Dave's Cross Country Bike Ride

Home Again! Day 53

2007-07-27T16:43:00.001-07:00

The top photo was taken on July 24, 2007, as I dipped my front tire into the Atlantic Ocean at Rye Beach, New Hampshire. We had travelled about 3,900 miles since the second photo was taken. That was on our start on June 3, 2007 as I dipped my rear wheel into the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco, New Hampshire.

And the final photo was taken this morning, June 27th, my second day back at the office. Yup, it's "back to the real world". Pictured are Jaime, Steph, Missy, Nichole, and Maria, plus the big guy in the background. Laura couldn't be in the photo, and my partner, Andy and our office manager, Diane, both took vacation when I came back!

The ladies made a lovely "Welcome Home" banner, with many photos on it that they printed from this blog. Cool, huh? Fortunately, I didn't forget too much about "doctoring" during the ride, and we got through the first two days back without a hitch. Everyone has been great, welcoming me home.

About the bike--I bought seven tires on the trip: two lost to "tar", and several with too many pieces of glass or wire in them. I also used a new chain, after the halfway point. And Gerard, our mechanic, replaced my rear derailleur cable twice. But the bike held up very well, despite travelling 3,912 miles on the trip.

We only travelled through 13 of the 48 continental United States (although many of the riders rode into Maine after we dipped our wheels, to add a 14th state). It's a pretty big country, and we saw only a tiny fraction of it in our travels. If you double click on the map at the top of the page 51 entry, you'll see that our route was anything but straight! But it was wonderful.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and owe thanks again to our great AbB staff. They worked hard to care for the riders, and I'd love to ride with them again. I was able to "smell the roses" every day, and took over a a thousand photos from the trip. Because I got stronger (and faster) as the ride progressed, I was able to ride with all the cross country riders, even those who preferred to ride by themselves for most of the time. There was an interesting dynamic, as the faster (driven) riders and the slower (and happy to stop frequently) riders each seemed to feel that their method was the best. Having ridden much with both types of riders, I think each group did what was best for them.

Since I rode across the United States to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, I want to (again) mention a special rider. I probably rode with Howie more than anyone else on this trip (no offense to all the other great people I rode with). We both rode at similar paces (esp. after I "sped up" a little), but loved to stop, take photos, chat with others, etc..... As I've noted, Howie is a cancer survivor, and is a phenomenal mixture of tough and kind. He battled lymphoma for nine years, and for the last three years has not needed any further treatments.

Just like Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor and phenomenal rider, Howie is dedicated to the fight against cancer. He also raised money to fight cancer while he rode. He, like me, wore a Livestrong bracelet during the ride (just check our wrists in the photos), and he even gave me a few extra Livestrong bracelets that he had. I know he would join me in asking all concerned people who've enjoyed following our rides to make a tax deduct able donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. To do so, please visit my web page at

livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore

To the many people who have donated or will donate, I say again "Thanks".

It's been a great ride, and I already miss it! But it's also great to be back home! I encourage all of you to find something that you love, and challenge yourselves like my fellow riders did. Combining exercise, travel, and learning, this trip was a perfect challenge for me. I hope you find, and enjoy, yours as I have.

Please feel free to contact me at

dsmv@comcast.net

to discuss the trip, this blog, or the Lance Armstrong Foundation. And thanks for reading!

To the Atlantic Ocean--EFI Day 52

2007-07-26T12:44:00.001-07:00

Well, that looks like the Atlantic Ocean behind Carol and me, so that means--we made it! What a great experience!

We rode 58 miles to the beach this morning, and all riders took a little time to enjoy the ride. Howie and I missed two turns in a row, so we got extra mileage again. It was the only time we were not riding with several other people, and we just weren't paying attention to our "Clue" sheets.

As you can see the weather was lovely. The top photo was taken just after I dipped my front tire into the Atlantic Ocean at Rye Beach, just south of Portsmouth, NH. The middle photo was taken at a school in Rye, and shows the 24 cross country riders who finished the ride, the 4 AbB staff members, and a few other riders who joined (or , in Jay's case) rejoined us fro the final leg from Erie, PA to the ocean.

After that photo was taken, we rode as a group to the beach, with a police escort in front. Septuagenarians Herb, Robert, and Cliff, as well as 67 year old Arlene were given the honor of riding up front, just behind the police car, while the AbB staff rode at the back. As a second police car was not available to trail us, Carol drove our minivan at the rear of the peleton, with her flashers on.

The funniest part was hearing the AbB staffers who rode with us (Andy, Michelle, Gerard, and Christine) talking. Whenever they drove by during the cross country ride, they would admonish any rider who was riding too far out in the road to "move over to the right". But during the police escort, they yelled "Get back in the middle of the road. Why are you riding on the side of the road?"

I had two major goals during this ride, apart from raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They were as follows.

First, enjoy every day! That turned out to be easier than I had imagined. We had a great group of riders, a great AbB support staff, and rode a great route. Sure, we had some rain, and plenty of headwinds, as well as snow in the Sierras. But we never had the unbearably hot weather we had anticipated, and most road conditions were good to excellent (with several notable exceptions). There was never a day I didn't feel like riding--though there were certainly times where we had 20 miles to go and I wished the hotel were around the next corner! We all had to "dig deep" at different times, but people were very supportive of one another.

Since I love riding my bike, it was easy to wake up every morning and get on the bicycle. I was lucky enough (and experienced enough) to avoid any major soreness during the long ride. And that leads to may second major goal for the trip, which was to ride EFI.

EFI stands, of course, for "Every Fantastic Inch", or something like that. Early in the ride, I learned this term. It meant that a rider rode the entire route under his/her own power. Sure, we carried our bikes over the sand to dip our wheels, and we occasionally carried our bikes around obstacles (missing bridges, roads so thick with hot tar and stones that the wheels wouldn't turn), but we did every fantastic inch by ourselves, without riding in the SAG van.

About 16 riders (~60% of the cross country riders) rode EFI, and we were very proud of it. Almost half of the EFI riders are posing at the beach in the lower picture. It took luck, as well as lots of effort, to ride EFI. Avoiding illness, injury, and bicycle problems were always in the back of my mind. Our oldest (Herb) and youngest (Erin) riders each rode EFI, and I know they both had some really tough days--pretty amazing. Several riders had to SAG at one or more times due to illness, fatigue, injury, or a bike that was beyond the considerable ability of Gerard, our mechanic, to do roadside repairs on. (Remember that old bit about never ending a sentence with a preposition? I hope that's become passe, because ending sentences with prepositions is something I'm very comfortable with.)

I'll post some final thoughts on A "Wrap Up" page soon. Of course, it's time to get back to work in "the real world". It's been a great ride!

Over the Hills of New Hampshire Day 51

2007-07-23T14:37:00.001-07:00

Today was our penultimate ride, and it was memorable. We left the hotel and soon crossed the Connecticut River, entering New Hamphshire--our final state. The forcast was for headwinds (which were not bad) and rain as the day progressed.

Continuing our eastward trek over the Green Mountains (actually, just really big hills--they are what is left of the Appalachian Mountains which were so very much higher before hundreds of thousands of years eroded them to their present size), we had over 6,000 feet of climb. This was our second highest climbing total, ranking behind the day up Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevadas. Of course, we also had about 6,000 feet of descending, which never lasts nearly as long as the climbing!

I think that if you put a ball on the road, onjust about any part of our ride today, the ball would roll forward or backward--there just weren't any "flat" areas. I probably shifted gears as much today as any day. There were no really long climbs (like yesterday's), but there were many steep climbs--among the steepest we've ridden.

The third photo was taken just before climbing the steep hill on Joe English road, about 72 miles into the ride. You can see the sense of humor of the artist (my money is on Mike Munk, of the AbB staff), who notes that the AB (for America by Bicycle) route goes to the left, and will leave your tongue dragging! Another clever sign I saw (up above) just before climbing a very steep part of a hill said, "O SHIFT!" (This photo was taken by Mike Monk on last year's ride).

Carol has joined us this evening for our final dinner together here in Manchester--a banquet! It's nice to see the riders greet her by name, with a smile. She had ridden on an AbB bike tour with me in the past (the Fall Foliage Tour--on our tandem bicycle). That ride averaged 45 miles a day, and Carol said that was "too much". She admires all who cycle across the country, but has no desire to ride that kind of mileage herself.

The map has been updated as you can see below. We're almost at Portsmouth, NH. Only a 50 plus mile ride tomorrow, and we'll dip our front wheels into the Atlantic Ocean. Hard to believe it!

Climbing in the Green Mountain State Day 50

2007-07-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

We are riding over the Appalachian mountain range today and tomorrow. As soon as we left our hotel in Troy, NY (on the east bank of the Hudson River, we started to climb. After entering Vermont (see above), we really started to climb. The terrain was lovely, the weather nice (and not too hot), and we did several sustained climbs. Unlike our climbing in the Rocky
Mountains, we were surrounded by beautiful streams and creeks, and lots of greenery. The Green Mountains are aptly named. The second photo was taken in a valley, and you can see the mountains in the distance.

When we entered the town of Bennington, Vermont, Howie, Pete and did an additional mile plus climb to the cemetery where Howie's brother and sister-in-law are buried. They were killed in a car crash 4 years ago. The tombstone was topped by a sculpture of a man and woman embracing--Howie's brother had sculpted it himself. It was beautiful, and there was an engraving on the stone that said "Together Forever". It was very touching.

The second SAG was set up after the longest climb of the day. We then had a nice descent, followed by another climb to the eastern peak of Hogback Mountain. The lower photo shows Howie celebrating as we reached the top of the climb. We chatted with several motorcyclists at the mountain top (called the hundred mile view). While we envied their ability to get up the mountains easily, they were camping every night. With the rains that were here until about 48 hours ago, they had to deal with some difficult conditions.

Of course, we were rewarded with a lovely descent into Brattleboro, Vermont (just west of the Connecticut River, which is the Vermont-New Hampshire border), where we're staying tonight.

Riders all felt the effort in their legs today, and we will do more, even harder climbing tomorrow. Since tomorrow night Banquet, and get a chance to tell stories. Carol will be driving up to share the evening (she's made a great impression on many of the riders), and several other spouses will be here as well. It should be fun.

Conquering Troy--New York Day 49

2007-07-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

We finally had some wonderful weather for our 83 mile ride today. We're in Troy, NY, having just crossed the Hudson River. We continued along the Mohawk River (and waterway system) today, with lots of nice scenery. Above is "Lock #9", looking downriver on the Mohawk. The water level is at the upstream (behind the camera) height, and will be lowered to the downstream height (about 15 feet) and vice verse, to allow small and mid-sized boats to go down or upstream.

We had lunch at another outdoor drive-in. Christine is pictured with several of our bikes, but she is looking at the kids' cycles. She and Bill were just married a month ago at Monarch Pass. What could she be thinking?........

Tonight, after dinner, 12 of our cyclists engaged in a "Tee Shirt Swap". Each cyclist brought a tee shirt which they then exchanged. It was done by a "lottery" system, and riders were able to "steal" each others' "picks". It was very funny watching the "double dealing" going on, and we had lots of laughs. Pictured below are the riders with their new tee shirts.

Sorry the blog is somewhat shorter today, but "Harry Potter and the Deathly Harrows" was released today, and there was a bookstore about 4 blocks from the hotel that had unsold copies, and.........

79 miles on the Erie Canal Day 48

2007-07-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

We cycled along the New York State Canal System today, which first started as the Erie Canal in 1825. Tonight, we're in Little Falls, New York. We had a fair amount of rain today again, but it looks like the storm systems will be moving on now.

The Erie Canal opened in 1825. Originally it ran 363 miles, from Buffalo, on the eastern shore of Lake Erie, to Albany, on the Hudson River. At an initial cost of seven million dollars, it was one of the engineering marvels of the nineteenth century. It allowed easy travel from western New York to New York City by waterway, much cheaper than horse drawn carriages on dusty or muddy roads. Within 15 years of the canal's opening, New York was the busiest port in America (supplanting Boston and Philadelphia). And with the exception of Binghampton and Elmira, every major city in New York lies along the trade route established by the Erie Canal. This includes Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Schenectady, Albany, and NYC. Today, 80% of the population of upstate New York lies within 25 miles of the canal.

The initial canal was 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep (see top photo). It was dug by the muscle power of men and horses. Between 1835 and 1900, the Erie Canal "system" which came to include other New York State canals, was enlarged twice to accomadate larger barges. Between 1905 and 1918, the canals were enlarged yet again. Photo #2 shows the "barge canal", which is much larger. If you look very carefully, you can see that the "captain" of the boat is steering with one hand, while he hugs his "honey" with the other. He gave us a rather sheepish grin when we hailed him.

The third photo was taken after dinner, at the canal here in Little Falls, along the Mohawk River (which is just to the right, off camera). Much of the original canal has been abandoned, and engineers have "canalized" several rivers, such as the Mohawk, which flows into the Hudson River near Albany. Pleasure boats ride the canal system now, but there are plans to bring corn via the canal system to an ethanol plan downriver. Folks are still not sure if it's economically feasible--we'll see.

Tomorrow, we'll continue some more along the canal. Then we'll spend a few days crossing the mountains before we make our way to the Atlantic. As of today, I've ridden 3, 607 miles since leaving San Francisco on June 3rd. Hard to believe......

Rain, Rain Go Away Day 47

2007-07-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that there are no pictures of bike riders or the terrain we travelled today. As you may have guessed by the title of today's blog, we had lots of rain today. Starting with light drizzle, then heavier rain, and a real drenching downpour midday, we had lots of wet today. After the ride, almost every rider was washing his/her bike, to remove the debris, mud, filth, etc.. that get on the bikes when it rains.

I put my camera in a waterproof bag this AM, and didn't remove it until we reached the hotel here in Liverpool, near Syracuse, NY. Too bad, because we passed several of the finger lakes, rode through Waterloo (the birthplace of Memorial Day) and Seneca Falls (the birthplace of "Women's rights/voting"), and saw other interesting sites as well. Several folks had their cameras ruined in the rain today, and one rider says her (that narrows it down a little, doesn't it, Erin?) third camera of the trip was ruined!

On top of that, we rode over thousands of pieces of glass, and riders had more than thirty flat tires today. One rider had four while another had six! I had a flat tire early myself. Pictured above is a group of riders at "route rap" who raised their hands when asked if they had a flat tire today. Lots of hands are raised.

On the bright side, I was given permission by Arlene to tell a story about her. Arlene, pictured in the middle with Jay, suffered a fall off her bike about three weeks ago. She sustained multiple lacerations to her face and hand, and had non-displaced fractures of her nose and "pinky" finger! She wore a splint on her hand/finger, and had many sutures. Arlene also had bruises on her face and looked very sore! She rode in the SAG van for about a week, asking me about every other day if she could ride yet. After a week, we started to remove some of her sutures. Then, on the rest day in Indianapolis she rode around the 2 1/2 mile track. The next day she rode about thirty miles, and within a few days she was riding the full day's mileage, which she has continued to do. She feels much better, and is riding strongly. We are so impressed with her! Her stitches are all out, her bruises are healing--and, as you can see, she looks great!

We have had several riders leave the trip this summer. Two have left after falling off their bikes, and another left early after fighting bronchitis. I haven't reported any details on this blog because I haven't asked their permission to do so, and because I don't want to emphasize any "negatives". The AbB staff says that perhaps 10% of riders don't finish the Cross Country Challenge each year, and with three riders gone out of about 25, I guess we're just over that average as we approach the Atlantic Ocean. The ride certainly is challenging, and some of our riders have really suffered at times. But they are all strong and courageous.

Another rider who deserves special mention in this regard is Robert (pronounced Ro BARE), from France. Robert will turn 73 in a few days, and he is pictured below at a birthday celebration held this evening after dinner, where we (appropriately) had wine in his honor. The wines were from the local wineries, but Robert enjoyed them nonetheless! Robert, who is our second oldest rider (Herb is 75), had fought bronchitis for well over a week. He took antibiotics and continued to ride every day, going a little slower until he felt better. He feels well now, and is riding as strong as ever. Amazing!

Joyeaus anniversair, Robert!

A Look at Our Routines Day 46

2007-07-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

So what 's a typical day like? We wake early, pack our bags, get our bikes ready, and then (if we're lucky) we eat breakfast before we load our luggage into the trailer that's towed by "Gold" to the next motel. The early birds look "bright eyed and bushy tailed", and the night owls still have sleep in their eyes. Most riders love coffee (never had a cup myself). Breakfast may be at the hotel, or at a nearby restaurant.

At the designated "load time", the trailer is opened, and Gerard and Andy (top picture, with newer rider Andrew from Las Vegas on the right, outside the van) hop on. The valuable bike pumps are handed out, and Herb is always lined up, calling "I get the pink pump first". (Don't ask!)

We hand our bags up to Andy and Gerard, then sign the "load sheet". Riders are then free to depart. Some folks always ride together, some folks always ride alone, but most cyclists ride with several others. I've tried to ride with every other cyclist on this trip, though I haven't always been able to ride with the folks who just travel a week or so with us. I've ridden and chatted with all the "cross country" riders, some for minutes here and there, most for much longer periods of time.

At the SAG stops we sign in, wash our hands, then feed, tell stories, refill water bottles and tend to other needs. On longer days, like today (95 miles with plenty of hills) most of us also stop for lunch somewhere. Unlike SAG food, we pay for our own lunches. Today I had a club sandwich--the ladies at my office will be astonished!

Then we continue the ride until we reach the hotel. Today we travelled east (of course) through western New York, and are staying in Canandaigua, in the finger lake region. The scenery was nice--but again, not that different from home (see middle photo).

Folks arrive at the next motel on a staggered schedule. The "harder" the day, in general, the longer between the earliest and latest arrivals. Today it was about 4 to 5 hours, I think. Several riders like to ride quickly to the next motel, and are usually in early. Others stop often, whether they ride quickly or slowly. I've been with the first group to the hotel and also with the last group (several times each) on this trip. It's nice to experience variety!

After a shower, and tending to other needs (bike adjustments, laundry, email, blogs,...) we meet for "Route Rap" and discuss the next day's ride. Pictured at bottom is a portion of the group at today's route rap. It was held outside because of the nice weather and the lake. Goose droppings were the only down side to this location. Notice how folks are studying the "cue sheet" while Andy (standing, left of the tree) talks.

BTW, we have a few pet names for the "cue sheets". These have typewritten instructions, telling us how far to ride until the next turn, SAG stop, or other direction. They are usually clear----however, occasionally they are confusing, esp. if there has been road work done since last year's Cross Country Challenge. One clever wag first dubbed them the "clue sheets", then, after getting particularly confused, changed them to the "haven't got a clue sheets" (alright, it was me again)!

Just kidding--mostly. We love our cue sheets, and can always find our way to the next turn. And when we don't, AbB is gracious enough not to charge us extra for the extra miles we rode while lost or confused!

After route rap, it's off to dinner which is enjoyed with good fellowship. Most folks then turn in early, but a few (esp. the younger riders, but some guys who are starting to look at middle age in the rear view mirror) go to a bar some evenings. Even the "night owls" are usually in bed by eleven. Then it's go to sleep, then wake up and do it again!

A New York State of Mind Day 45

2007-07-17T14:33:00.001-07:00

We're in Hamburg, New York, after an 82 mile ride today. I thoroughly cleaned my bike yesterday, so naturally it rained! Fortunately, the rain was brief and mild, and the ride was enjoyable. Pictured at the State sign are Howie, Pete, Philippe, Jeff and me, starting at the left. After only riding about 40 miles in Pennsylvania since we left Ohio, we were in New York. Who thought you could cross PA that quickly?

We passed many vinyards on our ride along Lake Erie, as shown on the second photo. The grapes are looking good to my untrained eye, at least. While we saw signs directing us to several wineries, none had distances listed, and we didn't actually ride by any wineries. And since we were riding bicycles, we decided against doing any wine tasting. Rats!--oops, I hope that doesn't sound like sour grapes! We also had many views of Lake Erie to our left, including at our SAG stops.

After arriving at the hotel, seven of us hired a "taxi van" and were driven to the "Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park. There we spent an hour looking at hundreds of old bicycles--by far the largest collection any of us had seen. From the first "Ordinary Bicycles" (called the penny farthing in England) with the large front wheel, we saw how the development of rubber tires, then pneumatic tires, as well as the chain and cassette (which allows gear changing) affected the bicycle. The automobile and airplanes used many bicycle innovations, including ball bearings, rack & pinion steering, differential drives and wire spoked wheels. It's a great museum!

Resting in Erie Day 44

2007-07-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a day off the bikes in Erie, PA today. Carol, Bekki and I were able to walk down to the lake last night and climb a fairly high observation tower (on the elevator). Behind them is Presque Isle, a peninsula that forms and protects Presque Bay, which is responsible for the location of the town of Erie. The peninsula hosts the largest state park in PA, with many miles of beaches and 3.5 million visitors a year. Lake Erie can be seen behind the "isle".

The second photo shows the town of Erie as seen from the tower. At its largest, the city had 400,000 people. It's population now is perhaps 140,000 (or less). Here's hoping the city's turn around goes well.

We ran errands today, with Pete and brothers Tim and Jeff. Trips to Walmart and the bike shop were made. I also did the obligatory bike cleaning (a thorough job this time). At least the trip to the laundromat was more fun, with the help I had! I was sorry to see my ladies go, but they had to return to Gettysburg this evening. I love you two, and thanks for the visit!

We start our last stage of the Cross Country Challenge tomorrow, riding eight more days across New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. It's also one of the last times for me to say a few words about the Lance Armstrong Foundation, for whom I'm riding. Money donated to the foundation not only goes to research and treatment, but also is used to help people make decisions re: treatment, and for support for cancer patients and their loved ones.

If you'd like to make a tax deductible donation, please visit my web page at

livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore

To all of you who have donated, I say "Thanks Again"! It's been great riding across the country, and I'm looking forward to this next week.

It's an Erie Feeling Day 43

2007-07-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

If you double click on the top photo, you can see how far we've come! Carol and Bekki drove from Gettysburg (about 5 hours) to visit, and it's great to see them! Bekki's pointing to Erie, PA, where we're staying tonight and tomorrow.

Our 97 mile bike ride took us almost due north from Youngstown, Ohio, for the first 70 miles. The terrain flattened, though a few hills remained. When we reached the town of Conneaut, Ohio, we had lunch at an old fashioned outdoor "drive in", where Phillipe, Rick, and David posed with me. Root beer floats were the specialty, and Rick's was huge! All the riders seemed to enjoy it, and dozens of "locals" came there for lunch as well.

Shortly after leaving the drive in, we entered Pennsylvania (our 10th state). Rick is obviously thinking about that root beer float, and considering going back for another one!

We then rode another 25 miles to reach the city of Erie, which developed as a major port in the eastern United States. After dinner, where everyone got to meet Bekki, we walked about 12 blocks to the lake and played "tourist" for awhile. Tomorrow should be fun--it's our last "rest day", before our final 8 day ride to the Atlantic Ocean. After riding over 400 miles in the last four days, the riders are welcoming a day off the bike.

What's with these Ohio bridges? Day 42

2007-07-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Bastille Day. In 1789, the "Shot Heard Round the World" (the initial firing by Americans at the British soldiers at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Mass. on April 19, 1775) was finally "heard" in Paris, France. On July 14th, 1789 a Paris "mob" stormed the Bastille, a prison where people were held by the government--many unjustly. It heralded the French Revolution, with a (temporary) end to aristocracy. But this included the "Reign of Terror" (think guillotines) and the rise of Napoleon, who would claim himself Emperor. It took the French many decades to develop a democracy, but I guess they feel it started on "quatorze juillet" (July 14), so they celebrate today as we do the 4th of July.

We're in Youngstown, in northeast Ohio. Our 90 mile ride was a little less hilly, the wind was friendly, and riders were happy to have a somewhat easier day. The route was pretty, with lots of back roads again, and few towns. I rode most of the day with Greg (a former cross country rider who is riding about a week with us, en route to visiting his son in upstate New York), Pete and Howie (from left to right, above). This photo was taken as the longest train I've ever seen was passing behind me. Doesn't Pete look like he's waiting patiently?

Just before the second SAG at 71 miles, Michelle pulled up in the van to tell us the bridge ahead was closed, and she was looking for a detour. That's three bridges in three days! Undaunted (OK, maybe we were a little daunted) we rode ahead. A worker at the bridge site (middle photo) asked that we turn around, but one of us kindly asked if we could please possibly cross by foot, as we were out of water, had ridden 71 miles and were going to the store just on the other side of the stream (OK, it was me!). The fellow took pity and jovially replied "Go ahead, but the water's contaminated!"

While scouting out the remnants of the bridge, we saw a way to cross. Carrying our bikes over dirt mounds, we reached the cement buttresses that crossed the creek. They were about 4 feet apart, and a few wooden planks were laid across all but the last two. Balancing our bikes carefully, we were able to cross without falling into the "contaminated water". I would have loved to stop for a photo, but with the workers watching, the precarious footing, and the bikes in our arms I elected to skip it.

As you can see in the bottom photo, Pete, Greg and I made it safely across. Howie took a detour on his bike, and probably got to the other side as quickly as we did. But his story isn't as fun to tell!

Because of the late arrival of some riders yesterday evening, the fifth poker card won't be given out until this evening. If I remember, I'll post the winner.

Beautiful Ohio Day 41

2007-07-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

The riders are tired this evening. The bottom picture, taken at dinner, shows a typical evening scene. Cyclists refuel for the calories expended today, and the ones we'll burn tomorrow. While almost everyone loses weight on a ride like this, it's a fine balance to maintain. Eat too little, and you'll lose more weight, but be more tired and slow on the bike. Eat too much, and you'll have to use that additional energy to carry those extra pounds that are leaving too slowly!

We rode 107 hilly miles today--I got 2 extra miles at 109 (don't ask.....lucky me!) We're working our way across northern Ohio, and are staying in Wooster. Many riders said that some of today's hills were amongst the toughest we've climbed. No hill rose more than a few hundred feet (and most rose far less), but many were steep, and they came in waves. We had 4,450 "feet of climb" today, which is more than we had several days in the Rocky Mountains. Up, then down, repeat until done...

As I've gotten stronger on this ride, I particularly notice the improvement on the climbs. For me, the trick is to never "race" up a hill, but to maintain momentum whenever possible. I personally find days like today much easier than climbing the Rocky Mountains, or the Sierras--instead of those "sustained climbs" that go on for miles at a time, these climbs take seconds to minutes, and coasting downhill can get me partway up the next.

The top photo shows some of the typical scenery we passed today. We were on mostly back roads, rarely passing through any towns. The scenery looks like "home"--with all the hills, think northern Adam County, minus the orchards.

Pictured in the middle is the second SAG stop, where Christine, Greg, David, and Howie are showing their cards (or bananas, for the man from Massachusetts). At breakfast, each SAG stop, and at dinner we were given a card each, with the final card to come tonight. High hand wins--it cost $1.00 to enter. Winner take all. My hand doesn't look promising.....

Riding through Gettysburg...Ohio? Day 40

2007-07-13T02:24:00.000-07:00

After riding on the “National Highway” (i.e. Rte 40, which is now paralled by Rte 70, and which runs to Washington D.C.), we travelled more rural roads through western Ohio today. I had read that Indianapolis (and Indiana) had the most polite drivers in the country, and my experiences confirm this. We rarely heard a car honk, or had a car or truck drive closely to the cyclists because they were irritated that we were on the side of the road.
We reached the “Welcome to Ohio” marker just 2 ½ miles into our ride. Pictured are Rick, Howie, me Philippe, and Tom. The scheduled route was 105 miles, but all riders got to go even further today! A bridge was out about 78 miles into the ride, and it required a few tries for some of us to find our way around. The second photo was taken when the “first detour” took us back to the missing bridge (on the “wrong side”. Road crews were busily at work there. As you can see, the stream is not wide, but the water was fast moving and was over 5 feet deep in the middle. The crew member I spoke with said that there was no way to walk across within at least a thousand feet of the road, on either side. So we took a second, longer, detour and finally got around that missing bridge. We had good maps provided by AbB—there were just no nearby stream crossings. The two detours added over 10 miles to my trip, so I ended up with 116 miles today. Fortunately we had a strong tailwind, so I reached the hotel by mid afternoon with some of my fellow riders. However, it will probably be a few more hours until all the riders get in today. We heard that some folks missed a turn earlier in the day and rode several additional miles. Should be some good stories at (our late) dinner tonight!
We passed through what was supposed to be “Gettysburg, Ohio” today as well. There is no town, and no clear collection of houses. Several roads with names like “Gettysburg-South Eastern Rd” and “Covington-Gettysburg” road converged near the sign shown above, so apparently at one time that area was called “Gettysburg”.
We continued to see lots of corn and soy beans today. The soy beans in Ohio are much less further along than the ones we saw further west. The corn height varies tremendously, just as it does in Adams County, depending on when it’s planted, how much rain falls, etc… A few weeks ago TIME magazine ran an article which reported that 90.5 million acres of corn have been planted in the U.S. this year—up 15% from last year. No one on this Cross Country Challenge ride would disagree!
As we’ve ridden east, we notice that the farms are smaller and closer together. There are also many more dogs along the roads, and several times they have run out when the riders go by. It is always a concern, since a bike which hits a dog can throw the rider. Several cyclists have a real fear of dogs along the road for this reason. Hopefully we’ll get to New Hampshire without any “dog trouble”.
Tomorrow is another 100 plus mile day, and the hills of eastern Ohio come into our route. It should be fun and challenging.

Eastern Indiana Day 39

2007-07-12T02:32:00.001-07:00

Pictured above is "Boston Greg", at a Dairy Queen near Richmond, Indiana, where we're staying tonight. Wayne, Greg, and I had all had a little ice cream before reaching our hotel (after a lovely 73 mile ride), and Greg wanted some cold water available for the last few miles into the hotel. He waited patiently for someone to come to the window--then he waited less patiently. This photo was taken just as he decided to launch himself through the window, to get the water himself.......Watch your head, Greg!

After arriving at the hotel, we had a nice visit from Bill, who is in the middle of the middle photo. Bill, Cliff, and I rode "Down the East" coast last summer with AbB. Cliff (on the left) is riding the AbB Cross Country Challenge this year for the third time--"'til I get it right". He has also ridden the "North Ride" across the continent, and the "Fast Ride" across, so this is his fifth crossing with AbB in the last ten years or so! He says his wife feels that, at age 70, this should be his last long bike trip. We'll see.

Bill has also ridden the Cross Country Challenge with AbB, in 2003. He gave me lots of great advice for this trip, including the laptop I'm typing on now, certain software choices (he's a real "technology fan"), and lots of hints on how to prepare for the ride. Bill lives in Cincinnati, and drove up to spend the afternoon and evening with us. It was great seeing him, sharing stories, etc... Bill got to meet many of our riders, and they all enjoyed the visit. Great to see you, Bill, and Thanks again!

Pictured third is a photo of our AbB staff--from left to right are Andy, Gerard, Michelle and Christine. I've written about all these fine people, but haven't shown a photo of them together before now. They are all strong riders, and work hard to make sure the cyclists have a great trip and remain as safe as possible. Andy is either the slowest eater, or is on his third plate of food!

In the next 4 days, we are scheduled to ride almost 400 miles, so today's shorter ride was appreciated by many. We are near the Ohio border already.

Oh, and before I forget, we celebrated Brian's 40th birthday today! There are two great photos of Brian on yesterday's "blog" below. He told us about his birthday when the ride started, and seemed surprised that we remembered it! He had cake, cards and lots of laughs.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Day 38

2007-07-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

We had our 4th "rest day" here in Indianapolis. I've ridden 2794 miles in the last 5+ weeks, and we have another 2 weeks to go, with 13 more days of cycling.

We had a special treat thanks to Wayne's connections here. He arranged for us to ride the track at the Indianapolis speedway, and about 1/2 of the riders rode to the track. After a six mile ride through Indianapolis, we met Wayne (who drove his car, which his wife, Karen, drove from Lexington). Now Brian, from Manchester, England, has been collecting old license plates from the states through which we've cycled, and any other states as well. He plans to put them on the wall in his garage at home (which he pronounces "GARE-ij"). I don't think Wayne appreciated Brian's subtle try for a "not so old" Kentucky license plate!

Unfortunately things were a little hectic, so we couldn't get a photo of all the riders who rode the track. Pictured in the middle are most of the cyclists. This photo was taken by Bob's wife, who is visiting from the D.C. area.

The lower photo again shows Wayne and Brian with me inside the speedway. Notice I had to keep them far apart after Brian's attempted heist! BTW, don't you think that orange bike on the far left is sharp looking?

Once on the track, we had lots of fun. It is 2 1/2 miles long. The surface is really smooth, and the four turns are banked, but not nearly at the angle that the much shorter velodrome was banked yesterday. We had a "hoot" riding around the track (I took over 25 photos, and wish I could post more), going up and down the curves. The Indy cars reach speeds of about 270 miles on the straightaways. Not sure what the big deal is--I reached well over 10 % of that speed on my bike!

The rest of the day was spent on the usual "rest day" chores--I caught another movie as well. Downtown Indianapolis has been fun to explore. It's another of the many places I'd like to return to with my family in the future.

Racing in Indianapolis Day 37

2007-07-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Today we cycled to Indianapolis, the state capitol. Although we were less than 40 miles from our destination when we awoke, a combination of side trips increased my total day's mileage to 67 miles.

Our first stop was at the Roark factory, where titanium is made into components for the aerospace industry--and they also make titanium bicycles. Jim, pictured above, guided us through the factory. We saw bicycle frames in various stages of preparation. All bikes are made to order, and they are excellent, and expensive. The bike in front of Jim has an aerodynamic down tube and seat tube (they are "flared" in the back, not round), with a "cut-out" in the lower, posterior portion of the seat tube to accommodate the front portion of the rear tire. Way cool! That bike will be shipped to its new owner, perhaps today.

On entering the city, we took a side trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's huge! We were allowed to walk on the track, but elected to wait for a possible chance to ride our bikes on the track tomorrow. We'll see if that can get done.

Later we stopped at the Major Taylor Velodrome. This is an outdoor bicycle "arena", with sharply banked curves. When you ride at a high speed, you can turn sharply. None of the riders in our group had much trouble getting "up" on the curves, but we all agreed it felt weird, and that after riding several laps at high speed we felt tired. Pictured is Howie, coming into the curve. He rode very well there, and "got the hang of it" much more quickly than Pete or I did. We also had a visit with Tom and his wife. Tom, an Indiana native, was on the AbB staff for the first two legs of our trip. He had raced at the velodrome in the past and told us some funny stories. While it sounded interesting, we agreed it's a sport that might be more fun to watch than race, at our ages!

After navigating through the heart of the city (with the obligatory picture of the State Capitol building), we found our hotel.. We're staying near the heart of downtown for a change, instead of on the city outskirts. We've ridden about 630 miles in the past seven days, and tomorrow is a "rest day".

The Hoosier State Day 36

2007-07-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

The states are flying by, as we entered Indiana today. While researching the term "Hoosier", I saw sources from the 1840's that already questioned the derivation of the word applied to residents of Indiana. The word "Hoosier" dates back at least to the early 1800's and seems to have been applied to/or by boatmen on the Indiana side of the Ohio River. Common thoughts include a term like "redneck" that was originally derogative, but came to be respectable. There are other suggestions as well. The popular story that folks used to say "who's here" continues, but is apparently mythical.

Our 82 mile ride was "with the wind", and not too strenuous despite the heat. After I entered the state with David (center), Rick (right) and Howie (who took the top photo), we had lunch at a quaint family restaurant with the Sunday lunch crowd. As we've finally entered the Eastern Time Zone (and lost another hour), I can hopefully adjust all my clocks for the last time on this trip.

The sign welcoming us to Hillsboro was cute. Is Rick one of the many, or the few? He looks happy to me.

Apparently bicycles have more uses than we knew. This building used old bikes for planters. I guess these are the Mommy and Daddy bikes, then the kid's bikes as well. At least the plants look well tended!

The hotel pool was a welcome sight for almost everyone, esp. with the hot weather. It's the first time this year that the water in an outdoor (unheated) pool was actually almost warm. Swimming and showers were followed by dinner at "Joey's", a Mom and Pop small restaurant in downtown Crawfordsville (where we're staying). However, "Mom" and "Pop" were both younger than I am, and their daughter who helped serve was about 12 years old.

Tar and Stones in Illinois Day 35

2007-07-07T18:53:00.001-07:00

Pictured on top is "Gold". That is one of the two conversion vans which are driven by our AbB staff. It carries the trailer in which all the cyclists' luggage is carried. The other van is called "Silver". The four AbB staff, which include Andy, Michelle, Gerard and Christine, usually spend half their day riding, and half their day driving the vans. Today, for example, Christine and Gerard rode bikes the first several hours while Andy and Michelle drove the vans, transporting any riders who could not ride today, offering water, helping with "mechanicals" (flat tires, other bike related issues) and setting up food and water at the SAG stops. Midway through the ride, they switched. This allows the staff to ride with the cyclists, and to experience what we experience.

Our ride was scheduled for 97 miles, but I got 102 miles, including a trip to a bike shop in Champaign, IL (where we're staying) for two new tires. The middle picture shows one of the roads we travelled, with seemingly endless rows of corn on both sides. We travel some pretty, isolated roads at times. Unfortunately, as today was hot, the "tar and chip" roads led to problems. I got a tremendous amount of tar on my tires while riding in the latter part of the route, and small stones were sticking to my tires by the hundreds. I had to stop multiple times to scrape off tar and stones, and even rode on the grass because the stones would get stuck in the brakes and prevent the (usually rear) tire from rotating.

The third picture is of my rear tire, after I had scraped off much of the tar and stones. You can still see a thick coat of tar on the tire surface, and multiple tiny stones. When we reached town, I was told a bike shop was still open, so (along with several other riders who needed bike work) I rode to the shop, where I purchased two tires and degreaser/tar remover. I put the new tires on at the shop, then rode to the hotel, just in time for a shower and dinner. Then another 45 minutes were spent cleaning the bike! Several other riders also had tar, but no one had as much as I did. Lucky me!

Tomorrow is a somewhat shorter day, scheduled for about 82 miles, so I hope to get a little time after the ride to relax, swim and "catch up". The ride is going well, and today's "tarring" was one of those challenges we have to face when cycling across the country.

Land of Lincoln Day 34

2007-07-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

We rode 106 miles today, across western Illinois, then cycled through downtown Springfield, the capitol city, and home of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln lived here about 35 years, before leaving for Washington, and his inauguration. He never returned, but his remains were brought here and his tomb here looks remarkably like the monument in the Gettysburg National Cemetery (sorry, no photo). We, in Gettysburg, have a special connection with President Lincoln, and he is, by far, my favorite president. I will have to return to Springfield in the future and spend more time here.

We passed several million (it seems) acres of corn fields, and a few thousand acres of soy bean fields today. The roads were pretty, the wind was light, but favorable, and the climbs diminished as the day progressed. So it was a pretty fun day. I rode all day with Howie, and Pete joined us a little before the halfway point. Interestingly, I had a flat tire just as I rode into the hotel this afternoon. Good timing, huh?

A few of the riders are feeling ill (nothing major, fortunately), and are spending time in the SAG van as needed. Hopefully they will all be feeling better very soon. On a 7 1/2 week trip with as many people as we have, there are bound to be some ailments and illnesses. Everyone is in good general health, and rest usually helps a good bit.

Pictured are some of the guys having fun at the first SAG. Left to right are Gerard (our excellent mechanic), Howie (who decided the "rings" might not support his weight if he tried any tricks), and Bob, whose website has lots of great photos (see prior posts).

Pete took this photo of Howie and me in front of the State Capitol building. It started to rain just after the photo, and when it poured we took shelter in a Hardees. We consoled ourselves with milkshakes, however!

Folks will want to get to sleep early tonight, as we have almost one hundred miles to ride tomorrow.

Across the Mighty Mississipi Day 33

2007-07-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

Now don't get the wrong idea! We left Missouri today, and I just wanted to show you what navigating on "back roads" in northern Missouri was like. Every county that we rode through has "lettered" roads, with names like "B", "BB", "C", "R", "V" and just about every other letter. Two days ago we turned off "F" road, taking a right turn onto "U" road. For some reason, one of the riders took a picture of the intersection, and thought I should post it. Not sure what the big deal is..........

After 70 miles of Missouri hills, we reached the Mississippi River, and took a ferry across it. We shared the ferry with tractor trailers, which were apparently taking harvested wheat to the Illinois side. Pictured is California Mike (to be distinguished from Texas Mike), with a semi on his right, and Illinois behind him.

After reaching Illinois (we are in the Midwest, but also in the East now!), we rode another 25 plus miles. First we headed five miles east, still on the "flood plain", then about 15 miles south, at the eastern edge of the "flood plain". During that time, we saw more corn than I've ever seen at one time (and I've cycled almost all the back roads of Adams County). Miles and miles of corn (with occasional soy beans) were growing. The third photo was taken from the porch of a farm house, looking west toward the river several miles away. Corn everywhere!

When we reached the town of Quincy, we rode through it along lovely streets with well maintained homes and yards. We're at the east edge of Quincy tonight, and after riding 97 miles today, we have 100 plus mile rides scheduled the next two days!

Independence Day in the Hills Day 32

2007-07-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

We're in Kirksville, Missouri, on July 4th, 2007. Almost all the riders wore either AbB jerseys, or other Jerseys that reflected our flag and/or red, white or blue. We were asked to do so by the AbB staff, and except for a few "hold outs", most agreed it was a great idea.

We even had a bicycle decorating contest--the decorations had to be worn on the bike ride, at least until the first SAG stop at mile 31. Many riders decorated their bikes. Certainly my wife would have as well.......

We cycled very rural and hilly roads today, but were blessed with a tail wind--our first true tail wind in weeks! So I didn't find the ride difficult. One of the advantages of my large size is that I can carry alot of speed down one of these "rollers", and keep that momentum well into the following climb. However, some of the climbs were very steep, so the lower gears got their fair share of usage.

We had a light rain for about 30 minutes, but otherwise it was fairly warm. I rode much of the day with Pete (from New Jersey) in the middle photo, and David (from Atlanta, Ga.), who gets my vote for the bike decorating contest. He rode this get-up all day. In the picture above, he is storming up a steep (trust me) hill. He was huffing and puffing (and coming on fast!) until he saw the camera--then the biggest smile appeared! Way to go, David.

Notice the "rollers" behind David, and even more so on the first picture. If you "double click" on it, you can see the road ahead in the distance. There were many "ups and downs and ups" before we reached the far hills in the distance, including a "wall" after we crossed a creek (obscured by the trees).

On arriving to the hotel, many of us briefly showered, then enjoyed the hot tub and pool. You could literally "roll" over the wall from the hot tub to the pool when you were hot, then back into the hot tub when you felt cool. I had about 10 "rolls"!

Tomorrow will be our last day in Missouri, as we will ride a ferry across the Mississippi River when we reach it. But the AbB staff promises more fun hills on the way to the Mighty Mississip.

Up and Down in Missouri Day 31

2007-07-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

We really enjoyed the ride today. Planned for 91 miles, I got a few extra at no additional charge! Between the first and second SAG stops, AbB ride co-leader Andy and I were having a nice chat as we enjoyed the beautiful countryside. The day was hot and humid, but riding generates a breeze so we were feeling OK. I checked the mileage for the next turn on our "cue sheets", and realized that we must have missed a turn. That's OK, it happens all the time. What made me laugh was Andy saying "Good thing you caught that , Dave. I might have gone ten miles before I noticed it"! Well, when you ride as fast as Andy does, you can afford to miss a turn or two and still end up at the hotel before the other riders. We back tracked a little, took a side road, asked several drivers (who were all visiting from somewhere else!), and finally reached the SAG.

We rodes hundreds of ups and downs today, though you have to look hard behind Christine (of the AbB staff) to see the "ribbons" in the road (try "double clicking" on the picture). Tonight we're staying in Chillicothe, Missouri, and we have an even hillier ride tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some pictures that do it justice.

The second photo shows part of a farm we passed. I think the owners my have extended their credit too much....but the name has a nice Spanish-Latin ring to it.

Next are some of the riders at the first SAG. Notice how everyone is eating--you burn alot of calories on these rides, and when it's time to feed, we feed! Also note how everyone was standing in the shade at about 9:30 A.M. Like I said, it was hot.

Since eastern Kansas, the terrain we have passed is very much like that of south-central PA and northern MD--rolling hills, lots of corn, soybeans, cattle, etc... We had lunch in the town of Jamesport (though where the water was, I couldn't say), at a restaurant run by a Mennonite group. We also passed Old Order Amish farms.

We're getting up early tomorrow, as the day is one of our hilliest. But as long as we avoid headwinds, no one wants to complain!

Look how far we've come Day 30

2007-07-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Pictured with me are, left to right, Erin, Howie and Arlene. Brian took this photo this morning at 9:30. I had to wait until the late sleeper got out of bed (no hints, but was it any of the people in their 40's or 60's--No!).

I submitted an article today to the Gettysburg Times (my hometown newspaper), which will run in the Health and Fitness section in two weeks, on Monday, July 16th. The Healthy Adams Bicycle/Pedestrian Inc. (HABPI) Board (of which I'm a member) asked me to write an article about this cross country bike ride. I decided to focus on some of my fellow riders, and the amazing things they've accomplished. There's a paragraph each on Arlene, Howie, and Erin. Since not everyone who reads this blog will get the Gburg Times, I may post the article here as well, if there is interest (Please note that I welcome constructive comments every day, at the end of the posts).

As you can see in the photo, we're past the halfway point of our journey. I've ridden about 2,150 miles, and have perhaps only 1700 to 1800 miles to go. Only 22 days remain after today. All cyclists are enjoying a well deserved "rest day". Activities include washing bikes, doing laundry, getting haircuts, catching up on correspondence, naps, etc.....

In checking out the Lance Armstrong Foundation website, I see that we've had some very generous donations. The total raised is over $4,000, and I think that's great! We've had 6 people, who between them, have given $2000! Fantastic!

However (you knew there'd be a "however", didn't you?), only about 35 individuals or families have donated, to date. I purposefully did not ask for contributions before the ride, because I think my riding is an important part of the fund raising process. I didn't want to solicit money, and then get ill or injured and be unable to do the ride.

And I think that writing this blog has actually helped my riding. It has kept me focused and positive! There has not been a single day where I didn't want to ride, or where I felt this was "too hard". Knowing that I'm helping raise money for a great cause, and telling about my experiences (and the fun we're having) have been great motivations for me. So please help, if you can, with a tax deductible donation (of any amount) to the LAF. The website is:

livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore

OK, unlike the PBS stations, I won't keep asking for money everyday! Thanks for your support, and please contact me either via the comments section (see below) or at

dsmv@comcast.net

We're looking forward to crossing hot and hilly northern Missouri over the next few days. Several cyclists repeatedly expressed a desire to get out of Kansas (and the constant headwinds). We'll see whether they "needed to be careful what they wished for".....

Stay tuned.

Toto, We're not in Kansas anymore Day 29

2007-07-01T18:37:00.001-07:00

We arrived at the Missouri River after riding about 56 miles of our 88 mile route today. After 7 days of nonstop headwinds, few were sorry to try our luck in another state. At the sign midway on the bridge over the river that said "You are leaving Kansas", one rider had his picture taken while "saluting" the sign "goodbye and good riddance". I enjoyed Kansas, but I hope the wind will shift in our favor--I think we're overdue...........

The sign, lower photo, appeared a few moments later, welcoming us to the "Show Me" state. Pictured, L to R, are Bob, me, Andrew and Wayne. I had to lean on the sign to try to straighten it, as Wayne and Andrew were tilting it toward the road!

We then got our first taste of Missouri Hills, after we left the flatlands by the river. We'll be doing alot of ups and downs in the next few days, as you can see on the photo at the top. Again, the picture tends to "flatten out" the hills, but it took a little while to climb each of the "bumps" you see (double click on the pictures).

The last few miles into St. Joseph, Missouri, were enjoyable. We'll be staying here the next two nights, where the Pony Express was founded (carrying mail to California, starting in 1860, it only lasted about 18 months!), and where Jesse James was shot and killed by one of his gang members.

The Bicycle Eating Machine Day 28

2007-06-30T17:05:00.001-07:00

Let's see--we rode 111 miles today, with lots of hills, into a strong wind.....hmmm......what am I forgetting?......Oh yes, it rained alot as well! Despite all that it was FUN--in a cross country CHALLENGE sort of way. We're in Topeka tonight, the state capitol.

All the riders were happy to finally reach the hotel, I'm sure. Eastern Kansas is beautiful, and very green this year. The locals all tell us that this has been an incredible year for rain.

And we all agree that the roads in Kansas have been excellent, for the most part. That's something Kansans can brag about to their "bumpy roaded" Colorado neighbors. But with record consecutive days of headwinds, I don't think my fellow riders will be sorry to cross the Missouri River and enter a new state tomorrow.

I rode with Mike awhile early today, then with Christine (of the AbB bike staff), and then I rode the last 35 miles with Brian. We laughed about the awful weather, and about how much fun we were having! When I saw the "structure" shown above, I first thought it might be a "horse sculpture" (as we were over half a mile away). Riding closer, I saw a sculpture of what can only be a "bicycle eating machine". With the day we were experiencing, I knew I had to capture this contraption for this website. If you "double click" on the photo, you'll see that a bicycle is being "devoured". And there are parts of (apparently recently "digested") bicycles at the foot of the sculpture. I wonder if anyone felt like feeding their bikes to this thing today?

I am doing very well, thank you, and am enjoying this ride immensely. After arriving at the hotel, I washed my bike (lots of road filth gets on it during and after the rain), then washed myself. We are having a very late dinner tonight, to give all the riders a chance to get in and shower. Tomorrow we will ride into Missouri, then have a third "rest day".

To all who have contributed to the LAF, I say again a big "THANK YOU"! I would love to have as many of you as possible donate to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, to fight cancer. Lance is an amazing inspiration, and his foundation is doing great things. To contribute, please visit

livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore

or email me at

dsmv@comcast.net

Thanks!

Halfway to the Atlantic Ocean Day 27

2007-06-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Pictured, left to right, are Tim, Bob, Andrew, Herb, me and Brian. Pete took the photo, but also was riding with us. As you can see, we passed the "official" 1/2 way mileage point of our trip today. I have ridden 1950 miles (about 1915 where the photo was taken) so far.

Despite the (somewhat milder) headwind, today's trip of 64 miles was easier. We are getting into eastern Kansas, where the towns are closer together, the farms are greater and the cattle ranches fewer. In honor of the 1/2 way point, the food at our SAG stop was all cut in half (donuts, peaches, pickles,.....). But everyone ate lots anyway!

We arrived in Abilene, Kansas at noon, and after a hot tub soak and shower, I went with Rick to the Eisenhower center. President Eisenhower grew up in Abilene, and is buried here with his wife, Mamie. His presidential library is here, as well as a museum with many artifacts from his life. They are all part of a complex built near the house where he grew up. It was a lovely place to visit, and since Eisenhower retired to Gettysburg, I appreciated the symmetry.

Tomorrow we have a very long, hilly ride (into the wind, but I digress) to Topeka, Kansas, so we appreciated the shorter rides the past two days. Time is flying on this trip, and we have trouble comprehending that we've already ridden more than halfway across the continent!

Wind and Natural Gas Day 26

2007-06-28T18:34:00.001-07:00

So what do we know after riding more than halfway through Kansas? There are lots of farms growing wheat and corn, lots of cattle, sometimes thousands of them at the feed lots, amazing amounts of wind (which was again in our face all day--surprisingly, a few of the riders expressed a little aggravation about this). But Kansas is also a leading producer of natural gas. And, so it turns out, are my fellow riders.

On a ride where folks burn thousands of extra calories a day, they also eat thousands of extra calories a day. As I've mentioned, it's interesting to watch thin folks fill their plates three times at dinner, then go for dessert! As a result of this extra intake, there must be extra "outgo". Early in the trip riders lose their embarrassment (often in the Nevada desert), and men and women move a little off the road to urinate--proper etiquette requires other riders to look away.

A few days later, folks lose their inhibitions about passing gas as well. It can be quite funny when one rider in a group breaks wind, only to be answered by other riders in kind--the kind of competition which would cause my father and siblings to laugh out loud (Mom's delicate sensibilities would preclude this). As we move quickly on the bicycles, the health risk to any riders in the rear is minimal (unlike those family vacations in the car).

We have one fellow who has actually counted the number of "toots" produced by each person during a riding segment--I've affectionately dubbed him "TFC" (you'll have to figure that one out)!

So I couldn't resist this photo of the Oneok Hydrocarbon plant in Conway, Kansas. Natural gas liquids are gathered in mixed, raw form from basins in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. They are then sent via pipelines to this "fractionator". The plant pictured here separates the gas/liquids into ethane/propane mix, propane, butanes and other marketable products, which are then sent along other parts of the 2100 miles of pipelines to storage areas and to various "markets". This facility can handle 110,000 barrels/day--and you'll agree that that's an awful lot of gas.

Tonight we're staying in McPherson, Kansas. We completed our 26th day of 52, and tomorrow we'll reach (and pass) the halfway point in terms of total mileage. It's been a great trip so far.

My thanks to all who have contributed to the Lance Armstrong Foundation--it's a great cause, and knowing that you're giving really motivates me when I'm tired.

My web page for donations is

livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore

Thanks again!

Wicked Wind Day 25

2007-06-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

Pictured is the sign for a feed lot, taken after we passed it (yesterday, BTW), looking westward. Notice that the trees all lean to the north (the "right" from this view).

The word Kansas comes from "Kansa", a group of Sioux people who lived in this part of the country. Apparently it means "People (or land) of the South Wind". Since the day we left Salt Lake City, Utah, we have been travelling east (of course), but also south. Yesterday, in Dodge City, we were at the southernmost point of our trip. Dodge City is at a similar latitide to Richmond, VA (a little south of San Francisco, and well south of our destination in New Hampshire). Also, since leaving Salt Lake City, the wind has always been from the east and/or the south; i.e., in our face--sometimes soft, often harder.

So guess what happened today, as we turned northeast? You got it--we got our first northern (actually northeastern, to boot!) wind in two weeks! Youch! Our 85 mile ride turned into a real test, as headwinds "made us earn every inch", as Andrew said. Fortunately, several of us took turns into the wind--I rode with Howie, but also at times with Phillipe (from Israel), Robert (from France) and briefly with Gary, Pete, Cliff, and Rick. When riding behind someone, it wasn't too hard (as their bodies blocked much of the wind), but when it came your turn to "pull", the wind was almost demoralizing at times. I've ridden in stronger winds, but we had really hoped that when we turned to the north.......

Anyway, all got in safe, and we get to ride into more strong winds for the next few days--at least we're all getting good at it! A relaxing swim and soak/stretch in the large hot tub was enjoyed by many. We had a good dinner, but I noticed that many more riders than usual ordered beer or other adult beverages....guess they feel they earned it. I expect folks should sleep well tonight!

Dodge City Day 24

2007-06-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

Pictured with me is Elisa, one of the Can Can dancers in the Miss Kitty show at the Longhorn Saloon on Boot Hill in Dodge City. Several of us enjoyed an afternoon visiting the site of the original Boot Hill, named for the folks who were killed and then buried with their boots on (the bodies were later moved to a new cemetary). They have a great museum, some reenactors, and we even saw a "gunfight" where just about everyone was shot!

Dodge City is on the Arkansas River, and was famous first for buffalo hunters, who quickly slaughtered the large herds. Then the town became a center for the cattle trade. It was particularly "lawless" from 1872 to ~1880. I read that in 1872 there were at least 30 gunfights when the population was only ~ 500 people. Famous lawmen such as Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, and the legendary Wyatt Earp served in Dodge(and, of course, sheriff Matt Dillon was on Gunsmoke for ~20 years as well!).

This evening we enjoyed a song and dance and corny joke routine at Miss Kitty's. All who attended had a good time. However, about 2/3rds of the riders remained at the hotel--I guess they were tired. Most of the cast of the show are locals, many of them pursuing degrees in dance or theater at various colleges.

Oh yeah--we also rode this AM. It was a short ride of 51 miles, and I arrived in Dodge by 12:15 p.m. Nice to have a shorter riding day for a change. The afternoon and evening were well spent, as you can see.

Welcome to Kansas Day 23

2007-06-26T04:48:00.001-07:00

Another day, another 100 plus miles. Pictured is a typical scene we saw today. As we continued on the "High Plains", we left Colorado and entered our fifth state, Kansas. The landscape remained relatively flat, and you could usually see for many miles in all directions. There were scattered farm buildings, occasional threshers which were cutting golden cereal grasses, and, as one rider said, "a whole lotta nuthin".

All the riders ares tired this evening. We rode over 225 miles in the past two days, and the wind today was a real challenge. It came from the southeast, and was either in our face or blowing hard from our right. Apparently "Kansas" comes from a native American word meaning "land of the south wind". Many of the trees lean to the north. I took several photos this AM, but, as we were facing the rising sun, they don't look so good on the computer. So I offer this mundane view to give a sense of what we saw all day.

The temperature again rose over 100 degrees, and with the strong winds, we all spent many long hours on the bike. With towns still very far apart, keeping hydrated was also a challenge. Sometimes the distance between towns (and even gas stations) was 30 or more miles. And with the heat, our water warmed up quickly. We really appreciated the hard work of the AbB staff, who kept the vans moving, delivering cool water. Some riders felt that today was one of the hardest we've had yet. The wind doesn't bother me as much as some, so I felt fairly strong, but was still happy to reach the hotel. I sympathize with those who suffered in the heavy winds today, just as they have sympathy when we heavier riders work extra hard to climb the high mountains!

I'd like to say a special "Thanks" to Howie today. He had a sore ankle from a swimming pool slip (honestly, the risks the cyclists take!), and rode with me all day. After 50 miles with a larger group (including my usual cohorts of "Team Stops Alot for Photos"), Howie and I rode ahead the last 54 miles, taking turns "into the wind" (and he waited for me a few times when the road went uphill). It was a pleasure chatting and sweating with you, Howie.

My congratulations to all the cyclists today! Tomorrow we have a "short day"--only 51 miles--into Dodge City. There we'll check out Boot Hill, and catch a "Wild West" show. It should be fun.

Onto the Prairie Day 22

2007-06-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

I said "Goodbye " to Carol this morning, as she drove to the Denver Airport. We both really enjoyed her visit, and I hope she and Bekki will be able to visit me when we cross the Mississippi. It was her first trip to Colorado, and she was also "wowed" by the scenery, the mountains, and the spirit of the riders.

Carol also drove one of our riders to the airport this AM. He decided to go home after he fell two days ago. He is sore, but will recover. We were sorry to see him go, and encouraged him to return, but he said he'll probably just take it easy at home. Best of Luck!

Today we rode 121 miles onto the prairie, where we'll be until we reach the hills of eastern Kansas and Missouri. We saw dozens of Prairie Dogs in the countryside outside Pueblo. Tonight we are staying in Lamar, Colorado, and we have another 100 plus mile ride tomorrow. It's amazing how strong all the riders are becoming--no one complained about the mileage, though there are some sore joints and butts!

Our terrain was much flatter, but as we continue to follow the Arkansas River, most of the fields around us are irrigated. Corn, grasses and cereals are growing everywhere, and we passed two "feed lots", the second one with thousands of cattle and the associated smells!

Above are pictured Bob and Wayne. I stopped to take of photo of this interesting sign, when these two guys decided to see if people would ignore it. Despite the flashing of (very pale) flesh, no one stopped to pick up them up. I guess they looked too dangerous--or something!

Please contact me at

dsmv@comcast.net if you'd like to comment on the ride or this blog, or if you'd like to donate to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, for whom I'm riding. Thanks!

Relaxing in Pueblo, CO Day 21

2007-06-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

On our second "rest day" of the trip, we did the usual--cleaned the bike, washed laundry, ran errands, etc... Having Carol and the rent-a-car was great, as a group of us went to the bike shop, Walmart, a computer store, and out to lunch. After a brief nap, Carol and I saw "Ocean's Thirteen", my first movie in three weeks!

Every evening at a new hotel, the AbB staff puts up this map of the US, and adds in black marker the distance we travelled that day. We are now in eastern Colorado, having travelled 1461 miles (mileage varies depending on side trips, missed turns (it happens to all of us, occasionally), and other variables, so I list the miles I have travelled). It's really amazing to realize that we've travelled over 1/3rd of our route.

We have about 121 miles tomorrow, and have to "load up" at 5:30 AM. I will be sad to see Carol leave (flying home from Denver), but we hope that she and Bekki will be able to join me for a few days as we cross from Missouri into Illinois over July 4th.

Out of the Rockies Day 20

2007-06-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Pueblo, Colorado after an interesting Day, with a 102 mile bike ride. Leaving Salida this morning, we followed the fast flowing Arkansas River downstream for about 40 miles. We chatted with folks who were white water rafting (and got some good photos), and enjoyed our descent.

Pictured here is the "Rock Shop". Rocks from all over the country are available here for landscaping and other uses. We pass all sorts of interesting places every day, but I thought that, as we left the Rockies, we should at least celebrate rocks (I feel it might be inappropriate to show the photo I took of one of my fellow riders posing at the sign for the "Half Assed Ranch"!)

Before officially leaving the Rockies, about half of us rode a VERY STEEP CLIMB to the Royal Gorge Bridge, which is billed as the World's highest suspension bridge, at ~ 1060 feet above the Arkansas River. The road to the bridge was terribly bumpy, and when we arrived, we were told it cost $19.00 to ride across the bridge and "enjoy" the associated (honky tonk) park. Most riders felt it should be renamed "Rip-Off Gorge" after that. The views were spectacular, but really....

After a well earned descent, and lunch, we continued until our first major thunderstorm. Six of us took refuge in a stable as the lightning got closer, and the rain and hailstones fell. It was fun waiting out the storm--I'm sure this will happen again as we get further east this summer.

We will spend the next two days in Pueblo (at an altitide of 4690 feet) as tomorrow is our second "rest day". We have ridden 19 days, a distance of 1461 miles, with total climbing of about 60,230 feet (and descending of ~ 55,540 feet). The Rocky Mountains are now behind us, and the riders feel very proud of their accomplishments to date. Eight riders will be leaving the trip (they had signed up for either the 1st 20 days, or the last 8 days, and a "new" rider will join us. His name is "David" (which he prefers), so that works well as I can continue to be "Dave" or "Dr. Dave". I'm looking forward to spending some time tomorrow with Carol, who has been a big hit with the riders.

Monarch Pass @ 11,312 feet! Day 19

2007-06-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

All the riders felt a special sense of accomplishment today. We crossed the high point of our ride, at 11,312 feet above sea level. After 30 miles of gradual, almost gentle, climbing, we arrived at the base of Monarch Pass. For the next 9 miles we climbed an additional 3000 + feet to the summit. It was beautiful and challenging. The air was progressively thinner, but all our cyclists made it to the top!

At the top of the pass, there was a tram (like an enclosed ski lift) that rose an additional 500 feet. From there, you could see high, snow covered mountains in all directions. We were on top of the Continental Divide--until now, all water had flowed (eventually) into the Pacific Ocean (except the water in the Great Basin which simply returned underground (see prior posts)). After crossing the Divide, water flows (ultimately) into the Atlantic Ocean (for the next several weeks, the route we travel will be in the Mississippi watershed, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico).

I had a special visitor last night, who took the photo on top of the tramline at Monarch Pass today (who insisted I use this photo--sorry for the mis-aligned "do wrap", but I had been working hard!). My wife, Carol, flew to Denver, then drove to Gunnison yesterday. Today she was fantastic, bringing peaches to the first SAG stop, then offering water and encouragement to the riders as we climbed. Her rent-a-car was a welcome sight going up (and occasionally back down) the mountain, stopping to offer aid. She will be with us four days, before flying home. It's her first trip to Colorado, and, like me, she is enjoying the sights.

After an hours stay at the top of Monarch Pass, we rode 23 more miles into Salida, Colorado. It was all down hill (the first 9 miles steep and fast, fairly similar to what we had climbed). It was fun to go fast without having to work any more! We have a long ride tomorrow to Pueblo, then another day off the bike to rest and relax

Climbing the Rockies Day 18

2007-06-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

We really did some climbing today! Leaving the hotel in Montrose, we started East into a strong headwind. The "mountain wind" blows down to the west in the AM, then subsides (but too late for us!) We were riding very slowly uphill, all bunched together to help shield against the wind. Our first climb rose about 2300 feet, and when we reached the top, Tom (our assistant mechanic, jack-of-all-trades, and funny story teller) said "man, I can't even kid with you guys--that looks really tough". It was so windy that I benefitted by riding behind Erin (who weighs very little) just to block some wind so I could climb more easily. (Hey, Erin, do I get bonus points for that comment?)

After a fast and fun descent we started a second climb that took us up another 1500 feet, to about 8700 feet above sea level. It was getting warmer (and the wind had died down). Pictured here is part of the second climb. I pulled over to wait for the riders shown on the right--although the photo flattens out the altitude changes, they were riding hard, and still took a few minutes to reach me! Most people rode in their lowest gears for long periods of time.

We then enjoyed easier riding with smaller "ups and downs", and rode along the dammed up Gunnison River, upstream of the beautiful canyons we had visited yesterday. Everyone arrived at the hotel in Gunnison, ready for our big climb over Monarch Pass tomorrow.

Black Canyon Day 17

2007-06-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

We started climbing today, and are staying in Montrose, Colorado, at an elevation of ~5900 feet. In the next two days we'll climb over Monarch Pass at 11,312 feet! Today's ride led us closer to the tall Rockies, many of them with lots of snow, esp. to the south of where we'll cross the Continental Divide (at Monarch Pass).

After arrival and showers at the hotel, we were then given the chance to explore "Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park", but only about 12 riders decided to ride in the vans to the park. I guess folks are pretty tired!

We rode in the vans about 7 uphill miles from the hotel (a preview of tomorrow's route), before turning north and climbing 7 fairly steep miles to the park. Interestingly, there is an option for riders to climb to the park on their bikes tomorrow, then return down the same way and continue the route up the Rockies. Last year 12 riders did that--more power to them!

We then explored the canyon, carved through softer volcanic, then (lower down) through harder, older crystalline rock (over the last 2 million years) by the Gunnison River. We had earlier seen the Gunnison at its downriver junction with the Colorado River at the aptly named Grand Junction. Again, I have lots of great photos, though none show how vast and deep the canyon is. At it's deepest part, it is over 2700 feet high. In the area shown, I think the canyon is about 1500 to 2000 feet deep. If you "double click" on the picture (did you know you can do that?) you should be able to see part of the Gunnison River in the left-middle portion. Look to the right of Mike's head (he's the man on the left), and you can see the green water.

We were again at ~8000 feet here in the park, and the air was thinner. After returning to the vans, we again descended to ~5900 feet, where the air seems much "thicker". It was 96 degrees as we walked to dinner (a dry heat, fortunately). We should have nice weather tomorrow as we start the big climbs. It will be interesting riding up to those high altitudes--we've talked about the importance of riding more slowly, drinking more fluids, and resting when needed.

Welcome to Colorado Day 16

2007-06-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Add another large western state to our list, as we entered Colorado after about 71 miles into our 96 mile ride today. We're staying at Grand Junction, where the Gunnison River joins the Colorado River.

Pictured, right to left, are my "riding mates" Andrew, Wayne and Bob. On my right (left in the photo), is Steve, who normally rides well ahead, but who was with us as we entered the state. BTW, Steve is a very fast, competitive rider. Yet I did have a moment of glory today, shortly before this photo was taken. Steve was about 200 yards ahead of me, when we came to a fairly steep descent. As I pedalled hard and "tucked", I quickly caught and passed him, travelling at about 45 mph. I called over "Hey, I thought you were supposed to be FAST". He grinned back, and before he could "drop me" on the next hill we arrived at this sign! Ah, one has to savor the moments where one can.

Steve has ridden across the country several times, and he's riding this time until Pueblo. For Andrew, Wayne, Bob and me, this is a first time cross country ride. While we ride with many different people every day, the four of us have spent lots of "road time" together, mostly because we agreed on the first or second day that we wanted to really experience the country, take lots of photos, see the sights and the people, and not just ride fast from one hotel to the next. All three are strong riders. We have lots of laughs every day, and help each other if one of us is tired, etc. Gerard, the AbB mechanic has dubbed us "Team Stops Alot"!

For those who want more info re: this ride, here are the webpages for Andrew's, Bob's and Wayne's blogs. Like me, all three men are riding to raise money for a charity. Andrew's blog is "wicked funny" (he's English, don't you know); Bob's blog has the most photos (I haven't been able to get him to delete the uncomplimentary shots!); and Wayne's blog is more inspirational. There are other blogs as well, and the folks who are more computer savvy than I know how to "link" them.

Andrew's is at: apaxusa.wordpress.com

Bob's is at: bobrodwellersride.com

Wayne's is at: imperator.ca.uky.edu/turnerchallenge

Tomorrow we start climbing up and over the Colorado Rockies, and after 4 days in the high mountains, we'll arrive In Pueblo, for a second rest day.

Arches National Park Day 15

2007-06-17T20:12:00.001-07:00

Pictured is "Boston" Greg, a funny guy and a stong rider from some northeastern city in the U. S. Greg is posing below "Tunnel Arch", one of over 2,000 catalogued arches, ranging in size from 3 feet to 306 feet, in Arches National Park in Southeastern Utah, near Moab.

These arches, and the spires, balanced rocks, eroded monoliths, etc. which we saw are the result of 100 million years of erosion. Water and ice, extreme temperatures and underground salt movement are responsible fot the sculpted rock scenery we enjoyed after the bike ride today.

Our ride took us through more desert until we reached the town of Green River (surprisingly, it's located along the Green River) in SE Utah. Despite headwinds, we made good time on the 67 mile ride, mostly due to the gradual descent from ~5500 feet to ~ 4100 feet. Everyone was at the hotel by early afternoon. After much needed showers, we loaded the two vans with riders for the 60 minute ride to the Arches National Park, where we spent several enjoyable hours. Our van was driven by Gerard (our mechanic), while his girlfriend Angie sat up front with him. Nine men sat in three rows behind them, and made sure Gerard kept his eyes on the road!

My daughter, Bekki, wished me a Happy Father's Day by phone, and she laughed when I told her that I was riding with a group of guys in their 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's, and that they were joking around like the kids on her school bus trips!

We saw incredible sights, and took lots of photos. It was hard choosing which one to post here, but how can you go wrong with "Boston" Greg and a beautiful arch?

Canyons Up and Down Day 14

2007-06-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

We really had it all today--a 75 mile ride that took us over the Wasatch Mountains (to an altitude of 7447 feet) then down through beautiful Price Canyon, into the wide valley that separates the Wasatch mountains from the more eastern branch of the Rockies through which we'll travel this coming week.

Leaving Provo, we started a gentle climb until we reached the valley through which we would ascend (more steeply as we progressed) for the next 35 miles or so. The headwinds were unbeleivable. I had some problems with my rear tire (we ultimately changed the inner tube, which seemed to help), and after my riding friends had waited for me several times, I asked them to go ahead. After Gerard, our mechanic, worked on the bike I started after the other riders. Fortunately, Andy and Michelle (our ride leaders) rode by at this point, and I was able to tuck in behind Andy as we road into the strong headwinds. I stayed as close to his wheel as I could, and was breathing very hard just to keep up with him (he was probably doing 30% more work than I was!).

It took alot of energy to deal with my mechanical problem, than catch the group, even with Andy's help. I felt tired most of the day, but don't worry--past experience has shown that when I'm tired, it's best to slow down and take it relatively easy. By doing so, I actually felt better as the long day progressed. And I owe a special "Thank you" to Andrew and Tim, who road with me during the long climb over the mountain.

The descent through the canyon was fantastic, with gorgeous (yes, I chose that word with "gorge" in mind!) views, as seen above. Rock formations of all shapes and sizes surrounded us. The area through which we passed was the "haunting ground" of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. We even saw a photo of the Kid, pictured with the grandfather of the proprietor of a roadside "country store"!

Tomorrow, should be a gentler ride, before we start ascending into Colorado. A group of 17 of us (chosen by lottery) will be going to Arches National Park tomorrow afternoon. Folks who didn't get chosen will be able to visit another national park in Colorado. More about "Arches" after we visit tomorrow.

After dinner about a dozen riders got a ride to the local Walmart in Price, Utah, where we're staying. It was funny seeing people looking for "saddle creams", pain relievers, suntan lotion and other rider necessities. And we all have the funniest tan lines!

On to the Rockies Day 13

2007-06-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

We welcomed three new riders today. David, who will turn 14 next week, joins his father Steve, who started in San Francisco. They will continue to Pueblo, Colorado over the next 8 days. Jay has ridden part of the Cross Country Challenge before, and he is riding from SLC to Pueblo as well. And Angie is joining her boyfiend (and bike mechanic extraordinaire) Gerard for the next stretch to Pueblo.

Todays route took us closer to the Wasatch Mountains, which border Salt Lake City (and Provo, Utah, where we stay tonight) on the East. These are part of the Rocky Mountains, although people from Colorado hate to hear that! We had a fairly short ride of 66 miles, and did not enter the mountains--we'll do that tomorrow.

About 15 of us stayed together all day, with frequent stops for photos, lunch, flat tires, and just to let some riders catch up. Shown is a photo of the Wasatch Mountains. I stopped to take this picture, and other riders who then passed agreed it was a good idea as well!

We road through several small towns, all with lawns that are irrigated. We especially enjoyed riding through the BYU campus. Note that the snow is mostly off the mountains (a little early this year), and should return by October.

We'll do some real climbing again tomorrow, and people want to last all through the Rockies. I haven't mentioned it yet, but riding these distances and climbing these heights is a strain on the body. We've had riders take part or all of one or more days off (riding in the vans) due to knee pain, Achilles tendonitis, and vomitting. Fortunately we've had no really severe problems. I do occasionally give advice (when I'm asked, or if I see something I'm concerned about). Our AbB staff is concerned about safety first, so it's a pretty good situation--and all riders offer their support if someone is feeling poorly. We really are blessed to have such a good group.

Salt Lake City Day 12

2007-06-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone enjoyed a rest day after our first 11 days riding. We said "Goodbye" to 7 riders, who planned only to ride from San Francisco to SLC--they were all strong riders, and each was able to give a short speech at dinner last night. There were lots of laughs, and we'll miss those guys. Some may meet up with us when we get further east (near their homes) to say "Hello".

Most folks washed their bikes, and clothes, then went into the town. One fellow, Phillipe, bought a new bike! Several of us toured the city, esp. Temple Square, where the Mormon Tabernacle (open to everyone) and the Mormon Temple (reserved for members of the Church of Latter Day Saints) are located. The temple took about 40 years to build, and is located next to Brigham Young's home. Young assumed leadership of the Mormon church after the death of founder Joseph Smith, Jr., and he founded Salt Lake City in ~ 1847. He also facillitated much of the construction of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads through Utah.

Pictured is the Mormon Temple, looking at the main entrance on the East side. Apparently there are several weddings each weekday at the Temple, as members of the LDS wish to be married there. We saw at least 3 different wedding parties (all with brides dressed in white) having their photos taken in front of the church. Howie took this photo--please note the bride and groom on the far side of the pool, posing for their photographer.

Wind, Salt and 117 Miles to SLC Day 11

2007-06-14T09:14:00.001-07:00

We reached Salt Lake City today, but not without effort! The wind was blowing from the north and the east, either across from our left, or directly into our faces. Until now, we've been very lucky with the weather (if you don't mind a one hour snowfall while climbing the Sierras).

Our route went from the Nevada-Utah border, across the Bonneville Salt Flats, to the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City. It was a challenging day for everyone, riding into the wind. We only had a few hills to climb, and it seemed quite hot as we pedalled up them.

For the first 40 miles, we had a group of 7 to 8 riders taking turns "pulling"--i.e., riding in front, into the wind, while the other riders "drafted" behind. We experimented with single and "double" pace lines (e.g.two lines of riders, riding beside one another). Each man (sorry, that's not sexist--only guys were in my pace line) "pulled" for one mile, then rotated to the back. The scenery wasn't the best unless you were upfront, riding hard!

We stopped a few times to take pictures of the salt flats (that's Wayne, above, who even tasted the salt--"hmmm, I think it needs a little paprika"). At our first SAG stop (after 40 miles), we still had 77 miles to go!

The group broke up in the middle part, after we left the flats. Andrew had two flat tires--we ultimately patched a small hole in his last inner tube, then used a granola bar wrapper to "boot the tire"--i.e., we found a small hole in the tire as well, and placed the wrapper as a barrier between the inner surface of the tire and the outer surface of the inner tube. It lasted to the end of the ride, but he'll buy new tires and tubes tomorrow on our "rest day".

Between the heat (mid 80's), the constant sunshine, the exertion against the wind and the long distance (added to the previous two challenging days), some folks were really tired when we arrived. However there was a spirit of accomplishment as we celebrated at the hotel. We've ridden 855 miles in 11 days, and climbed over many high mountains, big hills and even those overpasses which burn the legs when you're exhausted!

BTW, the Bonneville Salt Flats cover ~ 30,000 acres, and, along with the Great Salt Lake, are the remnants of ancient Lake Bonneville. Wind and water combined to create the flat surface of salt, and in winter a shallow layer of standing water floods the surface of the salt flats.

The first recorded crossing of the Great Salt Lake desert region was in 1845 by Capt. John Fremont's survey party, with scouts Kit Carson and Joe Walker. The salts include potassium, lithium, magnesium and sodium chloride. (Info courtesy of the Utah park service).

Tomorrow I hope to explore Salt Lake City.

Our First Century Day 10

2007-06-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Pictured here is part of the 2000 foot climb up the Pequop Mountains, to an elevation of 6967 feet. As we've crossed the Nevada desert, we've been at an average elevation of ~4500 feet (the High Desert), where there is little annual snowfall. For the past few days we've climbed some hills, and today we crossed the Pequops to get to Wendover, on the Nevada-Utah border.

The photo was taken halfway up the climb--unfortunately pictures tend to "flatten out" elevation changes, but as I stood there looking around, I knew I wasn't anywhere in the Eastern part of the Country. There was some minor road repair going on, so we climbed on the left side of the interstate, with the barrels between us and the cars.

Andrew and I enjoyed some excellent downhills as a reward for our climbing efforts. I reached 52 mph on one part (don't worry, they road was clear and smooth, and there was no other traffic except this 6 foot 4 inch, large British guy on a bike!). At another part there was a 4 mile descent that was less steep, so we were having a nice chat at 37 miles an hour riding side by side. That's easier than chatting when we're climbing the steep hills at 5 to 8 mph. Our friends sometimes wait for us at the tops of hills, but even if they don't, we still often catch and pass them on the downhills.

Today was the longest ride so far, at 108 miles. Four of our riders did their first century rides today (a ride of at least 100 miles). They were Arlene, age 67, Erin, age 24, Jeff, age 34 and Tim, age 36. (Jeff and Tim are brothers from Michigan). Quite an accomplishment--and they get to do it again tomorrow!

We have been lucky so far with the weather--highs only in the 80's which is warm enough when you're sweating up a mountain in the desert! The AbB staff keeps busy getting us cold water and snacks--vital for a day like today.

Tonight we're staying in the Rainbow Hotel & Casino. What a place! Glitzy, shiny and bright, with bells and whistles everywhere. The rooms have wall to wall mirrors with plenty of purple and red decor. I was briefly tempted to play blackjack, but after watching others play awhile I decided to keep my money. Interestingly, they deal from a single deck, and the players cards are dealt down. This is much nicer than the Atlantic City method of dealing from ~ 6 decks at a time, and showing the players card(s) right away.

Tomorrow is a 117 mile ride to Salt Lake City. Nothing like giving our first time Century Riders a chance to become veterans really quickly.

Beauty in the Desert-Day 9

2007-06-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Our route today took us from Battle Mountain to the much larger town of Elko, Nevada. We rode much of the time along Route 80--sometimes the berm was smooth, and at other times it was so rough that all the riders felt it after 9 consecutive days in the saddle. Discussions re: cortisone cream, vaseline vs. A & D ointment vs. "bag balm" can be heard at mealtimes, SAG stops, and while riding. Non-cyclists who "listen in" must wonder why riders talk so much about their bottoms!

BTW, SAG stands for "Support and Gear". Our four AbB staff members (Andy, Michelle, Gerard and Tom) take turns riding their bikes with us and driving the two vans (one with a trailer) along our route. They set up at about 25 to 40 mile interals at predetermined places, where riders can eat (fruit, snacks,..) and get water. On hot days they also ride back and forth offering us cold water. They're a great group, and we riders really like and appreciate them.

Today's highlights included a 12 mile climb in the middle of our 75 mile day, and a beautiful ride through Carlin Canyon. Andrew, the detective from England, and I are climbing buddies. We get up the big hills at a reasonable pace, and encourage each other if one of us is tired.

Carlin Canyon was formed by the Humboldt river, which flows east to west. The emigrants followed the river through this canyon (fording it up to 4 times in this narrow canyon alone!) en route to California. The Central Pacific Railroad then added some "fill" along the northern side of the river upon which they laid their tracks in the 1860's. In 1903 a railroad tunnel was made through the small mountain on the southern side of the river, and a road now runs where the old RR tracks were. Luckily for us, the road is now closed to cars (who go through an adjacent tunnel as well), and we had this incredible canyon to ourselves!

Pictured today are Andrew and Bob, riding on what was the old RR bed. The Humboldt river is flowing toward them one the right. It's a small river, but Nevada isn't known for its rainfall! Unfortunately, pictures tend to "flatten out" hills, so it's hard to see how steep the canyon walls really are. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy this beauty!

Please consider a donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation if you haven't done so. You can go to my webpage at

livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore

All money donated goes to the LAF, and is used to help people prevent, detect, fight, defeat and cope with cancer. The donations are tax deductable, and knowing that each of you cares really means a great deal to me. Thanks!

Further Into the Desert--Day 8

2007-06-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

We continued into the desert today, surrounded by mountains (many snow-covered) as we cycled on flatter terrain. As you can see, vegetation is sparse. Pictured is a view of the outskirts of Battle Mountain, the town we sleep tonight. We were told that most of the residents work in the mines (gold, silver, tungsten,...). We also passed cattle, and saw some real cowboys. Cattle need far more land here to graise than back in the East.

Today the group I rode with was varied, including Rick (from Tucson) who normally rides very fast, and Greg (from Dayton) who takes a gentler pace. Rick is such a strong rider--we appreciate his spending "on the bike time" with us today. He has worked for the Dept. of Defense, and is a huge Arizona Wildcats fan. Greg is a meteorologist for the Air Force, and keeps the group posted about weather trends. He's getting a kick out of the varied conditions we've seen so far. As we all ride at different speeds, it was a real challenge keeping our group of riders together today.

Highlights included a visit to a convenience store/saloon along the Interstate, where our British friends, Andrew and Brian, got a real taste of a western saloon. Brian saw his first real cowboy, purchasing a six pack and a bottle of whiskey at 10:00 AM. Well, it is Sunday, I guess.

Today was our last "easy day" for awhile. Tomorrow we get back to some significant climbing, and the next two days will include consecutive "centuries"--a bike ride of (at least) 100 miles. Wednesday afternoon/evening will see our arrival in Salt Lake City, followed by our first day off the bike.

No Water Anywhere! Day 7

2007-06-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today we rode 73 miles further into the Nevada desert. We crossed arid lands, including the 40 mile stretch from where the Humboldt River disappears into the Humboldt Sink (Yup, it just drops into the earth) to the fresh water supplies 40 miles to the west. The emigrants to California usually took two days to walk across this waterless plain, and people/cattle/horses suffered cruelly. Today, thanks to "pedal power" and a tailwind, that stretch took us just over two hours!

We rode again part of the time on the interstate. Last night, at dinner, ~12 or 14 people (including me) raised their hands when asked if they had a flat tire. Today, only Andrew in our group of 10 or so suffered that indignity.

Cars and trucks are mostly courteous as they fly past us. Many wave or give a friendly "honk". And when folks find out where we're going and what we're doing, they are amazed. And for some unknown reason, they often express more astonishment to me than to the thinner riders. Go figure!

We are staying in another motel/casino tonight. I walked a mile to a laundromat, and a friendly lady gave me a ride back to the hotel after talking to me there. Nice folk.

Pictured is Erin, with whom I rode many miles today while our friends were ahead or behind. Erin had only ridden a few hundred miles on her bike, and never more than 35 miles in a day before this trip. Now, she's ridden 91 miles in a day, and--like the rest of us--has cycled 500 miles in a week, climbed the Sierra Nevada mountains and travelled well into the Nevada desert.

Like I said, these folks are amazing!

Riding 91 miles was actually easy! Day 6

2007-06-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

The theme today was "Recovery". All riders were tired after the last two days--those who went up the mountains quickly, and those who arrived hours after the faster climbers.

We rode along Route 80, and actually spent most of our time on the berm of the Interstate. It was much nicer than it sounds, as after the first 20 miles the traffic thinned, the surface was pretty smooth, and we were able to "draft".

When riding a bicycle, the forces we must overcome are gravity (so uphill is slow), rolling resistance (where the tire meets the road--Brits--please not the spelling!) and wind resistance. The flatter the surface, the easier it is to overcome wind resistance by riding behind others. While we all took turns up front--"breaking wind", one might say--Wayne must have had an extra bowl of Wheaties today; He "pulled" our group along much of the way, making it easier for the rest of us. That's the left side of Wayne on the right (yes, we take photos while riding), while Bob is on the left, in front of me. That darn Wayne rode so fast I couldn't get him centered in my picture!

Note the flat road, mountains all around, and minimal vegetation. I repaired my second flat tire today, after a small piece of wire from a radial tire (there's much debris along the interstate) pierced my tire. (The first flat occurred in San Francisco when a small piece of glass entered my tire). A quick change, and we were off--until Gary (a funny, pleasant lawyer from Missouri) had a flat. I helped him repair it, then Gerard, our mechanic, came up to quickly finish the job.

Quick aside--How many lawyer jokes are there?

Answer--Only three--all the rest are true stories!

Despite the long distance, I felt stronger as the day progressed. The terrain of the arid Nevada desert is quite different from California's Sacramento Valley and the Sierras. Lack of rain makes for quite a visual treat as we rolled past treeless mountains and high desert.

We stayed at a hotel/casino in Lovelock, Nevada. There are slot machines everywhere in Nevada--hotels, gas stations, convenience stores! Amazing. And, no doubt to the disappointment of the ladies who work at my office, I have no desire to gamble (or gambol, for that matter) at any of the casinos.

What a climb!

2007-06-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today we finished our climbs over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and entered Nevada. After yesterday's exhausting ride, we enjoyed a beautiful 30 mile ride to, and along, Lake Tahoe. This gorgeous lake is filled with water from the rains and (mostly) snows of the Sierra Mountains which surround it. It is at about 6200 feet altitude. The Truckee river runs from it, and is the main water supply for the Reno area. Interestingly, no water from the lake, or from the Great Basin east of the Sierras ever enters the Pacific Ocean. It is used for agriculture, people,etc.., but then returns underground or is evaporated.

After a slow, leisurely day, Bob (from the DC Area), Andrew, Wayne and I started up Mount Rose. This was an 8.2 mile climb from about 6200 feet to 8900 feet! It was steep, relentlous, and had beautiful views. Wayne and Bob are good climbers, and today was my day to "bring up the caboose". We caught Arlene and Erin at a scenic view stop, but they soon continued with Wayne and Andrew ahead of me. Despite my slow pace, Bob stayed with me the whole way--telling stories, setting a pace I could maintain, and stopping when I wanted to catch my breath. We all felt the altitude, but the riders again showed true toughness.

After a rest at the top of the mountain, we descended into the Reno area, and ultimately ended up in Sparks, east of Reno. As tired as I was on the ascent, I felt fantastic with the descent (my bike riding friends all envy my ability to descend so fast--a skill that weight loss will adversely affect--and by the time we dropped 4000 feet I was riding again with ease.

So thanks again to Bob. As you can see, while he climbed the mountain first, I got higher!

Over Donner Pass--in the Snow!

2007-06-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

I really struggled deciding what picture to post today! We rode 78 miles, from 1500 feet, to over 7000 feet (over Donner Pass) before descending into Truckee, California. Wayne, with whom I rode much of the day, is from Lexington, KY, and is raising money to support the family of a dear friend who died.

As we rode mile after mile uphill (and downhill, knowing that every foot of hard-earned altitude that we "gave up" we'd have to climb again, Wayne got so hungry he understood why the poor Donner party resorted to eating their own dead when they were stuck below the pass in the winter of 1846-47 on their way to California.

One moment we were taking pictures of huge pine cones in the warm weather. An hour later we were shivering in the SNOW! Wayne and I spent 100 minutes in a Burger King along the Interstate (Route 80), waiting for the snow to pass. Several riders came in snow covered. Wayne massaged Erin's frozen feet, while I held Arlene (a sweet 67 year old grandmother from Alabama) to warm her up because she was shivering when she got to the BK. My wife, Carol, has always said she married me for my body heat, and Arlene now knows why!

These riders are tough! My congrats to everyone today. We climbed over part of the Sierras, through all kinds of weather--a journey that took the emmigrants several days at best. With macademized roads, pnematized tires (or tyres, as our English friends spell it), and fairlylight weight bikes, we use only man (or woman) power to travel amazing distances in a day.

For Wayne and me, the descent from Donner Pass into Truckee was fantastic. The road was dry, the light was perfect, and our tired legs enjoyed gravity on our side for a change!

Into the foothills

2007-06-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

Howie is a "blur" in this picture because he rides so fast! This shot was taken on a scenic bike path that led us from Sacramento up the Sacramento River, then up the American river for more than thirty miles.

Our tour leader, Andy, rides this trail up to 4 times a week! And we could see why.

After leaving the trail, we passed Folsom prison and continued on a fairly steep climb into Auburn, about 1500 feet above sea level. Tomorrow we climb the Sierras in what is "the hardest day on paper"of this entire ride.

Howie is a Non Hodkins Lymphoma survivor. He is also riding to raise money to fight cancer. He has all my admiration for his toughness!

Please help in the fight against cancer. Visit livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore if you'd like to support the LAF in this battle. All donations go to the LAF, as I am paying all costs of this ride myself.

Old Town Sacremento

2007-06-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today we road to Sacramento, the Capitol of California. The ride was flat and fun. After an early arrival, we had lunch in Old Town, on the Sacramento River.

I was able to tour the Railroad museumwith Andrew (also from England, near Manchester) he's the fellow on my right--and Rick, from Tuczon. We learned more about the building of the Central Pacific Railroad, which ran from Sacramento, to Promintory Point, northwest of Salt Lake City, where it joined the Union Pacific Railroad, out of Omaha Nebraska. Preparing for this trip, I read Stephen Ambrose's book "Nothing Like it in the World" detailing the building of the Trans Continental Railroad. Our first eleven days on this bike ride follow very closely the old Central Pacific RR line, and we cross it many times.

Over the Golden Gate Bridge Day 1

2007-06-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

We left our hotel in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco, and rode through the fog to the Pacific Ocean where we dipped our rear wheels. The ride took us thru the hills of San Francisco on a Sunday morning with little traffic--except the 2500 people riding the opposite direction (to LA!) on an annual ride to fight AIDS. They frequently called to us "you're going the wrong way", and many of our riders shouted back "We're going to New Hampshire".

It was quite fun riding up and down the streets of San Francisco, then through the Presidio, and across the Golden Gate bridge. As expected, the fog cleared as we rode through Sausalito. We then travelled north of the San Francisco Bay on a causeway , while climbing over 2 small coastal mountains. Our long, very hilly challenging first day ended in Fairfield, CA (of all places!) as all the riders came thru with a real sense of accomplishment.

The middle photo shows Andrew, in the distance, cresting our last climb. Andrew, from England, is a retired detective, and has been to the U.S. several times. Below is

Brian, who you see "disappearing into the fog", in San Francisco. Brian is also from England. This is his first trip to America, and we love his accent, sense of humor, and readiness to experience everything.

Bicycling. Across the USA for Livestrong Day 0

2007-06-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hello.

My name is Dave Moore, and I'm riding my bicycle across the USA this summer to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Our ride started on Sunday, June 3rd in San Francisco., and will end on Tuesday July 24th in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

About 25 other cyclists will be riding across the country, and perhaps 20 plus more folks will be doing part of the journey. We will ride an average of 80 plus miles a day for 47 days, with 5 rest days in between (about every 8 to 10 days on average).

America by Bicycle is the touring company with whom we ride. Our tour leaders include Andy, a strong rider (and lovely guy) from Sacramento, who has led several tours; Michelle, our co-leader, surrogate mother, and ever faster-riding New Yorker, Gerard, our mechanic who also rides fast, fixes all kinds of bikes, and knows more music than Casey Casem (sp?), and Tom, from Indiana, who also helps with bikes, food, and tells great jokes (and others as well!). We're lucky to have these four staff members!

A little about me? I'm 48 years old, married to a lovely woman (Carol), father to a lovely daughter (Rebecca-Bekki), son to two lovely parents (Carey and Pat). Owner to three lovely pets...yada, yada, yada.

A family doctor for 22 years (including residency), I live in Gettysburg, PA and practice in Fairfield, PA with Dr. Andy Farkas and a lovely staff. A dedicated (if not fast) cyclist, I've ridden 2,000 to 4,000 miles each of the past five years. A cross country trip was planned with friends, but when they couldn't pursue it this year, I chose to ride with AbB.

My mother survived breast cancer, and my father-in-law died from esophageal cancer. I've also helped many patients prevent, detect, and "beat" cancer, but have seen many succumb to it as well. I've been inspired by Lance Armstrong, the 7 time Tour de France champion, who survived metastatic testicular cancer, and I'm raising money for his foundation.

I urge you to consider giving a tax-deductable donation to the LAF. You can do so by visiting my web page at livestrong.org/grassroots/davidmoore.

I hope you enjoy following the ride with me!