The first real ride happened last Sunday night. Saturday night we played this awesome party in upstate New York. A bunch of local farmers gathered for a weekend of workshops on anything from bee farming to rabbit roasting. So many amazing people were there.
Since the party was way out of our way we had to get rides there and then secure another ride the next morning to a spot where we would start our ACTUAL bike tour. Severeign, the party host recruited a truck to take us there. A beautiful, green eyed sweet heart of a man named Matt was the driver of the truck. I talked to him quite a bit the night before and was SO HAPPY to find out that he would be one of the drivers. I made sure that my stuff ended up in his truck. And since he had a single cab he could only fit two others beside himself. I sat in the middle. OH YEAH. The other driver was Kipchoge's mom. We all had quite a time downsizing our bags and getting our loads together. I managed to once and for all get rid of anything and everything that wouldn't fit into just one dry bag. My keyboard was so overwhelmingly heavy that I had no choice but to send my beloved computer and recording gear back to Manhattan. It was a moment of anxiety parting with it. I was so close to grabbing it out of the car. Another hard parting experience was with my blue jeans. This is the first time in my life where I haven't had a bad ass pair of blue jeans handy. I had to make a decision between my grey diesel jeans which truly are awesome and my blue jeans. I threw the blue jeans in the exit bag which was already in our friend Greg's car. Then I went back over to my bag and stood there staring at my grey jeans, imagining all the shirts I would wear with them. Then I switched them out with the blue jeans. Then I switched them again and asked Greg to hurry up and leave before I switched again because I was starting to worry about myself.
We finally got the bikes loaded up and I finally got to sit REALLY close to the beautiful man named Matt who, the more he talked, became more and more beautiful. He is an industrial designer for a firm called Ecosystems in NYC.
This man was so sweet. He drove us hours out of the way, all the way to Massachusetts and then all the way back to the city that night because he had to work the next morning. When we finally got to the random spot that Kipchoge chose - RANDOMLY - we un packed the bikes and then packed them. I was scared. For the whole drive up there I felt like a person on death row walking towards their doom. I felt that final moment closing in on me. I know this is really dramatic but seriously, this is how I felt. I was especially feeling anxiety because this would be a night ride. Why are all my first rides at night? WHY!!
Matt and I played frisbee for awhile while we waited for the rest of the crew to finish packing. When it was finally time to say goodbye I gave him a big hug and told him that I enjoyed sitting bitch with him. He said, "It's always good to have a nice bitch." So adorable. So freakin adorable. Days later he facebooked me and wrote only one line, "The ride back wasn't the same without my bitch."
I replied with only one line, "Maybe I can be your bitch again someday."
I would love that.
But at that moment, it was time to ride. The first few pedals were way worse than I ever expected them to be. Brock had taken my loaded bike for a spin to check the weight and put it on the easiest gear. Our first ride was downhill and my load kept wobbling all over the place and I couldn't even pedal once without falling over. Already the group was gone and I was left there flailing like a fish out of water. Kipchoge, Jared and Brock came back to help me out. Jared ended up having to push me like my dad pushed me the first time I ever rode without training wheels. FINALLY I got going but I didn't know which buttons changed which gears and still my load was wobbling from side to side causing my bike to lose control. I kept jumping off and freakin out. On the train ride to upstate my xtracycle had come off. I asked Kipchoge if this may have happened again. He quickly looked at it and said no. I would soon find out that he is famous for acting like you're CRAZY for thinking something is wrong with your bike and then totally overlooking the fact that something IS actually wrong.
So I kept riding... and falling... and riding... and falling. Finally we came to a huge hill and Jared stayed behind with me to encourage me to keep pedaling. He thought something sexual was happening on my bike from the constant heavy panting interspersed with "OH FUCK, OH FUCK, OH FUCK."
It was hard. I was sweating like a pig and had to quit and walk my bike often. Every time I stopped pedaling my bike fell over. Finally after pedaling up one hill as far as I possibly could and falling over I looked down at my bike to see that the xtracycle had in fact come off on one side. This was ten miles of wobbling craziness later. I cursed Kipchoge's name in a loving manor. Jared eventually came back to help and reattached the xtracycle for me and GUESS WHAT!! I could actually ride the bike! I could pedal without wobbling and falling over! I could charge the downhills without laying on the brakes like a little p#$$y! I was starting to feel better about myself.
At some point Eco's xtracycle also came off and she crashed pretty badly. I am sorry to say that I heard the "OH SHIT! OH FUCK!" followed by the sound of crashing and I kept going. Yes, I am the lame ass that kept going. This was before my xtracycle was reattached and I was still wobbling all over the road and I was afraid that if I stopped I too would crash and fall. I didn't hear any car screaching or sounds of pain. If I had, I definitely would have stopped, I SWEAR!!
A car soon pulled me over to tell me that my fellow rider had crashed.
"Oh really?"
I felt like an asshole.
I asked if she was alright and they said she was fine.
Thank god.
THANK GOD.
I kept going until I caught up with Dave, Cara and Jared. We waited for the rest of the crew for awhile and finally Sammy showed up and reported that Eco was in fact totally fine and Kipchoge was fixing her bike. We eventually decided to keep riding until midnight at which point we would find a camping spot. I rode up one last hill around midnight and my legs finally gave out half way and I fell over because my arms were too tired to hold the bike up anymore. I told my friends I was done.
DONE!
Luckily I fell right by a perfect camping spot down the hill along some rushing river. We set up our tents and went swimming. It felt so amazing. It was cold as... the opposite of hell, I guess? I welcomed it. I wrapped my hands around a rock on the bottom so I wouldn't be swept away by the current and fully submerged myself. I enjoyed every moment of the cool water flowing through my hair and sweeaping away the nights grease and road dirt. I felt fully renewed.
Soon after we got word from the rest of the crew that they were camping by the turn off that we SHOULD have taken a few miles back and uphill.
Awesome.
Something to look forward to in the morning.
I returned to my tent and soon found that I really can't sleep after a lot of exercise. Especially when I know I have to wake up super early and get a lot MORE exercise. I laid awake for hours listening to things moving outside of my tent and visualizing some huge creepy animal pouncing on my tent and eating me alive. I soon realized that THIS was DEFINITELY not going to help me sleep AT ALL. I finally got my ipod out and wondered why I hadn't done that hours ago. I listened to Ray LaMontagne's "Be Here Now." That song moves me. It did the trick. I finally fell asleep.
The next morning Cara woke me up at 7:15. I literally got about three hours of sleep. I knew this would be a long day. We packed our bikes and rode to meet the rest of the crew. We went to a small diner and at a HUGE breakfast. We looked at a map and were happy to see that we made it fifteen miles the night before. Only thirty more to go today. But these thirty miles had to be done by 5 PM because we were scheduled to play at Hampshire College. We asked the lady what a good route would be. She told us to take some road that would be a little up a gradual hill and then once we got to another road it would be all downhill to our destination.
That bitch.
That lady was a bitch.
Actually, she was nice. But totally a bitch because once we got up that "gradual" hill and turned onto the "downhill" road we faced the hugest hill yet that went on for what seemed like forever.
I almost cried.
I really almost cried. I had to get off my bike and push it up the hill until I was too tired to do that, then I'd pedal literally 20 feet and stop again. It took me FOREVER to get up the hill. The others had LONG passed me. Finally Cara (the other new rider) also passed me. I knew Kipchoge was waiting behind me. As I stood there I could feel his eyes burning into me. I finally turned around to look at him and sure enough the look on his face said "Give me a f#ckin break and get on your bike and pedal."
I tried. And failed. And walked. And tried. And failed.
Finally hours later I reached the top where there was a local produce store and the rest of the crew was waiting for me. We rested and ate peaches and I thanked God that the hill was over.
We continued on and for the rest of the day it was up and down. By the last five miles I was beginning to feel things inside of myself that I did not want to own. Dark things. Dark, dark things. I was tired and the last bit was all up hill. A gradual hill, but nonetheless up hill. I was pissed. I was tired. I was hungry because we hadn't eaten lunch. This is the worst combination of circumstances for those around me. This is where I become a mega grouch.
My legs were done. I had never pedaled this far before in my life and especially never with a huge load. I had one of the heaviest loads in the group. By the time I got to the gig no one really wanted to look at me because of the nasty scowl on my face.
Like I said, there were DARK things going on inside me.
We literally had to get off the bike, set up and play. I was close to not playing and Kipchoge said that it was fine if I didn't want to. I went to the bathroom which was down two flights of stairs and changed. I bathed with a wet towel and waddled back up the two flights of stairs. I felt at any moment my legs would collapse beneath me. I was able to at least scrounge up enough mental will to get myself to play. And I actually sounded decent. I couldn't believe it.
I only played three songs then let the Ninjas take over.
I was so over it. I grabbed a blanket and my journal and found a spot away from everyone. I wrote about all of the horrible things I was thinking. I didn't like anyone, I didn't want to talk to anyone and I HATED myself for not having a better attitude about everything. I also wrote about the fact that I knew these evil, dark thoughts weren't truth. It wasn't me. It was just some kind of nasty energy making it's way out of my soul and back to the horrid place it came from.
The next morning this horrible, dark energy literally did take it's exodus from my body in the form of menstruation.
I felt like getting down on my knees and praying thanks to the heavens that it really wasn't my fault that I had turned into a dark, evil bitch. It was hormones.
Oh thank the lord it would be over soon!!
Thank you!!
Oh... wait.
I have to ride today and I know any minute now the cramps will sink their claws into my ovaries. I took a preemptive strike in the form of aleve. There was no way I was going to let myself feel any other pain than what I felt in my ass and thighs.
We were scheduled to play at a co-op about five miles away. I didn't know how I was going to make it. My legs were tired. I asked Cara how she felt on day three. She said it was one of the hardest days for her.
"Great."
This is the day when I was truly surprised by the strength and adaptability of my own body. The first five minutes I was hurting, then all of the sudden something weird happened. I was passing everyone. And it didn't hurt like hell. I was even taking Kipchoge on the hills. Soon I was up with Samantha who is the fastest rider of the group. We stopped at a turn and looked behind and everyone else was way far behind me. I was confused. Just yesterday I couldn't even keep up with the group on a flat bike path and all of the sudden today I was passing them on hills. I thought for sure that wouldn't last. We got to the gig and everyone commented on how I had just kicked ass. I made an excuse for it, "It was only five miles and there weren't any big hills."
Then after the gig we had to ride ten miles to the our new friend, Audree's winery. Again, I kicked ass. What the hell? I was passing everyone. I was even ahead of Sammy for awhile until we got to a HUGE hill that I was determined to make my way up with out stopping. That's where she passed me with her calm, cool, happy self. I continued to pant and pray my way up the hill. I was thanking god for my strength all the way up the hill. Jared finally passed me. I could see the end in sight. I was still in my second gear and my legs couldn't do it any longer. I had to change to the first gear at which point I lost my balance and fell over. I didn't make it. I didn't care. I picked my bike up and walked the rest of the way up the hill and then continued on. I still beat almost everyone there and couldn't believe it. What had happened to me?
We went inside the barn we were to sleep in and there was a fire lit and numerous bottles of wine laid out for us. We were beyond stoked! I went straight for the shower. I couldn't wait to shave my legs. I was so excited.
The immediate buzzkill came when Kipchoge followed me into the bathroom to tell me that we would be waking up at 5:30 in the morning to ride forty miles. You could see the smile drop from my face to the floor as he crushed it with his foot like a finshed cigarette butt. It was already 11 PM and he was basically telling me that even if I went to sleep RIGHT THEN I wouldn't get seven hours of sleep.
THIS made me VERY unhappy.
He told me "not to party too hard."
I once again cursed his name without saying it out loud. I took my shower and we did some yoga. Then drank and talked for awhile. I tried to go to sleep but everyone talked and talked... and talked... and talked. My mood got worse and worse as my chance for sleep trickled away like an hour glass turned upside down.
Finally crystabitch came back. I went in the other room and was sure to grab my sleeping bag with a jerk so that everyone knew I was pissed. Mainly it was Bill I was pissed at. Bill is the 50+ hippy cling on who found us on the AmTRIPPYtrack trip from Denver to New York and has been following us to gigs in his daughter's car ever since. He sets up his congas in the back so no one can hear him because he's not very good. Nobody has the heart to tell him to stop following us everywhere because he's actually a very nice man, just little crazy. So in my opinion and most other's, he shouldn't have even been there but was the one that was keeping everyone awake.
I managed to continue NOT sleeping until 5:30 AM when Kipchoge told me it was time to get up and I told him, "I didn't sleep at all."
If you ever want to see evil in it's most primal form, wake me up before the sun comes up. Go on, I dare you. And especially when it's cold outside. Oh man, you are in for it.
I sat by the fire drinking coffee and scowling at those around me. I asked Hippy-cling-on-Bill to carry my keyboard in his car because there was no way I would be able to keep up with everyone in the state I was in. I then told Kipchoge that I felt I needed to just ride with Bill to the next gig. He looked at me like I was a total slacker and said whatever I chose to do to just do it because everyone was waiting on me.
THIS really pissed me off. If there is any one thing I can say for myself it is that I am a fast packer and almost always on the bike waiting for everyone else. (The next morning I felt like bringing this up when we were all on our bikes waiting for Kipchoge, but I'm trying to be mature about things these days.)
I packed my things and took off on my bike. Kipchoge had already left to hit up a library and everyone else was dickin around as usual. Once again I got to the destination long before anybody else and continued to be in the lead for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe how fast my body acclimated to the bike lifestyle. I had gotten no sleep and I was passing people on the hills. Granted, there were no BIG hills and I didn't have my keyboard, but still, I was gettin it and I felt great about it.
At one point in the day we decided to take a brake. Hippy-cling-on-Bill also decided to take a brake from the hard driving he's been doing and said, "Man, I really gotta get a bike. I can't keep following you guys in this car, it's killing me." A few us looked at each other and said everything in the silence that lurked between our eyes. Eco's dog, Hoku, was getting tired of being carried around in her side bag so she gave him to Bill to take in the car. We rode forty miles back down to Connecticut and where Bill was waiting for us at a strip club. We found him at "Kahoot's" and sat on the blanket he had laid out for us and ate the enormous pizza he had also thoughtfully acquired for us. In his afternoon of waiting he made friends with Gia, a brazilian stripper who was kind enough to let him use her cell phone and who also especially wanted to meet Brock. The group had mixed feelings about being at a strip club, in fact, the only person who was really excited about it was Brock. Bill had set up a private dance for him. I thought about not going in but couldn't resist the temptation to meet Gia and get a visual of Brock during his private dance. WE all went in except for Dave and Cara. After approximately three minutes of watching the stripper shake her ass in Brock's face I went back outside. The others remained inside for another five minutes and then soon followed. Brock jokingly got out his handkerchief and made for a private spot where he could take care of business.
We still had some riding to do to find a camp spot so we set out. Hippy-cling-on-Bill was sad to find that we were on a bike path and there would be no way for him to meet up with us at the camp site. As nice as he was, none of us shared his sentiment.
I was so happy to finally be at the camp spot. I put up my tent in a perfect spot full of poison ivy or oak or something and crawled in never to return to the outside world until the morning. I asked Kipchoge through the closed door of my tent world if we could sleep in a little the next day. He said "No, we've got sixty miles to do tomorrow. We need to wake up at 6:00 AM." It was now 8 PM and we had just finished a good 12 hours of riding. I called my mom and her answering machine picked up. The sounds of her voice brought tears to my eyes and soon I was crying silently so the group wouldn't hear my sobs. I longed for the comfort of my family. I was tired and there was no end to the long grueling days in sight. I was aware and happy about the fact that my body did so well physically that day. This brought me comfort. But the long days were unfortunately wearing on my mental health. The lack of sleep was getting to me. Fortunately this enabled me to quickly fall sleep. But not before I heard Kipchoge pass the torch of "the waker" to Brock. Brock immediately told the camp that we would ride out at 9:00 AM. This brought some comfort to my weary mind. I slept twelve hours that night and the next morning I woke up a much happier person. Especially when I found out that I would barely have to ride at all that day.
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