We Boarded An Amtrak, What Happens Next Will Blow Your F***ing Mind

Well. I'm writing this in the coach seat of an Amtrak train, cruising somewhere around 55 mph through Georgia. I am embarassed to say that I was half expecting the train seats to be like the Hogwarts Express, sliding glass doors and all. But they're not. More like an airplane with a LOT more leg room, more comfortable seats, and extendable leg rests. It's actually pretty swanky.

Unfortunately, our journey has begun with an unexpected complication. Amtrak somehow messed up and didn't include a cargo car on our train, so we were not able to take our bikes with us. They will be coming on a later train that arrives in Newport News Sunday morning. On the bright side, we will still be able to bike our planned 60 miles and Kody lined up a few beds and a warm shower for our first real night of the tour. Hopefully things will run a little more smoothly as the first week goes on.

My last week in Tallahassee before the tour was very hard. The future is very uncertain right now and I'm not exactly sure when I'm going to visit home again. Saying goodbye has made me appreciate immensely all of my friends and family, as well as everything Tallahassee has given me in terms of my childhood, education, and lifestyle. In my last days I really felt the love from everyone, and I am so blessed to have that.

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Now that I am on the train, I'm feeling a lot less stressed. No more preparations, no more gear to buy, etc. It's just us and the tour now. Even with the complication over our bikes, I'm content with telling myself and others "it is what it is." We are passing through Savannah. Still have many hours until we arrive. I wish we had our bikes, but hey I'm still having fun.

Time for a burger and some beer in the food car.

- Chris

Some Kody Pre-Bicycle Tour Thoughts and Sappiness Galore

Hola! Tonight I'm headed out by train to Newport News, VA to meet up with #bikekrew4lyfe. We'll hug/kiss/etc... eat at the Whataburger conveniently located right next to the train station, bike up to Yorktown, stay in a swanky, not swanky at all hotel but with FREE BREAKFAST, take all the breakfast, dip our tires in the Atlantic Ocean and start the tour on Sunday morning.

First section- 368 miles

From Yorktown, we be going through the historic-y Virginian towns of Williamsburg, Jamestown, etc...cutting across the fairly flat state until we climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and ride through the Shenandoah National Park- probably my favorite part of the country that I've seen so far. The
Appalachians will always be special to me as up until high school, me and my parents would spend a week each fall in western North Carolina to see the leaves change colors. Since then, my dad and I have spent a little time three of the last four summers white water rafting and hanging in that part of the country. Posting that little preview now cause I don't know of often I'll be able to post or if I'll be up to it.

Those quads tho

I guess I wanna make to make it clear that my intention for this trip is in NO way to be a cliche "on the road" adventure where the white male protagonist, confused and disillusioned with the state of his life, takes a physical journey to find out who he "is." I have no doubt that this will be a life-changing summer and I absolutely have some spiritual goals in mind, but my real intentions are to get a shredding bod and instant grad school/job application gold. Jk lol.

I just really love biking and feel like it is the best way for me to see this country. I've never been west of Chicago and really dig the idea of every mile past that point to be completely new territory for me. 

One thing in particular that I wanna explore is the idea of locality in this country. I feel like my understanding of my own country has been mainly through books, images, and for the most part, think of it in terms of Red/Blue states. I'm going to be using my phone as little as possible and will try to only get my news from whatever sources I come across on the ride. Weeeee!


Anyways, these last few months of preparation have been amazing. When I got my touring bike and took it apart for the first time I remember thinking something like, "Holy shit. I feel like I feel like I'm learning something new for the first time in years." That was pretty cool. 

I wanna thank Ferris Wheels Bike Shop in JP for being ballers in helping me out in choosing my bike and loads of other gear. 

MAINLY, I wanna spout some lexical love to all the amazing people in my life who've heard me go on for the last few months about this tour with incredible support, love, and excitement without ever telling me to shut the hell up about it. I don't believe in God but I do believe in friends and I'm so happy that I'll get to see a few special people in my life that will be meeting us along the way! 

Anyways, yeah. I'm so stoked for the years-in-the-making tour to start so damn soon! In the words of John Steinbeck:

  "Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes 

             over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has
             personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two
             are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after
             years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. Tour masters, schedules,
             reservations, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality
             of the trip. Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the-glass bum relax and go
             along with it. Only then do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is like a marriage.
             The certain way to be wrong is to think you can control it. I feel better now, having said
             this, although only those who have experienced it will understand it."

My mannnn. Aight I'm done! Love and stuff. Don't forget to floss. Check out SkiM's new EP when it's released sometime in the next few weeks (it's real good, I swear). Drink good beer. Don't wear white after labor day. See ya next post or something! And thanks for reading this far. I swear this is gonna be the most essay-ish of them all.


Kodyyyyyy

Kody's Pre-game tour #1

Yoooo. So. Although I commute by bike and shred around the suburbs pretty regularly, I have yet to do a tour lasting for more than one night. And because Boston had snow on the ground until late March and because I've been busy trying to afford to stay in said city with snow on the ground until late March, I haven't a chance to do a for-real bike tour until this past weekend.

Because I started so late in tour-prepping (we leave in less than two weeks!!), my goals for this tour were to:

• Average 50 miles a day over three days with full gear to get a feel for the punishment my body will be taking
• See what my food situation is gonna be about. Try to spend average of $10-15 a day.
• Figure out a sweet form for these blog posts so they're somewhat interesting  

Day 1- Jamaica Plain, MA to Dennis Port, MA (93 miles)

I left mi casa at 9:30am right after posing for this gem by roommate extraordinaire, Lauren Nelson.   To get to the Cape, I followed the Claire Saltonstall Bikeway through the southern suburbs before winding towards Plymouth, MA. I'm always amazed by how nature-y and quiet it is once you get 10 miles west or south of Boston.  Tons of open fields, lakes, and such which were super energizing to start the ride with.







Made it to Plymouth at 2 and demolishheddddd this waffle + a peanut butter smothering next to Plymouth Rock. 45 miles in and I was starting to feel a little tired. Wrote in my journal: "RALLY BABIII!!!!" It's true.

Left at 3 and kept biking through pretty similar rolling hills, walked across the Sagamore Bridge to officially make it to the Cape before biking the last 30 miles to a hotel in Dennis Port that my roommate, Lauren, had for a couple of days. Those 30 were some of the most difficult times I've had on a bike- super hilly with the same Cape Cod-y scenery while passing cute ice cream shops every 10 minutes.

Accidentally biked 93 miles on Day 1- 15 more than I thought the route would be. Ate a whole pizza, drank a beer, curled up in a ball and passed out super hard.

Day 2- Dennis Port to Chatham to Eastham to Dennis Port (45 miles)

First view of the eastern coast of Cape Cod

With Lauren! She was in the Cape for a gig so we planned on spending a day biking together. had a dope breakfast to feed my super pillaged body. Rode to Chatham- a small, kinda touristy town- on some quiet rail trails before shooting up the coast to Eastham. Gorgeous rolling hills, etc.. on the oceanfront and such.

Did Eastham back to Dennis Port on the Cape Cod Rail Trail and was a good day to get miles in.






Day 3- Dennis Port to Osterville to Hyannis (33 miles)

Abandoned lighthouse view of Hyannis Port

By far the most relaxing day. Originally planned to get in at least 50 miles just to do it but on my way to Falmouth, MA, I got super tired of biking on the same touristy, noisy, shoulder-less roads so opted to just ride through the Cape without any direction. Ended up biking through some really peaceful, quiet towns and ended my ride at an abandoned lighthouse in Hyannis Port. Felt more relaxed and at peace than any point in my trip.

Got to Hyannis by 3 and chilled there for the rest of the afternoon until I saw Lauren play in the pit for a high school musical production of Pippin. Twas pretty surreal.


Thought and Things
My main goal for this tour was to experience averaging 50 miles a day for 3 days- which will most likely be our pace for the summer. Unfortunately doing 93 miles the first day absolutely pillaged me and I spend the next two days recovering. Def my biggest mistake. I'm glad I got that out of my system because except for maybe super-flat Kansas, I don't see us doing that much in a single day.

The biggest thing I got out of this tour was learning that if I'm focused on the miles, the map, and the physical more than the spiritual appreciation for where I am, then I'm gonna burn out super quickly. Day 3 was by far the most enjoyable because it was the only day I didn't have to be anywhere at any time. I was able to just ride and be in tune with my body and my surroundings without the name of the next street to turn down barreling through my head.  I'm thinking it's probably a problem unique to solo touring but it's gonna be something to keep in mind for the summer.

Was an awesome experience! Don't think I'll be back to the Cape anytime soon though. Wasn't a fan of the touristy, something about it vibe. Florida beaches are just 13413943 times better.

Gonna do one last one-night tour where I'll actually camp before I leave. 11 days babiii!!! Can't wait to be doing this with my peeps and not solo.


Love,
Kody

Winning dinner. Trail mix, peanut butter, jelly, cliff bar in a tortilla

Blog Feature: Riders With Reason

We are just twenty days out from the big tour--crazy. Now that graduation and festivities are over, I'm feeling that the next three weeks are going to just fly by. This post, however, is going to be about my friends who just left on their bike trip across Florida, from Key West to Tallahassee.

www.riderswithreason.com

The Riders With Reason have just embarked on their journey, and they are riding to raise awareness against distracted driving and to educate others on the dangers of irresponsible road behavior. I'm sharing their efforts because I believe this type of advocacy and outreach needs all the support it can get. The tragic death of their friend, Anthony Branca, late last year is very much the inspiration behind their Florida tour, though they have a vision for future projects and endeavors. They currently have an Indiegogo campaign with a donation goal set for $5,000 which will be used to start up and legitimize their non-profit organization.

Sweet jerseys, dudes! 

Did you know that there are around 10 million traffic accidents, and around 30,000 motor vehicle deaths every year in the United States? Driving is one of the most dangerous daily activities a person can do, and it's dangerous because of the vast number of careless drivers on the road. I see it all the time: drivers speeding through neighborhoods and parking lots, running red lights, rolling through stop signs, not yielding to pedestrians--and you know what? These people are the same ones who ride around with the steering wheel in one hand and their f***ing cell phone in the other. People ride around in these careening, 4,000 pound heaps of metal like they (and everyone else around them) have extra lives. It's crazy, and I believe this is an enormous problem that I'm glad RWR is addressing. As their friend I am very proud of them for their work, and as a fellow cyclist I wish them all the luck in their fight.

I'm super excited for these guys. It seems an increasing number of people around me are investing more time into bike touring, and it makes me happy to see that as well.

Go out and ride your bike! And if you absolutely have to drive, do so responsibly dammit!

- Chris