Day 38: Sonic the Hedgehog

Course: Cedar Rapids, IA to Iowa City, IA
Distance: 30 miles
Terrain: Flat
Conditions: No wind?

Today was great. 30 miles of no wind. Unfortunately that's about all there is to be said about the ride. Funny how the terrible ones are always more memorable. We all finished quickly, needless to say. We rode into a park in Iowa City and had about two hours to kill there. There was a Shakespearean-style theatre there, so we broke out the puppets and did some freestyle rap with them up on the stage. It was hilarious and a good bonding experience among the guys. When everyone got over that, we just slept in the grass until the police escort arrived.

We staged up and rode to the old capitol building. The Arc of Southeast Iowa awaited us there and gave us a great welcome. I immediately started talking to Angelo, one of the Arc's clients. He was way into video games and so he loved to talk about Sonic the hedgehog. I didn't even have to ask questions. He could literally talk from the point we said hello until we had to leave for lunch. He's a really bright guy and he made me laugh a lot.

For lunch we went to the University of Iowa's cafeteria. It was the first buffet-style meal that we had so far. The guys went crazy on it. That's really saying something, too, considering how much we all hate college cafeteria food during the school year. After lunch we went back to lodging and I got a couple of hours to sleep before my dad, stepmom, and two little brothers came to visit. It was great to see them! When they arrived, my brothers Brady (6) and Robby (soon to be 4) both ran to give me a big hug. We were staying at a community center, so I played foosball and ping pong with them for a while before our friendship visit.

We drove to the Arc of Southeast Iowa for the friendship visit. When we arrived, Angelo remembered me and picked me out right away. I sat with him at dinner and he talked about Sonic some more. And then he talked about Sonic some more. And then some more. And some more. The guy loves Sonic the hedgehog video games. A group of cyclists were sitting with him so we all listened to him tell stories about Sonic the whole time. Again, he's a hilarious guy and we all shared some great laughs listening to him spew.

After the friendship visit I got to spend more time with my family. We all went out for ice cream and I witnessed the same ol' same ol' of my little brothers picking on each other. They found a fountain in the street and managed to turn it into a swimming pool. Funny stuff.

Us listening to Angelo's captivating story.

Us and Angelo (middle in green)

Left to right: Dad, Robby, Me, Brady

Day 37: I See Red Flags

Course: Marshalltown, IA to Cedar Rapids, IA
Distance: 90 miles
Terrain: Rolling hills
Conditions: Wind varying

Today I rode with Mike Jones and Alex. Alex is one of the Georgia Tech guys on the cycling team there, so we were cooking to start out with. A little ways into the ride, we hit a hill and I began to downshift. Just as I did, Mike Jones happened to be a little too close and buzzed the right side of my back tire with his front wheel. He bounced off, hit his brakes a little too hard, and went across the gravel shoulder, down one side of the small hill, and fell into the tall grass on the other side. Luckily, he had great crash instincts and plopped right back up with just a scratch on his arm. It could have been a lot worse that it was.

After that, we started zooming again. We only got passed by a couple of pace lines, and ended up passing them right back. Unfortunately, the pace line in front of the sweeps was having a lot of trouble that day, and ended up being about 13 miles behind the first pace line for the whole ride. We got red flagged about four times. A red flag is when cyclists have to stop at a crew van and aren't allowed to pass. In this case, it was because there wasn't a crew van ahead of us for us to ride to since the guys in back were struggling so much. That made it a pretty slow day, but we finally finished and still had some time to relax. We stayed at the Arc of East Central Iowa. It's a day center for people with disabilities.

It came time for our friendship visit, and it was convenient since it was at our lodging. All we had to do was go downstairs. It was held outdoors, and it was blazing hot. Nevertheless, we all danced like there was no tomorrow. We all thought it was hilarious that our DJ was like 60+ years old and playing dubstep and other music that is way beyond his generation. We had to get a picture with him. See below. After a good sweat bath, we all headed inside for some dinner. We were treated to pork and barbecue sauce that had a striking similarity to Kansas City BBQ. It was awesome.

Day 36: She's a Cutie

Course: Des Moines, IA to Marshalltown, IA
Distance: 50 miles
Terrain: Rolling hills
Conditions: Some wind - varying directions
Average Speed: 19 mph
Max Speed: 34.7 mph

At circle up we were told that we had to make 55 miles by 10:30. We began by being racked to the start location, which was about 15 miles. We didn't get on the road until about 7:45 - 8. Little did we know that we drove 15 miles and that that was factored into the "65" that we were supposed to do for the day. I rode with Michael Walton and Stephen Blythe. Michael decided to do the "Whole Banana" challenge and at a whole banana before the ride - peel and all. We had also planned to make it a "Red Bull Rage Day" since it was a shorter mileage. So once we hit the first crew stop we waited for a few pace lines to meet us and then we all chugged a Red Bull together before the ride. I didn't experience any tangible effects, but the banana peel didn't sit too well with Michael. After the Red Bull chug, we realized that we had to move insanely fast to make our rack point, so I started pulling us at about 23 mph - up and down hills. That sort of set the tone for the day with Stephan and Michael, so we worked super hard and averaged 19 mph to finish the day as the first pace line.

Everyone finished the ride relatively close together since it was a shorter distance, and our finish line was at a local water park. The place was awesome! It had two-person tube slides, a lazy river, diving boards, and even half of a slide that dropped you about 10 feet after you slid for a couple of seconds. It was doubled as a friendship visit, but really only one kid came. His name was Oscar and he had just learned to swim in the Spring. His guardian told us that after he learned to swim just months earlier, he went on to win districts and state in swimming for his age group's Special Olympics. He was the happiest guy in that pool - he loved the water.

After swimming we all went to our lodging (hotel this time - heck yeah!) to shower and nap. We then headed out to a nearby bowling alley for a bigger friendship visit with the Arc of Marshalltown. We got to bowl with a lot of clients and they played music as if it were a dance, so there was a lot of intermittent dancing in between bowls. Upon entry I was immediately pulled over to a lane by a man named John. He was psyched to be at the bowling alley. I jumped in on a game with him and a few other girls, and one guy named Jeffrey. Jeffrey was in a wheelchair and didn't have use of his legs. I'm not exactly sure what his disability was, but he shook a lot and repeated himself multiple times. However, Jeffrey and I absolutely clicked. He wasn't bowling at first, so I asked him why and he said that it was because his name wasn't on the board. I wasn't about to let that fly so I went to the front desk and got the bumpers put up, pulled over a bowling ramp and got the guy going. He was pretty pumped to be playing with us.

Jeffrey pulled over his girlfriend, and introduced me. They kept calling each other "cutie" and flirting with each other. Jeffrey would pull me in close and whisper in my ear, "She's a real cutie isn't she, Blake?" and I'd give him props for picking a good one. They'd even dance together when they weren't bowling. His girlfriend would ask me if Jeffrey called her cute, and if I said yes she would blush and bury her face in my shoulder. They were hilariously awesome together. Best of all, after every bowl - hit or miss - Jeffrey would tell me good job and give me a high five. He was quite the guy and I'm going to remember him for a very long time. He really taught me a lot. He might have been in a wheelchair, but man was he in high spirits. It was an honor just to talk to the guy.

1) JOH North and Oscar (middle)

2) Jeffrey, his girlfriend, and I 

3) How Jeffrey bowls

4) Jeffrey and his girlfriend dancing

I know the pictures don't show it, but Jeffrey smiled more in those two hours than I do in an entire week.

Day 35: Snacked

Course: Griswold, IA to Des Moines, IA
Distance: 95 miles
Conditions: Bumpy roads, slight crosswind
Terrain: Rolling hills

Yesterday was Saurabh's (one of the cyclists) birthday. His family came to lodging to surprise him for it. Today at circle up we were told that his family would be providing snacks for us at mile 76. Thus, instead of a rack point, we had a snack point. That was all that we looked forward to all day. I rode with Derek and Matt Dosimo. We kept a steady pace the whole day and spent about half of the ride just throwing out things we hate and then venting about it. I.E. spiders, or the way some people wear hats - just stupid conversation really. Then again, the stupid conversation is exactly what gets you through the long day.

I also took part in the bun challenge. In order to complete the challenge I started at one crew stop and had to eat a bag of six hoagie buns by the time I got to the next crew stop. I rode 10 miles, bag of buns in hand, and chowed down on them as I rode. By bun #6 my mouth was dry and I had the hiccups like none other. However, I completed the challenge in time and it made time go by a little faster while doing so. We actually had some cool scenery today as well. We rode by a lot of wind turbines and even through the birth place of John Wayne. At mile 76 we hit snack point. However, we were pleasantly surprised with pizza! We expected "snacks" to be pretzels or something but pizza was fantastic. After snack point we caught a tailwind and finished the ride swiftly.

No friendship visit today, but when I got to lodging I was fortunate enough to have some free time. My girlfriend Kelli and her mom both showed up and had brought three trays of rice krispies. Now that's a great gift to a cyclist. The guys demolished about a tray and a half in the span of 20 minutes. Kelli and her mom took me out to ice cream (icing on the cake to my indulgences for the day) and we got to catch up on things. I loved getting to see them both and spend even just an hour and a half with them.

After I got back to lodging and Kelli and her mom returned home, the team headed out to Dave Addox's home. Dave has been sponsoring meals for us for a day now. We're extremely lucky to have him. We had dinner with a few Pi Alphas and looked through Dave's old JOH photo albums from '00 and '01. It was super weird to see how much things have changed but also how similar they are.

After dinner a few of us got together and thought of some more challenges to make the time in the nothingness pass. Now I'm going to bed early, and I can't wait to get 7 hours of sleep!

Day 31: Push America History 101

Course: Day off!
Distance: 0
Conditions: Heat
Terrain: Hotel steps

This post is supposed to be in order - my apologies if it doesn't end up that way.

7am wakeup? I can deal with that. We all shuffled out of the hotel and went to a local diner that has been sponsoring us for a while. Every year the same waitress requests to wait on the JOH guys. We had a delicious meal of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and coffee. It was a great start to the day. Then we all went to  a nearby elementary school to put on a Kids on the Block puppet show for the Arc of Central Nebraska. Afterwards, we went to a local park to play games and eat lunch with them. They’re a local group that visits with JOH North and the Build America teams every year. They help to provide job opportunities to people with disabilities. Among the ACN are some extremely notable people. Pi Alphas from all over had told their chapter brothers on the trip this year to look out for Brad. Brad is a fun loving, caring, hilarious individual that is always smiling. He also doesn’t lose in arm wrestling. Seriously – he doesn’t lose. Practically our whole team challenged him and he took everyone down.

At the park I played whiffle ball with a lot of the ACN people, and I took the role of coach for the new Huskers whiffle ball team. My team absolutely killed it. With hardly any instruction and a lot of brute force, the Huskers beat the JOH North guys by a score that was too high to count.

After the park visit we went to see the facilities that the ACN employs their clients at. We visited two places, one called Mosaic that uses recycled material to make anything from candles to doormats to home décor. The other was an organization that employs people within the ACN to sort and package parts for machinery. They all use an assembly line-like structure and can get hundreds of boxes packed in just a couple of days. It was very cool to see these people hard at work and loving what they do.

Everyone then gathered and went to a church to have dinner and put on another puppet show. Everyone got to socialize, play lawn games like bocce ball and ladder golf, and enjoy each other’s company. The puppet show was a huge hit. We’ve done it so many times that we’ve begun to adlib certain parts and get a lot of laughs from the crowd. We love putting on the show.

It was tough to say goodbye to the ACN since we had made such a strong bond with them. Meeting everyone was amazing and I’m really getting more and more out of every friendship visit we make. 

Day 34: Seriously, Iowa?

Course: Omaha, NE to Griswold, IA

Distance: 55 miles

Terrain: Rolling hills

Conditions: Crosswinds

Today I rode with Kyle Marpe and Sanjeev. I hadn’t ridden with Sanjeev since the infamous Kirkwood ride, so it was fun to see how much he had progressed since then. The guys had a little trouble on the rolling hills, but since it was a short distance it really wasn’t a problem. We had a lot of fun joking around and talking.

Just as soon as we crossed into Iowa, the crosswinds picked up. It stunk. We all hate crosswinds. They slow you down and make you feel like you’re about to fall off at any second. Not a warm welcome, Iowa…not a warm welcome. Regardless, we progressed through the hills and finally made it to the finish. We’re currently staying at a retreat home for Creighton University. It’s tiny and hot. Very hot. I’m not even joking when I say I have taken blogging to a whole new level by breaking a sweat while doing so.

After arrival a three time Pi Alpha came and set up a huge sandwich lunch for us. It was delicious. We then all gathered and went to a reservoir to swim. They had a rope swing that you could swing and jump off of into the water, which was a lot of fun. They also had a dock in the middle of the water and we played Survivor Journey of Hope. We pretty much just went around in a circle and voted people off of the dock or made them do belly flops if they got voted off.

The swimming concluded and we went to have dinner at the house of the parents of the Pi Alpha that gave us lunch. They made sloppy joes and sundaes – a great combination to fuel us for the big ride tomorrow. It’s 95 miles into Des Moines – likely to be more rolling hills and crosswinds. People say it’s like today but double the mileage. Wahoo.

Day 33: Racked: Part Deux

Course: Lincoln, NE to Omaha, NE
Distance: 55 miles
Terrain: Bumpy roads, some rolling hills
Conditions: Slight headwind, a lot of construction
 I decided on a whim to sweep today with Beau. I knew that we had an arrival and that I would be seeing my mom, so the incentive of leading the double pace line into arrival if you’re a sweep was a good one. We started out in the city and immediately hit a lot of construction. There were cones, one-lane roads, lots of gravel and potholes, and a lot of big trucks passing. It wasn’t very fun to ride through, but eventually we made it out to the country road. Since we were sweeping and couldn’t pass anyone, we moved rather slowly to begin with. Beau and I are both strong riders, so we were behind a couple of pace lines for a while. Eventually we were behind a pace line of two, and one of the guys was hurting pretty badly. His bike is too small for him, so he typically endures a lot of pain. We ended up moving too slowly and getting racked at about mile 35. We didn’t really complain though because apparently after that point the ride got pretty painstaking with pot holes and more construction, but with stoplights and hills.
 After being dropped off at our stage up location we waited around for the rest of the cyclists to file in. When they all arrived, we staged up in double pace line formation and headed out to our arrival. When we got to the arrival point, my mom, girlfriend, and her friends were all there with cheesy signs to cheer me on. It was actually pretty cool to have a fan base. No big deal – I felt kind of famous. We arrived to the Disabled Veterans of America center to have a friendship visit with a local organization that aids people with Spina Bifida. We ate lunch together and then had a miniature carnival with games set up. People could win tickets and buy cool prizes with them. We also put on a puppet show. The people there were extremely nice and fun to be around.
 After the lunch we had some free time before we headed out to the Mockingbird Community Center to have another dance. This time it was themed and had a live band. Kelli came to visit and everyone had a great time talking to people and dancing. Like always, everyone tore it up on the dance floor. When the dance was near its end, it came time to say goodbye to Kelli. It was great to see her and her friends since it was a good slice of the outside world for a while, but it was tough to say goodbye. However, I’ve still got a lot of fun things ahead and I can’t wait to see what else the ride has in store for me!