Monday, June 30, 2008

Rolling through South Dakota

Hello from Wall, SD. In the past few days we have seen a little of everything. From windy rainy days to sunny hot days with rolling hills that seem to roll on forever.

Friday PM - Members of Ben's family provided us with dinner on our rest day in Mitchell. They made some of the most amazing veggie/bean burgers that I've ever had to go along with Spaghetti. Dessert topped it all as they had cake (to celebrate Ben's belated birthday!) and homemade Rhubarb Pie!!! (which I must add, Ben helped make and tasted very much like my mother's rhubarb pie).

Saturday - For me Saturday's ride was one of the hardest of the summer. I new it was going to be a challenging day as soon as I stepped outside to take my sleeping bag and pad to the van as I was greeted by a fierce wind that was coming from the direction in which we were riding. I rode with Xixi, Yiming, Amy, Fei, Jon S, Nick and Takaya and we formed a dynamic double paceline that we rotated in a counter clockwise rotation for the entire day. Toward the end of the day we ran into a fast moving rain storm that hit us just as we were leaving the last rest stop. Thankfully we were able to grab our rain jackets from the van to partially protect us however with the rain coming down as hard as it was we still got rather soaked. After the rain let up the sun came out and the winds seemed to calm a bit as we approached Chamberlain. (Note when I say a bit I mean calmer than the 30 mph winds we were riding into for most of the day.) When we arrived it Chamberlain we dropped our bikes at the church and then walked next door where we enjoyed ice cream sundaes as a reward for a long and windy 80 mile day on the bike. Jon, Nick and I then biked back up the hill that we had descended down entering town and headed to the high school where they were holding a relay for life event. It was nice to meet people who are also working to help in the fight against cancer as well as many survivors. They had us go up into the press box of the football field where they were playing music and announcing and tell a little about our organization and ourselves. Afterward we met their "Relay Angel" took some photos and walked a lap with her. Overall it was a very positive experience and I encourage anyone who might want to help in the fight against cancer to check out Relay for Life events in their area.

Jon and Nick participate in a game at Relay for Life in Chamberlain

Sunday - On Sunday we rode from Chamberlain to Murdo a distance of about 73 miles. The ride was very "plain" in that there was not much to look at other than rolling grass hills that seemed to roll on for miles on end. We saw some cows here and there along with horses and other animals that you might expect to see in parts of the west/South Dakota along with a turtle which we rescued from the middle of the road and pointed to safety alongside the grassy bank. When we reached Murdo Connie and Andrea made another amazing dinner which we all followed with a trip to the Dairy Shack for ice cream!

Monday - TODAY! Today's ride was 90 miles and included a change in time as we are now in Mountain Time! The morning seemed to fly by as we reached mile 42 and lunch right around 11 am. From lunch we continued on another 20 miles until reaching the turn for Badlands National Park. A group of about nine riders decided to brave the conditions and take the Badlands loop through the park while the majority of the rest of the group went to the entrance and turned around to head back to I-90 which we followed to Wall. My back has been a bit sore the past few days so I rode up to the entrance and decided that it looked much like the parts of Utah which I spent a week cycling through last summer and joined up with Jay and Yiming to head back to Wall. We got some pretty awesome tailwinds once we got on 90 and flew to Wall in no time with the wind pushing us the majority of the way. It was a welcome change from the headwinds we saw two days ago. Once we reached wall we changed and headed to the highly anticipated Wall Drug. We have been seeing signs for Wall Drug since Minnesota and the frequency has increased in the past few days to the point that while riding today it seemed as if there were signs every mile if not more often. Yiming and I each got 5 cent coffee and I also bought a homemade maple frosted doughnut and some flavored toffee.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Corn Day, SD + PHOTOS!

Hello! Today we are enjoying a rest day in Mitchell, SD home of the famous corn palace and a library with a fast un-firewalled internet connection!

Yesterday was my turn to drive the support van. I stopped a couple grocery stores on my way out of Sioux Falls picking up a few food donations before catching up with the team about 22 miles down the road for the first water stop of the day. The weather was rainy at times in the morning before finally clearing up right around lunch time. It feels so different to drive after riding everyday as things seem to go by so fast when in the car - I'm excited to be back on the bike tomorrow! When we arrived in Mitchell a group went out looking for dinner donations and were rather successful. They got us a sampling of Chinese food and pizza from a local cafe in town. It's amazing how generous people are when united by a common cause!

Today has been a rather busy day thus far. We were up early for a tour of the Avera Queen of Peace Cancer Center. The entire team took a tour of the center while also getting to talk with the nurses and a doctor from the center. After leaving the center I went to the post office to pick up some General Delivery mail before heading back to the school (where we are staying) where I participated in a portrait project interview with someone we had just met at the center. I'm currently sitting here uploading photos, working on team stuff, blogging and trying to catch up on email all at the same time!

I have to say congratulations to my twin cousins Catherine and Michelle who graduate from high school today - have an awesome summer and hopefully I'll see you in August before you leave for college!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hello Minnakotwa!

We woke up at 5:30am with a long day ahead and a questionable weather forecast. After a breakfast of cereal and milk we were out the door and on our bikes before 7am. Praveen drove today and waited for the grocery stores to open in Marshall Minnesota where he did an awesome job getting donations of food.
The morning was very flat and windy however it was also nice and cool. We rode through an area of wind turbines that lined the land for as far as we could see. At around mile 60 we stopped for lunch of PB&J and Cheetos on the side of the road. From lunch we continued on to about mile 80 where we were about two miles from the Iowa border.
Nick, John S., Andrew, Stephe, Rachel and myself decided that we would go check out the tri-state mark where the three states meet. Doing this involved about a four mile detour, two miles of which were on a sand/dirt road. When we reached the marker we took photos by it before dancing around it yelling the states we were in as we circled (Nick has a video of this which I will try to get and post).
From the landmark it was about 16 miles to the Zion Lutheran Church where we are spending the night. When we arrived we found that the pastor had generously gotten us ten pizzas for dinner which were very delicious.
Tomorrow it's off to Mitchell South Dakota and the Corn Palace!!! Total mileage for today 100.39 miles!

Monday, June 23, 2008

New Ulm, Minnesota

Hello from New Ulm, Minnesota! I am sitting at the public library and yet again the computer is firewalled to prevent me from uploading photos - so no photos at this time, however I currently have about 400 to upload down the road!!

Yesterday we rode into Owatonna arriving rather early and eating lunch at Lake Kohlmier. About half of the team also went swimming in the lake. After lunch a group of us stuck around and went out in the canoes and kayaks after the people at the lake offered to let us use them for free! Andrea and Connie put some of our current massive bread stock to use and made a wonderful dinner of soup, bread and humus.

Today we rode from Owatonna, MN to New Ulm. The most exciting part of the day for me was visiting a bike shop in Mankato. The guy there fixed my bike so the chain no longer skips when I go up hills or just get on it!!! It's extremely nice to ride and not have my chain skipping all the time and it didn't skip all afternoon! We ate lunch in the parking lot outside the bike shop before continuing onto New Ulm. There were no winds today so the afternoon went rather fast and we managed to push out about 30 miles in what seemed like no time. We are in Mitchell, South Dakota in three days some I'm hoping for fast un-firewalled internet access there.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Ear Bugs, Photos and the past few days

First of all let me just say my ear is fine - the bug on the other hand, did not make it out of the ordeal alive. Since I last posted we have crossed into yet another state and are currently in Rochester, Minnesota. I'm currently at the Rochester Public Library where the internet connection is extremely slow (dial-up is fast compared to this) but I will try to update some photos if I get a chance to use the church computer later today.

The ride into Reedsburg, WI on Wednesday turned a bit interesting with about 10 miles to go when I had a giant bug fly into my left ear. It went all the way into the canal to the point where when Stephe looked in my ear he couldn't see it. I sat on the side of the road shaking my head as if there were water in it for a few minutes as I could feel it moving around inside my ear making a loud echoing sound (a rather unique experience). Shaking my head was an immediate reaction as I didn't know what to do. After a few minutes Stephe started dripping water into my ear at which time the bug came out. A truck driver passing by saw me sitting on the side of the road and stopped to see what was wrong however by this point the bug had fallen out of my ear and was lying on the pavement. We decided to put the bug in a bag and keep it in case anything should happen to my ear but thankfully all is fine. As if the day needed to get more interesting, when we arrived in Reedsburg I went to the post office to mail some stuff home and free up some space in my bag. I locked my bike to the stairs while there and when I went out to unlock it afterward found that my lock had jammed! After unsuccessfully trying to free my bike for about five minutes a man came out of the post office and offered to help. He was also unsuccessful at freeing it so I walked back to the church to find help. Jon walked back to the post office with me and was also unsuccessful at freeing it however thankfully we were able to find someone who had a pair of pliers in their trunk and used them to cut my lock. It was a rather thin cable so it cut rather easily - a good thing in this case but not for the protection of my bike. Jon K. and Ben made us dinner which we followed with a trip to a local ice cream place where they had homemade waffle cones. Yum!

On Thursday we rode into Lacrosse, Wisconsin it was rather uneventful compared to the day before and luckily we didn't have any "bug in the ear" incidents. I rode with Xixi, Yiming, Fei and Takaya for the day and we made a stop for ice cream at McDonald's with about eight miles to go. (I'm on an ice cream diet this summer, as in eating as much of it as I can!) The church where we stayed in Lacrosse provided us with dinner, which tasted amazing as most food does after a 90 mile day and connected us with the local YMCA to take showers.

Friday - In our first "early" day of the summer we rose at 4:30am in anticipation of a 100 mile day to Rochester, MN. To our surprise we awoke to find that the route was only about 85 miles however we still needed to cover it and get to Rochester by 4:00 pm. (While in Reedsburg we had been contacted by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester about possibly touring the clinic. After a team vote we decided that this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up and with a full team effort we re-routed and changed our route to go to Rochester rather than the Twin-Cities area.) We were on the road shortly after 5:30 am hitting the road just as the sun was rising. Less than a mile down the road we crossed the Mississippi river and crossed into Minnesota. Crossing into Minnesota reminds me of crossing into Missouri last summer as the rolling hills seemed to appear right after crossing the Mississippi. We climbed a rather long and winding hill and then had a long decent where I reached 42 mph. Some people decided to re-climb the hill so they could fly down it again and broke the 50 mph mark on the final stretch. Mid morning we cycled along a bike path that was so muddy in parts that our bikes quickly looked as if we were mountain biking. I was riding with Andrew, Stephe and Jay and Andrew’s bike got so muddy that the mud clogged his breaks so he could barely pedal. When we exited the path at about mile 35 we found the rest of the team cleaning the mud off of their bikes as well. From there we continued on to lunch at around noon time at mile 60. We departed lunch around 12:30 with about 25 miles to cover by the 4:00 pm, which is when we wanted to tour Mayo. With about six miles to go we all met up at a gas station in Chester, MN. When Nick and Jon pulled into the water stop they informed us that Mayo had just called and that they were unable to give us a tour thus allowing us a bit more time in our schedule. About half of the team decided to still go and see the Mayo Clinic so after a short break at the gas station for slushies and water we continued on our way. While we didn't get an official tour of the clinic we were able to walk around and talk with a few people. The building is rather amazing and I was amazed to learn just how many people come to Mayo from all over the country and world. Unlike a normal hospital/medical building Mayo is rather open and a very people friendly environment. I'm glad I went to see it even though we didn't get to talk with any doctors or specialist.

Andrea and Connie made an amazing dinner last night and afterward we celebrated Ben's Birthday with cake and ice cream! Today we are off enjoying a rest day, taking care of team business and hopefully in a little while I'll find a way to upload photos for your viewing pleasure!

Happy Summer!!!!!!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Wisconsin

Ride-a-long with 2007 I4K alum
(Nick, Anish, Jon, Sean, Sandy, Keith)

Hello from Fitchburg, Wisconsin! Since my last post we have crossed into our 10th state and are currently just south of Madison. The team departed Highland Park yesterday morning and headed to Evanston Northwestern Healthcare for a tour, breakfast and a sit down panel with some doctors, nurses and cancer survivors. It was extremely informative and well worth the delay in the riding schedule! At about 11am we departed the hospital to begin our 60+ mile ride to Lake Geneva, WI. The first part of the day consisted of riding on bike paths before we took to the open back roads for the second half of the ride. Around 2pm we pulled over to the side of the road and enjoyed bagels for lunch. I need to note that I opened up my rhubarb pie for eating and a few of us made rhubarb pie bagel sandwiches! After lunch as we were approaching the Wisconsin State line we got lost but thankfully out of nowhere a 10-year old named Matthew appeared on a bicycle and after getting his mother's approval and his helmet rode us about 1/2 a mile down the road and pointed us in the right direction. Matthew if you’re reading this - YOU SAVED THE DAY! When we arrived at Brad's lake house the majority of us went for a quick swim in Lake Geneva before another amazing dinner prepared by Brad's mother and father and Andrea's mom. This was followed by Smore's!

Today began bright and early with a pancake/french toast breakfast prepared by Brad's parents. After a few photos we were on our way ready for a short 60+ mile day that turned into a 77 mile day!! I'm not sure if it was the weather or maybe I'm just allergic to the state of Wisconsin because I was extremely tired all day. We stopped somewhere around mile 50 for lunch on the side of the road where I had peanut butter and jelly with Moxley cookies in the middle. (While my mom won't send pie in the mail she has sent the team cookies!) After lunch the hills seemed to become more and more frequent and I was extremely happy to see the church by the time we reached mile 77. My bag seems to have grown a bit in the past few days after receiving a box that my parents sent me and while I'm waiting to find a post office to send it home it's become an art to fit it all in. One of the extra things in my bag was handlebar tape so after arriving today I gave my bike a facelift and I now have boring black tape on the handlebars as I have removed the dirty light blue tape that kept insisting that it fall off. I then took a short nap only to wake up to a cameo appearance by the one and only Drew Webster (I4K '07)! Drew and noodles & company treated the entire team to dinner which was amazing - a BIG thank you to both Drew and noodle & company! Drew also told me that he has peanut butter ice cream in the freezer for us here at the church - Drew you Rock!!! I have to mention that Praveen is letting me use his laptop to update this and some photos so Praveen you rock too!

I have too many photos to upload them all to my album right now (hopefully I'll find a library on our next rest day to catch up on that) so here are a few from the past few days. There are a few new pictures in the album but there are many more to come!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Highland Park, Rhubarb Pie and Ice Cream.

Hello! We are currently in Highland Park, Illinois spending the night at Highland Park High School. We woke up this morning and departed the dorms at UIC at about 7:15am after a quick breakfast on the sidewalk outside of Marie Robinson Hall. Shortly after departing the dorm the weather took a turn for the worse and by the time we reached Michigan Avenue the skies had darkened and we could see storms approaching. I was ridding at the back of the pack and as the rain and lightning began we quickly sought shelter heading down into one of the parking garages where we entertained ourselves with silly hand games and waited. After awhile we met up with the other half of the team and moved to the sidewalk to wait under the store awnings until the storms let up.

Today was the ride along from Millennium Park to Highland Park. When the storms let up we all headed over to the Bean to meet up with family members, fans and other guests. From the Bean we rode about 18 miles to Evanston where we all met up at Northwestern University Medical Center. While we were waiting at Northwestern Medical Center John K's mom approached me about my blog and scared me a bit when she said that I needed to be careful what I wrote it in. I quickly tried to recall what I may have written wrong, only to hear her say that she had read my blog from the night before and had a strawberry Rhubarb pie with her! (To fill people in my father grows Rhubarb in his garden and mom makes strawberry rhubarb pies in May and June when the rhubarb is fresh. I have been joking with my mom since I left that I wanted her to send me a pie however she doesn't think that it would keep in the mail.) That said I was completely shocked when John's mom pulled out a strawberry rhubarb pie, something that was totally unexpected but ever so appreciated! Thank You for making my day, I will be sure to share it with my teammates to enjoy!

Once in Evanston we ate lunch and got on a bike path that took us to Highland Park. We had three I4K alum ride with us today as Sean, Keith and Anish all rode with us at least part of the way. Nick and Jon Schlesinger's families provided us with snacks when we rolled into Highland Park and helped to arrange dinner donated by a local Italian restaurant. Once we had unloaded our gear a group of us went swimming in the ever so cold waters of Lake Michigan before dinner. It was extremely cold but felt refreshing. After dinner they had ice cream with all the works for us. I will post pictures of my ice cream creation when I get internet access. We finished the night by watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off while eating popcorn. Tomorrow it is on to Wisconsin!

Happy Fathers Day and Happy Birthday Dad!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Chicago!

Oh the joy of public technology! I spent an hour writing this post at the library this morning before internet explorer crashed on me causing me to lose the entire post. Now I come to you over the phone through the fingers of my sister typing as I try to recall what I wrote. The library was also anti USB devices so photos will have to wait a little longer. Please note that I don't have the ability to edit these posts so please excuse any typos or errors.

Now on to the update! We are currently in Chicago and staying at UIC in Marie Robinson Hall on West Maxwell Street.

Since my last post we have crossed into the central time zone and the great state of Illinois.

We woke up Tuesday morning in Rockville Indiana and were treated to a pancake breakfast put on by members of the memorial Presbyterian Church in Rockville. It was pouring while we were eating breakfast however it cleared up just as we were preparing to leave. From Rockville we headed to Chrisman Illinois where we were scheduled to stop at Mooney's Auto Dealership for a PR event. For those that don't know Mooney's generously donated/ lent us our fabulous support van that we are using this summer. It was an honor for us to stop and see those who helped us out. After spending some time at Mooney's Jon, Nick and Brad headed to Paris Illinois where they were guest at a Rotary event while the rest of the group pushed on to Urbana- Champaign. I rode with Fei, Takaya and Jay after leaving Chrisman. We faced some strong head winds, navigated some closed and flooded roads and changed Fei tire that insisted on being flat a few times but managed to make our way to Urbana by about 5pm. I should also mention that we stopped at Miss Becky's in Homer Illinois where she generously provided us with water and granola bars to fuel us the final 20 miles- Thank You Becky!

After the Rotary event Jon, Nick, and Brad pushed hard all afternoon to make it to Urbana-Champaign in time for an event at the University of Illinois alumni center that was suppose to start at 5pm. The event at the Alumni center featured food and a number of speakers including someone from the American Cancer Society, someone from Camp Kesem, a cancer survivor and someone from UIUC who has been involved in cancer research, along with people from the UIUC alumni association. After the event Nick and Jon decided to go for a dip in the fountain behind the alumni center. This was followed by a party in the fountain when Andrea, Dana, Andrew, Matt and myself all joined in on the fun by jumping in the fountain as well (I have photos and videos of this when I obtain non fire walled internet access). After our fountain party we went back to Nicks old house to change and then Jon, Nick, Matt and I went to Papa Bells for pizza with Geoff (our sponsor and owner of That's Rentertainment), his girlfriend Jill and I4K 2007 alumni Allison!

Both Jeff and Allison joined us for the first 20 miles of our ride on Wednesday, riding to our first water stop in Rantoul Illinois. In Rantoul we caught some rather amazing tail winds that pushed us most of the way to Chebanse making 80 miles seem ridiculously simple.

Zion Lutheran Church hosted us in Chebanse. It is the church that Jon Schlesinger's grandparents attend and the entire Schlesinger family made us feel at home during our stay in Chebanse. Providing us with an amazing dinner followed by an awesome breakfast- that included their ever so amazing overnight French toast!! From Chebanse we headed to Homewood Illinois on Thursday. We were once again greeted by amazing hospitality and generosity staying at Faith Church. We once again caught tail winds heading to Homewood and everyone arrived at the church by lunch time. Our host at the Faith Church provided us with dinner and then got up early to make us pancakes before we left- a big Thank You to them.

Our team departed Homewood on Friday morning in great anticipation of our arrival in Millennium Park where friends and family were gathering to welcome us. We met up as a group on the lake front bike path and then rode down Michigan Avenue and into Millennium Park as a group. I would estimate that there were over 30 people there to great us and it was nice to see some familiar faces even though I’m not from the Chicago area. We took some photos and ate lunch at the Bean before heading to the UIC dorms to drop our stuff off and change before going to UIC medical center. We walked from the dorms to the medical center where we met with a few pediatric oncology doctors and patients during an ice cream social. After leaving the medical center we had a brief team meeting before people went separate ways for the night. About 75% of the team is from the Chicago area so many people went home for the night. I think Jon, Nick, Andrew, Sean Laude (I4K 07) and myself were the only I4K affiliates in the dorms last night. The five of us met up with Anish and James, both I4K riders in 2007 and went out to dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. After dinner I took a warm shower and then went to bed as I was extremely exhausted.

Today I spent my off day eating, sleeping and battling technology! I woke up early (as in 6am) because that's the time that we usually wake up. After lying in bed for awhile I got up to write some postcards and headed to the coffee shop around the corner where I found Jon using the wireless internet access. Sean Laude showed up shortly after and we headed to breakfast a few blocks away. Andrew joined us there and after we were all done eating we headed to the library down the road to use (or fight with) the internet. After leaving the library I headed back to the dorm room where I promptly fell asleep and took about an hour long nap.

At 1:30 I began trying to figure out how to get to John K's house for the picnic his father was putting on. I asked a number of different people how to get to Wheaton and after getting a different response from each person decided to call Jon myself. We determined that I needed to get on the west line at the Ogilvie Transportation Center so I walked there only to discover that they didn't take credit/debit cards thus I need to find an ATM. After obtaining cash at the ATM the lady at the transportation center informed me that I missed the 2:40 train by 3 minutes and they only ran trains every 2 hours. I tried to find a cab but after getting the "you have two heads looks" and a "do you know where your going?" I found the fairs rather ridiculously expensive and opted to go to the super market and buy myself dinner instead. I ended up buying microwaveable Chicago pizza and strawberries for a well rounded dinner! Strawberries made up for the fact that my mom refuses to mail me homemade Strawberry rhubarb pie for some reason... just kidding mom.

Tomorrow we have our ride along to Highland Park- if you are in the Chicago area come join us!

P.S. A big thanks to my sister Kimmy for taking the time to type this rather long post!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

A warm day in Indiana

We have made it to Carmel Indiana just outside of Indianapolis and are spending tonight at the Carmel Lutheran Church.

Today began in Richmond Indiana. Wake up seemed to come a little earlier then normal due to the fact that I was still rather tired from yesterdays 110 mile ride. After pulling myself from my sleeping bag and packing my stuff Brad Moshered me- marking the first time I have had the Mosher card this summer. It was right before breakfast as well so I ended up giving the Mosher speech with little time to prepare.

Once on the rode it warmed up quickly as the morning progressed. We stopped for lunch shortly after mile 50 at around 12:30 pm and arrived in Carmel shortly after 3pm with 75 miles on the day. After unpacking the cooler I walked to the grocery store with Praveen, Stephe, Jay and Matt and bought ice cream and pop tarts.

Someone from the Indianapolis area who is an Illinois alum took our laundry home to wash it while the church and another area alum provided us with pasta for dinner. The church has also provided us with food for breakfast ensuring we will leave with full stomachs in the morning. Tomorrow we ride 80 miles to Rockville Indiana-another warm day on the road.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

110 Miles

We made it! Today we rode 109 miles from Andrew’s home in Dublin Ohio to Richmond Indiana. The day began with an early wake up at 5:30am giving us extra half an hour riding time. We were on the rode by 6:45am and had covered 20 mile by 8:15.

The excitement of the morning came when the entire team met up on a road with a bridge out. We decided to take on the challenge and forward the river- actually we all picked up our bikes and walked them across the wooden plank at the bottom (pictures to follow when I get actual internet access). The morning passed rather quickly and we rolled into lunch at mile 65 around 12:30pm. I rode with a number of different groups this morning before hanging with the caboose for the afternoon. XiXi had a bad back tire and for the final 20 miles of the ride we stopped every 2 mile so she could put air in it. When we reached the century mark (100 miles) we stopped and celebrated with a caboose photo. Around mile 104 we crossed the Indiana state line marking our 9th state in 16 days!

Once we arrived at the church we showered and relaxed while Brad and Yiming made pasta for dinner. Tomorrow is a short day compared to today- 75 miles.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

80 miles later...

Hello! We are currently at Andrew’s house in Dublin, Ohio. We have seen a mixture of different things in the past few days with a wet and rainy day yesterday, followed by a hot and humid day today. The land had flattened out significantly in the past few days as we have made our way out of the Appalachian Mountains and into the plains of the Midwest. Today we spent a good portion of the morning riding on bike trails before hitting flat back country roads for the majority of the afternoon. With the change in landscape we also got our first taste of the Midwestern winds today while also experiencing hot and humid weather with the temperatures reaching near 90 degrees. I rode with the “green girls” and Steve this afternoon and felt fine until the last 10 (of 81) miles when the hot and humid weather started to get to me and zap my energy. We rolled into the Erikson residence late afternoon and were greeted by Andrew’s parents, our teammates, air conditioning and showers along with a lot of great food! Andrew’s parents put together an amazing dinner tonight and have gone above and beyond to put us up in their home here in Dublin. After riding all day in the rain yesterday – I can’t even explain how nice it was to have a warm shower today. They are doing our laundry while we are here as well and will make it nice to hit the road on Saturday wearing clean clothes. Tomorrow we will have our second off day of the journey, which I’m sure will be spent resting and relaxing. I’ll try to upload photos at some point tomorrow.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Carnegie, PA

I am currently sitting in Carnegie Free Library in Carnegie, Pennsylvania typing my own blog for the first time since DC. My sister Kim has been updating it the past few days but with a short 30 mile day today I've found internet access at the local library and have photos uploading while I type!!

We spent last night in Murrysville, PA where the Calvary Lutheran Church provided us with an amazing meal. One of the members of the church then went out after dinner and bought us breakfast food for this morning ensuring we left energized for our ride today!

While we have not gotten the get-up-get-out practice down to an hour just yet we are getting closer and closer. Today we were up at 6am and had our bags packed around 6:45. Compared to many of our recent rides I felt today was rather easy although the fact that it was only 30 miles probably had some effect. Today was also the first day in about a week that my legs felt fresh on the bike so I'm hoping that means I'm getting stronger! We did not take a water break today as Amy and Jay needed to visit a bike shop and we were riding through areas where we could get water if needed so after a few stops here and there the group I was riding with arrived in Carnegie a little after noon. The church where we are staying has continued the streak of generosity and will be providing us with dinner tonight and breakfast in the morning. It's really amazing to see complete strangers go out of their way to help us doing everything from opening their churches and places of worship for us to sleep to providing us with meals and opening their homes for us to shower. I can't seem to say thank you enough for all that everyone has done in just over one week on the road.

Yesterday while I was waiting for dinner to begin I got a phone call from a Denise Richardson a staff writer at The Daily Star (my hometown newspaper). The story she wrote can be seen here however it was a question she asked me while on the phone that got me thinking. I can't remember just how she asked it but she asked me something about what this experience has taught me about cancer. In a way I really didn't know how to answer the question as I have a hard time putting the experience as a whole into words. When we meet people that have been affected by cancer and hear their stories day after day it’s a truly eye opening experience. It makes me realize that some of the things that seemed so hard in life really are not that hard after all. The one thing that I seem to find in common with many that we talk to is hope. They are all fighting the disease the only way they know how and they all seem to have faith that they will beat it! They are who I ride for and for the hope that soon doctors will find a cure so that even the toughest cancers will be beatable!

Woman pedaling for a cure

Woman pedaling for a cure
The Daily Star, Oneonta, NY - June 2, 2008

By Denise Richardson
Staff Writer

Sandra Moxley said sometimes the burning in her legs and the inclines of the hills are so intense that she wants to get off of her bicycle and walk. But thoughts of the challenges faced by cancer patients, she said, refocus her determination and ``keep pushing."...<more>

Sunday, June 1, 2008

25 mile rest day

Hello we are currently in Murrysville, PA after a short 25 mile ride this morning. Because of the days short mileage we got to sleep in an extra hour this morning waking up at 7am instead of 6am. The United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant donated cereal and English muffins for breakfast and after packing up we were on the road around 8:30am. The ride today was rater uneventful- so short that we didn’t even take a water stop. I rode with team out of state again plus Matt and after thinking we were lost about 17 miles into the ride we found our way and arrived in Murrysville around 11:15am. The ride included some hills including one very steep climb about 20 miles in however other then that it was pretty easy.

When we arrived at Calvary Lutheran Church in Murrysville they were in the middle of their Sunday service so the majority of us waited outside playing games on the grass until they finished. I spent the afternoon catching up on things, writing thank you letters, drying my wet laundry from yesterday and journaling.

The Calvary Lutheran Church generously provided us with an amazing buffet dinner that included hot dogs, salads, stuffed shells, chicken, fruit and much more. They then shuttled us to different houses to take showers before returning to the church for the night.

I’m not sure where we are headed tomorrow but its west of Pittsburgh. We will be riding on our off day in order to break up what would have been an extremely long day on Tuesday.

I have been having my sister update my blog the past few days so if you have sent me an email in the past week I have not read it. I will get back to you next time I have access to a computer. I will also try to add pictures to my photo album next time I have computer access.