Bache Bike Trip 2012

exhibition-ism: Ai Weiwei’s solo show at Galleria...

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 18:37:02 -0700

Ai Weiwei’s solo show at Galleria Continua

Seems appropriate to post bike art here.

Those Red Biking Jerseys

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:22:00 -0600

On the bus to school I sometimes watch the bikers out the window. I usually see bikers wearing regular sweaters and pants, some that are exercising wear shorts and really move up the hill. And there are some that go by wearing the same red jerseys with the white arm band that makes me almost think I just saw my brother or father bike by. And then I remember I am in Scotland.

I think I live in a place where these jerseys are actually necessary.

Dad is now sponsoring a mile of our route. A fitting tribute to...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 03:27:19 -0600

Dad is now sponsoring a mile of our route. A fitting tribute to our trip.

Newlyweds talk about the end of the bike journey.

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:27:46 -0600

Newlyweds talk about the end of the bike journey.

End of a Journey

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:46:00 -0600

The Bache Bike Trip ended in Lavallette, New Jersey on August 5th. It was an amazing ride. As I retell the stories to my friends here in Asia I am reminded of the important parts: the curiosity and bravery of those first weeks, the tough slog over the Bitterroots and the Rockies, Topher’s injury, corn corn and more corn, family, pushing that last mile, chicken wings, rolling hills of PA, and again family.

It was wonderful, challenging, exhausting, draining, amazing. We loved it, we hated it, we probably won’t do it again. But it was so worth it.

The End.

Love you guys!

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:42:01 -0600

We love you too.

Sightings of Species

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 02:09:07 -0600

Sightings of Species:

I have told some people that along the way I was using an app to keep track of my wildflower sightings. Here is a map of those. You can see I bought the app in Montana, went back to record some of what I saw in Oregon and then got a little tired in PA to continue. It was such fun to look at flowers along the way and keep my mind off some of the pain of cycling.

One rest stop when I was looking to be particularly distracted I focused on a large bush with yellow flowers by the side of the road. I had been seeing it a lot of wanted to know the name. After fiddling with the app for a bit I discovered it to be a Pale Touch Me Not. I announced this to the group.

Alexander replied “That’s not a Pale Touch Me Not, this is!” pointing to me.

I have since become tan.

Kathryn's Final Thoughts

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 02:08:01 -0600

Kathryn's Final Thoughts

Webster City

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:20:22 -0600

American Bike

Garden Bike

Street Light

Webster City

Webster City

Photo

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:52:15 -0600

Topher's Final Thoughts

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 11:00:35 -0600

Topher's Final Thoughts

Alexander's Final Thoughts

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 10:49:37 -0600

Alexander's Final Thoughts

Bache Bike Trip Video

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 16:57:16 -0600

Bache Bike Trip Video

In Iowa many barns are decorated with painted quilt blocks. It...

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 21:45:00 -0600

In Iowa many barns are decorated with painted quilt blocks. It was fun to look at them as I drove through that state during the bike trip.

I found this pattern, Dog Tooth Violet, in a picture on-line of an Iowa barn. I used it for the latest baby quilt for someone at work.

The fabric came from dresses for Elizabeth and Kathryn.

Elizabeth’s birthday card from the Coy’s. Beautiful...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:24:28 -0600

Elizabeth’s birthday card from the Coy’s. Beautiful reminder of the summer.

Our Ocean Star article posts at the local library!

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 09:00:15 -0600

Our Ocean Star article posts at the local library!

Bike map of Montana I found in my pack.

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:56:30 -0600

Bike map of Montana I found in my pack.

Our final destination.

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:51:37 -0600

Our final destination.

Beautiful collections of livestock outside Gettysburg.

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 22:16:43 -0600

Beautiful collections of livestock outside Gettysburg.

August 5: Exton, PA to Lavallette, NJ

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:04:17 -0600

The morning started out all wrong. Our wake up call came 17 minutes early, there were no cinnamon buns to fuel us, and the route we had printed out the night before actually started at a different location than our hotel. Oh well, it was the last day. We had no better option than to ride to grandma’s.
I packed more quickly that morning and did enjoy the frosted shredded wheat. As we did the route talk I began to second guess myself and made the first mistake of the morning taking us left instead of right out of the driveway. A mile in we realized our mistake and reversed course. Even though the next four turns went smoothly I was not confident when searching for the turn onto Chester Valley Trail, a 8 mile trail through some woods outside Exton. I had given my phone to Elizabeth, our driver for the day, to navigate with but I realized that google directions alone wouldn’t keep me on course. So we switched phones again and Elizabeth took Julianne’s phone for navigation so I could use mine for the same. After we found and completed the trail we shifted course north to Valley Forge. [VaFo to the other three siblings who had gone on the LCE fifth grade trip to Valley Forge]. It was beautiful to bike the grounds past rivers and log cabins but I did get the sense that we were disturbing the walkers and runners.
Just after VaFo we crossed a bridge to connect to the Schuylkill River Trail. A local gave us some helpful advice to navigate the construction on the Philadelphia end and we started off. We had lost Jonathan to navigation at that point so it was just the five riders who had started the trip.
The trail was great: paved and shaded. For a while I led the group at a fast clip of 17 miles per hour. As the trail deteriorated to cracked pavement and then gravel the pace slowed. At a convenient gap in the trail Christopher told us his spoke had broken. This required another bike and thus the car to come find us. All told we had wasted two hours of the morning on bad directions and bike issues; at our lunch stop a couple miles later I had little hope of finishing the day or my century.
Yeah, I had waited till the end of the trip to do my century. I had pinned all my hopes on that last day. And at lunch I was sure I would at most do 80 miles. But it was still relatively early and we knew better how to leave Philadelphia than get in it. So I should have felt better; it’s easy to say that now.
After lunch at a park near the Art Museum we headed east on Race to meet up with the Benjamin Franklin bridge. The city gradually became more familiar because we were going through Chinatown (Fung Wa bus territory) and the stars aligned to lead us on the bridge with little difficulty. The view was stunning. We stopped twice to soak it in and then proceeded. On the New Jersey side we altered our directions a bit to stay on route 38. The road, actually a freeway, was a little hairy at first but as it slowed we hit our stride. Our breaks were 15 miles apart on this day. I remember the stops for having to immediately lie down. My feet were killing me. And I constantly ate beef jerky at each stop. Thank you Elizabeth for buying more jerky.
Around mile 78 I started to believe that I would indeed make my century but probably not the full 105 miles to grandma’s. My pace had slowed to roughly 10 miles an hour. Alexander hung in there with me and Christopher occasionally sang near my shoulder between fits of cycling ahead.
At the last rest stop at mile 93 I was excited but exhausted. Dad and Julianne had gone on ahead but that as fine. It was starting to get dark. I just needed to finish the century. Pure adrenaline fueled me that last 7 miles to Toms River and the junction with the 37. At the same moment we hit that spot we saw the car, my Garmin chimed 100 miles and the storm clouds that had been gathering began to open up. I was completely satisfied with the century and a bit happy not to have to bike over the bridge in the rain and lighting (someone did die in this storm).
We loaded up the car and drove across the bridge to Lavallette. Arriving in the rain was fine. The home was warm and we could relax and start to unwind from the trip immediately. Ah to sleep in a bed that isn’t a hotel. To wake up the next morning and not bike. It was a comforting ending to a triumphant day.