A journey of brutally epic proportions.

Brooklyn, New York to Bloomington, Indiana via Bicycle. Sept 8th to Sept 19th 2008

I had been looking at plane tickets out of New York and after being mildly frustrated with the prices, and overly impatient with the purchasing process, I decided to just ride my bike.

My bicycle is a 1980's Lotus road bike and while it's not necessarily meant for touring there are plenty of ways to skin a cat and plenty of bikes that will make fine "touring bikes." My friend Vincent rode 900 miles on a fixed gear track bike! So while I would love to have a nice touring frame I don't think it's totally necessary.

After loading my panniers with food, water, a hammock and some tools, I was on my way out of the big apple! As far as a route was concerned I ended up taking my friend Lances advice and just heading west.

So Here are the pictures from my 11 day 900 mile journey through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, a little bit of West Virginia, Ohio and Finally back home to Indiana!


The Hudson river














A river in between NJ and PA


This the super sweet bike shop that totally hooked me up with all kinds of goodies! Thanks dudes!


It's a good thing that bike shop gave me a new tire because I ran over a broken bottle and put a huge gash in my tire. dis!


Booyah! I finally made it to PA!


Camp site/someones back yard?

Pretty roads of eastern PA.


Lunch time!


Self portrait while eating


Easton, PA


Pretty fields....


Chocolate town!


Choo choo!!!


I like rivers


And bridges


Appalachain trail


Amish dudes ride!


Me on top of a mountain!


The first of many mountains


Round 2...


Ahhh....


Round 3.....these things are getting tuff.....


Coming down the other sides not so bad.


This is my super awesome highway with a totally sweet shoulder.


Camping...


This is where fairies live.

what a stud!

The sun finally came out after two days of rain and helped dry my clothes/sleeping bag/hammock.


hill?!?


Another bridge.


Bridges go over water.


This highway took me from eastern Ohio all the way into Indiana!


What?! a bike lane in the middle of Ohio? Booyah!!

Holy crap! a city in the middle of Ohio? a most welcome site after being in the sticks for so long.


Pirates?! in Ohio? Yarr!!!

Hammock time!

Praise Allah, the holy land!

Indiana=soybeans.

Indiana=corn.



After looking at these pictures I feel they don't fully express the epic badassery of the 11 day trip. I was riding anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day, using baby wipes to clean off with and picking gnats out of my beard and that's kinda hard to capture. I guess I could of been more diligent about documenting the whole thing but I was busy riding! If you really want to get the full experience just hop on your bike and start riding. I hope these pictures will inspire you to go on a totally excellent adventure and if you need a partner in crime I'm totally down.

Some things I have done that are awesome. part 2

Tuesday June 24th 2008


Omg! Sweet balls of fire. Today I finished a nice little 129 mile trip from Attica, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois. My body hates me and I have to sleep.


Wednesday June 25th 2008


I feel so much better today than I did last night and I'm quite impressed with my body's ability to heal itself. I guess 13 hours of riding deserves 13 hours of sleep. Thinking back on yesterday I can't seem to get over how brutal it was at points and how I really didn't think I could make it.


Waking up at 7:00 am and realizing my knee could hardly bend was a troublesome kind of thought to have, especially when I had plans to ride at least 100 miles that day. After packing up camp and eating a healthy breakfast of crackers and cereal I made an attempt to ride my bicycle. No bueno. Your body has a pretty direct way of telling you how it's doing and right about now it was informing me that what I needed was to go to McDonald's, indulge in some pancakes and sausage and have some coffee.


After talking with the lady at the counter and enjoying the rare treat that is Micky dee's breakfast, I felt much better and my knees were working pretty well. From here on out it would be smooth sailing. Of course the smooth sailing part only lasted for about 60 miles at which point my perfectly crafted last minute Google map failed to inform me that the next 20 miles of road would be missing the shoulder and in it's place would be a 1 1/2 foot wide path of gravel! boo! 20 miles does not seem like that long but with a fully loaded bike and 23c tires it lasted for what felt like an eternity. Time and again I would find myself saying things like "don't give up!" or "this can't last forever!" but after 2 hours of riding, my top speed reaching about 6 mph, and the brutal heat I took refuge beneath a small bridge, ate some crackers, a can of baked beans, one more cliff bar and passed out.
While I lay asleep the temperature had steadily been climbing. returning to my bicycle also meant enduring the heat. It was the kind of heat that made it hard for everything to move, the flies floated along and the birds seemed to have lost their enthusiasm for song. The wheat along side the road looked as though it was ready to give up. The tree lined roads gave way to open fields as far as the eye could see with only tractors stirring up dust in the distance and semi trucks hauling down the open road. Just when I had given up for the about the tenth time, I came to a cross in the road and made to decision to abandon my planed route in favor of a less awful path.


It was as if all my hard work had payed off! the miles and miles of poor road and endless heat seemed to end and I found myself in the middle of green lush corn fields! never had I been so happy to see corn! The heat retreated and a nice breeze felt as though it was at my back. At this point I felt I could ride forever. The road I turned onto happened to be 274 st. In my mind It seemed odd that It was really 274 streets to Chicago especially because I was in the middle of nowhere. But that's exactly what it ended up being, and from where I was I could see my route running parallel to this one. Another couple hours of riding brought me through South Chicago and from there I got onto the south shore bike path and rode all the way to the loop. I had never thought that much of Chicago but as I rode into the city, covered in dirt, exhausted and hungry I was pretty happy to finally be there.





My only advice would be to rest a lot more than I did, get a nice saddle and don't leave the biking gloves at home. For about a week part of my nether regions were numb and for about two weeks my pinkie finger was half asleep. And as far as training for somthing like this goes? I think winging it worked out just fine.

Some things I have done that are awesome. part 1

Here are some entries from my 230 mile bicycle ride from Bloomington, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois.

Monday June 23rd 2008


Wow! 108 miles and I have finally found a place to sleep! After stopping at a couple different places I have stumbled upon a nice little place to hang my hammock next to the Wabash river. My body feels as though I've been beaten. My arms, legs and back have never felt so brutalized. It's so nice to finally be lying down, I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.


Coming through Spencer, Indiana I'm pretty sure somebody threw a kitten at me. That's right a little bitty black kitten. I'm riding down the road, and cars are rushing by when all of the sudden this little bundle of fur bounces between the yellow lines. It's as if someone had a bag of the little guys and decided to unload one as they saw me ride by. The poor little fella jumped about a foot into the air before he made a dash into the woods and disappeared. I'd like to think he made it to a nice little farm where he became a barn cat. They would call him whispers and he would spend the rest of his days chasing mice and lapping milk from saucers.


A couple of hours before I made it here, I took a nice swim in what was most likely someone eles's back yard. The day had been so hot and my clothes had taken on quite a bit of sweat and grime. The only logical thing to do would be to take off my burdensome garments, submerge myself in the crystal clear water and try not to think about the pig farm that was undoubtedly up stream. How glorious it was! As I lay in the cool water I could almost feel my aches and pains disappearing. The same could not be said for the scene that was racing through my head where I'm asked to squeal like a pig by some deranged hill people as in the movie Deliverance. Ick! happy thoughts! happy thoughts!


After a nice dinner of tuna, crackers and granola I was pretty much ready to sleep for a couple of days. The raccoon wanting to be my friend had decided he didn't like sticks being thrown at him so he left to go play with whispers up the road. My right knee was not really wanting to bend but I figured it would be fine come morning. The next morning I would find out I was wrong.