Day 9/55 – 95 miles Somewheresville, OH to Detroit, MI (2009 July 4th)
Out of every city we have been to so far, we have had the most fun in Detroit. I met Alex Aranda from the original Burrito Project in LA and his girlfriend Carrie Yager, the producer of the Detroit Bicycle Film Festival. I also met some guys from The Hub, Detroit’s “full-service bicycle repair and reuse shop.”
Day 10/55 – 0 miles Detroit, MI to Chelsea, MI
Tendinitis.
Day 11/55 – 0 miles Chelsea, MI to Three Rivers, MI
My parents made us dinner.
Day 12/55 – 65 miles Three Rivers, MI to Michigan City, IN
My first real day back on my bike after the tendinitis. Chicago tomorrow.
Fellow 42 ridah Chris from Should Stop, Won’t Stop challenged me to a “gentleman’s gold sprint race” at the Detroit City Fest. This is what happened:
Thanks Domathon1 for shooting the video and uploading from his iPhone. Makes me want one of those things. And btw, I also had the best overall sprint time. Still reppin’.
Day 8/55 – 0 miles :P Cleveland, OH to Fremont, OH
Cleveland was great because I hung out with an old friend from college. We went to a vintage toy shop in Coventry. I checked out the G.I. Joes, Transformers, and Voltron toys, but I was most excited to see and play with a Popple. For those of you who don’t know what a Popple is:
And yes, I popped it, and it felt great. Then we went to Tommy’s restaurant and I had shwarma and french onion soup. But the best part by far was the peanut butter, honey, banana, and tofuti shake! Thanks for showing me around Jenny, you are the best!
This morning my knee hurt from yesterday so I stayed safe and road in the van. I took lots of photos:
P.S. I knew I was back in the Midwest when I saw a tall boy of PBR for $1.19 at a gas station in OH. Outstanding. We like bike, we like beer, we love 42 Below Vodka!
And have you heard about daggering? The North Route thinks it is pretty funny:
DETROIT tomorrow, MI I’m coming home! See you soon mom!
Day 4/55 – 100+ miles Somewhere PA, to Somewhere PA
100 miles in the Allegheny mountains. It was the hardest climbing I have ever done. It was nice training for the Rockies. PA is really beautiful. I felt a sense of accomplishment reaching summit after summit. The camp site didn’t exist anymore so we stayed at a motel. For dinner I ate a large pizza, some Japanese style beef, a peanut butter sandwich, lots of Clif bars, and some pasta.
Day 5/55 – 50ish miles Somewhere PA, to Pittsburgh, PA
I went 2 miles too far and then asked some construction workers for directions. They gave me the wrong directions and I was picked up by the van 20 miles off course. Cleveland tomorrow or the day after.
Day 1 – 80 miles New York City to Somerset, NJ
Slept 4 hours, wtf. The ride wound through small neighborhood streets, lots of bike paths, and the route map (Q sheet) was hard to follow. Road most of the way with two other guys, Chris from D.C. and Bennett from S.F. Solid team. First at the hotel. Couldn’t have done it without the help of Chris’s iPhone.
Day 2 – 60 miles Somerset, NJ to Philadelphia
Went to bed at 11pm. Left at 6am. My left calf felt crampy in the morning, but it worked itself out. Witnessed an epic fork fail that resulted in the most intense endo I’ve ever seen, but he’s okay. Finished the ride with half a dozen or so riders, lots of pacelining.
Had a veggie cheese steak sandwich for almost dinner. LEKKER!
As you may or may not know, I am riding my bicycle from NYC to LA this summer as part of the 42 Ride with 41 other cyclists. We are riding together from NYC to Philadelphia and then breaking up in to two groups, one going north and the other going south, both ending in LA! Lots of the participants have blogs, and Flickrs, and Twitters, and it is especially exciting as the clock ticks down to tonight when we finally all meet, to read my new friends preparatory trials and tribulations. Here is a collection of blogs (and websites) from the 42 Ridazz:
My camera equipment (that was on loan to me) was stolen a few months ago and I couldn’t bike from NYC to LA without a camera so I got shitty SLR for the trip (also a loaner, thanks Dad, Happy Fathers Day!). Here is a shot from the Bicycle Film Festival block party bunny hop comp:
On May 22 the League of American Bicyclists gave the city of Santa Monica a bronze level distinction, what ever that is. Local blogger cyclists have field day:
SoapBox LA offers history of the League of American Bicyclists and calls the award “superficial.” Gary Rides Bikes nearly dies cycling to a rent a movie. BikingInLA sez, WTF, “it takes more than just infrastructure and good intentions to truly be bicycle friendly.” Westside BikeSIDE sez, “Next time cyclists complain stridently of the trials of riding bikes in Santa Monica, officials and staff will point to the award and remark that our own people disagree with us.” And Sean Bonner at LA Metblogs praises the work of investigative blogging that it takes to expose the bullshit bronze level distinction.
Where’s the bizarro-award seal of shitty streets without planned infrastructure award?
Do you have a near death cycling expierience?
If the LAB gave awards for coolest, funnest, hippest bike scene would LA get a gold or a platinum level distinction?
OMG WAU!!! ITZ DA FUCHUR. FUKXKKXK! ONENINETYTHREE, SHWING, JUS IMD ME AN WNTD DAT TEH LIVIN SICXNES, BOING, SHUD PWAY AT DA NEXT C.R.A.N.K. 01001101 01001111 01000010 00001101 00001010 AN I TYPD OMGWTFNOBBQ!?! SO FAST IT WUZ FUNNY, TWUST MEH U MFER. DEN WE CHATTD BOUT GIRWHRLZZ AN HOW R DAIS WENT AN DEN ONENINETYTHREE, UGH, AKSKUD IF I WANTD 2 RITE 4 DIS ZINE, PFF, HE, YUM, WUZ DOIN AN I SED DAT WUZ STOOOOPID AN HE SED YA AN DEN I ASKD ONENINETYTHREE WUT IT WUZ CALLD AN HE SED C.R.A.N.K. 4d 4f 42 0d 0a FUN GUIDE VOLUME 1 AN I SED ROFFLZ! AN DEN I ASKD IF HE WU BUY THIS ZINE! Z GOIN 2 SELL DEM AT CRANK MOB AN YOU SHOULD BUY THIS ZINE! HE SED YEZ AN I SED DAT WUZ STOOOOPID AN DEN WE HAD DIS DEEP CONVERSASHUN BOUT LABYR AN CAPITALYZM AN HOW IF HE SOLD DIS ZINE TEH ZINE WUD BE ARBITRATD BY THE PREDATORY CAPITALIST MARKET AN NOT BY TEH FREE WILL OV ART 4 ARTS SAEK, I MEEN HOO WANTS AN ECONOMIC SISTEM DAT AWARDZ PEEPS 4 ANTI SOSHUL BEHOIVRIOUR, AN HE SED THAR IZ NO FREE WILL AN I AGRED AN DEN I ASKD K WUT TEH ZINE WUZ CALLD AGAIN AN HE SED C.R.A.N.K. TU9CDQo= FUN GUIDE VOLUME WAN AN I DECIDD I WUD RITE AFTR ALL.
DEN I SAW DIS:
WELCOM 2 WURLD OV NEO-FAUVISM. IT DOAN MAK SENSE. BE RIDICULOUSLY IMAGINATIV. DRES UP. DRES DOWN. DRINK ELIXIRS. DRINK. BE DARIN. I DEERRRR U TO KIS STRANGERS. BE A TEENAGER. SUPR GLUE PLASTIC 77 79 66 13 10 2 UR BODY. MAK MAK FOREST IN UR HAIR. STRAP MILLION TINY CATYRPLLRZ 2 UR BICYCLE. BUY THIS ZINE! LET A STORY TELLER TOUXX UUR BODY STORY. DANXE. DRESS UP LYK AHULK. BUY SOMETHING, THIS? DOAN USE UR REAL NAYM. DON’T GIV OUT UR FONE NUMBR WHEN U R WASTD AT UR OWN HOUZ PARTY AN DEN, YA YA YA. DANCE LIEK IF U CANT. AN DOAN CARE BOUT TIEM.
I DON’T KNOE MUTCH BOUT CRANK MOB, BUT I CAN TELL U DIS. CRANK MOB IZ NOT SAFE.
OMG I TEWTUL WUNTZ 2 GRABZ DAT ONTHIRTYNINE AN FUZZIEZ HIMZ AWL OVAR … HIM SOOOOOOO MOOSHY AN FULLZ OV WIN.
