On The Road Again

Let's set the scene and have a look at what can possibly go wrong.

• Have I been up until half 2 drinking? Of course I have (great evening with my couchsurfing host, Iva.).
• Have I woken up early resulting in very little sleep? About 6, and unable to get back to sleep.
• Are my energy levels at their peak? Not quite, but getting there at last. Good enough for a 40 mile ride easily.
• Do I have enough energy? Maybe not. The ridiculous temperatures suppress appetite so I've not been eating quite as much as I should.
• Are there any conditions that may make cycling difficult? Only some massive hills, temperatures in the high 30s, and a new fear / caution of picking up too much speed and the abundance of potholes, rocks, tree debris and roadkill littering the roads.
• Are there any holidays coming up that may make hotels more full than usual? It's only the Saturday before 4th July.
• Have there been any natural phenomenon in the area that could cause people to seek refuge in hotels? There's been a massive storm that's knocked out power for millions, so, yes.

I left Pittsburgh and took things easy knowing that I had loads of time to get to Steubenville. I left Pennsylvania, crossed West Virginia and made it into Steubenville Ohio for about 7, so later than I'd have liked. Cycling up and down some serious hills in really high temperatures is tough. I'm taking on 6 or 7 litres of water everyday to keep hydrated. Every single room in Steubenville and neighbouring Weirton was taken due to some university event. Every single one. So what to do? After a bit of looking on the internet the best option seemed to be cycle 25 miles or so south down to Wheeling where there are more hotels.

Left Steubenville looking for the scary Market Street bridge (metal grid surface, slippy as hell, not fun on a bike) which I completely missed leaving me on a busy duel carriageway. It got dark, and then the roadworks began. Lanes filtered into a barricaded single lane surrounded with concrete only just wide enough for these stupid sized trucks they have over here. There is no way I'm cycling along that so resort to something that I've had to do before: use the hard shoulder of the other carriageway going against the traffic. This worked out for a little bit, until that too became a concrete encased single lane. Well, back to the last turn off and see if I could follow the road. Brilliant. That's right, Brilliant Ohio. From what I saw of the town it was anything but, however it did get me back onto the right road. Only a mile or two further down the road, more roadworks. With things even darker, these roadworks aren't going to be cycled. As ever, if you don't ask, you don't get, and after asking I got a lift past all the roadworks. Cycling in the dark is not fun. I've done it before and I ran over a squirrel (kind of like a squidgy speed bump). As you cycle along and see something in the spotlight ahead of you, you only have an instant to figure out if it's a rock or a bear and how to avoid it and the pothole on the other side of it (assuming you see the pothole, but best just to assume it's there because it probably is). Fortunately I only ran over an opossum (crunchy) so made it to Wheeling safely. First hotel I came to, I didn't even make it to the door before I was told that it was full, and that all the other hotels are probably full too due to a major baseball event going on. At half 10, this is not news you want to hear. Next hotel, and they were full too. However, give the story of cycling 2200 miles and they can check a couple of rooms as one may have checked in and then checked out again making it available. Half 11, and I have a bed. Result!

Evidence of the storm - more and more common across Ohio

Getting further from the East coast, I can begin to see more signs of the America we all know and love (to take the piss out of), especially as I partook in what must be a Sunday (if not daily) tradition for the elderly, the obese, and the elderly obese: the KFC buffet. I broke with tradition and even had some of the vegetables on offer. Struggling through my third piece of deep fried chicken, I saw a guy load up a plate with nothing but chicken. There must have been 6 pieces. And as I was leaving, he'd loaded up a second plate, again with nothing but chicken. Nothing has made me crave Mum's cooking like this before. In fact, nothing has made me crave Mum's cooking before. But, this reminds me of a conversation I was listening in to in Harrisburg (I was just in no fit state to make a coherent argument at the time). Someone was saying that they didn't want a socialised health care because they didn't want to pay for some obese person's medication. That is forgetting one simple thing though - economics. Surely, in a country with over 50% obesity, any insurance company must generate money by ensuring that the payments from every two policies covers all the usual costs for accidents etc for 2 people, and the diabetes and dialysis treatments associated with obesity for 1 person. As there's so many fat people, everyone's paying for the crippling rates of obesity anyway.

On my travels I've been reunited with an old friend - the humble Mars Bar. Before I've bemoaned the lack of the Mars Bar because it's just so full of sugar which is essential for cycling, but it's been found again: the Milky Way. Those in the UK will know how confusing this is and why I couldn't find the Mars Bar; while the Milky Way is related to the Mars Bar, it's just not adequate enough for a serious sugar fix.

The benefits of getting lost in Ohio

Back on the road, I missed a turning. Getting lost can have its benefits because the scenery is awesome, however the roads suck. Several miles of gravel pathway, not too unlike a certain picnic area I was at not too long ago. Got horrifically lost, but eventually made it to Cambridge to find that all the hotels were full thanks to the recent storm knocking out the power everywhere, apart from 1 hotel charging $150 plus tax, and there wasn't even a breakfast! I'm going to be well happy once the power's back up and everyone stops staying in motels. And when it cools down a little.

Blind Date

She likes a bit of rough and tumble but has been known to crack under pressure. Say hello to helmet number one!

Helmet number one!

Up next, she's fun and fruity and promises to protect your melon. It's helmet number two!

Helmet number two!

And last but not least, helmet number three. Bold and and a little bit blue, she's sure to turn a few heads.

Helmet number three!

Well Cilla, it's been a lorra lorra fun, but tonight I'm going to take home helmet number three! And why is it I always look like I'm gurning in my photos? New helmet though. Same as before, but a bit more vibrant and with fewer scuffs and impacts.

Stu: Now With Added Scars!

Warning: Pictures don't match paragraphs.

First of all, thank you for the support and messages since the accident and my last post. I want this blog to document my whole trip. My metal state is an important part of that and to ignore it in favour of documenting sights seen and activities done wouldn't give a true reflection of a trip of this magnitude. So, this is as good a place as any to carry on.

Pittsburgh PA

As I'm sure we're all aware, things were pretty crappy last week. Energy levels down, confidence hiding in a corner, and a desire just to curl up and not watch the world go by. Since then, things went a little more downhill. The gaping and oozing holes in my face were coupled with feeling returning to my lip. A sign that things are healing, but some serious pain. I thought things may not be so bad so I got a Subway one night. Took an hour to eat and the Dr Pepper (like Coke, it kills everything) had me in tears. I spent a couple of days without brushing me teeth and eating as little as possible. Eventually found a CVS with some Red Cross CankerSore (a staggering 20% benzocaine) which did an incredible job of numbing my tongue and making me drool.

Pittsburgh PA

World's largest electric guitar, Carnegie Science Center

Things have become better though. I made it to Pittsburgh where CouchSurfing has come up trumps. I had one night in a motel a fair distance out of town, but then stayed with a guy called Somesh for a couple of nights. I slept well into the morning and didn't leave bed until lunchtime and I started feeling quite a bit better. My wounds seem to be healing alright which is going to make things so much better. Not sure what the wound on my lip is going to do, but it looks like my nose will be alright with just a scar or two and maybe a bit of a crater. Most annoying thing now is trying to avoid scratching or wiping my nose as I just get me fingers covered in gunk every time. I'm now staying with a girl called Iva and we've been out and about seeing some sights and cycling across the city in 35+ °C heat. At the moment, I'm well on the mend and just need to get my stamina up and get used to high speeds again before I'm back to how things were. For anyone out there who somehow manages to replicate my faceplant and disfigure themselves, my advice is simple - antibiotics, anesthetic, sleep for a week.

National Aviary

So that covers the effects of crashing, but there are longer term factors that affects what goes on in me head. Anyone who's done loads of business travel will know how functional hotels and motels are. They all provide the same services, have the same standards, have the same TV channels showing Avatar every Sunday, are comfortable enough, but day after day they offer no feeling of 'home'. You can rest, you can sleep, you can sit in your pants dropping crumbs all over the bed, but you can never fully relax. A related factor is the loneliness. You interact with people (mostly in motels or restaurants) but as you're always on the move you don't really get the opportunity to fully know and understand anyone. I haven't seen a familiar face since I left DC on the 16th April. For the moment, this isn't affecting me too much and I believe that this is an outcome of my depression. I became introvert and denied that I had any problems, and now many negative feelings kind of get pushed to one side and ignored. The best way I an describe it is that my mood is generally empty and isn't so easily influenced by outside factors. So for me, I focus on the cycling and getting to the next State capital and I can cope with that. For anyone else, this could be an incredibly lonely trip which could really get you down.

Phipps Conservatory

More than enough of that, so back to what's been happening. Firstly, cycling anywhere near a city the size of Pittsburgh sucks! After conquering the last few mountains the roads changed from country roads to 6 lane behemoths. I also got the first bit of abuse shouted at me for ages. For anyone thinking of shouting abuse at cyclists, shouting 'FUCK YOU!' in a really high pitched whiny voice scares about as much as a 6 year old girl carrying a bunch of flowers. Once in Pittsburgh I was down to my last $21 in cash. Time to go to the cash machine, except that two of them couldn't complete the transaction. Bloody Halifax! No idea why they suspended the PIN, but it all got cleared up easily enough after 5 minutes of navigating their bastard automatic answering service.

A genuine $2 bill - I didn't know they existed either

Tuesday was a phenomenal day of food and science. Had lunch at the Red Oak Cafe in Oakland. Just a normal cafe really, but some of the best food I've had here in the States. Another factor in my mental health is the food. Most of it is chains and sandwiches and burgers and fries with everything and deep fried this and deep fried that or Italian that has no resemblance to authentic Italian other than it contains pasta. But this place had genuine food. I even had that grain stuff that has no taste and only vegans, health food fanatics and celiacs know about. After that I went to the Carnegie Science Center; guitars, robots (I drew a game of air-hockey against a robot) and a WWII submarine. Not as good as the Connecticut Science Center, but still a great afternoon. On the way home I went into Hello Bistro. It was calling me for some reason and I was expecting a typical get-shown-to-a-seat-with-a-menu-of-steaks-and-burgers kind of affair. Turns out the place wasn't opening for another couple of days and they were doing a practice run of everything. They had burgers, but their main thing was essentially doing salad with the Subway process of constructing it as you go along. Most salads you get over here are side salads before a meal with a few leaves hanging over the edge of a small plate and some dressing to throw over the top. This was done properly with cutting and mixing and it was good. Two good meals with fresh ingredients and no deep-fat frying (one of which was free) in one day really cheered us up.

Other activities in Pittsburgh include the National Aviary, some late-night table-tennis, some slacklining, and the Phipps Conservatory botanical garden. How much better things would be if I weren't on antibiotics and could have a few beers!

Tiff: 1999 - 2012

In other news, we've had to say goodbye to another family member - Tiff The Dog (named after a 7 legged rabbit called 'Tiff The Dog', with one leg on his back so he could hop along the ceiling, who lived in a treehouse under the sea before the colour blue was invented). I'd like to take a moment to remember some of her most memorable achievements:

• 12 dry Weetabix
• 1 large box of Thornton's Special Toffee
• 1 kg of margarine
• 6 creme eggs (including most of the wrappers)
• 1 large bag of fruit pastels (on multiple occasions)
• The list continues, I just can't remember or haven't heard
• 
  

Dark Times

The new cycling get-up.

With some new antibiotics and new antibiotic ointment I think the wounds are doing a little better. Still looks nasty as hell though. With the inability to dress the wounds, I've come up with the stunning solution to protect them from the elements you can see above - a dust mask. Keeps dust away from the pools of gel I have to smear across me face and it also stops me from eating quite so many flies. On the negative side, it reduces the amount of oxygen I can take in while breathing heavily (which is important for those anonymous phone calls), makes me even hotter and makes taking on water more difficult which is all a pain in the arse when you're cycling up some dirty great mountains in 35 °C heat. You should also notice the front of me helmet which took a battering during my crash and shows how much worse things could have been. Once I'm somewhere with a population I think it could, or probably should, be gracefully retired.

Bald Knob Summit, Allegheny Mountains, PA

New achievement today: I rode Bald Knob and at 2906 feet it's the biggest I've tackled yet (seriously, who names these mountains and what were they compensating for?)!

Mentally, things aren't great at the minute. I'm lacking energy and I can get fairly self-conscious so I want to sit in the corner of a room to hide rather than the usual people-watching. My lip doesn't move properly either so people are having even more trouble with me accent. Realistically, if things turn bad I could end up in hospital again needing surgery. Even if things go well I could need surgery. This means that I may have to come home early, but I have to figure out at what point I say that the injuries are that bad. Is it better to play things safe and miss out on the rest of this adventure, or carry on and risk things turning nasty? Blatantly I'm going to carry on. This adventure is to see what I can achieve, and the injury and this mood are part of that adventure.

Pennsylvania

Stu - 0, Gravel - 1

Blue Ridge Mountain Pennsylvania

Yesterday was a pretty rough day. Started off with things being overcast and kind of cool. As I started climbing and turned round a corner the clouds suddenly cleared and the temperature just soared. I climbed from 600 feet to 2123 feet, and then did it again, and again. Severely dehydrated I went looking for some water.

Turned into a picnic area and stacked the bike bad. I was on a gravel path and some stone lifted and turned me front wheel so it wasn't straight when it landed. I went arse over tit and landed on me face. Picked meself up to find blood pouring from me face. A guy with a three year old daughter at the picnic area called us an ambulance and I got a trip to hospital to get cleaned up properly. I was only in there for a few hours before I got a lift back to me bike. I even got picked up by a Belgian while walking down the hill to find a motel for a couple of nights. Wounds include the odd scrape and cut on me limbs, but the worst injuries were to me face. I ate a load of gravel and shredded me bottom lip. Me top lip has been badly bruised so both lips are twice the size they should be which makes eating and drinking not as easy as it should be. I lost some skin from my nose, but the worst was the chunk of skin I lost from underneath my nose. Think Freddy Kruger but on a very small scale. I lost a portion of mustache so this may be the end of me beard. I was hoping to have a handlebar mustache once home, but now it'll just look ridiculous.

In hospital, Bedford PA

Finally, two milestones have been reached. My unintentional and failed acrobatics happened near enough on the 2000 mile mark. Also, many thanks to the Tilbrooks for taking the fundraising total past the £500 mark.

Where for art thou, Romeo?

Feeling: Mothered.

Nuclear Power Plant, 3 Mile Island, Harrisburg PA

What a difference a guide makes. An intention of mine was to experience life across America as it's experienced by the people who live here, and for the most part I've failed at that. But Mary has been incredible in showing me around Harrisburg and the surrounding area. After getting the bike into the shop for a new rear wheel we've seen quite a bit starting with a drive onto 3 Mile Island - the location of a partial nuclear meltdown in 1979.

Beverage, cigar, and 1900 miles complete

We had a quick trip into Hershey, "the sweetest place on Earth" (give me Cadbury's any day), followed by a walk around Harrisburg to get the touristy sight-seeing bit out the way. After that it was the first bit of experiencing Harrisburg - Rae's Tobacco Shop. If you're going to celebrate 1900 miles of cycling, why not do it with a fat cigar and a JD and coke on a Friday afternoon? The shop has a smoking area for people to smoke and generally just relax - think a pub for smoking cigars. There's a crowd of regulars and conversation ranged from guns to beheading chickens to the US becoming a 'nanny State' with the UK used as the primary example of a 'nanny State'. To finish off the day was some Shakespeare - an outdoor rendition of Romeo & Juliet with a New Orleans setting and an incredible portrayal of Juliet's nurse.

Shakespeare In The Park - Romeo & Juliet

Saturday was more sightseeing, and if you're in the area there are two main tourist draws. As we'd already done Hershey it was Gettysburg's turn. For those that don't know, the battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in the American Civil War and ended the invasion of the North (see Wiki for more details as I actually know very little about it all). I've seen a number of battlefields across Europe; WWI and WWI employed trench warfare and the lines are about a mile apart or less, the older battlefields just appear to be fields. Gettysburg is HUGE. There's a driving tour with stops at the most crucial points in the battle that's 24 miles long. In the panoramic below, pretty much everything in the foreground was battlefield, and that's only a small fraction of it.

Gettysburg PA

A lazy day was had yesterday. Bit of a drive round town, a BBQ and then a sit round a fire with fine wine, a fine cigar, and finely toasted marshmallows against a backdrop of the silhouette of trees lit up by a twinkling of fireflies. I was with a guy called Dan Garvin who is an ex-Scientologist and member of their OSA (Office of Special Affairs - essentially their intelligence division). Amazing to hear how the Church of Scientology abuses its members and how aggressive they are in pursuing their targets considered 'fair game'.

Harrisburg PA

Many many thanks to Mary for hosting me. Terri, Mary and their families are a model of human kindness and generosity and a real inspiration. How different things would be if Terri had gone for a run that day or my spoke had broken 1 mile further down the road - sometimes things just work out well.

PB? Smashed!

Aching: Everywhere.

Somewhere in Pennsylvania

Detours aren't always fun. Cycling across Pennsylvania, there was a bridge down so I had to take a bit of a detour. I was told the best way to go by an old guy in a local shop. Off I go to find that my new route is dirt track and hill. With skinny tires, a very weak rear wheel and suspect brakes, this is not good. Once in Williamsport I was directed to a motel another 8 miles out of town past a massive hill with roadworks where I was told by one of the workmen that I was just going to get hit if I carried on. Made it safely enough to the motel in the middle of nowhere but then had to walk 2 miles to find dinner.

Susquehanna River, Nr. Harrisburg PA

I've been averaging about 40 miles cycling a day which worked out nicely as I was about 80 miles from Harrisburg so I could get there in 2 days. Looked at the 40 mile mark, and there is nothing in the area. It'd have to be a 60 mile trip and a 20 mile trip, or a 20 mile trip and a 60 mile trip. Don't really feel like doing a 20 mile trip. At the beginning of the adventure and when it was chucking it down it was alright, but I can do better than that now. I nailed 65 miles in an afternoon, so why not 80 miles in a day? Previous personal best distance, was 65 miles. Yesterday I nailed 85 miles all the way into Harrisburg.

Remember Terri and Chuck from Portsmouth NH? They're the ones who helped me when my first spoke broke and gave me a lift to the brilliant Pappa Wheelies bike shop. I'm now staying with Terri's sister, Mary.