Easy Street

Day 23 - June 26, 9:12pm
73 miles. Louisville, KY to Bedford, IN

So the whole 5 hours of sleep before intense physical exertion thing wasn't quite the funnest this morning. Though I got it together and am becoming really proud of how on top of my packing and morning routine i now am. The real key has been using bags to put everything in rather than having loose shirts here and there.

There was a wild thunderstorm still raging as we woke up and there was the possibility we might have to be shuttled and not ride, but fortunately it cleared out for our friend the sun! It's also great how 73 miles is so not a big deal anymore.

Crossed into Indiana right across the Ohio River and we all spelled out the name there in our bodies which was fun. (The D is actually lowercase, thanks Jenny) A highlight today was Miranda and I stopping at a Subway 23 miles in and being treated to free sandwiches by the two awesome girls, Kristen and Britney there. They actually asked if i would be able to handle a footlong sandwich. You can guess how i responded.

The day ran very smoothly and we made awesome time on the flat stretches while in pacelines. We even passed by an actual road called "Easy Street" which was amusing. Even moreso than Ohio, we rode on the flattest land I've ever seen. You legit couldn't even see a curve on the horizon for miles. The road just seemed to disappear into nothing which was both weird and cool. I also saw the largest green fields yet which was mindboggling. I expected to see things like that out here but i still can't really believe it.

The other major theme of the day was heat. lots and lots of heat. Even I had a bit too much today as it was easily over 95 with the humidity. The five hours of sleep didn't really help and yes, it is possible to nod off while riding a bike which is kind of scary though it would never really happen. A real treat was putting ice in our waterpacks. Just imagine pure icy pleasure rushing through your veins and that's exactly what we felt.


The church here and the hospitality is amazing. They have a whole gym and we had a lot of fun playing some pickup basketball while waiting for showers. There was also some healthy amounts of ping pong going around. Bedford is actually the limestone capital of the world which is neat and there are all sorts of caves and quarries that i would've loved to explore if we had more time.

For dinner they literally had, I kid you not, 7 types of pasta dishes and only pasta. I was in carbohydrate heaven and the homemade chocolate sauce for the ice cream just added to the euphoria. Sometimes seeing myself and others eat on this trip is scary. I don't think i need to elaborate on that.

Mail came today and my parents sent lots of fun Greek imported products which was great, albeit extremely excessive in the sense that 1 package as opposed to 4 would've also been fine. Either way, thank you mom and dad!

Tomorrow is only 46 miles to LInton which literally feels like a joke at this point. Hope it will be as easy as it sounds...

Wait, as i was just walking to the other room i saw the most intense red pink sunset sky outside. Everyone is just outside chilling and taking it in. Sunsets are glorious and a really undervalued pleasure in life i feel. What if everyone took 10 minutes to just sit, do nothing, stare at the beautiful sky and see what happens. Hopefully we can start right here and you can let me know.

Careful, please don't drop Mickey Mantle's bat

Day 22 - June 25, 11:59pm
Day off. Louisville, KY

Today was an almost perfect rest day. It probably helped that i got to wake up at 10am naturally and comfortably rather than 5am as i will be doing in 5 hours. The joy of such a simple luxury was inexplicable. I got to take my time with my morning routine, catch up on some journaling, and just generally not be too out of it.

I was really excited to get the day going and every minute was made that much better knowing that i had an awesome concert to look forward to that night. A group of us headed out to the Lousiville Slugger museum first. The whole Louisville downtown area is pretty nice and modern. It has all of these crazy painted horses everywhere which are awesome and really fit well as a theme for the city. I also stopped at a fun bagel shop along the way and tried honey walnut cream cheese. Varied selections of flavored cream cheeses drive me wild so this was great.

The actual slugger museum was fantastic. About five of us took the tour but i personally loved it since i have such a connection to baseball. The history and significance of the place was just overwhelming. They actually took us through the factory floor to explain what was being done as guys were doing real work on bats. I learned a ton about differences between white ash, maple, the different tempering processes, the harvesting of wood, etc. At the very least i suppose i'll be a hit at my next cocktail party.

While it was pretty gimmicky, they let you put on gloves and hold an actual bat that mickey mantle once used, which i must say was super cool. Afterwards Doug and I took some swings at the batting cage using Babe Ruth's bat model which def got some stress out.

Afterwards Doug, Miranda and I headed over to a neighborhood called the Highland's which is kind of like the Williamsburg of Louisville in terms of it being all caught up in its hipness. There we saw transformers 2 with the rest of the group. It's storyline and corny comic relief were almost painful but come on. Cars, robots, and more explosions than there are words in this blog all equaled awesomeness. Hearing about the whole Michael Jackson thing just as we exited the theater was just plain weird and kind of sad. Its odd that we're so disconnected from any media of any sort to follow current events like that.

At night a group headed over to the MSTRKRFT concert at 8. I can't say how much i was looking forward to this all day and how lucky i was to get the timing right. Also i was getting really stressed out about getting there late and was really glad to realize that i could consciously notice myself getting antsy. I was able to take a step back, take a breath and realize that there's no need to stress over being late. I usually do get very antsy for things like this and i was very proud in this instance of my ability to take full focus and control of myself and my emotions. It's something Im working on as a goal of leading a life free of these little silly stressors.

The duo finally came on at ten and totally rocked. I got some serious dancing on and it was just such a great and necessary release that i hadn't done in a long while. It felt so amazing and fulfilling to have been able to be in my element like that in such a random place.

All in all the day off was literally a 10 of 10. I enjoyed every second of it and there wasn't any stress of planning or anything. I did three solid things all of which were great and took up the whole day. We all definitely needed something like this to remind us what real life is like. Though I must say that there was some serious cognitive dissonance going on when i had sudden urges to pee in bushes all day long...

Tomorrow is a 5am wakeup so the concert kind of messed up that whole sleep thing but at least it was fun. Live in the moment right? Right?

"You guys are nuts!"

Day 21 - June 24, 1 day late

My morning routine is getting better. Sean gave me a pointer about packing up all my stuff the night before and I'm glad that that whole process is becoming less of an issue in this trip. Also if you think about it, in our worlds of cradled stability, its just really cool to be able to pack and unpack your entire belongings every single day.

The morning started out with a 17 mile coffee break at this cute little town at a place called Lock and Key. It was an old bank with the vault still intact(so cool!) that was this super fair trade, sustainable, homey shop. At 8:30am i proceeded to have a Strawberry milkshake. Still can't figure out whether i should be concerned about that.

We were on a main road pretty much all day so while there were way more towns and things to see along the way, the traffic was pretty heavy for the first part of the day. During the last few miles as we approached Downtown Louisville during rush hour it was pretty uncomfortable riding. For all those NYCers, it was basically the equivalent of riding on Northern Blvd due west.

While we are all very conscious of being to the side of the road, almost everyone had cars honking at them angrily all morning. Highlight: At one point this car in the opposite lane was driving by and this typical middle aged lady sticks her head out of the window and yells "YOU GUYS ARE NUTS" at the top of her lungs with a healthy dose of condescension. We all couldn't help but laugh and get pumped up by it. We're glad to know that its not just us who think we're crazy.

Early in the day we saw a llama! Despite my best efforts i couldnt get it to run with me but still, it was a llama! in the middle of kentucky! so cool. There was also yet another tin man that Jenny and I came across along with the rusted frame of an old ATV. Andy by these two things i mean the perfect photo op.

The riding was a bit more hilly than yesterday but you could tell that people were starting to get used to 86 mile rides as just another day in the life which is good news. What people are not quite used to is the heat of which there was much of. I heard rumors that it had reached above 90+ at some points. You actually feel it less when cycling than when walking due to the breeze but when we were stopped at traffic lights around 4pm we may as well have been in a sauna wrapped in sweaters.

Passing through Frankfort was sorta cool. We got to promontory with a good view of the capital. Just that one hill sent tingling memories of West Virginia. It's always funny i thought how state capitals aren't necessarily that state's most prestigious and funnest cities. It's almost like governance is boring or something.

Since today was our night off we had also decided for it to be Bike and Buiild Prom, aka find the craziest clothes you can at thrift stores and wear them out. Colin, Carlos and I legit crossed six lanes of traffic to get to a goodwill. I was able to snag basically a pair of red polyester genie pants. Note i actually realized that there were some really decent clothes in the store that were simple and modest. There was even this awesome abercrombie and fitch jean jacket that i totally would've nabbed had the size been right.

Near us i realized there was a normal looking couple who had been invited to a wedding and were looking for appropriate clothes. I could've very well imagined seeing them in a Macy's yet they were looking amongst the $3 rack. There was also one of those sweet acrylic back massage things that i think will be put to very good use on this trip. To be totally honest, i felt really slapped in the face when i realized that this very respectable couple along with others in the store were looking for actual clothes while i was just looking for silly garments for a party. It was just kind of humbling in a big sense to realize concretely the way different people treat resources differently according to their situations. I don't think this necessarily registers with us as we so often get caught up in our own universe of possibilities, without the ability to get a fresh perspective.

Some highlights from the night's costumes included reversible leather-leapord skin jackets, a victorian dress, a 70's jumpsuit and all other types of silliness. We all went out to the main commercial nightlife strip of Louisville which was very Times Square-esque. They even somehow had an air conditioned street for one block! These commercial stores were so gimmicky and we soon left to a more local joint. But not before finding out that there is a free MSTRKRFT concert there tomorrow night. My whole face and personality blew up the moment this guy told me about it. I haven't been to a concert in so long, let alone an awesome electronica one that i know will be great. I was and am so so pumped. I've been especially bummed since this trip won't let me see Depeche Mode's tour this summer.

Tomorrow's our first day off which means we do whatever we want. We wake up and go whenever and wherever. I'd like to hit up the Louisville slugger museum and check out some really cool streets that i was recommended. I love exploring new cities, hope it delivers.

Pronounced "A late one"

Day 20 - June 23. 10:10pm

93 miles. Portsmouth, OH to Paris, KY

Probably one of the best mornings yet. We were on the road by seven and the mist added a cool effect. Right before crossing the Ohio River to enter Kentucky we went to check out the Portsmouth Flood Gate murals. Its this .5 mile stretch of floodwalls that trace the history of portsmouth in huge murals. Each one in itself was overwhelming and having about 50 of them was out of this world. My favorite was the very first one showing some kind of weird crop circles which is supposedly Portsmouth at the beggining of time or something. Talk about modest beginnings...They were also totally pristine and graffiti free. Major props to Ohio for that awesome public artwork.

The bridge crossing the ohio river has been our coolest yet, it was one of those A designs and just really pleasant to cross with no car traffic. Right on the other side was our welcome sign into Kentucky, which had a way too long web address. You would think it would simply be kentucky.gov but it was really beautifulpristinewildruggedunbridledkentucky.org or something like that. The whole concept of crossing into states has been kinda wierd in general since it all blends together after a while.

The roads were great though and the Kentucky scenery was really beautiful with its gentle green hills and pastures. At one point there was this awesome red exposed wall of rock on the side of the highway. We made super great time and flew 40 miles all the way into lunch. The day off had really re-energized all of us and we were totally feeling it. Larry and I stuck together the whole day. He was great as always, such a cool dude, Had some good conversation about music, and learned he played the euphonium. I also learned that there is such a thing as a euphonium.

By the second lunch the sun had def started having its way. It's cool though since this soda delivery guy apparently decided to donate several cases of cola to our group. First of all i love regional specialties. This was a cola called Ale - 8 - 1 pronounced "A late one" that's native to Kentucky. The story behind the name still doesn't make sense but it is a ginger drink and I love it.

The riding is great though I wouldn't mind more fun things to do along the way. Most of the time we're literally in the middle of nothingness, as beautiful as it is. Paris is a nice little time which is apparently the land of "Horses, homes, and hospitality" in that order. Could we even think of 3 more awesome words to describe a place?

We're staying at a YMCA tonight and upon arriving we all celebrated our longest day yet(92 miles) with a pool party and some fun diving. Afterwards 14 guys piled into the less than 14 person sauna. Things def got steamy in there.

For dinner we all went out to this decent Chinese restaurant for some MSG goodness in what was yes, the tallest three story building in the world. Again, we ate dinner in the tallest three story building in the world in Paris, Kentucky. Life is great. Also, Colin Hood explained to use that in Asian cultures it is considered crass to hold your chopsticks close to the bottom and the higher up you hold them the more you are respected. My fortune cookie for the night stated: "You are about to pass a difficult test" Deep and personally relevant as always...

Tomorrow is another 5am day and 80ish miles but i'm pumped for Louisville. Hopefully i can pick up a baseball bat (really useful when biking i know), We have our first day off there which will be much welcomed.

"This is how you hold the Nailgun"

Day 19 - June 22, 10:10pm
Portsmouth, OH. Build day

Had our fourth build day today. Didn't go out with the group last night in an attempt to sleep though heard they had an okay time given that it was a Sunday. It's such an incredible feeling waking up and not needing to bike 90 miles after doing it a week straight.

We were working with Habitat for Humanity today. Only the foundation was in and it was our job to fill in dirt both inside and outside of the concrete as well as various other oddjobs. We had some pretty intense assembly lines going at some points and were like a fine tuned bicycle. The big project for the second half of the day was installing all of the first floor support joints. It was our best build day yet. It was sunny(though hot), we were all together, and we were all mostly busy the entire day. Getting to wield the power saw and nail gun was a personal plus for me, or power rush to be more exact. Both the foreman's were named Paul which made for fun. They were super nice and you could just tell that they were great people. They told us that filling in the dirt alone would've taken at least three weeks had we not arrived so it was totally awesome to know what a difference we had made.



Dinner at the church was great. Our trip leader Jenny finally broke her vegetarian streak for want of protein. Oh how fried chicken seduces... I stocked up on baked beans but left lots of room for the tiramisu ice cream!

After dinner we did more affordable housing presentations where Colin King and I presented our Fight Club themed presentation on a case study of a family's healthcare and housing issues. We had been working a lot on it, mostly on how to make it funny. It definitely succeeded in being informative and entertaining and won much applause. Our surprise in the case study was that the wife contracted Lupus, and our comment on how the family was "thrown for a Lup-us" was easily the highlight.

Those just finished and It's incredible how even on our non-cycling days almost every hour of our lives is dominated by some bike and build activity. We're all getting more used to it, aka ruthlessly conditioned, but its a crazy concept how basic our needs and activities have become, namely eat, sleep, bike, build. I've often wondered with others what our lives will be like in August after we've been used to 6am wake up for 72 days, not to mention such huge adrenaline rushes and routinization and group living. We'll need to get our fix from somewhere, I just hope it's relatively harmless and legal.

After being frustrated at losing more of my personal items and searching everywhere tonight, I found they were in the lost and found bin in the middle of the room. That was a happy moment to say the least.

Tomorrow we're going into Paris! Kentucky that is. Its a 92 mile day in 80+ degrees so we'll be waking up at five. Father Dwayne remarked that God doesn't even wake up that early. Either way, I think you get the point.

Quesadilla Deluxe Please!

Day 18 - June 21, 11:05pm

57 miles. Marietta, OH to Portsmouth, OH

We had more deserts than we knew what to do with packing up this morning. I'm on cooler crew this week meaning we are responsible for packing up all the food into the coolers and bins every morning, keeping everything organized, and then storing them in the host's refrigerators overnight. In addition we have to fill the group water and gatorade coolers. It's probably the most annoying chore given how long it takes.

Everyone was so pumped about todays short ride and it did go by pretty smoothly despite some more right knee pain. To be honest nothing is really happening on the rides since we are getting into more farmland where there is less to see and do. The headwinds were gone today but the sun was out and the flat roads made for beautiful riding. We took lunch at a pretty lake only 20 miles in and it was the first time we've all ever eaten together which was fun. The knee felt much better afterwards which was great, i hope the day off will help us all heal properly.

I rode with Rob pretty much all day and loved it. He's pretty much the calmest, nicest person on the trip and I feel like he just somehow has great unique conversation with everyone. We talked at one point about what how we think we will be different after bike and build. I thought about this more during some silent riding and it was really nice to be introspective for a while on such a pretty day of riding. I think you can't necessarily control how experiences like this shape you exactly, but to an extent you can form a conception of where you would like to be at the end. Doing so, might help it become more of a likely reality since it will guide your outlook on the trip, which in turn guides your overall experience. At least i think...


Got my second flat today and fixed it in about 12 minutes which was decent. Since we all finally got in early we headed over to El Toro Loco for some fun quesadillas. Didn't have guacamole this time but my day will come. Also, finally got my credit cards cancelled, though customer service suspiciously keeps dropping my call when i try to fill a fraud claim...

We are at our first Catholic Church here and Father Dwayne has been so gracious in opening up the entire activity center for us. It has this awesome stained glass window from an old hospital. He gave us a tour of the Church which is gorgeous and even did some latin chanting to show off the acoustics. We also got to give the organ a trial run. He generally gives off a very cool vibe.

Had our weekly town hall meeting tonight to cover all of the issues over the past week and afterwards Meryl and Noah treated us to an interpretive dance of James Blunt's "Beautiful" which involved prancing, a chair, a bike lock, and gold bond. Don't forget that Noah is also the man whose shampoo is called "Mane n Tail"

I'm looking forward to the Build with Habitat tomorrow, and to tuning up my bike and fixing my fuzzy dice which ripped. But most of all right now i can't wait for sleep!

Oh headwind

Day 17 - June 20, 11:45pm

81 miles. Marietta, OH to Wellston, OH

Today was actually one of the first mornings were i was pretty on top of things. The key is to really have a good system and stick to it hardcore and squeeze as much time out as you can. For example, today i discovered i can apply sunscreen while we discuss the day's route and can leave miscellaneous items in the van to help me save time and be more organized. While try and ratchet up my efficiency as much as possible. I'm normally really good when it comes to packing up during camping trips and I think that setting this as a legit goal will help me adopt the right attitude. Fortunately most people have got their routine way more under control than me.

To be clear, Headwinds suck. It's so frustrating to be pedaling like mad only to be going nowhere. ItWe were discussing the merits of hills vs headwinds and most preferred the former because of the fact that they are visible conquerable obstacles rather than this whole abstract concept of moving air.

We had no choice but to paceline in groups. Its a hard and scary thing to get used to given that one wrong move can cause a pileup but it was necessary for us to pedal even remotely efficiently.

Honestly not too much happened today on the road. We took highways the first half and country roads the second half. It was a little unfortunate becuase there were so many vast stretches of road without any cool sights or towns to stop at. While highways are way more quicker in terms of making time, all of that monotonous road can be very mentally exhausting believe it or not. We did have one sweet pre-lunch stop in this town burger joint where I conquered a quarter pounder, a BLT, some cookies and half a chocolate shake. It's hard for us to realize what a spectacle we are when even only 12 of us roll into a store in our spandex and loud jokes. I couldn't tell if the cashier's hidden side glances were out of interest or horror.

Today was hot, like 93 degrees at one point. The hot asphalt and air had us sandwiched. I found that it still doesn't really bother me so long as I'm hydrated, which i guess will help on this trip. Speaking of which, everyone drank at least 5 liters of water today on the road, which is actually an insane number considering most people drink less than 1 daily.

My water actually ran out at about mile 67 and it got pretty scary since we had just turned onto a highway for 3 miles. Dehydration in that weather is a bad road and can happen super quickly. On days like that i find myself sipping water at least every 3 minutes. Fortunately Kelly was with me(yea girl!) and let me sustain myself on her water until we finished the highway. Once off we found a house where the residents were kind enough to let us fill up. Kelly had to do all the talking since i was to parched to even speak.

Afterwards we were pumped to have only 12 more miles to go and booked it on home, though it was really all Kelly who broke the wind resistance for me. Also, there was def a decent amount of hills today for what i thought would be nice flat ground all the way. While they were no match for our hardcore hill eating selves, comfort was not the theme. 80 miles two days in a row is kinda tough and by the end my right knee was not happy with me.

Today confirmed that the hardest part for me is right after lunch. This is because its kinda hard to focus on pounding out 40 more miles when you've already done 45 until then which is a feat in itself. Which brings me to another interesting observation about how cycling is an enormously mental endeavour. I of course think professional cyclists as insane because they're basically saying "Hey i bet i can tolerate more lactic acid buildup in my muscles!" More than a few riders on the trip have been fighting little voices inside their heads. Though the day was utter exhaustion and it was so hard to go on at certain points, the feeling of arriving totally wasted after 81 miles you conquered is indescribable. Plus we were the 3rd and 4th ones in today!

At the host church we literally had the largest spread I've yet to see on the trip. it was about 20 feet of table covered with all types of food. Fittingly it was also the fullest I've ever been on the trip. I tried to stop i swear but was in so much pain after stuffing myself. Our contact Gretchen was so nice for taking us to the high school showers and for generally coordinating everything. The Pastor also made these heavenly pumpkin muffins. (I can't help but close my eyes in pleasure as i write this and think about them)

Tried to cancel my credit cards today but got disconnected three different times due to my cell phone dying. As if dealing with customer service isn't fun enough. Will try again tomorrow.

Also did pushups, and realized why i was okay with originally stopping them. Looking forward to getting that groove back.

OK finally, last point. I saw my first actual confederate flag today ever! it was hung on a porch alongside an american one which was interesting. I've been so fascinated by the fact that people still fly it to this day ever since we talked about the civil war in high school. I wonder if we'll see more. I'd really hope to get a chance to talk to someone who flies it. We'll see. Off to Portsmouth!