South Dakota Nights (July 5th - July 23rd)

I spent nine more nights in Nebraska before crossing into South Dakota, home of the Geographic Center of the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii). I spent six nights in Martin, SD, despite the fact that I rode over 27 miles during that time. You would think that this means that Martin is a happening town with a lot to do. You would be wrong, but I did enjoy the HorseShoe Bar.

Real life: The good news is that despite taking a couple of days off from riding (mostly due to illness), I've still continued to build my mileage surplus. There were a couple of highlights during this stretch that had very little to do with riding a bike. Last week my wife and I found out that we are having a boy, which is super exciting. Then last weekend we celebrated my wife's 32nd birthday, which was a lot of fun despite a thunderstorm attempting to thwart our plans. I also got to witness this great Chicago sunset with thunderstorms across Lake Michigan.

https://instagram.com/p/5Qk7DmghcI/

Total annual mileage: 2151.2 miles (119.4 miles ahead of target pace).

Home of Frank Leahy (June 27th - July 4th)

There's not a lot to write about in the middle of Nebraska. I've mostly been passing through towns with a few hundred residents (some less than one hundred), so please forgive me if I don't walk you through the details of each day. However, on July 1st, as I moved into the second half of the calendar, I spent the night in O'Neill, NE.

O'Neill has almost 4,000 residents, so it's a big city for this part of Nebraska. It's also the hometown of Frank Leahy, who was a famous football coach for Boston College and Notre Dame in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. He ended up spending most of his years at Notre Dame, which was also his alma mater. However, the two years at BC are of most interest to me. In 1940, he led Boston College to an 11-0 record, a Sugar Bowl victory, and a "National Championship". This is the only "National Championship" in BC football history. I use quotation marks because BC is one of four teams to claim that they won the National Championship that year. The others were Minnesota, Tennessee, and Stanford (BC ended up 5th in the AP Poll). After that season, Leahy left to coach Notre Dame. He had a contract with BC and they didn't make it easy for him to get put of it, but eventually he did. He went on to coach Notre Dame for 11 seasons, leading them to four less disputed National Championships.

After a 20.2 mile ride on our nation's birthday, I spent the night in Newport, NE. For a town on 97 people, the fireworks display was pretty impressive. I think every resident was lighting some off on their property.

Newport, NE

Real life: Now that I've built up a bit of a surplus of miles, I've started to become a bit more lax on some days. I've taken a day off from riding here and there, or only rode a few miles on some others. However, I've made up the miles on some days with longer rides. I also just won a GoPro in a contest at work, so readers can expect some GoPro videos on here in the near future. One highlight of the last week was 4th of July fireworks on a rooftop in Chicago while watching my buddy's band, Sheep Numbers playing live. Total annual mileage: 1933.2 miles (90.6 miles ahead of target pace)

Past the Halfway Point (June 16th - June 26th)

The ride through Nebraska continues, and on June 24th I passed the halfway point of my ride and ended up in the city of Norfolk, NE. Norfolk is a decent-sized city for Nebraska, so it was a nice place to celebrate. Based on the name alone, I had to have dinner at the Black Cow Fat Pig Pub and Steak. Here's what halfway looks like:

Norfolk, NE - the middle

I got some good riding in over those next couple of days and ended up in Neligh, NE on the 26th. Neligh is not a big town, but it does have some interesting history. In particular, there is the story of the grave of White Buffalo Girl. You can check that out in this video:

Real Life: This stretch of real life riding included Bike to Work Week (or more formally the Bike Commuter Challenge). It is a week-long challenge that is organized by Active Transportation Alliance, which encourages people to ride their bikes to work. Every year it helps more and more people discover that cycling is a great way to get around. During this challenge in 2012, I got on a bike for the very first time in Chicago. Total annual mileage: 1857.1 miles (94.2 miles ahead of target pace)

Into That Great Void (June 8th - June 15th)

After spending 6 more days in Iowa (26 days total), I crossed the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge into Nebraska, where I was welcomed by the fine city of Omaha. The city was mostly of interest to me because of its music scene. After all, Omaha is the birthplace of Elliott Smith and Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). While Elliott Smith moved elsewhere before becoming a musician, Conor and Bright Eyes got their start in Omaha. In order to take in the current music scene a bit, I caught a local band at The Waiting Room, and then went to the Crescent Moon Ale House and tried a DL's Cafe Leche Stout from local Upstream Brewing.

My interesting fact of the day for Omaha is that it is nicknamed the "Gateway to the West", which makes it one of at least six US cities that use that nickname. What are the other five? I'm saving that for a trivia question one day. After Omaha, it was on to Bennington, which was originally called Bunz Town. I have no idea why they changed such a great name. I'm now shacking up for the night in Valley, NE, which does not have any cool former names.

Nebraska (according to Bruce Springsteen)

Real life: As of now, I'm at 12 straight days of riding at least 10 miles, including a 36.6 mile day, during which I rode from the north side of Chicago to the south end of the Lake Shore Path and back. As I rode home from work this evening, Chicago's tornado sirens started blaring. For those who are unfamiliar with what that sounds like, you can get a feel for it here. I got home safely, if completely soaked.

My view from Lake Shore Path at 39th street

Total annual mileage: 1734 miles (80.6 miles ahead of target pace).

Picking up the Pace (April 26th - June 7th)

It's been 43 days since my last update, and thankfully I've spent a lot of that time on a bike despite the lack of blogging. In the last 43 days I've traveled 485.6 miles with stops in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Since I was able to average 11.3 miles per day during that time, I've been able to erase my mileage deficit and actually build up a bit of a surplus. I am now in Guthrie Center, IA and 31.1 miles ahead of my target pace. Here is a very non-scientific map of my ride so far:

From Montauk to Guthrie Center in 158 days

As you can see, I've now crossed the Mississippi and am almost halfway across the country. The obvious highlight of the most recent stretch was my stop in my home city of Chicago, IL for two nights at the end of April. There I was able to spend some time with my beautiful, pregnant wife. Having a baby could throw a bit of a wrench into the last month or so of my ride, so it's all the more important to build up a surplus this summer.

While in Chicago, Mo and I made the most of it. We grabbed brunch at Uncommon Ground, a perfect pint from Jimmy at O'Shaughnessy's, played 9 holes of golf at the Sydney Marovitz city course on Lake Michigan, and had a picnic in Winnemac Park. Two days is certainly not enough time to spend in the beautiful city of Chicago, but it was a treat nonetheless.

Just before reaching Chicago, I also played some golf at Lost Marsh in Hammond, IN. It's a course that I've played many times and am very familiar with, so I'm glad that my route took me past it.

So far I've spent 20 days in the fine state of Iowa. Iowa is probably best known as the home of The Bachelor's Chris Soules. While I was in Iowa, I was shocked and saddened to find out that Chris and Whitney had broken up after an abbreviated engagement. Hopefully Kaitlyn will have better luck finding true love on this season's Bachelorette!

I'm going to do my best to post a little bit more frequently moving forward. I certainly won't make any promises, but my goal is to get into more of a rhythm of posting about once a week. That way I'll be able to dive into a little bit more detail on the places that I pass through on my route.

Real life: The highlight with regard to cycling for the last 43 days has actually been this past weekend. Yesterday was the opening of The 606. I encourage you to follow the link and read more, but The 606 is a new walking/hiking/biking trail that runs for 2.7 miles over what used to be an abandoned railroad route. It still needs to grow in a bit and develop some more character, but it's still exciting to have a new route in the city. It was a madhouse this weekend, so it was a little difficult to navigate, but I did ride about eight or so miles on it over the last couple of days. I look forward to seeing it develop over the coming years. Here's a montage of photos from yesterday (please click the link on the right side of this page or below if you want to follow me on Instagram):

Follow me on Instagram

Total Annual Mileage: 1604.8 miles (31.1 miles ahead of target pace)

33 Days Later (March 24th - April 25th)

It's been over a month since I've written. There are a few reasons for that, but I don't want to bore you with excuses. I also don't want to bore you with a detailed entry on the last 33 days. Despite the lack of updates, the ride has continued. When I last left you, I was about 39 miles behind my target pace. Now, a little over a month later, I am just over 26 miles behind my pace. There's still some work to be done, but I've made up some ground. The last 33 days have taken me 341.7 miles. I've passed through Cleveland and Toledo, into Indiana and past Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is an important place for me, despite the fact that I am a Boston College alum (making Notre Dame a sworn enemy). My wife is a Notre Dame grad, and on November 19th, 2011, I proposed to her in front of the Golden Dome.

She said yes

My next major stop on the ride is now Chicago, which has been my home since 2009. I still have some miles to go, but I look forward to spending some time in familiar places with familiar faces (especially my wife!). Hopefully, by the time that I'm in Chicago I will be back on pace to make it across the country.

I started this leg near Cleveland, OH and am now in Porter, IN ('I' on the map)

Total Annual Mileage: 1119.2 miles (26.2 miles behind target pace)

A Strange Find (March 22nd - March 23rd)

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that as I was riding from Liberty to Homestead, I passed through a town called McKeesport. As I headed through that town, I noticed a BP. At first I passed it and went to Subway for lunch, but I later walked back to use the restroom because the one at Subway was out of order. I also wanted to grab a frappuccino and some snacks, as I am wont to do. On the ground, I found a Microsoft Surface, and when I turned it on to try to figure out a way to reach the owner, I found these strange ramblings:

05:30 the sun rises on McKeesport in one hour.  shortly after, i shall strike.  my juice squeezer is almost out, i could use a refill, but to risk being spotted at the BP by the target is too high to risk it.   plus, i have to mud up.

05:45 sufficiently mudded.  laying prone in the brush approx. 2000m from the BP.   completely indiscernible from the nature around me.   the target will never know what hit him.

06:30 i have finished my prayer nap cardio circuit.  soon i will finish my juice squeezer.  it looks like it may rain after all.  i was a fool to balk at a 15% forecast.  my contingency for this is shoddy, at best.  i will pray again that it will not rain.

06:42 it is pouring.  i have crawled under the cover of a hollowed out Japanese Zelkova trunk and am writing this from there.  Fortunately, i have upgraded my tablet to a Microsoft Surface and can withstand the elements.  I do not regret it.  Unfortunately, it seems the rain has shattered my primary directive, and I must approach the target head on in plain daylight.  except, not really daylight because it will still be raining.  so.  so the mud has washed off and i won't get to surprise him like i thought i would but I'll still be somewhat shrouded by weather.  i must defecate.

06:49 another curveball.  it seems my juice squeezer must have taken on contaminates.  i know it wasn't the wheel bug i ate for breakfast because i have hunted those before and i would not make a mistake there.   just experienced a menacing case of diarrhea.  praying it will not come back.

06:57 i can't stop shitting and crying in the rain i have never cried from this before but i feel like i am being split open from the inside and the target should be rounding the bend any moment.  the target.  refocus on the mission.  i must not fail.  i pray with all my strength that he is late, like always.  always fucking late.  god this fucking saoijdijdajioiasd

07:13 okay........it is with great remorse and exhaustion that i report the mission a failure.  like the old Nixon / Kennedy debates of '47, I had hoped this would have been another legendary McKeesport battle, but unfortunately, i was incapacitated at the time of the targets' arrival.  granted, target Stephen Garvey was late, even later than usual, but he DID NOT stop at the BP for a bottle frappucinno, some skittles, and a handful of Slim Jims, AS I WAS INFORMED HE IS WONT TO DO, but no, NO -- even though he was LATE, he did not EVEN STOP AT THE BP.  HE JUST CRUISED BY ON THAT STUPID VILANO WHILE I WAS, AGAIN, LOSING ALL BOWEL CONTROL IN THE BRUSH BY THE HIGHWAY.  ALSO SOMEBODY DROVE UP AND HONKED AT ME AND DISTRACTED ME RIGHT AS HE WAS COMING, AND I DID NOT KNOW HOW TO RESPOND SO I JUST FROZE AND HOPED SOME OF THE MUD STILL CONCEALED ME ENOUGH TO CONVINCE THE DRIVER THEY WERE HALLUCINATING.  ANYWAY FUCK THE MISSION, FUCK THIS WEATHER, AND FUCK THIS STUPID FUCKING MICROSOFT SURFACE SONOFAJD OSDOASDIJASDIOJDOAIJDIOADJSADIOJDIOSJ

<ERROR 1302 end of stream.  Auto-Posting. . .>

I guess I'm starting to gain some new fans on the road.

Wheel Bug

Real life: March 22nd - 0 miles, March 23rd - 10.5 miles. Total annual mileage: 777.5 miles (39.2 miles behind target pace).

Notes: Thank you to Ben Kirberger for a borderline insane guest entry on the blog. Again, if you are interested in writing a guest entry, please feel free to email me at stephen.c.garvey.82@gmail.com.