Riding Bikes Across the West

The map of our route has been updated with all the places we’ve stayed so far, so check it out.  Looks like we have a ways to go!

View Ben and Robin’s Bike Trip in a larger map

Today we were stymied by the stifling heat wave sweeping the midwest. Despite our 6:45 a.m. starting ride time, we still only made 50 miles into El Dorado Springs instead of our goal of getting all the way to Nevada. We kept up a much higher average speed on the roads, and were doing just fine until we hit some killer hills between Taberville and El Dorado Springs in the last 10 miles.

The people in El Dorado Springs have been the most hospitable we’ve met so far on the trip. We spent the afternoon staying out of the heat at the community center here, and Myrna and Mark working there helped us immensely in figuring out the town and finding a place to stay for the night (with the extraordinarily generous Scott and Chris, and their dog Charlie).

We’ll get up even earlier tomorrow, but are only aiming to make 40 miles, into Fort Scott, Kansas. For now, I”ll leave you with some pictures that we uploaded today at the library.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Hello from Clinton, Missouri where it’s hot outside, but we’re staying cool in a Parkfield Inn. It’s our first extended period of time indoors since we set out on Thursday, and it feels great. We came off the Katy trail this morning after a short 35-mile day from Sedalia. That brings our five-day (three full days plus two half days, really) total to about 230 miles from St. Charles, all of it on the Katy, currently the longest rail-trail in America.

The Katy was good to us–shady, flat, car-free, and excellent camping and tourist infrastructure. Getting on the roads, especially from here into Kansas until we meet up with the TransAmerica route, will be a bit of a shock. Fortunately we chatted with Sam Baugh here in Clinton, was the first person to bike the Katy in one day, about a good route to get to Kansas. We’ll go through Nevada (pronounced ne-vay-da), MO, then get on highway 54 until we meet up with the TransAmerica Route around Toronto, Kansas.

My Aunt Jerri rode her bike with us for the first 13 miles of the Katy trail out of St. Charles, MO, and she and Uncle Mike took some photos of us preparing and riding that first day. Check them out here.

Nothing has ever attracted me to Crocs shoes. You know the arguments against them: they’re ugly, cause people to injure themselves on escalators, and are ugly.

Yet on the eve of our departure from St. Louis, I embarked upon a quest to buy some of these conspicuous utilitarian shoes.

And I failed. Perhaps it was St. Louis. Perhaps it was the fact that I’m two years late to the trend. Whatever it was, I visited five different stores in the greater Webster Groves area in search of a wearable pair of lightweight, closed-toe, off-bike shoes, and struck out on every single front.

REI doesn’t carry adult sizes. Target was under construction, and their inventory of knock-offs was low. DSW had more than they could sell last summer, but none this year, and Famous Footwear had only black, size 12, without the holes. Sports Authority’s Cardinal’s-branded red Crocs would have fit the bill, but they were all size 10, mens. And the rest of their stock was too small, too big, or too Barbie Corvette pink.

So perhaps I was never meant to be a Croc owner, and Teva flip flops are my destiny. But maybe, just maybe, I will find the perfect pair tomorrow on the road to St. Charles, where we begin the Katy Trail and our first days of riding.

I am completely floored and heartened and inspired by the generosity that our family and friends have shown so far. In the past week we’ve raised almost $4000 for CF research and care.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who’s already shown their support, and even if I haven’t written you a thank you email yet, you can be assured that one will come your way soon.

Let’s be honest. We probably won’t have internet access in every tiny town in Kansas or Wyoming, which means we won’t be able to update the blog as much as we’d like.

What we will have is our cell phones, and we’ll be updating a twitter account more regularly than we blog with location details and all the biking wisdom that can fit in 140-word text messages. So head on over to Twitter and follow us @robinbenbike.

Welcome to Robin and Ben’s website for our epic summer 2009 adventure across the west. Check back often to follow our progress from the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers just north of St. Louis, MO to the Columbia Gorge in Astoria, OR. The Google Map below shows our route, and you can also always visit the Route page to see the most updated information.

We’re biking for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Northern California, where Robin is from and where her sister, Molly, who has CF, currently lives. You can donate to our ride through our page at the CF Foundation’s website.

We’re eight days away from leaving on a train from Washington, DC to head to St. Louis, where we’ll be starting the trip. We still have a lot to do, but we do have bikes, maps, and most of our gear.

View Ben and Robin’s Bike Trip in a larger map