can you say "headwind?"

What a great day - 88.58 miles (my longest ride ever) through the beautiful farm countryside of PA! The trees were beautiful, the people were friendly, and the stench was, er, persistent. Make no mistake, this is agriculture country, and I was treated to the delight of fresh manure for probably six hours straight. The only other downside may have been the headwind - there was a lot of it, and that didn't make this very difficult ride any easier. I treated myself to a massage (we're pretty pampered, I have to admit) and that loosened a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders from holding up my gigantic noggin. "It's like an orange on a toothpick!"


I had a great little conversation with a small group of Amish children, as I rode alongside for a bit. They were all on their simple single-speed bicycles as well, toting boxes or coolers on the luggage racks, and I was amazed and intrigued once again by their hardworking and faith-filled culture. A boy, perhaps 12, asked "what's your hurry?" as I pulled away and I explained that I had a long way to go yet. I would have enjoyed that for a while longer! I wonder sometimes what my life would look like if I was willing to let my faith guide it to the max...


Our route today passed through Penryn, which is actually where Sonia's parents live. They made the trip out to the post office to cheer us on and are pictured at left. They're wonderful, hospitable people and we'll see them again on Monday night before we road trip it back west.

I really should have taken more pics of the wonderful scenery, but it was really in my best interest to keep moving when I could. I did have to let go of some of my pride today - call it stubborn-ness, but I have this thing where I don't like to use the granny gear (third small chainring up front) on my road bike. Just pride I think. Well, this ride broke me of it and I used it four or five times today towards the end. I fell once, too, changing from the middle to the large instead of to the small on a Hill Of Significance, which made me stall out and topple over faster than you can say... something clever at a fairly moderate pace. Then I flopped over a second time trying to get started again on that hill. Anyway, it was overall a great ride and I'm very happy with how I did.


Tomorrow is a new day, with a new challenge: now that I've completed the longest ride I've done, it's time to do the second longest ride I've ever done...and it's a whole 3 miles sh

orter than today. I like to stack up my milestones... So, yeah, please pray for no bonking tomorrow - it's gonna be rough and I won't be able to do it all on my own!


The route for tomorrow is detailed at:
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/course.aspx?course=44498

And now, the moment you're waiting for - the Spandex Picture of the Day! Here are Brent and I at a memorial at Valley Forge National Monument, maybe 4 miles short of the end of our route today.

Have a great day and thanks again for your support!

Thank you!!

I want to take a second and thank all my supporters - the prayers, texts, and emails have been fantastic and really mean a lot. I've also had some anonymous donations show up - so whoever you are I hope you read this blog and know that I appreciate all the financial support as well. Those that have fessed up will certainly hear from me other than on the blog, but thank you a lot!

Our warm-up ride was nice - the weather is in the upper 50s, perfect with the gear we've got. We did about 18 miles in the rolling farmlands of Lancaster county, and it was really pleasant. We saw some corn, were chased by a manure truck, and when we visited the Myers farm I was accosted by an irritable swan. Had to bow up on him and show him what's what, because if you don't it's just constant trouble from all the waterfowl.

We just returned from the big dinner/meeting thing over at Chocolate World. It was very informative, in the sitting-in-the-back-so-I-couldn't-really-hear sort of way. In general, we have to give our bags to someone, at a certain place, at a certain time, so they go on a truck and meet us at the next hotel. Details, details. I did manage to get some zip ties, though, so I'll be able to deck out my bike with my number so that I recognize it later!

We've already met some great people, including some old friends from three years ago. Lisa Frank, one of the event organizers, was great to see again, as was Eldon, a racer from Oklahoma who's done the Tour every year since we met in 06! We also met some fun guys from New York that I'm sure we'll talk to some more as the event goes on. I had wondered if the size of this ride would make it seem less "friendly" (it was less than 50 people in 06, and is now up over 170) but it still seems small. After all, it's not like there's thousands of people here - and I like that.

Chocoloate world was full of chocolate, and there was a nice dinner set up for us there with pasta, chicken, and salad - plus some super desserts. I think we're going to eat pretty well on this trip. The hotel is really nice, too - there are even robes. I can't think of if I've been in a hotel with robes. It actually makes me wonder about the previous wearer. Just a tad. Plus, Brent rode the elevator with Joe Theisman and Frankie Andreo (who will ride with us this year!!)

I'll close for now, but it has come to my attention that my comments have been hijacked by someone while I was still logged in, and they commented posing as me to one of my earlier blog posts. Brent is clearly the actual NASCAR fan, as proven by this picture!

Reminder: don't let your subscription to "Pork" run out!! Seriously.

Made it to PA!

So Brent and I made it across the country to PA, and spent last night at Brent's inlaw's home in Lancaster. It's a beautiful farm, very lush and green with a huge pond out back. Marcella treated us to some delicious minestrone soup last night and we felt pampered after a long car trip!


The trip itself wasn't as long and grueling as I expected. I think I'm going to keep my sleeping pad and blankets in the back seat all the time now, because the Z catching part while not driving was pretty key. The leaves were turning more and more as we headed east, and the sunrise in Missouri and sunset in PA were fantastic, too.

It was long enough though. 26 hours or so, 1647 miles, and I ate my weight in pretzels and tea. Twice. Plus a chicken pot pie at Cracker Barrell, so I think I'm in the positive for calories on the day. Our only incident happened at about 10:30 PM in Kansas - the front of my roof rack let go - I think the wind pushed it backwards a little bit, and the clips moved back enough to release from the pins under the car's weatherstripping. We pulled over in the darkest place in Kansas possible, fixed it so that pushing backwards wasn't possible anymore, and got on our way. Nothing like a huge shot of adrenaline to help you sleep!

Today we're going to go for a quick ride to "warm up" for tomorrow and then make the short drive into Hershey after lunch for a clinic and rider meeting. Here's the route sheet for tomorrow, the first tour day-

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/course.aspx?course=44463

Thanks for reading. Check back for updates and gratuitous pictures of spandex!