Benefit Dinner for Bikes without Boundaries

Please join us on Sunday, December 13th or Thursday, December 17th as we will be hosting a benefit dinner for Bikes without Boundaries. The dinner will take place at Sabor, Houston's most authentic and delicious Salvadorian restaurant. Dinner tickets will be $35/person and will include a three course meal, live music, and a presentation of BWB's cause. If you're interested in trying some good Salvadorian food for a good cause in a fun, casual atmosphere please RSVP your attendance by mailing a check for $35/person to:

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Alex Szozda

1212 Fairview St. #L

Houston, TX 77006

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Please send checks by Thursday, December 10th for Sunday's dinner and by Monday, December 14th for Thursday's dinner.

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Thank you and hope to see you there!

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Click on the images above for an enlarged version.

Home stretch

Baton Rouge to Opelousas, LA – 65 miles, sunny, motel
Opelousas, LA to Kinder, LA – 45 miles, cloudy, motel
Kinder, LA to Beaumont, TX – 100 miles, sunny, motel
Beaumont to Houston, TX – 90 miles, sunny, home

Louisiana - Texas

Pensacola, FL to Dauphin Island, AL – 62 miles, sunny, camped
Dauphin Island to Biloxi, MS – 65 miles, cloudy and drizzly, motel
Biloxi to Slidell, LA – 70 miles, cloudy, motel
Slidell to Baton Rouge, LA – 90 miles, rainy, hitched-hike, motel

Georgia

Hinesville, GA to Homerville, GA – 92 miles, sunny and hot, motel
Homerville to Thomasville, GA – 78 miles, sunny, camped
Thomasville to Chatahoochee, FL – 60 miles, cloudy and rainy, picked up by my dad

Meeting Neil

Meeting Neil
What was a chance encounter with another biker on the road became a great friendship.

While in Fredricksburg, Virginia, I had stopped to consult my map when another biker approached me to chat. He saw my bike and my gear and inquired what kind of ride I was doing. I told him of my cross country itinerary and he nonchalantly responded that he was doing the same ride. I was a little reluctant at first because Neil was an older man (in his late 60s). He was clean shaven, looked very spry, and didn’t have any kind of saddlebags on his bike. (whereas I was not clean shaven, looked tired, and had a dirty beat down fully-loaded bike). I thought how could this older man be doing a cross country bike ride and look so much more energetic than me? Well it turns out this wasn’t Neil’s first rodeo; in fact this was Neil’s third cross country bike ride. He was also an avid outdoorsman who had hiked Mount Kilimanjaro and the Pacific Crest Trail. A recently retired pediatrician from Georgia, Neil told me that his goal was to bike the four corners of the country, of which he only had the northern US/Canadian route left to do. It turned out that on this particular trip, Neil was following the same exact route as myself biking from Maine to his home in Savannah, GA. He also revealed that his wife, Vivian, was taking the same ride with him, but in their SUV carrying all his food, gear, etc. We had a nice talk, exchanged contact information, and thought that would probably be the last time we’d run into each other.

5 days and 350 miles later, I was biking in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and who approaches me, but Neil. Chatty and energetic as usual, Neil was riding at about an 18-19 mph pace (Granted we had a good tailwind). Neil was motivated to get me going faster that day and with him riding in front of me he “pulled me” for about 70 miles that day. Time really flew with the company and the conversation of another person. In the afternoon, we went our separate ways, as I got off to a late start and he stopped for a little afternoon sightseeing. However, we ran into each other again the next day and decided to ride together for the next two days. Neil invited me to his beach home in Tybee Island, GA (near Savannah, GA) and spent the day showing me around Savannah and Tybee. I enjoyed the comfort of some good home cooking and good company.

Coinjock to Rodanthe, NC – 65 miles, beautiful and sunny, camped
Rodanthe to Cedar Island Bay, NC -78 miles, cloudy to rainy, very windy, motel
Cedar Island Bay to Onslow Bay, NC –74 miles, sunny, invited to stay at someone’s home
Wilmington, Nc to North Myrtle Beach, SC – 87 miles, cloudy and rainy, hotel
Charleston, Sc to Savannah, GA – 90 miles, sunny, invited to stay at someone’s home

Virginia

Well, I think I will break down my blog by interesting stories. There’s not much use in describing my ride as its pretty much 8 hours of just riding. Pretty uneventful, until something eventful happens.

Random comment 1: I’m getting sick and tired of my Ipod. I’ve gotten so accustomed to working out with my ipod that I always bike with it on. Now all I hear is noise, as the same songs are being repeated over and over. For the next few days, I’m biking music-free. Let the daydreaming begin.

Cross country biker hospitalized for 6 weeks
Leaving Richmond, I met an older man who was just completing a cross country bike ride from Oregon to Virginia. He looked pretty dejected and looked like he was ready to be home. He told me that he had left Oregon in May (it was mid October when I met him) and that while riding through Tenessee was attacked by a dog who knocked him off his bike, and caused him to break a few of his ribs. He spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. I had really had any dog problems in the north, but as I biked further south I encountered more un-fenced dogs. After shitting myself the first few times, I realized that most dogs just like the chase and don’t really want to bite you. Then I realized if a dog is getting to aggressive to yell at him sternly and if that doesn’t work spray him with your water bottle. If that doesn’t work, then you’re screwed.

I biked 105 miles from Richmond to Suffolk, which is my daily record so far.

I’m starting to become indifferent, if not slightly annoyed by random people asking me about my bike ride. Don’t take me wrong, I like people who take an interest and want to have a friendly conversation with me. But sometimes I get a lot of dumb questions and stares (and no offense, it’s happened with A LOT more frequency in the South):
“What cha got all them bags for?” I’m doing a cross country bike ride. “You going all that way on a bike?!” No I’m actually walking, and just pushing this thing in front of me. Pause. Blank stare.
The other funny conversation is this one.
I’ll be talking to a guy about my bike ride and then ask him, Well how do I get to town X and how far is it? “Well, you take a right here and get on I-10. Take exit 15. It should take you about 15 minutes”. Thanks, that helps a lot.

Today was the first time I had ever seen tobacco and cotton fields, and I biked through them almost all day going through the Virginia country. It’s a pretty neat site to see fields of what look like little cotton balls. Such a weird thing to see growing out of the ground.

Richmond to Suffolk, VA – 105 miles, sunny, motel
Suffolk to Coinjock, VA -65 miles, cloudy to rainy, motel

Richmond to Charleston II

Richmond to Charleston

Update

I'm a little overdue for a blog update. This last week has flown by as I've passed through the heart of New England visiting visiting friends in Boston, New Haven, CT; New York, and DC.

After a week of desolation going through Canada and Maine, I finally arrived to Boston to visit my cousin Sophia at Boston College where she was only 3 weeks into her freshman year. I got to her dorm around 11:30 pm soaking wet with a scruffy semi-beard and a fully loaded bike. I was getting weird looks from freshman kids who probably thought I was some sort of vagrant. Sophia snuck me into her room (BC is a catholic school with semi-strict rules regarding boy sleepovers) and I relived freshman year all over again. Late night dorm lounge study sessions. Gossip and dorm floor drama. I'm happy to report though that I didn't see any excessive drinking....although I was there on a Monday. All of my meals were covered by Sophia's generous meal plan. I toured the campus and went to an Art History class with Sophia where I had the best intentions to follow the lecture and to be a good role model for my younger cousin, but after about 10 minutes I had fallen asleep in class. I mean the subject was Mesopatamian art, not cool art history like neo-classicism or impressionism. I don't know how Sophia stayed awake. One thing I noted is that about 60% of kids these days bring their Mac computers to class to take notes. Gone are the days of binders and notebooks.

After spending a day with Sophia, I noticed that her schedule was a lot busier than mine with upcoming exams, homework, crew practices, etc. So the next day, I headed south towards New Haven, CT. After two days going through pretty quiet areas of massachusetts and connecticut (where I passed many a boarding school), I arrived to New Haven and visited my bud Sparker and his wife Ellen. Sparker's is in his 2nd year at Yale MBA. Sparker's week was replete with happy hours, Bruce Springstein concerts, Energy Club competitions in Austin.....and the occasional study session. Hahaha. No in all seriousness, Sparker is a really smart and dedicated dude. After all, he is the Senior Planner among our friends.

After a quick visit in New Haven, I went over to New York, NY where I visited my good friend Peter and his lovely girlfriend Laura. I would say that out of all my friends Peter and Laura are definetly the most stylish and artsy couple I know. They both work in advertising, Peter's also an up and coming photographer. (Check out his blog at peterkhoury.aminus3.com). They're both great friends and were super hospitable to me. Also, in NYC, my buddy Sean flew up from Houston to join me on the ride from NYC to DC. It was Sean's first visit to the big apple, so along with another friend of ours, Weston, who's a musician in NYC, we did an expedited 4 hour walking tour of the city. We kept it PG that night and went to bed semi-early to prepare for our departure the next day.

It took Sean and I three days to get to DC. Some anecdotes from our ride:
- On day 1, Sean mentioned that I was lagging behind and not going fast enough. Well, he needed to understand the weight I was carrying, so we decided that I'd take his bike and backback, and he'd take my fully loaded bike (with about 60 lbs of gear). Sean said "go ahead and ride as fast as you want, i'll keep up". Sean's a fit guy, but after 1.5 hrs we had to stop mid-route as Sean's leg cramps were beyond repair. From that day on, Sean didn't want to ride my bike anymore.
-On day 2, we were in Philly and decided to catch a train to take us to the outskirts of Philly. Well, mid route our train stops, says we have to go back to the Philly station, and that all trains on that line would be cancelled that day. It turned out a woman was hit by train in front of us 5 miles down. The news reported that she was on foot and talking on her cellphone and did not notice the approaching train. Odd.
-On day 3, we definetly rode through the rough part of Baltimore. No incidents but we definetly got some looks. It was like they never saw 2 dudes with tight shorts before.

We arrived to DC and stayed with Sean's aunt Sylvia and uncle Mike, who were again some of the most hospitable people I've met. She fed us, gave me medicine, drove me around, and gave me a nice blessing for the rest of my trip.

The last day and a half, I spent riding from DC (Mount Vernon, actually) to Richmond, VA. Friday was the beginning of the Columbus Day holiday weekend and there was a lot of traffic on Highway 1. There was no shoulder lane at all and I definetly had some honks and obscenties thrown my way. It sucked.

NYC to DC

Portand to NYC 2

Portland to NYC

Days 1-4 Quebec to Bingham, ME

No one said it was going to be easy. I kind of expected the first week to be a week of adjustments. Getting used to riding with the weight. Getting into biking shape. Getting used to my bike and learning how to fix minor problems. After taking care of sending a last round of emails and mailing some stuff home, I set off Monday afternoon.

The first thing I noticed was how much slower I was going with my full load. Without any gear, I can average 17-18 mph pretty comfortably, but with the additional 65 lbs of gear I was going about 12 mph. Maybe I’m just out of shape. My first adventure that day came when I tried to figure out how to leave Quebec. There are only two bridges that cross the Saint Lawrence River to leave Quebec, one being a major highway. After struggling to find the entrance ramp for the smaller bridge, I decided to try the major highway bridge, only to get pulled over by a cop who tells me (in French) that I can’t bike on that highway as there is no shoulder on the bridge section. After riding around in what seemed like a maze of entrance and exit ramps, I finally found the second bridge and was on my way. At around 6:30 pm, it started to get dark. So I pulled over, found a nice little grassy field and set up my tent without any problems.

After spending about an hour packing up all my stuff (tent, sleeping bag and pad, pannier bags), I started biking. An hour in, it started to rain. I decided to try to wait it out, but after it didn’t stop I decided to give it a try. I bought some pretty good rain gear prior to leaving, which kept everything besides my hands and feet dry. After riding all day in wet shoes, I developed a sore throat, which evolved into a fever and body aches. Not only did I get sick from the rain, but the next morning my bike looked like crap, as the chain and crank were completely rusty. Lesson learned: always clean and wipe dry your bike after a ride. The next day I still felt sick, so I took the day off to get well. I also took my bike to a bike shop, who fixed it like new. Day 4.

Today I was focused on catching up for lost time. I left the motel at 6:30 and started riding towards the US border. A cold front hit the area and I rode in windy, 40F conditions all day. But the ride was really nice. Beautiful foliage, Mountainous countryside, and no traffic whatsoever. There really was nothing in this area. I thought I would see an occasional home or gas station, but for stretches of 30 miles (in between the smallest towns) there was nothing but forest. The border patrol looked at me kind of funny when I crossed the border, and did a pretty thorough search of my bags. I guess he didn’t believe my story and thought I was just smuggling drugs across the border. After 95 miles, I finally got to Bingham, ME. I checked myself into a motel, as the low was supposed to drop to the mid 20s that night. There was no way I was camping in that.

Stats: Day 1: Quebec to Scott, QC : half day, 35 miles, cloudy and occasional light showers, 50-60 F, no hills

Day 2: Scott, QC to Saint Georges, QC: 50 miles, rainy, 50-60, slight hills

Day 3: sick day

Day 4: Saint Georges, QC to Bingham, ME: 94 miles, sunny, 30-40, crossed Apalachian mountains

Map of biking route

Is it always cold in Canada???

Finally, the day has come! After a few weeks of planning, I’ve finally made it to Canada!
After spending two days with family in Ottawa, I'm making my way over to Quebec City, where I will be starting my bike ride tomorrow. Winter seems to be quickly approaching as the weather is slightly colder than expected….the low reached 41 degrees yesterday. I hope God will bless me with some warmer weather for the next few days.

Tomorrow, I will start my three day ride from Quebec City to Bucksport, Maine, which is the only part of my trip that I have not mapped out. With no way around it, I’m taking on the hardest leg of my trip on day one. The 200 mile to Bucksport (close to Portland) will take me directly over the Appalachian Mountains and through a part of the country that is sparsely populated. Northern Maine is mostly comprised of lakes and forests and is home to many wildlife animals, including moose and black bears. As a Texas boy, I’ve definetly never had to deal with these animals. They avoid the roads for the most part, but if I do come across one of these animals I may have to think twice about camping in that spot.