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"Well, there is the country guys..."

First, I would just like to apologize for the lack of postings and pictures on this blog as of late.  We began riding much longer days as the trip went along which made us begin to value sleep and rest much higher than some other activities, including this blog, and they sort of fell by the wayside.  So, again I apologize for that.  But, no fear, because this is going to be the blog of all blogs, the "Super Blog" if you will, and all of your dread and dismay for the lack of posts will be wiped away and you can finally go back to peaceful nights of rest filled with plenty of dreams and REM cycles. 

So here goes.... Well for one.... umm well we ahh biked across the country.  Yeah we made it! Who would have thunk it but we actually bicycled our way across the entire damn country.  And we did it in pretty good time.  We started riding on June 11th and we arrived at our final destination on August 5th making it 55 days to get from San Francisco to Long Beach Island, NJ.  One night towards the end of our trip I sat down and reviewed my skills from 4th grade and crunched some numbers with some long division and here is what I came up with....

-55 days of bike trip

-53 days of actual riding

-4026 total miles (might be a little off as some of the days were guestimates)

-59.96 miles per day for the first 4 weeks

-83.22 miles per day for the last 4 weeks

-73.22 M.P.D. for the entire trip

At this point there are so many different stories and adventures to talk about since my last post that I could honestly be writing for the next week.  But, I will try to highlight some of our more interesting stories as a fill you in on the end of our trip.  Well, as you can see from some of the stats above this second part of the trip we began to do quite a bit more miles than we had been previously doing.  The terrain through the states of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey (the states we went through since I last posted) were for the most part much flatter than the god-awful states like Utah and Nevada.  Don't get me wrong there were some really bad hills and steep inclines, like in the Ozarks (Missouri) where we had possibly our hardest single climb, but it was much smaller than our previous hikes but it was a hell of a lot steeper.  Basically, if you stopped pedaling you would fall over and I am pretty sure that Kara did about 3 times.  Our other very hilly parts were Eastern Kentucky and parts of Virginia, like "Big A Mountain" (I think you can figure out the "A") and Mount Vesuvius (a 3-mile hill with an elevation change of over 2000 ft) but on the whole, even with these steep parts, we eased through these states with much more splendor than in our amateur days on the Western Express.  

Other than biking a great deal more miles per day towards the end of the trip, we also ran into some issues with our bank rolls, or lack there of towards the end.  Now some may see this as a bad thing (maybe everyone but myself), but I for one believe it was a blessing in disguise because it forced us to be much more thrifty and much more adventurous when it came to camping which caused us to meet many people that we never would have come across otherwise.  One example being the firemen from Farmington, Missouri.  We asked to camp outside of their station and they went one step farther by offering us lazy boys in the actual fire department.  We got to sit around and talk with them, watch all the TV we wanted to and even got to shower.  There actually was a fire call that night and none of us even woke up for it amazingly enough.  Besides meeting these fine men of duty, Farmington also brings back another fabulous story from our epic quest....THE MILK CHUG CHALLENGE!  The milk chug challenge is a tall task for anyone to take on that consists of trying to finish an entire gallon of chocolate milk in one hour and to keep it down.  Naturally, J thought that he was just the man for the task.  So here goes J, he is chugging away and looking like a champ as he finished the first half in record time (12 minutes).  Now, only half a gallon and he will join the immortals up on Mount Olympus (no we didn't climb this mountain... maybe next year).  But he began drinking slower and slower, and facial and body gestures began looking more and more pained and agonized... and then it hit him, "Oh mylanta I must go outside at once" (Yes, J talks like that).  Oh ya forgot to fill all of you in on the scene.... we were sitting in a Ponderosa Steakhouse eating a delicious buffet while J was pounding away this chocolate milk.  So J ran outside and tucked away into a little corner of the front garden and here is where I witnessed one of the most glorious and spectacular vomits of my life.  Basically, a fire hydrant of brown, chocolatey milk came gushing out of J's mouth for what seemed like 3 1/2 minutes (just a guess).  And that is how I believe all MILK CHUG CHALLENGES end which is why they are so amazing.  J, I know you really wanted to be up there with Zeus, but in my mind you still are champ so keep the head up high.  So J wasn't able to do it, but... well, being the smart young lads that we are, Dan and I thought, "hey maybe I can do it and J's vomit was a fluke" so we tried the same challenge the following day.... Lets just say that J's wasn't a fluke and end it at that.  Well, that is that....now back to our interesting places that we slept.  Other nights rest took place behind churches, in people's back yards, behind schools, behind grocery stores, in town parks, on baseball fields, and even behind a State Farm Agency building just inside the border of New Jersey (we felt very safe and in good hands that night).  

From the State Farm Agency building we rode 68 miles to Kara's house in Jobstown.  Now we had some interesting things happen to us on this trip, but it is possible that one of the most unbelievable things happened to us within the last 5 miles of our journey to Kara's house.  We were given a police escort to Kara's house.  So picture it.... Kara, J, Dan, and I riding down the middle of the road with cop cars (flashing lights and all) in front of us and behind us courting us down the road to Kara's abode.  All the while there are photographers driving up ahead of us, taking pictures, and then riding ahead again to do the same thing.  Now the hoopla did not stop there.... oh no siree.  We turned onto the final road and in the distance we saw a banner across the road and a huge crowd (and by huge crowd I mean like 20 family members) of people hooting and hollering and chanting our names.  So we rode through the banner and were finally  welcomed home.  Now I love you Deb (I hope that I can call you that and if not then that is a typo and I meant to say Mrs. Pigott) but that may have been the most absurdly ridiculous thing to have happened to me on this entire trip.  None of us could really believe that all of that was actually happening, but we were reminded by the multiple newspaper articles that came out the following days about us, another thing set up by the Debster.  After our arrival, there was a party in honor of our return back to New Jersey and we all got some much needed R and R.  The next day was a slow start, but we eventually left Kara's house and made it to Long Beach Island by about 4:30.  We immediately jumped off of our bikes and began walking onto the beach.  We walked down to the water, still in our spandex bike shorts and jerseys, and stood at the foot of the ocean looking out into the water.  And although we were all so excited to be done it was a very strange feeling to be looking out across the Atlantic Ocean, going as far east as we could and knowing that our journey was now finished.  As we all looked out over the water in silence I remember one of us looked up and remarked, "Well, there is the country guys..." and we all gave a little chuckle.  In 55 days we had gone from San Francisco all the way to the beach on LBI and we were all in a way dumbfounded by what we had just accomplished.  However, with the odd feeling of being done with our bike trip aside, we were all so excited to have a few days off and enjoy our days with Rob and Beth and the rest of the fam who so graciously took us into their beach house for a few days.

But, now back to the real world I guess.  I am now back home in Sauquoit trying to prepare for the final year of college and soccer, which is rapidly approaching and the rest of the gang is back at their homes doing that whole "real world" find a job thing (or maybe they aren't).  But on a more serious note, we really do appreciate all of the help and generous support we have gotten throughout this trip from our friends and families, and even from the complete strangers that we met throughout our journey who either took us into their homes, or let us stay in their yard, or let us do laundry, or whatever it may have been.  So thank you all once again and we could not have made it without you.

Hold up, I can't end with that mushy stuff so here are some funny quotes and awards that I came up with for the trip....

"So uh you guys ready to go" (Me, normally said to Kara/J) (they made fun of me for how much I said it) (I made fun of them for how much we waited for them)

"What you dare me to get...." (anon)

"Yeah my uncle did this trip only he started in China" (boy that we met in a park in Missouri)

"Dan come look at these stars" (J said to Dan, as J and I were peeing outside of our tent at 3 in the morning and Dan was sleeping)

"I hit that hog straight perpendicular.... I T-boned it" (Greg from Middlegate)

"It was still cold when it came out" (J after MILK CHUG CHALLENGE)

"But we have no idea what is out there" (said very dramatically by Dan, talking about riding on a very well populated highway) (a little bit of an exaggeration)

"What you trying to do? You trying to stick that little itty bitty tent in that little itty bitty bag?" (repeated twice by a man in Missouri to us) (his voice sounded like a banjo if you can picture that)

"Holy Mackeral" (Rod from Dove Creek)

"Biking across the country is a lot like farming.... you don't have to be crazy.... but it sure as hell helps" (said by a farmer to us one morning before we started riding)

AWARDS

Flatulence Award: Jason Keil

Temper Tantrum Award: Dan Pigott (when lost cooking pot and also in Wytheville outside of Arby's...you know what I am talking about Dan)

Most Unique Sleep Award: Brian Homer Gunther (actually a double award for my snoring in the tent and also for my one nights rest in a bathtub....oops.)

Bike Safety Award: Kara Pigott (hands down the safest biker in the world)

Popped Tire Award (aka Fat Ass Award): Jason Keil (for popping what seemed like 230 tubes)

Most Falls Award: Kara Pigott (about 230 logged falls on the trip, none of which while actually riding.... all while trying to stop and forgetting that her feet were in the clips)

Best Fall Award: Dan Pigott ( riding through Delaware he took a huge spill and none of us really know how it occurred....he didn't get hurt)

Well, in the words of my forefathers, that's all she wrote there fellers...... Sayonara Suckers.

Homecoming Time Update

The bikers are making great time, they can really pedal. They plan to arrive at Rowan University today, Sunday, Dan's Alma mater. Now with only about 50 miles to Jobstown, arrival will now be around 5pm on Monday.

Homecoming Event

The bikers were in Charlottesville, Virginia last night and met a wonderful couple who was letting them sleep in their yard. Now that they are off the Transamerica Bike route, they are winging their way towards Delaware. They assure me they are still on schedule and plan to arrive in Jobstown, NJ on Monday, Aug 4th, early evening.
A homecoming welcome celebration is set for Monday at The Pigott's (Dan & Kara's home), 151 Springfield Meetinghouse Rd., Jobstown, NJ. As of now we have local newspapers and Philly TV stations, fox29 and CBS3, covering the homecoming. The local police will also help out with an escort through town.
All are welcome to cheer them home. They are planning a 6pm (approximate) arrival.
email questions to debpigott@comcast.net

Almost Home!!!

The fabulous four spent the night in a motel in Wytheville, Virginia waiting for the local bike shop to open on Tuesday morning. They have had a few!! mechanical difficulties and are in need of some minor repairs. Kara said she "threw" her bike after another flat tire, which was about the eighth for the group in less than a week. Out of spare tubes they decided to stay in Wytheville, relax and get some much needed rest. Dan Armstrong did want to go another 50 miles and "risk" a breakdown, but the group decided against it, even Brian Homer LeMond choose not to take the "risk".
Their final leg will take them north through Virginia, into Maryland and then to Delaware where they will cross into New Jersey, unless they turn around and go back, as I hear Kara and Jason have contemplated.
A homecoming celebration will take place either the 3rd or 4th of August at the Pigott's in Jobstown, NJ, a stopover before their last day ride to Long Beach Island. I will keep everyone updated as they get closer. Signs, cheering and a party will welcome them home, all are invited to join the fun.

Update

Here's the whereabouts of the Riders:

July 20 :  They crossed into Illinois.  They found a short cut that cut off 80 miles.

July 21:  Kentucky!!

July 24:  Berea, Kentucky