Category: Bike Touring

10/3/17

Mt Orab, OH > London, OH

Miles Ridden – 112.9

Mileage to date – 3,298.4

Yesterday’s destination was London… Ohio.  What does the song from the Clash in 1979 have to do with London, OH?  Nothing, but it was a cool song back in the day.

John spent 80 miles of his riding on bike paths yesterday which is good and bad.  The good – no cars, flat and little chance of a wrong turn.  The bad – a bit monotonous and sometimes sparse services.  He spent the night in a hostel.  London is about 30 miles east of Columbus Ohio.  It is happens to be the birthplace of Dick Lebeau who is the assistant head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

Today’s destination is Mifflin, OH (pop. 137)

10/2/17

Dry Ridge, KY > Mt Orab, OH

Miles Ridden – 116.3

Mileage to date – 3,185.5

Or better yet, another day another century. What’s a “century” you ask? In the bicycling world, a century is 100 miles of riding. Try it sometime. It’s not easy. Next try loading 60 lbs or so of gear on your bike and riding a century. Once you have that under your belt then try doing 3 consecutive days of century rides with a bike full of gear. I am getting tired just typing that!

John crossed the Ohio river today for the final time. He followed the ACA route which is a rather circuitous route around Cincinnati. He is spending the night in Mt Orab, OH which per its Wikipedia page seems to be a totally unremarkable place. He is about 40 miles

easy of Cincinnati. Yesterday John was debating whether he should do a shorter (75 miles) or a longer ride (105 miles) today. He opted for even longer ride by getting lost for a while –

“I spooked a large bird this morning who in turn spooked me and I rode off the shoulder into soft grass. Shortly after, I missed a turn in Concord, KY that added 9 miles to my ride. That’s when I decided to have lunch and evaluate my performance. Fortunately, after eating things improved and I crossed the Ohio river without incident. Overall, the ride today was really beautiful.”

John also reported that –

“Lots of deer and rebel flags today. Not to mention dogs chasing me down the street.”

Sounds fun!

Without further adieu let’s get to the photos –

How could anyone get lost with such clear signage?-

I have ridden 300 miles in 3 days, that looks pretty nice-

10/1/17

Jeffersonville, IN > Dry Ridge, KY

Miles Ridden – 103.8

Mileage to date – 3,069.2

John ushered in the month of October with a return to the eastern time zone. After 39 days away, it is a good sign of the progress that he has made to date. John also surpassed the 3,000 mile mark today for his tour today.

Today’s destination was Dry Ridge, KY (2,191) which is about 35 miles south of Cincinnati. Dry Ridge was the birthplace of country singer Skeeter Davis. “Who the heck is he?” is what my lovely bride asked when informed of this fact. Well it turns out that Skeeter was a she!

Tomorrow, John should make it to Ohio. The bike route that he is following is called the Underground Railroad and per the the Adventure Cycling Association(ACA) it “memorializes the Underground Railroad, a network of clandestine routes by which African freedom seekers attempted to escape slavery before and during the Civil War”.

John’s account of the day – “I started in Jeffersonville IN before sunrise today and it was cold until late morning. I’m officially in the eastern time zone and it only stands to reason the outside temperature was exactly what one should expect in the east in October. The ride followed the Ohio river for about 10 miles and it was a great place to see the sunrise. Once the route separated from the river navigation became more difficult due to missing street signs and discrepancies with road names. Fortunately, thanks to my iPhone and a little patience I was able to find my way back to Kentucky. After passing through the wonderful town of Madison IN, I crossed the Ohio river again. Once in KY, the ride was pretty straight forward keeping me on 2 state routes for 51 miles. I will say there was a mile long climb at 10% grade with 9 miles left in the route that made me think about skiing.”

John also said that “Madison IN reminded me of Woodstock, VT”.

Photos from today –

9/30/17

Lewisport, KY > Jeffersonville, IN

Miles Ridden – 113.0

Mileage to date – 2,965.4

John crossed the mighty Ohio river at Brandenburg, KY and entered Indiana today. Apparently, Abraham Lincoln spent much of his boyhood in Indiana –

John already crossed the Ohio river to reach Kentucky from Illinois 2 days ago. He will cross the Ohio 2 more times in the next couple of days. Tomorrow he will cross the Ohio back into Kentucky. Confused yet? I know I am. The state boundaries are a little tricky to follow in these parts.

It was another long day on the bike for John but it sounds like a nice day –

“The temperature was really great today for riding. There was a bit of wind requiring greater power output but it helped keep things comfortable all day. Once again, the ACA route provided an unforgettable day on the bicycle. I travelled along these 2 ridges for over 20 miles and it was just so great. The stuff in the AM along the river was great also. The day began and ended riding next to the river. Crossing the river was a bit sketchy as the bridge is under construction and there was only one lane open”.

Tonight John is in Jeffersonville, IN which is directly across the river from Louisville ,KY. Jeffersonville is known locally as “Jeff” which sounds like a great name!

Pictures from today –

9/29/17

Sebree, KY > Lewisport, KY

Miles Ridden – 61.9

Mileage to date – 2,852.4

Perhaps this post should be titled “And There Was One”. Today was John’s 1st riding solo since the trip began on Aug. 24. John has been riding with Jaime and Heather since I left. They will continue on the TransAmerica bicycle route until Yorktown, Virginia. John left the TransAmerica today and picked up a route called the Underground Railroad. He is headed towards Erie, PA. I think he probably has around 1300 miles left.

John will really riding with Jaime and Heather. They are two of the nicest folks you will ever meet. I enjoyed the two days I rode with them as well. It seems like it was only yesterday when we spotted their bikes outside a restaurant in Austin, NV and first met them. I wish them the best of luck.

John decided to make today an easy day since they have been really piling on the miles in the last 10 days or so. When I spoke with him today he did say he felt great.

9/28/17

Tunnel Hill, Il > Sebree, KY

Miles Ridden – 103.6

Mileage to date – 2,790.5

I got a chance to talk to John on the phone today. We had not talked since I last saw him in Utah. The events of yesterday warranted a phone call as opposed to our usual text communication. The plan for yesterday was to ride to Sebree, KY and stay at a cycling hostel that was affiliated with a church. It is 104 mile ride from Tunnel Hill where they had camped out the night before. On a typical day, John will usually average about 12-13 miles per hour. At that pace a 100 mile day usually involves a minimum of 8 hours on the bike which is a long day.

John, Heather and Jaime started out as the sun was rising. John noticed that early in the day Jaime’s rear wheel was out of true and was wobbling so badly that the rim was hitting the brake caliper. It kept getting worse as the day wore on. It really impacted how fast Jaime could ride. To make matters worse there are no bike shops in that area of Illinois and Kentucky. At one point, they stopped at gas station and a local started talking to them. John said he was a bit of a redneck but a really nice. This guy mentions to them that he bought his son a road bike and he never uses it. So Jaime half jokingly asks him “well why don’t you let me use his rear wheel”? The guy replies “I guess I could do that”. The next thing John knows Jaime and Heather are in this guy’s truck riding to retrieve the rear wheel. Jaime promises to mail the wheel back to him when he reaches Virginia. I will spare you all the details but Jaime couldn’t switch the real wheel without some help from a bike shop so he strapped his borrowed wheel on his trailer and gutted out the last 20 plus miles.

By this time it was getting late, John rode on ahead looking for the church. It was pitch black and he was a bit nervous because there are no hotels in the county. Sure enough he saw a church with a sign that said “cyclist hostel”. There was an older gentlemen who introduced himself as the retired pastor and he asked John “I hope you don’t mind but we made dinner for you guys”. John said said “I absolutely do not mind!” Due to the late hour John had assumed he would be eating a freeze dried meal. Needless to say he was very happy.

Jaime and Heather showed up shortly afterwards and they all had a delicious dinner with the pastor and his wife. The pastor asked John if he would like some maple syrup with his meal. He pulled a jug from Stowe, Vermont! A friend had brought it to them recently. The pastor and his wife have been at that location since 1979 and have been helping and hosting cyclists ever since. They offered to drive Jaime to a bike shop this morning to get his wheel sorted out.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy states: The term “trail magic” was coined by long-distance hikers to describe an unexpected occurrence that lifts a hiker’s spirits and inspires awe or gratitude. There is no doubt that John, Jaime and Heather experienced some trail magic yesterday through the kindness of strangers.

9/26/17

Ellington, MO > Chester, IL

Miles Ridden – 110.4

Mileage to date – 2,597.9

Another big milestone today for John and team. They have crossed the Mississippi and made it to Chester, Illinois (pop. 8,586). Chester is best known as the birthplace of the creator ( E.C. Segar)of Popeye the Sailor which was one of my favorite cartoons as a child.

Despite climbing over 5,900 feet today John said he felt good riding all day. Also from John – “We decided to call ourselves team heatwave given the temperature seems to approach 90 degrees everyday we ride……it was a beautiful ride, it was like cycling in the Berkshires with wider roads.”

They are staying in another cyclist hostel tonight.

Some photos from today –

9/25/17

Houston, MO > Ellington, MO

Miles Ridden – 69.7

Mileage to date – 2,487.5

John and team pedaled to Ellington, MO (pop. 987) today. Per Wikipedia Ellington was named for a woman (Cliny Huff Ellington) who laid out the town.

John did not have very good internet access today so I don’t have many details on what transpired. He did relay the following –

“We ate lunch at the Dairy Shack which boasted a great milk shake and an excellent selection of 50s era rock sings.”

He also sent the following photo of the Current river part of the Ozark National Scenic River ways –

John, Heather and Jaime are staying at a free bicyclist’s hostel sponsored by the local chamber of commerce-

John also passed along this photo of a house where the plants are growing from the inside-

If all goes according to plan, John will be in Chester, Illinois to tomorrow. Chester is the home of “Popeye”. More on this later!

9/24/17

Ash Grove, MO > Houston, MO

Miles Ridden – 113.1

Mileage to date – 2,417.8

Today’s destination was Houston, MO (pop. 2,081). My original idea for the blog title was “Houston we do not have a problem”. But then John sent this photo –

And it was obvious to me what the title should be.

After an easy day. John and crew ramped up the mileage to 113 miles. They also ascended nearly 6,500 feet of vertical today. They have not done that sort of vertical since Colorado. They also descended nearly 6,300 feet so it was an up and down day. I think this photo from John depicts it well –

Who knew Missouri was such a roller coaster?

What would a blog post be without a random or 2 factoid from Wikipedia about the destination? So here goes. Houston is the capital seat of the county of Texas. Houston was named after Sam Houston. Houston, Texas was also named after Sam Houston.

John’s account of the last couple of days. “The night before last we stayed with a warm showers host named Nathan Hugh’s in Pittsburg. He’s a design student at Pittsburgh State University and he rode with us to Ash Grove. When we arrived there we were all elated to discover a cyclist hostel next to the town park. Our free accommodations came with a kitchen, cot, showers, bath and a nice collection of bike tools. We met another cyclist we had been following for some time named Josh Morrow. This morning Nate returned to school and Josh headed to Springfield, MO. Once again leaving the cycling trio(John, Jaime and Heather) to head off for another day of great riding. Today was pretty much a roller coaster of a ride from beginning to end. We all had a great time and we’re fortunate to avoid any mechanical issues and the weather was pretty great. We managed to arrive safely to our destination here in Houston, MO.”

Here is Nathan’s roommate that made a bicycle

our of wood-

A couple more photos from the day-