have just about 2 weeks left, maybe less. So THIS is the home stretch. 3ish days in Utah, 5ish days in Nevada(on highway 50, the loneliest road in the US), and 2ish days in California to San Francisco. So I need to build up on energy, get my phone working so I can chat it up with people, and be nice to my muscles so they're nice to me for the next 2 weeks. Here's to hamstrings, calves, lungs, and heart.

-Miroslav


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Wyoming Recap

Hellloooooooo!

I've been missing in action for most of Wyoming (mostly because there are no cities in between the cities I'm traveling between to blog from), so, now that I'm a day away from Utah, I think it's time I finally do my best to recapture what has been going on.

Wyoming stands out to me for the landscape and the amount of people I've met or simply observed. This might be a long one, but it's worth reading for all the interesting people that I met.

The landscape has shifted from the bluffs of the Nebraska border, to the Laramie mountains, which I crossed through Morton Pass, to the valleys, the winds, the big sky (though that's apparently Montona's moniker says my hitchhike buddy from yesterday, more on that later), the Medicine Bow mountain range, to desert, to canyons. So you see, it's both a mouthful, and an eyeful of landscapes. Wyoming is gorgeous simply in the amount of landscape there is. If you counted verticle stretches of earth (That I happen to have to cover while biking over), the surface area of the mountains and canyons would add an extra Wyoming of beauty to the state.

On entering Wyoming, I stopped at Ricochet Cafe on the border. There I overheard an interesting conversation between old farmers with deep roots in the state. One of the farmers, with a deep scruffy voice, was arguing with another (while a third on air support didn't talk at all) about the second being a Democrat. The first guy with the deep voice really loved the sound of his voice (everyone in the restaurant noticed and commented). He talked loudly, not letting anyone else speak, and constantly returning to politics. After driving the democrat farmer out of the restaurant, he got a phone call, and eventually returned to politics again, haha. Anyways, I found his argument with the democrat farmer really interesting. I will only sum up the conversation from memory in short. He was saying that Democrats used to be a good party, but now they don't do anything. He asked the democrat farmer, "have you ever worked for a poor man?", and the farmer responded, "yes, but not long". The conservative farmer responds: "exactly, you don't ever want to work for a damn poor man. Nobody wants to work for a poor man. So that's why the democrats are fools. You need to support the employer" etc. etc. In essence he was arguing that big business should be supported, otherwise the workers don't benefit in the long run. What was interesting was the populist, farmers tone he took on defending the republicans. Then, further arguing that Obama is a scourge and hasn't done anything, he was arguing against "socializing medicine". The democrat farmer on the other hand wasn't very good at arguing back, seemed older, and mostly sat back and listened. He said, "welll, I don't know much about what they're doing, but they seem to be improving the healthcare system", etc." He eventually got up halfway through the conversation, tired of the republicans' evangelizing, and walked off. Then the republican got a phone call and made a joke about Obama- "you know what the difference between the Denver Zoo and the White House is? One has an African lion, the other has a lyin' African". Charming, huh? I think that sums up the conservative, rural Westerner.

My first day in Wyoming I found a campsite (few and far between in this state) in eastern-central Wyoming, because the wind, which mostly comes from either the south or the west here, was too strong for me to go to Cheyenne (in South Eastern, Wy). The campsite's water faucets didn't work! So in asking my camping neighbors about the situation, they offered me some water, and we chatted. They were from nearby, but one of the women went to Northwestern in Chicago. They told me about Nebraska's notorious hail. This woman's brand new car got $3000 worth of damage in 5 minutes when it hailed baseballs. Luckily, I didn't have to face the deadly ice bullets during my trip.

As a result of the crappy state park with no water, I had to bike on what was supposed to be my day off. I biked to Wheatland, WY. The first thing that happened that day was my run in with the bikers. Every year, Wyoming throws the Sturgis music festival, which this year brought in 4-500,000 people. Yes, about 500,000 motorcycles. And they were zooming past me on the highway ever few minutes on my route that day. So I thought it would be funny to stop at one of the bars serving breakfast that said "bikers welcome". I bike in with my bike, all the bikers staring, get some coffee and a cinnamon bun, and then start to make my way out. You see, most of the bikers are just wearing their uniform. After seeing so many bikers, the image of the Harley and leather jackets starts to feel pretty fake, like a bunch of teenagers going to a britney spears concert. And so 3 motorcyclists pull into the parking lot in full out gear. To me they looked like a bunch of doctors from Colorado that put on their leather jackets and chaps, sat on their harley's, and suddenly took on the image of the cool rider. They pull in, grim faced, revving their loud bikes. So, the first biker gets off his bike, takes off a helmet, revealing spiked grey hair and an earing, and says "awww, did you decide to take out the small bike today?" And his buddy adds, laughing, "are you headed to sturgis tooo?". And me, casually putting on my riding gloves and helmet, answer, "no. I'm doing some real biking". The third guy asks, where are you from? And I say, "Chicago. I'm headed to San Francisco". Then, I put on my helmet, giving them the cold shoulder as I ride off, and I patronize "You boooys have fuuun at Sturgis". I put them in their place;)

On the way to Wheatland, when checking my directions by the side of the highway, because I got momentarily lost, a car passed me and then stopped and pulled over to the shoulder of the highway. Out of the tiny Toyota with a bike in the back climbs an athletic, tall man in his 50s wearing biking gear. Marv Billings, recently retired, and "with a bucket list of things to do including riding across the country" was just coming back from his 50 mile morning ride, and, to my luck, he ran into me. Marv bikes a lot in the area, which he says (and I generally agree, except for the rattle snakes) is a biker's haven. This was near Lingle, WY. There are many roads converging here, and they're mostly little used highways that take you through Wyoming's mountains and bluffs in the area. He's right, it's great. Anyways, he directed me into town and told me of a shortcut route to take to Wheatland that would cut 30 miles, but had 8 miles of gravel (I later realized this was the route I couldn't find in the first place, causing me to stop and meet Marv). After eating lunch, I started biking towards the shortcut, and Marv passed me going the opposite direction in his car. 10 minutes later he catches up to me with his blind dog and watermelon!!! He decided he wanted to check out the shortcut he was sending me through, to make sure the gravel wasn't too bad. He was also interested in it for a future bike ride of his own. So he went ahead, up the mountain and came back, okaying the route. Marv was a really great guy. I really appreciate the shortcut, the chats, and the watermelon!! Watermelon!! Delivered to me on route! haha. Thanks Marv.

The ride was beautiful through the shortcut because I summited a bluff, but it was also rattle snake haven. You see, when I'm on paved highway with traffic and I see a snake, I feel like the snake is intruding on human territory, and I'm in my place. Going through the shortcut, I was on unpaved, empty road, with rattlesnake-perfect landscape, and a broken phone. So I felt like I was in their place. So I tried to get through wide-eyed as fast as possible.

When I got to Wheatland, I went to the free campground Marv suggested. There I met Bill and Jeremy. Bill was a retired environmental consultant. He first worked for Wyomings mining operations before he got sent to DC to work there. He said he saved up the money he earned in DC in a good retirement fund that allowed him to retire at 52. So he was traveling around with Jeremy, (his son???), a 36 year old nurse looking to go back to school. They were visiting Bill's mother in town. Bill had a lot of pride in Wheatland, because his family has a lot of ties there, and influence. The music pavilion in the park was dedicated to an aunt of his. Bill told me a lot about Wyoming (natural gas mining is making a come back here), and shared a couple of Coors beers ("as cold as the rockies").

From there, I crossed the Laramie mountain range to Laramie. While crossing through the mountains, I was passed by a pick up truck that I later ran into parked on the side of the road. The driver was taking pictures of the scenery, and he took some of me as well. We started up a conversation, and it turns out he's from Portland (cyclist haven- his license plate had a bicycle on it) visiting his sick brother. His son tried to bike across the country recently, but his trailer broke in Salt Lake City, UT, so he gave up and hitchhiked to the East Coast. He gave me a beer (Coors again, "cold as the rockies"), and promised to send me the pictures he took of me. I hope he follows through, because I don't have many, especially of me. The beer was just what I needed for the last push over the mountain pass, and I came out onto flat downhill road all the way to Laramie.

Finally, before yesterday I crossed over the worst of the Rockies for now (we'll see Lake Tahoe)! I went through Medicine Bow National Park in order to get to Saratoga, where Marv told me there's a free public hot spring. The cross over the mountains wasn't that hard! There were 2 miles of up and down, and then 10 miles of straight climb. I couldn't do it with my bike because it was too steep, so I walked it up. Then there were 2 miles of up and down, and then 10 miles downhill. The total ride/walk over the mountains took about 4 hours, 4 1/2 with photo taking. So much for everyone's gloomy cautioning. Saratoga was a cool little town because of the hot spring (which was great). It's open 7 days a week, 24 hours, and it's free. I would love that in my town. I soaked around for a bit, (it's really hot!), then went to find my campsite (this was 11pm). The RV campground on the city-by-city list I got when I entered Wyoming ended up not allowing tents. And I couldn't find any other campground/was too tired, especially from the springs. So, I found a dark spot behind a grocery store in the outskirts of town and just slept there for a couple of hours. Not glamorous, but there was a slight, disconcerting feeling of real freedom sleeping wherever I wanted to, looking up at the stars (they're gorgeous here, I've never seen so many).

I couldn't sleep after 3am, so I decided to get an early start to my day (yesterday). Yesterday, I wanted to bike 150 miles. From Saratoga, to Rawlins (40), then Rawlins, through desert all the way near to the border at Rock Springs. I got to a rest area 13 miles from Rawlins at about 5 in the morning and decided to eat there and take a nap. I did that, and went off to Rawlins. The landscape here was changing to desert-like hills. The wind. man. The wind was intense. There were signs for "strong winds" with windbags attached all over the highway (I had to take I-80). It was an unbearable headwind. When I got to Rawlins, I stopped for coffee, and realized I wouldn't be able to find the library in that town, so I would just head off to do my super long ride for the day. Then, sitting on the sidewalk drinking my coffee and eating my 2nd fruit pie, there pulls up a decked out pick up with a big trailer attached. Both the car and the trailer had a decal that said "Eddie Bauer- First Ascent". Whoever was driving that was a sponsored mountain climber.

This is the rig: Airstream First Ascent

It has a garage and a sound system to throw parties! He asked me how far I was going, and then went into the store. On the way out, he offered me a ride, haha. Now, I'm against asking for rides. I think that's cheating. But when I'm offered a ride across 150 miles of headwind in such an amazing ride, I can't say no. So I took the ride! I also got a tour, and it's a really nice set up. There's a propane fueled fridge! Solar powered, Showers, etc.

More importantly than the ride, I'm horrible with names, but I'm pretty sure the driver was Reggie Crist (It's hard to put real person to an image on a site):

Reggie Crist
Reggie Crist and the Airstream in action

You might be checking out the blog, and if you do, please correct me if I'm wrong. Sorry, like I said, I'm horrible with names, but I really appreciated the ride and the conversation. (Reggie?), from Sun Valley, Idaho (he was headed there) does first DECENTS- he climbs mountains and skis down them. And, if I've got the person down to the details on the site, a pretty well distinguished skiing history (US Ski Team, X Games Gold Medalist). He was explaining to me the lifestyle of being sponsored, which was really interesting. Basically, as he was describing with the touring rig, most trips are pretty spontaneous, and you have to convince corporate that you're taking it whether they like it or not, but that they'll get good footage in return. He's also working on a ski company with some pretty great sounding ski-design ideas. Ultimately, he got me to Green River, because we missed the Rock Springs exit talking. Thanks for the ride and the hospitality! Definitely worth remembering.

And that's where I am now! I should head out soon, I want to get to Kemmerer tonight, and Utah tomorrow! Nevada by Monday?? San Francisco, I'm coming.



Sunday, August 8, 2010

Teaser

I'm in Wyoming! (Wheatland, Wyoming). I'm taking the day off and sitting outside of a closed library using the wifi. I haven't had a chance to update because cities with libraries are harder to come by, and I've had some busy rides. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to tease you and not write a long post because I don't have time right now (work calls), but to refresh my memory and to tease you, I'll post what I need to write about:

-changed my chain ring, like melted butter
-the fox, goose, and a bag of beans puzzle (oliver recreation area, and signs.)
-Woman from Illinois living in Albin, Wy- great milkshake
-the men talking at Ricochet Cafe about why Republicanism is better
-Sturgis music festival, the bikers going there, and their making fun of me, and my shutting them down
-The guy that gave me water at the campground that had no water. Hail the size of baseballs.
-Marv Billings the biker I ran into that gave me a shortcut over the bluffs and caught up with me in his car with watermelon (!!)
-crossing through rattle snake haven
-changes in body and mind
-maybe also going to portland and seattle

Alright, I'll update soon (p.s. I'm crossing the first part of the rockies in wyoming tomorrow. hot springs?;) thanks to Marv)

-Miroslav



Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Don't Tred on Me

Align Center


When I started noticing miniature sunflowers, horses, and hills, I knew I finally hit the landscape change. When I got caught off guard by a rattle snake sharing the left half of my lane on the road- I knew I was getting my official welcome to the "West".

With about 30 miles to go to my destination yesterday, I reached a sign that said highway 30, the only non-hilly, straight route West for me, was closed, I had to take the "Detour" which went through a really hilly neighborhood. This was around 5 pm, and I could see cumulonimbus clouds behind me coming from the south. The city worker that morning told me my destination might have thunderstorms around 9pm coming from the south, and by the look of the clouds, it sounded right. So I was wondering whether I'd make it to where I needed to go as a result of this hilly detour. While biking through the neighborhood, I said hi to a man watering some flowers. As I was passing, he yelled to ask if I wanted some cold water. I kind of backtracked and said I'm alright (kind of stressed about the detour and wanting to move on), but then I asked whether he knew how much of highway 30 was closed, and where this detour lead. He said 13 miles of the highway were closed, and this detour went through 8 miles of hilly gravel road before getting back to black top. Very reminiscent of Iowa. We chatted about my possible routes and we agreed that I should go back to the construction site and just try to get through because they're probably not even working anymore. He offered a beer, and though I would have loved to chat, I decided I should beat the storms. I rode past the road blocks, and in front I could see the blinking of construction vehicles. Since it was too loud to hear anything because of the construction, I waved to the workers trying to point myself around them. The lead guy on top of a truck pointed out a guy at ground level. So I came up to him and screamed I'm crossing the country, can I get through. He says "Dude...all we're doing is this little stretch, pleease go ahead". And that's how one of the best rides I've had so far started. I had 13 miles of beautiful highway all to myself through rolling hills and a sunset. To give you a sense of the elation I felt after avoiding a horrible detour and getting a highway all to myself with no traffic, imagine being able to walk again after being in a wheelchair. Then imagine the storm clouds moving in behind me like slow avalanches. Getting the highway to myself, I was beating them as they were coming in from the south with me headed west, and it felt like riding a surf wave. So maybe you get the picture, I was having a good time.

Once I got back onto the opened highway 13 miles later, the landscape changed immediately to sandy, rocky soil with patches of grass and free range cattle. That's where I encountered my first rattlesnake and a reality check. As I was biking down the road, no cars behind me, still feeling the freedom of no traffic after the construction site, I saw something ahead of me in the second half of the lane and thought "nooo, that can't b- IT'S A RATTLESNAKE!!!" I passed it during the all caps part as it rattled its tail at me and did a taunt strike. It was way too close for comfort. A mile later I saw another one crossing the road, and I avoided it. A mile later there was a dead one in the middle of the road. That's 3 in about 3 miles. I think I was passing through a preferred habitat, and they were coming out onto the road as it was getting dark and chilly because the road was warm. However, this morning I saw another dead one as well. Let's just say that I no longer stay in the shoulder of the road, and my entire ride today was wide eyed scanning the horizon for anything that looks like a snake. Any irregularity in the road (squiggly tar stains, pieces of tire and tubing, etc) makes me tense up.

Anyways, I got to the town where I had to turn off the highway to get to the campsite and asked some people walking by if I was going the right way. It was getting dark and I could start to see lightning in the horizons (3/4ths of the sky was overcast). This road ended up being really hilly, but it took me to my first glimpse of the real high plains. I climbed up in elevation to an area with no trees, plain fields in all directions high up, with the valley in the distance. It was beautiful, but harsh. There was nothing to stop the wind, so there was a strong, crisp headwind. It reminded me of the mountains, which makes sense, since neither has trees. According to my map I was supposed to go straight down this road to the park, but at some point there was an intersection, and straight meant taking a gravel road, which seemed off, but I took it anyways. The park never came after 2 miles and the storms were getting closer (the lightning was amazing), so I decided to ask for some directions. I came to the first house I saw and knocked on the door, but the woman inside probably got scared, paced around a bit, and then sat back down on the couch and ignored me. So then I biked down to the next house a half mile away and did the same thing. This time a young guy informed me that I was actually supposed to turn where the gravel started and then go 5 miles more. That sucked. So I put on my rain coat, and headed out. The whole time I debated on setting up my tent on the side of the road near the open fields so as not to bike through the storms. I was thinking "lightning or rattle snakes, take a pick". Ultimately I decided on braving lightning rather than rattle snakes, and biked on. There's comfort in the civilizational qualities of a campground. About 10 minutes into my bike ride back to the main road, the guy I talked to caught up with his pick up and offered me a ride to the park. I definitely took the offer. Sean was in his late 20s/early 30s and is from the area. He worked as a forest fire fighter in Nevada and (utah?) for a few years before coming back. I asked him the silly question I've been wondering as I ride through the countryside "so, I've uhh always lived in the city, and this might seem stupid, but what do you guys do for fun?" He laughed and his answer was "we uhh, find stuff to do...there's always stuff to find to do".

Anyways, he dropped me off at the campsite with a lot of appreciation on my part, and I set up for the night. Luckily no storms hit, and I packed up around 8 and headed out for Sidney, NE. I had a hilly ride, and when I got to Chappell, NE halfway through the day (36mi from Sidney), I stopped for lunch and realized the best camping option I had was to stay here. So I took half the day off at an RV campground with wifi. It looks like the lack of campgrounds on the way to Wyoming means I'll be stopping in Kimball near the border tomorrow before heading into Wyoming past Cheyenne on Friday.

I'm almost halfway! Send some second wind, I'm starting to need it! This is where the real challenge starts.

-Miroslav

Samuel L. Jackson says it best-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ2QFmJ7h0A
And by planes, he means Plains.




Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Tent Tested, Racing things.

So last night I noticed that I couldn't see the end of a beautiful sunset (you can see a picture of it in the filmstrip below, it's the one with the handlebars), and didn't think anything of it until I realized those were storm clouds. What helped me realize those were storm clouds moving was the lightning. I still had about 10 miles to go until I hit Cozad (known for being "the 100th Meridian"), where I found a campground. The storm was headed south towards Cozad. Sooo, I started to pedal full force to beat the storm. This was about 9:30pm, which is a bit later than I usually ride, and through corn fields. Do you know what that means? LOTS. OF. BUGS. IN. MY. MOUTH. Luckily, I beat the storm to Cozad, but when I walked into the gas station for a drink, I was covered in living things including asian lady bugs, weird bugs, and a couple of flies. I probably looked like I just climbed out of the swamp or something. Since the gas station didn't have any alcohol for my stove (I waited until the last minute), I couldn't cook dinner, and just bought a sandwich.



When I got to the "campsite", it was a parking lot for RVs. Literally, there were 5 or so green squares separated by cement squares off of a parking lot for a Golf Shooting range, lol. BUT, paradoxically, each little parking spot came with it's own water line and electricity box (things considered the top of luxury at state park sites, costing about twice as much). So thanks to RV culture I had some hook ups to charge my phone, and didn't have to walk half a mile to get some water.

I set up my new tarp tent, which took a while to figure out how to do. It relies on 2 poles on one end hoisted up and staked by a line and one pole on the other end that goes into the ground, and is also hoisted up by a line and stake. Then the there are 6 points (corners and middle) that are staked into the ground as well. I was really excited by how big it is (relatively speaking)! I can fit all of my bike bags into it, and still have plenty of room for myself and other things.

Here's the catch: Lightning storm of storms hit around 2 or 3 in the morning. 1) the tent isn't fully waterproof, in a torential downpour it kind of sprinkles inside, which is alright unless: 2) when the center of the storm hit, the flimsy one pole side collapsed, and half the tent caved in on me, which meant that the ceiling, which was collecting water, came down into contact with the me and the floor, and, ironically, I was back in the old bivvy situation (but not fully waterproof this time around). I curled up into a fetal position in the section that didn't collapse and tried to sleep as the worst of the lightning storm passed (it was pretty ferocious being in a tent). Of course, I didn't get too much sleep, and I got soaked. When I woke up in the morning there was a pool of water in the tent, my bike was blown over and the tarp was off of it, and the clothes I left outside (thinking, eh, if it rains, they'll get washed) got soaked. It wasn't a damper on the spirits, but just a lesson on this tent. I'm going to have to stake it much better next time, and potentially use my tarp over the tent for added insulation. I'm still content with all the space it gives me, and it has a mesh door. In Iowa I scoured around the countryside looking for a mosquito net so I could sleep outside without the bivvy. This full door of mesh is the closest I've come to it.

I packed up this morning while talking to a city worker working in the park about weather, the flat roads ahead, and a good place to eat in town (the Green Apple in Cozad, NE- get the philly steak omelet). However, I just wanted to start biking to get rid of the chills, and headed 10 miles west to Gothenburg, NE, where I took a needed breakfast break (2 honey buns, 16oz coffee, and ramen noodles). I was feeling pretty weak from a weak dinner and no breakfast. I stopped again in Brady, NE to get a snack, and ended up having lunch there. I had a great homemade chicken teriyaki sandwich with tossed salad and Dorthy Sauce. Dorthy Sauce is a Nebraska thing- it was described to me as a sweeter version of French Dressing. It tastes like Cole Slaw dressing. It was delicious. One thing I noticed and liked about the small town was that lots of people seemed to know each other in the gas station/lunch spot, there was lots of laughter and chatting, all the seats were taken up, there were other visitors (on business) as well. I think there was an organizing meeting going on for a town fair- they turned on the tv to catch the last 15 seconds of a local on the news advertising the event. It was nice and upbeat.

Finally, I've started to notice the landscape changing. Small, worn, jagged, sandy-soil hills have started to come out of the flatlands. I haven't seen much corn at all (I think the soil doesn't suit it), but instead, horses. I did the math, and I should be halfway through my trip once I'm in Wyoming later this week (1100 miles). I'm excited for the dramatic changes to come.

One last anecdote- Tractors use the shoulders I ride on to drive at about 20mph. Well biking this morning, I hear and see a big one behind me that caught up. So we played cat and mouse for about 6 to 8 miles. I let it pace me at about 20 mph until it turned off, and I waived it good bye. It was fun!

Alright, I'm at the library coding, clothes drying at the laundromat, new used book bought- (100 years of solitude in English this time). Time to go. Thanks for all of your sweet comments and emails guys, I really look forward to them every day, and they help me keep going!:)


-Miroslav (from the 100th meridian: 41.129099,-100.764599)



Monday, August 2, 2010

Great start to week 3

Today is the first day of my 3rd week on the road! Time flies in retrospect.

Let me start with the flat land. I've hit the holy grail, the beauty of all beauties in bike riding: slightly downward sloping, flat roads. This morning I biked to Kearney, NE from Grand Island (~45 miles, including riding from the park), in about 3 or 4 hours, including a half hour break. I can keep a 20mph pace on this road steadily, and comfortably. It's amazing.

So, as you can tell the ride this morning was great. In fact, it was slightly magical, starting with last night. (Just to give you a sense of how great flat lands are-) I did about 90 or so miles yesterday, and I was heading to Mormon State Park, but I couldn't see any road markers for it, and instead found a county park I rode into. It was 9:30, and the park closed at 9, so there was no one around, no cars outside- but, they had a campground. So I roll in, and lo and behold, there was a tent. I think to myself- "wait, there were no cars out there, I thought I was alone". I make a few steps forward, and what do I see- A LOADED TOURING BIKE!!! I did not expect to run into another tourer on this route I've picked, let alone in a random tiny county park. It was like seeing a human for the first time as a castaway. Unfortunately, said person was already in their tent sleeping. I poked around a bit excitedly, and decided I'd wait until (today) to talk to them. Then, I wondered, "Do I want to talk to them? This could be a moment where I meet a fellow tourer- maybe they're headed to San Fran and we'll bike together!; but on the other hand, what if they're annoying or weird, and I'd be stuck with them all the way to San Francisco...". I resolved to chat with them in the morning regardless. BUT, I woke up at 6am, and they were gone:( It was like I met a fairy at night, and it disappeared, lol. What makes it worse is that they probably didn't know they had a fellow bike tourer there because I covered my bike and my things in my brown tarp because it looked like it might be thunder-storming that night. O well, maybe we'll meet again...

Anyways, the magic continued in the morning. Besides the amazing flatness, Highway 30, which I'm taking, parallels a railroad track. I had a great moment when a Union Pacific train caught up with me at about 40 miles an hour when I was going 20 (so it wasn't a fast catch up). It felt like a great beast was howling at me and slowly approaching. Then we rode side by side for about what seemed 10 seconds before it passed on, and I watched all the graffitied train cars pass by. I tried to keep up to it like to a whale in the sea, but it passed on. There were lots of other trains that passed me this morning as well. Most coming from the West are carrying coal (probably from Wyoming). I love trains, I really do. O, I also got a wave and a whistle from a train operator on another passing train going east as well.

On my way into Kearney, I noticed a Cabela's store (for those of you that don't know, it's "the world's foremost outdoor outfitter"). It's basically an REI for hunters. I stopped there and roamed around inside for a bit, and ultimately bought myself a new tent. I got a pretty cheap bivvy tent ($40- cheap goes both ways, it's not a great material as far as tents go). But it'll be a roof over me now, rather than my current bivvy's literal "roof over your head" where the rest of my body is covered in plastic tarp material. At least now I'll have a real shelter and place to move around. It also has mesh doors, so hopefully it won't get hot and stuffy like the bivvy. It weighs about 3.5 pounds, the current bivvy I have weighs about 2. I'm going to stop at the post office after this to ship back the old bivvy and some other things. I hope to cut my pack weight, or at least space use, by half. For those of you from home reading this, don't open the box when you get it. It's going to smell bad. I warned you.

After Cabela's I found a bike shop. Doing a google search, Kearney's bike shop is one of the last West of here. I don't think there are any in Wyoming as far as I could tell. I came to get a new chainring, new tubes, patch kit, and a spoke. The Bike Shack was AWESOME. I regret not getting the names of the two people working there (Casey?), but they were super helpful and inviting. They found me a 42 tooth chain ring and gave it to me for free, and they were all around awesome. Haha, I also found something called "HALT". It's a dog spray. Preparing for this trip, I read bike tourers talking about dogs chasing them, and I was a little surprised. They recommended branding a stick, haha. WELL, yesterday, I had my first dog chase. People let their dogs free in the yards in the country, so I was chased by a young bull dog for about half a mile yesterday, haha. So I got HALT spray, which shoots something nauseaous for 12 ft. Casey (?) also gave me the blog of some bikers that stopped on their way from San Francisco to- DETROIT! They were headed to do abandoned home renovations in Detroit. Their blog is- http://pedalaswegrow.blogspot.com/
and their mission statement: "We're heading to Detroit from SF in early June via bicycles to occupy abandoned buildings to help build a self-sustainable, environmentally sound, non-hierarchical, anarcho-communist community out of the ashes of post-apocalyptic Detroit" - haha, wow, post-apocalyptic detroit. man. Being from Detroit, that's a heavy one. I should give them a visit sometime and see if they made their anarcho-communist haven out of segregated post-apocalyptic/aka post-industrial detroit, and see whether they're having any success- what is their definition of "success" in these circumstances... I'll be honest, it sounds to me like San Fran yuppies moving into Detroit to live out some sort of esoteric idealism that won't do much to change what's actually going on in Detroit. But that's my opinion, and I hope I'm wrong. It's actually intersting, Detroit is attracting a lot of projects like that these days. I think if I remember right, it has the most urban gardens in the US. Detroit is a fascinating case study of post-industrial decay/renewal(?).

Anyways, thank you for your awesome help Casey and ___ (please email me/message the blog with your names!).

So, in good spirits, and excited to plow through Nebraska to Wyoming, I start my third week-

Miroslav






Update: To make things even better, I just fixed my phone. Expect lots more photos!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Come on Century Days!

I hit real flat land this morning, and I'm ecstatic (though cautiously so, I'm dreading having my bubble burst by a new patch of rolling hills). I stopped at a gas station for a foot long sub, coffee, cinnamon roll, and honey bun (see, I'm eating more now) and I talked with a guy from the area who said I'm good to go on the flat lands for a while. I'll take his word for it.

I'm in York, NE right now, which has a faint wild west town feel to it in the architecture and arrangement of buildings. Yet, it feels like 70s style architecture was poured over the top of everything at some point. I'm at the library about to do a few hours of work. A couple of days ago I noticed that a rock tore through the sidewall of my front tire. The tube was sticking out of it a bit, and it finally popped 2 days later. I have a spare old tire, but I'm going to try to fix the tear with a tube patch. I tried a few days ago, but since the patch doesn't hold well to the tire rubber, it slid out of place, and the hole reopened, and my tube came out. The tube spontaneously popped as I was sitting next to it outside of the library. I think it has something to do with the rapid cooling of the tube's air temperature when I stop riding. The tube probably starts shrinking back into the tire, but the tire pinches it and pops it. So before I head out to ride again, I'm going to try the patch method again, using one of my large rectangular patches so it doesn't miss the spot this time. If that fails, then I'll have to change to my old tire.

In other news and ideas, for the movie I'm going to make out of this, I think I'm going to try to do time lapse footage of my rides from here on to San Francisco. The camera will be a third thing I'll have to charge at the libraries, but it'll be well worth it if the footage works out.

Finally, I'd like to mention the new appreciation I have for the city after riding through what's now 3 states' worth of rural country roads. Always living in cities, I have failed to get a real sense of how dense they are. In crossing a state, I pass through about 15 towns of less than 1000 people, another 5-8 of 1000-6000, and maybe 1-3 of more than that. Riding through an entire country of rural areas really gives me a new sense of the scale by which I/we live in the city. A density of people, ideas, activities, objects, life. I have a new and deep appreciation for the city as center of civilization (thanks Nate for the reference)- we talked about it before I blogged (HI NATES FAMILY!!!).