Monthly Archives: August 2011
By Cliff on 31 August, 2011

It's strange to think that one year ago today, on a strangely warm and sunny late August day I got onto my bike and rode away through the streets of London towards the coast. It was funny that within mere minutes of leaving, someone had excitedly asked where we had come from, where we had ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 30 August, 2011

It's always nicer knowing that you have a short ride ahead of you, especially when you're in the company of such nice hosts. Pat and Mary Jo are a couple of the nicest most down to earth people we've met, and they seem to like nothing more than to see people with big appetites. Which ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 29 August, 2011

With Sparky kindly leading us out of Madison, it was an easy day's cycle along another bike trail- the Glacial Drumlin State Trail. As we all know, a drumlin is the long ridge or hill created by the effects of ice on the underlying ground. I don't think this is particularly relevant to the trail ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 28 August, 2011

It's amazing the way you can go from cycling everyday, without a break, to having a day off and feeling like it's the most natural thing in the world. I tried to sleep in late today, but by 8am my body wanted to get up. Well, partially my body, partially the cat squeaking at ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 27 August, 2011

It felt like it took a while finishing today, but then I suppose it always does when you're cycling through a large city. Still, being in Madison is a great feeling, not only because it's a beautiful town, but also because I know tomorrow I don't have to cycle. Not one bit. Probably. There were ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 26 August, 2011

Its not the gravelly ground that gets you, after a day cycling the rail trails. Its the constant bridges, and road crossings, where the road surfaces changes, or juts up jerk you back into consciousness. The trails are great, generally speaking. Certainly a nicer experience than the car filled highways, or steep rises and falls ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 25 August, 2011

Sparta is a strange little town- stranger even than many of the small towns we've passed through so far. As soon as we emerged from the trail that we had spent the morning on, signs were prominently on display proclaiming that Sparta was "The Bike Capital of America", while others went further still to suggest ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 24 August, 2011

As abruptly and unceremoniously as when he sat down after crossing the Rockies, beer in hand and sweat dripping from his face, we parted ways with our recent third wheel, Jesse heading left, and us right. It's been strange cycling with someone else who so easily fit into our duo (even if he did try ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 23 August, 2011

Today was a bit of a misery. A combination of the heat, the roads, the hills and the distance made for a long and exhausting day... Despite the heavy storm that descended on Minneapolis last night, taking down some trees nearby, there was still a muggy feel to the air as we left the kind ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring
By Cliff on 22 August, 2011

Minneapolis has a population of under 400,000. And yet somehow it feels like the biggest city I've cycled through in my life. Having spent the last month riding through some of the smallest towns I've ever seen, this has more or less blown my mind. And I live in London, with all nigh on ...
Posted in America, Around the World, Touring