15lunatics

Day 42 took us to Piseco, NY and I stayed in a cabin on Piseco Lake.  Not a bad place but the only internet access was in the lodge lobby and I didn’t feel like hanging out with 13 others in a small room geeking out.  Saturday, Day 42 was the first day of the trip that I felt completely weak on the bike.  Not sure why but I just didn’t have it. (The good news is. . . . . .I bounced back, felt super strong, and flattened out the hills today)  We did enter the Adirondack Park yesterday and continued through it today.  Most of the roads there had very few homes and businesses and had great landscapes of multi-colored trees in fall colors.  A few pics: Entering the park Starting a climb along West Canada Creek Columbia ✔️, Snake ✔️, Missouri✔️, Mississipi✔️, Hudson✔️ Looking South down the Hudson River nearing Vermont. The Liberty Monument entering tonight’s visit to Ticonderoga, NY.  You history buffs know the importance of Fort Ticonderoga in the 7 Years

Day 40 (Thursday) was our final off day and was spent in Corning. NY.  What off day is complete without a trip to the laundromat?  After my chores were done it was time for a massage......I’m not talking about one of those massages you get in the “massage parlor” in the strip mall that gets raided every couple months.  I’m talking tear inducing deep tissue massage of the legs and other cycling muscles.  I’ve been getting them every few days from Tara, the Trek massage therapist who seems to know how to get some bursitis in my knee to shut up for a couple days after each massage.  After the massage I visited the Corning Glass Museum which is huge and very interesting.  It has everything from contemporary glass art to stained glass, glassware, ancient glass and even displays about auto and architectural glass.  Photos were forbidden in most areas but I thought the piece pictured below was interesting. The description of this is a shattered  chandelier that it is a metaphor f

State #12.  I don’t want to brag but I did ride my bike from Oregon to New York.........Fugget about it.  If you don’t know Strava this means nothing to you but if you do know Strava this shows that I pedaled really hard for 5 miles.  Still couldn’t take 1st overall despite leaving a trail of sweat, tears and puke up the hill.  Fugget about it. I figure that a picture of the New York sign should be enough for today but then I recalled what Benjamin Franklin once said to me...he said “ Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”.  Don’t know about the God thing but I think he’s on to something with the beer part.  The picture is for Allison and Mike, the real beer geeks in the family....2 beers, both unfiltered and both great.   Fugget about it Out. 

“Welcome to Seattle”......said the weather.  101 miles in mid 50’s and low 60’s in a steady drizzle.  A lot of steep climbs and steep descents today but with the wet roads we could not enjoy the descents.  Tough to get good pictures in that kind of weather but I couldn’t ignore the sign below.  Several of you who’ve read the blog have asked me, “ Hey Paul, do you think you’ll be riding past Timberdoodle Flats on your trip”?  Well here’s your answer.  Bucket list is filling up.   My wife kicks ass!!!!   She sent with me a box of 46 envelopes to be opened one per day.  Each one has a motivational quote and I open one each morning before the ride.  These few words each day help me get motivated which can be challenging on mornings like today when I know I’ve got a long day in bad weather ahead of me. Thanks Baby ❤️ One of my fellow riders and beer geeks bought a few of these at last nights brewery to be enjoyed after today’s ride.  If you don’t know where the name com

Day 37 brought us into state #11, Pennsylvania.  A cool but windy day although it was a short day of only 59 miles.  Since we were done by 1:00 I had to find something to do (see below) Crossing the Pyamtuning reservoir into Pennsylvania Fellow rider Joe on the trail.  Occasionally we get to leave the busy highways and farming roads for some miles.  I did get to yell “on your left” to an Amish guy in his horse drawn buggy today as I passed him......what can I say, it’s the little things that give me joy.  This is the (see below) part.  Killed some time at Meadville’s only brewpub, Voodoo Brewing. Tuesday’s ride is long and hilly.  Weather forecaster says we’ll be riding in some “Florence leftovers”. The numbers: 3112 miles ridden 732 miles remaining 11 states with 4 remaining 16 centuries with 4 remaining 34 rides with 8 remaining Several breweries with several remaining Out.

Days 35 and 36 were both relatively short and the routes were pretty boring. More farmland on Saturday and some busy highways on Sunday.  However, I did see some things new to me as we rolled into Burton, OH today.  The county that Burton is in has the 4th largest Amish population in the US but I won’t be here long enough to see much of it.    A few Amish facts: When Amish teens turn 16 they can venture out and experience the non-Amish world including, drinking, dancing, dating and technology without judgement from the church.  They then decide if they want to rejoin the Amish community.  If not, they are not shunned because they have not yet been baptized under the faith. Amish people will not own a car but will accept a ride in one. Amish men remain clean shaven until they are married at which point they start to grow the traditional beard  The Amish are pacifists and there is only one known case of a homicide within the Amish community   I couldn’t pass up thi

Day 33 was a relatively easy 91 mile day but was pretty wet.  Nothing notable except our visit to Dark Horse Brewing.  Good live music and maybe one pint too many.  Oh well, only have 120 miles Friday.  Day 34 was the longest remaining day at 120 miles.  Not much climbing but a long day in the saddle.  Made pretty quick work of it with a well organized 6-person paceline.   Friday’s lunch was at Randy’s BBQ.  Our vegan massage/guide Tara stayed in the van and missed out on some great animal flesh.  I think Randy needs to double check his spelling on Los Angeles or perhaps it’s actually directions to a group of women all named Angela.  Randy’s had some nice comfortable chairs to relax in after lunch but some of my fellow cyclists thought it looked like I’ve lost some weight on the trip.  I don’t see it but I’ll weigh myself when I get back to Seattle, my clothes seem to still fit okay.  Your thoughts? As we arrived in state #10, Ohio, my ear worm

Yesterday’s 88 mile ride with the first 60 miles in heavy rain “dampened” my enthusiasm to blog so today’s blog covers both days.  Some miscellaneous pictures below: Forgot to add this on Monday.  This cow is in the Trek Bicycles factory and is painted with some test colors for upcoming models.  Some of them are cool metallic colors like some of the old Klein bikes.  Don’t know why they use cows, I’m udderly confused........that one’s for Dad. Those are Heather’s legs in the foreground as we had a cocktail on the off day.  In the background is the Wisconsin State capital building in Madison. A shot of tonight’s room in Holland, MI.  Trek is putting us up in some very cool hotels.  We’ve had a lot of Holiday Inn Express and similar which I expected but we’ve had some very cool modern hotels as well as some great historic buildings.   My ride is here.  Before you accuse me of cheating on my cross country bike ride you should know that a ferry across Lake Michi

Day 29 from Spring Green, WI to Madison was what we all needed, a short ride.  Only 55 miles with 3,000’ of short, steep climbs.  I just wanted to get to the hotel and get ready for Heather’s arrival so I did not take any pictures.  Trek Bicycles and Trek Travel are both headquartered in Wisconsin.  Trek Travel in Madison and Trek Bicycles in Waterloo.  Before dinner on our short day was a cocktail hour at a hotel owned by Trek where we met a lot of the Trek employees and the company President/CEO, some of whom will join part of our ride to Milwaukee on Tuesday.   Day 30, REST DAY.  Here’s a few pictures from today’s fun visit to the Trek Bicycles headquarters in Waterloo.  The bicycle frames are fabricated in China and are sent to Waterloo for all prepping, painting, drive train assembly and final touches are done in Waterloo.  We were not allowed to take photos but watching the different phases of the process was very interesting.  I especially liked watching the robotic a

A bunch of nerds wearing weird clothes in front of the Mississippi River.  Freaks.  Saw this great display in front of an American Legion hall in a tiny town in Wisconsin Leaving La Crosse on the way to Madison we stumbled onto a very small Amish population (photo credit goes to Tara, our guide and massage therapist.  Don’t know if she meant to modify it to look like a Thomas Kinkade but oh well).  Also passed 3 horse and buggies but didn’t know if there was some sort of etiquette when it comes to photographing the Amish with a $750 smart phone so I left it alone.  I’ll look into that before PA where I’ve been promised more Amish country.   Speaking of not entering the modern era, I’d like to challenge anyone from a generation younger than mine to identify the item pictured above.  Old people cannot give clues.   Heather is arriving Sunday afternoon for another conjugal visit and since I’ve got an off day Monday she will stay until Tuesday morning.   On Monday I’m indu

Day number 27.  State #8.  117 miles but not much wind and not too much climbing. Arrived in Wisconsin at about mile 112 Crossed the mighty Mississippi at mile 115 Drank beer at mile 117.0000000001.  Turns out Badgers still like Russell Wilson. This one’s for coach Mark.  If you see MM who beat me on this climb by 17 seconds it’s important to know that MM is one of the hotshot 30-something guides who rides bikes for a living.  Either he was having a bad day or stopped for a sandwich halfway up the hill.......or am I just fast?  Hmmmmm? Looking forward to seeing Heather in Madison on Sunday and touring the Trek bicycle factory on the day off Monday.  103 and 5,000’ tomorrow. Out. 

I’m currently in Austin, MN, the spam capitol of the world.  I don’t mean SPAM as it relates to junk email but instead as it relates to food.  Austin is the home of Hormel Foods, the manufacturers of SPAM.  The pictures below are from the SPAM museum here in Austin but first a few SPAM facts: The first can of SPAm was produced in 1937 15 million cans of SPAM were sent weekly to allied troops during WWII and it was praised by Dwight Eisenhower and Margaret Thatcher for its role in keeping the troops nourished during the war. The name SPAM comes from the words Spiced Ham but during WWII and beyond it morphed into what most know it as......Special Processed American Meat. Thought I was kidding didn’t you? Sheila and Dave with their new SPAM cycling jerseys.  Dave lives in Hawaii and actually eats SPAM.....yep, he’s the one.  He referred to his visit as more of a pilgrimage than just a visit.  After telling the museum staff of his love for SPAM they actually gave them the jerse

State number 7 of 15. It’s the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, even says so on their license plates.  Being kind of skeptical I did some research and found out that the criteria is that the lake must be at least 10 acres or more and there are actually about 12,000 lakes in Minnesota that meet that criteria.  Today’s stats.  Actual pedaling time was 7:26 minutes giving me an average speed of 17.0 MPH.  Wind was not much of a factor today.   Since the Mariners are fading after having a relatively good season I’ve included a Mariner joke but you can apply it to your favorite underachieving sports team: Q:  How many Mariner players does it take to fix a flat tire? A:  One, unless it’s a blowout then the whole team shows up.  Out. 

In case you wondered what I’ve been doing for the last few days, this is it.  We’ve been fighting 20-30 mph winds across South Dakota and riding in an echelon formation can put the riders in the back in the draft of the rider in front of them, making pedaling easier.(cyclists please bear with me while I describe echelon riding to non riders) The rider in front “pulls” for a short time then rotates to the back and the next rider takes over.  This continues until the wind ceases, changes direction or you reach your destination.  Imagine doing this for 70 miles with just 3 riders and that was my day today.    Suddenly it occurred to me that I should turn left. P2P (pub to pub) continues I’ll arrive in state number seven, Minnesota, tomorrow.  Out.