Land of Lincoln

Today we started in the rain and bicycled a bit until we met the Cross Roads team.

It is hard to believe that we have already bicycled that far.

Afterwards, we continued and as it was windy and we have another century tomorrow, we decided to go at a little slower pace. We went past a place and searched for some parts for my bicycle. See if you can pick out my bike.

Next up was to cross the Mississippi River and we entered Illinois.

We are staying in Quincy and we biked through the town. Very nice houses, but business seems to be closed on Sunday.

Kirksville, MO - Quincy, IL

Miles 75.290
Ave. MPH 13.5
Actual bike time 5:34:52
Left hotel 7:25
Arrive Hotel 4:05

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Today was the first day that we have been delayed. The rain did not worry me that much, but it was the lightning that delayed us. Some of us handled the delay in different ways. Jim was ready to go at a moments notice.

George on the other hand, decided to spend some time catching up on some reading. He is from Springfield, Mo so this is homecoming for him. He is a retired physician and one of the most even keeled persons that you can find. He is a steadying influence and is so calm. I wish I can be more like him.

After an almost 3 hour delay, we got started. It was a little wet on the road and the wind was not favorable towards us, but was not that bad, but after about 20 miles the sun came out. Fred who normally bikes at the front of the pack bicycles with us or should I say behind us. We stopped at the SAG at about the 25 mile mark and after that we proceeded to bike through 148 rolling hills of varying length.













As my shifting is still giving me problems I tried to use momentum from the top of one hill to carry me through the next uphill. This worked some of the time and as I am pretty much down to two working gears it helped a lot. Today Alec took off from our foursome as he was able to use his weight to coast up and down more efficiently. At about the 45 mile mark I decided to push myself through the uphills and the unfavorable winds. I passed a few people and made it to the next SAG. I waited for Harry and Karen who were only about 5 minutes behind me.

After the SAG, we continued on and I took a picture of a house located in a field. This is pretty typical of the days view.

The three of us continued on and arrived at our hotel.


Chillocothe, MO - Kirksville, MO

Miles 74.730
Ave. MPH 14.7
Actual bike time 5:05:29
Left Hotel `10:05
Arrive Hotel 4:45

Tomorrow we will bike into Illinois.

Maysville, MO

Each year the town of Maysville comes out and greets the Cross Roads cyclist. At about the 31 mile mark the kids who attend the school and cheer us prior to us entering town. Prior to getting into town we lined up in groups of two side by side and started entering the town.

An additional thanks to Cecil and Linda who let me use the toilet in their house.


Next we bicycle into town and the town provides us with pastries, PBJ sandwiches, Bananas, water and lemonade. We took a picture of the Cross Road group with the town kids.


Sharon is the organizer of the town festivities. Thank you and the town for your hospitality.


The pastries are prepared by this gentlemen. He usually prepares them in St. Joes, but he could not do so this year. He thought they were not up to par, but I disagree. They were very good.


Bicycling was through rollers (uphills and downhills). I remember that David G had once asked me how much I coast. Today I coasted a lot. I have a problem with my shifters which need to be looked at a bicycle shop in Champaign, IL. Apparently, my index shifting is not working so I have to use friction shifting. It is a little unsafe to other riders when I bike uphill as my gears are constantly shifting. I have to hold them in place. Tomorrow is supposed to be another roller day so hopefully I have mastered friction shifting. Either that or a new bike.

Our group rested at the 47 mile mark and during the rest I sat under the shade and waved as cars went by and they waved back to me. Some even waved to me before I even waved to them. Not sure if this happens in a bigger city, but it was a nice feeling.


St. Joeseph, MO - Chillicothe, MO

Miles 86.541
Ave. MPH 15.6
Actual Bike time 5:37:16
Left Hotel 7:25
Arrive Hotel 3:05

Toto, we are not in Kansas in anymore

So it is not original. It is not easy coming up with a title to my posts. Titles are directly proportional to how much I talk and as I was looking at the scenery today there was not much talking.

We left the hotel and there was a hill to climb. I had my bike check and I thought the problem was solved, but I still had chain problems. I put in another request. It is extremely frustrating not being able to climb. Additionally, my shoulder gets re injured as I am pushed forward. If my bike makes it through this trip I am confident that physically I can complete the trip.

We biked and at the 60TH mile we bicycled into our Missouri.

We stopped and ate lunch and after we continued to an ice cream shop. Apparently, an ex Cross Roads rider had arranged for free Ice Cream for the group. I had a chocolate ice cream cone. Thank you Gary for arranging.

Gary

A sign welcoming us and the Grand Slam Ice Cream Co.

After this we bicycled to the hotel.

Topeka, KS - St. Joseph, MO

Miles 85.606

Ave MPH 14.6

Actual bike time 5:51:53

Left Hotel 7:25

Arrive Hotel 3:35

Halfway Home

We have now officially reached the halfway point. It has gone quickly, but it seems like we left a long time ago. The days seem to blend into one. Although I cannot remember what I did each day I can recall what did happen. If that makes sense.

Today started out with me talking with Lisa (Chris's wife) and Andrea (Peter's wife) in the front of the hotel. I was explaining that our group would probably be the last to leave , but we do tend to make the time up and catch up with the pack. We left and Harry forgot to sign out so he had to return to the hotel. Another day on the road.

I will leave to others to describe the wind. What struck me was the beauty of the area we bicycled today. I imagined Kansas flat and with a lot of farm land. Today we bicycled hills and the lushness of the green all around was beautiful. The pictures below do not really do justice to how it looked as we bicycled through the area.

There were even some Elk roaming around the area.

At around the 92 mile mark we went to the following cafe.

Norma is an 89 years young. She entered a national pie making contest and much to her surprise, last November 26 she won the best pie in America contest. The pie was a coconut creme pie. Norma explained to me that she makes 6 pies a day, 5 days a week. She starts at 6 in the morning. Each pie has 6 slices so that is 36 slices available. By the time we arrived there was no more coconut creme available. They list the pies on a board and as the pies are not available they take them off the board.

She has 8 kids (4 boys. 4 girls) , 22 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren and 11 great great grandchildren. I guess she baked a lot of pies for her family and the practice led her to win the contest.

Alec was talking to two farmers at the store and offered them me to help them with loading bales of hay. I pointed out that I probably weighed less than the hay we all agreed that this would not be a good idea.

After we were done at the pie store, we continued on to the hotel. My group stopped and insisted that I leave my bike with the rest of the bikes below. They want me to pedal it in the Atlantic, along with my Flip video.

Abeline, KS - Topeka, KS

Miles 106.47

Ave MPH 14.3

Actual bike time 7:28:22

Left Hotel 7:25

Arrive Hotel 4:50

I am very concerned about tomorrow's hotel. Apparently, they serve free beer to guests. The day after may be a long day for the Musketeers (with the exception of yours truly, who has sworn off alcohol until Boston).

Lastly, tomorrow is our last day in Kansas and this is for the people that I work with back in LA. When people ask me what I do and I explain we produce EM:HE every person in Kansas loves the show and knows that we have built houses for 2 families in Kansas. They all love the show and appreciate what we have done for these families. Good to be doing good.

A Day in the life

Today is a rest day in Abeline. By the time we leave we will have we will complete 25 of the 50 days. We still have more miles to pedal in the last half than the first half. Below is the map with the black line of miles traveled.

As this is the half way point of the trip, below is a summary of an average day and what I do.

1. Wake up.

2. Stretch.

3. Take a shower

4. Apply Suntan lotion

5. Eat breakfast. Normal breakfast is pancakes, bacon, eggs, hash browns and orange juice.

6. Brush teeth

7. Apply butter (bikers will know what this means)

8. Bring duffel bags from room to front of hotel.

9. Bring bicycle to front of hotel, get pump and put airs in tires

10. Sign out and leave from hotel (our group usually departs 10 -15 minutes later than any other group.

11. Bike.

12. Stop at SAG. I have found that Bananas, Peanut, Butter and Jelly (they provide this on longer days), Paydays work best for me. I am staying away from Gu and Jells. Also, if time permits I stop for lunch as I find that "real" food helps me bicycle better. Also, I drink Gatorade at the stops, but only drink water when I bicycle. I fill up with water at the SAG.

13. Arrive at hotel.

14. Wash clothes.

15. Attend route rap. This is a 15 minute explanation of the next day's riding. If we have an off day than we do 2 days route raps.

16. Eat dinner (depends, but usually is chicken or beef).

17. Go back to room and pack duffel bags.

18. Take shower.

19. If the Lakers are on I will watch some of the game (I like the West coast time because I can watch more of the game).

20. Go to sleep.

21. Repeat over for next 25 days.

All of the interaction with your fellow riders takes place during eating and riding and that by far and away is the best part of the trip.

My rest day message.

I went into the city and visited the Eisenhower Museum with Alec today.

Dunn & Finished

Not much happened today. It was a pretty easy ride. The first 20 were in a cross wind. One thing that I find interesting is that you see oil derricks in the wheat fields.

After the 20 mile mark we turned left and had a favorable wind behind us. We coasted into the SAG at mile 30. Almost everyone was at the SAG as the wind was helping everyone make good times. Now I must digress to yesterday. During our last 30 miles I described how we passed many of the riders. One rider that we tried to pass was Champ. We must have tried to pass him for about 15 miles without success, but we finally did. Now fast forward to today. At the SAG, Champ left before us. I mentioned to someone we would probably catch him around the 55 mile mark. We averaged about 26 MPH and finally caught him at the 56 mile mark. He is very strong rider.

Champ, along with the four of us, coasted into Abilene.

The picture above is of Tom Dunn. Tom has ridden from LA to Abilene. He has worked with Cross Roads as well as rode some days. Too bad about the Nuggets in the playoffs. Below

a picture of Alec, Karen, Tom , me and Harry.

An interesting name for an eatng establishment.

Some of the spouses of the riders have come to Abeline as this is the halfway point in days.

My roomate Peter and his wife, Andrea

Hank and his wife, Carol

Chris and his wife. Lisa

McPherson. KS - Abilene, KS

Miles 62.773

Ave. MPH 19.0

Actual bike time 3:18:12

Left Hotel 8:25

Arrive Hotel 1:55