Quad Cities

Greetings from Bettendorf, Iowa! The team is resting today in one of the Quad Cities--Davenport and Bettendorf are on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River, while Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island are on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. Yesterday I arrived to our host's house amid 110 degree heat plus humidity--whenever we stopped at a red light I thought I was going to melt. Tomorrow we ride to Peru, Illinois, and the next day we ride to Lauren's family's house in a suburb of Chicago. We'll rest for two days there, which will be awesome because a) it's Chicago and b) we have to do back-to-back 100+ mile centuries to get there.

The Midwest

Hello! To those of you who took my promise to update this blog more often seriously, I apologize. I really have been trying, but I've had infrequent access to internet and blogging energy this past week. I do have some stories to tell, though. I am writing this while sitting in a Mexican restaurant with free Wi-Fi in the small town of Atlantic, IA. Yesterday the team crossed over the Nebraskan border into Iowa, and today we continued our journey to Atlantic. Today’s ride was a rather arduous one, as we all woke up to humidity, heat, and a 50-mile ride up and down the rolling hills (which of course felt like mountains)of Southern Iowa. As an Oregonian, I find myself suffering in the extreme humidity—I’m from a place where the only moisture in the air is in the form of raindrops. The hills, however, do lend a certain charm to the farming landscape of Iowa when compared with the flatness of Nebraska scenery west of Lincoln. I rode with Sydney earlier this week for most of the century from Lake Johnson, NE to Grand Island. That afternoon Sydney and I, melting under the extreme heat, stopped at a gas station in every small town we went through to fill our Camelbaks with free ice and water (which were spaced out about every 7-10 miles). The irony of the convenience of the locations of those towns was that the path to every town along Highway appeared the EXACT SAME—grain silo barely visible straight ahead, train tracks 10 yards to the right with a train going by every 15 minutes, corn fields to the left and right (although sometimes soybeans varied the picture a bit) . . . and bumps in the shoulder of the road every ten feet. Needless to say, the similarity in scenery for an entire 90-mile stretch drove us crazy.

Despite all the flaws causing me discomfort that I could point out about the Midwest, this region’s reputation of hospitality and friendliness has lived up to my expectations. Cashiers and customers at every gas station I’ve stopped at in Nebraska and Illinois with my friends express interest and support in the Ride. Today, a kind stranger bought me Gatorade, trail mix, and donated to the Ride after we chatted about FACE AIDS, the Ride, and how hot it was outside. Just before entering this restaurant I stopped by a Salvation Army thrift shop a half mile from our campground in Atlantic, found myself a sundress, and then met  two employees there who were enthusiastic about the Ride, one of whom told me that her friend had AIDS and then surprised me with an impromptu half-off discount. Earlier this week at the Lake Johnson State Recreation Area, I walked the wrong way back to our campsite after swimming in the lake and ended up detouring through a series of RV sites. While holding my wet and dirty clothes, I met and talked at length with Nancy, Deb, and Tom about the Ride and FACE AIDS. They expressed interest in making a donation, and after a while the conversation turned to other topics. They later invited me to join them for dinner, dessert, a walk to see the sunset over the lake, and finally a few rounds a card game called Shanghai by the light of a camping lantern. Their familial presence comforted me and uplifted me.

America is a strange place—the same chain restaurants and stores are in almost every single sizeable town we roll through. And while some of my country’s residents may be incompetent drivers around bicyclists or may foolishly reside in an area where I feel like I’m swimming through the air because it’s so humid, I am currently convinced that Americans are good people on the whole. My recent encounters with Americans occupying restaurants, rest stops, gas stations, and campgrounds have given me a good impression. It helps to have so many positive interactions with strangers while on the road, because the process of sleeping in a different place every single night can be tiring and draining.

General notes about America:
1) Outside of every town we went through in Nevada there was a sign posted with a list of all the service clubs and churches in the town.
2) City limit signs in Colorado display the name of the city and its elevation.
3) City limit signs in Nebraska display the name of the city and its population.
4) Iowa is not completely flat as I was led to believe while growing up.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures--I haven't seen my camera since Lake Johnson, and so for the near future I wont' be able to upload any to the blog. I'll do my best to provide vivid descriptions of the hot and humid American landscape for the foreseeable future to help your imagination get a sense of what I'm seeing as the team pedals along. The team bikes to Des Moines tomorrow. Cheers!

Colorado

Since my last post, the team has crossed from Utah and into Colorado. I’m writing this from Edwards, CO (near Vail), where the team is staying with long-time RAA supporter Lulu. The days from this past week have been a blur—as I have gotten to know my teammates better and as we have grown more comfortable with our daily routine of early wake-up times and hard riding, changing the location where I sleep every night makes it hard to keep track of what date it is and what state we’re in. But that feeling of disconnect from any one physical place also makes this adventure exhilarating. There are new and different storefronts, restaurants, streets, highways, faces, names, and towns to experience (as well as new challenges) every single day

Since my last post, the team has traveled far and wide. We have done three more centuries! Here are some notes from a few of the past days:

·         July 3: 100+ miles from Vernal, UT to Meeker, CO –The team’s third century ride of the week had lots of climbs, but a lovely lunch was spent jumping into the beautiful Kenney Reservoir. Thankfully, we had a nice campground with showers (the first ones in four days for some of the riders!) and chocolate milk waiting for us when we finished the day and arrived at camp, courtesy of our wonderful housing coordinators and van drivers for the day!

·         July 4: 50+ miles from Meeker to Glenwood Springs, CO—The team ended the week’s riding cycle with an easier ride to the friendly and scenic town of Glenwood Springs. We also took a rest day there, and many of us spent the day exploring Glenwood, fixing our bikes at MG Cycle and Sport with the help and generosity of owner Mike, or healing our bodies (some visited sports medicine doctors in Aspen to get answers about how to address knee and other pains).

·         July 6: 50+ miles to Edwards, CO: The team started off the day’s incredibly beautiful ride with a jaunt down a stretch of bike path that paralleled the I-70 freeway through breathtaking Glenwood Canyon and White River National Forest.

One of my favorite moments from the last week was during the day when the team rode from Strawberry, UT to Vernal, UT. I will always remember climbing a very steep hill and then being rewarded by the sight of one of the support vans, driven by Katrina. I was re-energized for the rest of the day’s century when Katrina played one of my favorite songs through the van’s speakers, and she and I danced to one of my favorite songs on the side of Highway 40.

Thanks for reading! We journey on to Silverthorne tomorrow, up and over Vail pass—the beginning of our ascents through the Rockies. Wish me luck! 

Gabi, Flannery, and I in Glenwood Canyon during a team water break this morning. Below are views of Glenwood Canyon, the Colorado River, and the White River National Forest. This is my first time in Colorado, and it is as rugged of a landscape as I imagined!

Thanks for reading! 

Pictures!

Below are some pictures of the team's journey thus far. If you want to see more pictures and have access to the Instagram app on your smart phone, feel free to check out the team's Instagram account "Ride Against AIDS."

Katrina (left) and I with Lake Tahoe in the background.

We stopped towards the end of the descent from Tahoe into Carson City, NV to take pictures.

Signs on the wall of the building of the bar in Middlegate--one of only two stops during our first century day. 

The Border Inn RV Park was directly to the right of the van. 

Group Blog

In addition to reading this blog, you can visit blog.faceaids.org to access the collective FACE AIDS blog, which contains posts from other riders on the team. The team tries to post stories at least several times a week from other riders. Visiting that site will give you great exposure to the stories and perspectives of my teammates!

Delta, UT

I made it through all five riding days this past week to Delta, Utah! Yesterday I woke up at 5:00 a.m. (as I do every morning) to a gorgeous sunrise over the Nevada mountains. After taking down the tent I share with fellow rider Audrey, packing my things, readying my bike for the day, and eating a quick breakfast out of one of the support vans, I started riding with another rider, Flannery. Since the Border Inn RV park was literally on the border between Nevada and Utah, the "Welcome to Utah: Life Elevated" road sign was the first landmark of our ride. Flannery and I were scared of the “life elevated” part because we were wary of having to do any more climbing. The second landmark road sign was the one declaring that we had entered into a new time zone--very exciting for the both of us! Flannery and I stopped after only the 7th mile marker to stretch and rest because we both felt stiff and tired, and mentally drained from the very long valley we were riding through towards the sight of a huge summit climb. After the climb was the best descent I have experienced thus far on the Ride. Utah is beautiful; the descent carried us down sharp curves through a mountain pass filled with dramatic rock ravines. After the epic descent, however, the day became a slog through the miles because of the extreme heat. Only Valerie’s ipod shuffle (Valerie, another rider, was driving the van and let me borrow her music) and Utah’s ever-dramatic landscapes helped me continue pedaling through the hot wind.

There wasn’t a single gas station or sign of civilization for the first 80 miles of our ride yesterday. Arriving in Delta was incredibly satisfying because it signaled the end of the riding week and the beginning of another blessed rest day. Delta was also a long-awaited oasis for the team because rest days have become designated team organization days—rest days are when we have time to clean out the vans, take care of group business, and have group meetings.

When I was about to write in my journal this morning, I suddenly remembered another anecdote from last Sunday, the team’s first century day. About 40 or so miles into the day, after a series of sustained, gradual climbs, Valerie and I reached the tiny and historic community of Middlegate—the only sign of civilization between Fallon (where we departed from that morning) and Austin (our end destination). Middlegate consisted of a bar that felt straight out of the Old West, a few mobile homes, and a few ancient relics of the olden days (there was a skeleton of an old carriage outside the bar). Valerie and I went into the bar and met a few hitchhikers, one of whom told us that you can cure HIV by drinking water laced with traces of gold metal. Towards the end of our conversation with him, however, a woman sitting nearby took a drag of her cigarette, exhaled, and then turned around and thanked us for what we were doing because her brother died of AIDS.

The further the Ride travels, the more convinced I become of how few degrees of separation there are between a healthy individual and someone affected by HIV/AIDS. 

First Century Ride

It's only Day Ten, and I'm already exhausted. I'm still able to move, but I'm definitely more sore and tan than I've ever been in my life. We rode just under 120 miles on Sunday, 70 miles on Monday, 80 miles on Tuesday, and about 60 miles today--and we still have 90 miles to go tomorrow before our rest day in Delta, Utah. I've finished every day this week (meaning I've completed every ride day this week and have gotten through the miles), but this amount of biking and intense activity is unlike anything I've ever experienced.

This past Sunday the team rode just under 120 miles from Fallon to Austin, and I completed my first century ride. We left early in the morning from the homes of the families where we stayed during our rest day in Fallon, and 7 people out of the 15 of us that rode finished the day. I ended up riding the last 45 miles alone, and in the midst of desert wind and heat conditions as well as the insanity that results from riding a bike alone through Route 50 (a.k.a. "The Loneliest Road in America"), I motivated myself to finish and not call the support van for a pick-up rescue by doing the following things:

1) Saying a few Hail Mary's

2) Listening to the same song, Pitbull's "Bring it Back" on repeat for upwards of two hours to get through the ridiculous amount of climbing required by the route for the day

3) Thinking of the names of everyone who donated to the Ride to support me, who told me their personal stories of friends or family who are/were HIV-positive, who went on training rides with me, and who texted or called me in the past two weeks to cheer me on

4) Thinking of Eden

And that's how I finished my first century (plus almost 20 extra miles)!