Past Journeys

France May 5-July 10, 2000:

Rennes to St. Malo.  My college roommate, Jacob, and I spent two months backpacking France.  We started in Paris, then went counterclockwise around the country, staying in hostels.  Jacob wanted to try biking as much as possible, so we packed our bikes, and headed to France.  We did some small rides in Paris, but nothing major.  When we got to Rennes, Jacob was itching to do some actual biking.  He plotted a course to go from Rennes to the northern city of St. Malo.  This sounded like an awesome idea…but there were a couple of smallish things we (more like I) didn’t think about.  First, I was (and am) really out of shape.  Second, the trip was about 50 miles by bike.  Third, France in summer is really hot.  Fourth, all of our possessions were in our heavy backpacks…on our backs.  And last, the hostel stopped taking guests 6:00, and we didn’t start until 1:30.

So we made it, because we had to.  When we got there, we passed out and lost most of the day because of exhaustion.  We mailed our bikes back to the US the first chance we got.  It didn’t matter how much it would cost, just get the bikes home.  I’m pretty sure I swore off bikes after that, until…

Nashville to Nashville June 25-28 2010:

In July of 2004, I was working with an engineer who was really into the Tour de France.  Lance was about to become the first person to ever win 6 Tours de France.  We watched every morning.  I was hooked.  Two years later I bought a Bianchi Veloce and I haven’t stopped riding it since.

I’ve been wanting to tour the world for several years, and a while back I came across Nicolai Bangsgaard’s website.  I followed his site as he crossed the Americas.  I told Angie that I wanted to ride my bike around the world.  She said to try something a little less grand to see if I even liked touring by bike, so in June of 2010, I called my friend, and we decided to ride from my home in Tennessee, to the town I grew up in in Indiana.

A plan was formed, and hatched.  He would ride Angie’s Bianchi Virata, and I would ride my bike.  The trek was 281 miles, so we planned on taking 3 days to do it.  Unfortunately, Angie’s bike has a carbon rear fork, so that meant we couldn’t put any racks on her bike.  This meant that I carried all the gear for both me and my friend on my bike.  It wasn’t all that bad, but it meant my friend would have to be waiting on me a lot.

Day 1

We rode from Nashville to Bowling Green KY.  I hope to never have to go back there.  Ask anyone for directions and everyone uses the new Wal-mart as a reference point.  Want to find a hotel?  It’s just up the street from the new Wal-mart.  Want to find a restaurant?  It’s across the street from the new Wal-mart.  If you don’t know where the new Wal-mart is, and I don’t, you’re out of luck!

We found a hotel on the north side of town, and started settling in.  My friend and I were tired, sun burnt, and bummed at how much the hotels cost.  We decided to call it quits.  We lost.  85 miles of riding in the summer did us in.  Angie drove up to the hotel and picked up and brought us home.

Day 2

I ain’t no quitter.  I called my mom, and asked her what she was up to for the next couple of days.  She said nothing too important, so we made a new plan.  I drove back to the hotel where we checked in the night before in KY, and my mom met me there.  I got a real late start, so my goal was to get 50 miles that day.  I rode my bike with my mom following me all the way to Elizabethtown.  I rode until my mom  called it a day because it was too dark for other cars to see me.  We logged 61 miles.

Day 3

Tired.  Man, just tired.  We got up and rode 40 miles to Louisville.  Stopped and had lunch and rested for a little while, then got back on the bike and did another 45 miles to Crothersville Indiana.  Threw the bike into my mom’s car and headed up to her house for the night.

Day 4

My brother, Kyle, met us at my mom’s house and said he’d copilot her for the last part of my trip.  The last day was only 50 miles, but there was a stretch of gravel road that went on for a couple of miles.  My mom was trying to convince me to walk up the hills on the gravel road, gravel and skinny tires don’t go together well.