Bike the US for MS

2010-07-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Ben Dymond
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Day 30 - Nickerson, KS to Larned, KS - 61 mi

First off, check out our Tribune article from Chanute, KS a couple of nights ago!

After downing some AmeriCone Dream last night I slept in to a lazy morning - as did everyone else. We rolled out of the campground around 8 am with the thought that we only had a 60 mile day and we could crank it out before noon (which happened). We rode through probably the most desolate section of road yet where there were no services (water/food/restrooms) available. It was key that we had a support vehicle for water and snacks!

(campsite from last night next to massive grain silos)

The ride today was super flat and we were able to cruise anywhere between 17 and 24 mph on the ride. We rode through flat agriculture land and past massive beef farms. It was pretty gross to get passed by trucks hauling (even empty) manure from the farm to the fields.

We have been extremely lucky on our trip in terms of weather and today was no exception - the skies were beautiful and the temperature not extremely hot. So far on the trip, we have not had very much rain and the temperature has been manageable enough that you can bike through the hottest part of the day (1-3 pm). Today the lack of headwinds prompted a horizontal pace line for communication sake rather than pace.

(Leigh Graziano, Bret Taylor, and Ben King)

Over the past week we have been running into more and more TransAm cyclists - specifically those heading from West to East. We have encountered many solo cyclists and smaller groups of 2-3 people carrying their own gear, but today we ran across our first group of the trip - the ultra plush America by Bicycle group that will be heading to the East as we go West.

After doing laundry at the local laundromat, I am currently enjoying a cold Miller Lite before heading to the local public pool across the street!

Day 17: Rough River Dam, KY to Sebree, KY - Ben Dymond

2010-06-18T04:04:00.000-07:00

After demolishing the all you can eat dinner last night at Rough River Dam Lodge, we went back for the breakfast buffet! Needless to say we ate a ton of food and borrowed a few sausage biscuits for lunch. The campground and lodge were awesome and a lot of us discussed how it felt that we weren't really embarking on an incredibly long journey since we have been stayingin plush settings with wifi and showers. We could definitely make the trip a little harder if we wanted to!

We are definietly getting faster at knocking out mileage, especially when the goal is in site. Our ride today continued through farm lands of Western Kentucky as the terrain and buildings are starting to look more Midwest everyday. I definitely saw a few huge corn silos and massive operations for storing grains. Today we passed our first West-to-East TransAm bikers who must have started super early on the West coast to make it this far by mid June. Unfortunately, I was riding along at a good clip when they passed. Some other riders talked to them when they passed by our water stop. On one final note, today was my first ride using my iPod and headphones - only the right ear in the beginning and then both ears. The music definitely increased my pace significantly as I busted through 25 miles at a good clip. Following the ride, I stopped at one of many dairy bars that we will start encountering as we approach the Midwest.

Our stop tonight was at the First Baptist Church in Sebree, KY. This is definitely one of the best places we have crashed yet!! Actually, in my mind it is probably #1.5 in terms of coolness as #1 is still the Cookie lady's house. The bottom of the church - the youth center - is hooked up with a big screen TV, a pool table, ping pong table, kitchen, and an indoor 4-square court taped on the floor! There is also a set of sweet maps including the USA, Europe, and the world where riders tack their home location.

The minister and his wife, Bob and Violet Hardison, are fairly famous on the TransAm. They have been hosting cyclists in their house/church since 1979 when they discovered they lived on the TransAm route. They are famous for feeding all of the cyclists with a home cooked meal using real plates and cloth napkins to make them feel at home. I can't even recall what our dinner consisted of because the spread of food was too large. We are definitely the largest group she has ever fed and we were certainly able to help with the cooking and clean up.

Day 16: Sebree, KY - Tara

2010-06-18T03:58:00.001-07:00

We did 75 miles pretty miles today with about 4,000 feet of climbing. So even though we are out of the mountains and into the rolling hills we are still working our butts off and sweating just as hard as ever.

We started the day off with the breakfast buffet at the Lodge at Rough River Dam Park. I think skipping dinner last night was a mistake because I totally stuffed myself at breakfast and felt sluggish the rest of the day. I was too full to even drink a whole cup of coffee. Rookie mistake, Tara. See how far away the other cyclists are in the picture above? Yeah, that’s how I spent a lot of the day, about 100 yards behind everyone else. I have saddle sores on on my upper thigh and they are killing me. It hurts so bad to bike, walk, sit down, or anything. I’m so annoyed. I feel strong and everything is going great except for that. I wish they could just heal and I could cycle happily and pain-free. So today was one of those long days where you just had to ride your bike all day. I didn’t take many pictures. But I looking back I honestly had another great time out on the road. In no way does it get boring or monotonous to ride my bike all day. I am happy and enjoying every second even with saddle sores and other various aches and pains.

Today we went through lots of sort-of-sad small towns that looked liked they used to be full of life and business but now have abandoned storefronts and ‘meth watch’ signs everywhere. They are neat to ride though; it’s like seeing what remains of small town America. The countryside was beautiful. Several times today I felt like I could be in Pungo or Chesapeake. That sort of landscape. Other times it reminded me of the hills around Richmond approaching Appalachia. Yesterday I felt like I was in Kansas and today I felt like I was back in Virginia.

Tonight we are staying at the First Baptist Church in Sebree, Kentucky. This place is awesome. They have a really nice cyclists hostel on the ground floor of their church with comfy couches, a huge kitchen, ping pong, a big TV, showers, and lots of space. That alone would make our night. But then there was dinner! The pastor’s wife, Violet, has been making cyclists dinner for 31 years. She invites them to eat with her family around their kitchen table every night; last summer they fed and housed 260 cyclists. We were too big of a group to fit in her dining room, so we ate in a nice area of the church upstairs. She made us a million types of casseroles, vegetables, beans, and desserts. I can’t imagine the money, time, and work that goes into feeding 30 people. And she’s been doing this for 31 years and isn’t sick of it yet! I am so amazed and thankful for people like this. It makes me so happy. In addition to food, they gave us all Kentucky pins because (drumroll) tomorrow we are leaving Kentucky for Illinois! I guess I’m going to have to just get a pin from every state and start collecting them or something.

Ok, sorry for the short and not very entertaining update. I’m totally beat and all I want to do is go to bed. Only 55 miles tomorrow which is usually easy but I hope I can hold up.

See you all in Illinois!

Day 15: Rough River Dam, KY - Tara

2010-06-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

Another short day! We were only going 60 miles today, another ‘rest’ day, ha. Because I was sleeping inside in the air conditioning, I didn’t wake up until 7:15. So late that I almost missed some of Bret’s pancakes. Almost. I still managed to eat three. After reluctantly boiling water on my campstove to have coffee, we packed our stuff and headed out for breakfast #2 at Subway. The girls and I somehow managed to stay at Subway for a whopping 2 and a half hours. That’s our record so far for most dilly-dallying in one place. Why ride early when you can sit in Subway for two meals and ride out just in time to catch the heat of the day?

Actually today was a beautiful day. It never got too hot and there was a nice breeze that wasn’t strong enough to be classified as a headwind. There were pretty white, pink and purple flowers in all of the fields. Horses were galloping and thankfully the road offered only gentle up and down hills. We saw some Amish! I didn’t know that they existed as far south as Kentucky. Perhaps they are some offshoot of Amish that is called something else, I’m not sure. We saw several but I only got this crappy picture from the back because I heard they don’t like their photo being taken and I didn’t want to be rude. This dude flew past us in his horse and buggy. One of the girls commented about how they are crazy to still be using horses as a mode of transportation in 2010. Then we realized that we are riding bikes to California and that perhaps we are the crazy ones.

Team “girls” continued to spend the day taking food breaks at every possible moment, much to the annoyance of our route leaders who had to wait forever at a rest stop so we could refill our water bottles. Out of the blue we had to climb a 17%+ grade hill, our steepest of the entire route so far. It’s about as steep as people like us can ride up without falling over or going backwards. It was nuts. I really want to be able to ride up this hill when I get to San Francisco. I’m starting to wonder if that’s feasible.

We stopped for a final time for blackberry cobbler and ice cream before crossing the actual Rough River Dam into camp. I’m almost positive I’ve seen this dam on the History Channel before. How thrilling. The campsite is nice and has showers in close proximity. I’m currently a mile up the road at the Lodge which has comfy chairs, free wifi, and what I’m told is an awesome breakfast buffet for $7. I sort of skipped dinner to blog and watch TV so I’m very excited about that. I guess I’ll ride back to camp in the dark and eat a sleeve of Pop-Tarts in my tent, which is my new ‘sort of sad’ thing to do.

Cool things:

We crossed time zones today into Central Time! I really feel like I’m GOING somewhere now. The girls and I were thrilled to find out that even though we didn’t get on the road until 11am, we would roll into camp an hour early. Or that’s what we told ourselves.

We have apparently done just about 1,000 miles on our trip so far. That means my bike seat has about 2,000 miles on it since I bought it in March and it still sucks. Nice!

There’s a new video online! It makes us look pretty hardcore if you ask me. You can see me summiting Hayder’s Gap in the white bike shorts. Also, Bridget’s line at the top of the climb is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard and I’m so happy it’s on video to be preserved forever. Enjoy.

June 10 - Dale Johnson

2010-06-11T02:46:00.001-07:00

Total miles ridden – 600

I awoke this morning in the choir loft of the Elk Garden Methodist Church outside Rosedale, VA. I’ve been known to snore on occasions, so I try to find a secluded spot to sleep where I will minimize any disturbance to others. The church was a gem. They leave the church unlocked so Trans-Am cyclists can stop by and sleep. They even provide food in the pantry and a place to cook. Last evening there were all sorts of dishes being prepared and we left money in their donation box to cover the food we used.

The weather forecast today was for partly sunny with highs around 80 and very little wind, which is always great news. Today was a short day (only 43 miles) after yesterday’s tough day of 74 miles and Hayter’s Gap. The Appalachians run North to South and we are riding East to West. Today we had climbs over 4 mountain ranges. The first mountain was called “Big A Mountain” by locals. About half way up the climb I realized what the A stood for. Big A Mountain nearly kicked my A. It was long and steep. As we started the climb, Rosanne, a 110 pound Duke University medical student with the strength of a horse goes blowing by me. Rosanne spends most of her time riding with the King brothers, who race for the Virginia Tech cycling team. I’m struggling along about half way up the mountain when the team support vehicle passes me. I look up and see a team leader with his hand out the passenger window and displaying a “thumbs up”. That brought a smile to my face. As we approached the summit I passed Stephen. I looked at my terrain profiles I had worked up prior to the trip (I’m both a computer and geography geek). I yelled to Stephen…” You already know the bad news. The good news is we have an 11 mile downhill after the summit”. About a mile past the summit, Stephen goes blowing by me on a blazing downhill. Stephen and Jeff are big boys and are “downhill specialists” who gain a lot of speed and momentum going down hills. I topped out at 43 mph …..Jeff at 45.2 ……and Brian hit 49.7 mph. The rest of the ride included long climbs over 3 more mountains followed by 3 other screaming downhills.

Both of my late parents grew up in humble beginnings during the depression in this area. My father was born in Pound, Va which is just south of our route today as we approach the Kentucky state line. My mother grew up in Rogersville, Tennesee which is just over the Virginia state line. This is a fairly depressed area of Appalachia. I can’t image how difficult it was in this area during the depression. All the foods my mother prepared when I was growing up are from this area…..biscuits and gravy, pinto beans, and southern sweet tea. I was riding along by myself for a while so I decided to put on my headphones and listen to some music. I started with some classic country music, which was my father’s favorite and then switched to country gospel, which was my mother’s favorite.

We pulled in early to Interstate Breaks State Park. This is the nicest campground we have had so far. It gave everyone a chance to shower and wash out their biking clothes. The ranger stopped by and gave us pins for biking across the entire state of Virginia. Well,

How the tour operates - Stephen French

2010-06-11T02:43:00.001-07:00

We’d like to provide our perspective of the role of the Route Leader and how invaluable they are to the safe and smooth operation of getting nearly two dozen bicyclist from one coast to the other. In January, just a few days after my application was accepted, I received an email from Matt Brinkman introducing himself as my Route Leader. He acknowledged that fundraising was the immediate concern and may seem like a daunting task, but that he was willing to help with ideas. As I reached the mid-way deadline on May 1st of $1500.00 he started contacting us about sweet discounts from our sponsors, recommended gear lists, and was always available by phone, email, or facebook whenever I had a question. There are 3 full-time leaders who take turns driving the van with trailer in tow, and then of course there’s Don Fraser who drives his 4Runner as an auxiliary vehicle for emergencies and scouting out the route for the day. As avid bicyclists themselves, one leader usually drives the van, another rides shotgun to be able to answer the phone and read the map, while the third rides along with the pack and picks up the rear to be sure no one needs an extra hand with repairs, or some added motivation! Don as well as every person with a title has always presented themselves as one of us, never condescending, just offering thoughtful advice. At one point, Mason Cavell parked the 4Runner at our campsite and biked up seven miles of steep mountainside with frozen Mars bars as a treat for climbing Afton Mt! That’s dedication! They provide the days weather forecast and rest stops on a white board in the trailer. We have NEVER been without copious amounts of potable drinking water when we’ve needed it thanks to the tireless efforts of Bret Taylor. Joe Ferrell,who is proficient with almost every aspect of bicycle repair, is provided with professional grade tools, and has been very successful helping to maintain our fleet. All the videos you see posted on the website have been shot, edited and posted by the leadership team. As we enter into our second week on the road they still offer suggestions about what to eat for optimum energy output, how best to care for sore knees, ankles, and feet, and make recommendations for proper posture to avoid fatigue. When the unfortunate situation arises and a rider comes down with a cold/flu, they put that persons’ bike on the van and take them on as a passenger until they feel good enough to start pedaling again. Liason with the many eating establishments to let them know that they will soon be invaded by an army of ravenous bicyclists has been crucial, and finding a safe space to camp at night within striking distance of the starting point has been seamless. Whether on the back lawn of a firestation, a park, campground, or a church, there’s been no shortage of folks flinging their doors open to help us out. The Route Leaders are continuously proactive with providing information prior to a challenge/event because they all have extensive bicycling experience, most on this exact journey. Every opportunity to learn from what we could have done to make things easier goes into the “what we’re gonna do next year” file, but those moments have been so seldom it’s hardly noticeable. In fact, Don exclaimed today that it’s going so incredibly well he’s almost afraid that he’s doing something wrong!! So here’s to you Mr. Route Leader extraordinaire, we would like to acknowledge their hard work and dedication, and that without them being so invested in our welfare and success, this incredible undertaking would hardly be possible. Crack open a Natty Lite, you deserve it!

June 6 – By Stephen French

2010-06-11T02:41:00.001-07:00

Knowing that we were going to leave a little later this morning I made a personal decision to sleep in a little and set my alarm for 6am. Today’s blessing came in the form of a reprieve from the usual nightly train whistles every two hours most probably due to the fact that it was Sunday. With the absence of a local eatery, most folks broke out the campstoves and made coffee and oatmeal, while someone making a peanut butter and honey sandwich made my mouth water! A real treat was that close to fifteen bicyclists came out to the campsite to accompany us for the ride in to Blacksburg where we”ll enjoy our first day off! Blacksburg is significant because it’s the town where Don Fraser, the founder of our organization lives and works so you can imagine the reception that will ensue! Our morning ride began with some nice small steep climbs as the billowy white clouds provided just the right cover from the sun so cooler weather prevailed. Midway on our 45 mile ride we stopped at a service station to meet up with even more enthusiastic folks from Blacksburg, some who rode along and some who just came out to celebrate our arrival. As I stood around eating bananas and replenishing my energy and water, my rear tire went flat just standing still amidst the crowd. This tire of mine has been a long running joke as this is now the sixth flat I’ve had. The wheel seems to be the culprit and I’ve called ahead to the Bike Barn in Blacksburg to order a replacement in hopes that the many flat tires and broken spokes will be a thing of the past and I can spend my post-ride time NOT doing bike repair. The group was ready to leave for the last leg into town and I waved them on telling them not to wait for me to fix my cursed tire. Most of the last half of the ride included beautiful lush green rolling hills of farmland with homes situated in picturesque fashion atop the hills with cattle and horses enjoying themselves as if in the wild. A quick dart to the left to avoid a large black snake crossing the road and a brief introduction to a doe as I was slowly climbing a hill and came upon her having a snack. She looked up as I said “hello”and then showed me her hind quarters as she fled into the tall grass on the opposite side of the road. The sun shone brightly and made an appearance during the final steep ascent into Blacksburg where we all met for a group ride through town. We were met with cheering crowds, balloons, and a feast of great food and friendly faces at the Farmers Market Pavillion. I met so many supporters and advocates of the MS fundraising efforts in addition to a really huge helping of that fantastic Virginia hospitality. As the skies opened up with the occasional downpour, as it happens in these parts, we all retreated to The Cafe at Champs were we quenched our thirst and celebrated a successful week of spreading awareness about MS. Don Fraser, Matt Brinkman, & Mason Cavell opened their homes as respite for the masses as we all looked forward to a hot shower, a good meal, and being able to sleep in tomorrow morning. Signing up for this event many months ago, I never imagined in my wildest dreams what a responsibility I would be undertaking, nor the amazing receptions that I would be a part of as an ambassador for this grassroots movement begun by one man (Don Fraser) with an idea to impact the level of care for his mother who had been stricken with a debilitating disease. Love is ever present here.

June 7th ( Free Day ) - Rosanne Jones

2010-06-11T02:38:00.000-07:00

When we woke up to the smell of coffee brewing this morning, I knew it was going to be a good day. And for anyone who knows me well; not only was there coffee, but also an endless amount of honey and soy milk available to make the best coffee in town. We bumbled around our host’s house, sipping our coffee in peace before we lazily hoped on our bikes for a stroll into Blacksburg. As we were coasting along the rolling hills in the early morning sun, I dropped to the back of the group, and with a grin on my face, I thought to myself– Life just does not get better than this.

Many of us dropped off our bikes at the Bike Barn where the mechanics were gracious enough to perform free and much-needed repairs to our bikes. We strolled on down to a restaurant, Gillie’s, which is famous for its breakfast food. I ordered banana, walnut french-toast, and a large glass of milk. I find it quite hilarious during meal times on our trip. In lieu of some good ol’ chatter during meal time, we have our heads bowed down, fingers tensed, eyes focused, and mouths mechanically chomping at a dangerous pace. The waiter even commented on how quiet our group was; I chuckled to myself.

On a side note, I am by far not alone when I say that our Blacksburg hosts, Leanna and Mason, are incredibly warm individuals. I cannot thank them enough for opening their home to us. I am looking forward to another good night of rest, and another morning of delightful coffee, before a long day of riding tomorrow– 75 miles.

June 3 - Rosanne Jones

2010-06-11T02:35:00.000-07:00

Fortunately, and let me emphasize my delight, we were awoken to the “chirping” of a train that for some unknown reason had to announce its presence to a sleepy town of only 424 people, Mineral VA. We were camping outside a fire station; they had shown us southern hospitality. As we set off in the morning, the fog was still lingering, we bid good-bye to the town, and its people (who were just beginning to stir); I thought to myself, “How lucky am I to have experienced the charms of this sweet community, which probably does not even have its name on a map.

We were all a bit stiff from the day before ( due to a wrong turn…many of us had biked approximately 90 miles), but as the sun sneaked out from behind the clouds, our muscles began to loosen and our legs began to find their rhythm. Our goal or destination for the day would be to reach Charlottesville, VA, the home of the fighting cavaliers. Thankfully, our mileage for the day would be around 65 miles; and we needed this shorter day because tomorrow’s ride will be full of hard climbs that may at times seem un-ending. After a two stops to rest, eat and load up on water, we finally chugged into Charlottesville and even passed the Thomas Jefferson famous Monticello. We knew we were near our destination when the hills began to increase drastically in elevation. There are two Charlottesville natives on our teams, Caleb and Ben– the King brothers, and they knew the hot-spot to chow-down. We had delicious bagel-sandwiches from Bodo’s Bagels (apparently this store ships in there water from the Big Apple–NYC).

After fueling our tanks, we toured UVA on our bikes and then set off for the James Q. Miller clinic. This is the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) clinic that much of the funds we raised from our wonderful sponsors will be donated to support the salary of a physician’s assistant. While we were riding into the parking lot of this clinic, my heart warmed and even melted, as some of the patients and staff were lined up with ballons, cheering us on. We migrated inside in the nick of time, alas, a huge thunderstorm was preparing to let its voice be heard. My highlight of our tour of this clinic was hearing the personal testimony of a MS patient at this clinic. I cannot recall her name, but her face still lingers in my mind as I type her words. I hope I can do justice to her speech. She began by telling us how envious she was of our position: embracing our freedom, willing to tackle the challenge and more than anything, being physically-gifted to be able to pedal 4,000 miles. She told us that before 2002, when she was diagnosed with MS, she would have liked to embark on a trip like ours, except she would not have a cause to support. The MS cause would have never crossed her mind. But, all changed in 2002. Her life and her family’s life has been emotionally affected by this unpredictable and at times debilitating disease. I began to feel the “warm fuzzies” when she spoke about the MS clinic and how it has changed her life. This woman and her husband had been living in northern VA when she received the news, and not long after, they decided to move to Charlottesville for the sole purpose of being close to the James Q. Miller clinic. We learned that this clinic is the only MS specific clinic in the state of Virginia and West Virginian that has the ability to provide a wide-spectrum of care: physicians, physician’s assistants, nurses, physical therapists, social workers and other health care providers are all working together to provide the MS patients the best care at hand. She seemed to light up when talking about this clinic, and her warmth was contagious, because I felt her fire. I felt a renewed sense of motivation to continue cycling day after day after day, because I knew that if our funds only were able to impact one person’s life, like this sweet woman, that would be enough. That would be enough to inspire me for the rest of the summer. With that said, I would like to send a huge thank you to all of our sponsors.

I am sitting now in a cozy, chair, typing away in the warmth of a kitchen. The King family our being our hosts for the evening and they are quite the hosts; we were welcomed to a beautiful home with a feast for dinner. I hope we rest up well tonight. We have a long day of climbing tomorrow!

How the tour works - Dale Johnson

2010-06-11T02:31:00.000-07:00

We hope from time to time to provide insight into how the Bike The US For MS tour works. One of the big keys to the tour is the trailer that is the nerve center of the entire operation. Inside the trailer each rider has cubby that is 30″ x 16″ x 16″. Not a lot of space for all the equipment each rider needs to keep them going for 60 days. The cubby contains your tent, sleeping bag and pad, bike clothes, regular clothes, and your supply of food. The organizers are still trying to perfect a mechanism so that much of your equipment doesn’t end up on the floor each time the vehicle hits a major bump. The trailer also has a stereo system which allows music delivered through an Ipod. The electrical system has some really cool features. You can recharge all your electronic devices on a regular basis and it also has a WiFi hotspot. The trailer has really become our home away from home.

2010 Underway

2010-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Time to dust off the literary cobwebs and once again deliver our accounts from the field to the cyber-masses. We took off from Yorktown yesterday with the customary tire dip and an impressive crowd of friends and family to see us off and snap several thousand photos. It will be fun to compare the looks on our faces to pictures taken now to those taken at the Pacific. The first day by most measures was a huge success- nobody was lost for more than a few miles, no bikes or riders suffered serious injury, and everybody had a great time. The friendly folks at Willis Methodist Church put us up for the evening and the group had a relaxing evening to mingle and cook their noodles.

There is one problem with this year's group however: they are already too good at this. Most people were packed up and ready to roll around 7am, and each is really very well prepared to ride their bikes for long distances. There in lies the issue for the route leaders, who must double down on daily planning and preparation just to keep up. Of course this is a good thing and we hope to keep it up. Staying at the fire house in Mineral, VA tonight and feasting on pizza and ice cream. Stay tuned for more updates!

2010

2010-01-26T02:37:00.000-08:00

In four months the 2010 team will begin the epic journey west on the TransAmerica Trail. They will spend 60 days on the back roads of America, experiencing towns that interstates left behind. For these cyclists, looking at a map of the United States will never be the same. They will face rain, mountains, coal trucks, dogs, hot, cold, wind and countless other obstacles. Concepts of distance will be challenged and the sense of accomplishment will be heightened.

If you don't have all summer to ride your bike, the next best thing is watching this video compiled by 2010 route leader, Bret Taylor. Bret had visions of creating a slide show that offered cyclists the opportunity to experience the beauty of the TransAmerica Trail without actually getting on a bike. Past & future TransAmer's have caught on, and Bret's video is perhaps the best way to get an idea of what the TransAm offers before actually taking the trip.

Yorktown, VA to San Francisco, CA

2009-09-13T07:18:00.001-07:00

Summer 2010 is not far away & plans are in the works for one team of twenty-five to ride from Yorktown, Virginia to San Francisco, California. Beginning June 1st this group will ride the TransAmerica trail for about 2k miles, then jump on the Western Express to San Francisco.

Check out the website application to secure your spot in 2010. Looking forward to seeing you on the road!

Donald Fraser
Alumni : 2007, 2009

the end stretch!!

2009-08-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

This trip has been going so fast!!! It is already day 57 and we have less than 2 weeks to go! We've been getting treated so well recently; a few days ago we stayed at a bowling alley that was owned by a friend of Leanna's, and they shut down the entire place to everyone but us. It was awesome! We got unlimited beer on tap and could bowl as many games as we wanted; we had probably half the lanes going at once and everyone was bowling 2 or 3 different games. It was fun! We all slept on the floor, in between lanes and everything. And when we arrived in Missoula, MT we found out that some woman who was following us on Twitter liked our cause and bought 3 hotel rooms for us for the night! It was a treat, we got to eat pizza, watch bad movies on tv and live it up. AC and soft beds have become such a novelty, especially since we live outside round the clock now.

Missoula is HUGE, especially in comparison to all the other little towns we've been in where there is only one street and its called Main. Any population over a couple hundred is now a booming metropolis! Missoula is also home to the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters (they make the trail that we are on now and print the maps and are pretty awesome), and so we stopped by to say hi. It was so cool! They have pictures and stories of other people who have embarked on crazy biking journeys, and even some of the bikes that they rode! It was neat to see the evolution of the group and of the riders over time. Some things are totally different (like the gear of the riders and the kinds of bikes they ride) and other things never change (like the mosquitos in Wyoming and the nice people in Kansas). It really makes me feel connected to the biking community, and part of something greater. I am part of living history! It was so exciting.

We are currently in Idaho, and it is absolutely stunning. We have been roughly following Lewis and Clark's trail through this part of the country, which is super cool. We even visited the only known site that they camped at. It's crazy to think that we are seeing pretty much exactly what they saw 200 years ago! And what they saw was SO beautiful. The road is very scenic; we have been following the rivers that cut through the huge rocky land. They are incredibly clear at times, so that you can see the colored rocks at the bottoms, and swift and powerful at other times, the water foaming white over the jagged rocks. Sometimes when it is super hot outside, I find a good spot and get off my bike and jump in! The cool water is a refreshing break.

Today was one of the most rewarding and beautiful days we have had in a while. We had been climbing for probably 20 miles, and the road just kept going up and up and up, painfully gradual and hot, and when we finally reached the top (you always know it because you start to see warnings for 7% grades and signs reminding trucks to check their brakes; I love those signs!) the rocky walls open up to the most indescribably fantastic view of all of Idaho I've ever seen! You could see the textured terrain for miles and miles. I zoomed down the mountain, 45 miles an hour, my head turning every which way to try to take in as much of the world as I could. I live for those downhills; they never fail to leave me in awe of the immense beauty that the world has to offer.

The count right now I think is 5 flats, 3 tubes, one broken pedal (I had to pedal with one foot for three days so dont be surprised if next time you see me one of my legs is bigger than the other!) and one very sore tushy. And 300 milkshakes! (The best ones are the Huckleberry ones; if you ever come across one I highly suggest you don't pass up the opportunity for a taste sensation that will rock your tongue.) We have crossed the continental divide 7 times, and also have crossed all the time zones (we crossed back into mountain time for a few days but will be crossing back again tomorrow I think). We have ridden across Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho. We've battled the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Great Plains, and the Rockies (the Cascades to come!). We've biked through rain, hail, thunderstorms, and heat waves of over a hundred degrees. We have about 8 or 9 days left in the trip, and will be in Oregon tomorrow! I have such mixed feelings about the trip ending. I am so proud to have taken on this adventure, and so sad to see it end (and nervous to have to go back to "real life" and responsibility!) but also so excited for everything ahead in store for me!

Becca

130 miles!?

2009-07-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a record-breaking day; almost 130 miles!!!!!!!!!! I had to tell you about it. We had the most awesome 16 mile an hour tailwind- we woke up and all the flags were ready to rip off their poles and fly straight to Oregon! And since Kansas is flat flat flat, we raced through 60 miles in about 3 hours! At one point we hit 28 or 29 miles an hour- thats HUGE. I swear, if I had stopped biking, the wind would have pushed my body like a sail forwards anyway. When we got to our final destination, we HAD to keep going forward to take advantage of the awesome wind, so we busted through another entire day's worth of miles! Everyone was pumped. It was an eventful day too; we passed into Mountain Time (gained an hour), crossed the border into Colorado, and moved into a totally different geographic region. Not to mention going over 200 miles in 2 days. Kansas has been great for eating miles; we did the entire state in about 5 or 6 days, which is 3 days faster than scheduled!

Colorado looks so different from Kansas. Kansas is like riding through a snow globe. The sky curves around the pancake land in every direction, and all you can see is the soft tipped wheat and mesmerizing rows of corn for miles on either side, and straight road lined by electric poles shooting forward until it drops off into nothingness. In Colorado, however, there are very few wheat farms. Rather, it seems as soon as we passed the state border we entered into desertland. Luscious prairies and seas of grain were replaced by clumps of bushes and prickly pear cacti. The road started bunching together, winding up and down and around as if it were impatient of being stretched straight by commercial farming. It got so that instead of the constant straight lines, you would be able to climb to the top of hills and see the road snake in front of you for miles. You could point to a grainery or water tower in the next town up, and not get to it for 10 miles! To put it into perspective, on a bike that's watching the town you haven't reached yet for the better part of an hour! It's pretty cool.

Today was pretty leisurely; we rolled out of bed and onto the road for an easy 60 miles to Ordway, CO. The weather was nice; dry, not to breezy or hot, with a fantastic sky. Often looking up in the mornings I feel like I am at the four corners of emotions. Its amazing how many different feelings the clouds can express. The sky may hold angry purple clouds, pensive grey expanse, dreamy feathery whisps, and brilliant oasises of bright blue, all in the same morning. I just regret my camera cannot capture them all at once. The road quality wasn't great, but it was quiet and we took our time, which I appreciated. Blazing through the day at lightning speed is exciting because you feel accomplished, but for the most part I would much prefer to be present for the miles I bike through, so it was nice to lay back and notice the scenery again. The road followed the train tracks pretty much the whole way. We passed an abandoned train sitting on the tracks, and it was at least 10 miles long! Leanna and I stopped and crawled into it and explored. We climbed to the top of the ladder on the side and waved at traffic. We felt like we were on top of the world! It was fun. Tomorrow we head into Pueblo, the biggest town on the route so far! We're gonna celebrate the 4th with the town's festivities, and everyone is pretty excited about it.

Happy 4th of July everybody!

Becca

Where are all the mountains?

2009-07-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

Seriously, Colorado, is this all you've got? Rocky Mountain State my arse! I've seen nothing but barren plains, sagebrush, and lone antelope for 2 days since posing for photographs under the "Colorful Colorado" state sign. At this rate I won't even have to change gears before we get to the Pacific. Those pioneers must have been pathetic pansies if they complained about this place. The next time somebody from out west scoffs at the use of the word "mountain" for the Appalachians, they will be met with a spirited challenge. Some of the Appalachians were so steep I felt like I'd adapted the moonwalk to the bicycle- seemingly pedaling forward while actually going backwards. We climbed practically 4,000 ft in Kansas and hardly noticed, but that's probably because we were too busy being showered with lavish hospitality by the good folks of Kansas. Even in the midst of the madness caused by the wheat harvest, they found the time to come talk to strangers and offer well wishes and anonymous donations. By the way, the next time you buy 'golden grains' bread and the bag has scenes of a golden windswept ocean of wheat, believe it. It is very golden and very awe inspiring, and these people work hard to get that wheat in your belly. *Stash Update: Dustin's moustache is approaching Civil War General status and Don's is solid but will take some getting used to, and Kevin's gets the most improved award. Others are considering facial hair novelties and by the time we get to Oregon we will all look ridiculous.* I have also matched the 2007 record for most consecutive days without a proper shower at 7, and to be honest I have no intentions of stopping anytime soon. Its not like we get sweaty when we ride 130 MILES in ONE DAY. Congrats to the group for that feather in the cap- 2nd longest day in Bike the US for MS history. Tomorrow we have a Lions Club pancake breakfast in Pueblo then set up our info booth on the Riverwalk for holiday festivities. I'm off to make a big carb feed for those huge "climbs" tomorrow- happy 4th of July to all.

I can't hear you over the sound of the grain elevator

2009-06-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

Day 28 of this trip and we are in Kansas! The terrain has been vastly different from anything else. Flat in every direction. All you can see is proud stalks of corn and golden fields of grain and marigold-decorated prarie for miles. I swear green and gold are the only two colors that exist in Kansas. And the blue blue sky. The flat land makes it easy to bike forever though, provided its not too hot (read less than 100 degrees) and not too much headwind. In the past 2 days, we've done almost 200 miles. And still into our destination by early afternoon. Kansas is super windy, with crazy wind coming all over the place and blowing your bike every which way. I'm always convinced its coming straight at us, no matter what direction we are riding in.

We have been waking up between 4 and 5am every day, and getting on the road before the sun is up. It's difficult to get up when it's so dark, but that first hour watching the sun rise over the sleeping state and be the only one to witness the brilliant display makes everything so worth it. And the clouds are always so different. Sometimes they are soft and feathery, sometimes thick enough to swallow the sun, and sometimes the day is perfectly clear with not a cloud for miles. Often times I think it cant be real; I'm probably on the set of the Truman Show! I feel so lucky to be able to enjoy that view every day.

Biking and living all the time so close to nature makes every experience so much more intense. It can be super scary or difficult or unpleasant many times, but it reminds me that the very things that protect us from all the unpleasant parts also dulls our experience of the beautiful ones. It make me appreciate both the splendor and fury that the environment exercises on a daily basis.

This trip has also made me appreciate city pools and water parks. We have been dunking underwater as often as we can, and its amazing! Even if we are incredibly out of place on the slide behind a bunch of 8 year olds, we love it. Especially when showers are rare and heat is intense.

We have been treated so incredibly well on this trip, and it just keeps getting better. A few days ago, we were hooked up with free pizza, a free home-cooked dinner at a church, an interview with the paper, a hotel at half rate, a hotel continental breakfast, and all of our snacks at a convenience store payed for by a kind local firefighter. All in one 24 hour period. It's amazing how many people open their hearts to us. And people are genuinely interested in us. I feel like I am really getting to know small-town America, and its restoring my trust in the country.

We are flying through Kansas, and expect to be in Colorado by the 4th of July. We plan to bring fireworks to celebrate. I cant wait!

Becca

Livin' on a Prairie

2009-06-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Sometime in the last 24 hours we crossed the threshold into open grassland. Kansas is not entirely flat and there is always a good wind blowing from somewhere, but we are making good time and yesterday was our first century ride. The blistering heat isn't quite what it was last week and we were able to get a nice cool night's sleep last night. Today we go 88 miles to Nickerson, KS and we may go into the larger town of Hutchinson to set up the info booth and spread the good word about our trip. This morning we awoke to the sizzle of bacon and sausage at 4:45 am and it catapulted the group 38 miles to our current location in Newton. We are no longer staying together as a group for the rides and people are making their own schedule based on what works for them in terms of food, water, rest, and pace- seems to be working well. Kansas is one of the nicest places on Earth, and we appreciate every wave, smile, and well wish we get. Also thanks to the great people in Pittsburg/Frontenac and Chanute for organizing meals and events for us in their town- these are the highlights of the trip and the things we remember most when its all said and done. We even helped facilitate the organization of an MS support group in Chanute, so good luck to them! Also be sure to check out the video of the epic battle between the "Demyelinator" and the "MS Avenger" that we set up for Chase, a 10 year old fan of WWE Wrestling and a very young MS patient. Back out to the prairie for now- thanks Newton KS for the R&R.

Fantastical adventures of the fabulous twelve

2009-06-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

Last night was great! We stayed the night at the First Baptist Church of Marshfield, and were treated like royalty. They cooked us awesome mac and cheese and fantastic brownies and all the sweet tea Dustin could ever ask for (check out his blog at dustinabond.blogspot.com ). I think I had 3 loaded plates of food, and it was awesome. Just as we got to the church, the sky exploded in storms and rain and torrential winds (its amazing how much less scary storms are when you have a roof to separate you from the elements), and so we finagled our way into staying the night in the shelter. Free laundry, free food, free shelter- what more could you ask for? Everyone was out before 10pm.

We met a woman at the church who was just diagnosed with MS, and it was really moving to see how much our support meant to her. It's so cool to see that our efforts really make a difference to people. I think the whole group feeds off of that kind of message.

Dustin is on day two of his handlebar mustache escapade. No further comment.

Today we got up early and pumped it out to Ashgrove. One of our shortest days yet; we only did 48 miles. A few members of the group did long detours. At least it wasnt too hot. The rain last night helped to break the heat a bit. And we rolled into town super early. Ate breakfast at an awesome place (pretty much the only one in town) and had fantastic french toast and pancakes. Spent some time in the library (especially Bret; its his new favorite nap spot) and at the pool (free for bikers!) and in the nearby convenience store slurping down milkshakes and enjoying the AC. Tomorrow we hit Kansas! Everyone is pretty excited to enter a new state. So far we have done over 1500 miles. Thats quite a chunk.

Becca

MIssouri or Missoura?

2009-06-25T15:10:00.001-07:00

It is said by some here in Missouri that it is often pronounced MissourA as not to liken it with misery. With the exception of the jerk manager at the pool today who accused us of breaking the pump for the water slide when we didn't- we find Missouri to be anything but miserable. The people have been friendly and hospitable and we've had more than a few meals on their good graces. Last night in Marshfield one of the the nicest men on the planet, one James Rupe, arranged for us to have a delicious feed and A/C accomodation at the First Baptist Church. It was great, and we got to dunk a basketball on an 8 foot rim to boost the ego a bit. The Ozarks are neat with lots of interesting terrain and good swimming holes in the streams, and armadillos. We have continued to leave pre-6am to avoid the midday heat and have enjoyed watching the sunrise over the countryside in our rear-view helmet mirrors. Tomorrow we cross into Kansas and the temps there are expected to be over 100 degrees for the next few days. Fortunately some people in Kansas must have read our Tweets and accepted our unofficial "state to state challenge," because our first two days in the state involve welcome committees, media coverage, cookouts, and accomodation. Looking forward to the Great Plains and hoping for but not counting on favorable winds. Biggest question on our minds: when will sweet tea become unavailable?

Farewell to the East

2009-06-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

A wink from Popeye and we were off across the bridge to Missouri. The flats of the floodplain quickly changed to undulating hills in route to Farmington- a really nice little town about 80 miles south of St. Louis. As I pulled into town with the trailer the cheering townspeople gathered 'round to make generous offerings of food and refuge from the intense heat*. After feeding us and doing our filthy laundry, they erected a sign wishing us safety and good luck on the highway out of town, so many thanks to the good people of Farmington, MO. Today the hills took a turn for the steeper as we got into the Ozarks and a late start made for some roasting climbs around noon. Missouri is considereed a "convergence zone" of eastern and western vegetation and today we saw some arid territory with western pines and clear, shallow rivers typical of the Rockies- an exciting event for people traveling on bicycles. The local camping options were meager so we opted for a cheap motel and cooled off the American way- cranked up the A/C and watched the Discovery Channel all day. The milkshake joint across the street enabled us to keep our average daily milkshake consumption up around 2/day, and the nearby river was ideal for a splash around between shakes. Tomorrow we battle more Ozarks and ultimately wind up in Houston, MO.

*possibly exaggerated version of events

Trivia Question of the Day: Why is Missouri known as the "Show Me" State?

Mississippi Crossing

2009-06-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Day 20-

This morning we rose with the sun and set off on the bikes before 6 am to beat the heat. Sat at the counter of Marylou's Diner in Carbondale, IL and took down some biscuits n' gravy before hitting the road for the 64 miler to Chester. We got our first glimpse of Missouri today across the river and I'm still not sure what to make of it- rumors have it the climbs in the Ozarks are merciless but I'm not convinced (stay tuned to see me eat my words). It's looking like the early start will be imperative to our progress as both the temps and humidity are in the 90's from noon til dark. The nights have been hot and sticky in the tent and we can hear eachother rustle around in our tents trying to get comfortable in futility. Fortunately we are still getting the royal treatment nearly everywhere we go and the Fraternal Order of the Eagle has carried the torch heroically this evening- showers, A/C pub, and free pizzas. We are camped between a bar and a rodeo, and its good that we are all exhuasted because otherwise we would get little sleep before 2 am. Another shout has to go out to Violet and Bob from the First Baptist Church of Sebree, KY. These generous folks have been hosting cyclists since the 70's and she fed all 12 of us to the limits of what one would think a human could consume. She also sent us off with an exceptional blessing for us and our families and all cyclists away from home. Think about the people she has met over the years and what interesting summers she must have.

As for cycling, the group is starting to get the 'drafting' phenomenon like clockwork. There is much more parity in fitness and speed than early on and the group is practically moving too quick for the support vehicle to keep up. Hopefully we we have favorable conditions for a 100 mile ride at some point. Time for a cold shower before bed- Happy Summer Solstice and Father's Day from Bike the US for MS.

Quarterly Report from Mason

2009-06-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

A peaceful ride through the beautiful Appalachian mountains interrupted by a distant bark. Heart rate elevated. Increase speed and intensive survey of the yards ahead. See nothing and resume peaceful ridARhgh ARKARKARK he comes out of nowhere through a hole in the fence and smells blood. He is hungry and he hates people in bike shorts. Adrenaline overwhelms us both and the race is on- mine for survival and his for dinner. Alas! He is tiring. I am surging ahead and congratulate myself on winning this battle of will when HOOONK I nearly lose control of the bike and my bladder as I check my helmet mirror to find a fully loaded coal truck six inches from my tail. He also hates people in bike shorts and chances are he is hungry as well. A quick evaluation of the scenario also reveals a fully loaded coal truck coming in the opposite lane and a rocky embankment off the shoulderless road beside me. I dodge flying chunks of coal as I try to clear my eyes of fine coal dust as the trucks inch closerBZZZZZZZZ the alarm goes off on my cell phone and I am safe and comfy in my tent and Don is cooking bacon. I am relieved to awake in the gentle foothills of Kentucky with the worst of obstacles behind me in the mountains. The group is groggy but in good spirits as they trickle into the breakfast tent to see what treats await their hungry bellies. One thing has become clear to all: gorging on high calorie foods as much as possible is priority numero uno. Two weeks into the trip and we have settled into a good routine of biking, eating, sleeping, and remarkably frequent opportunities to practice hygiene.

As a native Virginian I didn’t expect to be surprised by the ride through my home state, but it turns out the interstates I’ve traveled since I was a kid don’t do it justice. The back roads and small towns were friendly, scenic and loaded with interesting history. Thanks to friends and family for the help and hospitality we received across the state- we are officially spoiled rotten. Also thanks to Yusef at Bike Barn for going well above and beyond in getting everybody sorted with their bikes late into the evening in Blacksburg. Although mostly similar in physical geography, a dramatic change in the route occurs at the Kentucky state line. The coal industry has left the place very impoverished and isolated, but at least they cut off the tops of entire mountains to create spectacular views of other mountains. All this aside and with a few creepy exceptions, the people were very nice and I hope their economic situation improves. *Note to cyclists- avoid Hindman, KY at all costs*. We are now in the Midwest with rolling hills and lots of corn and hay fields which makes for good riding- everybody is going really well and picking up the pace everyday. It’s been stormy and we all smell like wet dogs (sorry ladies its true) but churches, parks and fire stations have been good to us and we definitely can’t complain about accommodation. The truck and trailer are incredibly convenient and the battery/inverter system is working hard to keep our nifty electronics charged and sending out pictures and Tweets so people can follow the trip online. Which reminds me, long-winded blogs like this one are now dinosaurs and Dustin has already sent 3 messages on Twitter since I started typing, so I recommend checking out his page to get the latest.

Eastern Kentucky

2009-06-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

Coal trucks, ferocious dogs and torrential downpours have made the first half of this state treacherous. We are now west of the Appalachians and into the rolling hills of Kentucky. Yesterday the team pounded 94 miles from Berea to Bardstown, Kentucky. We were supposed to camp at the Lincoln Homestead State Park but they no longer allow camping. I'm pretty sure Abe would have been in full support of letting us camp at his homestead.

It was great talking to the Flynn family in Berea. It has been one year since Matt Flynn was diagnosed with MS & it has been a shock to the family. We put their picture up in the trailer and reminds us everyday why we are riding. When the riding gets tough we'll think about the Flynn's and keep the legs moving - they are inspiration for us all.

We've been riding with 3 other guys headed West - Joe and Jordy from Carbondale, Illinois and Chase from Texas. Great guys - they are carrying all their gear and cover the same ground that we do - hardcore! Look forward to pedaling 3,000 more miles with these guys.

Yorktown to Blacksburg

2009-06-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

Off to a good start in 2009. Everyone made it to Blacksburg on schedule and in good spirits. Some tough climbs, tailwinds and nice folks along the way so far. Highlights include the Blue Ridge Parkway, triple cheeseburger basket at Gertie's general store and fundraising party at Awful Arthurs in Blacksburg. Thanks to everyone in Blacksburg that came out to support Bike the US for MS!

Had a nice welcoming in Charlottesville at the Blue Ridge Chapter MS society. Thanks Paul, Darren & Shannon for helping us set up and keep our bikes in the office!

The Blue Ridge Parkway was fogged in as we passed through. Could barely see each other, but luckily we came prepared with some blinky lights and a reflective safety triangle, courtesy of Adventure Cycling Association. Mason was driving and said those triangles were visible long before the lights - thanks ACA!

After crossing the Parkway we rode through Lexington, home of the Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University. A very nice town - great shops and food. Rain was coming down pretty hard and everyone was soaked. Still having a good time though - especially Dustin in his yellow poncho.

On the road again headed towards Rural Retreat, VA. If we are passing through your area shoot us an email - info@biketheusforms.org - we'd like to lend a hand to anyone that could use it & visit with folks along the way. Off to another great day of riding here in Virginia!

Ramp Construction - April 2009

2009-04-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

We had a great time building the ramp for Maryann, Arnie and Montana. Many thanks to Grayson Place Building for providing materials. Looking forward to completing more projects like this one. Contact us to get involved!

Ramp Building in Salem, VA

2009-03-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the generosity of Grayson Place Building, Inc, our cyclists will be building a handicapped accessible ramp on June 6th, 2009 as we travel through Salem, VA.

Curing MS is not going to be easy - we need your help! We are always looking for service projects, fundraising ideas and cyclists to join. Please visit our website or send us an email to initiate bike the US for MS in your area. The more cyclists we have, the more projects we can fund and complete. Join this effort!

Thanks to the Blue Ridge Chapter of the MS Society for connecting us with volunteer opportunities in Virginia.

The 4000 mile journey begins in 84 days - http://www.biketheusforms.org

Bike the US for MS News Update..........

2009-02-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

March 1st, 2009

Three months until we depart Yorktown for the rocky cliffs of the Oregon coast (hopefully not off the rocky cliffs of the Oregon coast). Might be a good time to get in shape. Also looking forward to the Wild West for MS event in Palm Beach, FL on March 21. Thanks to MS Cure Fund for making arrangements for us to head down to Florida to help out with the event and represent our group. Here's a link to the website: Wild West for MS.

Spring can't come soon enough for those of us in colder climates and we can't wait to hit the road in June. We are going to scout the route through Virginia on Monday to see what we're up against and to meet with some allies in the battle against MS. Working on getting custom jerseys for those crucial first impressions- no guarantees but I think most of us are going to look pretty sharp. We are also developing an impressive portfolio of services and activities that we can provide in localities along our route, including free bike tune-ups.

Bike Barn rules!

They grow up fast...

2009-02-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

It seems like just yesterday we gave birth to Bike the US for MS- we were young and our hopes and dreams for our new creation were boundless. At times it was tough, as rearing any infant isn't complete without blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention the all-nighters and the occasional temper tantrum (no diapers thank goodness). But today we proudly stand on the cusp of a triumphant graduation into the toddler years, and although we occasionaly dust off the home videos for a trip down memory lane, from here on out its full speed ahead at a breakneck 18 mph.

The season for riding is upon us and we have less than four months to prepare our bodies and souls for the big one. Some unseasonably warm weather in Virginia promted the first few training rides of the year as some of the new members had the chance to take their new bikes for a spin. We encourage all members to ride as much as they can- if only a few miles a day to work, class, or the grocery store- to get their cycling muscles acclimated to daily use.

We have also been working on some exciting partnerships that could expand the scope of the organization and help us build a great foundation for the future. Look out MS- we are coming for you and we mean business! Stay tuned to find out exactly how we plan to make this happen...

We hope everybody in the MS community is doing well and looking forward to helping us meet our goals in 2009.

-Mason

How it started and why we are continuing the ride.

2008-10-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

My mother has had MS since I was born and her condition has progressively gotten worse over the years. Back in the 80’s when she was diagnosed, very little was known about MS and there were few promising treatments. I’ve participated in walks and bike rides throughout my life but wasn’t satisfied that only 30% of the funds went to research. I decided to contact a research institute myself and send the money directly to doctors working towards a cure. Partners MS Center looked promising and when I spoke with them they were helpful and encouraging. I took an HTML class, made the website, and convinced three friends to ride with me. A few months later we were on bikes leaving Seattle.

We felt that asking for money was not enough so we called local radio stations and offered volunteer services to listeners in the area. Only a few people actually contacted us for help, but the offer was greatly appreciated and we received many nice emails. Having a lot of stuff on your bike is a conversation starter in itself and it gave us the chance to talk about why we were riding. It was quickly apparent that almost everyone we met had some connection to MS. The personal connections we made on the trip were in some ways more satisfying than the bike ride itself. For this reason it was more than just a cross-country bike ride and this is why we have to try again.

I had not planned on riding across the country again but as normal life took hold and sleeping in a bed was no longer luxurious I began to change my mind. Some friends contacted me and expressed interest in riding across the country for Bike the US for MS, so a few days later we bought the maps and started planning. I posted the information on our website and people around the country began contacting us. When you google “Bike the US” our website is #1 on the search results. People pay a lot of money to go on supported bike tours – why not do it for a good cause?

There is no cure for MS and there seems to be no shortage of people who want to bike across the country. If we can contribute towards a cure in a fun and inspiring way i think we should keep trying.

Don

2008-07-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

I flipped over the handlebars of my bike when I was 8 and didn’t get back on until 14 years later when Don and Kristen convinced me to give bikes another chance. Soon afterward I bought my mountain bike. When Don decided to Bike the US for MS again in 2009, that pair convinced me to get a touring bike and give biking across the country a first chance. I’ve been saving up ever since. I’m currently an AmeriCorps volunteer making about $11,000 this year, so when I say I’m saving money to be a part of this bike ride, you have an idea of how much I care about Bike the US for MS.

I work for a non-profit food distribution group called SHARE, and I plan to continue in the vein of non-profits when my year with AmeriCorps is over next fall, so being a part of Bike the US for MS fits into my long term goals perfectly. To be honest, I’ve never done anything like this ride before. Previously I’ve only run a few half marathons, but I’m up for the challenge.

Amanda, Nina and Kristen

I’ve known Don and his family for three years now, and Nina is my main inspiration for this ride. She is a wonderful person, and it’s the least I can do to bike across the country on her behalf. Of course this trip is much bigger than just Nina. I am so excited to meet and help other individuals with MS while simultaneously raising public awareness and money for MS research. This will be a powerful experience: biking further than I’ve ever gone, seeing amazing things, and meeting incredible people. I will grow as a person to say the least. I’m so proud to be a part of this, surrounded by good friends and knowing that I will make many more along the way.

Watch out America! Here comes the Shark☺

Amanda “the shark” Clark

Here we go again...

2008-03-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

So it's official- Bike the US for MS lives on! I've been living in a van working for immigrant wages so it can only get better from here. Don and his associates in Blacksburg are hard at work planning the 2009 edition- applying what we learned from the first trip and improving where we could do better, this time with a full year's head start. The basics of the organization are in place but we want to extend our reach and get the attention of more people affected by MS and more people who can help us contribute to research efforts. This is where you can help- and yes I'm talking to you blog-addicts who still check the website daily for more worthless additions much to your disappointment- start talking it up and don't hesitate to send us suggestions for how we can make this trip astronomically successful. Also, please feel free to contact your old favorite, Karl, at karl@biketheusforms.org and encourage him to participate. If these efforts are unsuccessful I shall distribute his phone number in the next entry, then credit card numbers, then darkest secrets and confessions, and so forth, respectively. Anyways, we've got quite a team assembled from all walks of life and the gender barrier has been shattered. Hopefully Vidshadow will sign on and continue to air our adventures to the masses. The excitement is thick, the possibilities are endless, and the girlfriend of a certain member of the team has a whole year to convince him to remove the patch of back hair just above his bike shorts! Welcome back!

Mason

Calling all bikers!

2008-02-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

I have followed the Bike the US for MS team by reading blogs, watching webisodes, and talking with the bikers from the minute they pushed their bikes out of the Pacific Ocean. Needless to say, I am very proud of their accomplishment. The total amount raised is now up to $19,174.81!! That’s $19,174.81 that Partners MS Center can use to continue the search for a cure for MS! But even more than the money raised, I feel so proud of the team when I see emails and letters received from people (often total strangers, spread throughout the country) expressing their gratitude for what they have done.

The Bike the US for MS crew is now planning a second ride during the summer of 2009. This ride will differ from the first in that it is going to begin earlier in the summer and follow a different route. Hopefully more people will come along for the 2009 ride, and most importantly, more girls will come along ☺! This ride is a wonderful way to raise money and awareness for MS, see the country, get in better shape, and have an unforgettable summer. In addition, there will be experienced leadership from Bike the US for MS veterans. This time around I am going to follow Bike the US for MS in a different way: on my bike.

-Kristen Scheller

Bike the US for MS - Summer 2009

2008-02-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

Join us for the ride of a lifetime in 2009! If you have ever dreamed of riding across the country on a bicycle this is the perfect opportunity.

Bike the US for MS is a grassroots effort to raise awareness and funds to help people with MS. Along the way we will organize volunteer stops which may include helping out around the house or stopping by adult care facilities to relax and enjoy some good conversation. I can't tell you how rewarding this is - people are genuinely thankful for our efforts.

Joining Bike the US for MS is a great idea because we offer experience and leadership at no cost to you (except personal expenses of course). Unlike many other guided tours, you can help play a role in planning and daily decision making. Also, the reward of helping people with MS makes it much more than just a cross country bike ride.

Our visit with researchers and patients at Partners MS Center made it abundantly clear that we need to get back on our bikes and continue where we left off.

For more information please email us - info@biketheusforms.org.

Sincerely,

Donald Fraser
BiketheUSforMS.org

After the ride

2007-10-25T18:01:00.001-07:00

At this point it's hard to say if we'll plan another transcontinental ride - but who knows? The webisodes continue to raise money from the ads, so check them out - and expect a BIG donation from vidshadow soon. Also, check out the Partners MS Center home page!

It really IS all about me

2007-10-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

So at long last, the dreaded time has come. The members of Bike the Us for MS, each with his own dreams, each with his own path in life, each with his goal in mind... have realized that Don still has the map and we're actually quite lost. Because of that I'm actually sitting with Don right now in Blacksburg Virginia(Go Hokies! a-gobble-gobble-gobble! a-gobble-gobble-gobble! Woo! Yeah!) preparing to, of all things, go on a bike ride. Idiots, all of us.
Hello Devin and Mase. Welcome home too, sort of.
Don and I drove down from Boston Yesterday. Nice trip save for missing the exit that we had very carefully been reminding ourselves not to miss. Tuning the radio. After an extra stint through rural Connecticut we got back on the 81 and cruised. The trusty Suburban, with Don at the helm, safely and efficiently conveyed us to our final destination. Now for those of you who have never been to Blacksburg (Go Hokies! a-gobble-gobble-gobble!... a-gobble-gobble-gobble! Woo! Yeah!), you don't understand the meaning of glory. Driving into VT is like returning to Rome at its apex...while everybody was asleep. Colonnades of Limestone glisten along wide sweeping boulevards. The edifice of Academia stand tall, their graceful bulk supplying a certain sense of mass to an otherwise airy view. Gleaming lights cast authoritative shadows across vast expanses of lush grass. And in the distance, above the gentle breeze that's whispering through gilded columns, you can faintly make out a most enchanting cry...Go Hokies! a-gobble-gobble-gobble! a-gobble-gobble-gobble! Woo! Yeah!
Just got done with a little mountain biking. Mucho fun. 1st time and it was awesome. We're over to Don's house soon to hang with his mom in a bit see a little bit of the 'burg. While I'm speaking of Don's family I'd like to thank his dad Jim for coming up to Maine. First it was cool to hang out. Second, the Suburban was huge.
I'm gonna hang out here for a couple of days then back to Seattle fro this guy. I've got a new nephew, Levi Cutler Steel, that needs some poking. Congrats to Lindsy and Joe the happy mom and pop. Updates will be forthcoming. Until then, signing off.
Karlito Mang

Partners MS Center

2007-10-17T04:21:00.000-07:00

Our trip came to a triumphant finale yesterday as we had the pleasure of meeting the kind folks at Partners MS Center in Boston. They had lunch waiting for us and gave us a tour of the Multiple Sclerosis research labs. To actually see the research projects and meet the researchers made it very clear to us that we biked for a noble cause and that our efforts will make a real difference. We also had the opportunity to meet the doctors and nurses at the MS clinic and see the treatment and patient-care aspect of the center, and it certainly seems as if the patients are in good hands. It was humbling to be in the company of people who make a tangible difference in people's lives everyday, especially since they were thanking us- we felt as if it should be the other way around. It was a special day for all of us and one we will not soon forget, and we feel like we made the right decision in choosing Partners MS Center to receive our contributions. Thanks to Bill Florentino for being our point man in Boston, and to Dr. Weiner and all the people at the center for taking the time out of their busy schedules to meet us.

Boston is nuts. None of us have ever experienced such extreme chaos. I think it must have started in colonial times before the modern practice of street grids. The sidewalks are packed with ambitious people and the roads are literally lawless. Honking is something I forgot about until I came to Boston. We've enjoyed our stay but are reminded of the tranquility in small towns all across the country.

Our 4,300 mile journey is over but we still have a lot of work to do and will continue to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis research at Partners MS Center. Thanks for following our trip and stay tuned for more pictures and webisodes.

Trivia Question:

Who is Karl's future wife?

Taste of Maine

2007-10-14T18:12:00.001-07:00

We just returned home from our celebratory dinner in Bar Harbor. The "Taste of Maine" special - chowdah, salad, lobstah, potato, blueberry pie & ice cream - was ridiculous. Tomorrow we pack up our bikes and head to Boston, the last step of the journey. Photos and video from the rest of the trip will be posted soon. But for now, just more celebrating.

Trivia: The geographical term "Down East" refers to the coastal region of Maine from Penobscot Bay to the Canadian border. Why is this area referred to as "Down East"?

Today's destination: BAR HARBOR

2007-10-14T04:53:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, today is the day our tires take a drink in the salty waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The last leg of the journey should take us about 40 miles from Bucksport to Bar Harbor, where Don's dad will be waiting with a camera and other implements of celebration. This morning is incredibly surreal, as it doesn't occur to you as you leave Seattle on a bike that you will actually make it to the Atlantic. What next? We have all become so accustomed to our lifestyle on the road that returning to our normal lives will take some adjustment. Regardless, we are excited to be here and proud of what we've accomplished. Coastal Maine is every bit as beautiful and interesting as you would think, and although it's cold, it doesn't seem like we will see any snow. After we load the bikes on the rack and polish off the champagne and lobster, we plan on taking a drive through Acadia National Park to check out the scenery. Then Beantown awaits...

New England General Synopsis

2007-10-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

As we inch closer to our terminal destination, we find it increasingly necessary to squeeze every last drop of experience out of each precious day. So while this medium of expression is still at my discretion, I will take the opportunity to publish as much useless information about these experiences as possible.

New England is one of the most stereotypically accurate places I've ever been that is somehow different what I expected. Quaint historical buildings dot the countryside, cow fields alternate with pumpkin patches, and people speak with a thick accents, however the feel here is friendlier and less pretentious than I imagined. It seems more isolated and unchanged than most of the places we've passed through and the blend of hamlets and authentic wilderness is refreshing. We haven't been talking much while we ride due to sheer awe of our surroundings.

We've heard a lot of hype about the wet weather and steep climbs of New England, so the guys made a great decision our first night in Vermont to make camp under a covered pavilion to stay dry and rest comfortably. Unfortunately for me, I'm an idiot and decided to set up my tent in the grass. The 4 am monsoon flooded me out and I was forced to abandon ship- stuffing my pockets with valuables and making a break for cover with only my sleeping bag. The guys woke up to a good laugh and I set out towards a laundromat to dry out as much as I could, only to get more soaked by monsoon # 2. Laundromats should really provide a rental gown of sorts for the guy who literally needs everything washed and dried, but I digress. Our prospects for dry shelter had never seemed so bleak the following evening when we arrived in Sharon, VT- especially after a lone-toothed drunkard told us his place was our best bet- until we learned of a local couple who run a B&B. A few miles up a dark dirt road later we were on the doorstep of Ken and Nancy, who had four twin beds and a shower, and oh yeah by the way: "we lead cross-country bicycle tours... we've done what you guys are doing six times." Jackpot. I took over the garage to dry out my things and we all got a great night's sleep, especially Karl, who was finally able to rest in peace knowing that an unnamed, but particularly hairy member of our clan would not be attempting an "accidental" midnight spooning maneuver.

More on New Hampshire later. These tired legs need some rest to tackle the fierce undulations of central Maine in the morning.

Maine!

2007-10-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe we're actually in Maine. Vermont and New Hampshire were short and sweet. Pretty much exactly what you would expect - nice people and green hills. What you may not expect are some of the steepest climbs of the entire route. Today we conquered Kancamagus Pass in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was cold, foggy and rainy but we pedaled hard, determined to reach Maine.

We're about 195 miles from our final destination, Bar Harbor. At 65 miles per day we should arrive Saturday night. We'll update again soon, but now it's time to replenish our bodies.

Trivia: What is the location of the fastest wind ever recorded? (Not including tornadoes)

Middlebury, VT - and tshirt winner

2007-10-08T05:56:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we rode the ferry across Lake Champlain - leaving the Adirondacks and heading towards the Green Mountains of Vermont. We slept under a pavilion in Middlebury, a college town nestled into the mountains. It has a European feel with great shops and restaurants. We are all very excited to be in Vermont, a first for all of us. If everything goes according to plan we should arrive in Bar Harbor, ME the evening of October 13th. Only 6 more days of riding. We've pedaled almost 4,000 miles and have raised only 15% percent of our fundraising goal. Thanks to everyone who has shown support - please pass our info along because time is running out! We'll never know which dollar actually finds a cure for MS so give the 400,000 people out there reason to hope - donate now!

The tshirt winner from this week is Paul Anthon, our friend from the Erie County Home in Buffalo, NY. Your answer is correct, the Adirondacks recieve more snow than anywhere east of the Rockies.

Trivia: Which state's constitution was the first to abolish slavery and eliminate property ownership as a requirement to vote?

The Adirondacks; just like the picture on a bottle of maple syrup.

2007-10-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh. Upstate New York. We've been pedaling through the most amazing fall colors I've ever seen lately and I'm really finally getting the feeling of season change. With this beauty does come a small change in weather. It's starting to cool down and yesterday we rode in an incredible rain storm. We weathered well and once I got over my wet shoes this morning everything is looking cheerful again. We camped behind the bar in Newcomb in the covered shed area. It was a handy little spot a mere stumble from the stool. Despite the luxury accommodations, we were rushed out in the morning due to lack of food and more dramatically the lack of a head. Don reported back after his regular early-morning recon that there was nothing in Newcomb that would satisfy any of our needs. But, as fate would have it, by the time we got rolling the little cafe up the street had opened and we were satiated fully. It's a little difficult to fathom having to get off my but right now because it sure is warm in here but one can only watch morning television talk for so long. Lacking a rope to hang myself with I guess our only option will be to get back on the road.
We're headed toward Ticonderoga today. I hear there are forests of #2 pencils up there and that the yellow is just spectacular. I'm expect some serious sketching and cursive practice or at least a few "rubbings" here and there.
Mason is going into Apple Butter withdrawals right now. We've been feeding him a constant supply of apple Jelly but as any addict will tell you, jelly is no substitute for butter. We have coincidentally been either a day late or a day early for every all-you-can-eat-apple-butter-fest in the Northeast. Poor Mason looks like a junkie that realized he forgot his spoon at home. To the east we'll go and hopefully get him sorted out before he goes crazy(more crazy).
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my Aunt and Uncle Leta and Robert Dentan again. We arrived at their house in Buffalo on about 2 and a half hours notice and without even breaking stride they brought us in and made us very comfortable. Robert, I hope that your arm heals well. That said, you can always chalk up any residual scaring as the result of a hockey fight. I know you've got no reason to pick up chicks(namely being married to my lovely Aunt) but when I fell off my bike and scraped my face off they loved the hockey story. Also, the neighbors across the street, Don, Cindy, Will, Tony and Lee and Farley were most gracious hosts and I would like to thank them as well. I think we're still full. Thank you all again. It's your fault that I'm coming back to Buffalo. And I'm addicted to Beef on Weck. If you don't know what that is GO TO BUFFALO! Also, Diedra at the Buffalo News gets a thank you for coming out and meeting with us to get us in the paper. She was not only a sight for sore eyes but a helpful ally in our quest.
All-in all New York has been most welcoming. The view of New Yorkers as rude and loud is not true. They are loud but they're loudly nice. The scenery out here is like none other. If you ever get a chance, more to the point make a chance, go see New York. And eat a sub. They're delicious. Oh yeah, if they ask if you want the mustard on your sandwich fried, they actually think you asked for mushrooms.
-K

Old Forge, NY

2007-10-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

According to Snapple Iced Tea Company, New York County (Manhattan) is the smallest county (area) in the United States.

Trivia:

What mountain range recieves more snowfall than anywhere east of the Rockies?

Adirondacks

2007-10-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update from perhaps the most beautiful place in the world at this exact moment. The color of the leaves is peaking this weekend in the Adirondacks according to the paper and it's absolutely gorgeous. We will update with pictures soon.

To those who said we were leaving too late in the summer, I think we may have timed it perfectly. More luck than brains, as my dad would say.

Trivia Question: What is the smallest county (area) in the continental United States?

New York

2007-10-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

New York state has proven to be beautiful and friendly so far. The hills are scattered with farmland and deciduous trees that are about to shed their leaves. This afternoon we will leave the shores of Lake Ontario and head towards the Adirondack mountains.

The other night we had a record eight flat tires between the four of us. Then the bridge over the bay was closed so we were on the road late through Rochester, NY. Luckily, we stumbled across the 'Boulevard Grille' at around midnight and the owner Robbie made us feel at home. This was an Italian neighborhood and it was instantly apparent we had reached the east. Thanks for the wings and the hospitality -

Trivia Question:

Partners MS Center is currently working on the CLIMB study. What does C.L.I.M.B. stand for?

Buffalo, cont.

2007-10-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

This morning we parted ways with Buffalo after an action packed weekend in New York's western metropolis. Karl's aunt and uncle provided us a very comfortable headquarters from which to launch our all-out assault against MS and get cleaned up a bit. Thanks to the neighbors across the street for feeding us twice, and for exposing us to the lesser-known associate of the Buffalo wing, the beef-on-weck sandwich. Nice try beef-on-weck, but you are no Buffalo wing. Like many other cities in the rust belt, Buffalo has experienced an exodus of jobs and population (about 500,000 to 280,000), but has retained many beautiful neighborhoods loaded with historic architecture. People in Buffalo love it here, and its contagious. Fortunately for us it hasn't started snowing yet, although last year the first major blizzard hit on Oct. 13th! We better get moving since we don't have snow chains.

Today Bike the US for MS experienced its first split as Karl and Devin ventured across the border to check out Niagara Falls, while Don and I headed back to the Erie County Home to visit with MS patients. It was a great compromise for all parties, and although I can't wait to visit this area again and see the falls, it was incredibly fulfilling to talk with people about their life with MS. They have genuine hope that a cure will be discovered one day, and the look in their eyes is the only thanks we need. If we hadn't done another single thing to benefit MS, our experience at the home would completely justify a bike ride from Seattle to Buffalo. Thanks to the administration and staff of the home for their hospitality, and especially to Paul Anthon for being the Man.

Tonight we camp in Gasport, NY, where we pick up a bike trail and head east for a few hundred miles into the Adirondacks and then into New England. We are excited to see the fall foliage and we hope to generate tons of organizational momentum for our collision with the mighty Atlantic. Anybody have a great idea as to how we could get our bikes from Bar Harbor to Boston without riding them?

Trivia du jour: What navigable waterway connects the Hudson River to the Great Lakes? And, given that the the Great Lakes are over 500 ft. above sea level, how do boats achieve this elevation gain?

Buffalo, NY - and tshirt winner!

2007-09-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

Buffalo has been great. Nice people, delicious food, good weather (at least for now). We are staying with Karl's aunt and uncle, Robert and Leta. They have been great hosts and we're having a fun time. We stopped by the restaurant that invented buffalo wings, but here they are simply called chicken wings. It seems that most residents of Buffalo love their city and think it's the greatest place on earth. It's refreshing to visit places like this.

We had a great visit with Paul Anthon at the Erie County Home. His determination to stay productive while battling MS is truly inspirational. He has worked hard to bring computers and high-speed internet to the 580 residents of Erie County Home and is currently planning the installation of wireless internet. He teaches people to use voice recognition software and other tools that help handicapped folks access the internet. Many people appreciate his efforts and his determination was incredible. Paul is a great guy and we thank him for letting us visit.

We did a raffle drawing tonight and the winner is.....Michelle Bollinger! She answered twice so that doubled her chances. Thanks for the great answers Michelle, we're learning from the trivia as well. Let me know what size you guys need - for Rob also.

Hope everyone is doing well -

Donald

Trivia Question #4

2007-09-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

What parts of the world have the highest incidence of Multiple Sclerosis? Feel free to include any additional information about MS distribution and demography.

Anyone who has answered correctly this week has a chance to win a free tshirt. Tonight we will pick names from a hat and announce the winner!

The Empire State

2007-09-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

New York!! Buffalo New York to be exact is today's locale. Its the home of the Bills, the deliciously spicy wings, and Karl's aunt and uncle Lita and Robert. Interestingly, Buffalo is also one of very few cities in the U.S with a radial street pattern (think bicycle spokes!).

The last few days have been spent skirting Lake Erie through Ohio, Pennsylvania and since last evening, New York. The views have been gorgeous along the lake and the fall foliage is just beginning to come into being. Leaves are still predominately green now, but swaths of yellow and orange and a bit of red are becoming apparent. One of the cooler things we've experienced the last few days are the fields of concord grapes. Riding along we'll suddenly be overtaken by their smell so sweet and strong that it almost seems artificial, like grape Kool-Aid!

Tonight we are staying with Lita and Robert Dentan, aunt and uncle to Karl. Today Lita took us to a nice lunch here in Buffalo and was then nice enough to buy us a sampling of the area's micro brews:). The Dentans are also letting us use their showers and laundry facilities, which judging from the state of our hygiene these days might be a questionable move on their part. Nonetheless, once again the kindness and hospitality of our families and friends is something to marvel at.

We're very much looking forward to seeing Niagara Falls tomorrow and are planning on traveling through a portion of Canada to get there. The remaining mileage of our trip is quickly dwindling which leaves us all with mixed emotions. The nomadic lifestyle we've all adopted won't be easy to leave behind, but the notion of being able to sleep in a real bed is starting to seem more and more appealing.

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend, and enjoying the new trivia component to the blog. Be sure to check out question #3 below. Take care and enjoy yourselves!

-Devin

Trivia Question #3

2007-09-29T11:53:00.001-07:00

Trivia Question #3

According to the National MS Society, how many Americans have MS? AND, approximately how many new cases are diagnosed each week?

Don't forget to check tomorrow night to see if you won a free tshirt!

Trivia Question #2

2007-09-28T04:41:00.001-07:00

We finally made it to Pennsylvania, and we'll be in New York this afternoon. It's been raining the last three days, but thats ok...better than snow! Only about 900 miles left.

Trivia Question #2:

What town is considered the geographic center of North America?

Thanks for all the responses yesterday - don't forget to check over the weekend...even though the work week is over, the trivia will continue!

Trivia Question #1

2007-09-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

Starting today, we will pose daily trivia questions to be answered in the comment section of the blog. Daily winners will be entered into a weekly raffle drawing for a free tshirt, and national fame of course. The weekly drawing will occur every Sunday night, to provide extra incentive to wake up and face the work week. Questions will range from MS related info to geographic trivia.

Trivia Question #1:

Multiple Sclerosis is a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease.

What part of the nueron is destroyed in Multiple Sclerosis?

Please answer in the comment section to score a free tshirt!

Vermilion, OH and Lake Erie

2007-09-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

Last night we arrived in Vermilion, OH on the shores of Lake Erie. We are very excited because it's not just a nice lake...it's a great lake!

We had food and drinks at Rudy's, which may be the friendliest bar on this side of the Mississippi, and maybe the other side too. Everyone was very curious and excited about our trip, and people kept buying us beers. Rudy himself even gave us tshirts. We had a blast.

It rained all day today as we traveled through Cleveland. Navigating through unfamiliar cities on a bicycle is not my favorite, but we followed the lake and it wasn't too bad.

Since the trip is nearly complete we are going to make an extra effort to blog every day. And also starting tomorrow we will pose daily trivia questions and the first person to answer correctly will recieve a free tshirt...so get ready for some trivia!

Have a good evening -

Donald

Ohio, finally

2007-09-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

A few tantalizing miles up State Line Rd. on the Indiana side of the border, then an eastward plunge straight into the heart of Ohio. Its every bike tourist's fantasy and it's what we did with our Sunday morning. Other than that, few things have seemed exceptional since our encounter with Dr. Neal Haskell the forensic entomologist; until today that is, when we had the good fortune of stumbling into Stimmel's Market in Bowling Green, OH, where Michelle and Matthew Stimmel treated us to some incredibly delicious salads and sandwiches. We didn't exactly stumble in by chance- they are actually good college friends of my girlfriend Leanna, and they are very cool and generous individuals. If you ever come to Bowling Green, you'd be a fool not to stop by their deli for lunch and browse their impressive selection of wines and craft beers. It was an oasis for us city slickers in territory relatively hostile to wholesome food and drink. They're also hosting us at their farmhouse for the evening and made us a genuine 5 star dinner, not to mention selflessly contaminating their washing machine with our 4-day chamois. They have a wolf named Kerouac, and he has inspired me to change my power animal from the Blue Jay to the domesticated wolf, despite Don's objection to self-power animal assignment. Thanks to Matt and Michelle, and we hope to cross paths with this super friendly couple in the future.

Other trip notes: Ohio is loaded with bad dudes. I mean the Kid Rock, early 90's Mustang, greasy mullet, spin your tires and smoke out the cyclists cause they're losers kind of bad dudes. These guys are bad to the bone and they're out to prove it. They see us just in time to crank the volume, depress the gas pedal an extra inch, holler somethin' nasty at us, then drive away real fast. I assure you we are impressed and scared all at once.

Special thanks to the moms who continue to supply our bellies with tasty treats and to the lovely Leanna for handling and shipping the t-shirt orders. Don't forget- tshirts@biketheusforms.org- your last chance to make people think you're a good person in '07.

Tomorrow we set sail in a rare tailwind towards Lake Erie and on to Cleveland, where Karl will challenge LeBron James to a game of horse. Seriously, does anybody know how to make this happen?

Indiana feels like home

2007-09-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

We are currently camped out in Denver, Indiana at the public park. As usual, someone has left their wireless network open for us to use.

The last couple days have been incredibly interesting. We had a nice lunch yesterday with Mary Beth and Darlene in Rensselaer, IN. We contacted them through an MS chat forum and they drove down to meet us...and buy us lunch - that's not how this is supposed to work! But thank you very much Mary Beth and Darlene, we had a great time. Keep an eye out for the tshirts!

After lunch we began the daily discussion regarding where to camp for the night. We were sitting on the sidewalk outside the restaurant when a friendly, burly man walks up and starts talking to us. His name is Dr. Neal Haskel, a professor at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer. He invited us to his 800 acre farm down the road to camp for the night. We had no idea what was ahead of us.

It turns out Dr. Haskel is the foremost expert on Forensic Entomology in North America. Have you even wondered how people determine time of death in murder cases? Well me neither really...but it's based on the growth and development of maggots inhabiting the rotting corpse. As a human body decomposes, different species of flies inhabit the body in stages. These stages allow Dr. Haskel to determine how long a person has been dead. He showed us around his lab, farm and let Karl take a ride in the giant combine as it chopped down corn. If you're into CSI, try googling "Neal Haskel". We can't thank Neal enough - we had a great time.

"Maggot Power"

There is much more to tell about this adventure, but it's getting late and we're hoping for an 80 miler tomorrow. Be sure to check out Devin's blog below about our nice visit in Odell, Illinios. Thanks for checking in - have a great weekend!

Don

A Visit With Family

2007-09-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

If Bike the US for MS were to have cheerleaders, Elaine Petry, my grandfather's wife would certainly be the head. Along with my grandpa Russ Petry, I'm pretty sure Elaine tells literally every person she meets (or knows) about our efforts. Through letters to her many friends, bulletins in her church newsletter, and conversations with someone as unlikely as a passing fellow patron in a restaurant, Elaine tells EVERYONE about what we are up to and is sure to pass out the pertinent literature she carries in her purse.

Russ and Elaine both being octogenarians, it is difficult for them to hop on the internet and check our status. So they regularly go to a nearby office supply store and employ the help of a nice young lady who leads them through our website and prints out updates. Their letters to us and their words of support throughout the planning stages of this trip and on have truly been inspiring to all of us.

Wednesday found Karl, Mason, Don and I in Odell, Illinois a very small farming town about ninety miles south of Chicago. We were there to meet Grandpa and Elaine who had been given a surprise trip to meet us by the mayor of their Chicago suburb River Grove. Mayor Marilynn May and her incredibly kind administrative assistant Jeanne Walsh were so appreciative of Russ and Elaine's positive involvement in their town that when Elaine brought our trip to their attention they felt compelled to charter a luxury sedan for them both to ride down and meet us as we passed near Chicago. Not only that, but River Grove's kind leader also found an anonymous donor to buy all of us lunch.

Our visit was excellent; the love, support and excitement that exuded from these two wonderful people was so apparent to all of us. For me personally, being able to spend time on this journey with two of the most important people in my life was something so positive that it's tough to put to words. My Grandpa's eyes told me instantly that he felt the same way. The unending support and love he's always shown me was thick in the air around us there in Odell, and I nor the other guys could have asked for better company.

Thanks so much to you Grandpa and Elaine for the kind cards, the tasty snacks, the fun conversation, but foremost for being such kind, caring and interested grandparents. You both are so appreciated and loved.

-Devin

The "I" State Invasion

2007-09-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

We are now in the midst of our highly anticipated tour through the states that begin with the letter I, although the anticipation was apparently ours alone because not many people here seem to know we were coming. We assumed that dense civilization would abound here on the eastern banks of the Mississippi, but Illinois is about as rural as America gets. We've made camp for the night on the outskirts of a town called Streator, in a Super 8, next to a particularly delicious Pizza Hut. Now before you jump to conclusions and accuse us of going soft, put yourself in the shoes of poor Don, who managed to develop a rather uncomfortable reaction to poison ivy in a few rather uncomfortable locations, and needed a shower and a comfortable venue to stage his counter attack. No complaints from the rest of us, who needed showers only slightly less than Don and clean laundry just as much. I'm sure Devin's grandpa Russ and his wife Elaine will appreciate the reduction of physical offensiveness we've achieved here at the Super 8 when we meet them for lunch tomorrow.

The weather lately has been a wily beast, freezing at night then pushing triple digits the next afternoon. Head winds have been the norm but the forecast predicts a welcome change for tomorrow. Yesterday we discovered a bike trail along a canal that spanned nearly 50 miles of the route, giving us a fantastic opportunity to zone out without concern for vehicle traffic. We accepted the trail as another offering from the divine lord of cyclists, who, when one considers the unexpected discovery of a bikes-only campground last week at a crucial moment, apparently likes our blog. We arrived in town with empty bellies and wound up at the only bar in town, nodding enthusiastically to the bartender's constant inquiry of "nuther beer?" and approving the level of crispiness of each of the 3 frozen pizzas he proudly presented to us. A half gallon of cookies n' cream later, we set out to find another rogue camp site to end another day in the good life.

Also, if you want to look cool this fall, don't forget to order your official Bike the US for MS t-shirt by emailing us at tshirt@biketheusforms.org.

And yes, chocolate milk really is better in Wisconsin. I hope to have a similar renaissance with apple butter when I get to New England.

-Mason

Tri-State region

2007-09-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

We're stopped over in Dubuque, Iowa after a couple chilly days of riding along the Mississippi. A cold front blew in and caught us off guard a bit - the temperature fell to around freezing the past two nights. God must like us though - right after the cold front blew in a Cabela's store appeared on the horizon. It was the same effect as when you grocery shop while hungry (S.W.H.) - we purchased hats and socks and gloves. It was amazing.

On Thursday we met Tom Larson of La Crosse, WI. We enjoyed a few PBRs (Tom's favorite beer) and watched the wind change from north to south on his porch, bringing with it the cold weather. Tom has had MS since 1989 but doesn't let it get him down. It wasn't too hard to find him, he was out and about on his hover-round cruising around the neighborhood. He loves that thing - he praises it and swears, "i'm not getting paid a thing to say this but...." Tom was hilarious and we had a great time.

I thought Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois were as flat as pancakes but this is not so. This portion of the tri-state area (Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois) is actually quite hilly. It is because we're in a "driftless area", an area untouched by the glaciers that formed the plains. We have been traveling along the river for a few days in the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge. It has been beautiful - the bluffs along the Mississippi are steep and covered with deciduous trees. Soon we will begin to head east towards Chicago to meet Devin's grandparents in Odell, Illinois.

Thanks to all those who have contacted us about coming through your area. We'll make as many stops as we can afford - just as long as we make it to Maine before the snow does.

Donald

Highway 61 visited...for the very first time.

2007-09-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

We've made it out of Minnitropolis unscathed. Mason successfully navigated the restrooms at the airport not once, but twice, without being arrested for lewd acts and Devin and Donald both survived...errr...enjoyed visits from their lovely girlfriends Michelle and Kristen. Our first night out of the city was spent at Afton State Park just up the hill from the Mighty Mississippi. Got in late and three of the four of us ended up sleeping on top of picnic tables. It must have looked like some feast gone horribly wrong. I know it smelled like that at least.
Yesterday we made good time and about 60 miles and camped on the shores of Lake Pepin. Had a camp fire and a nice rest, save for the speeding midnight trains. I cooked breakfast over the fire this morning and felt a little bit like Grizzly Adams. Except I don't think he ate corn beef hash burritos.
Hit the road and have been winding our way through beautiful rural Minnesota. We've been shadowing the river and hope to camp next to it again tonight. I discussed the intricacies of catfishing with a gentleman today and hope to pull a little dinner out of the the Muddy Miss here pretty soon. It sounds as if they are a hard catch as they only eat "...pretty much anything." I hope they like zucchini. We'll check in in a bit with more details. Just didn't want anybody to think we were dead. Word-K

Leaving Minneapolis

2007-09-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

We're getting ready to leave Minneapolis after a long and enjoyable stay. Mason had to fly to his sister's wedding in Maine, so we've been hanging out since last Wednesday. Congrats to Leslie and Jason Beck!

The Radisson on the U. of Minnesota campus has been great, although we're going to have to live like homeless bums to make it to Maine with any money whatsoever. I definitely have regrets about eating at Applebees 6 times because it was 200 ft from the room....ahhhhh... We have to get out of here and get back to eating healthy food.

Thanks to Christine Ratcliffe from the MS foundation for spreading info on our ride and hooking us up with people to meet/help along the way. Her efforts are greatly appreciated - we have a hard enough time sorting out our bikes, food, where we're going, where we're camping - it's nice to have a little help.

And also thanks to Amber at vidshadow for hooking us up with a camera and providing an entertaining way to raise money.

We're out of here. We added more photos on our page so check them out!

Donald

Minneapolis

2007-09-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today we broke our commitment of staying in tents the whole time. We reached our peak of nastiness and broke down. So we're here at the Ramada in Minneapolis. It's great - AC, showers, beds, tv, free coffee, electricity. One more day of riding without doing laundry and I think we would have needed our chamois' surgically removed.

Riding through Minnesota has been nice. Tons of lakes and turkey farms. I think i'm going to purchase free range turkeys from now on. Those walmart sized enclosures smell ridiculous and I would never want to eat anything from inside.

Yesterday a dog ran out in the road so I stopped oncoming traffic. Then it ran up and bit my foot, the ungrateful bastard. So like an idiot, I chased it and yelled at it...So there! Very funny for those watching. New policy for dogs - unclip the feet and be ready for battle. I wanted to pick fights with little dogs just to redeem myself.

We are staying in Minneapolis until Monday morning and look forward to checking out the city and volunteering if possible. If anyone has any tips or info about Minneapolis please fill us in!

Donald

Pelican Rapids Minnesota

2007-09-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

A quick update this morning from Pelican Rapids Minnesota. After the scolding I received from my mom the other day for not updating the blog, I felt I better hop to it.

We woke up this morning to an incredible view on the edge of Mill Pond in the Pelican Rapids City Park. Great facilities, huge old oak trees, an unlocked wi-fi signal, an all around beautiful spot and also home to the world's largest Pelican.

Yesterday we grudgingly left Fargo, ND / Moorhead, MN and forged for about six hours into the wind. Days like that always seem painful at first, but it doesn't take long to get lost in your mind and you soon seem to forget about the headwind. Before you know it ten, then twenty, then many more miles have melted away, along with most of the day.

Fargo/Moorhead really is a cool metro area, we all enjoyed our layover there, and were all happy to break the diet of chicken strips, greasy burgers and french fries we've been forced to eat the last couple weeks. The food options a larger city offers is something we've all missed very much. Culturally, Fargo seemed to have much more to offer than just a cute local accent (as demonstrated in the Coen Brothers movie). There are at least 3 or 4 colleges in the vicinity and thus plenty of hip young folk are interspersed with the stereotypical "ya shur you betcha" Scandinavian mid-westerners. Its really a nice mix.

Minnesota has already brought us back into the trees, though now the deciduous variety. They help by cutting the wind a bit and also providing some shade to nap under. The plains were enjoyable and beautiful in their own right, but it sure is nice to be back with our friends the trees.

We seem to have a more favorable wind this morning so I suppose we should go pedal with it. Please keep the emails and comments coming in, we really enjoy getting them. I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day Weekend, have fun and be safe.

-Devin

Fargo, North Dakota

2007-08-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

I think we've decided to hang out here in Fargo, North Dakota for another night. The plan was to leave today after taking care of a few things, but Fargo is actually much nicer than expected. We had a few things to take care - bike shop, post office, shave beards into mustaches (karl only).

The bike shop in Fargo, Island Park Cyclery, is nice and incredibly helpful. Tom helped us tighten Devin's bottom bracket and gave us a good route out of town. This was the first decent bike shop since Whitefish, MT.

We're about to go use the $100 Scheels gift card given to us by a farmer named Kevin in Arthur, ND (Scheels is the REI of North Dakota). I met Kevin and some other nice guys at the gas station getting their morning coffee before heading out to work. We talked for a while about farming, biking, missile silos and other things. They are growing soybeans, corn, wheat and sugar beets. The farming communities here in eastern North Dakota seem to be doing very well.

We have traveled far enough now that people don't believe us when we tell them we biked from Seattle. They have a lot of questions, mainly - why did you ride your bike here from Seattle?

A few more errands to run - we'll update again soon!

Donald

No matter how far ya' go, ya' won't find no place like Fargo!

2007-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

A Poem

All of our children
will grow to hate us some day.
Not because we've ignored them, or been abusive or neglectful.
Not because we gave them bowl haircuts
the night before the first day of seventh grade,
or because we never knocked when we came into their rooms to tell them to get jobs, or stop dating that twit
or shave that...that... whatever-the-hell-it-is off their upper lips(wink).

They won't hate us because we forgot their birthdays or their names
or their release dates.
They won't hate us because we squandered the fortunes they made
as child-prodigies or sitcom actors,
on women who weren't their mothers
and sleeveless concert t-shirts that weren't their school shoes.

No, our children will hate us
for enriching their lives.
They'll hate us for making one safe, sane decision
out of the multitude of reckless, selfish ones.
They'll hate us
for placing importance on their development
into well-rounded, fruitful individuals.

Our children will not hate us because
we were bad to them.
They will hate us
because we were good to them.
They will hate us for a simple reason.
They will hate us
because they were lucky enough
to have spent every summer,
of their developing lives

In North Dakota.

N.D. re-cap is forthcoming! I promise,but I've got the Rushi in me and I think the California roll is coming back up to say "far out brah!" I'm having a little trouble sorting out the last couple days' events but we'll be there soon. Let's just say, Talapia is much better when you cut out the middle-man and about two thousand miles, Fargo is great and not at all "funny lookin'," and Minnesota, as far as I could tell from my spandex-clad crawl up the muddy bank of the (wink again) mighty Red River, is as sweet as a folded up Land-o-Lakes box.

North Dakota has been very good to us and we love her.

Thank you all and good night from Fargo...Fargo North Dakota.
-Karl

RUGBY, NORTH DAKOTA

2007-08-27T05:23:00.000-07:00

This morning's blog entry has special significance- it shall be transmitted to the world wide web from the geographical center of the North American continent. I don't know if that means it will reach our readers in the Yucatan and on the north slope of Alaska at the same time, but it's cool nonetheless.

Apparently, Rugby is also the galactical epicenter of extraordinary hospitality, courtesy of Rob and Michelle Bollinger and their 5 children. They invited us to crash in their basement for the night and make us dinner, in addition to contacting local news stations for us. I think Michelle is upstairs right now making us pancakes and eggs, and her pot roast should probably win her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. How they manage to take care of us while parenting 5 (very well behaved) kids and remodeling their awesome 1907 home is beyond me, but they've certainly earned a place in the Bike the US for MS Hall of Fame. Thanks Bollingers!

If most of you are like me, you probably haven't given much thought to the state of North Dakota, so I'll provide a brief synopsis. Some time during the last ice age, a giant glacial ice sheet carved a landscape with gently rolling hills and rich layers of topsoil ideal for grasses and agriculture. There isn't much here other than hay -fields and missile silos, but it doesn't feel barren or particularly isolated, and the riding conditions are great. The towns are full of friendly people and old deciduous trees, and the entire state gives off a generally wholesome vibe.

I'd also like to thank Kim and Jill at the Minot Daily News for doing a really good story on us, and especially for publishing that the highlight of Karl's trip was going to the mall. He bought some really cute hair clips and a Justin Timberlake poster, ate a giant pretzel, and spent his whole allowance, but he's been a new man ever since. We woke up on Sunday morning eager to read our article only to find that the printing press had broken- I have trouble thinking this was a coincidence, but my theories are a little far fetched.

Today we battle a head wind towards a place called Devil's Lake. Should be to Fargo and then into Minnesota by the end of the week. Stay tuned...

-Mason

Minot, ND

2007-08-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

We are currently camped out in Minot, ND behind the Holiday Inn at Riverside RV Park. We were slightly disappointed to find there's no river anywhere to be seen, but at least there is this nice Holiday Inn - where Karl has somehow convinced the front desk attendant into letting us enjoy the pool and hot tub. He achieved this last night after the rest of us went to sleep. I'm not sure when Karl sleeps but it must not be necessary - he was also awake when I got up and had a bunch of stories from the hotel bar last night.

We didn't know what to expect from North Dakota - none of us have ever been here before. The landscape consists of rolling grasslands and never-ending wheat fields. I never would have guessed how big the oil industry is here. Oil rigs are scattered throughout the hillsides and Halliburton trucks outnumber normal vehicles, at least from Williston to New Town.

Yesterday I'm pretty sure we stumbled across some underground missile silos in the middle of a sunflower field. It was a small fenced area that was mostly concrete except for the 10 x 10 foot green door on the ground. We had been resting on the side of the road in the sunflower patch for maybe 5 minutes when 2 young guys pull up wearing full battle gear, including AK-47's and helmets. They kindly asked us to keep moving. Perhaps a sign saying "no trespassing" would be a good first defense. I guess I'm glad those two teenagers are driving around the highway with AK-47's defending our homeland from dangerous bike tourists. Maybe our newly grown beards sent them into Red terror alert mode.

We were in the Minot Daily Newspaper yesterday offering our volunteer services to people in the area and so far we haven't gotten any takers. Anyone have any ideas? It seems people don't like to ask for help so we may have to change our strategy. We are going to stay here in Minot and do laundry, hit the bike shop, and do an interview with the news station. Tomorrow we head to Rugby, ND to meet Rob and Michelle who have offered to let us stay with them, cook us a meal, and sleep in their basement - as well as hooking us up with the local television news station. We've never met these folks and they are offering their home to us! It's amazing - thank you so much Rob and Michelle.

Time for breakfast - have a good weekend!

Donald

MT to ND

2007-08-22T19:10:00.001-07:00

Wednesday saw us pedal further across the plains and make our way into our fourth state of the trip, North Dakota. Waking up in the morning we still had the winds to our backs, and knew we had to take further advantage of them. Tuesday's distance was a bit more modest than the prior day's as we came in around 50 miles total, but we got some much needed rest in Wolf Point that night which left us rearing to go Wednesday morning.

Pedaled for a couple hours and found ourselves in Culbertson MT, where we all had the great pleasure of being treated to lunch by Julie Maier her daughters Meghan and Rachel, and her Mom Jean Johnston. Julie is a close family friend of mine from Kingman AZ and she and her daughters have been huge supporters (and blog readers) of ours. The three lovely Maier ladies have been getting back to their roots here in Montana and along with Julie's mom Jean were able to drive down to Culbertson to meet us for lunch and a great visit. It was really nice to see familiar faces, and these four happen to be particularly nice. Karl Miller's List of Potential Wives just gained a couple more entries. All four of us really enjoyed ourselves and our afternoon was much more pleasant as a result. Sincere thanks from all of us to you lovely ladies.

Also while in Culbertson, we stopped by the Post Office to pick up another huge batch of the most amazing homemade jerky ever, shipped to us by one of the loveliest of lovely ladies, my mom Sherrine. Thanks Mom, from us and the beef industry.

After a second lunch of snack food from the Maier's snacks and my Mom's jerky, we pedaled through the afternoon and eventually made it here to Willingston in time to set up camp in another city park and feast on chicken burritos.

It was another sunny day in Paradise, in total covering 102 miles with almost 6 hours in the saddle. Already we've noticed nicer road conditions here in North Dakota and look forward to more of the smooth ND road to come.

Tomorrow, we're going to pick up some supplies in town, hopefully get my bottom bracket checked out, then hit the road towards Minot.

All for now, take care, thanks to everyone for all the support!

-Devin

ps. Karl mentioned the group of cyclists we saw in Chinook. They are a group of three guys who are doing the same trip as us but in the reverse direction. During our planning stages I started reading their blog to get an idea of what we might expect during out travels. I expected we'd encounter them sooner or later and it was really nice finally meeting them. We all wished we could have spent more time with them. They've got a very well written blog which you can see here.

Home and Away in Chinook Montana

2007-08-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

So, the plan to make it to Malta in one day sorta fell through when I found that I'd broken a spacer on my steer tube. This meant that on a Sunday morning, in quiet, most-things-closed-on-Sundays-namely-the-bike-shop-which-is-owned-by-a-jerk-so-I-wouldn't -go-there-anyway Havre, I had to go in search of a solution. This solution ultimately came in the form of a very nice gentleman named Mark that I met while trying to saw off steer tube with a dull hacksaw as it was propped on the curb in the parking lot of the Checkers auto part store. He made the mistake of letting me borrow a sharp hacksaw and when all was said and done, he'd lent me his hacksaw, pipe-vice, mini sledge, brass punch and a file. He also gave me some zip ties to replace the ones I'd cut off of my computer. Apparently a bicyclist's best friend is not a dog with roller skates instead of legs after all but, rather a man who works with natural gas pipelines and carries all of his tools with him in a large truck...with a pipe-vice on the bumper. Thanks Mark!
We didn't leave Havre until whenever, I don't have a clock. I think it was 11:30 or so. Not a good start to a 80+ mile day. Rode through construction and dirt and strong headwinds until we got to Chinook. At which point we made it official that we were going to bag it after only 20 miles. While we licked our wounds, we ate cheeseburgers and 15 pound ice creams things. Our wounds were sticky and cheesy to say the least. Upon the recommendation of a local, we set up camp on the grounds of the Chinook Water works, a nice little place with big cottonwoods, right next to the Milk River. We spent the afternoon napping and drinking water as the winds gradually increased. In the evening all hell broke loose. King Lear type stuff. Really strong winds and rain drove us into our tents for a while. Don and I went exploring a little later and found the bicycles of a three-man group headed west that Devin had been in contact with. We didn't interrupt them at dinner, but let Devin know that they were in town. He went and found them later and they camped at the same park. I think that there is a link from our site to theirs. If not, I'll have Devin do that, they're cool guys.

So blah, blah, blah. Camp, shmamp. You guys want the good stuff don't ya? You're like little fiends; just can't get enough. Well I've got something for you. Can you handle it? Ok...ready...here goes. Today we rode one hundred and forty miles. That's right. We got up, got off our cans, feasted on gas station breakfast burritos, caught a tailwind and proceeded to haul ass from Chinook to Glasgow in 7 hours of riding. It was sweet. We rode the first sixty to Malta before lunch. Had a nice lunch on the lawn of the library, and did some stretches and headstands.

Oh yeah, I did my push-ups. Well, I'd already done some but, really, I just don't feel like I ever actually get tired doing them, so I did some more. It was sweet too. Then we blasted on to Glasgow. The first half of the day was faster as the winds were much stronger and more directly at our backs. The entire way was pretty, again the qualifier you hear a lot comes up, "if you like the prairie." Sunny the whole way but not blazing hot. As we approached Glasgow, the presence of water could be seen in the green grass and tress as well as THE INCREDIBLE SWARMS OF MOSQUITOES. Holy smokes! I take A-positive in case they suck me dry. You could kill six with a single swat on your calf and by the time you'd wiped them off your hand, their buddies had come to take their places. I'm wearing my bike shorts inside-out tomorrow. Giving 'em the old "nose in the chamois" trick. We'll see if any of the little buggers wanna bite me then.

Tonight we are camped at the RV park of a hotel. The internet, showers and chance at a cold beer being very weighty in the decision making process. And, no mom, I'm not drinking too much. We each had one and then had to leave because we were all about to fall asleep. This is what it's come to. Four, twenty-something, broke, bike ridin' punks that can't even stay awake to party, crashing in the dirt of a barren RV park next to the train tracks. Maybe everybody will have it this good some day.

Havre, MT

2007-08-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying round 3 at the Best Western "great northern inn" continental breakfast here in Havre, MT. Our stay at the RV park has been very convenient and comfortable - this is probably the best place to stay in town. $30 buys you access to jacuzzi, pool, wireless internet, showers and a somewhat secluded campsite, at least for Havre. Not too many trees in these parts.

Today we will try to ride 88 miles to Malta. The wind is supposed at our backs but it's been from the east the last two days. One of Karl's headset spacers cracked so he is currently looking around town to find something to act as a spacer. Shouldn't take long and we'll be on the road soon. People advise against stopping in the reservation towns so we have to really push to make Malta. Mason just advised me there is an easterly wind so it may not happen.

Thanks to everyone who has contacted us about places to stay - we usually have no idea where we're staying when we leave in the morning. Tonight we'll probably end up staying on the side of the highway, but thats not so bad way out here in the middle of nowhere. Lot's of stars and plenty of flat places to put your tent.

Donald

Glacier National Park to Cut Bank, MT

2007-08-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Today we find ourselves on the east side of the Rocky Mountains and looking down the long straight double yellow lines of the prairie. Things are not only different here geographically, but socially as well. We got our first real exposure to a reservation, which left us all feeling a little disappointed in the problems our society is capable of neglecting. People are incredibly friendly regardless, and we accepted an invitation from our waitress at the C & L Cafe to camp in her backyard. We sat around on the deck for most of the evening with Meghan and her mom Ann, learning more than we ever expected to know about northern Montana.
Ever heard of Hutterites? Neither had we, but apparently they are amazing farmers, cooks, speakers of German, and quilt makers, and they live around here. Karl should probably marry one.

We are now into the second phase of our trip, hoping to make good progress across the mostly flat areas of Montana and North Dakota. It's hot during the day, but apparently Cut Bank is annually the coldest place in the continental US. Biting ants swarm with particular aggression- serving as pockets of bio-schrapnel while riding and completely suffocating us if we stop. We are happy to be here though and we are actively looking to help people with MS in the towns we ride through.

-Mason

Eureka to Whitefish

2007-08-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

After waking up in the Riverside Park in Eureka MT, yesterday started with a delicious breakfast at Cafe Jax in Eureka, home of the world's best bacon. Arriving at Jax we were met by our new touring friends Keith and Donna. We thought we were way ahead of them at that point, but as Keith so nonchalantly told Don, "oh yeah, we had an 88 mile day yesterday." They are hardcore! It was going to be the last day of their trip as Whitefish was their destination. We'll miss seeing them on the road, they are very nice folks, so nice in fact that they sneakily bought our breakfast for us. So kind. Thank you Keith and Donna!!

We eventually made our way out of Eureka and punctuated the day's ride with another delicious food stop in Fortine at Meadow Creek Homemade Pies and Espresso. Renee's huckleberry milkshakes were amazing.

The afternoon brought us a much needed swim in Stillwater Lake and a nice siesta afterward. That evening we rolled into Whitefish MT under smoky skies and near perfect temps. It had been a particularly hot day, but the evening portion of the day's ride was beautiful.

We quickly got to the important tasks of refueling and imbibing at the Great Northern Bar and Restaurant. We listened to a pretty good Irish Punk band and met some really nice locals. Our conversations eventually led us to the comfortable front yard of Lynnwood, a very kind Whitefish resident whose band will be playing their first gig tonight (Good Luck!). The sleeping situation in the yard was adequately comfortable, and all of us enjoyed it. Don, however did seem to take issue with the topography of the yard at about 3 am. It was a fun night. :)

Today, to Glacier National Park! Keep the emails and comments coming, we love them!

-Devin

Eureka

2007-08-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

We are sitting here at the Riverview Park campground in Eureka, Montana. Today our ride took us along the Kootenai River and along Lake Koocanusa. We just had pizza and beers after a good 74 mile day. Throughout the day we passed maybe 1 car per hour and had the wind to our backs.

We are about to unleash our secret fundraising weapon - something so amazing it may ultimately cure MS. If you donate $1 you will get a kiss from Karl Miller himself. That's right! Extra value menu or a kiss from a stud - it's up to you..

Its getting late and the mosquitoes just came out. We should be in Whitefish tomorrow and Glacier on Tuesday - should be awesome.

DF

Good Morning Sandpoint Idaho

2007-08-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

We survived another night on the road, although the trains passing 30 feet from our tents provided a good scare at 4 am- my tent was rumbling so furiously I thought the guys may have dragged me right onto the tracks. The morale among team BTUSFMS is soaring with our arrival in a new state, and we are conflicted as to whether we should continue making progress into Montana or stay here in Sandpoint for the rest of our lives. This place is awesome- beautiful lake, exciting atmosphere- I think Don and Devin are reliving the magic of Dirty Dancing all over again. The "rift" between them as leaked by Karl has healed, and they are even "cycling" together again. As for Karl, the man has to be the most talented random song generator I've ever known, spontaneously spouting off 3 or 4 lines of songs most likely to get stuck in my head and moving on to the next without remorse. His theory about the bull urinating on his food bag is questionable to me, as this injustice has Don written all over it. New evidence in the case of an ill-fated laptop and a swift blow from Judge Judy?

We have a nice balance of personalities in our group for a trip of this nature, some not so serious and some more motivated at times, but we all seem to agree on important decisions and the best interest of the group is usually put first. We all dealt with our first dose of adversity like champions. We have had great reception to our cause thus far on the road, with most people enthusiastic about our ride and its good natured intent. We are still trying to get our footing a bit on how to explain to people what we are doing, as we don't want to seem obnoxious or pushy for donations, but I think we will soon become competent agents of charitable procurement. Suggestions are certainly accepted.

Thanks again to all the folks who helped us get off the ground and who continue to pedal our cause, and I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say hi to my friends and family.

Also of interest, Karl just ordered "raisin bran and bacon, and uh, thats it" for breakfast. Impressive indeed.

Hello from Sandpoint!

2007-08-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

We made it to Idaho - now only 14 states, 2 mountain ranges and 3,850 miles to go. I must say that Sandpoint is beautiful and everyone has been incredibly welcoming so far. As we crossed the bridge into town a woman looked at our bikes and said, "looks like someone should welcome you to Northern Idaho!" We are happy to be here even though it's a short visit - if everything goes well we should be in Montana in a few days.

Not quite sure what Karl meant about Devin and I bickering. I think Karl was trying to "spice-up" our blog. It worked because a few people have asked if we are getting along. Sometimes its hard to get along with anyone when you're very tired or hungry as we tend to be, but we all get along quite well and honestly I wouldn't want to ride 4,295 miles with any other guys.

A very cool older couple, Keith and Donna, are riding along our same route from Everett, WA to Whitefish, MT...and they are serious bikers! Just when we think we've passed them for good they come riding by. They are both 60ish and Keith has MS! Admirable to say the least....slow down dammit!

Tomorrow we will send out some info and work out volunteer opportunities but now it's time to enjoy Sandpoint, Idaho and this Best Western RV Park. Thanks for the emails!

Donald

Aw Yeah!

2007-08-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

It's official. Karl has set Colville as the bar in recreation. Water falls to swim in, delicious, fresh local beer to drink, free camping in a clean site hosted by a really nice guy AND, the prospective future wives of Karl Miller club has acquired a new member. Actually thus far she's stepped directly up to the chairwoman's podium. I won't divulge too much because I 'm a gentleman but oh man! This place is cool.
Don and Devin are at it again, the constant bickering is starting to drive me crazy. I feel as though they can only relate to each other through abuse. I guess as long as they leave me alone I'll be alright, but I'm about to get together with Mason and figure out a way to "calm things down" There's a lot of empty space out here. I hope they remember that.
Anyway, yeah, things are great! My legs hurt a bit today. I think that because of my superior physical state I take a little while longer to warm up than the other guys, whatever their names are. I feel as if a small fire smolders inside of me and it takes gentle stoking and care to work it up into a raging inferno that can't even be stopped by the Devil himself. Like I say, I think the other guys aren't really putting their whole hearts into it all of the time. I guess if I make it it's still a success.
So last night, when I was trying to put up my bear bag, I got the thing about ten feet up when the whole branch broke off and came crashing down. Now, this is unfortunate to say the least but, considering my experience with bear bags thus far, namely mice eating my sugar and the good stuff out of my trail mix and the bull in Wauconda pissing on my bag during the night(it obviously wasn't in a tree), I was ready to spit. It took two more attempts, the last one with a rock the size of a small melon, to get my stuff hung up.
The Raccoons ate the grape juice and dead yellowjackets out of a plastic bottle trap right outside Mason's tent. I think that it was a sign of trust and love on their part towards Mason. I don't know why they'd want to do that but there animals so you never really know. Wild, wild animals.
I'm about done with my coffee and going to go eat my leg, because I'm starving again! I don't really know how I'm going to deal with this in places were they don't have food, like North Dakota. I guess I have to load up in Sand Point. I've got to get rid of my long johns if I want to do that. And the slingshot.
-K

Colville

2007-08-07T13:34:00.001-07:00

We've finally made it through the North Cascade Mountain passes. It took a few days, a lot of trail mix, a lot of water and a few safety meetings. But, now we're in Colville. We've really put in some miles the last few days considering the elevation gains. Washington, Rainy, Loup Loup, Wauconda and Sherman Passes were all beastly, but we put in the granny gear and just pedaled up 'em all.

It finally feels like we are in a new landscape, desert. No more lush Western Washington forests, now we have the rolling hills and Ponderosa forests of Eastern Washington. It feels just like I'm back home in Northern Arizona, very reminiscent of the Kaibab Plateau. The vistas are huge and gold, and they just don't end.

With great results, we've done some guerrilla camping the last couple nights. Sunday we rode until about 10 pm and just collapsed in a nice and comfortable field in the country. Woke up in a bull pen, literally. All of us really got some good sleep that night though. Last night was probably the best spot yet. After a huge dinner at the Hudson Bay Steak and Seafood Restaurant (the only food stop for miles) we found a great spot outside Kettle Falls right on the edge of the Columbia River/ FDR Lake. Perfectly terraced for the tents, protected from traffic, great spot to bathe and do laundry and the best sunrise so far. It was a wonderful sleep.

Today, we are just going to hang out in Colville for a while and then head out to the hills nearby and find a nice spot to camp near a river. It should be a very relaxing day. Right now we're all in a little espresso shop, I'm on their public computer while Mason Don and Karl are on Don's laptop being preached to by an Evangelical Baptist with a sweet trucker hat on. It's awesome. Friendly folks here for sure.

Enough for now, time to go use the wheel truing facilities at the local Sports Shop and get Mason's wheel back in shape. Keep the emails coming.

-Devin

Okanogan to Republic, WA

2007-08-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

The past 24 hours have been interesting to say the least. We woke up in Okanogan - a small town on the east side of Loup Loup Pass. After a delicious breakfast with Bill and Suzanne at "On The Ave." we head out for another great day of riding. The headwind was strong and it was HOT making the ride pretty tough. After an hour or two of battling headwinds Mason lost his front tire into the soft shoulder and took a spill. We were all tightly packed because of the wind and Karl went over with Mason. The spill resulted in a bent fork on Karl's bike and a wobbly tire for Mase. Devin did a nice job of truing Mason's wheel and we were off shortly after the incident. I think we were feeling a little over-confident so this was a good reminder how quickly things can change if we don't pay close attention. Pedaling our bikes down these highways really is dangerous so feeling totally comfortable is something we should avoid. Overall I'm proud of our attitude and ability to fix the problem and continue on our path. The fall took a little wind out of our sails but not enough to keep us from conquering Wauconda Pass and camping in a pasture under the stars later that evening.

We are now in Republic, WA grabbing some food and preparing for the highest mountain pass in Washington State - Sherman Pass. We are becoming more aware of what our bodies need to continue on these hot afternoons. One of the most important things I've learned to keep going is to drink before you're thirsty and eat before you're hungry. Otherwise you'll wake up in a random yard with someone asking if you're ok - but we learned that lesson on Day 1. We have been going through nuun like crazy - it really is a life saver on these hot days.

Well the battery is running out and we have a mountain to climb - update again maybe in Kettle Falls? Hope everyone is having a good Monday!

Donald

Okanogan dreamin and Tonasket on the rise

2007-08-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

We stayed last night in Okanogan, after climbing Loup Loup Pass. It's short but steep. Ate two consecutive times at On The Avenue, the restaurant in Okanogan. Our hosts Bill and Suzanne were very nice and Morgen, our ever-patient waitress may very well have been the most beautiful this side of the Mountains. Thanks guys!
Coming out of Okanogan, Mason and I decided that we hadn't been rolling in the dirt enough so I promptly ran him over after he fell down. No injuries, just a bent wheel on his bike and a fork on mine. It's good excuse to go slow which is handy because it just got really, really hot!
Donald and I are sitting in the Junction in Tonasket which is awesome. They have DVDs, gas, fried chicken, copy machine, car wash, laundromat, and stuff I can't even seem to find. This may be my paradise! They also have wireless internet access. As you probably guessed we're not here for fried chicken or a car wash.
Anyway, we're chillin' in Tonasket, Mason and Devin are trying to find a place to swim and we're going to go enjoy some Okanogan breezes. Back with you soon.

Karl

Washington Pass

2007-08-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

We finally conquered what we had been looking forward to/dreading for months leading up to the ride: Washington Pass. The whole climb was about 25 miles to an elevation of ~5,400 ft. What a beautiful area - gorgeous scenery the whole way up. Luckily we had a great tailwind to give us an extra boost, much needed for our first real test of endurance. The logging trucks and RVs also provide a nice push. It is strange how quickly I've become comfortable with huge trucks whizzing by. Most drivers are courteous and leave lots of space but there is always the occasional bicycle-hater who must speed up as they pass - or in Devin's case a few months ago slow down to tell him to "get a life, get a car!"

Coming down the pass was AWESOME and perhaps the most invigorating thing any of us have ever done. It was basically a 20 mile drop to Mazama where we stayed the night on the Methow River. It is fascinating to see the climate difference on either side of the pass - the desert-like conditions are beautiful and we finally feel like we have traveled some distance. All of us have been to gorgeous places like this but there is a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing we pedaled here.

We are currently relaxing in Winthrop, WA, a small town just east of North Cascades National Park. After yesterday our legs need a short break. Can't stop too long though, still another 4,072 miles to go! We will update again soon, maybe in Okanagan? Until then have a great weekend -

Donald

Day One- Seattle to Arlington

2007-08-02T11:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the great send-off yesterday! We left Golden Gardens with a nice crowd of frends and KOMO 4 News there to send us off. It was great riding out of town on the Burke-Gillman Trail with beautifully sunny skies and not much of a headwind.
Already, the calorie consumption has begun. Crackers, vacuum packed tuna steaks, much much more. And of course Nuun!!
I only expected us to get around 40 or 50 miles under our belt on the first day, but as it turned out we rode about 75.
We bedded down next to the beautiful Stillaguamish river right near a really cool abandoned railroad trestle. Karl and Don and I fished for a bit with Don's collapsable pole and I caught a nice sized little trout on my third cast! A great end to a long-awaited day.
Thanks to everybody who has been donating the last couple days!! The generosity we're seeing is awesome! We love getting the emails from everybody, keep 'em coming! All for now...

-Devin

Moving out

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

The wave of enthusiasm we rode into this morning from our party success last night is quickly subsiding and giving way to the reality of vacating our home, which some of you may know- and the rest probably assume- will require
serious attention to make it look as if nobody has lived here for 18 months. Long story short, if you live in the Seattle area and would like to support Bike the US for MS in a different capacity, please feel free to come "hang out" at our headquarters.

In all seriousness though, we are stoked beyond words about the help, support, and interest we have received from friends and strangers alike. Anticipation about the trip is entirely positive and the general sentiment is that we expect an adventure loaded with fulfilling encounters and experiences. As much as we are trying to prepare appropriately for this trip, we are also prepared to be unprepared at times and seem to be at ease with the probabilty of the occasional ordeal.

Additional incentive to come by: leftover beverages from the party last night available on our porch. Thanks.

-Mason

Party Run Down!!!

2007-07-29T03:04:00.001-07:00

The party was Tops! Thanks to every body that came and everybody that offered up their time, services and resources to get it flying. We're still sorting out totals but we did really, really well. Also, thanks to everybody up to this point that has shown interest and offered support in what we're doing. Sometimes the hardest people to convince of the possible success of a project are those undertaking it and you have all led me to believe that we may just pull this whole thing off in spite of ourselves. From all of us, sincerely, Thank You.
You all know that we now face the most daunting part of our entire saga...cleaning and moving out of 2052 NW 60th St.. That's correct, Bike the US for MS world-headquarters will soon be vacated as we take our show on the road! For those of you that have ever been here, you know the challenge this may pose. Lets just say that moving four guys out of two houses, one of which is essentially a two-story black hole, in just three days will be impressive. With leaving enough time to find flip flops and stopping by the bike shop for the chamois butter and Luna...err...Power bars, it's going to be amazing. But, if things keep going the way they have been, I see nothing but open roads and tailwinds in our near future.
Riding this wave of optimism I'll close for now. We will update shortly with the outcome from the party (would've been nice if somebody had donated an abacus or something) and the skinny on getting ourselves towards the upper right-hand corner of the map. If you've got any input let us know, info@biketheusforms.org.
Again, thanks for a wonderful party and an awesome show of support.

Karl Miller