Join the Cycle!

Napoleon complex

2009-10-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

Pennsylvania was both beautiful and intense. I don't think we were quite prepared for the severity of the hills - some long, some short, but all steep. Casey insisted they had a Napoleon complex, trying to compete with the Rockies. Well, we all had to walk our bikes up hills in PA - which didn't happen in the Rockies. And going down the hills was sometimes completely terrifying. We had our brakes squeezed as hard as we could and were still flying down the hills. We made it all in one piece though.

In this picture you can see a small, fun version of what I'm talking about. Imagine that hill being miles long and covered in gravel.

We stayed with some friends of Casey's family before heading to Pittsburgh. Thanks for all the hospitatlity and amazing food, Kathy and Rich! Here we also got some fresh nutbutter (and chocolate nutbutter!) homemade in a 30 year old Champion juicer! Wow. It was like a live infomercial. If we would have had any money and a way to carry one, we would have tried to buy Rich's juicer/grinder on the spot.

Pittsburgh was great - much nicer than I expected! It was surprisingly clean and beautiful.

There was great food, including ice cream with over 100 toppings to choose from (I got chocolate with cardamom and cracklin oat bran - oh yeah!) and ridiculously huge sandwiches full of french fries and cole slaw.

There were little street markets all over. There were art galleries with free music shows - including this one where we saw a hip hop harmonica player! Kind of awesome.

And there were very helpful and fun hosts and REI workers. Thanks so much Larry, Adam, JJ, and Joe!

After Pittsburgh we got to ride for about 90 miles on a rail trail that goes all the way to Washington D.C. It was incredibly beautiful and FLAT. :)

After getting off the trail we went through a small town, New Baltimore, where there was this great covered bridge...

and an amazing family who invited us to camp in their yard and join in their family potluck. Thank you Plushes!!

Even with all of the hospitality we found up to this point, it seemed the people in PA are a bit more reserved than in other places we have encountered. But once they warmed up, they were super nice. We stopped at a fire station in central PA to ask if we could camp on their property. They were hesitant at first, but after talking with them a while they ended up giving us our own bunk room (with bathrooms and a theater room included!) and put up a sign to keep others out and give us our privacy. You rock, McConnellsburg fire fighters!

Friends of friends took us in in central PA. Not only were they awesome to us (thank you Ron and Beverly!!), but they also gave us the name of another friend who could take us in a little ways down the road. We had hoped to get further than that, but after a very strange day (where Casey did NOT pass out in a library bathroom, despite strangers' reports to us otherwise) the friend totally rescued us last minute, late in the day, out of the rain. Thanks so much, Terry!

A bright spot in a strange, rainy day

Then we camped out at a fire station, where the volunteer fire fighters were very nice, and surprisingly, mostly all under 20 years old. It was raining when we woke up the next morning. We went out to eat, hoping that it would get warmer and the rain would let up while we were eating. But I think the rain got colder and harder. We were 70 miles from Philadelphia, so decided to push through the cold rain and get to a dry warm place to sleep. This was maybe the hardest day of our trip.

We were drenched and cold, it was difficult to see with the rain pouring in our eyes, and we didn't get to Philly until after dark. But wow, were we happy to get to our destination. And what a wonderful destination it was. More on that later.
Here are a few random Pennsylvania pics:

Starting to get some good colors

At a candy/elephant shop

Good drive, indeed.

Oh Me Oh My Oh

2009-10-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

If you've checked out our web page, you'll see that WE MADE IT TO BOSTON!!!! Woo hoo! And what a great trip it was!

We got a bit behind on our blogs, but we want to share some of the stories from the rest of our trip. So here are some flashbacks.

The rest of Ohio was awesome! Sooo many wonderful people there. In Lorain, a woman stopped us on the side of the road and invited us for a free meal at her restaurant (even though it was not open hours)! If you're anywhere near Lorain, OH, go see Phyllis at Fabyan's !

Then the wonderful Kelleys took us in after we asked them for directions. Mary Clare Kelley taught second graders, so the next morning we stopped by her school on our way to Cleveland and gave a presentation to her class. What a fun and attentive class!

We had a great time in Cleveland with our host Elizabeth (who had one of the most beautiful apartments ever!), and going to the local food co-op , talking with people about bicycling and our trip.

It's a nice co-op with a good group of workers and volunteers. Go check it out for another way to make ties with the community while being healthy and environmentally friendly!

After Cleveland we got royal treatment, staying with some of Hannah's family and then a friend of a friend. Wow, thanks Mary and Hamilton and Frank! I particularly appreciated the magnificent reception, as I was fighting a cold at the time.

Our last night in Ohio was one of the very few we camped out in that state (because of so many generous people). That chilly night we realized that fall was indeed on its way. (Nice wool socks, Hannah!)

Before heading into Pennsylvania, we decided to take a ride to West Virginia, which was too close to pass up - our 11th state!

~melissa

Last-Minute Reminder! Party in Boston!

2009-09-26T04:59:00.001-07:00

Guess who's made it to Boston! It's been a spectacular trip and we'll keep on blogging about our adventures, but today we party.

This is a reminder to all the Bostonians out there that we're having a finale party at Ben & Jerry's on Newbury st. We'll have live music, face painting, and discounts for folks that use their bikes to attend. Don't forget your helmet! The festivities take place from noon to 4 at 174 Newbury st, just around the corner from Copley Square.

Its a great weekend for cycling events in the city with the Boston Mayor's Cup Race taking place at Government Center. Make it a day of celebrating bicycles!

Round on the ends and high in the middle

2009-09-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

It’s been intimidating to write a blog for Ohio because there are sooo many people to thank and we don’t want to forget anyone.
Ohio (our 10th state!) was very good to us. Our first night there I thought Hannah was getting pulled over

but turns out it was a generous city worker/firefighter who invited us into his home after seeing us pulled over on the side of the road trying to find a place to stay. Thanks Mark and Sue!

Then on a bike trail we stopped in a little shop in Lindsey to use the restroom, and they gave us lots of free snacks for the road. Mmmm. Thanks Sandi’s Village Café!

And then there was Sandusky. Way back in Arizona we met this guy, Don, at a rest stop who was excited about our trip because his brother had done a lot of long distance bike touring. Don gave us his contact info in case we came through the area he lived – Sandusky, OH. So we gave him a call when we realized we would be going through there and that he lived in the town with the biggest roller coaster park in the U.S.! Unfortunately, Don was not in town when we arrived, but this amazing man called up his friends and helped us get routing information for the area AND found someone else who would host us. You’re great Don!
Don’s friend, Mary Jane, took us in for a couple of nights and was wonderful! Thanks so much Mary Jane!! She also happened to volunteer with the local Boys and Girls club, so we went with her to help fix lunch and give a presentation to the kids. Great fun!

After going to the Boys and Girls Club we went to the roller coaster park, Cedar Point. A friend of Casey had told us about this park early on, and since we all love roller coasters, we had been looking forward to this stop for many weeks. It would be our one big splurge of our tight-budgeted trip. And it totally lived up to all the hype. We spent 8 hours rolling, spinning, being launched and dropped. Oh so much fun! The only ride we do NOT recommend is the Mean Streak – a wooden roller coaster that jostled us so hard we think Hannah may have gotten another minor concussion. ☹ Until that point, though, we had a blast!

As we were cycling out of Sandusky a man pulled over on the side of the road and said he had heard about us from his friend Don! He has done some touring on a high-wheel. It was fun to hear his stories, and he also gave us some maps to help us on our routes. Thanks Dick!

to be continued…

Another news roundup, and info on the NYC to Boston ride!

2009-09-04T06:39:00.001-07:00

Hello all,
We've re-entered hills after a long break in the plains, Pennsylvania is showing us who's boss! But more on that later, here are some fun links to folks that we've met along the way:

I Knit you Knot and Weaverknits are two lovely gals that can knit anything you can dream of, including a cute bicycle-inspired hat that I modeled and will be sporting this winter! Thanks guys!

Matt Haze, "The Ryan Seacrest of online business media" found us in Cleveland and interviewed us for a video about Join the Cycle. Fun!

Bike Commuters blogger Elizabeth met up with us in Chicago and interviewed us at our meet & greet in the Lincoln Park REI. Her blog is an awesome blog/online resource for any cyclist.

And in other news, we're getting close to the coast! We've just weeks to go and its time for all of you good folks out there to consider riding with us from New York City to Boston! This will be a fun group ride departing on September 19th and ending on September 25th, with a great finale party in store!. Its going to be lots of fun and not too hard so check it out!

Storms, friends, and Amish yumminess

2009-08-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

We’ve reached the coast!

OK, so it’s the coast of Lake Michigan, and not the ocean.

After leaving Chicago we were able to ride on bike trails for the good part of a day. Yipee! We had hoped to stop for the night at a state park but stopped early because of big thunderstorms that came in. After searching for a couple of hours for a place to camp in Hobart, IN, we finally got permission to pitch tents behind the fire station. We were a little sad to be camping in the storm. But in the morning, when we rode to the state park where we were planning on camping, we found out that a tornado had hit that area! I guess we were lucky to be camping in just a thunderstorm and not a tornado.

After going through Indiana to get around the southern end of Lake Michigan, we popped up into the state of Michigan and rode along the border there. Michigan brought incredible Amish baked goods and wonderful people who took us in 1- when we were searching for a camp spot (thanks Amy, Nia and Jeff!), and 2- when we were at the Amish bakery (thanks Sharon, Roger, and Karen!);

friends who drove hours to find us on the road in the middle of nowhere and play bocce ball (you’re awesome Tituses!!);

and amazing fresh produce in stands at the ends of people’s driveways.

Hannah and I finished an entire cantaloupe in one sitting.

And to continue the healthy eating, Casey and I ate an entire box of 8 fudgsicles when they were on sale for $1. Mmmmm.

This is a pic of one of the greatest shirts we’ve seen. We saw it at a great campground along the Hennepin trail in Illinois (Geneseo). The people there were awesome, and they had this t-shirt that sums up our current lives.

~melissa

Chi-Town, that's not what the locals call it....

2009-08-25T13:33:00.001-07:00

When I get back from this trip, I think I need to personally thank Rails to Trails for doing such wonderful work converting old rail lines to bike trails.... because we crossed almost the entire state of Illinois on beautiful bike paths!

Our bike ride into Chicago was even pretty easy, despite the stark warnings we heard from some locals and other touring cyclists. That was partly thanks to our wonderful host Josh, and his friend Adam who biked part of the way into the city with us. (Adam's sweet ride is a hand-powered recumbent)
Once we arrived in Chicago, we were greeted by Hannah's old college roomie, Hannah, and her boyfriend, Tyler. They were great hosts, and even introduced us to the ORIGINAL house of pancakes. Yum Yum!
We also had many wonderful journeys on another bike path, this beautiful one running all along the lake shore through downtown Chicago.
But Chicago wasn't all just fun and games. The kind folks at West Town Bikes, a great community bike shop let us use their space to do a much needed tune-up on our bikes. (Here I'm giving Melissa some tips on truing wheels)
Then it was off to Blackstone Bike Works, another non-profit bike shop with a great group of kids learning all about fixing bikes and being part of the community.
We also set up shop for an evening at REI, and talked to their customers about what we're doing and why. We had a few people honestly say "You are an inspiration, I'm really going to try riding my bike more." The event was a sure success, and we'll be doing more like this in the future.

But of course, it's not Chicago without Deep Dish Pizza! (Sorry Hannah... this is definitely NOT gluten-free...)
~casey

2009-08-24T11:36:00.001-07:00

I think we can now blog from our cell phones!

If you bike it, they will come. . .

2009-08-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

We three had head a lot of things about Iowa, "Its completely flat and full of corn", but none of us had seen much of the state for ourselves. As we crossed the Missouri we discovered that you can't always trust the impressions of others. . .

The first myth busted is that Iowa is flat. It is indeed very hilly. Nothing too high or too steep, but the countryside rolls on and on. We pedaled across the hills and through the corn until Panorama Lake, where we were taken in by some very kind people, fed some very good corn and the next morning-gosh golly!-we got to ride all day on a bike path!

It was a huge treat to be away from the cars, the noise, and the blazing sun. And after a relaxing day of biking we were deposited in the city of Des Moines.Des Moines is a great city; small enough to travel easily by bike, big enough to offer the variety of city life like great Vietnamese food, contemporary art, and cool people like our host Aaron, a musician and fellow cyclist.

We spoke with the kids at the Des Moines Boys and Girls Club and showed them our loaded bikes, which always draw attention. After Des Moines it was back on the road towards Davenport. On the way there we were lucky enough to stay with two of Melissa's cousins, who both happen to be big fans of Ragbrai, the largest bike tour in the country! In fact, it was the topic of discussion everywhere we went, considering that we passed through Iowa just two weeks after thousands of riders crossed the state for the event.
We arrived in Davenport hot, hungry, and with lots of phonecalls to make. Our great host Eric and daughter Kayla made sure we didn't spent too much time on the phone and showed us some of Davenport's sights. We took a nighttime visit to the skybridge, an elevated corridor with a constantly-changing lightshow. We also watched Field of Dreams, the classic movie about baseball and Iowa, and we saw a Backwater Gamblers waterski show which was tons of fun! To round out our visit in Iowa, Eric's father Bruce, a lifelong cyclist, led us out of Davenport and into Illinois. . .

Hannah

Hey! A Join the Cycle news roundup!

2009-08-13T04:53:00.000-07:00

So we're crossing the mighty mississippi this morning, very exciting, and we're also sharing some of the awesome coverage we've had on the internet and other places. . .

We Are ZINKs gave us a nice post on their travel blog. The ZINKs (zero income, no kids) are fellow travelers who are exploring the United States, learning and writing along the way. A great blog to follow!

Keen Footwear posted an interview we had with the companies awesome Rocky Mountain Rep, Mark. We met up with Mark in Denver and have been riding with sweet keen cycling shoes ever since!

Photographer Tim D'Antonio was at the Fort Collins Urban Assault Ride and has a great portfolio of photos from the event. Check us out on the big wheels!

We've been in newspapers all over! Check out our website's press page for a press release detailing our trip as well as articles that have been published by local papers about us. We're uploading them as fast as we can!

And on another note, we still have t-shirts left in each size so if you haven't purchased your awesome, organic cotton Join the Cycle t-shirt yet, fear not!

2009-08-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

Joe’s Mexican Breakfast Skillet

While we were in Flagstaff we were busy cooking, grilling, and drinking all sorts of delicious things. The night we arrived, Chris took over the grill and produced a beautiful spread of grilled vegetables and home-made salsa. In the morning we had plenty of leftover veggies and chips, so Joe got to work making a spectacular version of Chilaquiles.

Large cast-iron skillet

A splash of olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 or 2 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Roughly 1/3 of a bag of corn tortilla chips

8 eggs Assorted veggies, chopped. These can be anything you like, but we used grilled veggies from the night before-zucchini, red onion, sweet corn, carrot and asparagus.

1 can Enchilada sauce-we had to look closely to find gluten-free sauce

Heat the oil in the skillet and add the onion and garlic. Saute until the onions become soft and slightly translucent.

Spread the chips over the onions to cover the skillet and let heat for a couple of minutes.

Crack eggs and drop into skillet, distributing them evenly over the pan. Spread veggies over the top.

Using a spatula, gently stir the contents of the skillet together. The chips should become soft and the eggs and veggies should be incorporated evenly.

Pour the enchilada sauce over the skillet and let cook on low until the eggs are set, five minutes or so.

Dig in! Joe brought out the big guns and used two skillets to feed us. Yes, there were leftovers, but we still ate like champs.

Friends, family and fun

2009-08-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

We’ve spent the last few days hanging out in Lincoln and Omaha - and we’ve stayed in houses for a week solid now! Regular showers? Don’t know. We may be too spoiled to go on from here.

We've been having a great time doing presentations for kids groups at Boys and Girls Club and Girls, Inc. – talking with them about bicycling and showing them how to change a flat tire.

It’s also been a lot of fun getting to see family I haven’t seen in 7 years;

getting to meet college Casey’s and Hannah’s college friends and friends of friends;

riding in Critical Mass in Lincoln;

and visiting the house I used to live in when I was a little kid! The woman who used to babysit me still lives next door!!

Lots of fun memories – both old and new.

~melissa

Nebraska. . .The Good Life

2009-07-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

We've been riding across the (mostly) flat prairie for a week now and for the most part, it has been the good life! People have been so kind to us-we've recieved food, money, and help from the locals, and nearly everyone is eager to talk to us about our trip. We've also enjoyed some great free campsites in town parks, what a good idea!

We're giving back to Nebraska by way of blood donation, to Nebraskan mosquitos, that is! Insects are abundant here; by day we try not to run down too many of the massive grasshoppers that line the roads and by night we race to get our tents up so that we can hide from the clouds of mosquitoes.

We haven't seen any tornadoes yet, but we met up with a beautiful but powerful thunderhead one evening. The wind was strong enough to keep us off our bikes for a while, but the churning clouds and intense rainbows were worth it.

We passed through Funk! *Insert cheesy song here*

Apparently when the temperature gets super-hot, roads explode! This was news to us but the clean-up crew had a business-as-usual attitude about it. We're imagining what it would feel like to have an explosion under your bike.

The roads have been straight and rolling all the way across the state. After the Rocky mountains this stuff is a treat. Our daily mileage keeps on climbing!

Barley, Hops, and Bicycles in Fort Collins

2009-07-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well, our final city in Colorado arrived with much anticipation-family and friends to see, beer to drink and of course the Urban Assault Ride.
We started our stay with an awesome BBQ at our hosts house to reconnect with friends (and sisters!) and to meet out teammates for UAR- the Urban Assault Ride. New Belgium Brewery sponsors the event, and was kind enough to sponsor our party in a way. . .they donated the beer!

The UAR is part scavenger hunt, part obstacle course, part race and all performed on bicycles. Teams of two race through the city streets of Fort Collins to find checkpoints where wacky challenges await them. Since the race is all about knowing your way around the city, we had three clever locals team up with us to show us the way. Thanks Kendra, Josh, and Mark! We didn’t snag first place, but it was huge fun, especially the afterparty where the three of us jousted with plungers on minibikes. Yep, you heard me right. And of course there was more free beer, and food, and raffle prizes. Don’t’ worry, Urban Assault Ride happens in cities around the country, so you can find one and get in on this action.
The next day, once fully recovered from our big competition, we took a ride over to the New Belgium Brewery to take a tour with Brian, one of the New Belgiums’s most experienced brewers. We tasted goodies like Skinny Dip, Dandelion, and Mothership; learned how grain, water, and herbs become that lovely stuff called beer; and learned about the company’s small beginnings, strong values, and connection to bicycles. The brewery gives every employee a beautiful bike on their first year anniversary of employment. They also have a fleet of cruisers waiting to transport business guests. And of course there’s Fat Tire Ale, their most popular beer with the bright red bicycle on the label.We were sad to leave the great people, beer, and bike lanes of Fort Collins, but we have a great stretch of prairie ahead of us. Here we come Nebraska!
~Hannah

Dynamic Denver

2009-07-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, the last week has flown by! We have been so busy here in Colorado, but everything has been so much fun! All this excitement in the Denver/Fort Collins area started at a little hot dog stand in the middle of the mountains.... where we ran into the nicest people from Littleton who took us in off the street for a delicious meal and shower, and turned out to be a great help with networking for our trip!

When we got to their house, we found out they live right next to Columbine High School, so we had to take a short detour to visit the memorial and pay our respects.

After that it was only a short ride to Denver where the non-stop action began, and hasn't cooled down until today! We spent a long afternoon with our new sugar-daddy... Mark, a representative for Keen shoes. It was so amazing: apparently Keen likes what we're doing enough to give us all new cycling shoes, and help us spread our message that biking is fun and healthy through their website! We are really looking forward to working with them more, and hoping to generate a lot more buzz for Join the Cycle through our connection with them! Go Keen!
After that, it was off to the Denver Cruisers: a weekly costumed pub-crawl-slash-humongous-group-ride! Hundreds of people participate, and the event is tons of fun... this weeks costume theme is saints and sinners (if you can't tell by these ladies' costumes!)
But the main event in Denver was our meeting with the Park Hill Bike Depot, a new community Bike shop in the Denver area that's working hard to get bikes out to people who need them... and doing a great job! We had a nice tour of their facilities, and got to fix up our own bikes as well. With over 1,000 miles under our belts at this point... we could use a little tune-up!We are headed out of Colorado soon, and I'd really like to take this moment to send out a huge THANK YOU! to all the wonderful people here who've helped us out along the way. CO has turned out to be full of the friendliest and most welcoming people we've met along the way, and we're honestly a bit sad to be heading out of this beautiful state!

~casey

Our First Road Recipe: Asian Rice & Mung Bean Pudding!

2009-07-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we’ve been on the road a month now and we’re finally posting our first recipe! Its taken some experimenting, and some failures, but we’ve started making some pretty darn tasty food on the side of the road!

Our most important cooking tool has been a big thermos. Backpackers, boaters, and other adventurers have been “cooking” in thermoses for a while now, and we decided to try it out on this trip. The idea is that you put grains like rice or quinoa into the thermos with boiling water and leave it for five to eight hours while it slowly cooks. That way you can do all of your cooking in the morning, and have a hot meal at the end of a long day.

We’re still working out the kinks of the technique—some grains are fussier than others, but we made a spectacular sticky rice and mung bean pudding with coconut milk which made a great breakfast. The can from the coconut milk became our measuring cup, so everything is measured by cans!

Asian Rice Pudding

One 13.5 oz. can of coconut milk

13.5 oz. water (use the coconut milk can to measure!)

Half a can of sticky rice

Half a can of mung beans (found in asian food stores)

One big dollop of honey

Add-ins like dried fruit, spices, chopped nuts. . .be creative

This recipe cooks for 12 hours! This means preparing the pudding in the evening and having it for breakfast the next day. Thermos cooking requires some forethought!

To maximize the cooking power of a thermos, it needs to be pre-heated by pouring boiling water into the thermos and letting it sit, closed tightly, for ten minutes. This is key to cooking the grains fully.

Combine coconut milk and water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Empty the thermos of the pre-heating water and pour coconut milk & water mixture into the thermos. Add the rice and mung beans and put the lid on quickly. Shake the thermos to combine everything and pack it away.

Forget about your thermos for 12 hours. Crack it open and you’ll have creamy, coconut-scented rice and mung beans just waiting for some honey for sweetness and perhaps even a little cinnamon and sliced banana. . .

Joyful Journey

2009-07-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

Colorado has treated us well – beautiful mountains;

short afternoon thunderstorms that time themselves with the towns (and shelter!) we hit - for the most part;

another bicycle tourer who has basically lived from his bike for the last 14 years;

kind and generous friends (thanks Deb, Todd, and Cascade!!);

grandmothers and friends who take us in as their own;

and amazing hot springs at the end of a 72 mile ride.

Now we are taking our time through the mountains and excited about coming into Denver!!

A note from Joyful Journey Hot Springs:

Choose life-

Only that

And always

And at whatever risk.

To let life leak out

To let it wear away

By the mere passage of time

To withhold giving it and spreading it

Is to choose nothing.

-Sister Mary Corita Kent

It's a Small World After All

2009-07-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

We were in Santa Fe for the 4th of July. There we were greeted by our awesome couchsurfing host, Eric, and his fun friend, Tim. Eric showed us around town and invited us to a great BBQ. At this BBQ (with about 15 people) we were shown just how small this world can be. Back in June, Casey, Hannah, and Chris all rode the same train out to Los Angeles. On that train they met and hung out with a guy named Tyler, who was going to visit his brother in Santa Fe. And guess who was at the BBQ? Tyler’s brother! To add to the craziness, I met a woman who went to the same college I did – at the same time! We even have a common friend. Fun times in Santa Fe. ~melissa

Colorado!

2009-07-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

We would like to take this moment to pay a sincere apology to our adoring fans that we have not made a blog post recently, and we will be making a whole-hearted effort to blog more regularly! That said, this last week has been GREAT! We've had trials and triumphs and some wonderful biking!
We are back on the road again, Hannah is feeling much better! In fact, that broken rib of hers doesn't seem to be slowing her down at all! She's pretty amazing, and way at the front of the pack as always!
We had a great stop in Albuquerque, where Melissa’s friends Peter, Huan and their 3 lovely children were wonderful hosts. We gave 3 presentations to children ranging in age from 6-16, at a Boys and Girls Club, and a local summer camp. It went great, the kids were super excited, and I'm pretty sure they all went home saying, "mommy, when I grow up, I want to bike EVERYWHERE!" We also had an interview with the Albuquerque Journal, and were supposedly featured in the paper over July 4th weekend. Basically... we can now consider the trip a success!
We had our first day of serious rain to cycle through this week... which was unpleasant, but we survived, despite that not-so-friendly coffee shop we had been SO looking forward to! We've also had some really wonderful biking weather mixed in, and the absolute more gorgeous scenery we've had to date!
Just before we hit Colorado, we were cycling out on the open plain when a thunderstorm started rolling in! Luckily we made it to a small town cafe just in time to escape the hail! We had a great break there, and even met our first celebrity... The Singing Cowboy of American Idol Fame!
When bad weather strikes, and there's nowhere to hide... our tarp saves us from the rain! (Thanks Mom!)

Colorado has given us some beautiful biking, scattered thunderstorms that roll past as soon as they arrive, and some absolutely amazing friendly locals! Last night we met a National Forest employee who invited us to camp at his place, we really enjoyed getting to meet his family... and especially his shower!

We're still really sad that we lost Chris due to back problems... But the trip has been going great! We are having a wonderful time, and Join The Cycle seems to really inspire people along our path!

~casey

The first 500 miles

2009-06-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

The full Join the Cycle crew

We have cycled over 500 miles! And what an interesting trip it has been. We have been faced with many challenges along the way: 5 flats, 2 broken spokes, a broken saddle, a fishtailing bicycle, a busy highway with no shoulders, some kind of stomach bug, heat exhaustion, a pulled back, and a relatively major accident (see blog soon to come). Unfortunately, the out of whack back has caused one of our riders, Chris, to drop out of the ride - at least for now. We hope he heals up and that we can meet back up with him a ways down the road.

Fixing a flat

Despite all of these challenges, we have had a pretty amazing trip. As mentioned before, we have met and keep meeting amazing people - some of whom have really helped us out and have totally taken us under their wings - some of whom have made us happy just by getting excited about our trip and pledging to ride their bikes more. I can't explain how great it feels to see people's eyes get wide when we tell them where we've come from and where we're going to - and to have them tell us about their bicycle experiences and get so excited about it all that they want to get out and ride their bikes.

At Joshua Tree National Park

We have also seen many cool places and things. We got to pedal through Joshua Tree National Park; we've seen the landscape change from city to Joshua tree and cactus desert to creosote desert to mountains and forest and back to creosote desert (with some juniper and grassland transition in between); we ran into a rattlesnake that was unhappy about our presence but held its cool; we have ridden along large portions of Route 66; we got to hang out in Flagstaff, AZ - a great town with some crazy and fun people; and we stayed on a corner in Winslow, AZ, like the Eagles (in "Take it Easy"). And now we're going to do just that - take it easy, as we let Hannah heal a bit from her crash.

Adventures and Accidents in Flagstaff and Winslow.

2009-06-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

After days of roadside camping, we arrived in Flagstaff at the home of our great host, Joe and his great dog, Gordo. Food, hot showers, and killer mojitos were waiting for us-what a welcome! Flagstaff is a fun, funky city, with people to match, and just about everyone seems to know Joe. We took full advantage of the opportunity to relax, socialize, and run plenty of errands.

Joe joined us on ride out of Flagstaff to our next destination. . .which turned out to be closer than we expected. Outside of Winslow, I took an epic spill on my bike and ended up with a concussion and a fractured rib. Thanks a million, helmet! Joe and his awesome friends came to the rescue and helped us get rested up and fixed up for the next leg of the journey.

I'm all healed up and in riding condition now, the only things that hurt are belly laughs, sneezes, and mega-hugs!

Hannah

The Kindness of Strangers

2009-06-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Ramona and Joshua from the Bicycle Kitchen

Jim, Ricardo, and Jeremy leading us from L.A. to Pamona

The Join the Cycle tour has gotten off to a bit of a rough start. We've had complications with bicycles, busy shoulderless roads, and illness. Each time strangers have appeared and offered a helping hand. We have been overwhelmed with the kindess of strangers and send out a hearty thank you to too many people to name. All of these people went out of their way to make sure that 4 travelling strangers were safe and well taken care of. We are so very grateful to all of you. We would particularly like to thank "Saint" Craig. Craig helped us out time and again by feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the needy and providing time and resources beyond what anyone could ever hope for. Thank you.

"Saint" Craig bringing us lunch

The desert and my Imagination narrated by Morgan Freeman

2009-06-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to know where the sidewalk ends and where the wild things are..only thing i'm missing is my full body pajamas's with the slippery feet...

Trying to express the experience and scenery is something I'm having difficulty with,The Desert colors, the cool breezes that are quickly replaced with daunting gusts of momentum-stopping,skin-drying,who-do-you-think-you-are?-out-here-in-the-desert-riding-a-bicycle winds! We're constantly reminded by the locals that it's unseasonably cool right now (Niiiiice, it's cool..i have no feelings, make me feel like a baby, Awesome! ;)

While shaking my fist at the hills, it's something of a treasure to actually hit the crest, coast down and enjoy the same gravity that broke you like a circus horse going up.

Top of a nasty Incline near Amboy,Ca and before
THE SWEETEST downhill ever! It's a bird it's a plane, oh no...
it's big chris running out of gears!

Here's a great Mechanic (Mike) in Yucca Valley @ Ye Valley Bicycles that helped "Jezebel" (Yeah! that's my bikes name! the no good temptress!) And The Kraken (Me). He was from the Seattle area and in a band called the comb-overs, Great Mechanic! Great guy!

Let's talk again soon! Don't Judge me! it's the sun's fault! Catch you on the Flip side!

~Chris

Living Green in California

2009-06-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

Our first week has passed, and we've already met a huge number of notable characters who care a great deal about cycling, adventure, and our earth. In California we were hosted by two very generous, very interesting communities that have created environmentally sound living space in cities.

Los Angeles Eco-Village

The Eco-Village provided us with an apartment to stay in during our time in L.A. The community lives in two buildings on a quiet street in Koreatown, and are immediately recognizable by the overflowing gardens at the entrance. The Eco-Village makes use of all of the free, accessible natural resources on the property. The courtyard house gardens, fruit trees, chickens, a composting area, and clotheslines.

The Eco-Village is a very friendly, welcoming community that we were happy to connect with. Many of the residents use bicycles as their main mode of transportation-and many of them spent the time to ride with us and show us around the city. Our thanks to all of the villagers!

Regenerative Coop of Pomona

Regen is an intentional community located in four houses in a quiet neighborhood of Pomona. The coop's mission is to create an environmentally-respectful community that embraces diversity and practices equality. We were treated to a great tour of each of the houses, which use solar panels to offset electricity use and a greywater system to feed the thriving vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens that surround the properties. A potluck style dinner is held by the community most nights of the week, and we got to chat cycling with most of the house members. We all slept well after our first day of riding in under their roof. Thank you Regen, keep growing!

More in Los Angeles

2009-06-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

While Chris and Casey were helping out at one SAG stop for the LA River Ride, Hannah and I were pretending to know something about bicycle maintenance at another. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about how to fix bikes while helping others fix theirs. There were also lots of tires to be pumped up - and probably the funniest fix was for somebody who had stepped on a wet Clif Bar and got it jammed in the cleat of his shoe.

We also biked part of the route around the city to take down signs after the ride was done. It was a really cool way to see the city. And a great introduction to riding on big city streets.

Last night there was a girl's night at the Bicycle Kitchen - giving a space for just women to come in and learn to build and fix bicycles. What a fabulous idea to get more women to learn about bicycles - who may otherwise feel intimidated. Just one more thing that makes the Bicycle Kitchen so great! The 3 Join the Cycle women headed down to check that out and offer whatever knowledge we may have.

Today was errand day. Now there's just one more day to get everything all ready for the big start on Thursday! Getting so excited!

I want to throw out a huge thanks to the Pedal House in Laramie, WY for helping soooooooooo much in getting me ready for this trip. They were very supportive and worked magic in getting my bike set up for a cross country ride. Thanks Pedal House!!! Y'all are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~ melissa

Supporting the L.A River Ride

2009-06-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

We volunteered at the L.A River Ride today, The event is put on by the The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC). Myself and Casey helped out with providing energy and water for the estimated 1800 cyclist riding the different lengths of the route.

Steve Itano was our SAG coordinator, Everything was laid out just right. Steve's a riot and helped make the experience enjoyable. We had Recycling deposits and even compost containers so nothing would go to waste!

The Guys from the Bike Oven and Flying Pigeon Bicycles were next to us providing the technical support for the many bikes that needed anything from a Flat fix to a broken component.
These guys helped me out by fixing a shifting issue my ride was having..just another day for a group of A-list mechanics.

Hannah and Melissa were at another SAG stop helping out, We can't wait to meet back up and trade stories of the interesting people we met. Please support your local bike shops and cycling clubs a little can go along way in helping yourself,others and the environment.

P.s - Rode past the new Captain Kirk (Chris Pike) on the way to our assigned outpost. I wanted to yell something like "live long and prosper" but that's just ridiculous and not me so i gave him the head nod and kept pedaling...Good! the new filter is working!

~ Star Date 0-6-07-09 Chris's Log ....Energize! (Don't Judge Me!)

Out and about in sunny LA!

2009-06-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

The team is finally all together! Here we are at the Bicycle Kitchen, a friendly and totally awesome bike coop in LA. Ramona and Josh and everyone else from the bike kitchen has been amazingly helpful and patient with us as we worked to get our bikes out of their boxes and set up for our cross country ride.

Today we'll be hanging out with them all again, as we all volunteer a the LA River Ride, then it's off to finish some errands and tie up a few loose ends before we REALLY head out on thursday morning!

p.s. our train ride out to LA was pretty fun and relaxing! We had some nice friendly neighbors, and got to spend some time getting to know each other. Beautiful scenery as well!... definitely not the worst way to travel!

~casey

To the end of the road

2009-05-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Spring is finally coming to the Rocky Mountains. This means the snow is melting enough that we can (almost) get our bikes over the passes. We had heard that the pass closest to us had been cleared, so I headed up with a local bike group to check out the first spring views over the top. But alas, the plows still have quite a bit of work ahead of them.

Still it was a beautiful ride and a fun way to get some training in. ~melissa

Beyond the end of the road

Join the Cycle starts SO SOON!

2009-05-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

... and I really really need to make the time for some training rides! So yesterday I peer pressured my sister Meryl into most of a nice long ride with me. We started out heading into Saint Paul, and it was definitely the longest ride she'd been on. She was so pissed, she tried to throw me into the Mississippi!

Just kidding! She actually did amazing, and rode over 35 miles by the end of the day. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride, warm sun, cool breeze... And most of our ride was along off-road bike paths hugging the Mississippi. The river was absolutely gorgeous, and only stinky for about a mile's portion. (it was a swampy area)
So maybe I have a morbid fascination with destruction, but the highlight of my day was taking a short stretching break while watching this old factory building get torn down. I thought it was pretty amazing, and I had never seen that kind of action from so close. Eventually it started to get pretty dusty, so we moved along, but not before snapping a few photos.

So I always joke that once we leave LA on our bikes, I'll be carrying my weight in sunscreen, because I am pretty concerned about sun protection. (I've got some irish blood, and am from FL, and refused to wear sunscreen as a kid, and got burned a whole lot, so I'm a little obsessed with taking care of my skin now)

But for some reason, yesterday I flaked out... remembered to apply the stuff to my face and the back of my neck, but I was wearing a long sleeve shirt at the time, and not thinking I'd be stripping down to a tee for the bulk of the day. So this morning I woke up in lobsterville... and my arms are not happy!

I guess it'll just be a base for that sexy tee-shirt tan I'll be working on all summer!

~casey

Roadside Attractions in the Green Mountains

2009-05-10T18:40:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I headed north to Vermont to visit my parents. We spent the whole time on our bikes!Vermont is in wildflower season right now and the weather was just spectacular. Vermont has some of the best cycling in the country (don't ask me, Bicycling Magazine will tell you!), and during warm weather, most of my "family time" is spent pedaling the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail.

This time we rode a nice stretch of route 14 between East Montpelier and Woodbury, taking in the rolling hills, and the next day we went out on our favorite back roads, photographing wildflowers and chatting with friends at the general store.

First tour

2009-05-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

I went on my first bike "tour" last week! It was an overnight trip - carrying gear for camping - from Boulder to Estes Park, CO one day and back the next. I went with a friend, Johan, who tricked me into going 50 miles/day, when I thought it was going to be 35. It was challenging, but beautiful!

There were tricky parts: long mountain climbs, snow then rain, and an 8 mile stretch on a winding hill with no shoulder.

But overall the trip was really great. There were the wonderful shop owners of Eagle Plume's at the top of the mountain pass who, after we chatted with them for a bit, laid out a big spread of food for us. There was the spring that appeared just when we were looking for water. There were the two herds of elk that we passed. And of course the beautiful scenery of the Rocky Mountains all around us.

The experience is making me look forward to the start of Join the Cycle's trip even more!

~melissa

RAWking Foods without the processing!

2009-04-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Never in a million years would i have thought I'd be taking perfectly good cashews,almonds,sunflower seeds and turning them into AMAZING! raw food dishes.

The Almond milk was so simple i felt silly! It was a great tasting supplement to use over your cereal. If you add a little Agave Nectar then you don't even need sugar.

Next we have one of my favorites, Jalapeno cheese. It's made with soaked cashews,fresh jalapenos, seasonings,etc and is actually fermented.

This was all thanks to Erica Albanese of Schoolofrawk.com, She's fun,knowledgeable and passionate about raw foods. She makes it easy and understandable, I even watched her create a pretty amazing cheesecake!

I may still enjoy my meats and overall cooked foods but I'm looking forward to incorporating more of these types of foods into my diet.

It really makes you look at how our foods are processed, I believe it's not the meat itself as much as the way we mass produce/consume it.

Stay tuned! Please pledge and Join the Cycle!

~Chris Donnelly

Cycling in Wyoming

2009-04-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

Many Wyomingites are not fazed by the snow

I recently became part of the Join the Cycle team, and have been super excited about the trip and the mission. I have been getting out on my bike whenever possible. Last week, true to Wyoming springs, we got over a foot of snow. Even though this storm closed the roads leading out of town, it did not stop me from riding my bike. Instead of a ride out of town, I made loops in town. Cycle on!
~ melissa

Lots of April snow, but now it's melting fast

The busy, busy bakery!

2009-04-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

If I haven't blogged much so far, it because I've been whisking, cracking, mixing, slicing, baking and frosting at top speed.

I work at Dee's One Smart Cookie, a gluten-free, dairy-free bakery in Connecticut. For those of you familiar with gluten-free baked goods, you are probably familiar with dense bricks of so-called "bread" and crumbly, cardboard cookies. Here at Dee's One Smart cookie bread tastes like bread; cookies like chewy, chunky cookies; and cupcakes just like childhood. So I suppose its no wonder that people are driving in from all over New England and beyond to get their gluten-free fix.

However, we truly can't bake fast enough for the demand. Lines form out the door, bread is handed over still oven hot and sells out early in the morning. Cupcakes fly out of the shop by the dozen. Easter weekend nearly ended us bakers (hint: the office became "the nap room" and baking lasted all night).

While its exciting to be part of this gluten-free circus, I don't have much time for anything else! My bike training so far has been confined to the gym, but I've been sneaking out on really nice afternoons for a quick jaunt in the outdoors.

Speaking of which, I'm still at the bakery after a long day!

Organic cotton is sexy.

2009-04-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

So I must say that after all the hassle of getting ready to print the tee shirts... I never expected that we'd bang them out in about 3 hours! But I do have to send out a huge THANK YOU to my brother-in-law, Shawn, who basically donated his entire day to the project, and to Identity Tattoo, who lent us the shop to work in for the day.

So many problems arose in the preparations for printing... but once we got started things went well, and I have to say that Shawn and I made a great team.
A quick modeling session proved the shirts to be very comfy. (I'm sporting a girl's medium here)
This beautiful design, created by Hannah, is featured on organic cotton american apparel tees, and comes in 7 sizes. (girls: S,M,L unisex: S,M,L,XL) And hopefully a few people will like the sweet warm gray tees [or us!] enough to donate $25 dollars to our project to help us get our wheels spinning!
The shirts should be up on the website by tomorrow or the next day for purchase... so grab one while they last!

A bicycle logging adventure.

2009-04-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

What could a bicycle logging adventure be?... you may ask. Well, it is the sort of adventure one might have with my friend John:

John is a carpenter, bicycle enthusiast, and all around fun guy who I volunteer with at Sibley Bike Depot. I have already helped John with a few small building projects at Sibley, and last week we all decided that the bike shop really needs a cool coat rack. (now that winter is almost over) John conveniently knew of a tree that fell this winter in a park in Saint Paul, and got permission for us to go get it.

He brought a freshly sharpened antique two-man saw, and we cut that tree into a ten-foot section. The sawing went surprisingly fast!The next step was to get our new coat rack out of the woods, across the street, and loaded onto the bike trailer. Estimated weight of the log: 350 pounds! (I'm still not sure how we managed this, I guess I'll have to chalk it up to my super-human vegetarian strength!)

The log was secured with recycled inner tubes. (they make great bungee cords!)
Then I pedaled that 350-pound log all the way across Saint Paul to the bike shop!

(Just kidding! John was the real strong man who mastered this tree... I just tried it out for the last few blocks to see what 350 pounds feels like on the back of a bike. It's surprisingly not that bad, although, I didn't have to go uphill! ...The hardest part was reaching John's pedals!)

The funniest part of the day was that someone had to put weight on the bicycle at all times, or it would go flying up in the air from the weight on the trailer, kind of like a see-saw!

When we got to Sibley, thankfully a few friends were there to assist with lifting and securing the log. The next day, John returned and added these recycled bike parts as pegs, and voila! The new shop coat rack that already gets A LOT of use!

stay tuned for the next big bicycle adventure... LA to Boston!

~casey

I'm stressed...

2009-04-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that we will really be on our bike seats full time in exactly two months... and there is SO MUCH to do! I'm going a little crazy with it all, and really wishing we had 1 or 2 more riders confirmed to share the duties.... but until then it's just me and Hannah.

I think what I really need is a relaxing nap like this one:

This is Kirby, napping on our last road-trip-slash-cross-country-move... it's hard to believe that's the backseat of a car... but I was pretty proud that I fit all that stuff in, and could still see out the back! (..a little)

Kirby passed away this winter after 13 wonderful years, and I am really wishing she was around now for some kitty-induced stress relief!

At least the weather is improving, (we like to talk about the weather a lot in MN) and I have been riding my bike again... it's not warming up very quickly here, but I am getting used to the chill, and it's great to be on the bike!

In the meantime... I made this sweet map of our route for the website:

(yes, 5+ years of art school can buy you mediocre drawing skills!)

So if you live anywhere along this route, and want to get involved... contact us! We'd love to hear from you!

~casey

Spring fever. . .maybe.

2009-03-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

Hello all! While Casey is wheeling her bicycle through the flurries in Minneapolis, I've been enjoying sunshine and young robins here in CT. Of course, just as I was warming up to the idea of long bike rides early in the morning, the rain came.

We've had a long weekend of wet weather, so no turning pedals, but I just discovered a nice long route into the country that I'll soon explore by bike.

In the meantime, I'm cozy and dry here at the library working on a design for Join the Cycle's t-shirt. Because even though a t-shirt never goes to waste (they become sleepshirts, paintshirts, rags. . .), we really want to create a shirt that anyone would want to be seen wearing. After perusing Threadless for inspiration, I'm still chuckling from a tee that reads "I supplement my personality with witty shirts". I don't know if our shirt will be witty, but it will certainly supplement your wardrobe.

back to winter?...

2009-03-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

A week ago I was basking in the sunshine, and really enjoying some nice long bike rides... But here in Minnesota we are back to winter it seems... So my bike will be going back in the garage for a little longer.

I'm not sure if you can see the flurries in this photo... but it sure is cold and grey looking in my backyard!

Meanwhile... at the Sibley Bike Depot:

...it seems bright and sunny as ever. Sibley is a community bike shop here in the Twin Cities where I volunteer, and also learn a lot about bike maintenance by taking free classes. I'm currently in a wheel building class with about 15 students... and do you notice anything missing from this photo?... maybe some ladies?

Yep... it's a man's world out there. And I am the only woman infiltrating this class.

But guess who was the first to finish lacing her spokes?... Oh yes, yours truly. Take that boys!

Broken spokes out on the open plain?... no problem!

~casey

First Blog Post!!!

2009-03-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

Dirty Work.

Ahhh, the clean slate of a first blog post!

Here in Minneapolis, the sun is finally shining and melting away the snow, ice, and below zero temps... And I would much rather be outside riding my bike than in here on my laptop organizing Join the Cycle, but we are falling behind schedule and there is so much to do! Hannah has been busy as a bee designing up all our stellar print material, and I have finally figured out the complex banking issues. (treasurer by default I guess!) So now if you'd like to donate money to help get our wheels spinning, you can write a check out right to Join the Cycle!

Now we both need to get cracking on sponsorship requests, along with tons of other organizational projects.

Some days, I think we are both totally nuts... but then I remember that Hannah and I can accomplish just about anything if we work together and pool our resources... We're both smart girls!

~Casey

Here we are working on one of our last endeavors: Aiding with an historical reproduction on a Mural in Embrun, France.