I knew before hand that we would be riding US-20 across the North Cascades and was already ecstatic about the prospect of riding in one of my backpacking regions.  Not to mention, driving on US-20 alone is enough scenery to make me more than happy, I could only imagine what riding through it would be like.  The North Cascades did not disappoint in the slightest.  It was some of the most beautiful rides that I have been on, although we have been on some gorgeous rides.  Everything about the ride reminded me of my previous backpacking adventures:  the air, the water, the trees, the smells.

To cap it all off, the day we left the Cascades was also the day we arrived onto the West Coast, seeing the Pacific waters for the first time in over 70+ days.  My spirits keep rising as I start seeing cities I recognize on all the street signs.  This is it!  We are really closing in on Seattle and more importantly for me, home!

We’ll be spending a few days of leisurely riding in some of the islands of the Puget Sound before we arrive in Seattle which will give us ample time to truly enjoy the Pacific Northwest.  I am looking forward to the last few days and even more so looking forward to showing my teammates around Seattle, somewhere where I spent a lot of time maturing and have a strong connection to.

Additionally, I made a purchase today in Mitchell, SD from a goodwill that will probably rival the robe in quirkiness.  Some background on this one, another one of the riders on the team is a devout toe-sock wearer and swears by them.  Some other teammates and I stumbled upon some Christmas and rainbow themed toe socks today and simply had to buy them.  At a price of $0.50 a pair, there is barely an argument that we just wasted our money.  Hopefully, I will be able to put by black socks with the candy cane highlights to good use soon, perhaps on some of those cold mountain climbing days.

Fast forward to Madison, WI after a fun and relatively unremarkable stay in Milwaukee.  This was a ride that I had been looking forward to for a while but, alas, it was just not meant to be.  We were riding in 100F+ weather and facing 10-15 head and cross winds that day and other additional factors led to my early exit from riding that day.  In an effort to get pumped up, another rider and I appeared to have over-caffeinated and thus were unable to retain as much water as we were drinking.  This, coupled with the head and exertion of riding, led to heat exhaustion and dehydration at mile 51 of 80 for me, at which point I was picked up by the van and kept out of riding for the rest of the day.  With that being said, the rest of our stay in Madison was absolutely wonderful.  We were all amazed by the beauty of the city and had a great time exploring the downtown area and eating our fair share of dairy products.  I was a little disappointed that we didn’t have to capabilities of cooking juustolepia cheese, had I bought some, but I was plenty happy with some basic cheddar cheese curds.

We finished riding through Wisconsin in the following 2 days and were all amazed by how beautiful the rides were.  Undoubtedly, the days spent in Wisconsin have been my favorite ones yet!  It’s going to be hard to top the beauty but I have strong suspicions that Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and the North Cascades will put up a good fight.

So a little bit more about our adventures:  Sandusky was one of the highlights of the trip thus far.  We biked into town, constantly being passed by motorcyclists, many of which make sarcastic comments about our own bikes.  A few of them are friendly and ask about our epic journey.  The best comment I heard was by a Harley-riding man who simply stated, “You probably get better gas mileage than me.”

Anyways, the reason why all the bikers passed us was because it was actually Biker Week 2012 in Sandusky.  Needless to say, the town was abuzz with loud engine noises and live old rock bands playing in the town center.  The team had a day off the next day and many of us went out and enjoyed the festivities and different events that night.  The next day, most of the team headed off to Cedar Point to ride some roller coasters.  I personally stayed behind and worked on the far more fun task of writing med school essays.  All in all, everyone had a great time in this small town and we left with fond memories of Bike Week (Vroom Vroom).

Toledo, OH.  It was a relatively short stay, but an emotional one.  We arrived at the Summit YMCA and were warmly greeted by numerous pizzas and a warm shower.  After we were all fed and cleaned up, we had a team “pow wow” where many riders shared their experience with cancer and their stories.  Lots of tears were shed but it was a good team bonding moment for the ride.

As I begin to write about Michigan, I need to talk about 2 things in particular:  The roads and the road kill.  Firstly, why do the roads suck so much out on the east coast?  The routes we have had to take have given us the worst roads possible, a minefield of pot holes and gravel.  The most ironic part is the multiple signs that state that the roads are “biker friendly.”  For the most part, I read in constant fear of blowing a tire or wrecking my frame from the bumpy ride.  I can’t even count the number of times I have had to stop and check my tire because the riding became sluggish.

The second problem has been a prevalent one throughout the trip thus far: road kill.  I have never in my life seen so many dead animals littered across the streets.  Deer, raccoons, possums, squirrels, you name it, we’ve ridden past it.  The most intriguing and almost comical animals I have seen are the turtles, which appear on the road rather far from any source of water at times.  The only questions I have to the east coast is where are these animals all coming from and why do they all suck at crossing the road?

Back to the trip though.  We entered Michigan from Toledo and stopped near Ann Arbor for the first night.  It was a relatively easy ride into town (despite road conditions previously mentioned) and we were fortunate to have a 4K rider’s friend host us.  The night was lively as we were all able to stay up later and relax due to an easy ride the next day.  To creative culinary inventions continued with siracha garlic bread and siracha penne marinara (can you tell what sauce we recently added to our food stocks?).  It was unfortunate that my group arrived too late to go to the gym for showers but a cold shower with a hose worked well enough.  After a nice 9 hours sleep night (a rare occurrence) and a late 9am wake up time (an even rarer occurrence), we set off to Lansing, MI.

Despite a short stay here in Lansing, one thing will stick out forever in my 4K memory: the lunch feast.  It was a short ride day of 47 miles and we had our lunch stop setup at mile 40.  Little did we know, the lunch van and water van worked miracles and were able to get donations from Red Robin, McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Qdoba, Pizza Hut, Noodles & Co., and many other local restaurants.  It was the most full I have ever been at lunch and most likely the only time that the team has not been told to save food for the groups that hadn’t arrived yet.  We sat on the side of the street, right off to the side of a strip mall and feasted like we had never seen food before.  Needless to say, the final 7 miles after lunch were some of the slower rides we have had.  Another 4 days of riding and we will be in Chicago and I am so excited to have deep dish pizza again!  Until then, I will just have to make do with siracha infused cuisine…

Onto a more important issue:  Food.  One would think that embarking on a 70 day, 4000+ mile bike ride would attract somewhat health minded people but I have to say, our diet has been ridiculously far from expected.  I came in with the expectation of eating healthy for most meals to keep our bodies nourished with balanced diets.  Contrary to this belief, I have never had so much McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Arbie’s, Chipotle, and other fast food.  To be fair, we get all our lunches donated from businesses and what businesses are more abundant than fast food?  Even so, the food is very much welcome after a long morning riding 60 miles before lunching.

The stranger thing is the culinary abominations that we create when we are hungry.  It has been a general joke within Team Seattle that we are all like pregnant women, eating whatever it is we want, regardless of sensory appeal.  I have to say though, most these abominations are absolutely DELICIOUS.  Some of the stranger ones are ham and turkey sandwiches with sunflower seed, cold baked ziti sandwich, and Gatorade powder covered fruit sticks, and multitudes of other strange creations, spawned from the demented minds of famished riders.

Another strange thing that has been a popular delicacy is worms.  Yes.  You read correctly.  For whatever strange reason, worms have become a rite of passage for all the riders and video evidence of each rider eating a worm is currently being collected.  There is absolutely no reason why this is necessary.  People just find joy in eating worms and watching others eat worms.  A few individuals have even taken to trying a tadpole or two just to up the ante.  I for one will not be joining that band wagon.

The road is getting easier each day due to our increasing muscle mass and also the lack of mountains now that we are east of the Appalachians.  I am looking forward to visiting Chicago and hopefully meeting up with a couple friends for some deep dish pizza.  Also looking forward to visiting Madison, WI again (my birth town) and getting some good cheese.  Hopefully the weather cooperates with us in the coming days.

To start things off, I arrived in Washington DC to visit family and friends after a short trip to Boston.  The weather was hot and muggy, something that I have always despised, but the company was good.  I had a great time hanging out with my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Also had a great time going around the city with some old UW friends, Ahna and Jen, and explored a sweet art gallery.  The trip was unfortunately short but enjoyable; after 2 days I went up to Baltimore to start my biking journey.

I had a great 2 days at the UCF (Ulman Cancer Fund) HQ meeting other out-of-state riders and hanging out with all my new team mates and fellow 4Kers.  The first night we had some downtime and explored a local tiki bar and got to know each other which was great.  The following day of training went by quickly and was relatively uneventful besides a short ride back to the UCF offices through Baltimore.

Fast forward to the 4K Send Off on May 27th, everyone is excited and getting ready to start the journey.  It also meant that many had to say their goodbyes to their family and some of us, me included, had to wish our newly made friends good luck on their own separate routes.  The ride to York, PA itself was relatively uneventful and was a smooth 60 miles of trail riding for the most part.  Our hosts were amazing and provided us with a great dinner and great lodging accommodations in the gymnastics gymnasium.  I think the highlight for many was the foam pit that we all took turns jumping into off the trampolines.  A great way to start an epic trip.

Day 2 to Lykens, PA was much rougher and involved a crazy 60 turned 80 mile ride through rolling hills and some of the most terrifying climbs we had seen yet.  Unfortunately, my group missed a crucial turn and ended up 22 miles off course and needed to have van pick-up to make it to the host site in time for dinner.  However, after riding 80 miles for 12 hours, we were glad to have a few McFlurrys donated to us after our ride and a van ride up the steepest hill to our location.  The hosts at our site were ecstatic about our visit and treated us to an extremely delicious dinner of cheese perogis and chili (among other healthy options).  Needless to say, we all quickly fell asleep after a tough day of riding.

The next destination of Selinsgrove, PA was one that everyone seemed to have a drive to reach at the fastest pace possible.  Thankfully, the route was relatively flat and we were able to make good time.  The reason why so many were eager to race to Selinsgrove was the rumored pool that we would have access to on the University Campus we were staying at.  Additionally, dorm rooms with beds, showers, and towels for everyone?  Who could resist that?  After a short ~60 mile ride, we all took showers and headed to the pool for a short cool down.  Our hosts, once again, provided us with a smorgasbord of delicious foods including lasagna, spaghetti and meatball, sloppy joes, salads, and even pickled eggs (which caused some riders bad flatulence, no names to be named).  We slept well in our BEDS but unfortunately had to start our journey the next day with a wake up time of 4 am.

Mansfield, PA was the most challenging day in the first week.  After waking up and getting a later than planned start to riding at ~6 am, we headed out on our planned ~80 mile ride.  The soreness from previous days of riding in effect and the multiple hills in our route led to slow progress.  In addition, downed bridges and detours led the days journey to end up being an unexpected century (century = 100 miles).  Despite all this, there were a few extremely satisfying descents from the mountains and a fun 9 mile dash to the finish line.  In the end, after 14 hours of riding and 100 miles covered, 7000 ft ascended, and 6000 ft descended, we were treated to yet another feast for our calorie depleted appetites by our hosts at the St. James Episcopal Church.  We quickly fell asleep after dinner and enjoyed a late day (7am wake up) for the next day.

Day 5 marked the 2nd state border that we crossed as we entered into NY headed towards Ithaca.  A relatively easy ride was fruitful (literally) when we stopped a strawberry stand and was introduced to the local media by another strawberry fan.  The local news station caught up with us and was able to get footage of us and interview a few of us at Ithaca.  We were even featured that night on the news and are currently on the front page of their website (http://www.weny.com/    direct article link with a video:  http://www.weny.com/news/All/biking-across-america-for-cancer-053112).  We were even approached by a man today who had seen the report on us and wished us a good trip!  We are all currently enjoying a rest/service day and letting our legs repair a little bit before hitting the road again tomorrow to Geneva, NY!  Overall though, it has been a stellar start to the trip.  64 days till Seattle!

for some pictures from my adventures, be sure to check out my site at : sseto.tumblr.com