allsevens - A Ride for Africa

Achtung! Correction!

2007-07-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

In Day 2's post, I made an error. The festival of St. Peter where we drank beer and ate bratwurst and met some extremely nice folks was not in Offstein, it was in Westhofen. Michael, who took the lovely photo of us eating bratwurst and drinking beer, sent us an email to let us know the mistake, but we didn't find it until today amid all the bustle of the trip.

Sorry for the mistake, but thanks for the wonderful lunch!

Epilogue :: Prologue

2007-07-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

As I said before, Big Ben wasn't quite the end of our journey. We'd only covered about 772 miles when we got there, so we still had a bit of work to do. Around 12:30 AM, on 07/07/07, we headed out into the cool London night to finish what we started. The sections of the prologue course on the main roads of central London wouldn't be closed until morning, but we were able to get out onto the back section of the prologue course in Hyde Park to ride a couple of laps. Here we are outside of the fancy gates into Hyde Park. Nigel has become too fast for focus.

Riding around the Tour de France prologue course was an incredible feeling of being in the presence of greatness. There were a bunch of cyclists out on the course, all grinning from ear to ear just like I'm sure we were. In short order, we'd crossed over 777 on 07/07/07, and we headed off to bed to finally get a much deserved morning sleeping in before watching the big prologue on Saturday afternoon.

The prologue was packed. Between the prologue and the following day's stage 1 from London to Canterbury, several million people came out to watch the tour in England. I took that picture above as I was walking over a temporary pedestrian bridge next to Buckingham Palace. There were so many cycling fans in attendance that it took about 20 minutes to wait in line and finally get over the bridge, but fortunately, I stayed well hydrated thanks to my friends at Big Shark Bicycles.

In addition, Mike Weiss and his crew were a big help with our fundraising efforts. Mike put us in touch with a bunch of events, including the Tour de Winghaven and the Tuesday Night World Championship Criteriums, where we were able to set up shop and talk to folks about allsevens and World Bicycle Relief. So a big allsevens thanks goes out.

The racing was crazy fast. I've been around a lot of bicycles in my life, but I've never heard anything like the deep-throated thrumming of the disc wheels rolling by on the pavement. The most incredible thing of all was that the sound didn't go whoomp-whoomp-whoomp as they pedalled by – it was just a completely smooth, even sound to match the perfectly smooth pedalling of these professional badasses.

I had a great vantage point to watch the race, just up from the flamme rouge - aka the 1 km to go marker. Riders were really winding it up at this point, and I also had a view of one of the big video screens so that I could follow along with who was winning and losing while I watched the racers go by. This was also one of the points on the course where riders were going both ways, so I was lucky to get right up against the barriers and get to see a ton of action. This was not a day I'll soon forget.

That night, we headed out for a celebratory dinner. Chris was excited to be done riding and move on to enjoying some fine wine.

We sat out on the sidewalk at a beautiful little Italian restaurant, where out cockney waiter/aspiring actor did a fine job of pretending to be Italian all night, although sometimes he slipped into speaking French instead of Italian as he chased every woman who passed by down the sidewalk. All things considered, a beautiful meal, a wonderful evening, and a fantastic end to a great adventure. The next morning, I was up early to catch a train to Heathrow and board the 777 that would take me back home to St. Louis via New York, exhausted, happy, and feeling like a champion.

Thanks for reading. There should be more appendices/updates coming in the next few weeks, but that's the end of this chapter of my story. It feels funny and a bit sad writing that, but I'm grateful for all the memories and the stories I'll be telling long into the future. If it's true that, as my dad loves to say, 'al tapuach lo yaredt ra'choch ma ha'etz' which is my terrible transliteration of the hebrew phrase which means 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree', years from now, I'll be asking my grown children, who have heard the story of the time I climbed La Redout about 777 times, whether I've ever told them about the time I climbed La Redout. I'm looking forward to that.

Please do check back for fundraising totals, more pictures, and updates from the other members of the allsevens team. Also, if you're reading this on Tuesday, check the today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch for their follow-up article on the conclusion of the allsevens tour. Thanks to Joe Holleman at the Post for checking back in with us and to Kathy Leonard at Geile-Leon Marketing Communications for helping us to make those connections – it was good meeting you, and we appreciate your help in getting the word out about allsevens and World Bicycle Relief.

From Basel to Big Ben - We Made It!!!

2007-07-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

6 days after reaching Big Ben, I still feel taller than that old clock tower.

Day 7 wasn't completely easy, but it felt like a victory lap. We rolled off the ferry early in the morning and found a parking lot to unload the bikes. It almost felt tingly getting on the bike – despite the wind being in our faces, we only (ha!) had 85 miles to cover and there weren't any big hills to climb. Right off the bat, we saw a sign we'd been waiting all week to see.

We followed a signed bicycle route for most of the morning, and made it to the outskirts of London for a late lunch, where we Met up with Lizzie and Maggie to plan our final assault on London.

We were a bit nervous about the traffic going into London, especially with it being a Friday afternoon, so we agreed to take it just a little bit at a time, and if it got too crazy, we would pull a classic Tour de France move and take the train or call the van or something. However, I'd like to take this chance to give big ups to Ken Livingston, the Mayor of London, for his efforts to make London a more cycle-friendly place. All the way in, we had the right of way in the bus lanes, and drivers were relatively nice to us. Chris and Nigel both seemed to remember riding in London having been much scarier than it turned out to be, and before we knew it, whoomp! There it was:

I can't describe the feeling of getting there. After 777 miles (almost, more below) of rain, cold, climbs, and wandering, there we were, riding up to the base of Big Ben. From the Rhine to red buses. From Switzerland to the Sea. From Basel to Big Ben.

We rolled up to meet Maggie and Lizze, and I ran across the street in my cycling shoes to the Tesco express and bought a bottle of Champagne. We popped the cork standing at the base of Big Ben and passed it around. I guess our dirty cycling jerseys made us look enough like we had a reason to celebrate that nobody bothered us for drinking on the corner in front of the houses of parliament in the middle of a Friday afternoon. This is how we all felt:

And here's the happy family: tired, sore, and full of pride at all we'd accomplished together. Everyone in this picture is straight down for the cause – don't doubt it:

Of course, nothing as complicated as the allsevens tour could be this simple – we had actually overestimated our distance a bit, and had only ridden about 772 miles, so we had a little more ground to cover before we could be totally satisfied to pack it away. But yeah, cover that ground we would, in the fabulous epilogue to our ride to the prologue (check this space tomorrow).

But standing there at the base of Big Ben, with 777 miles (almost) in our legs and a bottle of bubbly in our heads, we felt on top of the world in a way I never have before. I'd never done anything as hard or as fun as allsevens. I'd never felt so high.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to all those who supported and encouraged me in preparing for and executing the allsevens tour, both materially and emotionally. It was your support that pulled me over the highest hills and through the bitterest cold. Thank you.

Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho, A Dutch Seaman's Life For We!

2007-07-09T21:38:00.001-07:00

By day 6, our second day in the Netherlands, we'd realized that we didn't really need to stick to the marked long distance cycle routes, since there were bike lanes absolutely everywhere we went. Armed with this newfound knowledge, we set off for Scheveningen and Hoek Ver Holland via a more direct route, to ensure we'd make it in plenty of time to board the overnight ferry to Harwich.

The wind was mostly whipping in our faces on Thursday, but we saw little rain and more sun than we'd seen since day 2, so were glad for that, and the wind gave us the chance to see some of Holland's antique windmills actually operating along the route.

By mid-afternoon, the wind and too much map reading had us a bit worn down, when out of nowhere, a magical character, who we have come to refer to as Peter von Bombadil (after J.R.R. Tolkien's Tom Bombadil) appeared to help us along the way. We were riding along a canal on the South side of Rotterdam When Peter rode up and asked where we were going (we must have looked a bit lost). He offered to show us the way for the next 25 or so km, and pulled to the front of the pack, setting a pace we could barely hold of 20+ mph into the wind. He proudly told us that he was 60 years old, had been racing for 40 years, and that this was his first time back on the bike after being layed up for several weeks with bronchitis – the resemblance to Molly Shannon's high-kicking 50-year-old character on SNL was striking (YOUTUBE LINK). He pointed out many of the local sights for us, including the spot where the levees broke in 1953, putting the city of Rotterdam under 6 meters of water, and proudly told us all about the Dutch flood protection system, in between waving to all his friends who were out running and cycling along the levee. I tried to take our new friend's picture while we were riding, but he demurred. I thought maybe he was camera shy (if not in any other way) until he pulled over into the parking lot of a restaurant inside an old windmill and declared that this was the spot for pictures.

Standing in the parking lot, we told Peter what we were doing and where we were going, which launched him into a diatribe about how much he hated the Tour de France, because so many of his talented friends had never had the chance to compete in it, and because everyone who did was on dope. He said that many of those he'd ridden with in his younger days were either dead, imbecilic, or impotent from doping, but he assured us that, even at 60 years old, he was none of these. Unfortunately, I can't print his exact wording of that threat in this space. From there, Peter led us on a few more kilometers to get us pointed in the right direction out of Rotterdam.

Later, Chris caught a draft on a golf cart at about 12 mpg, and it was hilarious. Invigorated by the high spirits of our new friend, we soon reached a site we'd been dreaming of for several days.

Sea ho!

From there, it was just a short ride up the coast to Schveiningen, site of the (year) prologue, where we met up with Lizzie and Maggie and drove down to Hoek ver Holland to catch the ferry to Harwich. Along the way, we stopped for a photo with one of our 3 favorite road signs of the trip (not counting German exit signs – if you want to know, plug “exit” into a German translator – we're not a mature group)

Thinking happy thoughts of my puppy back home, we boarded the ferry, ate some dinner, and caught some sleep to get ready for what we could hardly believe would already be our final day of riding on the allsevens tour – Harwich to Big Ben and Le Grand Depárt!

Over The River And Through The Woods, To S'Hertogenbosch We Go.

2007-07-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

For day 5, the weather was looking somewhat improved. We weren't expecting rain all day this time. Plus, it was mostly a flat course after a couple tough but short climbs on the way out from Liege, the armpit of the allsevens tour, to S'Hertogenbosch (pronounciation note: not for the faint of heart, includes strong stops on both the t and the n, coming in at a cool 7 syllables). Even though today's ride only covered about 110 miles, it turned out to be our longest day out on the road, at about 14 hours. This day was a good example of what made the allsevens tour such an adventure – we never quite knew what the day's big challenge would be until we got out there and started riding.

The first challenge was a couple of steep, unexpected climbs, but those were quickly behind us, and we made our way into the low country of Holland and the region of Belgium that borders it. At our feeding stop, I got to try my first ever gooseberries. They're tart and delicious, especially when baked into a fruit tart.

Soon after breakfast, we crossed the river (woods to come) into Holland and hooked up with the network of Dutch long-distance cycle routes. Let me just say that Holland has got their bike lane situation locked down – it's incredible. Every road in Holland has bike lanes, and cyclists have the right of way everywhere but on the major highways, which all have parallel cycle tracks, often on both sides. I absolutely tip my helmet to the Dutch on this. Even better, everyone seems to use the lanes – there were cyclists all over the place, even in some crummy weather, riding with groceries, for exercise, and even to take the pony out for a trot.

(editorial note – that photo is actually from day 6)

As it turned out, the Dutch have such an amazing network of bike lanes for getting from place to place that their long-distance cycle tracks are built for a different purpose than we might have imagined. They're really sightseeing tracks, that weave over the cobblestones of every town center, with lots of twists and turns that made our progress slow and a bit difficult. But eventually, we got the hang of reading the road signs and began to pick up the pace.

Around then, as promised, we hit the woods. Although our long-distance cycle maps didn't indicate it, the path we were on took an unfortunate turn through the woods on a road that had been completely washed out, and had degraded into a narrow, sandy trail, not especially suited for road racing bikes. But as before, we pressed on and made it through with only our 3^rd flat tire of the day (it was my turn, and Nigel would get his 2^nd of the day before S'Hertogenbosch). About halfway through the forest, when we had just about collapsed into a heap of hysterical laughter at our situation, we came upon a convoy of military Land Rovers and soldiers on foot practicing their outdoor survival skills. This was not something any of us expected to pass on the allsevens tour.

When we finally made it to our last stop, we were dirty and soaked, but the sun was coming out and we enjoyed a snack at an outdoor cafe sitting under a windmill. This is what my bike looked like by that point:

Now that's what I call a bike. You might notice the orange-topped water bottle there from Mesa Cycles, one of the sponsors of the allsevens tour, as well as my fine steed, a Giant TCR C2, which I love and which rode beautifully under some difficult conditions. From the totally shameless plugs department, Mesa is a Giant dealer (among other fine brands), and they're real nice folks if you're in the market.

This is the part of the day where riding got really fun, we headed out for the last hour or two into S'Hertogenbosch, and found ourselves in a tailwind on a beautiful country road between colonnades of tall trees. Zooming along, it felt absolutely like the end of one of professional cycling's spring classics you see on television.

We finally rolled up to our hotel, the Golden Tulip, at nearly 10 PM, just as the light was failing. It was a beautiful old hotel, and S'Hertogenbosch, site of the 1996 Tour prologue, was an incredibly beautiful old city. It was so gorgeous, in fact, that we were all a little surprised that we didn't really know about this city beforehand, and disappointed that all we had time for was a quick bite and off to bed after burying the day's casualties:

S'Hertogenbosch, we will definitely meet again.

Belgium Is As Flat As A Waffle With Ice Cream And Whipped Cream On Top.

2007-07-06T18:03:00.001-07:00

There were a lot of things that we thought might go wrong on the allsevens tour. We thought it might be blazing hot or raining buckets, that we might get hopelessly lost, that someone might crash or break a wheel, or that we might be detained by authorities who thought my carbon fiber bike was some sort of stealth spying device. Fortunately, none of those things happened. Unfortunately, today was ridiculously cold - none of us ever thought that it might be too cold, but it was. When I left St. Louis, I didn't even bring tights or long-sleeved bike jerseys. Only as an afterthought did I ask Jenny to take them to Nigel so that he could bring them along when he and Mark came a few days later. I have never been as glad as yesterday to have warm clothes.

It was day 2 in the Ardennes, a hilly region in Luxembourg and Belgium. We set off from our hotel just North of central Luxembourg early in the morning, looped down to the city center and picked up our route to the Northwest. On the way out of town, we dropped down a ridiculously steep hill through the back of a neighborhood, and I hadn't had coffee yet, so I was taking the corners extremely slowly and the guys got ahead of me. I came up to a corner and a security guard started shouting at me – all I understood was “privat” so I went straight out to the road, but I saw no team. It turned out that they had taken a 'shortcut' straight through the porcelain factory at the bottom of the hill. Unsurprisingly, shortcut was an ironic name for the route they took, because Chris had a piece of porcelain through his tire and it went flat. But, while he changed it, I found some wild raspberries by the roadside for a delicious morning snack.

Around 10, we stopped for a coffee, and were so freezing cold and wet that we seriously considered whether or not we could make it to the end. That's right, in July, we weren't sure whether it would be warm enough to ride our bicycles. But we hadn't come all this way just to wimp out, and we did have on fairly warm gear, so we decided to ride for another couple of hours and see how we felt. So, we started to climb. And climb. And climb. Several long climbs were over 3-5 km, all with switchbacks where as soon as you thought the top was in sight, another top would appear around the corner to crush all your hopes, dreams, and legs.

After we dropped down from one particularly vicious pass, with the wind howling and the raindrops stinging our faces, we noticed that all of a sudden, the road signs had changed, and we were now in Belgium – 5 coutries down, 2 to go. This had our spirits high when we reached Bastogne, site of the Battle of the Bulge. There's a memorial there with an American tank that was destroyed during the battle of the bulge, and despite the rain, there was a constant stream of kids climbing on and in the tank to have their pictures taken.

We decided to stop for lunch, but Mark didn't want to include a slow walk across a parking lot in his day's average speed, so he picked up the front wheel. We are absolutely committed to our cause.

On the way out of lunch, it was so cold and wet that I was shaking by the time we closed the 10 feet from the front door to our bikes. We all knew that once we got rolling, we would warm up, so we moved fast to get out of town and moving. We got a great surprise when we turned up the road out of Bastogne into a strong tailwind and were actually quite comfortable as long as we kept moving, though we were neither warm nor dry by any stretch of the imagination.

The route to Liege that we were following was approximately the route of one of professional cycling's spring classics, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which as you might imagine, goes from Liege to Bastogne and back. At the gas station that served as our final stop, we got some insight into what Belgium is supposed to look like in July.

Finally, as the sun came out and began to dry us out, our last task after that was to climb one of the great hills of Bastogne-Liege, known as La Redout. La Redout is not long – only 1.7 kilometers, and the first half is not very steep at all. But La Redout is, at parts, an absolute wall, curving sharply around a hillside that constantly obscures the top, tricking you again and again into thinking it's nearly done, so that even when you've reached the summit, you can't quite trust yourself to celebrate. This is what makes La Redout a classic, and conquering La Redout is one of the things that hopefully makes us cyclists by the end of the week.

From there, it was a relatively easy drop down into Liege, and it only took us a few minutes to find our hotel. Another successful day, that left us soaking, tired, cold, and feeling like champions. That's what it's all about.

P.S. If you're reading this, you may be saying to yourself "Hey, self, shouldn't they have reached London by now?" Well, we have. This afternoon around 5, we rolled up to the base of Big Ben , where we popped a cork and drank a bottle of champagne standing at the base. I promise more on the last days of the trip in the next couple of days, and I apologize for some technical and tiredness issues that have delayed postings. Thanks to everyone who helped make allsevens a success.

A Long Day's Journey Into Almost Night

2007-07-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

First things first, I'd like to give you all an update on day 3 (Monday). There's a lot to say about Monday's ride. The first, and most important, thing is that it was very long, and very hard. The word 'epic' is completely appropriate in this situation. In 13 total hours, we covered 135 miles (217 km)

We started out from Mainz in a light rain, making our way towards Luxembourg before nightfall.

Riding the expected 150 miles during daylight hours was certainly not physically beyond us, but to do so on top of whatever weather conditions we might face, and the difficulties of navigating in a foreign country with unfamiliar roads was not something we were sure we could do. After the day's first couple of rainy hours, we stopped at a little cafe for a snack. We ordered coffee, thinking that was all we would get, but then I remembered the “brot” from yesterday's menus and we managed to order some bread and cheese, which came out as a gorgeous ploughman's breakfast of German Rye, cheese, tomatoes, onions, and boiled eggs. As we sat and ate, the sun came out. Things were definitely looking up.

From there, we set off for several hours of climbing in the this section of Southwest Germany is extremely hilly, and all day we were heading up into the wind, but we felt strong and we just kept spinning. We reached our highest peak at 713m sometime around midday.

But somehow, it just seemed like we kept climbing and climbing and climbing, through intermittent rain and continuous headwinds. That's seemed to be the way the last couple of days, but we must be crazy, because we're still having fun, laughing and joking with each other to keep spirits up. Nigel was telling us all afternoon that the Mosel river was just up ahead, but then there was always one more line of hills. Finally, around 6, we came over the last hill saw the river up ahead. The view from the top of that hill was breathtaking. It was like the last scene in The Land Before Time when the dinosaurs finally come over the hill to the breeding grounds.

It's a pretty picture, but I won't even try to explain what a beautiful sight it was to us. From there, we dropped down by the river, got in a paceline, and started making good time. We headed down into Trier, which is one of the best-preserved Roman cities in the world, but only had time for a glance on our way past. The hour or two along the river there turned into what I hope will be the toughest time of the tour for me. I got behind on food, and nearly quit, but the guys encouraged me, made sure I got some more food in, and we agreed to keep going for a little while and then re-evaluate. Within about 15 minutes of shoving down a bunch of food, I was feeling good again and taking my turns at the front of the paceline. We finally made it into Luxembourg around 8, feeling like champions. Despite the wind, despite the rain, despite fatigue, we'd made it.

Now tell me that's not the face of a champion. I dare you. Just by the way – there's an “xembourg” behind my head in that photo – the sign doesn't just say “Lu”

Although we felt great at that point, we weren't out of the woods yet. The sun was sinking, and we still had about 60 km to go by our planned route. This required some serious considering. We brought out the maps and Chris's GPS unit, and got some help from a guy who was out in his garage working on the car, and we quickly found a route about half that distance. As the rain picked up, and with some faint thunder off in the distance, we started up what turned out to be one of the prettiest roads we'd been on. It wound through the forest paralleling a stream and the railroad tracks from Trier to Luxembourg. Being so close to our destination, and a bit giddy to be frank, really had us rolling.

The final kilometers went by quickly, and in no time at all, we were near to the Plateau de Kirchberg and our hotel for the night. As our little road joined with a main highway, we stopped for a last snack and got directions from a convenience store clerk who pointed us onto the bike path that brought us all the way down within a mile or so of the hotel. Around 9:30, after 135 miles and 13 hours on the road, we rolled into the hotel parking lot under a setting sun, and couldn't have been more thrilled.

The Plateau de Kirchberg is a trip – it's an area to the Northwest of Luxembourg that I think can best be described as Dubai Europe. It's filled with skyscrapers and office parks sprouting up in the middle of a forest, a few miles distant from the center of Luxembourg, and obviously way ahead of the demand, as most of the place is still empty. It's definitely eerie.

Exhausted, we showered, ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, and went to bed to get up for another early start. C'est la allsevens.

On a side note, I'm sorry to be a day behind, but I'll do my best to catch up. As a quick update, day 4 was another tough one. It rained all day, and there were some tough climbs that never seemed like they would end, but our spirits stayed high, and we made it in. Now to bed.

If We Can Make It There...

2007-07-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Today's route didn't turn out to be quite as long in miles as we had thought it might be, but by any other measure, it was far and away the longest ride of my life. We started out from Mainz in the rain about 8:30 AM, and finally made it to the hotel in Luxembourg at 9:30 PM. with the daylight fading. Doing this ride near midsummer at high latitude was definitely a good idea.

It was an incredible day, with lots of climbing in about the first half, then a long, flat stretch along the Mosel river, before crossing over into Luxembourg and finishing out the last hour or so of the ride in the cold and rain. I nearly gave up after not having eaten enough in Trier, about 10 miles before reaching Luxembourg, but what more can I say – we made it. At this point, I'm way too tired to write, but I promise to have lots to say tomorrow, when we should get in much earlier.

For now, know that we're tired but happy, and ready to hop back on the bike tomorrow morning.

Where Goes allsevens, There Goes the Party.

2007-07-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's just Europe in the summer or what, but it seems like everywhere we go these days, there's some kind of festival going on. But I know why you're reading, so I'll get down to business. Today's ride was from Hagenbach to Frankfurt, via Mayence (all Deutschland today), and totalled out to a spot on 111 miles. This was actually a little longer than we planned after we bit off some of today's ride yesterday, but roadblocks due to Ironman Frankfurt required that we ride further into the city center in order to meet up with our indispensible Lizzie and Maggie.

The day started out from the end of yesterday's ride. Maggie and Lizzie drove us back to the parking lot where we met them last night before heading back to the hotel for some more much-needed sleep. Mark looks ready to ride.

From there, we headed off, mindful that today would likely not be quite as easy as yesterday had been. The first highlight of the day was stopping in Jockgrim to take a picture for which Nigel was very excited.

From there, we rolled into [correction: Westhofen] right about lunchtime, and wouldn't you know it, in the town center we came upon the church of St. Peter on what just happened to be the festival of St. Peter. There was a church picnic going on, so we stopped for bratwurst and beer at a bargain price, and enjoyed commiserating with some of the locals about the plague of flying ants that seemed to have descended on the town. One flew into my mouth with a bite of bratwurst, and another into my bottle of gatorade as I was getting it ready. Protein is good for cyclists. There was also a big jazz band playing, so it was a lucky break to stumble upon such a memorable lunch. Danke schoen to the people of Westhofen for their hospitality.

From there, we rode on to Mayence on our way to the bright lights, big city of Frankfurt, the finish line for the day. We met up with the girls just around the corner from the finish line of Ironman Frankfurt.

Doesn't Mark look happy to be in Frankfurt?

That's all for tonight – tomorrow is our biggest day – nearly 150 miles from Mayence to Luxembourg, adding Luxembourg to our list of countries visited, so I need to get some sleep. Sweet dreams to you as well, wherever you are.

1 day, 200 K, 3 countries - 2 easy

2007-06-30T15:09:00.001-07:00

I have never in my life had a day of cycling like today.

We set off around 7:30 AM from Bael, Suisse.

In just over 7 hours, including breaks to gawk at the Cathedral in Strasbourg and a bit of getting lost, we covered 135 miles, for an average speed of ~18 mph, and none of us even felt tired by the end. It was a perfect day, with cool temperatures and a tailwind the whole time (one nice benefit of only riding in one direction is that you don't have to turn back into it after you've enjoyed a tailwind). Nigel and I also owe a thanks to Maplewood Bicycle for helping us get our bikes just singing along the road in perfect form.

We all agreed strongly that this was too easy, that we needed to remember that every day would not be like this, but we were definitely enjoying it while we could. We even had time to take some pictures of ourselves zooming past the fields of sunflowers, an image that anyone who's watched the Tour de France on television will recognize, only not from a helicopter and with better cyclists.

Around 11, we finally found a place that was serving coffee (we were unsuccessful and unpleased about it at our first stop of the day). It was a quintessentially French little cafe, with a large group of men in their 60's and 70's gathered to drink and smoke the late morning away.

Around 4, we came upon an American-themed biker bar in a little town serving 1 euro beers, so we decided to stop for a celebratory drink, before finishing out the last 10 or 15 miles of the day.

At some point, we passed from France into Germany, but I actually didn't even notice - there was no border, just a sign along the road that I missed. It's really incredible to think that two countries that nearly destroyed each other twice in the last century today don't even have a border. It's a great example to the world of peace-making between former enemies, and one that I hope more and more of the world will follow.

You'll probably notice a lot of pictures in the next few days of the places where we stop for food and drink. It's not necessarily that I mean to make that the focus, but the rest of the time, we're pretty much riding, not taking pictures. I hope you'll understand. But all in all, I can only say that today was an incredible start to the tour, and a day I'll always remember.

P.S. I'd like to wish a very special happy birthday to my favorite sister, Buella Mae Berla. Buella, I hope that this year you finally get to ride a plane again.

Love, Bert-Bob

It's the Final Countdown

2007-06-30T15:06:00.001-07:00

Bael turned out to be as beautiful of a city as everyone had told us it would be. We were staying on the north side of town, just across the bridges from the heart of the action, which gave us a lovely walk to and from dinner. The European cities we've been to have been very compact, so staying just outside the city center, in addition to costing less, gives you a chance to stroll in, get a view of the town, and stroll back out. It helps to give a perspective on the place, which is great. Kudos to Lizzie on the hotel booking so far.

We walked into town, found a nice little Italian restaurant for some appréz grand depart carbo loading, then walked around a bit more, had some gelatto, and headed back for the hotel. In Bael, it didn't seem to be anything too special that this restaurant's patio was in a very old alley below the walls of some ancient monastery or castle or something (my mind wasn't really on ancient history last night). But it definitely was a beautiful spot. After dinner, the streets of Bael were packed with people, and we found a little gelatto place for dessert.

The area along the waterfront was really nice, with lots of kids hanging out, partying, and generally being kids. From there, we meandered back over the river, along the waterfront, and back up to the hotel. This is the view of the Bridge where allsevens would begin the next morning:

This is the view of the storefront directly across from our hotel, which I think speaks for itself:

From there, we went off to get try and get a good night's rest, filled with anticipation for the next morning's Grand Depart.

Bonjour á Champagne!

2007-06-29T14:29:00.002-07:00

We're rolling along this morning from Reims to Basel, through the Champagne region. Out the windows, beautiful fields of sunflowers, oilseed rape, and flax roll away in every direction, mixed with vineyards towards tree-topped hills. Dramatic clouds dapple the sky. I can't wait to be riding through country like this tomorrow. As we roll on, the terrain changes a bit, gets more hilly, and the groomed fields give way to a very tall, old pine forest.

Yesterday, we woke up and drove a couple of hours to Dover, where we caught the ferry to Calais, France. Dover is famous for its white cliffs of chalk, which make for a really spectacular view in the sunlight. Along the way, we saw some of Dover's white horses, huge drawings of horses that are actually carved into the chalk of the hillsides. Similar to Stonehenge, Nobody knows who made them or how, but there they are.

The crossing was absolutely beautiful and calm, with just a nice breeze to add some atmosphere. The gulls are well-trained to follow the ferries – people feed them seeds and bits of bread, and they pose for some nice photographs.

On the way into the port in Calais, I took the first ever photograph of me in France.

From Calais, we rolled on to Reims for the night. We checked into our hotel and went out to walk around the old city and get some crepes for dinner. We walked down a pedestrian street into the center of the town, and then over towards Notre Dame du Reims, which is a very famous place.

It is, however, also a difficult place to photograph with a compact camera, because the city is built up so tightly around it. After the cathedral, we finally found our creperie, just off the main way, but not before Lizzie found the phone she'd been missing.

By this time, everyone was starving, so it was excellent to finally get a meal. As we were eating, sitting at a cafe right outside the front doors of this 800+ year old church, organ music began to emanate from within. It kinda creeped me out, but it really doesn't get more perfect than eating crepes out front of an 800 year old church while listening to organ music. I definitely couldn't have done that back home. I took some nice pictures of the church, as well, but blogger doesn't seem to like them, so I'll have to save those for later.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to do some route planning and email checking and such, then headed off to bed before getting an early start this morning. Tonight we'll be in Basel, which I've apparently been pronouncing entirely wrong. I've thought that is was close to how Lynne Rossetto Kasper pronounces the herb Basil on The Splendid Table, but now I'm told it's more like the sound a sheep makes with an l on the end of it, with the s being silent, and actually absent from the local German spelling. Now that you know how to pronounce it, I hope you'll be as excited as I am to see what it's like in tomorrow's post. Au revoir.

Bonjour á Champagne!

2007-06-29T14:29:00.001-07:00

On the way into the port in Calais, I took the first ever photograph of me in France.

It kinda creeped me out, but it really doesn't get more perfect than eating crepes out front of an 800 year old church while listening to organ music. I definitely couldn't have done that back home.

London, Oxford, and Beyond!

2007-06-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in London got a late start – I slept until about 10 after my long day of walking around London and environs. I walked down to the bus station and hopped over to the British Museum to see their famous collection of questionably obtained antiquities. After that, I hopped on the bus to Victoria Station and caught the coach back out to Oxford to meet up with the team. We went out for a meal and a few pints at the King's Arms in historical Oxford, then off to bed. We got up this morning, packed the van, and the allsevens tour is now officially underway!

The British Museum's collections were everything they were cracked up to be. I started out in the Great Court, which was built in the center of the museum, where the library formerly stood, to celebrate the new millennium. It's a really elegant, light-filled space that must be a complete joy during a London winter.

From there, I headed into the Egypt rooms. Let me ask you – would you have messed with the guy? Egyptian statues meant business.

But, they also knew how to have fun – this is a prop from the Ancient Egyptian version of Big.

From there, I headed into the Ancient Greek collections. I tried to show in this photo one of the really nice things about the British Museum – they really try to show the process of history. In the foreground, you see three statues of Nike, and a frieze around the outer walls. At the far end of the gallery, they've reconstructed the entire temple, whose name I can't remember at the moment, but the ruins were found in Lykia, at the southwest corner of modern Turkey. This gives a museum goer the chance to both examine the historical objects up close and also an idea of how they would have appeared in their original context.

There was, of course, tons more that I saw in the British museum, including tons of mummies but I'll save that for later. Okay, no I won't. I can't resist showing this one more picture:I found this mummy very interesting, because it really combines Roman and Egyptian funerary traditions. The sarcophagus is Egyptian, but the face is painted in a late Roman style. This artifact shows the interplay between ancient cultures, and especially the fondness of the Romans for assimilating the religious traditions of whatever people they happened to be conquering at the moment.

From the museum, I hopped a bus back to Victoria Station and got on the Oxford Tube out of town, which is where I wrote the last blog post. When I got back to Oxford, we headed into the historic downtown for dinner and drinks at the King's Arms. Oxford is a beautiful old town, full of weird statues, narrow little alleyways, and big, impressive buildings. I don't really have any idea who the guys in the statues are, but I thought they were cool. After the pub, it was back to Lizzie's flat for a good night's sleep before setting off.

And here it is, the send off photo! Van's packed, bikes strapped on – no turning back now. I feel a little bit like Bilbo Baggins leaving the shire behind, but I know that great adventures lie ahead. Onwards!

2007-06-28T14:08:00.001-07:00

When I last left you, I was on my way into London on the bus. Now, I'm on my way back out of London on the bus, to meet up with Nigel, Mark, Lizzie, Maggie, and Chris in Oxford. London was a little bit overwhelming, but I had a wonderful time, and saw a lot of really cool stuff. I did some of the normal touristy things - saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, went to the Tate Britain and Tate Modern, and the British Museum. I also tried to get a little bit off the beaten path, as well. I walked around a lot, just to try and see some of London's neighborhoods, and made my way out into the suburbs a bit to see a concert at the Brixton Windmill. I have to say that one of the highlights of my trip was just now when the 50ish British man sitting behind me had his mobile phone ring with Pink's Get This Party Started.

I arrived in London at Victoria Station, which is right in the heart of the city. I walked down to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. When I got there, I thought that it had to be some sort of special occasion because there were easily a couple of thousand people there, but no, it was just a normal Tuesday changing of the guards. I was lucky to catch it because I didn't even plan to show up at the right time of day. You also might notice that these ceremonial guards are not carrying ceremonial weapons - they're carrying assault rifles. This detachment of elite Welsh Guards is the real deal - this ceremonial responsibilty is just something they do when they're not off projecting the power of the United Kingdom.

From Buckingham Palace, I walked over to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, and did some touristy gawking and picture-taking. I saw on the way that London is definitely as excited for the tour as we are.

You can see me in front of Westminster Abbey at the top of today's post. I got some nice shots of the houses of Parliament from the park just to the South along the Thames, like this one. The other image below is of a detail of a side entrance to the Houses of Parliament. I thought that this was an interesting view because it looks entirely like the entrance to a cathedral. I think that this shot reflects a major difference between British and American state buildings. In America, we built neoclassical buildings for our newly formed democratic institutions, whereas the English just moved their new democratic institutions into the existing seats of divine-right power, which makes sense because they're really beautiful buildings. But, it leaves these buildings with a symbology that has very little to do with the way the institutions work now, and much more to do with the history of the place. I'm not sure what all this means, I just thought that it was an interesting contrast.

From there, I walked down the Thames to the Tate Britain. They had a special exhibition on J.M. Turner, partially curated by David Hockney, which was really cool. Turner is famous for watercolor paintings of foggy, smoky scenes that have only the faintest indications of line and form – they're almost entirely about light. Hockney, on the other hand, is famous for deconstructing pictorial space in a completely opposite way. His pearblossom highway puts together a picture of a highway in Arizona from collage of a couple dozen polaroids. So Turner painted an entire scene as a single form differentiated only by shade, wheras Hockney differentiated the scene with strict boxes of highly focused photograph. So, it was neat to see Hockney's take on Turner.

Another cool piece in the Tate invited visitors to take an orange from a giant pyramid of oranges in the middle of the gallery, so I did and made that part of my lunch out on the front steps of the museum overlooking the Thames.

From there, I walked back up past Parliament and over into Southwark to see the Tate Modern. The museum has some very famous art, and is a really neat space – a former power station on the south bank of the Thames. They had a neat exhibit running on the growth of megacities, as well as a great collection of modern art, including Picasso's Three Dancers and an entire room of Mark Rothko's color block paintings, which were painted and a group and are set off in dim, meditative lighting that really shows them to maximal effect. It's a unique experience that's worth checking out if you're in London.

After the Tate Modern, I stopped for an afternoon coffee and pastry and sat watching the sun descend over the Thames. It was a beautiful evening. The whole South bank of the Thames is lined with lightposts with these amazing fish statues at their bases. From there, I took a long walk down to the Brixton Windmill to see a concert by The Heavys, a local funk-rock band that's gotten play on BBC Radio One. They put on a hell of a show and really got the crowd going. I definitely recommend checking them out. The Brixton Windmill was a classic little hole in the wall venue, with a tiny stage tucked away in the corner, but the sound was actually quite good, as was the beer. It was definitely worth the walk, which was also a nice way to see a fair amount of off-the-beaten-path London.

The way back from the Brixton Windmill meant my first journey on the tube, back to James' (Chris' son/Lizzie's brother) flat. This is me minding the gap. The tube is actually really nice and clean, and when they say tube, they really mean it. The whole thing is extremely round. I got back to James' easily and had a great night's sleep on a very comfortable futon, so thanks, James. More on day 2 of London to follow.

Bath Water Does Not Taste Good in England, Either.

2007-06-26T02:37:00.001-07:00

It's Tuesday morning and I'm writing on the bus from Oxford – London. They supposedly have WiFi, but we'll see how actually getting this post up goes. ::Update, it works!:: Yesterday was my day in Bath. I had high ambitions of a morning bike ride, but the morning was rainy, and I figured that there will be enough riding in the next 10 days to tide me over. I did get to see the Roman baths and the old city there, which goes back to pre-Roman times, though most of what's there now was built in the 19^th century. In the evening, Lizzie and I came to Oxford so that it would be easy to get up and into London this morning for me and her (she's picking Maggie up at the airport).

The baths were a really amazing piece of history. The baths were originally built during the later part of the Roman empire, but were destroyed after the Romans fell out of power. The ruins were rediscovered in the 19^th century and rebuilt as a tourist attraction. Although the pool of weird green water is basically original, the balustrade and all the statues around it are actually 19^th century. Really, that seems to be a common theme in this town – all around, there are original elements, some of which are protected by historical codes, but this town isn't a museum, it's a town, so people have had to balance preserving the old (which is in vast supply around there) and providing for the wants of the modern residents of Bath.

At the end of the tour, I got to try a glass of bathwater, which was gross, but not nearly as gross as the water actually in the baths. The water in the baths was green and smells of sulfur, but the stuff upstairs just kinda tasted like warm tap water from a house with a well - no biggie. I tried to get a video of myself drinking it, but instead I got a video of my pocket as I walked away. Oh, well.

The tension between history and modernity is a theme that we heard a lot about on our free walking tour of Bath, which a group of resident docents provide for tourists – if you're ever here, I highly recommend it. We got a wonderful, not overly whitewashed, local's-eye-view of the town's history. That's our tour guide with the umbrella over his shoulder in the photo. Fortunately, he didn't need it except as a walking stick. This tension was exemplified by the difference between the fronts and backs of houses. The fronts of houses in Bath are for the most part very similar and unaltered from their Georgian designs. Owners have been free, however, to add on extra rooms at the back, or outer stairs so that they can subdivide grand houses into flats. That's what happened with the back of this house (on the right of the photo below). Somewhere along the line, the owner subdivided this house on Queen's square into flats, and added on that back section that throws off the symmetry of the facade. John Wood, the architect, would have been quite displeased (or so my tour guide told us). There's a ton more from the town I'd like to tell about, but I'll save it for later. Bonus points for whoever can point out what else is odd about this photo.

One last factoid – the front of this house faces Queen's square, and if you walk from there past where I was standing when I took the picture, you'd soon make it to the Royal Crescent. In Jane Austen's Persuasion, this is the spot where the two romantic leads began to fall in love. Not being a Jane Austen fan, I didn't really care, but I thought some of you, especially the birthday girl Jenny, might appreciate that.

I just thought this photo was cool.

After Bath, we drove up to Oxford and went out for my first English Fish 'n' Chips. Lizzie took the picture with her mobile phone (my battery ran out from all the photogging in Bath), so I'll have to add it later, but let me just say that it was an experience. I tried every sauce, including HP sauce (somewhere between barbecue and steak sauce), salad cream (somewhere between mayo and tartar sauce), and of course put salt and vinegar on my chips. HP sauce was pretty decent, but I don't think I'll be importing any salad cream in the near future. I also had a heaping side of mushy peas, which are exactly what they sound like, and are totally gross. I hope I'm allowed to say that, because the English think so, too as far as I can tell.

We then met up with Lizzie's friend Dan and went out to a pub called the Turf in historical Oxford, where Bill Clinton visited while a Rhodes scholar, and where the former Australian PM (I'm not sure which one) holds the record for fastest time downing a yard of ale (3 pints – it's like the tall, thin glasses they serve strawberry lemonade in at the ballpark. The place was pretty cool, with ceilings about 7 feet high, and tons of ancient wood paneling. It felt like I could have been in the Lord of the Rings or something. We didn't get to see a lot of the most famous parts of Oxford because they were shooting a movie called Golden Compass, but I'll be back there tomorrow night before we set off so that's okay. We had a blast hanging out with Dan and walking around Oxford, except for when a poster for A Midsummer Night's Dream attacked Lizzie, but that's another tale for another time. Lazers.

I Swear I've Been to Stonehenge

2007-06-25T02:48:00.001-07:00

The trip over went fairly easily – the flights were smooth, with the only delay being about half an hour waiting for a gate at Gatwick, but I was a little too tired to care much at that point. I got through passport control in about an hour, then walked straight through customs without so much as a hello. I was pleasantly surprised that the TSA hadn't flagged my 6 tubs of Gatorade as likely cocaine, but I guess they've got better things to do.

I took the National Express coach to Bath (that's a bus for those of you reading from America) connecting at Heathrow. Along the way, the thing that surprised me more than anything was the cars – they're so small, and about half of them are hatchbacks – it's amazing. I saw probably a dozen really neat, practical models that I would have chosen over my Vibe if they'd been available in the US. I was also surprised at the number of makes that are popular hear, but don't even show up in the states. I knew about Renaults and Citroens and Smarts, though I didn't realize they would be so common here, but one of the most popular brands I saw was Vauxhall, which I'd never even heard of. Anyway, I decided much more firmly than before after that drive that when US automakers say they can't put out small, practical cars, they're completely full of crap. Go England!

When I arrived in Bath, Chris and Lizzie met me all decked out in their allsevens gear, so there was no question of who it was I was looking for at the station. We loaded up my gear into the allsevens support van, which will be our lifeline while we're out on the road, and headed for their house. After I'd had a shower and a cup of coffee and felt a little bit more like a human being again, we headed off for nearby Stonehenge. I have to admit that, while it's neat to think about what purpose Stonehenge might have served for the ancients and how they might have managed to shape and lift those big heavy rocks without metal tools or cranes or anything, Stonehenge is a bit of a cold, rainy pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere. Except of course for the mural of ancient people building stonehenge in the tunnel under the road from the parking lot and the gift shop. To me, the biggest mystery was why nobody in history had knocked it over to use the stones for something more practical. But, I'm glad I saw it – I mean, it is stonehenge.

Now, I know what you're thinking - “Hey Bert, don't travel blogs usually have pictures by this far into a post? - and you're right. I had a little camera malfunction and unfortunately don't know what happened to the pictures I took at stonehenge, but I think it's sorted out and we should be fine for the rest of the trip. We even lost a photo that Lizzie and I nearly died trying to get – I wanted to get a nice view of just how in the middle of nowhere Stonehenge is, so we drove up a nearby hill and pulled over to the side of a busy motorway, then I scampered up the embankment to get a nice, wide shot. Getting back into the traffic was a harrowing experience, but I was hoping that the picture would make it worthwhile. Now, I'm not so sure. So, for pictures of Stonehenge, I'll direct you here. It's very unfortunate that yesterday was cloudy, as well, because it was the summer solstice, so there would have been some very cool alignment of sunset through the arches if there had been any visible sun to set.

After Stonehenge, we came back home for a typical English dinner – roast chicken and vegetables with gravy – very delicious and it was wonderful to have a home-cooked meal after a day of traveling grub. After dinner, we went down to the local for a pint of Buttcombe Bitter, which Nigel insisted that I not leave Bath without sampling. My verdict: excellent. I was scared that it would be some really strong, skunky thing that only Nigel could love, but it was actually just a very tasty, though still fairly light brew. I recommend it to anyone visiting the area. When we got home I got the bike put back together and headed off to bed for a much needed solid 8 hours, which turned out to be closer to 10, but I feel very well-rested this morning.

I'm headed off to see Bath in the rain this morning. I'm going to go on either a walking or bus tour of the town, depending on my mood and the weather, and also go to see the Roman baths. My wild hope is that it might clear up and give me a chance for a little ride this afternoon, but we'll see.

I swear I've been to Stonehenge

2007-06-25T02:48:00.000-07:00

The trip over went fairly easily – the flights were smooth, with the only delay being about half an hour waiting for a gate at Gatwick, but I was a little too tired to care much at that point. I got through passport control in about an hour, then walked straight through customs without so much as a hello. I was pleasantly surprised that the TSA hadn't flagged my 6 tubs of Gatorade as likely cocaine, but I guess they've got better things to do.

I took the National Express coach to Bath (that's a bus for those of you reading from America) connecting at Heathrow. Along the way, the thing that surprised me more than anything was the cars – they're so small, and about half of them are hatchbacks – it's amazing. I saw probably a dozen really neat, practical models that I would have chosen over my Vibe if they'd been available in the US. I was also surprised at the number of makes that are popular hear, but don't even show up in the states. I knew about Renaults and Citroens and Smarts, though I didn't realize they would be so common here, but one of the most popular brands I saw was Vauxhall, which I'd never even heard of. Anyway, I decided much more firmly than before after that drive that when US automakers say they can't put out small, practical cars, they're completely full of crap. Go England!

When I arrived in Bath, Chris and Lizzie met me all decked out in their allsevens gear, so there was no question of who it was I was looking for at the station. We loaded up my gear into the allsevens support van, which will be our lifeline while we're out on the road, and headed for their house. After I'd had a shower and a cup of coffee and felt a little bit more like a human being again, we headed off for nearby Stonehenge. I have to admit that, while it's neat to think about what purpose Stonehenge might have served for the ancients and how they might have managed to shape and lift those big heavy rocks without metal tools or cranes or anything, Stonehenge is a bit of a cold, rainy pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere. Except of course for the mural of ancient people building stonehenge in the tunnel under the road from the parking lot and the gift shop. To me, the biggest mystery was why nobody in history had knocked it over to use the stones for something more practical. But, I'm glad I saw it – I mean, it is stonehenge.

Now, I know what you're thinking - “Hey Bert, don't travel blogs usually have pictures by this far into a post? - and you're right. I had a little camera malfunction and unfortunately don't know what happened to the pictures I took at stonehenge, but I think it's sorted out and we should be fine for the rest of the trip. We even lost a photo that Lizzie and I nearly died trying to get – I wanted to get a nice view of just how in the middle of nowhere Stonehenge is, so we drove up a nearby hill and pulled over to the side of a busy motorway, then I scampered up the embankment to get a nice, wide shot. Getting back into the traffic was a harrowing experience, but I was hoping that the picture would make it worthwhile. Now, I'm not so sure.

After Stonehenge, we came back home for a typical English dinner – roast chicken and vegetables with gravy – very delicious and it was wonderful to have a home-cooked meal after a day of traveling grub. After dinner, we went down to the local for a pint of Buttcombe Bitter, which Nigel insisted that I not leave Bath without sampling. My verdict: excellent. I was scared that it would be some really strong, skunky thing that only Nigel could love, but it was actually just a very tasty, though still fairly light brew. I recommend it to anyone visiting the area. When we got home I got the bike put back together and headed off to bed for a much needed solid 8 hours, which turned out to be closer to 10, but I feel very well-rested this morning.

I'm headed off to see Bath in the rain this morning. I'm going to go on either a walking or bus tour of the town, depending on my mood and the weather, and also go to see the Roman baths. My wild hope is that it might clear up and give me a chance for a little ride this afternoon, but we'll see.

And... GO!

2007-06-23T13:18:00.001-07:00

This morning, I'm writing from gate C12 at Lambert St. Louis International Airport. My plane leaves for Raleigh-Durham about noon, connecting to London-Gatwick overnight. What's pink and brown and excited all over? Me! All week, I've been getting more and more excited and less and less nervous – this is going to be one incredible adventure. When all is said and done, I'll have flown 4,542 miles (7,309 km).

-:-:-Flash-:-:- An airport security guy just went by on a Segway, which was totally sweet, but I didn't get the camera out in time. Hopefully he'll come back.

American Airlines was great about the bike – apparently there are no fees for taking a bicycle on an international flight in lieu of 1 of your 2 bags. This policy was not clear up front, but it's good to know now.

There's a lot to tell about last weekend, as well that I never had time to write about, so I think this holding pattern should serve as the perfect opportunity.

Last Friday, Chris Strout from World Bicycle Relief came down to St. Louis for some informational events we were holding at local bike shops. On Friday night, we were at Mesa Cycles. Adrienne put out a great spread of snacks and drinks (the red pepper hummus was killer) This was an extremely successful night of fundraising – we raised over $1,300 – and got to talk to a lot of people about World Bicycle Relief's work. Here's the Africa bike in Mesa Cycles: The assembled multitudes were behind and to the camera's left.

Chris had a slide show that he brought down, with pictures of a number of the Zambian volunteers. It was really inspiring to see the way people are using their bicycles – Chris told us one story about a volunteer whose day job is running a fruit stand, and how she's been able to improve her business by using a bicycle. She now gets fresher fruit to sell, in less time, and without high delivery fees. Her business is more profitable, her neighbors get better products, and she's able to do more as a volunteer health care provider.

Saturday morning, Chris from WBR wanted to go out and dominate a crit on the Africa bike, as my photographic evidence shows, but instead we went out for a joint Mesa-Maplewood ride that started from Maplewood Bicycle. The route went East into downtown, then hooked down south through Jefferson Barracks park and connected to Grant's Trail, then came back North through Kirkwood and Webster. The regular Maplewood crew set a pretty fast pace, and the ride was a lot of fun. When we got back to Maplewood, we had a breakfast of baked goods donated by Companion Baking – thanks to them for the donation and to Mary Kay at Maplewood for arranging it! We set up outside of the shop and talked to folks on their way in and out.

That morning, a bunch of people got to ride the Africa bike, which definitely made for a good time. The thing weighs about 55 pounds, and has an incredibly long wheel base, so it feels like a Cadillac once it gets rolling, but it's a little tough make your start. The coaster brakes are also a little tough to get going with if you're not used to them, because you can't turn the pedal backwards, and turning it forward in place requires lifting this bikes considerable rear end (no, I will not make that joke – if you want to hear it, make it yourself). The Africa bike's bell, though, is a force to be reckoned with. It rings out as loud and clear as the day is long, and we had a lot of fun with that.

That afternoon, we headed over to Big Shark Bicycle Company for another info session, and again got to talk to a lot of people, and received a bunch of donations. On the left, there's Mark talking to Eliana from the Danforth Center, about World Bicycle Relief, I'm sure. Everywhere we've gone to tell people about World Bicycle Relief, the response has just been incredible. People immediately get the simple power of this idea – if you give people simple, practical tools for mobility, and you do it in a way that ensures they get to people who need and will use them, you can change people's lives. I was talking to Mike Weiss (of Big Shark fame) about the Africa bike when we were planning the event at Big Shark, and telling him how heavy and low-tech it was, but how I thought that was perfect because it's simple, durable, technology that is appropriate to the Zambian context. His comment was that if it can help solve poverty and disease in Africa, it must be one hell of a bike. Touché Mike, touché.

And the prize for funniest photo of the weekend goes to... Nigel! Congratulations, Nigel, you dour Scotsman, you

More on the trip over the pond later. Thanks to everyone who has helped make this trip possible. I can barely contain my excitement to finally be on the way, but I never would have made it without the help of so many friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues. Your support means the world to me.

Continental, Mavericks, Winghaven

2007-06-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our newest sponsors, Continental tires! Continental will be providing all of the tires used on the allsevens tour.

Additionally, we would like to thank Maplewood Bicycle for all their help, including providing the team with professional bike fittings, as well as hosting an bagels and information session on allsevens and World Bicycle Relief next Saturday morning (more below). Stuart and Mark Kay at Maplewood have been a huge help to the allsevens crew. They have spent a lot of time helping me adjust the fit of my bike to ensure comfort on those long miles in Europe.

As I write this, I'm watching the Cat 3 race at the Tour de Winghaven. We've set up a booth at the vendor expo to raise awareness and funds for World Bicycle Relief. We've talked to a lot of interested people about the work we're doing, and it's been a great day to watch the racing, despite a bit of rain earlier.

Next Friday and Saturday (June 15th and 16th), we have three events at Mesa Cycles, Maplewood Bicycle, and Big Shark Bicycles. On Friday night, we will have a fancy-schmancy wine and cheese reception at Mesa Cycles (map), including an information session about the work of World Bicycle Relief. Chris Strout from World Bicycle Relief will be in attendance, and is bringing one of the Africa bikes that WBR is sending to Zambia so that our friends and supporters can see more of what this effort is all about.

On Saturday morning, we'll be leading a ride from Maplewood Bicycles (map). The ride will be a leisurely 25-30 miles, with shorter options available if people are interested. The ride will be followed at 10 AM with a breakfast and information session on World Bicycle Relief in the shop. Companion Bakery has generously agreed to donate baked goods for this event.

That afternoon, we'll have a table out in front of Big Shark Bicycles (map) on Delmar, right next to the Pageant Theater. We hope you can make it to one of our events to meet Chris Strout and learn more about World Bicycle Relief!

Yesterday morning, Mark, Nigel, and I got out for a great ride with the Monsanto Mavericks. The mavericks are training to ride the MS150 this September, and Mark is one of their leaders. We did a loop from the Starbucks at Clayton and Lindbergh, up Hanley and Midland to Creve Couer Park, out west into Chesterfield, and then back in Clayton Rd, a little over 50 miles by the time I got home. Thanks a lot to the Mavericks for putting together the ride - we had a great time.

I'm slowly but surely learning to Google Map

2007-05-25T19:33:00.001-07:00

Here's a Google map of last Sunday's ride.

For now, it's tough to get a long cycling route into a single Google map. They've added a new feature that allows you to add up to 25 stops, and it will generate turn-by-turn directions, but this route took about 35 to get Google to pick the directions we actually took. If anyone knows of a better cycling route tool, I would love to know about it.

This route came to a total of about 95 miles for me. When I got home, I went and rode around Forest Park with my Dad for a while on his newly restored Mercian, so my total came to about 106 miles on the day. All in all, I felt good on Sunday night and Monday, although I was a little slow on the way to work Monday morning.

Today, Nigel and I had a great meeting with Mike Weiss of Big Shark Bicycles. Mike is going to
help us in reaching out to the local cycling community by letting us have a booth/table at some upcoming races and cycling events. You'll certainly b able to read about those here once we know details.

That's all for now,
Bert

Thanks to our newest sponsors

2007-05-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note right now, with more on this past Weekend's training to come.

The allsevens crew would like to thank our newest official sponsors.

ProGold Lubricants has come onboard as the official drivetrain lubricant of the allsevens tour. Nigel has been using ProGold for some time now and swears by their prolink chain lube, and we appreciate their support.

SRAM, who are also one of the major forces behind World Bicycle Relief, have come on board as the offical chain of allsevens. Our thanks to them for that and also for all they've done to make World Bicycle Relief possible.

If you've already taken the opportunity to contribute to the World Bicycle Relief cause by sponsoring an allsevens rider, then thank you. If you haven't quite gotten around to it yet, please jump on over to our secure website and donate. But make sure you sponsor me, not Mark or Nigel, because they're severely kicking my butt in the fundraising department.

Bert

1st Century

2007-05-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hello dear reader(s):

I imagine if you've stumbled upon this page, then you already know something about the allsevens tour and our fundraising to support the efforts of World Bicycle Relief. If not, please follow the links for more info.

This past Sunday was the first allsevens training century. We started out from the former site of the Blackberry Cafe on Clayton Rd, as has become our tradition (the Blackberry recently moved to Forsyth Rd, just east of downtown Clayton, but our embarkation point did not).

We headed up Midland Ave, and made our way down into Creve Couer Park, then across the flats and up Hog Hollow. From there, we headed out to Kaldi's in Chesterfield Valley for our first food stop of the day, after about 30 miles. After coffee and pastries, we cycled out into Wildwood. Nigel, aching for a chance to show Mark and I up with his new compact crankset, took us up a brutal hill called Babler Forest Rd - this was the first time I can remember that my arms have actually hurt at the top of a climb - but good training, I'm sure. We then did a couple loops around Wildwood before landing on Planet Smoothie for lunch, about another 30 miles later.

We then headed back into Wildwood, before a final feed stop around mile 80 at the gas station at Long Rd and Chesterfield Airport Rd. We headed back home, linking up to Conway and then to Clayton Rd, back towards the location formerly known as the Blackberry. My final mileage count came to 101.5, and I think that Nigel and Mark did a few more than I did, since they live farther from the start.

You might be thinking, "Bert, why are you writing so much about eating? Isn't this a blog about cycling?"

That's a good thought. Here's why: riding 777 miles isn't about power and speed - it's about turning one pedal over the other, over and over and over, all week long. But, a body can only store enough fuel to supply about 2 hours of continuous pedal turning at a moderate pace. So to keep going all day, we have to keep eating all day.

I'll post more on this topic later, as well as updates on rides, fundraising, and other happenings, so check back often.

Bert

Welcome to allsevens BLOG

2007-04-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, I just started this allsevens BLOG to keep everyone updated on the progress of our ride for Africa. Our website is www.allsevens.org Please check it out. I'll be back later today to write some more. Mark