Hi again. A year has passed since we started out on our adventure. During the trip, I filmed every day with my GoPro camera, I have now started editing and uploading these videos to my site:
http://www.webm8.co.uk/riddler/trans-am-2012.html
Each day has been condensed into 10-20minute videos. I will eventually make a 10minute video of the whole trip, speeded up, from start to finish. Now you can see pretty much all the highlights of the trip in these videos.
Enjoy.
Looks great from the photo's
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Monday, 13 August 2012
Airport home
I'm sitting at a rather nice airport in Portland now. The ride in was excellent, clear roads at 6am, which led straight to the airport. White lines passed either side of us as we whizzed along. It's pretty nice here, looks new and it seems to work well. I could be tired or maybe it's shell shock at the realisation that the trip is over. What to do now, where to go?? Jake had boxed my bike on Wednesday and I threw in lots of other stuff as my bag was filled to the brim!! I got stung at check in for being overweight, well, my bag, not me. If I had two bags I would have just paid $30 for an extra bag, instead of $60 odd for it being overweight. Grrrrrr. On top of that, $150 for my light bike. Crazy!!!! Not much I could do :(
Portland is a nice city, clean & crisp. Pretty new looking with a large young population. It's pretty chilled and laid back, would have liked to have spent more time here. Lots of tramps about though.
Just have to wait for my plane. Most of the group have now caught their planes, trains & automobiles home now. Work on Monday :(
I got to Dallas ok, lovely flight over and must have flown over part of the route somewhere. I got a view of the city in the distance, but no sign of J.R. anywhere. I wonder what everyone else is up to. I had a long wait here, 4 or so hours. Not much to do, a few shops but nothing worth buying! So no pressies guys. The plane was ok although the flight was pretty long.
Happiness is seeing a British airways jumbo pulling in. Lovely. I chomped a big meal before boarding as not eaten all day, found some tat to buy, nothing in duty free though. I boarded and like the previous flight, everyone was coughing and sneezing so I am bound to go down with something now. I got my nice seat, sat back and relaxed.
And relax! Champers to start with and a good steak meal followed later on. I watched The Hunger Games which was ok. Flying high over much of the land I had cycled over and heading home. Out over the Atlantic where three months earlier I had started peddling towards the Pacific. I have never been happier to see the onboard route of the little plane, edge closer and closer to home. I pissed over Ireland and through the clouds I could make out home. Fields heavy with crops, little towns and roads. Usually when returning from holidays, your not wanting to return, now, I was happy to be back.
It's only then, when I looked down upon England, that I realised what I had done, and I think, changed too. I guess we will see with that one. Dropping further out of the clouds, we followed the M4 down to Oxford, flew over Windsor castle and dropped into heathrow. I had hoped that we would fly over the Olympics site or our house, I had chosen my seat accordingly. Nope! Grrrr. I stepped foot on home soil with a big smile. It's a shame my nephews were not there to welcome me home though.
I had done it, cycled across a continent, just under four & a half thousand miles in three months. I had seen and done so much. What a great time I had and how lucky I am to have done it and survived it!! What next?? Afternoon tea with clotted cream ;)
Groan, Monday morning and back commuting to work, sucks. Bike is in the shop waiting to be put back together. At the gym spinning on the bike, it hardly feels I've been away. Nothing has changed, same fat old people trying helplessly to loose weight while going out for a Indian meal in the evenings. Work later, oh no!!!
I guess I have to end this blog properly soon. Thanks to everyone who helped put this trip together, the team leaders and the other guys on the 3month adventure. Going to miss you.
- Posted from my iPhone
Portland is a nice city, clean & crisp. Pretty new looking with a large young population. It's pretty chilled and laid back, would have liked to have spent more time here. Lots of tramps about though.
Just have to wait for my plane. Most of the group have now caught their planes, trains & automobiles home now. Work on Monday :(
I got to Dallas ok, lovely flight over and must have flown over part of the route somewhere. I got a view of the city in the distance, but no sign of J.R. anywhere. I wonder what everyone else is up to. I had a long wait here, 4 or so hours. Not much to do, a few shops but nothing worth buying! So no pressies guys. The plane was ok although the flight was pretty long.
Happiness is seeing a British airways jumbo pulling in. Lovely. I chomped a big meal before boarding as not eaten all day, found some tat to buy, nothing in duty free though. I boarded and like the previous flight, everyone was coughing and sneezing so I am bound to go down with something now. I got my nice seat, sat back and relaxed.
And relax! Champers to start with and a good steak meal followed later on. I watched The Hunger Games which was ok. Flying high over much of the land I had cycled over and heading home. Out over the Atlantic where three months earlier I had started peddling towards the Pacific. I have never been happier to see the onboard route of the little plane, edge closer and closer to home. I pissed over Ireland and through the clouds I could make out home. Fields heavy with crops, little towns and roads. Usually when returning from holidays, your not wanting to return, now, I was happy to be back.
It's only then, when I looked down upon England, that I realised what I had done, and I think, changed too. I guess we will see with that one. Dropping further out of the clouds, we followed the M4 down to Oxford, flew over Windsor castle and dropped into heathrow. I had hoped that we would fly over the Olympics site or our house, I had chosen my seat accordingly. Nope! Grrrr. I stepped foot on home soil with a big smile. It's a shame my nephews were not there to welcome me home though.
I had done it, cycled across a continent, just under four & a half thousand miles in three months. I had seen and done so much. What a great time I had and how lucky I am to have done it and survived it!! What next?? Afternoon tea with clotted cream ;)
Groan, Monday morning and back commuting to work, sucks. Bike is in the shop waiting to be put back together. At the gym spinning on the bike, it hardly feels I've been away. Nothing has changed, same fat old people trying helplessly to loose weight while going out for a Indian meal in the evenings. Work later, oh no!!!
I guess I have to end this blog properly soon. Thanks to everyone who helped put this trip together, the team leaders and the other guys on the 3month adventure. Going to miss you.
- Posted from my iPhone
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Day 82 - Eugene to Florence - THE END
Start
time: 06.53
Start location: Eugene
Start State: Oregon
Start weather: Overcast and cold
Total millage so far: 4,252.6
Finish time: 16.30
Finish location: Florence
Finish State: Oregon
Finish weather: Hot
Miles today: 84.34
Total millage so far: 4,336.90
Today's top speed: 35.2
Today's average speed: 14.8
Today’s ride time: 5hr 38min 57sec
Punctures - 8 (slow back wheel), (staple in back wheel), (major blowout), (back wheel 31/7/12) , (back wheel 01/8/12), (front wheel, slowly over past week, suddenly flat as stopped at hotel 07/8/12), (BANG after being mended from earlier 07/8/12), (2miles from the end 08/8.12)
Music played:
Rod Stewart - The Story So Far - The Very Best Of
Kate Bush - The Whole Story
The Big Chill
Blog for today:
Ok here goes. I'm writing this a few days later as I've not had time before. As always its harder to put into words what happened and to try and remember things too. The morning started out as another ride, albeit the last one. Everyone had mixed emotions about it, it was hard to take it in. The weather was cold and we had to leave the big city for the cycle lanes out of town and into the countryside. It was grey and cold, I put on both coats in the end just to keep warm. The scenery for the majority of the last day looked just like back home. I could have been cycling around Kent or Sussex & Surrey, same temperature and types of trees. The roads were slightly busy, mostly with logging trucks again, you could see huge swaths of forest having been cut down recently.
In Oregon their is much more gardening, in that people take more pride or spend more time and money in making their gardens look nice. The flowers today were lovely. Wee stopped off for a coffee and some food early on in the ride, I had skipped breakfast as I didn't feel like eating anything, so I picked up a muffin with some bacon etc in it. The next big stop for second breakfast was this little place on the main road. An old cafe with a young lady working behind the counter all on her own, making the meals one at a time. To say the service was slow would be an understatement. There must have been about 8 of us in there before the locals started turning up. I think some of them said they would come back later lol. The food looked good, but I just had toast then had a little nap while the others waited for their food. I had taken a couple of sleepers the night before to help me sleep as the ear plugs don't always help. I think I was still under the influence of them as I was still tired.
After breakfast there was a little climb, and it was pretty small. I was expecting something a bit bigger, oh well. On we pedalled, sometimes as a group, sometimes pulling away when there was a nice downhill to ride. It was hard to concentrate that day. From the off people were going through red lights, not stopping at white lines and pulling in front of cars. After a few hours on the road people settled down some and got into the ride. My mind was every here though, not able to stick on one thing for more than a few seconds. What to do when I get back, memories of The ride so far, friends and family and loved ones who have died. The miles counted down and before long we could start to smell the sea! WOW what a lovely smell that was. I started going faster and faster, taking on the hills with no problem, poor Ublad didn't know what was going on so had to work hard too to keep up, swapping places as the off-shore wind was becoming stronger. I stopped to take a photo of a house on a bridge when I got another puncture! 2miles out from the finish line!!! Can you believe it, sucks or what!! Pretty much all my punctures have happened in the last month, many in the last week! I pulled over and started working on it in the shade. Luckily the others turned up just as I was starting to put the new tube in. Jake worked his magic and put it back on in record breaking time, then we were off again.
1mile to go!!! Not far now. To the hotel to sort ourselves out, wait for the others, dump our bike bags, pick up the fireworks and have a quick drink and beer. Then we were off to the beach. This was it, the final ride, the last part of the adventure, dipping the front wheel into the Pacific Ocean. Less then 3months earlier we had put our back wheels into the Atlantic and set off on this crazy odyssey. We sadly lost Ollie early on in the trip, but at least Jake, his son, had taken his place for the final week. Across the bridge and turning off to the beach and dunes. Everyone excited. Where would Ben be, would he make it?? Yes he did. phew!
We pulled into the car park, got all our stuff together. I had packs of fireworks stuffed up my bag for the whole ride, so felt a little like Wile E Coyote about to be blown up lol. Up and over the high dunes and there it was, the Ocean, after over 4000miles, 11 States? I forget now lol, we had made it, made it to the Pacific. What a sight as the other riders carried their bikes across the sand to the waters edge. Ben waving the flag and trying to unfold his banner in the winds haha. Lots of photos were taken and everyone dipped their wheels in the water, what an atmosphere. The Then we held a little memorial for Ollie and each of us took some of his ashes to the sea and let him go. Very emotional. We let some fireworks which we had been carrying for the past 2months, since Kentucky and that was it. We carried our bikes back over the dunes, the adventure over. Three months of cycling across a continent had come to an end, our dreams had come true. There are many memories with this trip, some sad but mostly happy. Memories I will take with me forever. New friends made have been made, US & UK relations restored, a empire rebuilt lol. It has been great and I am sure I will be adding more to the blog over the coming weeks. The computer has been playing up today, so not sure if all i have written has come out. I guess if you want to know more about the trip, then you will just have to talk to me :)
There is so much more to write and talk about, a few days ago we saw a car being driven early in the morning by a guy wearing a hat but with no windscreen in the car! odd. The motorbikers in Mitchell with handle bar mirrors in the shape of the German iron cross. Yesterday while driving up the coast we saw whales in the ocean which was amazing. It will be odd not cycling 80odd miles each day and not seeing the group too, made lots of good friends and had lots of funny times. No more cookingor bloody sandwhiches though!! . I wonder if our fitness levels will drop fast when we get home, it will be odd to have missed the whole summer, even though apparently it has been the worst on record. Anyway, got to get up now. Back to London tomorrow.
Start location: Eugene
Start State: Oregon
Start weather: Overcast and cold
Total millage so far: 4,252.6
Finish time: 16.30
Finish location: Florence
Finish State: Oregon
Finish weather: Hot
Miles today: 84.34
Total millage so far: 4,336.90
Today's top speed: 35.2
Today's average speed: 14.8
Today’s ride time: 5hr 38min 57sec
Punctures - 8 (slow back wheel), (staple in back wheel), (major blowout), (back wheel 31/7/12) , (back wheel 01/8/12), (front wheel, slowly over past week, suddenly flat as stopped at hotel 07/8/12), (BANG after being mended from earlier 07/8/12), (2miles from the end 08/8.12)
Music played:
Rod Stewart - The Story So Far - The Very Best Of
Kate Bush - The Whole Story
The Big Chill
Blog for today:
Ok here goes. I'm writing this a few days later as I've not had time before. As always its harder to put into words what happened and to try and remember things too. The morning started out as another ride, albeit the last one. Everyone had mixed emotions about it, it was hard to take it in. The weather was cold and we had to leave the big city for the cycle lanes out of town and into the countryside. It was grey and cold, I put on both coats in the end just to keep warm. The scenery for the majority of the last day looked just like back home. I could have been cycling around Kent or Sussex & Surrey, same temperature and types of trees. The roads were slightly busy, mostly with logging trucks again, you could see huge swaths of forest having been cut down recently.
In Oregon their is much more gardening, in that people take more pride or spend more time and money in making their gardens look nice. The flowers today were lovely. Wee stopped off for a coffee and some food early on in the ride, I had skipped breakfast as I didn't feel like eating anything, so I picked up a muffin with some bacon etc in it. The next big stop for second breakfast was this little place on the main road. An old cafe with a young lady working behind the counter all on her own, making the meals one at a time. To say the service was slow would be an understatement. There must have been about 8 of us in there before the locals started turning up. I think some of them said they would come back later lol. The food looked good, but I just had toast then had a little nap while the others waited for their food. I had taken a couple of sleepers the night before to help me sleep as the ear plugs don't always help. I think I was still under the influence of them as I was still tired.
After breakfast there was a little climb, and it was pretty small. I was expecting something a bit bigger, oh well. On we pedalled, sometimes as a group, sometimes pulling away when there was a nice downhill to ride. It was hard to concentrate that day. From the off people were going through red lights, not stopping at white lines and pulling in front of cars. After a few hours on the road people settled down some and got into the ride. My mind was every here though, not able to stick on one thing for more than a few seconds. What to do when I get back, memories of The ride so far, friends and family and loved ones who have died. The miles counted down and before long we could start to smell the sea! WOW what a lovely smell that was. I started going faster and faster, taking on the hills with no problem, poor Ublad didn't know what was going on so had to work hard too to keep up, swapping places as the off-shore wind was becoming stronger. I stopped to take a photo of a house on a bridge when I got another puncture! 2miles out from the finish line!!! Can you believe it, sucks or what!! Pretty much all my punctures have happened in the last month, many in the last week! I pulled over and started working on it in the shade. Luckily the others turned up just as I was starting to put the new tube in. Jake worked his magic and put it back on in record breaking time, then we were off again.
1mile to go!!! Not far now. To the hotel to sort ourselves out, wait for the others, dump our bike bags, pick up the fireworks and have a quick drink and beer. Then we were off to the beach. This was it, the final ride, the last part of the adventure, dipping the front wheel into the Pacific Ocean. Less then 3months earlier we had put our back wheels into the Atlantic and set off on this crazy odyssey. We sadly lost Ollie early on in the trip, but at least Jake, his son, had taken his place for the final week. Across the bridge and turning off to the beach and dunes. Everyone excited. Where would Ben be, would he make it?? Yes he did. phew!
We pulled into the car park, got all our stuff together. I had packs of fireworks stuffed up my bag for the whole ride, so felt a little like Wile E Coyote about to be blown up lol. Up and over the high dunes and there it was, the Ocean, after over 4000miles, 11 States? I forget now lol, we had made it, made it to the Pacific. What a sight as the other riders carried their bikes across the sand to the waters edge. Ben waving the flag and trying to unfold his banner in the winds haha. Lots of photos were taken and everyone dipped their wheels in the water, what an atmosphere. The Then we held a little memorial for Ollie and each of us took some of his ashes to the sea and let him go. Very emotional. We let some fireworks which we had been carrying for the past 2months, since Kentucky and that was it. We carried our bikes back over the dunes, the adventure over. Three months of cycling across a continent had come to an end, our dreams had come true. There are many memories with this trip, some sad but mostly happy. Memories I will take with me forever. New friends made have been made, US & UK relations restored, a empire rebuilt lol. It has been great and I am sure I will be adding more to the blog over the coming weeks. The computer has been playing up today, so not sure if all i have written has come out. I guess if you want to know more about the trip, then you will just have to talk to me :)
There is so much more to write and talk about, a few days ago we saw a car being driven early in the morning by a guy wearing a hat but with no windscreen in the car! odd. The motorbikers in Mitchell with handle bar mirrors in the shape of the German iron cross. Yesterday while driving up the coast we saw whales in the ocean which was amazing. It will be odd not cycling 80odd miles each day and not seeing the group too, made lots of good friends and had lots of funny times. No more cookingor bloody sandwhiches though!! . I wonder if our fitness levels will drop fast when we get home, it will be odd to have missed the whole summer, even though apparently it has been the worst on record. Anyway, got to get up now. Back to London tomorrow.
Good luck boys in my bag.Camera lens needed cleaning, so all todays photo's are messed up. I will just have to do the ride again lol
Getting ready to leave
I think he has been waiting 3months to see this sign
paint your body?
Last day of junk food
57 miles to go
Breakfast first though, second breakfast which lasted 2hours - almost
Christmas is coming!
Hey grandad, time to finish off the ride.
Been away from some time?
Getting closer
The Fall Guy?
Can smell the sea!!
House on a bridge, then a flat tire
1 mile to go
Catalogue pose
Woop woop
The long walk up and over the dunes to get to the ocean.
Made it!
Ben arrives just in time with flag, banner and champers
I've done it!
At last, I've turned the Yanks into Brits!
Woohooo!!
Result!
Nice view from my hotel
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Day 81 - McKenzie Bridge to Eugene
Start
time: 07.25
Start location: McKenzie Bridge
Start State: Oregon
Start weather: Cool
Total millage so far: 4,186.4
Finish time: 13.57
Finish location: Eugene
Finish State: Oregon
Finish weather: Warm
Miles today: 66.17
Total millage so far: 4,252.6
Today's top speed: 32.5
Today's average speed: 15.5
Today’s ride time: 4hr 15min 30sec
Punctures - 7 (slow back wheel), (staple in back wheel), (major blowout), (back wheel 31/7/12) , (back wheel 01/8/12), (front wheel, slowly over past week, suddenly flat as stopped at hotel 07/8/12), (BANG after being mended from earlier 07/8/12)
Music played:
The Very Best Of Power Ballads
Rod Stewart - The Story So Far - The Very Best Of
Blog for today:
Oh dear, what to write today. I guess it is a really important day, but its getting late again and i want to get to bed before tomorrow, the last day. Hmmm, so a great ride, we didn't get the 6 breakfasts we had planned for, but had one amazing one. Roads were mostly good, especially when we got off the main road. It was even better, even the hills were great and effortlessly to climb. Tomorrow will be interesting, emotional. Not sure if I will have time to do a blog tomorrow either. It's always best to write it as soon as you can so you can add in all the detail and fun things which happened that day. Exciting, nervous, scared, sleepless night????
Start location: McKenzie Bridge
Start State: Oregon
Start weather: Cool
Total millage so far: 4,186.4
Finish time: 13.57
Finish location: Eugene
Finish State: Oregon
Finish weather: Warm
Miles today: 66.17
Total millage so far: 4,252.6
Today's top speed: 32.5
Today's average speed: 15.5
Today’s ride time: 4hr 15min 30sec
Punctures - 7 (slow back wheel), (staple in back wheel), (major blowout), (back wheel 31/7/12) , (back wheel 01/8/12), (front wheel, slowly over past week, suddenly flat as stopped at hotel 07/8/12), (BANG after being mended from earlier 07/8/12)
Music played:
The Very Best Of Power Ballads
Rod Stewart - The Story So Far - The Very Best Of
Blog for today:
Oh dear, what to write today. I guess it is a really important day, but its getting late again and i want to get to bed before tomorrow, the last day. Hmmm, so a great ride, we didn't get the 6 breakfasts we had planned for, but had one amazing one. Roads were mostly good, especially when we got off the main road. It was even better, even the hills were great and effortlessly to climb. Tomorrow will be interesting, emotional. Not sure if I will have time to do a blog tomorrow either. It's always best to write it as soon as you can so you can add in all the detail and fun things which happened that day. Exciting, nervous, scared, sleepless night????
Hot springs
For the past 80odd days this has been my view down
Where's Bungle and George?
Christmas heaven
Great place to eat
chomp
Best pie so far
More Simpsons?
Arrested at last!
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