37.5 mile

The wind picked up throughout the day and I ended with a 12-17mph head wind going home. The 105F heat also did not help much. I stopped at a service station to get something cold to drink. The lady behind the counter asked me to follow her and she took me straight to the walk in freezer to cool down. Is that service or what!

32.2 mile

The ride to work was amazingly fast. The tail wind must have helped but still it is the best time I have made to work so far.

ROAM - D.C.

We made it to the mall just in time for the rain. Did get some photos though. It started to rain to hard so I left the group and went to find a restaurant. Great steak sandwich!

Wednesday 8/24/11

It was hard to get up. The day started with a very nice bike trail that was a good warm up. But if you get a bunch of excited guys together and put them in something fast it will most definitely end up in a race. So just before the coffee break it ended in a heavy sprint. I got a little behind on the uphill and started to make up on the other side. I then saw the railroad xing up ahead. Usually I would slow way down for them but this time I had some velos in my sight and there were no slowing down. The railroad tracks were on a little bump so I decided to speed up even more. That way if they are. very rough then I will be a little lighter going over them with the help of the bump. I hit the bump and the velo went straight into the air! It rolled a little to the right, my heart skipped and the Pterovelo was flying. It landed slightly skew and on the right front wheel. With more luck than anything else it straightened out and put all wheels on the ground. I will have to admit it took a whole coffee to get my legs to stop shaking. From coffee stop to lunch I was a bit zapped from energy and it was a hard ride with slow uphills. Lunch could not come soon enough and after the fuel up the engine ran much smoother again. Daniel, Markus, Andreas and I followed a very nice strong steady pace to the next meeting point. The whole groups assembled again and we did the last 15 miles as one group into Georgetown which was an amazing experience. The day ended with lots and lots of celebration and cup cakes.

Just before I hit some rocky trails

Tuesday 8/23/11

Monday 8/22/11

The last two days have been a blur. There were lots and lots of mountains and here and there some pretty bad roads. The best is my mom came to visit for the three days so it kind of was like a small holiday as well. I also want to thank my mom Rina, my dad Frans, Orman and Betsie for the donations they made towards my cross country ride. It was very unexpected and very much appreciated. Also to all the family that help with encouragement through facebook and emails. It helps much more than you think.
For the ride there is only two days left and I am right now busy climbing a nice long long hill.

Sunday 8/21/11

Hard day.

HWY 82 in Ohio

Saturday 08/20/11

Went past Medina today. Sure is a town everyone should visit.
My Mom came to visit me and we arrived at the hotel in Streetsboro at the same time.

A town called Medina

Friday 8/19/11

Ohio is flat! Velomobile country. Everybody here should have one. On the highway today I was able to keep between 25-30mph for the most part. I did not follow the track today, but stayed on the highway as much as possible. It made for some fast runs. If the computer is correct the. it was a 22.3mph avg but I will have to check the GPS.
Tree weeks into the trip and now I am starting to feel strong and fit. The only problem, my throat and stomach is acting up a bit. Just maybe I've had a little to much chocolate milk and not enough vegetables.

Thursday 8/18/11

8/18

I was the first to be out of camp this morning. The raccoons got into my bread and peanut butter and helped themselves to some nice sandwiches. So I got out early to find some breakfast. Went through some very nice country roads in the morning. Daniel caught up with me again and they meant my speed went also went up. That put us at the lunch stop very early so we missed out on a catered Amish meal
that was organized by Cyber. We made it to camp early and had a very nice relaxed afternoon.
The left tube blew out today so I replace the BigApples with Kojak's. Later the day I also had a flat. That now puts it at 9 flats.

Farm road

Very nice farm roads in ID

Wednesday 8/17/11

8/17

It was real good to sleep in a bed last night. We had Chicago style pizza last night and again this afternoon. I am pizza'd up. It was so exciting to see Chicago again. There is nothing to report on the cycling because it was only 60 miles and was in city traffic for the most. We only have 7 days left and part of it will be nice and flat and the other part might be very hard. We will just have to see and hope for the best.

At Chicago at the fountains

Tuesday 8/16/11

Tuesday 8/16/11

And again my GPS did not want to load the track for the day so I had to stick with people that had a working GPS. It made for a slower longer day but it was a lot of fun to stay with Hasse and help each other with drafting. Nick and Wes also joined us for parts of the ride. We stopped at a little town and had the best sandwich ever with fried cheese! Four cups of coffee and lots of water. We stayed there for quite a long time and watched all the others passed. So tonight we are treaded with a very nice hotel stay in Evanston.

And again the GPS wants to make a turn in Africa for some reason.

Monday 8/15/11

Monday 8/15/11

Started of very slow with three big hills to cross. Grade 7&8! Avg 12mph for the first half of the day and it brought the moral down a bit. Lucky for me Daniel caught up with
me with his electric Quest and it helped a bunch. He stayed in front of me so I had someone to chase. The last 40 miles we stayed between 25-32mph. It make time goes by pretty quick then. We got to the pub in Madison and enjoyed a nice Guiness. Stayed there way to late and only got to camp at 8:30 in the dark after a couple of wrong turns. It started of hard and boring and ended in a blast!

According to the GPS I made a stop in Asia but don't believe everything a computer tell you.

Sunday 8/14/11

Sunday 8/14/11

We went from Hastings to Onalaska. Left Minnesota and are now in Wisconsin. I did not feel very strong today but still kept up a good speed and made very good time.