Status = taking a few more days off…

Posted by Andrew on July 1st, 2009 -   

Sorry for the vague status messages last weekend - I was busy trying to figure out where to go, and what to do!  From the beginning…

On the 26th I had good weather, very little wind, and a perfect opportunity for a long day; I rode 120 miles to Cornell, IL and camped just south of town at the Bayou Bluffs Campground.  I had planned on 110 miles, which put me at the Manville Nazarene Campground, but they were closed.  Suggestion for campgrounds: if you’re closed, then please specify that on your answering machine message.  If you leave an alternate cell number, please make sure the person that answers knows something about the facility.  At 110 miles for the day, I had to backtrack then ride south to get to the campground.  It was a nice evening for a ride, or I would have been really grumpy…  

120 miles felt surprisingly good: my feet, knees, hands, neck, and back all felt fine.  My ass was sore from sitting down for 8.5 hours, but that’s understandable.  When I left NJ to start this trip 3 weeks ago, my longest ride was 63 miles.  Turns out the quick increase in saddle time didn’t go as well as I had hoped…

The next day I planned on another 100+ miles to take me well into Iowa, and my legs seemed to think that was a good idea, but my butt sure didn’t.  I took a few long breaks in town to write some email, eat, and eat again.  Overall, I felt great, but I just couldn’t find a comfortable spot on the saddle, so I spent 50 miles fidgeting around, standing, and coasting.  Coasting is hard in IL, no hills to use for a break!

I settled on an 85 mile day into Kewanee, IL.  About 10 miles outside of town the sky started to turn gray - no thunder clouds, no wind, just gray.  I had no idea what to expect, but when the lightning started, it was pretty clear I was in for a fun storm.  30 seconds later I hauled up a hill and straight into someone’s driveway - no way I was going to ride anywhere near this one!  With all the corn and soybeans fields, my steel bike and I were often the tallest thing around for 4 square miles.  Nobody was home, so I waited it out on the front porch standing in the corner to try and avoid the rain blowing in sideways.  At the storm’s height, I saw lightning every 1-2 seconds and the porch shook from the thunder.  I waited over 2 hours before I felt it was safe to ride (standing up mostly) into Kewanee and find a hotel for the night.

I took it easy in the morning, then biked to the hospital at the edge of town to talk to a Doctor for a few minutes.  He confirmed what I expected - I needed a few days off to rest my butt, then I’d be all set.  I feel great, I’m only uncomfortable spending long hours in the saddle. Fortunately, after a few days I’ll be perfectly fine, and after some time off, I’ll be even more comfortable in the saddle for long days.  This is the price I pay for my training regimen before I left: sleeping, eating, and relaxing.  I didn’t spend very much time in the saddle before I started this trip, and I thought I was in the clear, since I was getting used to long days very quickly.  Had a taken a few random short days, or just one day off in the last 2 weeks, I probably would have been fine.  

So… I took a train from Kewanee, IL to Chicago to hang out with Sarah and Adam for a few days (thanks guys!).  From Chicago, I’ll take a train on July 1 to Minneapolis to meet Amy for a few days - meaning I have skipped the section from Kenwanee, IL to Minneapolis, MN.  Here’s where my route changes — a lot:  I’m going to hop on a train from Minneapolis (or somewhere close) and skip the rest of MN and North Dakota, and end up somewhere in Montana.  I decided about a week ago that I really didn’t need to keep riding through farm country, and I really want to get back to the mountains!

Yep, that means I’m definitely not riding cross country any more - that ended when I got on a train in Kewanee.  I’ll end up skipping a BIG chunk of the midwest by the time I start to ride again.  I’ve got a lot of reasons for skipping around, they basically boil down to this: there are a lot of things I want to see in the US; one of them was corn, but now I’ve seen plenty of corn, and it’s time to check a few other things off the list.

I’m not 100% sure what my route is going to be for the next month.  I know it’s going to include Glacier National Park and I know I’ll ultimately end up in Portland, OR (hopefully by way of Bend, OR).  Some things I’m thinking about: western Idaho and Boise, Seattle, Olympic National Park, The Cascades, and the coast between Seattle and Portland.  Any thoughts?  Things I shouldn’t miss?

Thank you all for the emails, calls, and messages!

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