Tag Archives: Bicycling

May 15, 2013

I’ll keep walking, walking at the end of the world

By Drew Jacob

Photo by Chuck Coker. End of the Great River Road.

I have never seen the End of the World, but I met those who went there, and it is good.

The End of the World is in New Orleans. Did you know that?

More specifically it’s in the Bywater, a ramshackle neighborhood that used to be swamp and then plantations and only when the city really, really grew did it become actual houses. The Bywater is the ghost of Before the Flood and it is a town unto itself, a town of hand-built drum machines, lumbering vardos, secret gardens and working artists.

You know how the grinds settle out in good coffee? If New Orleans were a cuppa, the Bywater would be that last rich sip with the grit in your mouth.

And somewhere in that mouthful, right around where you make that wrinkled face, you can find the End.

It’s just a strip of riverbank. It juts past the levee, unpoliced, a place to smoke your hashish. That is the end of Orleans Parish; that is the end of everything.

Then fog, murky water, dragons, Arabi, chemical plants, bayou.

I tell everyone I biked the whole length of the Mississippi River. It’s a lie. New Orleans isn’t the end, though many an adventurer has stopped there for good. Siduri has a back door, and she says keep going. Go past the End of the World.

So Saturday I bike 80 miles. 

With me is this sly East Coast girl who’s never pedaled more than 20. In her words: “what’s the worst that can happen?” I like her accent, like Old Fashioneds and empires.

80 miles on a narrow road in a land of semi trucks, refineries and sun. There’s nowhere to camp, nowhere good that we confirmed; but there are places no one looks.

What do I do things like this? Why go into the unknown? Is there, as it feels like, some current in the land that gathers in these lonely spots? And if there is, why is it so hard to feel once you’re out in the thick of the heat, the sweat, the fear?

The journey may be gentle or ungentle. We might succeed or fail. Smoke and towers in the bayou, two hearts under the sun. It’s worth the sweat. Somewhere down there the road just stops, it stops, and I’ll see it, and keep walking, walking at the End of the World.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Adventure, Bicycling, New Orleans, The Great Adventure, Travel

October 17, 2012

Adventure Log: Wisconsin Edition

By Drew Jacob

Apparently people really like to know how many miles I’ve gone and what route I take.

I have a few of these to put up, and you can expect them over the next week. This is the second one, covering Wisconsin. (You can see the first log, Minnesota Edition, here.)

Day 40 (August 15)

Departed Saint Paul (forever?). Raced sunset, thunderstorms to make camp. First raindrop fell literally as I slid into hammock for the night. 29.5 miles.

Map

Day 41 (August 16)

Early, cold morning. Strong tailwind. Amazing time on brutal hills. Met Mom & Zangmo for lunch in Stockholm, WI. Reached Ryan’s farm at sunset. 41.9 miles.

Map

Days 42 – 44

Stayed at Ryan and Rebecca’s farm. Philosophy with Ryan, drinking with Rebecca. Wrote a great deal. Began planning novella.

Day 45 (August 20)

Looped back to Maiden Rock for fun. Could not find favorite house. Love it the first time. Pushed on to Pepin. Made friends, slept outside. 17.3 miles.

Map

Day 46

Dawn with dragons. Lunch in Alma. Ran into new friends from night before. Pushed on, camped at boat landing outside Winona. Visited Winona in evening. 43.8 miles.

Map

Day 47 (August 22)

Arrived parents’ farm! Very difficult biking day. Surprised me. Hills, dehydration? Felt sick on arrival. Budweiser made it worse. 34.2 miles.

Map

Days 48 -61

Stayed with parents. Worked furiously! Created artwork, fiction, nonfiction, and client articles. Sleep deprived. Dad & I custom built new front rig for the Giant.

Day 56 (August 31)

My birthday! I turned 29.

Day 62 (September 6)

Left behind my parents’ farm, maybe for last time. Reached Shrine of Guadalupe at sunset. Rejected by friars, slept hour by hour under trees, rain. 47.3 miles.

Map

Day 63 

Deliriously sleepy, barely rolled forward. Arrived Prairie du Chien late afternoon, nowhere to stay. A hard day. 56.1 miles.

Map

Day 64 

Took day to work, refocus myself in Prairie du Chien. Considered moving to a horse camp, decided to stay put. Ate well, worked little, biked around area. Turned to Couchsurfing for place to stay in days ahead.

Day 65

Departed Prairie du Chien in higher spirits. Mild tailwind, flat route ahead. Decided to turn off it up large bluffs to see Wyalusing, an old favorite state park. Discovered tavern where we went during family camping trips, the Dew Drop Inn. Wiped out, injured self, bent the Giant’s front brake. Camped in yard of older couple at Cassville. 36.5 miles.

Map

Day 66 (September 10)

Fought wind, hard ride. Hills. Stopped at a shrine in Dickeyville and talked to Urban on phone. Turns out he grew up next door to the man who’ll be hosting me in Dubuque! Went way off course to avoid being on freeway. Still had to take freeway bridge to cross the river. Reached Dubuque thoroughly beat. 43 miles.

Map

Total traveled this leg: 349.6

Total traveled since Day 1: 709.1

It’s interesting what can be learned by counting miles like this. My total travels in the Wisconsin leg amount to 10 miles less than my Minnesota leg, yet Wisconsin seemed vastly more difficult. I’m surprised to see so many days of just 30 or 40 miles—those days often felt long and grueling.

From this point on I had no family or friends to rely on, and learning to arrange friendly places to stay became vital.

Want to know anything about this leg of my travels? Ask away and I’ll do my best to answer.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Road Logs

September 30, 2012

Flirting with the Sun

By Drew Jacob

Image by Nebojsa Mladjenovic

“Stay a little.”

“I’m right here,” she says.

“You look like you’re leaving.”

“I will be.”

My legs pump faster. It’s an evening ritual. Our little game. I race to make some still-distant town and she’s ready to slip away under the hill.

“You really should have learned by now.”

“I have, I have.”

“You say that but you do this every night.”

“This time I’ve learned. I’ll get an earlier start tomorrow. I swear.”

She really is waiting: she hangs above the hillsides just as high as forty minutes ago, or was it eight? I never check time on these final jaunts. I set some obscene distance goal and burn my legs into it. Like all men I think I’m special; like any cailín she’s seen my type before.

How many priests thought she’d listen just because they knew the right words?

Minutes pass. I look over, and maybe she’s lower, but she’s still shining golden. I grin and say she’s beautiful. She goes behind a cloud.

At some point the road curves away. “Wait there for me, Aine.”

When I can glance back, she is resting on the edge of her covers; she is wrapped in an autumn sunset veil, and blushing; and my sweet goddess Aine is my final lantern, and my beloved goddess is my final light.

10 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Religion, The Great Adventure

September 6, 2012

Push Days

By Drew Jacob

I want to be in New Orleans on October 17.

As I leave my parent’s farm that gives me 41 days to go 1150 miles.

Math says that’s less than 30 miles a day. Math lies.

A 30 mile bike ride is easy, but that’s every day. On a biking day it’s hard to do anything else. There is no “get there at noon and relax.” I break down camp in the morning, and have to scout a site for it in the evening. I’m sweaty. The laptop is packed, so going to a coffee house and doing work is a pain.

After a long day of biking I want to lay in my hammock and dream.

If I go 32 miles a day, I can spend one day a week on my feet.

If I go 41 miles I get two days.

For 55 miles, three and change.

55 miles is my new minimum. Often I’ll bike farther, but even if in a headwind this is doable.

I’m going to call these days “push days.” I’d rather push four days a week, then have ample time to explore cool towns or chill and write some words.

11 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Bicycling, The Great Adventure, Travel

September 5, 2012

Mad Science

By Drew Jacob

Building is a rush. This idea you had in your head. Not a picture—if only. A concept, who knows what it’ll look like. And then there it is, in your hands, and you meet it for the first time.

I first felt this with Ben, the inventor. We had no idea how I would haul my gear. We put the bike in his truck and headed for the starting point of the Adventure. Somewhere, we stopped and bought two shitty totes. Zip ties, a knife, a lighter, and our brains built the rest.

Those totes lasted me over 200 miles. I still have one, and I rebuilt it.

I hate going to the big home improvement stores. Everything has a purpose and I can never find it. Except if I go not knowing what I want. That’s effing Christmas.

“What are you going to use this for?” The salesman has options A and B in his head.

“We’re trying to build something…” Dad explains it. He’s too mechanical. I explain, I’m too logical. That salesman looks away awkwardly. Two others, fascinated, crowd in.

I don’t know what part we need. But I will know it when I see that sucker on the shelf.

This week, my dad and I built a front rack for the Giant. This thing could re-enter atmosphere. It holds the saddlebags Kira gave me, which are not supposed to fit there.

Dad loves working with his hands. Loves it more with me. The only thing he wants to pass on. This week was the last time. No more will I crouch in his garage.

But 1,148 miles from now? I’ll still have that rack.

5 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in The Great Adventure

August 20, 2012

A Log of My Adventure (With Maps)

By Drew Jacob

People picture me on the road every day, biking without relent. More often I’m enjoying somewhere I’ve reached. Seeing friends, making new ones, writing in the sun.

Here’s a day by day log of my trip so far—and maps of each leg.

Day 1 (July 7) 

Itasca State Park to “abandoned” garage off Hwy 9. 34 miles.

Day 2

To Ball Club, MN. Stayed in woods owned by Native American family. 46 miles.

Day 3

To Grand Rapids. Worked at coffee house, cute Lutheran girl, retired forester & wife. 21 miles.

Day 4

To cabin on Big Lake near Cloquet. Greeted with beer. 66 miles. 

Day 5

Spent helping the Hagens.

Day 6

To woods north of Pine City. Bike trail, camped in thunderstorm. Hinckley terrible. 68 miles.

Map of the first six days. 

Day 7 

To Saumya and Urban’s farm. Biked through two thunder storms. 90.9 miles.

Map of Day 7. 

Day 8 (July 14)

Saumya’s party! A good time was had by all who were not injured during sex.

Days 9 – 17

Funeral detour. Left Minnesota evening of July 15; reached Pittsburgh afternoon of July 16; funeral July 18; arrived Wisconsin morning of July 19; arrived St Paul evening of July 20; back to Saumya & Urban’s July 23. These miles done by car and not included in Great Adventure mileage (obviously).

Days 18 – 20

Writing sabbatical at Saumya & Urban’s.

Day 21 (July 27)

To Beth’s place in St. Paul. Evening bike ride. Suburbs bad, ghetto lively, riverfront beautiful. Arrived precisely sunset. 33.6 miles.

A map of Day 21.

Day 22

Meetup at Uptown Cafeteria for all my friends. Had a good time! Cemeteries, bike trail. Tired.

Days 22 – 34

Hang St. Paul with Beth. See friends, road trip up the river, photography/hiking trip, magical cathedral woods. Bike minimum of 12 miles most days (not included in mileage).

Days 35 – 39

Apartment sit for Beth while she is away. Writing sabbatical.

Day 40 (August 15)

Depart Saint Paul (forever?). Look to Great River Road in Wisconsin. Great Adventure continues.

Total distance biked through Saint Paul: 359.5 miles.

Now I’m on the Wisconsin side of the great river, facing golden land with merciless hills. The wind is my brother. You’re all with me as I go.

12 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Road Logs, The Great Adventure, Travel

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