[bike] trekking on

The end of Ragbrai sure was sad. So many friends, so many bikers, all gone within a few hours on Saturday. We still have lots of miles to go before reaching the East Coast, and alas, we must keep trekking on. After Ragbrai, we continued our trip with 3 extra members: Tim, Anders, and Kaia. Tim was going to bike with us to Chicago, where he lived. Anders and Kaia, well, we met them at one of our juggling shows and they decided we were so cool they wanted to keep biking with us to the East.

 

We all had to get used to biking on the road with the weight of our loaded bags again, and without being surrounded by thousands of enthusiastic bikers, and slow cars. I guess we realized we were approaching the East when all the cars were zooming past us at scary speeds these few days. On Sunday, we crossed the Mississippi River, finally leaving Iowa and entered into the Land of Lincoln: Illinois. Illinois hasn't been very impressive: the roads are covered in potholes and busy cars rushing to go somewhere.

 

We stayed at Lanark, IL Sunday night, and biked to Franklin Grove the next day. At Franklin Grove, we met a lady at the grocery store, who offered us to stay at the historical village just outside of town, where her husband was restoring houses from the 1800. There, the workers were very nice to us. One of them gave us $50 for groceries, and the other came back later at night to give us fresh juicy watermelon. Of course, we ended up spitting watermelon seeds at each other all night. Also, there was a campfire pit, so we lit up a campfire and sang wonderful songs before going to sleep.

 

Tuesday was nothing too special: the road was a lot less hilly than Monday, YAY. We got to Aurora, the suburb of Chicago where Tim lives. His parents let us get into the pool at no charge, and fed us an amazing dinner: brats and grilled chicken. Their corn dip was especially good. We decided to take a day's rest and go into Chicago on Wednesday to visit people.

 

When I got into Chicago, I was amazed at how I needed to adapt myself to the city again. Somehow biking for such a long time through a lot of middle-of-nowhere places really puts you out of tune with city life. The people, the buildings, and the traffic seemed funnily unfamiliar. We ended up not being able to meet up with people, but I have been yearning for Chinese food all this trip. Finally, I satisfied my cravings when we went to Chinatown. How I miss Chinatown in New York!! Chinese food, Chinese people, Chinese words on the awnings. Ahh, I like to be reminded of home sometimes.

 

Ba-ma-pii (until later in Ojibwe),

MinWah

[bike] ragbrai: unloaded

More than 18,000 bicyclists attended this year's Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), including Lance Armstrong. We rode a total of 477 miles in 7 days. The main essence of Ragbrai, however, is in 1) the ride itself and 2) the people you ride with.  

 

The Ride Itself

Ariel and Seager had been obsessing about Ragbrai for weeks, and now I have finally discovered the glory of Ragbrai. On Saturday, everyone started storming into Rock Rapids with their bicycles. Every patch of green in the town was covered by tents, bicycles, and buses. The streets was bustling with crowds of people and bikes. As the cars were trying to meander through town, it seemed as if the cars were bowing to the bicycles. They all drove slowly past, being sure not to seem "in the way" of the bikes.

 

Sunday was our first day of riding. Even when I woke up before 6 am, I had to stand in line for the port-a-potties! Once we got on the road though, I was so happy to see so many bikers. I could be immersed among friendly strangers and not have to smell any exhaust from cars! Alongside the road, there were all sorts of signs: handmade signs made by the locals who were advertising their food. "Free Water--3 miles! Dad's Belgian Waffles at Denver Fire House! All you can eat Breakfast-$5 next right!! Smoothies: Free Samples!"...and so forth. And as you passed each sign, you would get hungrier and hungrier, so you would bike faster and faster to get there.

 

Each day, we would bike 50-80 miles from the start town to the overnight town, and there were about 5-6 towns interspersed within the day's ride. Boy was it fun to stop in towns about every 10-15 miles!! Each town had its own mini county fair: all sorts of BBQ foods and activities. Often we stretched and napped under trees. But even more often, we ate. Pie is a Ragbrai specialty (especially with ice cream on top), so we were sure to have it daily, sometimes even 3 times a day. My other favorite activity was buying corn on a cob and eating it while watching streams of bikes go by.

 

It was impossible to get bored riding on Ragbrai, even though the scenery of corn, soybeans, and hog farms never changed. Cornfields were famous for being nature's port-a-potty. The corn stalks were tall, so no one on the road would see you. And the smell of corn overpowered the smell of urine. Everyone peed in the cornfields! On top of that, all sorts of interesting teams were present on the ride. Team Roadkill decorated all the roadkill on the pavement with beads, leis, and flowers. Team Killer Bees were dressed in yellow and black stripped spandex...and they road so fast in a pace line that it really sounded like bees going past.

 

 

THE PEOPLE YOU RIDE WITH

Our team was Team Roadshow. Our team was founded by some jugglers and unicyclists, who decided to do road shows in the overnight towns on Ragbrai. I didn't know the tiniest bit about juggling or unicycling, but by the end I must admit, I was a bit obsessed. On the first night, everyone on our team was practicing their stunts--juggling, hula hooping, and unicycling. I felt left out, so I started to teach myself to juggle by watching others. I kept on practicing, and I learned to juggle in a night! Every night I'd practice, and get a little better, but I'm still far away from doing any shows.

 

Each night our shows had the same setup: some juggling with balls and clubs, then Bak Choy would hula hoop. Then they would juggle and hula hoop with fire! Our team members are very talented. However, my favorite part about our road shows was the fact that we came up with new tricks to do every night. We would perform our shows, then spend the rest of the night experimenting with new stunts for the shows. It is very empowering to discover the many things that you can do, just by having your friends around you. 

 

On our last night, the crowd was amazing. A huge ring of elders, adults, and children surrounded us. When Team Roadshow members started screaming, the crowd would answer back in a roar. At the end of the show, a lot of people stuck around to talk to us, and a few were even very eager to join our team! I became friends with many of the team members just within these 7 days of riding together, and I wouldn't be surprised if they became lifelong friends. Somehow bicycling always makes the world seem like a better place.

 

I love Team Roadshow, You should too!   

[bike] the land of corn, soybeans, and pigs

We have made our way to IOWA...and in fact, to the start town of Ragbrai, the annual 7-day bicycle ride across Iowa. By Saturday, not only will thousands of people be here, but TENS of thousands of people will be in Rock Rapids to participate in this bike ride. We arrived in Rock Rapids today...5 days early and plenty of time to rest our sore muscles. Since we're here very early, we will be helping to set up for the biking madness.

 

From Winner, SD, we crossed the Missouri River and made our way into Platte, SD. We were hanging out at the library in Platte, when we met Dr. Bentz. Ariel was telling him how one of the best things about this trip is that "we get to meet interesting people". As a result, Dr. Bentz left for awhile, and then returned with "an interesting person", ILO VANDERBLOOM. Ilo was a funny and charming old man (he's turning 90 in two weeks). He brought us to the dinner theater (a dinner followed by a show). Everyone in town knew who he was. At dinner, people kept asking Ilo, "Who are these girls?" and Ilo would put his arms around us and say "The doctor is trying to kill me." He also liked to crack jokes such as "Have you gotten enough of the corn here?" I said, "I haven't seen any corn on the road." He says, "Why, that show was corny, wasn't it?" That night, we all slept well inside Ilo's house.

 

Yesterday we left Parkston and headed for Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota. We started noticing fields and fields of corn and soybeans. There were also gorgeous sunflower fields along the road. However, when we got to Sioux Falls, our two contacts there were not available. Then we somehow got the idea into our heads that it would be fun to try a century ride (break 100 miles) that day. At that point we had already done 73 miles. But just after we decided to ride 100 miles, the wind started blowing strong right in our faces! Despite that, we did not give up. We finally rode into Larchwood, Iowa...with a grand total of 101.92 miles, and very very hungry stomachs. We pigged out on pizza, subs, and fried food, and went to camp at the park.

 

The next morning (today) we found out that Rock Rapids was a mere 15 miles away. Yay, we made it to the start of Ragbrai!! 

Fwd: [bike] partings

Silly me, I forgot to send this out. This is from 3 days ago.

------------------------------------------

The day after the Sweat Lodge, we rode through the Black Hills and into Rapid City. Seager was waiting on the street corner for us when Shawn drove past. Shawn is a super bike enthusiast. He is a bit obsessed about fixing bikes. When he saw our loaded bikes, he immediately invited us over to his house, especially because he saw that my front brake wasn't perfect, and he insisted that he fix it. Shawn offered us full bicycle facilities: shower, laundry, bike fixing, dinner. His garage was a full-fleged bike shop, with over 200 bike frames. The next day, he brought us to a diner for breakfast, and then a hike in the Black Hills. We nicknamed him the "bike whisperer" because he knew EVERYTHING about bikes.

 

After several days of crazy adventures, we finally got some "normal" days. We passed the Badlands and the Pine Ridge Reservation. We ended up at a small town called Wood the day before, where we spent a pretty depressing night. Seager had to leave us, possibly for good. His landlord back in Eugene decided to evict him and his wife from their residence (for no reason). There are some unkind people in this world. The next morning Shawn came from Rapid City to pick him up, and Seager flew back to Oregon. But Shawn also was so kind to bring us care packages, and did some bike maintanance for us while he saw us again.

 

Yesterday we rode from Wood to Winner, SD--a short day because of the Seager situation. We took showers at the local pool and cooked dinner at the park. As we were sitting at the park, baseball practice ended for several kids, and their parents came up to us and asked about our trip. After a long conversation, they invited us to see Harry Potter at the drive-in theater that night. Of course! we agreed. They treated us to concessions and we stayed up very late watching the new Harry Potter movie. We camped out at the drive in theater, and in the morning, the same parents brought us to breakfast before we headed off.

 

What have we done to make people treat us so nicely???

 

Love,

MinWah

[bike] holy moly

The best thing about biking across the country is that you never know
what's going to happen when you wake up in the morning. This trip is
getting wilder and wilder each day!

We started biking at 5 am from Alzada, MT to beat the hot weather.
Within three hours, we have left MT, passed through Wyoming, and
entered South Dakota.

We got to Nisland, SD before noon. We ran into a lady outside the
cafe, and after we told her what we were doing, she immediately gave
us 20 dollars! So we used the money to sit down at the cafe and buy
ourselves a nice lunch. A couple walked in soon after and sat at the
table next to us. We all started talking: they were ranchers that
lived not too far away. Before we know it, they invited us to stay at
their ranch that night; they said that way we didn't have to pitch a
tent and fight with the mosquitos.

What an adventure the ranch was. We all climbed in Judy's SUV and they
gave us an entire tour of the ranch. They showed us their cows, how
they bale hay, and irrigate the farm land. We even helped them dig out
irrigation ditches. After all that, they let us take their four
wheeler out for a joy ride. I drove the four wheeler around the
fields, got lost several times, but always managed to get myself back
to the dirt road. I felt like I was at an amusement park.

The next day we were exhausted, so we had a short bike ride to Bear
Butte Campground, then hiked up Bear Butte. Deacon Joe had recommended
we hike it. The mountain is a sacred place for the Plains Indians.
They held tribal council meetings there in the old days, and even now
all the Indians still fast and pray there.

That afternoon, an Indian drove by our campsite. He sat down by the
lake, had a smoke, then said "Hi" to us. He drove away, and came back
an hour and a half later. He said: "The four of you make a great
group. This group has a very special aura. I can feel it." He then
invited us to a Sweat Lodge that night. "Cool, a Sweat Lodge," we all
thought.

That night, the Sweat Lodge was the most powerful experience I've ever
had. We all entered into a dome built with sticks and covered in
layers of blankets. The Indians built a fire to heat up the rocks, and
when the ceremony started, they took the rocks inside and closed the
door. The Sweat Lodge is a place where Indians pray, and speak their
words to the Creator. An Elder leads the ceremony. As we all sat in
the dark, sweating, they sang various Indian songs, and banged on
their drums. To make it hotter, they added water to the rocks. We all
had a chance to say our prayers. There were several rounds of
sweating; the sweat lasted for about an hour and a half.

It's so hard to sum up all the crazy rush of feelings and emotions!

for whether we are white or copper skinned

"Lame Deer (name of a small town) is a dangerous place for three young women." "The reservation is really rough." "I wouldn't stay at Lame Deer if I were biking through." This is the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation from what we have heard about from asking the locals in Montana. Many people advised us not to stay there. We decided to take our chances, especially since Seager was a male and he could protect us.

 

As we ride into Lame Deer, the sight is new to me: trailer parks, beer bottles along the side of the road, cars with fenders hanging off, cars driving by with rusty engines.

 

Deacon Joe is white. The first name that the Indians gave him was "Eat and Run". He kindly allows us to stay on the lawn outside his Catholic Church. He tells us that it is no trouble at all, but warns us of his many grandchildren running around. Taleeah comes running out the door. She is dark-colored. "There's one of them!" exclaims Deacon Joe. She likes to play peek-a-boo and run around in circles with her own stroller in her hands. Her mouth is smeared in chocolate frosting. 

 

As we were lying in the hot hot sun outside the church, Deacon Joe invites us to relax inside, and offers us a room to stay in for the night. His big family soon arrives for dinner at the church. All 15 of them are dark-skinned. We see that his wife is a Crow Indian. They all welcome us to the Cheyenne Indian Reservation and invite us to eat dinner with them: heaps of potato salad, hot dogs, steak, jello, corn, and chocolate cake.

 

After dinner, Deacon Joe shows us his church. The space is covered with extraordinary Indian art. The chairs are the vibrant colors of the Cheyenne culture. In front of the prayer room is a handcrafted miniature teepee. The paintings of Jesus and Madonna on the wall depict an Indian Jesus and Cheyennese Madonna. I learned a lot about the spirit of the Cheyenne Indians that night as we all sat in his church, him telling stories of the Indians.

 

Later that night we join him and his big family at the local park for the huge July 4th fireworks display. It is not like the crowds in the city. It is like a family gathering for everyone in town. Suddenly, on the loudspeaker is an announcement: "We have 4 bikers traveling across the country with us here today. Join us in welcoming them to Northern Cheyenne!" Many cars honk. Then more cars honk as excitement for the fireworks builds, the time is getting closer and closer!

 

After the wonderful fireworks display, we all go back to the church. The grandsons are very hyper at the prospect of launching their own fireworks. They leap on each other's backs in excitement. I befriend his grandsons, and we all launch fireworks together in the grass behind the church. One of his grandson's name is Minrod. We laugh that MinWah and Minrod might be related. We even have our hair parted in the same way.

 

I wish I could take those Cheyenne Indians back home with me! 

[bike] what divide by what?

Hurray! We have crossed the Continental Divide!! What a day to get over those mountains!

 

I guess I'll start from where I left off at Missoula. Geraldine (the lovely woman who let us stay over: she's a bike tourer herself) bid us farewell. We got a late start from her house because we were still getting used to the time change...we are in mountain time now. At some point we stopped at a gas station because Karen broke 1000 miles!! We celebrated with ice cream. I don't know how many miles they rode before Portland...so I don't know how many miles I've ridden.

 

We stayed overnight at a ranch town called Ovando. It looked exactly like a town from the 1800s: it had saloons and a small store. We got a chance to visit the museum to see how people out in the rural/ranch/rodeo towns of Montana lived. We camped next to the museum: nice except for the lots of MOSQUITOS!

 

Next day we biked to the Continental Divide! The entire way was rolling hills; the uphills were steep, and the downhills weren't very satisfying because they weren't very steep and we had a head wind. The head wind got stronger during the day; I was so frustrated going at 7 miles an hour on flat land...Even worse was that we had climb over McDonald Mountain Pass to get to the Divide line. That meant climbing a steep hill, with a strong headwind, after 53 miles of biking already done that day. I had to give my legs and my bike a lot of encouragement to get up to the top. But I did it! without walking my bike and only one stop to take a short breath. I was proud of myself.

 

We camped on the Continental Divide where there were also a lot of mosquitos. Today we biked only 50 miles from the Divide to Townsend, via big city Helena. The first miles down from the Pass was super fast. I LOVE downhills!! But it was such a hard 50 miles afterward: the weather was sweltering hot (100?) and the strong head wind did not go away. I felt like a bull, trying to barrage my way through. The miles went by very slowly, so slowly I stopped trying to count down the miles. Now I'm exhausted, but glad that this library is airconditioned! Woohoo!

 

why is Montana so big?

minwah