Friday, June 26, 2009

The first 500 miles



The full Join the Cycle crew

We have cycled over 500 miles! And what an interesting trip it has been. We have been faced with many challenges along the way: 5 flats, 2 broken spokes, a broken saddle, a fishtailing bicycle, a busy highway with no shoulders, some kind of stomach bug, heat exhaustion, a pulled back, and a relatively major accident (see blog soon to come). Unfortunately, the out of whack back has caused one of our riders, Chris, to drop out of the ride - at least for now. We hope he heals up and that we can meet back up with him a ways down the road.

Fixing a flat

Despite all of these challenges, we have had a pretty amazing trip. As mentioned before, we have met and keep meeting amazing people - some of whom have really helped us out and have totally taken us under their wings - some of whom have made us happy just by getting excited about our trip and pledging to ride their bikes more. I can't explain how great it feels to see people's eyes get wide when we tell them where we've come from and where we're going to - and to have them tell us about their bicycle experiences and get so excited about it all that they want to get out and ride their bikes.

At Joshua Tree National Park

We have also seen many cool places and things. We got to pedal through Joshua Tree National Park; we've seen the landscape change from city to Joshua tree and cactus desert to creosote desert to mountains and forest and back to creosote desert (with some juniper and grassland transition in between); we ran into a rattlesnake that was unhappy about our presence but held its cool; we have ridden along large portions of Route 66; we got to hang out in Flagstaff, AZ - a great town with some crazy and fun people; and we stayed on a corner in Winslow, AZ, like the Eagles (in "Take it Easy"). And now we're going to do just that - take it easy, as we let Hannah heal a bit from her crash.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun journey. I heard about your site, and your adventure from Joe. Sorry to hear about the crash, heal up and good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. get well soon chris! you may want to try 'north road bars' since i noticed you want your handle bars high for upright. they work good with road levers too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Jeremy! I might try it but i'm pretty comfortable with the road bars. How have you been man?

    The back is kinda of "old" injury... cycling has never hurt it before, only lifting. I never really pursued a final fix. I just got adjustments on a regular basis when i felt like it was headed that way. Once i lift wrong or bend wrong is when i jumps out of wack.. I'm trying to get an MRI to see what exactly is going on.. i have some info but i think my chiropractor needs more, his X-ray showed my right hip was quite a higher than my left again and pinching the nerve. There has to be a final fix!

    ReplyDelete
  4. hey, glad that i am checking out your blog. Looks like you are going west to east. Congrats on your first 500 miles!!! keep up the good work. Lots more adventure up ahead!!! Let me know if I can help you with any information (routes and stuff). I did the northern tier, so I am not so familiar with the southern states. =)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey all, happy fourth! Hopefully Hannah is fully healed by now and it's still unseasonably cool.

    Looks like you're making steady progress... Good luck and stay strong!

    ReplyDelete
  6. How are you all doing? I think I speak for everyone at Sibley when I say you guys are awesome!

    ReplyDelete