I WANT A VIOLIN!

We left Sandusky and powered into a headwind to our first break in Vermilion, where the local church provided us sandwiches for lunch. We then headed on to the next break, and then into North Royalton where the Dumm family had a party waiting for us at their house. The next morning, we started with a bang as the Dumms had organized an amazing send off for us. We then got onto a a rail-trail called the Toepath which brought us all the way into the next town Massilon, where we stayed in a Rec. Center. The next day we rode to Minerva, and boy it was getting hilly! When we got to Minerva, the Rudd family (including Kade, who has Duchenne) was waiting to take us to their house. I got to sleep in my tent for the first time since Fergus Falls, MN! It was a great night and a lot of fun. The next day we rode to Beaver Falls, PA (that's right! Pennsylvania!) where we stayed in some dorm rooms at Geneva College. The next day, we went into Pittsburgh, caught a Pirates game and stayed in an amazing church that was in the middle of downtown. (Look up the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, it is in a scene of the new Batman movie as well). Today, we were on a rail-trail all day called the Great Alleghenie and now we are in a old church in Connelsville, PA. It has been a great week!

(I have been searching every church we have stayed in for a violin........ I really want to play!)

We are sorry... sooooooooo.... PICTURES!

We feel that it is necessary to begin this blog post with an apology. For some reason, no matter where we went, our blog posts would neither post to the blog site nor save a draft for later posting. We originally thought it was a problem with the wifi connection, but we later discovered it was a problem with the blogging site; and so we offer our apologies for those who have been following our blog. Because it would be impossible to describe our two week journey day to day, we will give an overall picture of our progress through Wisconsin and Michigan. Wisconsin was a very beautiful state and we enjoyed it thoroughly. There were many days over 100 degrees but we got used to them very quickly. There was much green scenery and we rode a majority of our days on rail trails. We also passed through 3 old train tunnels, one of the tunnels being 3/4 of a mile long with it raining inside that tunnel. We also visited a dairy farm - in which we took a tour, ate some cheese (including chocolate flavored cheese), and enjoyed ice cream! We also went to the Wilderness Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells - the waterpark capital of the world! Mac and I both agree that Wisconsin was one of our favorite states. After leaving Wisconsin, we boarded the high speed fairy (which went 45 miles an hour) from Milwaukee, WI to Muskegon, MI. We enjoyed our first day in Michigan as we swam in Lake Michigan and the next day we took a rest day in Michigan Adventure Amusement Park. We enjoyed our first day of riding in Michigan as we got to ride on a pretty rail trail for about a quarter of the way. I would like to comment that I did not enjoy riding my bike through Michigan. The roads were terrible - the paved roads were cracked so bad that I wished we would ride on dirt roads (which we did plenty of). There was A TON of roadkill on the side of the road - in one quarter mile stretch there were 5 dead raccoons followed by a dead deer - it was disgusting. The drivers were extremely rude, as they would pass extremely fast and close to us as we rode. The scenery wasn't great as it was mostly corn fields along with straight roads. There was one highlight as we passed through Michigan and that was Jack Van Houten's house (Jack is one of the Jett Rider's). Jack's house was really fun because we got to hang out with Jack's little brother Kyle (who is afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy), and we got to swim in Jack's pool. After Jack's house came our hardest day of the Jett Ride portion of our ride. We rode 76 miles that day, which usually isn't too bad of a day, and the bike riding portion wasn't too tough. However, the tough part of that day was the fact that the air temperature was a blistering 110 degrees, with high humidity. This combination didn't bode well for our butts as Mac and I both got the most painful bikers rash we've had our entire trip. However with a combination of baby powder and chamois butter, our butts have made a full recovery! Yesterday, Mac and I both made our first trip into Ohio. We rode through the town of Toledo, which is one of the worst large cities we have visited so far. We are now taking a rest day in Sandusky, OH. We have decided that because we haven't posted in two weeks, that we would reward those reading our blog by posting pictures. Also, if you want to view some videos of us biking on our self contained portion of our ride, you can view them on Neal's blog. Enjoy! 

Goodbye and Hello!

6/30: Today we had to say goodbye to Neal, over the phone. It was one of the hardest things that we have had to do on this trip. Neal has been with us for almost a month and it was so hard to say goodbye. After getting off the phone with Neal, we met up with our fellow Jettriders and left for the Mall of America. We spent a couple hours there then headed back to the church we stayed the night at for dinner with some families affected by Duchenne.

7/1: We got up early this morning and went to the official launch of the Jettride at the Bloomington REI. The mayor rode out with us as well as a police escort, it was a lot of fun. We only rode 45 miles today, but, it got up to 106 degrees so we went slow. It feels very odd to not have weight on our bikes..... We are now in Wisconsin! 

This isn't England...

Fri. June 29th - One thing that was certain about today was the heat. I mean, when Mac and I walked out of the hotel at 9:00 AM to begin riding it was 90 degrees. We knew that we were in for a scalding day. We then proceeded riding under an already hot sun out of St. Cloud on a makeshift route that Neal put together the night before. Although it was a highly confusing route, it would ensure that we would bike to Minneapolis with the greatest ease. I honestly don't remember much about the first 20 miles because it was really terrible and I tried my best to zone out; we were all feeling the same way - after all we rode 110 miles the day before. We decided when we reached the town of Monticello that we needed to get a cold drink from a local convenience store. It was a great choice, as I got the most delicious Starbucks double shot, and I drank the shot as quickly as I could. With ginseng, B vitamins, and caffeine charging through our vessels we were able to overcome the next 20 miles much easier than the first. We decided that at mile 40 that we would get another quick drink, because it was already 95 degrees out. The most interesting part of our day occurred at this point. Mac, Ty, and I were preparing to turn left into a parking lot on a busy road, when all of a sudden, an old man driving a black Cadillac drove straight through his left hand turn lane, went into our lane, which had an obvious lane divider separating our lane and the lane adjacent to ours, glared at us as he drove by, and narrowly missed hitting two cars as he continued on his way on the opposite side of the road he was supposed to be driving on. Naturally our reaction was that of absolute shock at first and then laughter as Mac and I couldn't help but crack up at the ridiculousness of the situation. After we bought another Starbucks double shot, we continued on our way into the outskirts of Minneapolis. Minneapolis is by far my favorite city we have visited so far. The city has bike paths EVERYWHERE. There is literally no street without a bike path adjacent to it. On top of that, Minneapolis has a TON of trees, has a TON of lakes, and really friendly people with funny Minnesota accents. We rode 20 miles in Minneapolis mostly on bike paths with our guide John McAfee, who lives in St. Paul. He was excellent as we got through the city with no mishaps. Mac, Ty, and I finally arrived at our hosts house, the brother-in-law of the Quality Bike Parts Owner, at 7:00 after 90 exhausting miles of riding.
WRITTEN BY: DREW GOTTMAN

The Big Ole' Birthplace of America

June 27th - Mac finally got his fork replaced today earlier than expected, at about 12:00 rather than 2:00. However, due to our usual slowness in doing pretty much everything that doesn't require pedaling, we were out of Fargo at about 1:45. I don't remember much about this day other than it was soooooo much more humid than I was used to. While a person from the Deep South would've felt at home in this blanket of humidity, I felt like I was suffocating on the moisture in the air. Luckily it was only 85 degrees out, and the sun wasn't out, so the humidity wasn't quite as bad as it could have been. To be honest, I don't remember much from this day because I zoned out for pretty much the entire ride. The only things I remember is this: in Minnesota the towns became more frequent and larger - about one town per 8 miles. The other thing I remember is that the landscape became more varied with much more trees, hills, and lakes (after all it is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes"). Overall, the 67 miles we rode passed quickly, and we arrived in camp at 6:00 - not too shabby for leaving so late. Oh, the other thing I remember is that the mosquitoes are bad in Minnesota - really bad. I was swarmed with the vermin from the instant I entered camp to when I went to sleep. Luckily, Mac and I were able to keep the mosquitoes out of our tent.
WRITTEN BY: DREW GOTTMAN

June 28th - Swan Lake Campground-St.Cloud
We got out of camp by 8:15 this mourning, which is a new record for us. We had to in order to tackle out 109 mile day though.... We started off the mourning getting to a bike path that was a half mile into a gravel road. Once we got onto the bike path however, it was smooth sailing for 90+ miles (that's right! 90 miles of bike path!) The wind was at our backs and we only stopped three times the whole day. There were a lot of lakes in the beginning of the day but almost none as the day progressed We stopped to eat at a town called Alexandria, and, on our way out we saw a giant viking with "Alexandria: Birthplace of America" written on his shield, we just laughed and took some pictures. His name was Big Ole' and he was built in 1964. Tomorrow we will be in Minneapolis and will be meeting up with the Jettride, it has come so fast I can't believe it. We would like to thank Lorelei Anderson and her family (again) for getting us an awesome hotel room! It was super nice of them!