Cyclo-Urination

Relieving yourself whilst cycling is a system of high risk, high reward. On one hand, in result of failure, you risk mutilation, humiliation, messiness, and a charge of public indecency.  If successful like a champ, you gain pride and urinary tractifaction while still making forward progress on your bike ride i.e. worth the risk.  Women need not apply, biking experience required.  Right now I will not go into the details, nor will I post pictures of success, but I will say the secret is to work with a slight downhill.

Vegetables

I don't know whether it was my taste buds maturing or my body craving intense amounts nutrients for energy, but this summer I've been eating my vegetables for the first time in my life.  I even made my own salad at one point, that's pretty crazy in my mind. Just fyi

Final Stretch

So we bring our journey towards an end, ~450 miles left. We should finish within a week. There have been good times and great times, long days and short days, memories to cherish forever. Virginia was our introduction and first love, we blew threw it century after century just to get the trip rolling.  Kentucky proved to be our bane, testing us with miserable boringness. Illinois was a short jaunt but gave us one of our best stories.  Missouri introduced us to the west with it's arches and an excellent night at City Museum.  In Kansas we got familiar with wind and heat. Colorado was overwhelming with beauty and friends to stay with. Wyoming's national forests were worth the trip. Montana was wildly wonderful in itself and was the first point we started realizing the adventure was coming to a close.  Idaho was a quick sprint through beautiful cedar and river country. The rest is a mystery but I imagine it to be pretty cool.

For those of you that have helped us on our way, don't worry we'll write a thank you for each and every one of you... if you're lucky.

DOC POPCORN

Biking across the U.S. is tough. We burn calories like millionaires burn hundys, so we're shoveling food down our throats any time we get a chance to. We generally like delicious food like regular people, but we also like food that's kinda healthy and won't have us dragging @$$ in the saddle.  For this reason we'd like to make a shout out to Doc Popcorn.  The founder of the company and his family were wonderful and awesome hosts, letting us stay with them for a night back in Boulder, CO.  Right before going through the national parks in WY we received a care package full of Doc Popcorn.  We almost ate it all in a single sitting it was so good.  It's pretty wholesome and good for you too.  This was the snack that helped power us over some mountains and into some beautiful natural scenes, so for that we'd like to say Thank You Doc Popcorn!
DocPopcorn's Site

Why Wyoming?

Someone once raised the question: what's the farthest distance you've ever been away from any other human being? Well, I can say with certainty that Wyoming is probably the farthest I've been from any other person. But it sure is gorgeous in every way.

PS new photos! check them izzout

The Great State-Line Race

In the cycling world it is customary to race eachother to imaginary lines for imaginary pride.  Throughout the course of the Trans-Am tour there has been a tight race, victories are as follows:

Jacques "Spoke Breaker" Li
-Jacquestucky (Kentucky)
-KansJacques (Kansas)

Chauncey "Baby Bike" Smith
-Chauncorado (Colorado)

Brian "Flat Tire" Undercoffer
-Brianois (Illinois..kinda)
-Brioming (Wyoming)

See bios of the racers below and place all bets through our PayPal account (warning: no bets will be returned even in case of victory)

Brian "Flat Tire" Undercoffer

"Slow and steady gets you where you need to go, 20 minutes after everybody else gets there"

Bio
Tan: Lobster red
Beard: Peach fuzz civil war soldier
Nakedness: Above average
Luck: 5 flat tires and a shirt stolen by a raccoon

Additional Stats
+1 Mountain king
+1 Unexpected effort
-1 Weak knees

Chauncey "Baby Bike" Smith

"That zephyr was a dreamy monster and I like colorful vegetable tips for teens"

 Bio
Hair: Mouse green/ gold and curly
Tan: Ghostly/sunscreen white
Accessory: Hair bow
Panniers: Maximum capacity

Additional Stats
+1 Drafting queen
+1 Wind cutting
+1 Cuteness
-1 Girl
+1 Tough as nails

Jacques "Spoke Breaker" Li

"I'm always in the big chainring"

Bio
Age: Legal/ Old enough
Height: Immaculate
Beard: Whispy Fu Manchu
Tan: Multicultural

Additional Stats
+1 Chinese biking blood
+1 Sprinting power
+1 Immaculate eagle eyes
-1 Distractibility

Mountains Upon Mountain Tops

Rocky Mountain National Park has by far given us the most scenic day of our journey so far. We reached a max elevation of 12,183 ft. and even made snow angels on our way up #nbd #middleofsummer. Saw some bull elk and moose. Passed over the continental divide for the first time. Every curve had a priceless view. We got many a kudos for riding fully-loaded up the mountains. The 4kforcancer kids that we kept running into in eastern Kentucky started the parkway at the same time as us and we beat them to the top, whatwhat!

New Horizons

Any day the sun doesn't boil the flesh off of our backs is a good day.  Being in Colorado has been wonderful so far, the temperatures are much nicer due to the elevation, but we're looking around 40 degs in the mountains that we'll be going through tomorrow.  Colorado folk go nuts over elevation, they post it on every sign.  We almost forgot what hills and shade were after being in Kansas.  The red rocks and mountainous horizons are pretty crazy awesome, hopefully the views will get even better.

Pit Stop

In Colorado Springs we were able to stay with Chaunstar's aunt and her husband,  Mike.  Luckily Mike is bikey and we were allowed to use his stuff to pull a long needed overhaul on our bikes. We all cleaned and lubed our drivetrains and put tire-liners just end worries about popped tires.  I replaced my rear tire because of bubbles forming.  There was a pretty miserable 90 mile stretch from Tribune, KS into CO where both my front and rear tubes had slow leaks and the rear tire bubbles were thumping against the road.