Monday, 14 September 2009
Friday, 28 August 2009
The NY Chronicles
Thought be good to give you a quick update of some of the goings on and photos of our time in NY....
After our night out with the girls on Monday night Tuesday was a complete write off where the boys spent the day in bed feeling awful and hurting all over.
Tom did however manage to fight the various pains he was feeling in order so that he could spend all day on facebook catching up on some e-flirting with his various fractions, some things never change. We went out for a dirty lunch of Fat Burger with the girls before they headed back to blighty later that afternoon. More sleeping followed until we went out in the evening with our hosts to a typical american pub where we ate some ribs and other stuff and had a couple of beers before heading back to the apartment for more sleep.
On Wednesday we managed to pluck up some strength to drag ourselves over to Manhatten to do a bit of sight seeing which consisted of a bit of cycling around Manhatten, bus touring and shopping in Soho as we had no clothes of any quality that could be donned on a night out in NYC.
Great architecture in NYC, old against new.
More great shots from the top of the bus.
Wednesday night saw us go for a tour around China town for some authentic food. We ate these soup dumplings which were dumplings full of soup and then had some chinese bubble tea which is cold tea with tapoica, our new favourite tipple. After getting fed we were shown the wonders of an arcade in china town. Here we watched some mental moves on dance dance revolution by some stacked black dude, some chinese kids and an old lady. It was such a special and surreal experience that Jack took it upon himself to film the whole occasion so you guys can enjoy it time and time again.
Thursday saw us doing some more sight seeing and photo taking around NYC. We also all bought shoes from the most reputable store in NYC, Topman. The day also saw us wander back to china town to look for rubbish souveniers, get a free massage and most importantly get somemore bubble tea.
Borat with an M&M.
Jack and Borat showing where there allegiences lie.
More china town hair gel based fun.
In the evening we had the most anticipated moment of the trip so far, our debuts on internet radio station DTFRadio.com. Ian, Phoebe and Tors joined us in the studio where we met DJ Supreme, Bad Ass Brunette (aka Rosie) and Saint. Here we had a general chit chat about our trip and filled them in on topics such as Bens impending engagement, our worst moments and whether or not we would be bothered if one of our friends dated our mum/dad. The guys at DTFRadio recorded the show for us and put it here where we feature around 40mins in for about an hour or so http://www.zshare.net/audio/647953966f2c4b9e/ have a listen, its good.
Us in the studio doing our thing.
After this we headed off for a night out but sadly Ian and Phoebe had to go home to do some work whilst we went out to get drunk again. First stop was a place called Webster Hall which had three floors of different music, all hip-hop. We decided to ditch this place after a couple of beers as it wasn't the best. Tors informed us of a hip and happening place called Lit which we headed to next. Sadly Tors wasn't as good a guide as the fantastic Phoebe Chen so we got lost for a bit before finally finding it by asking a bloke if he knew where Lit was only for him to tell us that we were at Lit. A bit of drunken dancing ensued under some great UV lights which made Tom look like an asian Robert Kilroy Silk. Nothing much happened for the rest of the night expect for Jack meeting some complete american idiot who kept chatting about Swansea City football club, not great. We all begain to start falling asleep so we headed off home leaving Tors with her mates to dance the night away.
Just one more night left in NY where we plan to go and get drunk again before travelling straight to the airport, trying to blag first class and then passing out on the plane.
Last thing to say really is a big thanks to everyone that we met and helped us out along the way, you made our lives a lot easier and a lot less boring! Cheers again and until next time.......
After our night out with the girls on Monday night Tuesday was a complete write off where the boys spent the day in bed feeling awful and hurting all over.
Tom did however manage to fight the various pains he was feeling in order so that he could spend all day on facebook catching up on some e-flirting with his various fractions, some things never change. We went out for a dirty lunch of Fat Burger with the girls before they headed back to blighty later that afternoon. More sleeping followed until we went out in the evening with our hosts to a typical american pub where we ate some ribs and other stuff and had a couple of beers before heading back to the apartment for more sleep.
On Wednesday we managed to pluck up some strength to drag ourselves over to Manhatten to do a bit of sight seeing which consisted of a bit of cycling around Manhatten, bus touring and shopping in Soho as we had no clothes of any quality that could be donned on a night out in NYC.
Great architecture in NYC, old against new.
More great shots from the top of the bus.
Wednesday night saw us go for a tour around China town for some authentic food. We ate these soup dumplings which were dumplings full of soup and then had some chinese bubble tea which is cold tea with tapoica, our new favourite tipple. After getting fed we were shown the wonders of an arcade in china town. Here we watched some mental moves on dance dance revolution by some stacked black dude, some chinese kids and an old lady. It was such a special and surreal experience that Jack took it upon himself to film the whole occasion so you guys can enjoy it time and time again.
Thursday saw us doing some more sight seeing and photo taking around NYC. We also all bought shoes from the most reputable store in NYC, Topman. The day also saw us wander back to china town to look for rubbish souveniers, get a free massage and most importantly get somemore bubble tea.
Borat with an M&M.
Jack and Borat showing where there allegiences lie.
More china town hair gel based fun.
In the evening we had the most anticipated moment of the trip so far, our debuts on internet radio station DTFRadio.com. Ian, Phoebe and Tors joined us in the studio where we met DJ Supreme, Bad Ass Brunette (aka Rosie) and Saint. Here we had a general chit chat about our trip and filled them in on topics such as Bens impending engagement, our worst moments and whether or not we would be bothered if one of our friends dated our mum/dad. The guys at DTFRadio recorded the show for us and put it here where we feature around 40mins in for about an hour or so http://www.zshare.net/audio/647953966f2c4b9e/ have a listen, its good.
Us in the studio doing our thing.
After this we headed off for a night out but sadly Ian and Phoebe had to go home to do some work whilst we went out to get drunk again. First stop was a place called Webster Hall which had three floors of different music, all hip-hop. We decided to ditch this place after a couple of beers as it wasn't the best. Tors informed us of a hip and happening place called Lit which we headed to next. Sadly Tors wasn't as good a guide as the fantastic Phoebe Chen so we got lost for a bit before finally finding it by asking a bloke if he knew where Lit was only for him to tell us that we were at Lit. A bit of drunken dancing ensued under some great UV lights which made Tom look like an asian Robert Kilroy Silk. Nothing much happened for the rest of the night expect for Jack meeting some complete american idiot who kept chatting about Swansea City football club, not great. We all begain to start falling asleep so we headed off home leaving Tors with her mates to dance the night away.Just one more night left in NY where we plan to go and get drunk again before travelling straight to the airport, trying to blag first class and then passing out on the plane.
Last thing to say really is a big thanks to everyone that we met and helped us out along the way, you made our lives a lot easier and a lot less boring! Cheers again and until next time.......
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Assorted photos from the trip
Here are a couple of other assorted interesting (not corn) photos from the trip.......
Bens dinner one evening
One of Bens spectacular cycling tops
Jack taking a nap in a chinese restaurant
Nebraska in the rain
Eating pizza at altitude
Ben and Jack in action
Great road name
Ben having fun in a supermarket
More fun from Ben, a perfect photo for the next edition of www.matthewtremlett.com
Mile marker mischeif
Entering Wyoming with Jeremy
Jack working out
Bens dinner one evening
One of Bens spectacular cycling tops
Jack taking a nap in a chinese restaurant
Nebraska in the rain
Eating pizza at altitude
Ben and Jack in action
Great road name
Ben having fun in a supermarket
More fun from Ben, a perfect photo for the next edition of www.matthewtremlett.com
Mile marker mischeif
Entering Wyoming with Jeremy
Jack working out
Monday - Start Spreading the News
Ladies, Gentlemen and Blog Fans its the installment of the final cycling day of our Ultra Endurance Charity Adventure..
The day started in the Comfort Inn Motel in Easton at about 6 where a light 'continental' breakfast was consumed by Ben and Jack while Tom frigged about with his brakes after tightening the spokes on his back wheel resulted in it spinning so out of shape the brakes were engaged at all times. We got out on the road after sorting the route out and worked out we were roughly 70 miles from New York. We cracked on, passing through into New Jersey after about 20 mins. We cycled on towards Long Valley where we encountered a mountain or two which made interesting cycling as the bikes creaked and clicked their way to the top of each incline. It wouldnt be another day of cycling without the obligatory 15 minute puncture stop which Ben delivered right on cue at the top of a hill.
We coasted down to Long Valley, losing all the hard climbing work we'd put in where a bike shop appeared where Tom could get his back wheel repaired yet again. While the mechanic got to work we wondered off down the road to the gas station for a hot dog and milk breakfast. We returned and the mechanic gave us his best british accent and procalimed that the wheel was 'pretty knackered' when it came in. That quote let us know we were getting closer to home.
We hit the pedals and a few more mountains for another 15-20 miles before stopping in Morristown where Tom rang home for the first time since leaving for Heathrow while Jack and Ben checked the map and directions. We got to East Orange, NJ and knew we were about 12 miles from the water so we stopped and got some greasy burgers from New York Fried Chicken, basically a kebab house. Jack conversed with a local cyclist about the ride we were on and he wanted to get pannier bikes like Jacks aswell as explaining how he turned his seat round the opposite way so his nuts didnt hurt while he was riding. We left with that great advice and he wa happy with a link to Wiggle where we got our pannier bags.
We cycled on with the kebab shop energy and we got into Newark which was interesting to cycle through with some cultured neighbourhoods and no spacee to cycle in before working out how to get over to Jersey City where we could get the ferry. We then embarked on the scariest part of our journey so far, taking the Truck Route 1/9 bridge over the water to Jersey. A couple of semis were practically grazing our pannier bags while we were cycling over. We got over the bridges and had a beer while we waited for the water taxi to take us over to New York City (pictured.)We got off the boat in Manhattan and cycled up the West Street cycle highway across to Canal Street, Up Hudson and onto 8th Avenue all the way upto 48th street where we hung a right onto Broadway where Times Square appeared and our epic journey came to an end at 17.54. We stood in the middle of times square where we were met by Ian & Pheobe and Phil & Clerge. Hugs all round aswell as a few well made signs of congratulations and a change of shirts to boot. We cracked out the (non-alcoholic) champagne to toast our achievement in public without breaking the law and stood around chatting while chinese tourists took pictures of us.
After we'd decided Times Square was good we walked to the ferry station to get back over to Jersey City where we'd been put up for our stay by Ian and the cupcake machine Pheobe Chen. Ian suggested taking the ferry on 33rd st so we didnt have to go to the bottom of Manhattan again but somewhere along the way he got his wires crossed and we ended up walking for over 2 hours before we go to the train station to get to their appartment.We got to the apparentment and the doorman stored our bikes away aswell as offering us to go on an internet radio station he worked at on Wednesday night which we agreed to.
We got in and everyone agreed that we wreaked and all of our belongings were put in a big basket ready to be washed. We got showered and borrowed Ians jeans with our new NY shirts and got ready to hit the town. We went to BCD Tofu on 33rd and 6th in Korea town, a koreon restraunt where we were fed an enourmous amount of different kinds of foods and plum wine and we also met up with Tom's sisters friend whos interning at Vice magazine, Miss Victoria 'Tors' Beedles and our friends from Uni Mair Hewlitt-Packard and her celtic other half Shane, and Mairs friend whos name I cant remember. We moved onto Thunder Jacksons on Sullivan and Bleeker where we got on the beer pitchers and the barmaids and their casual self defence teacher took us to Pinch's an Irish place down the road. Much more beers later we called it a night and Phil hearded us home via the Subway. The boys had all hit the bricks (below) and turned in at 4.20am for some much needed sleep.
No more cycling, but the adventure isnt over yet. Until next time blog fans. Look after yourselves, and each other.
Monday, 24 August 2009
Monday - Done
Got into Times Square at 6pm after a comical day of biking. Showered and changed and now off for some beer. Full post and photos to follow tommorow.
Sunday - New York, New York
Just a quick one..
Night in tent was predictably sweaty and sticky which led to a rubbish nights sleep for us all. Lots of hills as usual in the morning run although the route we followed did seem to avoid a fair few of the massive mountains. Popped into an italian restaurant for some breakfast before more huge hills. Had dinner in an expensive italian restaurant after going over another mountain called Blue Mountain (it wasn't Blue!).
The final couple of miles of the day saw Ben get another puncture but he thoughtfully got it outside a gas station which was playing music so the fixing was done in a pleasant environment. We finished the night in Easton in a motel and had another McD's (food of champions) ready for our last run in tommorow.
Update on the bikes....they are all falling apart. All of us have loads of noise coming from our bikes and find a new clunk or tick every couple of miles. Tom snapped another spoke and now his back wheel is massively out and is wobbling quite bad. Hopefully going to hit a bike shop pretty early to sort any urgent problems.
So just 70 miles or so and one mountain to go.
Night in tent was predictably sweaty and sticky which led to a rubbish nights sleep for us all. Lots of hills as usual in the morning run although the route we followed did seem to avoid a fair few of the massive mountains. Popped into an italian restaurant for some breakfast before more huge hills. Had dinner in an expensive italian restaurant after going over another mountain called Blue Mountain (it wasn't Blue!).
The final couple of miles of the day saw Ben get another puncture but he thoughtfully got it outside a gas station which was playing music so the fixing was done in a pleasant environment. We finished the night in Easton in a motel and had another McD's (food of champions) ready for our last run in tommorow.
Update on the bikes....they are all falling apart. All of us have loads of noise coming from our bikes and find a new clunk or tick every couple of miles. Tom snapped another spoke and now his back wheel is massively out and is wobbling quite bad. Hopefully going to hit a bike shop pretty early to sort any urgent problems.
So just 70 miles or so and one mountain to go.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Friday and Saturday - Hill mania in Pennsylvania
Hello boys and girls if blog world, here's a quick update on our recent mishaps....
Our Pennsylvania experience started well with us spotting some Amish people with horse and carts and also having a good downhill section to the morning. This was soon to end when the big hills began to kick in. The climbing however wasn't so bad as the scenery was pretty nice especially the massive low clouds that sat atop of all the hills. A generally good cycling morning was quickly interrupted by massive downpour from said clouds. We all got pretty soaked as we have realised that our rain coats are useless as althugj they stop the rain they make you sweat and so make you just as wet as the rain does. After a big scary downhill section (all of our brakes are useless) we arrived at the allgheny river (looked like something out of jurassic park) where we stopped for breakfast. The blueberry pancakes here were pretty special and lead Ben to declare that this was his best breakfast yet.
The climb away from the river was pretty steep but was made quite comical by a dog that waddled after Ben the whole way and then took a poo in someones garden before waddling home. A few more dogs chased us that afternoon with none suceeding in catching or biting us, phew. More hills and more scenery later we stopped for lunch in Brooksville where we went for another subway which we think is the healthiest meal choice in America and apparently some used-to-be-fat bloke called Jared agrees with us.
After lunch we had more hills before hitting what seemed to be a mountain mainly because it had a sign showing it's elevation (barely 2000ft, small change for us charity athletes). After a bit if downhill we began to climb again. We stopped at a gas station to evaluate our options and where told by the locals that it would be best to Carey on cycling to get to the bigger town of Clearfield. Getting there however would involve climbing up another mountain and a further fifteen or so miles on top of the 100 we had already amassed.
As we had no option we went for it. In the heat if the moment Jack forgot what country he was in and cycled off onto the left side of the road, again. After wondering why no vlcars were passing him and hearing Spokey shouting he quickly came to his senses and cycled over to the right. The climb to the top was long but quick and about seven miles in we reached the summit and after another scary downhill section we reached Clearfield.
Here we went for the motel option as it was getting dark and Americans are useless at directions and have no local knowledge of the area they live in. The motel of choice was a Days Inn and we also picked up some of the Colonels fried chicken for dinner.
In the morning we awoke to find Jack had a puncture. He set about fixing this and his brakes while Ben and Spokey went to breakfast. Half an hour later he was still fighting with the brakes as his back wheel had developed some sort of wobble, a budge job later obln the brakes (now useless) we headed off. Again more hilly miles where nothing apart from the odd mountain happened. We arrived in a place called State College which seemed to be a whole city setup to house Penn State University.....a city for a unubersity, it was our dream home. Bendeclared that this area would be flat as they'd never build a university in a hilly area, he wad wrong but as with all of his ridiculous claims he tried to pull it back into contention by stating it wasn't that hilly. We popped into a bike shop to pick up some ammo for Ben (inner rubes) and Spokey (spokes). Whilst Spokeys bike was getting fixed we went fir breakfast at Arbys.
The bikes were dixed pretty quick although Jack neglected to put his in to get fixed as the bike shop looked expensive (it was ) and he reckoned his bike would hold out until Times Square. The road away from the shop was less hilly than the mornings cycle as it followed a valley. We took this highway all the way to our next food stop in the barn yard restaurant and banquet facility. Here we had a good feed and chat with the people working there, one of which had cycled to Muchigan whilst dragging his kid along in a trailer.
The final few miles of the day to Lewisburg were pretty boring until Ben decided to go and get another puncture. Spokey and Ben fixed this one alone as Jack was at the top if the next hill and refusing to cycle back. Puncture karma got is own back on him by giving him a puncture two miles from our destination. We pulled into a school car park where jack pumped the tyre back up enough to try and get to the campsite which Spokey was asking an actual marching band (geeks) for. This quick fix didn't work and Jack ended up walking there while the others cycled in.
The campsite was called the Yogi Bear Shangri La and was more of a holiday resort for kids, there goes the early night plan! The tent is also starting to smell bad and is a bit sticky inside from all the sweat!
So Ben usually does his five facts here but him and Spokey are off playing bingo or frolicking in the soft play area so I'll give you a couple....
1. You're never at the top of a hill/section of mountain until you see a radio mast
2. Amish men are not allowed the shave after they get married
3. If you see a sign for a casino in Nevada expect a handful of slot machines and a shit buffet
4. Pennsylvania smells like Wrexham
5. Amish people only pay road tax and real estate tax
Oh and in other news we are only 200miles from NYand should arrive there on Monday evening bat any disasters....
Our Pennsylvania experience started well with us spotting some Amish people with horse and carts and also having a good downhill section to the morning. This was soon to end when the big hills began to kick in. The climbing however wasn't so bad as the scenery was pretty nice especially the massive low clouds that sat atop of all the hills. A generally good cycling morning was quickly interrupted by massive downpour from said clouds. We all got pretty soaked as we have realised that our rain coats are useless as althugj they stop the rain they make you sweat and so make you just as wet as the rain does. After a big scary downhill section (all of our brakes are useless) we arrived at the allgheny river (looked like something out of jurassic park) where we stopped for breakfast. The blueberry pancakes here were pretty special and lead Ben to declare that this was his best breakfast yet.
The climb away from the river was pretty steep but was made quite comical by a dog that waddled after Ben the whole way and then took a poo in someones garden before waddling home. A few more dogs chased us that afternoon with none suceeding in catching or biting us, phew. More hills and more scenery later we stopped for lunch in Brooksville where we went for another subway which we think is the healthiest meal choice in America and apparently some used-to-be-fat bloke called Jared agrees with us.
After lunch we had more hills before hitting what seemed to be a mountain mainly because it had a sign showing it's elevation (barely 2000ft, small change for us charity athletes). After a bit if downhill we began to climb again. We stopped at a gas station to evaluate our options and where told by the locals that it would be best to Carey on cycling to get to the bigger town of Clearfield. Getting there however would involve climbing up another mountain and a further fifteen or so miles on top of the 100 we had already amassed.
As we had no option we went for it. In the heat if the moment Jack forgot what country he was in and cycled off onto the left side of the road, again. After wondering why no vlcars were passing him and hearing Spokey shouting he quickly came to his senses and cycled over to the right. The climb to the top was long but quick and about seven miles in we reached the summit and after another scary downhill section we reached Clearfield.
Here we went for the motel option as it was getting dark and Americans are useless at directions and have no local knowledge of the area they live in. The motel of choice was a Days Inn and we also picked up some of the Colonels fried chicken for dinner.
In the morning we awoke to find Jack had a puncture. He set about fixing this and his brakes while Ben and Spokey went to breakfast. Half an hour later he was still fighting with the brakes as his back wheel had developed some sort of wobble, a budge job later obln the brakes (now useless) we headed off. Again more hilly miles where nothing apart from the odd mountain happened. We arrived in a place called State College which seemed to be a whole city setup to house Penn State University.....a city for a unubersity, it was our dream home. Bendeclared that this area would be flat as they'd never build a university in a hilly area, he wad wrong but as with all of his ridiculous claims he tried to pull it back into contention by stating it wasn't that hilly. We popped into a bike shop to pick up some ammo for Ben (inner rubes) and Spokey (spokes). Whilst Spokeys bike was getting fixed we went fir breakfast at Arbys.
The bikes were dixed pretty quick although Jack neglected to put his in to get fixed as the bike shop looked expensive (it was ) and he reckoned his bike would hold out until Times Square. The road away from the shop was less hilly than the mornings cycle as it followed a valley. We took this highway all the way to our next food stop in the barn yard restaurant and banquet facility. Here we had a good feed and chat with the people working there, one of which had cycled to Muchigan whilst dragging his kid along in a trailer.
The final few miles of the day to Lewisburg were pretty boring until Ben decided to go and get another puncture. Spokey and Ben fixed this one alone as Jack was at the top if the next hill and refusing to cycle back. Puncture karma got is own back on him by giving him a puncture two miles from our destination. We pulled into a school car park where jack pumped the tyre back up enough to try and get to the campsite which Spokey was asking an actual marching band (geeks) for. This quick fix didn't work and Jack ended up walking there while the others cycled in.
The campsite was called the Yogi Bear Shangri La and was more of a holiday resort for kids, there goes the early night plan! The tent is also starting to smell bad and is a bit sticky inside from all the sweat!
So Ben usually does his five facts here but him and Spokey are off playing bingo or frolicking in the soft play area so I'll give you a couple....
1. You're never at the top of a hill/section of mountain until you see a radio mast
2. Amish men are not allowed the shave after they get married
3. If you see a sign for a casino in Nevada expect a handful of slot machines and a shit buffet
4. Pennsylvania smells like Wrexham
5. Amish people only pay road tax and real estate tax
Oh and in other news we are only 200miles from NYand should arrive there on Monday evening bat any disasters....
Thursday - Yeah buddy
A blog entry from Ben
Fans, friends and family, todays cycle has been according to Jack his best yet, with his best breakfast so far, the start of Pennsylvania being great and then being left stunned by the generiousity of a random we met in a quiet restaurant/motel. This blog wil do it's best to express and explain his excitement but unfortunately not much happened.
After a disturbed night sleep due to a massive storm, we hit the road and had a relatively quiet morning with the only drama coming from Jack and Tom bickering with each other and having to go on a 3 mile diversion (or detour as its called over here) because of 50 metres of roadworks. Arriving at Wadsworth, Matt spotted an advert in a local bank stating that it was 493 miles from Wall Street. Sensing a photo opp, Matt and Tom went in and were lucky enough to have a photo taken with the bank mascot. Breakfast was in a small restaurant where Jack ordered a small feast of oatmeal (his new favourite), sausages, toast and fries (which turned out to be hashbrowns). After breakfast we cycled into the city of Akron which was a bit dodgy and cycled past a policeman wizzing along on a segway. Tom asked if he wanted to swop and he replied that he would love to as his bike was broken. Seeing as there would be no room for our bags we had to sadly decline. Akron then turned very hilly and Jack decided to use the excuse of looking at the maps to have a cheeky break.
For lunch we had our first Dairy Queen which turned out to be very nice. We asked how far it was to the state border and were told that it was an hour away in a car which was unhelpful for us. The lady behind the counter was impressed by our cycle and we had to pose for photos with our bikes. We got chatting to a trucker whose catchphase was "yeah buddy", which he seemed to say at the end of every sentence. He had been all over the country and said that the rest of the day would be flat for us, something that turned out to be a lie. He also offered us a lift which we obviously had to turn down and warned us about the black bears we might encounter in Pennsylvania.
Pedalling on we went over some big hills and then arrived into Youngstown which again seemed to a bit dodgy and we didn't really fancy sticking around for any longer than we had to. We were told at a service station that the whole area had been issued with a severe storm warning and so quickly got our rain jackets on. We soon took them off when the rain didn't materialise and we were more wet from the sweat caused by them than we would have been if it was raining. Shortly after we arrived at the state border which rather than a sign, had a banner across the road.
The first few miles of Pennsylvania were great fun with fast downhill sections however we soon paid for it with more massive hills. We were distracted from the pain however by seeing several horse and carts going past driven by members of the local Amish community. Feeling tired we stopped at a restaurant and got chatting to some of the people in there. One guy had cycled 100 miles in 6 hours before and after finding out the price of the adjoining hotel, very generously agreed to pay for a room for us for the night! We were astonished by this and so thank you Ralph very much! Tom got talking to a couple next to us and we were shocked to learn that Youngstown has the highest murder rate in the country in the summer and we were lucky not to have had our bikes stolen at gunpoint. We also learnt about the local Amish commmunity and how even though they reject all modern inventions including rubber, they are willing to use other peoples phones and cars, get free school buses to their Amish school and travel all around the country to get cheap healthcare. They then told us about one of them that they met whilst he was on his 2 years out that they get when they are 18, who got a job at a trucking company and earnt so much money and enjoyed drinking so much that he decided not to go back and married an English girl instead!
It was fortunate that we did decide to stay at the motel as when we were eating, a massive storm came through and we would probably have been blown off our bikes! Not fun. Our room was very old fashioned with a shower that was more of a hose than a shower. Jack however was very excited as it had the same design as Josh's and burst out of the shower to inform us of this. The double bed was very cosy for Matt and Tom and whilst watching one of our favourite programme over here, "Married With Children", Tom said that we would be where it is based in a few days. Matt replied he hoped not as it would mean that we would be in Chicago!
Tomorrow promises to be a day of hills, hills and mountains but as Jack has stated that he is becoming a better cyclist each day we should be flying up them.
And now for Matt's daily dose of 5 facts/observations about the US:
1. When people say the next part of the route is flat, they really mean that it is hilly. And when they say scenic or "a nice ride", it means that it is really hilly
2. People like to give distances between places in terms of hours which is not much help when you are cycling there
3. When a place is called a city, it doesn't mean that it is actually a city. It is in fact more likely to consist of just a service station
4. Apparently (according to a geography student) you can get green clouds in America which means hail. We haven't seen any though so are yet to be convinced
5. When Jack hits a rock because he isn't watching where he is going and falls off, it is in fact Tom's fault because he was cycling too close to him
Fans, friends and family, todays cycle has been according to Jack his best yet, with his best breakfast so far, the start of Pennsylvania being great and then being left stunned by the generiousity of a random we met in a quiet restaurant/motel. This blog wil do it's best to express and explain his excitement but unfortunately not much happened.
After a disturbed night sleep due to a massive storm, we hit the road and had a relatively quiet morning with the only drama coming from Jack and Tom bickering with each other and having to go on a 3 mile diversion (or detour as its called over here) because of 50 metres of roadworks. Arriving at Wadsworth, Matt spotted an advert in a local bank stating that it was 493 miles from Wall Street. Sensing a photo opp, Matt and Tom went in and were lucky enough to have a photo taken with the bank mascot. Breakfast was in a small restaurant where Jack ordered a small feast of oatmeal (his new favourite), sausages, toast and fries (which turned out to be hashbrowns). After breakfast we cycled into the city of Akron which was a bit dodgy and cycled past a policeman wizzing along on a segway. Tom asked if he wanted to swop and he replied that he would love to as his bike was broken. Seeing as there would be no room for our bags we had to sadly decline. Akron then turned very hilly and Jack decided to use the excuse of looking at the maps to have a cheeky break.
For lunch we had our first Dairy Queen which turned out to be very nice. We asked how far it was to the state border and were told that it was an hour away in a car which was unhelpful for us. The lady behind the counter was impressed by our cycle and we had to pose for photos with our bikes. We got chatting to a trucker whose catchphase was "yeah buddy", which he seemed to say at the end of every sentence. He had been all over the country and said that the rest of the day would be flat for us, something that turned out to be a lie. He also offered us a lift which we obviously had to turn down and warned us about the black bears we might encounter in Pennsylvania.
Pedalling on we went over some big hills and then arrived into Youngstown which again seemed to a bit dodgy and we didn't really fancy sticking around for any longer than we had to. We were told at a service station that the whole area had been issued with a severe storm warning and so quickly got our rain jackets on. We soon took them off when the rain didn't materialise and we were more wet from the sweat caused by them than we would have been if it was raining. Shortly after we arrived at the state border which rather than a sign, had a banner across the road.
The first few miles of Pennsylvania were great fun with fast downhill sections however we soon paid for it with more massive hills. We were distracted from the pain however by seeing several horse and carts going past driven by members of the local Amish community. Feeling tired we stopped at a restaurant and got chatting to some of the people in there. One guy had cycled 100 miles in 6 hours before and after finding out the price of the adjoining hotel, very generously agreed to pay for a room for us for the night! We were astonished by this and so thank you Ralph very much! Tom got talking to a couple next to us and we were shocked to learn that Youngstown has the highest murder rate in the country in the summer and we were lucky not to have had our bikes stolen at gunpoint. We also learnt about the local Amish commmunity and how even though they reject all modern inventions including rubber, they are willing to use other peoples phones and cars, get free school buses to their Amish school and travel all around the country to get cheap healthcare. They then told us about one of them that they met whilst he was on his 2 years out that they get when they are 18, who got a job at a trucking company and earnt so much money and enjoyed drinking so much that he decided not to go back and married an English girl instead!
It was fortunate that we did decide to stay at the motel as when we were eating, a massive storm came through and we would probably have been blown off our bikes! Not fun. Our room was very old fashioned with a shower that was more of a hose than a shower. Jack however was very excited as it had the same design as Josh's and burst out of the shower to inform us of this. The double bed was very cosy for Matt and Tom and whilst watching one of our favourite programme over here, "Married With Children", Tom said that we would be where it is based in a few days. Matt replied he hoped not as it would mean that we would be in Chicago!
Tomorrow promises to be a day of hills, hills and mountains but as Jack has stated that he is becoming a better cyclist each day we should be flying up them.
And now for Matt's daily dose of 5 facts/observations about the US:
1. When people say the next part of the route is flat, they really mean that it is hilly. And when they say scenic or "a nice ride", it means that it is really hilly
2. People like to give distances between places in terms of hours which is not much help when you are cycling there
3. When a place is called a city, it doesn't mean that it is actually a city. It is in fact more likely to consist of just a service station
4. Apparently (according to a geography student) you can get green clouds in America which means hail. We haven't seen any though so are yet to be convinced
5. When Jack hits a rock because he isn't watching where he is going and falls off, it is in fact Tom's fault because he was cycling too close to him
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Wednesday - Papa don't preach
Great start to the day with a good breakfast courtesy of the wingate hotel. After eating that we cycled thru downtown Lima and back out to the sticks again. Met anothr cyclist on the way who was out for his morning cycling and was moving quick, he told of his concern for our bums then headed off in another direction.
We had breakfast in upper Sandusky at a little cafe. Here they tried to understand what we were doing and tried to offer directions, directions which infact were for the long way round so we ignored them. One lady was also bemused by the town we were heading to next and was convinced it didn't exist even thou a guy in the cafe had lived there and I showed her it on the map.
Nothing much happened until we arrived in buchryus were we got shouted at by a preacher whilst at some traffic lights. We laughed and cycled on but then realised we needed directions so jack offered to go and speak to the shouty man. After a ten minute argument about the bible and harry potter jack informed the guy that all he wanted was directions. The bearded sunglasses wearing preacher pointed us in the right direction and we were off.
After a series of long hills we stopped again this time for a subway and to pick up somesupplies for dinner. Spokey and ben opted for meatballs in a tin whereas jack went for salmon and peaches. After more ip and downhill we stopped for a food break as tom was low on sugar and had the shakes, here ben informed us that he thought he had picked up another puncture. Great. We cycled on regardless and found the road that lead to the campsite which was, according to a local, a mile long. Ben opted to walk this mile while spokey and jack went to setup the tent. It turned out to be a lot further than a mile leaving ben a long walk with a busted bike.
The country stage campground was ok but the showers were a bit messy and encased in insects which wasn't so fun. After setting up the tent we cowered from the impending storm whilst eating our tinned dinners and trying to figureout how we would get to new york. The storm raged through the night but luckily the tent held up and we all stayed dry.
Now for bens five facts/observations about the USA.....
1. In a typical day you will see more dead animals than people walking around
2. Ice is not served as an accompanyment to your drink, your drink is served as an accompanyment to your ice
3. Each town has a sign listing it's claim to fame, my favourite was Newton, Indiana where they informed us that they had been the 2005 National Soil Judging Champions
4. All the young people of the US seem to have disappeared as we have only seen a couple since being here
5. Stating that you haven't had a puncture for 8 days will result in you being the victim of 5 punctures in 3 days
We had breakfast in upper Sandusky at a little cafe. Here they tried to understand what we were doing and tried to offer directions, directions which infact were for the long way round so we ignored them. One lady was also bemused by the town we were heading to next and was convinced it didn't exist even thou a guy in the cafe had lived there and I showed her it on the map.
Nothing much happened until we arrived in buchryus were we got shouted at by a preacher whilst at some traffic lights. We laughed and cycled on but then realised we needed directions so jack offered to go and speak to the shouty man. After a ten minute argument about the bible and harry potter jack informed the guy that all he wanted was directions. The bearded sunglasses wearing preacher pointed us in the right direction and we were off.
After a series of long hills we stopped again this time for a subway and to pick up somesupplies for dinner. Spokey and ben opted for meatballs in a tin whereas jack went for salmon and peaches. After more ip and downhill we stopped for a food break as tom was low on sugar and had the shakes, here ben informed us that he thought he had picked up another puncture. Great. We cycled on regardless and found the road that lead to the campsite which was, according to a local, a mile long. Ben opted to walk this mile while spokey and jack went to setup the tent. It turned out to be a lot further than a mile leaving ben a long walk with a busted bike.
The country stage campground was ok but the showers were a bit messy and encased in insects which wasn't so fun. After setting up the tent we cowered from the impending storm whilst eating our tinned dinners and trying to figureout how we would get to new york. The storm raged through the night but luckily the tent held up and we all stayed dry.
Now for bens five facts/observations about the USA.....
1. In a typical day you will see more dead animals than people walking around
2. Ice is not served as an accompanyment to your drink, your drink is served as an accompanyment to your ice
3. Each town has a sign listing it's claim to fame, my favourite was Newton, Indiana where they informed us that they had been the 2005 National Soil Judging Champions
4. All the young people of the US seem to have disappeared as we have only seen a couple since being here
5. Stating that you haven't had a puncture for 8 days will result in you being the victim of 5 punctures in 3 days
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Tuesday - Deja vu
Early start this morning with us hitting the road just after 5am. It was pretty dark and slippery so the first few miles were slow and cautious. We also got chased by a lot if dogs which wasn't fun especially when we couldn't see them and could only hear the barking. Our first stop was after thirty odd miles at another mcds for some breakfast, healthy diet doing us well. We watched some great comedy that is fix news, some stupid story about a dog finding love, that was news and it went on forever.
The second phase of our day was going pretty quick until Ben decided to spice things up by getting another puncture. Spokey (aka Tom) rode off to get jack back so they could laugh at Ben and more importantly fix the puncture. Ben wasn't happy that his new tyres with flat protection system didn't work as advertised. The cause of the puncture was determined to be a big chunk of porcelain which made a nice hole in the tyre. We set back off down the road with spokey following behind ben on puncture watch. He wasn't wasted as a few miles later he noticed bens tyre was deflated slightly indicating that he had yet again got his second puncture of the day. After fixing this one we finished the second section by arriving into wilshire, Ohio for lunch at beckys restaurant.
The last thirty miles of the day were pretty hot and it slowed us down a bit but we arrived at our final stop in Lima around 5. Unsure about where to stay we popped into the silk and lace shop florals which a lovely lady called Joyce owned. After explaining our predicament she gave us details of a motel that would possibly sort us out with a discounted room. The walgrave hotel sorted us out with a free room which was pretty nice of them and it was by far the best hotel we had stayed in on the trip so far. After some quick food at an old skool burger place we set about planning the remainder of the route and have just 613 miles left so should finish on Monday or tuesday next week depending on how tits up things go over the next few days.
In other news Ben has promises to start his own section of the blog where he will share some of the facts he has learnt about America over the past month. The red hot feature was meant to start tonight but Ben was a bit preoccupied with fixing his inner tubes....watch this space!
The second phase of our day was going pretty quick until Ben decided to spice things up by getting another puncture. Spokey (aka Tom) rode off to get jack back so they could laugh at Ben and more importantly fix the puncture. Ben wasn't happy that his new tyres with flat protection system didn't work as advertised. The cause of the puncture was determined to be a big chunk of porcelain which made a nice hole in the tyre. We set back off down the road with spokey following behind ben on puncture watch. He wasn't wasted as a few miles later he noticed bens tyre was deflated slightly indicating that he had yet again got his second puncture of the day. After fixing this one we finished the second section by arriving into wilshire, Ohio for lunch at beckys restaurant.
The last thirty miles of the day were pretty hot and it slowed us down a bit but we arrived at our final stop in Lima around 5. Unsure about where to stay we popped into the silk and lace shop florals which a lovely lady called Joyce owned. After explaining our predicament she gave us details of a motel that would possibly sort us out with a discounted room. The walgrave hotel sorted us out with a free room which was pretty nice of them and it was by far the best hotel we had stayed in on the trip so far. After some quick food at an old skool burger place we set about planning the remainder of the route and have just 613 miles left so should finish on Monday or tuesday next week depending on how tits up things go over the next few days.
In other news Ben has promises to start his own section of the blog where he will share some of the facts he has learnt about America over the past month. The red hot feature was meant to start tonight but Ben was a bit preoccupied with fixing his inner tubes....watch this space!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)