A Cool Story

"Hm, yeah....why am I doing this?"
That question floated in my mind especially through the final days of this adventure.

I did have a very cool moment on the last day of riding.

It was thunder storming, my front tire was deflating every 5 miles, and I was tired...because it was day 15. I was realizing that I wouldn't make it home within the day at the pace I was going - which made my sad because I was excited to be home. While attempting to shelter myself underneath a tree during an especially intense downpour, a feeling of determination came over me. It was an incredibly strong feeling. I pushed the pedals with more energy than I knew was left in me to finish the ride.


The planning and inspiration of my trip had been slightly impulsive. My view of the trip was shaded only to the focal points of glory and ignoring the reality of its difficulty. I hadn't really considered the possibility of such uncomfortable moments, like the one I previously described. While I had expected the fun of the trip to be the highlight, I think my ability to motivate myself when I most needed it was the most important thing I will take away from this trip.

"To be outstanding - get comfortable with being uncomfortable" - Alrik Koudenburg

Day 14 8pm

I biked a very impressive zero miles today - it was time for a rest day. I made the decision to take the day off after an attempt to jog turned into an awkward shuffle.

I'm staying with my Uncle Terry's family in Middletown, Maryland. My legs already feel sooo much better. A lot of swelling (that I didn't know was swelling until now) has disappeared.

There are 275 hilly miles left in my trip. I'm going to finish it in 3 days because i feel so good after this time off. Ithaca, I'll see you on the first!!

Day 8 11 am

My shoes squeak. They sound like the minions from despicable me.

Cicadas are louder than most of the trucks that pass by me. 

I'm thankful for the dogs that chase me because they give me adrenaline boosts.

I like to call my current eating habit the McWendy's diet. 

Its day 8. Week number two has begun.  I'm sorta into a routine now. There's always stuff that throws me off the routine, but I do have an ideal schedule in my mind.

Since my last entry....

I did end of stealth camping in Santee SC. I chose a spot between a wooded area and a cornfield. It was a good spot I think, nobody found me. When I woke up I planned to bike 78 miles to my warmshowers host, Donna. My first obstacle was an under construction bridge that added about 15 miles to my trip. Donna later told me they had had bad flooding that damaged a lot of their roads and bridges. Later in the day another closed road added 10 more miles to my trip - so I realized I would be doing my first century (100 mi day). 

The sun had gone down by the time I reached Donna's house but she was wide awake and very welcoming. I was more tired than I had been the entire trip, but in the morning after a great sleep and an awesome dinner + breakfast from Donna I was feeling great.
 My legs on the other hand were not in their best shape. I decided to go to the library and finish up non-biking tasks. I'm going to wait until it cools down a bit today before biking about 60 miles this afternoon. 

Day 6 2pm

I'm in walterboro South Carolina, doing well.

You won't believe it, but this morning I pulled the craziest stunt of my life. I was coming down a hill at around 50mph, hit a ramp on the side of the road, and flew up on top of a passing 18 wheeler. Elegantly, I dropped off the side of the truck and back into my bike lane. It was crazy.

Yesterday I left the military campground campsite. I never saw anyone at the campsite...so I never paid and now I can buy two frosty at Wendy's instead of one.

Stayed at at koa last night because I reallyyyy needed a shower. Ended up sleeping for 10.5 hrs so I'm a bit behind today. Biking as far as I possibly.can today because there's nowhere to stay so I'm just stealth camping.

I feel more comfortable stealth camping now because my fear of the giant spiders from Harry Potter is starting to fade.

Day 4 at 6PM

I had an orange flag on the back of my bike. When I get off my bike I raise my foot up and over this flag. This morning my foot caught the flag as I dismounted, bending the flag. When my foot and the flag lost contact, the flag flung itself out of its restraints ....over the fence next to me ...and far into the pond I was biking by.           I watched it sink          :D

Sometimes when the big trucks pass by me they create a wind that boost me along.

Southern Georgian accents in the country are extremely difficult to understand

If you help a snapping turtle cross the road, it will then thank you by trying to bite your toes off.

So far so good!

Its about 6pm right now, I'm at a library in Hinesville. There's a girl wispering in snake language behind me and a lady yelling at the computer screen playing a recording of a basketball game to my right, its a different type of place. Its day 4 now and I still haven't made a post until now- and that's because I've been very busy.

^Note: I've got to make these more often because I'm struggling to remember a lot of details as I write this

Summary of rides:

Day 1: New Smyrna beach ---> St Augustine

Got a flat 15 min in, after that smooth sailing for 80 mi. I talked to a cool guy for a while that I met at Tom Renick Park. Ride was along the beach, took a swim at the end of the day. Chilled at the beach until around 8pm when I started a 5mi ride to my host, Doris. Doris was a friend of my Grandma Jean's (thanks for having me Doris). On my way there I got a double flat, discovered I had schrader valve backup tubes instead of a presta, so I had to walk a while in the dark with mosquitos. It was a bad ending, however the rest of the day almost couldn't have been any better!!!

Day 2: St Augustine ---> Jacksonville (huguenot memorial park)

70 mi day.  Walked another 6 mi to a bike shop in st Augustine. They helped me get fixed up (I haven't had a flat since). The walk and work on the bike took a while and I didn't start biking until around 2pm. As the sun was setting I took a ferry to my campsite. Dolphins surfaced right next to me!

Day 3: Jacksonville ---> Brunswick  (Interesting day)

70-80mi. I decided to change route. Instead of heading west I'm going straight north. This shortened my milage by 30% and cut the amount of altitude change in half. But the biggest reason I made the decision was because I was afraid of getting too lonely. Only 3 days in I was already feeling a bit isolated. 

I headed north with basically no idea where I was going to be staying. Somewhere on route 17 I passed a dude who was biking from Boston to Miami. Later, about 70 miles into the ride, I stopped at a gas station and started talking to a biker named Paul who was also stopped there. He seemed to be popular in the area and knew all the people at the gas station. Paul offered to let me stay at his house, and of course I accepted. There I was given an awesome dinner that Paul and his wife, Marta, made. After that they let me use their massage chair, which really made my legs feel better, and then I had a great sleep in my own room upstairs. 

Day 4 (today): Brunswick --->Hinesville (55-60mi)

In the morning Paul took me to the Grandy's that he runs where we had a great breakfast. Paul and Marta were two of the most generous people I've ever met, and I thank them a lot. While my spirits were in top shape from the stay, my legs weren't. I decided to make today ride much shorter. Also the next few days I'm going to need to average about 80-90 miles. There's not many places to stay between here and South Carolina.

Update morning Day 5: Last night I stayed at Holbrook pond recreation center, which turned out to be within a military base. When I got here around 9pm last night nobody was at the gates, so I just went in and set up camp at a empty camping spot. It's now 6 30am and I'm about to leave. I guess I successfully stealth camped...within a military base hahaha 

The Bike and the Gear

Gear

I'm riding a Trek 520 that I bought used. I got the bike because it has a steel frame that absorbs lots of shock.

Plenty of accessories are attached to the bike:

-Front + Back racks and panniers

-Lights + flag

- clipless pedals

-2 water bottle holders

And I'm carrying more stuff with me:

- Sleeping bag

-Tent

-toiletries

-spare spokes

-spare tubes

-propane cooking stove

-various tools for the bike (Allen wrenches, needle nose pliers, etc)

-flashlight

-knife

-sunglasses

-can opener

-duct tape

-spare battery tool, also has a compass and led light on it.

-Bluetooth portable speaker

-Tire pump
- and a 70in flat screen tv

Clothes:

-2 bike shirts

-2 padded bike shorts

-2 T shirts

-2 athletic shorts

-windbreaker

-3 pairs socks

-3 briefs

All together, the weight is surprisingly only about 15-20 lbs. However, this excludes the weight of the food that I'll also carry with me.

Welcome, about the trip, about me

Hi this is Justin! I'm from Ithaca New York, and I'm a 19 year old sophomore studying Physical Therapy at Daemen College in Buffalo. I love sports and any type of exercise.

I've always wanted to explore what I couldn't see from home. Over the next month I'll be going on an adventure on my Trek 520 bike to do some of this exploring.

Shout out to my friend Eric Sinton, he did a trip from LA to NY last year that gave me the idea.

Where I've been the last week + how I got to Florida:

I've already been travelling for about a week and a half! My family and I were in the Pacific Northwest on vacation until last Wednesday. My sister, Amy, and I flew to Florida to visit our grandparents while our parents flew home. The change in temperature, humidity, and terrain was enormous! Tomorrow, the 16th, I'll be starting my trip and Amy will fly back home.

The Destinations + Map: New Smyrna Beach FL ----> Ithaca NY

Link to the google maps (Copy and Paste it). This map is only the general route.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Jacksonville,+FL/New+Smyrna+Beach,+FL/Atlanta,+GA/Nashville,+TN/Louisville,+KY/Cincinnati,+OH/Columbus,+OH/Cleveland,+OH/Buffalo,+NY/Ithaca,+NY/@37.3084712,-88.2080005,5z/data=!4m62!4m61!1m5!1m1!1s0x88e5b716f1ceafeb:0xc4cd7d3896fcc7e2!2m2!1d-81.655651!2d30.3321838!1m5!1m1!1s0x88e7292b5700b65b:0xc1bb3239363bc87c!2m2!1d-80.9269984!2d29.0258191!1m5!1m1!1s0x88f5045d6993098d:0x66fede2f990b630b!2m2!1d-84.3879824!2d33.7489954!1m5!1m1!1s0x8864ec3213eb903d:0x7d3fb9d0a1e9daa0!2m2!1d-86.7816016!2d36.1626638!1m5!1m1!1s0x88690b1ab35bd511:0xd4d3b4282071fd32!2m2!1d-85.7584557!2d38.2526647!1m5!1m1!1s0x884051b1de3821f9:0x69fb7e8be4c09317!2m2!1d-84.5120196!2d39.1031182!1m5!1m1!1s0x883889c1b990de71:0xe43266f8cfb1b533!2m2!1d-82.9987942!2d39.9611755!1m5!1m1!1s0x8830ef2ee3686b2d:0xed04cb55f7621842!2m2!1d-81.6943605!2d41.49932!1m5!1m1!1s0x89d3126152dfe5a1:0x982304a5181f8171!2m2!1d-78.8783689!2d42.8864468!1m5!1m1!1s0x89d08182e0af88f7:0xae52768a56ece74!2m2!1d-76.5018807!2d42.4439614!3e1

I'm trying to avoid mountains and steep climbs. A route straight up the coast would have been shorter and less hilly, but there were places I wanted to see to the west of the Appalachians.

Where will I stay?

A website called WarmShowers is helping me find hosts in various places, but I won't be able to find a host to stay with every night. In such cases I'll camp in a tiny tent that I'm bringing along. My budget for shelter is pretty low so hotels are out of the question for the most part. If anyone reading this has friends in areas along my route that might let me camp in their yard, or stay with them, let me know!