Saturday, June 29, 2013

Day 20: That's It?

Course: Craig, CO to Steamboat, CO
Distance: 45 miles
Terrain: Mostly flat, some hills.
Conditions: Slight headwind

It was great knowing that we had a short ride. Bruce Rogers and his son, Layton, rode along with us. Bruce Rogers is the man who can be accredited with starting JOH. He rode back in '87......alone. I didn't have the pleasure of riding with him, but he's a beast, so he'd probably kick my butt anyways. He has the build of Lance Armstrong and the voice of Clint Eastwood.

 I rode with Austin and Alberto - two of the last three guys I needed to ride with in order to cross everyone off of my list. Alberto has been having some trouble with his sit bones, so it was one of his first days riding in a while. I expected to have to push him a lot up the hills, but he held his own weight. Austin and I didn't have to help him at all. He did a great job.

We cruised through the ride with little to no trouble and finished in great time. Since the distance was a lot shorter, everyone finished relatively close together. We finished so quickly it didn't even feel right. We all agreed that we felt like we should keep riding. After we got to lodging, a lot of us went into town to take a break from the typical two pieces of meat and one piece of cheese sandwich lunch. Afterwards, we grabbed a smoothie and looked around at the nearby shops. Eventually, everyone got tired and we went to take a nap. We woke up just in time to leave for our friendship visit across the street. It was with Horizons in Steamboat. We met a lot of clients with disabilities there. One client, who liked to call herself Disco Debbie, had a great time poking fun at us and hoping we didn't have girlfriends. Another client, Keith, taught us all the entire dance to Thriller by Michael Jackson. We had a great time dancing and chatting it up.

Later that night the Rogers family treated the North Route team to ice cream and candy. We all overloaded on it and crashed as soon as we got back to lodging. The high school we stayed at was extremely hot, so a lot of us found a hallway that was cooler. The only sacrifice we made was sleeping with the lights on. Overall, it was a really fun day! Thanks to the Rogers family for making it possible.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Day 19: Carrie Underwood or Bust

Course: Dinosaur, CO to Craig, CO
Distance: 90 miles
Terrain: Rolling hills. Very rolling.
Conditions: Heat and headwind.

Shout out to my dad, Craig. Apparently he did something notable enough to get this city named after him.

The ride today was far from easy. I knew that going into the ride. Thus, I put together a pace line that consisted of two guys that are stronger cyclists than me. I rode with Collin and Chris. Chris Stubel is the last of the Georgia Tech Trio, as we like to call them. He's probably the best rider here. The nickname "Steady Stubel" has been catching on lately, and I'm going to go ahead and take credit for thinking of it. Seriously though, he's extremely steady on the bike, so the draft that he gives off makes it super easy to pedal behind him in a pace line. Collin is also just a downright machine, and he takes hills like I take my flats. The ride consisted of a lot of those hills, too. Luckily, both of those guys pulled me a lot and didn't seem to mind. We got through the hills pretty quickly and our pace line finished second.

Unfortunately, the day had a tight rack point, and some people didn't make it. However, when we were all finished, we double pace lined to the Boys and Girls Club of Craig. We hung out with the kids for an hour and then put on another Kids on the Block puppet show performance, starring yours truly. Actually, I only control the right hand of one of the puppets, but the choreography for that right hand is Oscar-worthy. At the end, we field questions from the kids while the puppets are still in character. Those kids were smart, and they kept asking questions to try to stump us. They asked the puppet how he catches a ball (the puppet is in a wheelchair) and the guy that does the voice for the puppet said that he'd show the kids sometime. Bad idea. The kids found a ball and threw it to the puppet. Miraculously, we managed to work the hands the right way and actually catch the ball. We were dripping sweat after that one.

We had a friendship visit with Horizons in Craig, and it was a barbecue for their clients with disabilities. I got to talk a lot with Jason, the self-appointed DJ for the night. Jason was wearing a Goldberg wrestler shirt, so he had us call him Goldberg. He was a big fan of Carrie Underwood, and usually played each song twice in a row. If I requested anything - and I mean anything - I was shot down. If it wasn't Carrie Underwood, it wasn't getting played. Towards the end of the barbecue, a giant surprise water fight broke out and everyone went nuts. People were soaked, and no one got in the vans with dry clothes.

Later, we went for a late night McDonald's run to gorge on some food before bedtime. Bad idea #2. We were all fighting for the bathroom in the morning.


Day 18: Deliriosaurus Rex


Course: Duchesne, UT to Dinosaur, CO
Distance: 95 miles
Temperature: 94 degrees
Conditions: Thin shoulder, lots of big traffic, bumpy roads
Terrain: Desert, rolling hills

You know you’re in for a hot bike ride when no one has cold weather gear on at 6a.m. It would prove to be a tad bit hotter than your average hot, though. Usually we wake up with a faint idea of what we’re in for. Today was not one of those days.

I rode with Doug and Beau. We started off as the last pace line to begin, and quickly worked our way up the ranks until we became the second pace line. The wind was at our backs, the terrain was flat, and it wasn’t too hot…yet. In a matter of 30 minutes, that all changed. The shoulders got thinner, the heat turned up, the wind went away, and the hills came rolling in. At one point, I swear I could have reached out and touched every car or semi that passed us. It was pretty freaky. However, we stayed steady and made it through the rough patches. We rode for about 50 more miles until we hit a local bike shop/rest stop. We went inside and enjoyed some A/C while we rested before getting back on the road. As soon as we got going, Beau’s chain fell off the cog, so we stopped to try to fix it. Unfortunately, the break was a little more complex than we could handle. We called a crew van to pick up his bike, and it came rather quickly. Just as it arrived, Doug began to feel dizzy and we noticed that he had a lot of salt on him. He decided to rack, and I was to wait for the next pace line to jump into.

I joined two guys who had also lost their third member due to heat exhaustion – Michael Walton and Luke Millen. Both of these guys ride extremely fast, so I knew that I was about to push myself a lot harder. As the hills kept coming, and the desert got hotter, we kept powering through. It wasn’t easy, and I was stumbling into each crew stop, but we were making good progress. About 15 miles out, delirium set in. The most ridiculous things would make us laugh way longer than we normally would. Luke passed gas once and Michael laughed for about five minutes.

Arriving in Dinosaur, I felt like I was crawling through the door of lodging. We had freezing cold showers, and it never felt so good. We were fed dinner by locals who have been feeding JOH riders for 17 years now. I ate two plates worth of chicken, beef, mashed potatoes, corn, and green beans; two rolls, two long slices of cantaloupe, a slice of blueberry cobbler, three cookies, and a slice of chocolate cake. After dinner, a bunch of us went to an ice cream shop to get shakes. Some people joke about having food babies after they eat a lot. I think I just might scold the next person I hear say that. You don’t know food babies until you’ve been on JOH.

Tomorrow is another long day. 90 miles in the desert.

Day 17: Finally Scenic


Course: Park City, UT to Duchesne, UT
Distance: 90 miles
Conditions: Freezing cold morning, hot afternoon. Tailwind.
Terrain: One big climb, lots of downhill, flats afterwards.
Highest Elevation: 9,432ft
Longest Downhill: 12 miles
Max Speed: 43 mph



Coming out of the day off, the team felt fresh this morning. We were ready for a long ride, but had no idea what we were in for. Thankfully, I can finally say that with a positive connotation. I rode with Matt and Jason - two guys that I hadn’t ridden with before. It’s getting to the stage when everyone is branching out and trying to ride with everyone, so the pace lines end up being a lot closer together, since people aren’t just matching by skill. As pace lines were being sent off, the three of us realized that no one had been chosen as sweeps for the day, so we volunteered for the job. The morning started off feeling like it was below zero temperatures. For the first 5 miles I couldn’t feel my fingers. It eventually warmed up as we began our first climb, though. It was a long haul, and we had to stop several times in order to not pass up guys in front of us, but we finally made it to the top. We realized that the town we were previously at was at about 7,500ft when we saw the sign that told us that we were almost 2,000 feet higher. All of the sudden, it got freezing again.

However, we began a really long downhill and the time flew. The roads were scenic as we passed rocky cliffs, green grass (you don’t understand how much I missed the color green), and giant fields filled with yellow flowers and creeks running through them; the whole ride reminding me of the sound of music. The tailwind kicked in and we began to make amazing time. It was pretty smooth sailing from there on out.  Today was the first day that we had a noticeable tailwind to push us along. With little to no pedaling, we could cruise at about 20mph. We finished the 90 miles in no time, and it felt like we had only biked about 60.

We unpacked at the high school that we’re staying at, and then were instructed to put on “lake attire.” Everyone changed into their bathing suits and we headed out to a nearby lake. We got to play Frisbee, football, soccer, and even go tubing out on the water. I rode a 3-person tube with Collin and Jeremy. I sat in the middle, knowing that’d be the least likely way to fall into the freezing cold water. Despite the boat driver’s boldest attempts to throw me off of the tube, my many years back home at Lake Lotawana came in handy. I didn’t fall off once. However, when we approached shore, someone suggested that we just swim in, so I had to get in anyways. I know, I know – quit being a wuss, Blake. I’ll have you know that that water was liquid ice, everybody.

After the lake we headed over to a pavilion behind our lodging to have dinner with the Duchesne Lion’s Club. They prepared an amazing barbecue for us. They had short ribs, beans, salad, and freshly fried dough with honey butter as a topping. If the freshest, tastiest donut you’ve ever had died, went to heaven, then came back down to earth and slathered itself in honey butter, that was how good it tasted.

Dinner finished and we headed back to lodging, and now I’m going to catch some early Z’s for the big 95-miler tomorrow.





Monday, June 24, 2013

Day 16: Freedom

Course: None
Mileage: None
Terrain: Irrelevant
Conditons: N/A

Today, we relax. Finally. After a long hard two weeks of riding, we earned a day off in Park City, UT.

We woke up and got our jerseys on as if we were riding, but then just staged up and double pace lined to a different Whole Foods Market for breakfast. We had great bacon, eggs, potatoes, fruits, coffee, biscuits and gravy, and more. We feasted - enough said. After that we went back to the hotel and changed, then headed out to the Olympic Park, where the Winter Games were held in '02. We got to ride a toboggan course. It was a metal cart with wheels that went down a metal slide course that was about 1/3 of a mile long. It was a roller coaster, without the safety. 

At the bottom of the toboggan ride were ski jumps that led into a pool. There were people practicing there so we got to watch them do flips and tricks for a while. The whole park was really cool, and it even included an interactive museum. 

We then headed to lunch at a local deli. The sandwiches were fresh and included local ingredients, so needless to say it was pretty tasty. We then went to a bike shop, and I picked up a pair of much needed leg warmers. Afterwards, we went to a friendship visit at the National Abilities Center. They're very well funded, and their facility is more like a campus. They have soccer fields, baseball fields, a stable, equestrian arena, bicycling grounds, running trails, and more. A bunch of us brought our bikes knowing that we'd have the opportunity to do a ride along with some of the clients there. A few other guys and I rode with a boy named Martín. I don't know his disability, but it seemed more social that sensory or mental. 

We all rode a nearby trail, and Martín was a speed demon. He wanted to play "Cops and Robbers" the whole time, so we would switch off pretending to be the cops or the robber. He loved riding behind us yelling at us to pull over for crimes like "eating all of the donuts" or "throwing a bottle at his head." If we pulled over, he'd ask for our driver's license and then pretend to arrest us. It was great riding with him and we all had a great laugh. 

After the friendship visit, we went back to the hotel for pizza and an early bedtime. Tomorrow begins a pretty difficult stretch of rides, but I'm ready to get back on the bike. 



Left to right: Me, Martín, David, Collin, Hayden (NAC employee)
Center: Derek testing out a recumbent bike.

Day 15: Easy Does It

Course: Salt Lake City, UT to Park City, UT
Mileage: 30 miles
Terrain: Uphill
Conditions: Humid
Top Speed: 39 mph

This day went a little in reverse. We began the day by heading to McDonald's for breakfast. It was glorious, since we hadn't had food that was genuinely bad for us in a while. When you can actually afford to gorge on unhealthy food, it's so much more satisfying. Using calorie intake as an excuse is pretty convenient. After breakfast we headed to a local park to meet with Trails, an organization that provides athletic opportunities for people with disabilities. They brought out a bunch of hand bikes, and we all got to ride them around a few times. They're insanely hard to keep moving! It's a whole new game when you're pedaling with your arms.

After the park visit, we headed over to Whole Foods Market for a sponsored lunch. It was great food and fuel for the ride coming up. It was only 30 miles, but it was all uphill. I rode with Collin and Austin - two guys I hadn't ridden with yet. We all took turns asking each other random questions like what each others' favorite ice cream or who the ultimate crush is. The questions just kept rolling and so did the miles, so the time flew by. It was never too steep of a climb. We had a lot of flats and then climbing, and since there wasn't any wind we could actually hear each other. We climbed about 15 miles and then reached the summit. It overlooked a small lake with beautiful surroundings.

Our team took pictures and then headed down the pass. When we hit the bottom of the downhill, everyone got racked so that we could avoid having to ride on the freeway. When we arrived at the drop off location and unracked, we were immediately told to rerack since our project manager realized we were low on time. We all went to a local brewery for dinner, and they make their own root beer there. It was undoubtedly the best root beer I've ever had. We finished the day with some relaxing in the hot tub at the hotel, knowing that we had the next day off.



Sunday, June 23, 2013

Day 14: Days From Freedom


Course: Payson, UT to Salt Lake City, UT
Distance: 80 miles
Terrain: Rolling hills
Conditions: Headwind


For anyone who’s wondering: the helmet strap tan line is coming in beautifully.

We woke up early this morning to head out for Salt Lake City. I started riding with a vengeance since I didn’t make rack point yesterday. I knew that if I got today done, then I’d only be 30 miles away from a day off in Park City. I rode with Derek and David. Derek is a fellow Horned Frog but will be a junior, and David is a rising junior at the University of Iowa. It was a pretty difficult ride considering the headwind and rolling hills combined. There was also the factor of pure exhaustion setting in on everyone that didn’t help motivation. We’ve biked for about a week straight with two century rides without a break. It isn’t easy, but we’ve all been doing a great job of pushing ourselves. We rode by a landfill towards the beginning of the ride, which set in a queasiness that lasted for a good amount of miles.

We eventually made rack point on time, but immediately lost motivation. We pulled about 10 mph on flats for the rest of the ride.

We arrived at the finish, which was a church gymnasium that was rented out by Spirits and Spirituality, a local men’s group that was providing a luncheon for us. They have their name because they meet weekly at a bar to talk religion. We also ate lunch with representatives from the Children’s Tumor Foundation. A couple there had brought their son, Travis, who had a tumor that covered the majority of his body and cause one of his legs to grow longer than the other. Travis was hilarious and loved telling us to remember “blueberry pancakes” for some reason. He got a big kick out of us repeating it to him in different voices.

After lunch we had a team dinner at a local sports bar, which was sponsored by two people that did a ride-along with us today. Jeff and Jennifer were their names, and Jeff is a five time Pi Alpha. It was an honor to hear what he had to say about the trip. He advised us to drop the selfish reasons for doing the trip, and realize that we’re doing it for Push America’s values, not our own. He also reinforced something that has kept me going when it’s tough to get on the bike some mornings. No matter how much I hurt, there’s always someone with a disability that is going to hurt way worse than me – every day for the rest of their life.

After dinner we went to the Mormon equivalent of the Vatican. I’m not sure what it’s called, and neither is anyone else that I’ve asked, so that’s what I’ll call it. Either way, it was pretty cool to see. There were giant cathedrals and statues, and a reflecting pool. It was all dedicated to the religion.

Tonight we’re staying in a Lutheran church nearby, and I lost a bet so I have to sleep in an inflatable princess castle for the night. Luckily we have a later wakeup time tomorrow – Princess Blake is going to need it.



Friday, June 21, 2013

Day 13: Utah Hates Us


Course: Delta, UT to Payson, UT
Distance: 80 miles
Terrain: Rolling hills
Conditions: Some wind
Rack point: 65 miles by 11:00am


We began at 6:30am and knew that we had to do at least 65 of the 80 miles by 11:00 in order to avoid being racked. I rode with Travis and Stephen. All three of us already hate the roads Utah has given us, and Utah wasn’t very kind today, either. It took us about 45 minutes to go 8 miles due to a lot of bike difficulties. Travis got a flat tire first, at about the 6-mile mark. It was his rear tire, so it took a little longer to fix. We fixed his tire and hauled up a hill to see the pace line in front of us stopped. We asked if they needed help and they did, so we stopped to assist. One of the two guys in the pace line also had a flat tire, and the other had a busted wire that led to his derailleur, which helps him shift. Since Travis was the only one who could take a whack at fixing it, we waited for him until he fixed up the bike. By the time we had fixed the flat tire and the busted wire, we were off to a bad start. Together, we headed up another hill and just before we got to a crew stop, Stephen got a flat tire. He was already feeling sick, so after he fixed the tire he just decided to rack himself.

Travis and I knew that we had a lot of ground to cover, so we took turns with intervals and drafted for 1-2 minutes each. We were averaging about 18 mph up and down hills, but then the hills started to get steeper and the roads got bumpier. Eventually we had slowed enough that we realized we needed to average a whopping 30mph in order to finish the ride by rack point. As much as I’d like to say I can do that, I don’t even think Lance Armstrong can do that. We rode until we got racked, and it was pretty frustrating. I made it over 800 miles and across two states without getting racked. To think that it was by pure unluckiness was annoying, at the very least.

Either way, I finished about 40 miles and got to rest until our ride along partners met us. We rode with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, or CAF - a cycling group that advocates for athletes with disabilities. Two of the riders were a married couple, and they brought their daughter, Natalie. Natalie has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, but loves to cycle. She has a special bike that is similar to a recumbent, but has all of the brakes and shifting on one side of the bike, since her left arm is rendered practically useless. We rode for about 4 miles together, and then took a picture together.

Afterwards, I got the chance to go to the Laundromat, which is pretty great if you ask me. Clean clothes are kind of nice every once in a while. The rest of the night is free, so I plan to get some sleep.