The Ditty Bops Bike Tour

Rumble Strips Vol 3 issues 9 and The End

2006-09-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

Our show in Portland was great fun. datri bean played with us again and we ate some good food to heal our sick heads. tonight we did our best to sing through our hoarse voices in Eugene. abby's sister, Genevieve sang Harvest Moon with us and danced with some lovely girls in the front row.

So the bike tour has come to an end. Thanks to everyone for coming to the shows, helping us with directions, and feeding us. Let's all keep riding our bikes!...and don't forget to eat your vegetables.

-ditty bops

Click to enlarge Rumble Strips

mighty sick and sore

2006-09-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

do to the following ailments we will not be riding out of portland tomorrow. abby: lots of zits from 3 months of sugar and sun screen, diaper rash sore ass, severely strained right knee, sore left knee from overcompensating for right knee, ganglian cyst in left wrist, tenderness on top of left foot, extremely sore throat, stuffed up nose, clogged up sinuses, and the rest of the boring head cold symtoms. amanda: cuts on ankle from new shoes, bruises under the sit bones, messed up knee, chest cold symptoms: cough, sore throat, lots o' phlemgh, itchy crotch from constant use of the bike shorts. a drawing follows to detail the ailments.

if abby's knee feels better we will try to ride out the next day.

To Portland

2006-09-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

we had a group ride out of Seattle en route to Portland. We rode 103 miles to Centralia.

along the way we picked wild blackberries. the air was crisp and the forrests were spooky, autumny, and beautiful.

last night we went to Thai Food. Boo had the HOTTEST dish of the whole tour, just how she likes it.

One rider, Giovanni, rode all the way to Portland with us. today's ride was 104 miles. it was REALLY tough for us. Abby caught Amanda's cold and both our knees were hurting. On the bright side, the weather was nice and we got to see the World's Biggest Egg

and logs on a boat trip to who knows where.

Rumble Strips Vol 3 issues 7 & 8

2006-09-10T23:07:00.000-07:00

Click on rumble strips to enlarge

Seattle Ride

2006-09-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning on the 10th of September we will meet for our ride at 8:15 am on the corner Broad and Denny. We will ride swiftly out of town en route to Portland. Bring your sunscreen, water, pump, spare tires, and lots of snacks.

Music and Grub

2006-09-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

While in NY, we've been dining out and seeing lots of shows.
here's abby with our friends Nerissa and Brad and cupcakes.
Brad's music is awesome! click here to listen.

Our friend Rick took us to see Les Paul perform at an old jazz club near Times Square. Les was quite humorous and he and the band were great. during the set they had some guest performers up and after the last guest, they asked if there was anyone they missed. Rick yelled out that we sing Les's song "Smoke Rings" and Les asked if we were any good. They let us on stage and we got to perform with Les. it was quite a thrill. afterwards, he brought us backstage and we got to hear stories about old LA and how he came to write "Smoke Rings"

right after that we went straight to the Rodeo Bar to see one of our favorite bands "The Moonlighters" play for the first time.
they do lots of 20's tunes and sing amazing intricate harmonies.

we ran into Chris Thile from Nickel Creek and got to see him play a show. he's such an incredible and energetic performer.

lots of beauty to be found at the union square farmer's market

even a political circus

tomorrow we're off to Seattle to get back on our bikes.

4,502.75 miles and we're here.

2006-09-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

WE MADE IT! We're in NY. it was our longest riding day ever!

the day after our show in Philadelphia

we peddled for over 9 hours to NY. it was a 100 mile ride, 60 miles of which were in the rain.

but we wanted so bad to get to NY for dinner...and we did.

the next day we played our show at the Spiegeltent. the theme was Cops and Robbers.

since then, we've been hanging with our friendsand doing a food tour of NYC. yesterday, we ate at 7 restaurants!

the paparazzi finally caught up with us outside of Cones.

and of course Klum was there too, stealing the limelight.

we've got a week of rest before we gotta get our butts back to the west coast and on our bikes. Seattle here we come.

Rumble Strips Vol 3 issue 6

2006-08-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge Rumble Strip

Philadelphia

2006-08-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

Having Kaveh and Tuba out for these shows has been awesome. we've been doing a lot of cover songs by the pirate band "R".

After the Jammin Java show we rode to Annapolis for a nice 50 mile ride.

Yesterday's ride was a different story! it was the second hardest ride, second only to the ride in Craig Colorado. Abby invented the route and the topography was insane. Up and down CONSTANTLY. it was only 60 miles, but it felt like 120. it didn't help that we went through a town that smelled like human shit. we were riding through a porto john for over 10 miles. abby finally went to church on sunday, for the first time on this tour...to use their bathroom.

after the ride, Amanda was feeling collapsable, so she had a Clif Bar "Recovery" drink. It is great for after a really hard ride when you don't feel like you can eat, but you need calories. It really helped. then we all went and ate a yummy reviving dinner, followed by Woody Allen's new comedy SCOOP. it was just what we needed.

we're in Philadelphia and playing at World Cafe tonight. Red Heart the Ticker will be opening tonight. they've been playing the last 2 shows with us and they're great.

Rumble Strips Vol 23issues 3-5

2006-08-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge rumble strips

DC

2006-08-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday along the trail we ran into some runners who recognized us from a Nickel Creek show. Jared and Jerett ended up treating us to lunch at a fabulous restaurant called Blue Moon. we ate heartily for lunch and even went back again for dinner.

we finally got to go swimming in the Patomic River. it was gorg!
here's abby riding out of historic Harper's Ferry.

yesterday we rode 70 miles and today 68. we arrived all the way to Washington DC and we've now ridden over 4,000 miles. by the way, if you are interested in donating to one of the two non-profits we're raising money for, please check out Adventure Cycling and Pedals for Progress on our "Help Out" page.

when we arrived in DC, we got directions from two secret service agents on bikes to the Lincoln Memorial.

tonight we ate an incredible meal at Sunflower restaurant. it was macro and delish!
Tuba and Kaveh flew in tonight. so glad to have them aboard!
show tomorrow night in Vienna.

Almost to NY and it's time to say a big thanks to our sponsors for helping us out on our tour:

NEW BELGIUM BREWERY
their brewery is wind-powered, their festival Tour de Fat is solar powered, and one of their beers is organic.

ADVENTURE CYCLING
their maps are invaluable to our tour! use their maps to get across the country and you won't get lost.

CLIF BAR
abby's favorite Nectar bar flavor is Cranberry Apricot Almond. She also really likes their chocolate one. it makes a great vegan brownie.
amanda's favorite Nectar is Lemon Vanilla Cashew.
The best Luna Bar is hands down Lemon Zest and Amanda likes Carrot Cake Clif Bars too.

GO MACRO
Abby and Amanda are unanimous in our love for the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and the Granola Delight bars. They are macrobiotic and grain sweetened.

TERRY PRECICSION CYCLING
abby's favorite Terry bike shorts are the Low Riders and amanda likes the Long Short Shorts. They are a good length for preventing sunburns and are really comfy.

DESERT WOMAN
amanda's favorite lip balm is calendula. it smells like chocolate and orange and we both use the Rehab Creme on our sore legs.

SURLY
our Cross Check bikes are Surly. New Belgium, Adventure Cycling and Surly all helped us get set up on our new bikes. They are light weight, great for long travels with the drop handle bars and have treated us well on our journey.

New Rumble Strips coming soon!

Family Fun turned Action Adventure

2006-08-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's ride along the Allegheny trail out of Pittsburgh was one of our favorite rides of the tour. we highly recommend it for a family vacation. it was a smooth gravel flat path that rode along the river all day long through Tarzan forrests. There were plentiful waterfalls and wildlife as we rode 107 miles to our lovely Rockwood Trailhead B&B. We were so excited to go swimming when we got there, so we walked to the river, bikini clad and all to find that we were situated right next to a sewage treatment plant and they recommended against swimmming.

Today we started off on the Alleghany again and it was spectacular. then we went on the C&O trail for most of the day. we expected similar terrain to yesterday's glory, but no such luck. it was an Indiana Jones/Willy Wonka/Goonies/Blair Witch sort of day. we walked our bikes through a 3100 foot unlit tunnel holding onto the handrails to not fall into the a canal far below. we should have been on mountain bikes for all of the crazy uneven rocks and gravel. we saw all sorts of animals like giant fish, tons of deer, a stork-like bird, wild turkeys, and amanda ran over her a possum. she was freaked and upset, but the poor thing managed to walk away after trying to recover from the impact. we were busted for riding on part of the trail that was unfinished. we almost ran out of water as it turned to evening and arrived 106 miles later hungry and tired to a town with very few food options.

both days were long and yesterday's ride broke amanda's previous record for longest pedaling time. she rode 8 hours and 43 minutes yesterday. Our first 2 back to back centuries since Utah.

when we stopped today for lunch, we came to a toy shop that sold something that caught our eye. "HOLY FOLK" dolls "for play and pray". you can buy Noah, Moses, Mary and Jesus. Their knees bend and their hands are magnetized together so they can pray. we almost bought some, but restrained ourselves.

Thrift store Narnia

2006-08-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

Driving in the van is uncomfortable and exhausting. the whole band was tired from our shlep to the city and the pace of van touring. it's really made us appreciate what we've been doing for the last two and a half months. we'll be back to bikes tomorrow. today we are on the road again, van style to Pittsburgh. our show in cleveland was packed. it was like a narnia dream. at the beachland ballroom, our green room opened into a downstairs thrift store where we bought much of our outfits for the evening.

here's abby back stage at the ark the night before

Marie Catrib's

2006-08-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

The day after our Grand Rapids show we awoke at Fountain Hill B&B to a beautiful breakfast.
It's a gorgeous 1800's house we haven't seen the likes of since Mary Poppins. We rode 65 miles to Charlotte, Michigan. Upon finding no vegetarian options there, we decided to drive back to Grand Rapids to go to Marie Catrib's for lunch. Amanda ordered 3 entrees and almost made herself sick. The food was delicious and after our meal we went to the great halloween supplies store called Over The River. Spent alot of money there.

Drove back full and satisfied to Charlotte. The next morning we rode to Ann Arbor and were chased by dogs so many times that Amanda felt like jumping ship.
We arrived to Ann Arbor and rode straight to www.happycow.net's recommended restaurant "Seva." we ate there 4 times in 2 days. it was so yummy. Did some radio and a Borders instore and had a really fun show at the Ark. What a great venue.
We're doing something strange for this tour, we're DRIVING to Cleveland right now for our show tonight. We'll be driving today and tomorrow to make it to our East Coast dates on schedule. Then it's back to bike land.

MIchigan Fest

2006-08-14T15:27:00.000-07:00

So, the women's festival was lots of fun. we were there for a short 36 hours. the best part was that we got to visit amanda's mom and step mom who were there.

we lovingly renamed Boo "Straight Boo" because she was one of the few hetero gals in the place. falcon and ruth taught her amazon archery and she was a natural!
Three bulls eyes in a row!

and remember Elva from the B&B in Anton Colorado? Well, it's a small world, cuz we met her neice at the festival - pictured here.

we got to hang with the band "Betty", Vicky Randle, and lots of other cool musicians.

on our 60 mile ride from the festival, we were chased by dogs and saw this sign.

today we rode 34 miles into Grand Rapids to play our gig. We ate at one of the best restaurants in the world called marie catrib's. locally grown deliciousness. we topped off our incredible meal with some jaw-dropping, face stuffing peanut butter pie.

we also happened upon the coolest Halloween store, but it was closed. sad day. in 5 minutes, we'll be onstage at Billy's to play a show. tomorrow it's off toward Ann Arbor.

Rumble Strips Vol 3 issue 2

2006-08-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge Rumble Strip

Milwaukee

2006-08-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

A Barber Shop Quartet, saw playing, ballroom dance contest, tales of Orgon energy - these were all parts of our show tonight in Milwaukee. We played to a great crowd and the promoter - Tag the Great - got us lots of tasty vittles. Abby discovered the little known truth that Strawberries and Goat Cheese are a wonderful combination. John is on his way back to LA tomorrow and we'll see him again in Seattle. Tonight we're on our way to the Michigan Women's Music Festival. We're gonna ditch our boys and go camping in the forest for a couple days.

Madison

2006-08-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

We rode 50 miles into Madison and were greeted by some folks on art bikes at the Capitol building.

Thanks to everyone who gave us maps and routes for Wisconsin. We had a fun show in Madison. The promoter Tag had the best craft services for us.

Here's Abby before the show.

The Scarring Party opened for us. They were great.

Today Amanda sat on a cow
and we had one of our biggest group rides out of town.

Mei Mei was our youngest rider yet.

We took a gravel trail for 70 miles of the trip. Danni and Vicky joined us for the ride and Vicky rode all 90 miles to Milwaukee with us and here are her cool shoes!

here are abby's sore legs after the ride.

Rumble Strips Vol 3 issue 1

2006-08-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Click to Enlarge Rumble Strip

Chicago, Chicago... A hell of a town

2006-08-07T19:26:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful visit to Chicago. We ate more food at a host of restaurants in the area. SuperBurger was not one of them.

Our show at the Old Town School of Folk Music was a blast. the audience was great and the venue and sound were also great.

photos by Courtney Ivo

We were blessed to have a surprise visit from The Ditty Bops Marching band headed by the incredible Danni Parpan.
Here we are with John and the band: Vik, Hannah, Alex, Joe, Chani, and Danni.

The day after the show we left for Wisconsin. It rained on us for the first 70 miles of our 98 mile ride to Janesville. The rain kept it cool though. After watching 3 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, we went to sleep. On our way to Madison tomorrow for our show!

the ice burrito infomercial

2006-08-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

watch our "ice burrito" infomercial.

shot at Paul Natkin's Photo Studio. Thanks Paul!

Chicago and Rumble Strips Vol 2 issues 11 - 13

2006-08-04T19:37:00.002-07:00

The rain finally died down to a light drizzle yesterday and we left our hotel around 11 am. We were on a crazy route, with turns every .3 miles. we arrived in chicago 7 hours later after navigating through neighborhoods for 60 miles. we arrived at our friend paul's house and have been dining well since our arrival. tonight takes the cake! we were treated to an incredible dinner at Bistro Campagne, a delicious organic french restaurant. by far the best restaurant of the tour! chef michael altenberg fed us: fine bread and butter (amanda had 2 loaves herself), tuna with pesto and farmer's braised greens, macaroni and cheese, salad, peach tarte with vanilla ice cream. tomorrow is our show at the old town school of folk music and our friend and fellow musician John Lambdin flew out to play his fiddle and lap steel with us for a few days. rick whitmore is back on the scene and will be attending tomorrow nights show.

boo and greg got to visit rigley field

Click to Enlarge Rumble Strips

Chicago and Rumble Strips Vol 2 issues 11 - 13

2006-08-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

what to do

2006-08-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

yesterday was an epic ride. we decided since it would likely rain on the 3rd, and since we had a killer tail wind pushing us along at 22 miles an hour, we would try to ride further than we'd planned. we did 95 miles in 95 degree weather with a lot of humidity to make us extra soaked. abby had 4 ice burritos and saw 4 cemetarys en route to joliet. our route 66 path is very confusing and many times we try to follow frontage roads along the 55 to cut out unneccesary detours in the cornfields where the roads are literally melting to our tires. unfortunatley this often backfires when the frontage roads unexpectedly end such as they did yesterday. we had to toss our bikes over two fences and scaled the rusty barbed wire two times. right after which we were passed by an unsuspecting highway patrolman who would likely have ticketed us for running across the 55 (unmotorized transit prohibited). to save even more time we hopped on the 53 to take a direct path from braidwood to jolilet and this ended us being a really sketchy road with no shoulder and lots of huge dump trucks (one of which nearly fishtailed into us). after riding 15 miles on this we decided it was too hot and unsafe to ride further, and finally called it quits at 1 o clock in the shade of a flashing construction sign arrow.

now it is 9:30am, we're sitting in our hotel room debating wether or not to ride in the rain that starts and stops every 30 minutes. it was thunder and lightning when we woke up at 5:00am and that died down around 6:30. we suppose we'll wait out the storm until we get kicked out at checkout time or until we see the sun peek out from behind the clouds.

Rumble Strips Vol 2 issues 9 & 10

2006-08-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago we rode to Springfield and played a show. It was a hot 60 mile ride. Today we rode from Springfield to Bloomington after a much needed rest yesterday at the Hilton of Springfield. Today's ride was 75 miles. . Illinois seems to be thusfar the only truly flat state we've ridden through. Hazzah to that!
Click To Enlarge Rumble Strips

good days and bad days

2006-07-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

sometimes good days and bad days happen in the same day. yesterday we left from the dollhouse b and b in rhineland,mo. amanda ate mini muffins till she couldn't eat any more then we left for our 65 mile ride to saint charles. shortly after our departure, we realized the Katy trail we were on had massive spider webs strewn across the path with giant spiders in the middle of each one. amanda got oogled out so we hopped on the road that ran alongside the trail. after about two and a half miles on the road these two crazed dogs started running after us full speed ahead. abby yelled at them and told them to go home but it wasn't really working so she flipped back down the opposite direction as fast as possible. amanda decided to get off her bike and walk, trying to appease the dogs but it didn't really work. they kept after her and she got bit on the calf. fortunately it didn't break the skin so we didn't have to worry about some weird dog disease. so we rode back to the katy trail and after about 15 minutes amanda crashed through one of the webs and got a giant spider on her which freaked her out but at least it didn't bite her. This was a hard day for Amanda. She was surrounded by spiders, attacked by dogs, swimming in a humid hell, AND she was on her period!
we rode the rest of the way to saint charles as 65 miles became 70 and a nice shady trail turned into a blazing hot humidity bath.

after the ride we had just enough time to go to a costume shop and take a shower. then we cruised over to our gig at the police station turned art space, Mad Art Gallery. what a cool place. they even have the cell blocks in tact.
amanda had abby locked away for good while gangster greg was cornered by sheriff boo

the show was a blast. there was a fun opening group called maid rite whose music was a jamboree sensation. we had a guest saw player named Lindy and some wonderful karaoke performers. after the show there were fire eaters ouside on the patio with cool art bikes made to look like frogs, ducks, and camels. unfortunately we didn't get back to the hotel until 1am.

today we left way too late for comfort. a 98 degree day plus a hell of a lot of moisture in the air. we had three guest riders, roger, adam, and phil. roger led us across the bridge to illinois and the start of our route 66 to chicago. adam and phil rode with us all the way to litchfieild.

on the way phil got two flats. some really nice people let us come into their house and cool off in the AC while he fixed his flats in the shade. they offered us ice cold drinks and didn't seem to mind that we were dirty and wet. after the flats got fixed we were out in the heat of the day. abby thought she wasn't gonna make it all the way till we pulled into a gas station somewhere and poured ice water over her head. then amanda came up with a brilliant new invention called the ice burrito which saved our butts for the rest of the ride! it kept us cool and rejuvenated for the last hour. we were so rejuved that we laughed about her invention for 45 minutes. abby almost fell off her bike laughing. everyone will want one of these hot new items.
here is a preview

we missed our friend Jesca Hoop today and riding through the corn, we kept singing her songs.

go to www.jescahoop.com to hear the music for yourself. abby did the drawing on the homepage.

day 65

2006-07-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

people keep telling us "you're halfway there" but the fact is we'll be in nyc in less than 35 days. so we're actually about 2/3 of the way there. we kind of can't believe it.

the columbia show was a whirlwind. we rode in, we ate some grub at Main Squeeze, went Thrift Shopping and posed with mannequins, we played, we slept. the humidity outside was probably the thickest we've felt on the tour so far. we were soaking wet in our sun dresses. the crowd was full of dancing kids which kept us entertained the whole time.

this was a pretty part of the trail with a tunnel

today we road 75 miles on the katy trail with a great group of people. we had 8 riders come out with us.

cole, lee and pete road the enitre way from columbia to rhineland!
the longest ride yet for these bmx pros. turned touring cyclists for the day. and they road with single speeds and fixed gears. way to go guys. lee even got chomped by a wasp of hornet.

details: animal sightings on the trail as follows, one or two snakes, two turtles, an indigo bunting, a small rabbit, a deer, multiple squirrels, an unidentifiable mammal of medium size, and butterflies galore. zero road kill.

abby's food log today: redwood hills goat yogurt with berries, peaches, bannans, salt and pepper cashews, fig newtons, 2 string cheeses and flax seed crackers, 2 clif shot blocks, 1 go macro granola bar, apple, grilled cheese sandwich, brown rice with braggs amino acids and flax oil, steamed broccoli, salad with almonds, cherry tomatoes from our host Amanda's garden, cucmber from garden, and some chocolate chip cookies. it's almost 10 and she's still kind of hungry. amanda hasn't stopped eating yet so she can't accurately account for her food 'till she stops eating blueberry and poppyseed mini muffins.

MO' MO' MO' how do you like it? how do you like it?

2006-07-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

our kansas city show was a blast. fans were great and sooo supportive of our nerdy desire to put on a wizard of oz show. thanks everyone!

jim - the first saw player of the tour did a beautiful rendition of "over the rainbow"

the ride out of kansas city was beautiful thanks to our tour guide Mark who led us in the right direction.

our riders outbound from Kansas City

during the ride, a passing motorist yelled something in a language we couldn't quite understand. it sounded something like, "AYEHSH HOWL"

it was an 80 mile trek into Missouri's "college town" of Warrensburg. we searched for food options and reef flip flops for amanda, found neither and ended up at the grocery store for some pesticide ridden salad greens with radishes and english cucumbers. that wasn't enough so we broke down and voraciously ate a large Quizno's sub sandwich. we were hot and exhausted and fell asleep at 7 o clock.

this morning we rode 75 miles to Boonville. what a great ride it was, except for getting chased by the biggest dog we've ever seen. abby yelled at the house to call off their beast but nobody appeared to be home. the ride went through corn fields and rolling hills and there was virtually no traffic all the way to sedalia where we then hopped on the Katy trail: sorry, no cars allowed!!! amanda plays piano on the katy trail

the katy trail is shady and full of LIVE animals such as big fat black snakes, little green snakes, rabbits, squirrels, and red birds, lots of butterflies that kept flying into my face. it was a hot one but we left early and got done by 2 o'clock. then, salad fixin' at the low budget motel...uh oh, still hungry...we saw a Walmart, a mexican restaraunt, and a Subway...
amanda tried to claim subway is the best of the shitty sub sandwich shops so we compared our veggie sub today to yesterday's Quizno's. subway failed. they weren't even as good. but that didn't stop amanda from eating three 6" subs. to be fair, abby ate 1 inche of one of them, so we suppose she actually ate 17". abby ate 13" of sub. while we can't really condone eating at chain sub establishments, they did provide us with a sense of being full.

amanda followed the day's eating frenzy by drinking a quart of chocolate silk soymilk and her new favorite luna bar is peanut butter cookie! abby has an on-going dilemma. she can't decide whether her Terry Cycle low rider biker shorts or her Rock and Republic jean cut-offs are her favorite riding gear. abby and amanda do agree that the Clif Organic shot blocks are a must have during hot summer excursions. they've saved our butts on multiple occasions during this heat wave.

tomorrow we ride the Katy trail to columbia which is supposed to be a "college town". if they have brown rice and a dark green vegetable we'll be happy.

2 days ago, we were busy getting a new stage prop ready...our pagoda piano

boo and greg construct the pagoda in our hotel

rick designs the dragon and paints the pagoda

3 little girls at the hotel want to help paint

Forgot to post the quote of the day the other day:
after stopping at the gas station outside of Lawrence to get water and grub, Boo bought some hot and spicy cheetos and beef jerky chew. while we were riding away, Boo said, "Oh, Shit! I forgot to put jerky in my mouth!"

Rumble Strips Vol 2 issues 7 & 8

2006-07-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge rumble strips

Lawrence

2006-07-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

The show in Lawrence, KS was great. a group of wonderful people turned up for the early evening outdoor show at the Gaslight. fortunatley the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees since the day before so it felt comfortable and we could all enjoy ourselves. the train that runs through town passed by just in time for a rendition of "moon over the freeway." our friend rick (also our webman and calendar graphic designer) flew out from LA to visit and ride with us. Our friend Ty drove a whopping 10 hours to make an audio recording of the show!

We saw THE BEST dancing at our Lawrence show!

here is Gus, the 8 year old winner of the "Sister Kate Dance-Off"

Here is Gus's Dance that won him a prized Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Clif Bar and Vol. 1 of Rumble Strips (a combined 5 dollar Value)

Gus talks about going for your goals

on another note, here's amanda's "crazy salad" that she fixed in our hotel room - a swell alternative to gas station food

the day before our show in Lawrence, amanda met Doozie and Brad at the venue. Brad and his family let us use their garage to build a set piece for our Kansas City Show. Thanks, guys!

greg builds a stage prop at Brad's house

here's brad blowing glass

our guest riders Mike, Rick, Boo, Eric, Nick, and Cooper

we rode 42 miles into Kansas City. it was a pretty ride and alot cooler out than the 105 degree heat wave last week.

then we were invited to an organic home-cooked meal at the beautiful home of Mike and Chrissy. It was delicious!

Our wonderful hosts who cooked us the best meal of the tour, Mike and Chrissy

The dessert

Tonight is our Wizard of Oz show in Kansas City. We hope for an extension of this 85 degree bliss for our ride towards Columbia, MO on monday.

Rumble Strips Vol 2 issues 5 & 6

2006-07-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge Rumble Strips

heat wave

2006-07-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

so we said that abby had heat stroke back in oberlin, but upon further research we think that it was "heat exhaustion" which can lead to heat stroke. despite our efforts to avoid the heat of the day by getting up at 4 am, we've still been riding in 90-100+ degrees with humidity. and every day since that 106 degree ride back in Oberlin, Abby has continued to exhibit symptoms of heat exhaustion.

we rode 62 miles from smith center to Lucas, Kansas.
we'd heard about Lucas's artist community and we got to play an impromptu gig at the hundred year old "Garden of Eden".

we also got a tour of the town by Don and Erica of "The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things" - a Roadside Attraction that travels around the country with miniature replicas of things like the Largest Doughnut and the Largest Ball of Twine (the one we saw!)
It was a very warm evening and we were happy to see so many folks come out to hear us play in the garden. We also met a real Ditty Bop - a Morse Code Decoder from the Navy who told us how to say our names in Code. What a fun surprise.
here is some folk art taxidermy in Lucas

we rode 52 miles from Lucas to Salina
Getting up pre-dawn to race against the heat, we found ourselves near some farms with some scary barking dogs in the dark. that's become a staple of these parts so far. not our favorite aspect of the trip.

we rode 60 miles from Salina almost to Manhattan, KS
Another 4 am morning. 90 degrees even that early. rode under the mooon and stars and had a visit from head wind who slowed us down and kept us cool. we rode along our route to a military base. at the gate, a handsome soldier told us bikes were allowed with photo id. we weren't carrying our id's. amanda showed the soldiers a Ditty Bops sticker, telling them it was sort of like a photo id, we were pictured on it, we had a website, could we please get through, we'd ridden all the way from LA. no dice.

we turned around and tried an alternate route, a frontage road that dead ended at the highway that didn't allow bikes. we had already ridden 60 miles and the heat was climbing so we met up with Euro Van and hitched a ride the rest of the way to Manhattan, Kansas. Upon arrival, Abby got sick again. amanda is not permitting her to ride tomorrow. it's time for recovery mode. it's supposed to be 108 tomorrow.

We're in the Middle of the United States, literally

2006-07-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

two days ago we rode from St Francis to Norcatur, KS. the first 70 miles were great fun and we left at 5:30 in the morning so it wasn't hot. however, the last 20 miles of our journey were friggin friggin HOT! supposedly it was 105 degrees. abby got heat stroke, she had the chills. amanda passed the turn off and rode an extra 3 miles. the ride was 92-94 miles depending on if you were on course or lost.
they didn't like bikes much at Raye's market in Oberlin

here's a video of amanda's shadow

and her bike

we recouperated in the home of our new friend Bee.
she's a pal of our puppeteer Lynn Jeffries. Bee fed us, let us do our laundry, took us to the health food store in a storm, and was such a charming host. she let us stay an extra day to rest and we had a great time.

greg rutledge's picture of the fireflies and bicycles in Norcatur

last night we played a gig at the Cardinal Bar and Grill for some locals on pizza night. we had strawberry rhubarb and apple crum pies and tried out Gooseberry Pie for the first time. it's not for everyone, but Greg thought it was for him.

This morning, we departed at 5:15 am with Boo and a guest rider named Daniel. It was a nice surprise to have a guest rider join us in the very small town of Norcatur! Boo rode 50 miles today, beating her old record of 43 miles! today's ride was 80 miles and we finished before 11:30 am.
amanda caught alot of bugs on her arm today. see if you can spot them between the freckles and moles

our awesome hotel in Smith Center

this afternoon we will be at the geographic center of the United States after which we will be visiting the World's Largest Ball of Twine. We have running bets on the diameter of the twine ball. the winner of the bet will get to buzz cut the losing members' hair.

Rumble Strips Vol 2 issues 1-4

2006-07-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Click on Rumble Strips to Enlarge

KANSAS

2006-07-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Our last show in Colorado was great fun. We were really excited to get to open for the Indigo Girls and the show was in a giant barn. The audience had some of the most entertaining dancers we have ever seen. We rode a whopping 15 miles to the venue!

The next day we bid farewell to Ian who had to get back to Cali. We started our ride just east of Denver International Airport. We learned the hard way that just because G Maps say that a road is paved doesn’t mean it stays paved. We had our first interaction with some backroads dogs who liked to hover near our heels. That got our hearts racing.

We spent a magical evening in Anton Colorado in a lovely little cottage. We sat on the porch with Elva who taught us all about the history of Anton, population of 15. It turned out she was a wonderful quilt-maker and she helped us sew our backdrop.

She was a lovely host. We won’t forget our favorite night of the tour watching the pink lightning storm which was a million times better than any fireworks we’ve seen in our lives. Abby felt like a magical being.

This morning, Abby quickly realized that although she may be a magical being, she is also a human. In the first 5 miles of the ride Abby crashed while carelessly trying to retrieve her walkie talkie that had fallen out if its holster. She had no serious injuries, but skinned her knee so bad that it bled for the rest of the ride. DeWald says, “Thanks for loaning me that pink bandana, Amanda. I felt just like Punky Brewster, except with more blood.”
here is some of the blood

this is a poor excuse for a road, according to abby's knee

IT'S SIRIUS
here we are doing a radio phoner interview with Sirius Radio while attending to Abby's hurt knee

Abby had 2 flat tires

The theme song for “Family Matters” was stuck on repeat in Amanda’s head for much of the ride.

strange sighting - cars buried in the side of a hill along our route

We rode 83 miles to St. Francis, Kansas and we have already discovered that NO, everything after the Rockies is NOT flat.

casa bonita

2006-07-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

today we headed for boulder and on the way we stopped at greg and boo's restaurant of choice..."casa bonita." it is not only a restaurant, in fact it is most famous for its gaudy decor and cliff divers. yes, there are cliffs and a pool of water in the middle of the restaurant. and we saw a fake gorilla and skeletons and caves. we decided to pass on the food and had ice water in marguerita glasses.

it rained all day and ian went on a mega ride of 145 miles...WOW!

we went on a hike near the flat irons and ate at an organic restaurant called Karma Cuisine. We had yam puffs, empanadas, plantain-tempeh cake with kale.
earlier today, abby ate the best cookie of her life from the health food store in Frisco. and surprisingly it did not involve chocolate. it was an almond butter, apricot, coconut masterpiece. abby is not a huge fan of dried apricots or coconut, but now she is converted.

swallow hill

2006-07-08T18:44:00.001-07:00

last night at swallow hill was our favorite show of the tour so far. what a great audience; polite yet full of energy. thank you for dancing and singing, and for listening to the lyrics and the music. we appreciated performing for you all.

today we drove back up into the rockies to play a show at Tour de Fat in Frisco. it rained all day but that didn't stop the fun. it was our first show on a solar powered stage. highlights were crazy fun bikes, costumed festival goers, and especially the act performed by the Handsome Little Devils which included dancing, expert juggling, and lots of props.

we filled up with bio diesel outside Denver

and we ate at a gross restaurant that watered their plastic flowers

tomorrow we'll have the day off in Boulder before we say goodbye to Ian and head towards Kansas.

Rumble Strips 14 & 15

2006-07-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

these are the final issues of Volume 1 of Rumble Strips.
click on images to enlarge

we're in Denver - what a day

2006-07-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today we rode what was supposed to be an easy 60 mile day to Denver from Fort Collins, but it ended up being over 75 miles. We were joined by Fort Collins locals Patrick and Amy who helped guide us out of town. On the way to Longmont, we came accross some major police activity. abby was able to capture a few pictures before they released the attack dogs. we rolled out of there quick before any bullets started flying.

later, mid bite into an energy bar, amanda was told that the famed Lucille's restaurant had another location a few miles away in Longmont...we dined on corn bread, biscuits with strawberry & rhubarb jam, salad, cajun potatoes, and beignets.

the next 10 miles, we felt our lunch and took it real slow. then it started raining. we didn't know how to get to our hotel, so we stopped at the fire station to ask for directions.

on our way, we came upon our fave japanese restaurant in Denver called Taki's where we ate miso soup, salmon, pickled daikon and carrots, hijiki and edamame, tofu and brown rice. we bought some books at the Tattered Cover book store and finished up our day with a trip to Wild Oats where amanda ate a chocolate chip cookie, a blueberry muffin and a pint of organic vanilla ice cream.

note: amanda had Mike and the Mechanic's song "the living years" stuck in her head for hours.

last night we played in Fort Collins we played a gig at the Aggie. and though the place was not packed, the crowd was extremely enthusiastic. we had amazing karoke singers and sister kate dancer contestants. yesterday we had a really fun guided tour through the New Belgium Brewery. We taste tested many types of beer and got to ride down the curvey slide in their office. thanks to meredith, chris, matt and todd for a really fun day!

4th of July

2006-07-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

So today we wanted to have a BBQ in the park. Instead of a BBQ, we heated up our tofu hot dogs on our new camp stove and instead of being in a park we had our picnic in some gated community's backyard. abby didn't partake of the grub as she was recovering. amanda on the other hand, ate for two. she had goat yogurt and berries, a cup of OJ, 2 tofu hot dogs with sauerkraut and avocado, salad with fresh corn and tamari sunflower seeds, half a large bag of salt and vinegar kettle chips, 2 pieces of whole foods pizza, 1 string cheese, 1 soy chai, and an "endangered species" mint chocolate bar. we saw fire works far off in the distance and also heard some folks setting off fireworks in the parking lot outside our window. we all juggled in the "park" today and boo made great strides with 3 clubs.

over the rockies

2006-07-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

so, we went over the rockies. yesterday was a long 106.5 mile ride. the incline wasn't as steep as we'd expected, but the supposed 70 miles of downhill didn't much feel like downhill. we peddled hard all day. it was however, one of our favorite rides so far. the craggs on the mountain tops were spectacular and the river running along side us all day was filled with rafters and tubers. there was lightning and some rainfall, but not too much, thankfully. we wound down at whole foods and shopped til we dropped! after that we watched some tour de france and then abby spent a sleepless night throwing up. but at least the inexplicable rash on her arm had gone away, she got the bug out of her eye, and the itching of her 5 mosquito bites subsided. she's catching up on her sleep today and she feels alot better. amanda finished "Queen of the Oddballs" and it was a GREAT read! also, we meant to thank David for sending us all the snacks back in Salt Lake. we've eaten all the m&m's out of the trail mix. Oh, and go see "An Inconvenient Truth" the Al Gore movie about Global Warming. It's really informative and scary. we'll have photos and videos to post soon.
amanda

continental divide

2006-07-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

last night's show was so much fun. there was loads of juggling; pins and glow in the dark juggling balls were flying all over the place during "we're not clown's" opening act. thanks to the audience who picked our set out of skeleton's hat throughout the evening. and thanks to everyone who wished us well in the mountains and saw us off for this morning's ride.

today we hit the rockies. 59 miles. we've been warned again and again, "wait 'til you get to the rockies." it was steep up Rabbit Ears Pass, we gained 2600 feet in 9 miles, but thankfully no wind. abby was in her reclaimed "Granny" gear the entire time. we think it might not have been as steep as a couple of hills on the california coast near golita, but it was close. we were joined by some riders named Lyle and Danny who have ridden the pass before.

it was a beautiful ride but not a lot of downhill as the second half was mostly through a wide valley. amanda was glad to only count 5 dead animals. abby was not glad to have swallowed and then reguritated a large insect while riding downhill with her mouth open. she wanted to take a picture of it to post, so she spit it onto her sleeve. unfortunatley it fell off when the spit dried up. too bad. we tried to gain strength by thinking about the tour de france riders who were sprinting us hills steeper than this one at the same time we were riding, but it didn't work too well. tomorrow, we do another morning climb and then 70 miles of downhill into fort collins for 4th of july! if all goes well we'll have some helmet cam. action to post next week.

steamboat springs

2006-06-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

praise the good universe! we're in steamboat springs staying at a condo. near the theater we're playing saturday night. this curtosey of scott and kelly who have housed us, fed us, and entertained us with waterfall hikes, juggling lessons, bar B Qs, croquette, and complimentary passes to the hot springs to soak our tired legs.
all this and we didn't even have to use our get out of hell free card. true, there are five of us sharing a one bedroom condo. but we don't mind really. we've been relaxing in our little home away from home for three full days. this came at just the right time as we'll be hitting the Rocky mountains on Sunday and heading towards fort colllins for the 4th of july.
waterfall and abby

our host and juggler scott and daughter delaney on the hike

abby's feet after a hike in flip flops.

we found two great little health food stores and a produce stand on the Yampa river where we've been shopping for dinners that abby has made for the past couple days. brown rice, kale with garlic and onions; summer squash and corn saute; avocado, cucumber, and toasted sunflower seed salad. Bamboo market has also made us nice lunches with their home baked whole grain seed bread, and fresh squeezed veggie and fruit juices. thanks guys and gals. we will not leave town hungry that is for sure. abby is banking on a vegan strawberry muffin for breakfast on departure day.

thanks for fixing up our bikes guys! we wore out both our chains and our 2nd set of brake pads.

amanda's been editing like crazy to finish some of the videos we've made on the trip. thanks to stephanie at Geek's Garage
for setting us up with an external drive to make life more sane for editing. the videos should be up on past posts so check them out if you haven't already.

Rest Day Details: we've been listening to Belle and Sebastions "if you're feeling sinister", and abby practicing bach's cello suit (poorly, sorry guys i'm out of practice).

abby and amanda have been devouring the book,"Queen of the Oddballs" by Hillary Carlip. what an inspiring and entertaing life she has led. highly recommended reading. www.queenoftheoddballs.com

Boo is making rapid juggling progress and will surpass ian, abby, and amanda with her stunning skills in no time.

Desert Video

2006-06-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

we put on a show for the sand and the sky in the desert on the border of Colorado and Utah. here is a clip with louder audio than previously posted.

Juggling in Steamboat Springs

2006-06-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

abby, amanda, ian and boo juggling at the steamboat theater with scott from "we're not clowns" juggling group

oh, craig!

2006-06-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

today was the most difficult day since our ride to Guadalupe in California.
There was a headwind as we rode hill after endless hill for 87 miles.

at a stop, abby took a nap while she waited for amanda. then we met some really nice bikers.

abby's favorite part of the ride was watching the antelopes.

during the ride we debated about whether abby should be Wonder Woman or Kermit the Frog for Halloween.

we almost fell asleep on our bikes numerous times today. abby rode for the longest she's ever ridden - 7 hours of actual peddling time. amanda rode for a minute under 8 hours.

when we finally arrived to our destination of Craig, Colorado - amanda cried with relief and exhaustion.

then we went and had mediocre mexican food for dinner.

Rumble Strips 10-13

2006-06-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

click on rumble strips to enlarge

dinosaur

2006-06-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

today we rode to dinosaur. AND we rode into our 3rd state, COLORADO! the ride was mostly high desert with shrubs and rocks. really cool looking. it's getting hotter, but so far we have lucked out in a big way, not one day hotter than 90 degrees.

we met a dutch traveler named pepijn from holland travelling alone for 4 months by bicycle. what an adventurer!

abby was really tired as she rolled into dinosaur.

we didn't think there would be anything there except a rundown hotel and an RV park that looked like a cemetery. to our surprise there was a wonderful little roadside cafe that baked their own bread, grew their own sprouts, and made their own ice cream. we had veggie sandwiches and ice cream for a fantastic lunch. abby's lemon ice cream was the best she has had in forever.

afterwards we headed out into the desert for our post ride show. the prarie dogs and jack rabbits were oh too kind. thanks for listening.

the power of 3's

2006-06-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

we said our goodbyes to salt lake city and our peanut butter shakes and headed east to the 40 yesterday. along the 40 amanda saw 3 broken down cars and abby was yelled at 3 times by angry teenage boys driving their dad's boats to the lake. we got to our campsite and our food and camping gear had not yet arrived.

we met a handsome weathered couple down at the boat dock of soldier creek campground and we splurged on wheat thins, mozzarella string cheese, and treetop apple juice. we felt like kids with our sack lunches back in the 2nd grade. we finally saw some stars last night through the roof of our tent. we rode 86 miles yesterday.

today was a glorious change in terrain. amanda thought it looked like thunder mountain railroad at disneyland and abby thought it looked like the pecos bill cartoon she saw when she was a kid. what we learned is that the world looks alot like disneyland.

while refilling our water at the gas station, we were approached by a gentleman who kindly offered us 2 "get out of hell free" cards, which amanda declined. abby took it as a sign of good luck. she pocketed the two cards and said, "i'm gonna hold onto these. you never know when you're gonna have to get out of hell. and now i can get out two times...for free."

the colors of the water, sky and rocks were incredible on this ride. then we took off our polarized sunglasses and realized they were not quite as emerald city as we thought they were. oh, well. we rode 69 miles today and made giant salads after a trip to the jubilee supermarket.

additional notes:

on this lonely road of trail mix, peanut butter sandwiches and m&m's - we'd like to recall the days spent with our dear friends Mio, Satchi, and Naoko and the "cooks in the kitchen." Girls, we miss you.

And for all of you concerned people out there who have been worrying about about our friend John from San Francisco who his injured chin, here is a progress report -

may it continue to heal well, john. keep it up!

junkfood oasis

2006-06-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

so yesterday and today, we've been little piggies. so what's new?
we ate at a yummy restaurant 4 times called Sages Cafe.
they have the best peanut butter chocolate soycream smoothie! we've had 3 so far.

ate lots of ice cream, soy cream, yummy salads and pastas.

this town, salt lake city, gets the best weather reward for our trip so far.
we also loved riding around town here. it's easy to get around by bike.

tomorrow we head out toward Colorado. We're about to play a show now.

more rumble strips to come soon...

rumble strips 7-9

2006-06-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Click on rumble strips to enlarge

What a beautiful Day

2006-06-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

this morning amanda had 2 flat tires. abby got so pissed that she threw the pump and exclaimed, "this is bullshit!"

we gave up on fixing amanda's bike since it was getting hot and the day was escaping from us, so amanda rode her old mountain bike - the GT Aggressor - for 50 miles. Then the mountain bike got a flat tire, too.

when we got to our destination for the day, we all decided to keep riding another 45 or so miles to the next town since we'd had a tail wind for much of the day.

at the gas station in Eureka, Utah we fixed amanda's tire on the road bike thanks to Ian's pump, Euro Van's rejuvinating OJ and ice, and Abby's determination.

Amanda counted a record number of dead animals today.

270 Roadkill Animals

141 of those were rabbits
6 of them were hawks
4 of them were snakes
1 was an unidentifiable large large animal
the rest were other animals at different stages of decay

amanda also found 2 pirate flags on the side of the road. the first she picked up was a larger version of our stage skeleton's little pirate flag. the skeleton image on this flag was flapping around in the wind like a mischievious pirate. he was good company. then 5 miles later, she found another one just like it, but with a red pole.
this one was for abby. he was fine company on the ride too.

we rode along a most beautiful lake for miles and miles. it was called Utah Lake.
after a while along the lake, we hit a construction zone where trucks were bringing in all sorts of materials for tract mansions. there was a golf course, too. one street was called "Wildlife Blvd." thought it was a bit weird and typical that the making of "Wildlife Blvd" and its surrounding homes was killing much of the area's natural wildlife.

later, amanda was joined by an older man for 5 miles who was lost and late for his granddaughter's wedding rehearsal dinner. he'd gone out for a short exercise ride wearing his slippers and ended up riding for longer than planned.

we rode 100 miles today. shit, yeah.

Rumble Strips #6

2006-06-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

yes, we skipped #5, because it wasn't really nice. in fact, it was way too rude.
so here's #6. don't forget to click to enlarge.

Across the border

2006-06-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

amanda is back in action. she rode yesterday and kicked ass eating only 1/2 a mango for the entire ride! abby led the way for the days 60 mile ride. but she led the wrong way. 10 miles down the wrong way. then 10 miles back to where we started from. then we had 60 more miles to go and we had already done a nice little 20 mile warm up. after we rode 60 more miles, there was a sign that said "Baker...5 miles". shit. but then we only ended up riding 3 and a half more miles to complete the short ride day with a total of 83.5 miles. so much for our day of rest.

we camped in the back yard of a great little cafe in Baker called Lectrolux at the Silver Jack Inn. we got salads and veggies, and lots of cold orange juice while they played Billie Holiday to the afternoon crowd. later that evening before the movie screening we played a couple of tunes on the front porch to some kindly travelers. then we ate some pizza, did our laundry, and took a $2 dollar shower that was well worth the price. oscar and ryan rode with ian that day so they camped in the backyard too. that was our last day riding with them as they are headed toward moab. so long guys.

during the night a bird shit on abby's bag and her sleeping pad.

today we woke up crazy early for us, 5:15am. birds were singin' and ian was out the door (to avoid the heat). amanda and abby ate breakfast at the cafe. terry and tabatha made flapjacks and oatmeal for pre ride energy blast. thanks for the great food and for letting us turn the front porch into a bicycle repair shop.

crossing the utah border made amanda realize that we live on a planet, not just in a city or in our minds. there were amazing rocks and beautiful desert landscapes.
we were feeling good for the first 65 miles, then we started to fade thinking about the next 30 miles. the total mileage for the ride was 98.5 and we felt every mile of it by the end. we saw a lot of corpses of cows and large animals. amanda saw a dead baby fox that made her cry. abbby saw an unknown species of animal (alive not dead) that looked like a large badger but she didn't think badgers live in the desert so we don't know what it was.

food notes: we gotta thank jubilee because there are slim pickins for food in these parts on a sunday afternoon. we got salad greens and veggies and made killer salads back at the hotel. we'll probably eat some more grub later while abby watches the basketball game.

Road Kill's Got Me Thinkin'

2006-06-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

day 23

2006-06-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

rode a ton of hills. almost 4,000 feet of climbing today. 78 miles and 4 summits. what a glorious day except for the shitty wind in the valleys. Boo rode 43 miles with us today! which is 43 miles more than amanda rode; she had recovery from illness day. being the virgo that she is she organized the entire back seat of the van and it is much more pleasant to get the gear and food out of it now. thanks amanda.

here is Boo on her Bike

not a single mormon bug did we see on the road today. however, we did cross paths with ryan and oscar again who are traveling to Ohio by bicycle this summer (and camping almost entirely). abby had her fastest speed ever at 40mph today, ian beat her out with a top speed of 43mph. abby got too scared to go any faster and immediately decided to go only 30 from here on out. Boo nearly ran into a bull that was crossing the highway, and amanda caught it on video tape from the van.

tomorrow is our last day in Nevada. we've seen a lot of shady dudes and a lot of eccentric characters. mostly we want to say thanks to the truckers for scooting over when they pass us, and thanks to the motorcyclists who almost always give us a salute.

the song stuck iin abby's head while riding was: chillin' up the hill, a really disgusting pop style song she made up while riding up a big fat hill.
after the ride she couldn't stop singing: god is watching us, god is watching us, god is watching us from a distance.

food notes: amanda ate food today, a sure sign she is feeling better: half a mango, beans, guacamole, and corn tortillas, cabbage salad.

abby ate: rice cereal with crans, bananas, rice milk, sunflower seeds, go macro bar, ha's apple roll up, tangerine, cashews, corn tortillas, guacamole, cabbage salad, pinto beans, small cup of cherry garcia ice cream, cookie dough ice cream bar (not recommended), one of ians choc. chip cookies, 2 reese's extra pb cups that amanda got for Cosmo.

don't forget to check out Rumblestrips.

ian found some road kill

amanda couldn't have named it better

boo and greg get fried ice cream

tunnel

junkyard dogs

Rumble Strips!

2006-06-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge Rumble Strips

day 21 and 22

2006-06-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

yesterday was the longest ride of our lives, 113 miles from Fallon to Austin! we rode together for the first 1/4 of the ride, past the salt flats, the sand mountain, and the shoe tree that we somehow missed. ian left a bit before us and rode like the wind. he took 100 pictures so be sure to check out the link to his blog site. later in the day we rode past a military top gun scenario; jets were dropping bombs not too far off the highway. at first amanda thought she was watching clouds being born, like some mysterious children's book - until we saw one of the jets swoop down and a huge blast came up from the earth.

at cold springs we stopped for snacks and met these guys who worked on the military base in Fallon. they were driving around in huge trucks with a Silkworm chinese missle on top so the jets could practice spotting them. they said later that day it would be their job to go out and look for bombs that had not been detonated. we said that sounded like a dangerous job and they said they'd rather be doing that than going to Iraq.

the second half of the ride was full of two climbs which weren't that difficult. the only problem was there were these bugs called Mormon Crickets that were infesting the highways. they were about 3-4 inches long and the color of rust. they jumped and crackled as we tried to ride around them but this proved to be impossible at times. the highway was stained for miles with their dead bodies and shells.

everytime a semi would blow past, shells from the Mormon crickets would scatter everywhere. it was like a horror movie, attack of the killer Mormon Crickets, only they were the ones getting attacked by our wheels. Amanda felt like she was on an episode of Fear Factor and was quite disturbed and disgusted. Amanda's saddest roadkill-viewing was a mush pile attached to 2 cute bunny ears. there were also the salt flats with rock graffiti saying sweet love messages along the road.

With all this strange stuff, highway 50 was more like a visit to area 51. Amanda felt empathy for the animals and bugs going at too slow a pace for the cars. we're all just trying to do our thing and not get killed on the highway.
here is a video of some of the ride

after a mediocre meal last night, we came back to our place and threw a surprise party for greg and boo who were celebrating 12 years as a couple. we decorated the room with streamers and served Fat Tire beers with umbrellas. Boo made up the term "pressert" - dessert before dinner - a good term to know about.

here is a video of the party and the eyebrow toothpick-umbrella contest

Food Log for yesterday:

Abby - bowl of rice cereal with cranberries and toasted sunflower seeds, some mango, handful of cashews, 2 Go Macro Bars, 1 Clif Nectar Bar, 1 Tangerine, 1 Haas Apple Fruit Rollup, 6 milkduds from Euro Van Snack Truck, raided Boo's Pirate Booty, Large Handful of Wasabi Peas, 1 Baked Potato with olive oil, salt and pepper, 1/2 can of black bean soup (unheated), cheese and brown rice crackers, and apples and cheese for dessert.

Amanda - Some mango, a PB and J, 2 Go Macro Bars, 2 Nectar Bars, 2 Haas Apple Fruit Rollups, another half PB and J, a bag of wasabi peaas and a ton of cashews, 2 baked potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, sour cream, and butter, a dinner salad, 2 cheese sandwiches, brown rice crackers, apples and cheese, a half can of black bean soup, and a taste of Fat Tire Beer.

today amanda woke up ill so she had to "take it easy". she spent the waking hours alternating between sleeping and throwing up. ian and abby got up early to try and beat the rain but it was already sprinkling. we climbed two fairly steep passes, and rode in some beautiful stormy weather through the vistas. the rain would at times make the sage and roadside plants smell refreshing, and at other times it would kick up the smell of the decomposing mormon crickets which was nauseating. abby told amanda she picked a good day to get sick because it was cold, wet, and full of rotting bugs.

we think it's flag day

taxidermy

when amanda snaps this flash photo, an older woman glued to her video gambling screen asks her husband, "Did you see that lightning?"

Into the desert

2006-06-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

We left Reno this morning. Rode up and up geiger road to pass 6700 feet. The wind playfully pushed Amanda up the hill a bit. Then on the descent, the wind playfully almost pushed us all off our bikes. Abby was getting blown around like a tumbleweed. It was scary. Don't mess with the wind. It's a powerful thing. Ian went over 40 miles an hour on one of the descents. Abby said it was the first time she wanted the downhill to end.

Amanda saw some of the most entertaining road kill today: as she came upon a mass of furry hair wondering what unlucky animal it was, she identified it as a synthetic hair scrunchie. Soon after that, she saw an abandoned stuffed animal rabbit on the side of the road.

We came upon Virginia City, a cute little historic mining town with a "suicide table" and "bucket of blood."
It rained on us a bit and Amanda had a song in her head "The water's getting rough, it's more than i can handle....on dry land once more" by the band "Hello Stranger" and "Somewhere over the Rainbow" - great song. We got to try out our rain gear.

Then we rode another 50 miles along highway 50 with shoulder rumble strips and Abby almost got sucked into the traffic when a big truck passed her and the draft was super strong. Those rumble strips are no fun! we Passed resevoir that reminded Amanda of the "Swamp of Sadness" from Neverending Story.

Finally close to Fallon, we hit smooth pavement and passed a llama store, a rock shop, and a sign reminding us that "Jesus is Lord." Had the worst meal of the trip at a Mexican/Italian restaurant. So sad to eat shitty food.

Another song in Amanda's head was "The Heart is the only Nation" by her mom Ruth Barrett.
Got her thinking about war and ideals and nations. With all the detention centers and news of torture, she wondered what freedoms are we fighting for if we don't preserve those freedoms in the way we fight? Trying to fight terrorism with terror and torture breeds more terrorism. She started thinking about political prisoners here and abroad and how lucky she is to have freedom of movement out on the open road on her bicycle.

We rode 87 miles today. Tomorrow, it's going to be an even longer day.

Not sure when we'll be able to update next. We'll post when we get to Salt Lake if not sooner.

Reno

2006-06-13T01:05:00.000-07:00

photos by ian walker at magic underground

This was the funnest and most eventful trip to Reno yet. Beautiful river, good food, circus circus.
We woke up this morning, had some breakfast, and rode our bikes to a radio show. just a few blocks away a sniper shot a judge in the court house and police were swarming the scene...helicopters too - LA style. Haven't heard word on the judge's condition or if they caught the sniper. But it certainly was an eventful afternoon. All this took place right across the street from our show at "Magic Underground' What a great place! We say some great close-up magic, borrowed some awesome costumes and props, and played for an enthusiastic crowd of all ages.

here's a video of us at Magic Underground

we even ran into Colin after the show - abby's friend from Redding who took amanda on her first mountain bike ride many years ago.

abby with amanda's gift of a mini skeleton at lunch today

we got in Danni's hand-made puff paint ditty shirts. they're so cool.

more ian walker pics

We're in Nevada!

2006-06-11T19:24:00.001-07:00

we've made it to Reno. here's our account getting here for the last few days:

on friday abby awoke to the cottage alarm clock blasting Bon Jovi's "dead or alive". now we truly understand now the meaning of the words "i'm a cowboy on the steel horse i ride". first off, we played a show in the middle of the sticks outside Nevada city with mosquitos, bike enthusiasts and a crazy dancing boy named josh. kim and others made us home cooked food and it was hands down the best food we've had so far this tour: an amazing quiche with bell peppers and onions, polenta with eggplant, zuchinni, and tomato sauce, and kim's pizza: perfectly cooked eggplant, carmelized onion, goat cheese (from her own goat), and an amazing tart-like whole wheat crust - Amanda says it's the best tart of her life.

next day we got up and rode to wild plum camp zone. we rode the 49 along the yuba river and talked to two nice bike guys both named greg that gave us directions to Reno. thanks for the help guys! if you're ever in Downieville visit thier shops for a downhill mt. bike adventure.

here is a video from our long trip downhill along the Yuba Pass

Amanda spent the morning doing some math. she figured out that 20 miles out of 70 miles was somewhere between 1/3 and 1/4 of her trip. She also took a stab at solving the world's problems. She thinks she might have something:

1. give to others randomly and indiscriminately
2. be good company to yourself and others
3. feed yourself well with good quality food
4. ride or walk more often

the gang spent all day dodging butterflies on the road, two days before we were dodging caterpillars. Ian was in awe of the Yuba river and told Amanda that's what he came on the trip for. Amanda told him she thought he came along for the free Clif bars. Boo rode from Downieville to the camp site. 15 miles for Boo! later that night we heated up a can of amy's split pea soup over the campfire and made cheese, avocado on whole wheat bread open faced sandwiches. we rode 60 miles amongst beautiful pine trees and red dirt and went to sleep while Greg played Simon and Garfunkel tunes on the guitar.

abby documenting the trip

next day abby woke up and had the morning to herself so she cooked oatmeal with raisins and rice milk for ian and amanda. we rode 13 miles up Yuba pass 6,700 feet elevation. then greg and boo video taped our 7 mile descent into sierraville where we stopped for lunch at a mexican restaraunt. we ate whole pinto beans, side of guacamole, and corn tortillas and 2 baskets of corn chips. then we headed out to the sierraville hot springs curtosey of the gals from xtra-cycle who hooked it up for us.

what a great soak. 108 degree pools, warm pools, and cool pools. we finally got some sun on our naked asses. so long to our bike shorts tan. we rode a total of 60 miles to Chilcoot where we camped last night and Greg rode 6 or 7 miles with us.
way to go Greg! some really beautiful country up by Frenchman lake, high desert like regions. just incredibly beautiful.

passed this road on the way

today we rode an easy 35 miles to Reno. Amanda's record speed was recorded at 37.8 mph.

abby and the cutest animals.

had a great lunch at Pneumatic cafe (where we plan to go for lunch tomorrow), and caught up on laundry and blogging.

we'll be in the nevada desert for 9-10 days starting tuesday, so it's unlikely we'll be able to update again till Salt Lake City. may the wind be at our backs and the temperatures below 90. drive and ride safely everyone.

amanda is back to modeling again

Two Weeks in

2006-06-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

today we rode from sacramento to nevada city. it was 75 miles with quite a few hills. temperatures were warm and we were sweating like slimy pigs that rolled around in sun screen and dirt. top speed was recorded by amanda at 36.7mph abby felt tired and rode slower than usual and ian rode fast and furious. all abby could talk about the whole way was how she wanted a popsicle. amanda wanted a smoothie and told the others so. right as we rolled into town we saw a juice shack with a mister out front like some crazy mirage. abby ordered an apple lemon ginger blended with ice. amanda got lemon, lime, and apple icee. all organic and all great. we all got brain freezes and sat in the sun. later on after we had chilled at our cabin we walked to the organic veggie/health restaraunt and got grub galore. abby ordered thai salad with tempeh, a side of brown rice, and a cup of black bean chilli. amanda ordered thai salad with tempeh and a vegan nut and seed loaf with steamed veggies. we also had some of ians fries, avocado melt, a bite of salmon, and a bite of boo's pesto pasta. then we got soy cream cherry and butter pecan to go and ate it on our front porch while we talked about pirate booty.

songs stuck in amanda's head was MQ musik's "cat food" (www.mqmusik.com). and also the song 16 miles (to the tune of 16 tons): you go 16 miles and what do you get? you go another 15 before you can rest. hey abby don't you hurry cause i'm too slow, i need some grub at the company store.

amanda saw 2 dead skunks that smelled bad and a highly decomposed deer that gave her an idea for an art project, 5 snakes, 2 or 3 birds, and a grey squirrel and some other rodents.

here we are at our cottage.

Davis to Sacramento-election day

2006-06-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

today we had the shortest travel day of the tour. we rode from davis to sacramento and recruited pixl for the trip along the yolo county bike path. it was a nice ride and Boo rode the whole way with us on her new bike. her ass is hurting so she will need a new seat soon. one with some serious Cush. abby's sister Genny joined us for the ride from our hotel to dinner in Sac. at Thai Basil on J street. we had excellent yellow curry with broccoli and mushrooms, spicy thai salad with grilled tofu, tasty brown and green rice, veggie summer rolls wrapped in rice paper, and black rice with coconut ice cream, fried bananas with vanilla ice cream, and purple taro root ice cream to match amanda's hair. we cruised around sacramento neighborhoods for a while and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest. we got hungry after the ride home and ate 4 luna bars and a go macro bars at the hotel. abby ate too much dark chocolate. we'll be leaving in the morning towards nevada city for a show on thursday. we may not have internet access tomorrow because we'll be in a remote area of nevada but we'll try to post if we can.

some cross country riders we came across on the road.

abby and genny at dinner

amanda and dessert

our time in Davis

2006-06-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hooray. we just played a show in one of the bike-friendliest places on earth - Davis, CA. thanks to everyone at Delta of Venus, 122 B Street for letting us play, and for fixing us some great food. ian said his plum chicken was the best meal of the tour. and amanda and abby devoured thier hot and sour tempeh and ginger tofu with greens, plantains and rice. we played outside on the patio for a lovely group of people for an hour or so and had a great time. what a peaceful way to spend our evening. we don't even want to leave, but we've got a lot of ground to cover. thanks to the guys at wheelworks for fixing our bikes up for the trip over the Sierra Nevadas.

Boo bought a road bike from Kens bike and ski today to ride with us. we think we'll be meeting for the ride out of town tomorrow around 12:00pm at the Delta of Venus in Davis to go to Sacramento. Come ride with us. We can work up a sweat in the heat of the day.

other highlights: we got to climb on the crazy playground dome where we met 8 years ago.

this morning we went to the horse barn where abby once worked. amanda got shocked by the electric fence surrounding the pens. abby saw a Burberry pony that was her favorite.

we met a great guy at the barber shop on G street, jeff, who told us about the Delta of Venus and that's how we ended up playing there. he rides a tall bamboo bicycle made by a bike artist in San Diego.

We ate some popsicles and soy cream from the Davis Food Co-Op and we stocked up on non perishable goods for our trip in the mountains.

Going East

2006-06-05T00:46:00.000-07:00

We headed out of SF to Davis California today. It was a breezy 65 mile ride...the easiest yet. we all enjoyed ourselves and the weather was warm. The rolling hills and blue sky were so pretty and the staring cows were cool. we pigged out at breakfast, so no snacking along the ride today.

breakfast: vanilla ice cream, cherry blintz crepe, pumpkin pankakes, salmon egg scramble with toast and potatoes, carrot juice and 3 monster muffins and such cookies.

ian's maximum speed now holds the record at 37 miles an hour. abby came in second at 35 miles an hour.

yesterday, we played a show in SF to a large crowd. there were some rowdy ones in the group, but there were also alot of friends in the audience...some even in pirate costumes.

We had two openers last night. Our friend Shawn Bannon showed some short films and Amanda and her best friend Michael's sketch comedy show "Pretty Things"was screened too. here's a clip that stars michael, amanda, abby, our violin player john lambdin, and our pal joey in a sketch called the "Jam Session"

earlier in the day we did a fun ride with the SF bike coalition.

a nice 14 miles through the city. Boo joined us for the ride, which was alot of fun.
AND Ian said he had a surprise for us. Amanda asked if it was food. Ian said it was better than food. Amanda asked what could be better than food and it was... Our dear friend LANA surprised us and came up to SF to ride with us for the day.

We also hung with our friend and webman Rick Whitmore and Amanda's childhood friend Sarah.

here is a video of our San Francisco ride.

from SF to Davis

2006-06-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

just arrived in Davis. this is where we met each other. what a glorious bike friendly place. we love it when a town has bike lanes and bike images in the stop lights. thanks to Olivia's mom Stacey for hooking us up with the snacks after our 67 mile ride today. Ian's max speed was 37 miles and amanda actually came in second at 36.3 and abby was third at over 35 miles.

here are some pirates from last night's show.

Food Glorious Food

2006-06-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

Today was a wonderful rest day. Total bicycle miles - 0.

We ate in Berkeley and San Francisco with friends. We ate at 5 restaurants
Cheese Board - 2 pieces of pizza each
Chaya - fried eggplant stuffed with corn and potatoes, brown rice, tempura, seaweed salad, daikon salad
Cheese Board cheese shop - half cheese roll and bites of the shattock street blues roll
Massie's - macaroon and chocolate tart
a hippy place in berkeley with veggie food - choc chip ginger cookie
cupcake shop -mini mudpie cupcake and 2 banana cream pie pieces and a choc oatmeal cookie
Pauline's Pizza - Large Pizza half with artichokes, goat cheese, lemon zest and the other half with black olives + mushrooms
Rainbow Grocery - numerous "monster muffins and such" cookies (amanda's favorite)

we also went back to the hippy place twice, the cupcake shop twice, the hippy veggie place twice and used the bathroom at Saul's Deli twice.

we stepped in and out of Cafe Gratitude too.

It was a great food day.
these were our hosts for the day in Berkeley Zach and Emunah.

emunah our friend looked through clothing discards for something to wear.

this was a sign from a cute bike store in SF

collaborative drawings of abby, amanda and our friend sarah at dinner on the placemat

sarah and amanda with our favorite cookies "monster muffins and such"

here's a video from our ride with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

ride video

2006-06-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

here is a video Ian took on our ride from Monterey to Santa Cruz. Check out all the traffic we avoided!

click here

june first-santa cruz to S.F.

2006-06-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

We made it all the way to San Francisco, and nobody got hurt...except for when ian fell, amanda fell, and john fell. today was an epic day. a never ending day. we started at the Quality Inn joined by Pete, Kelley, and John. Abby's mom sent us off at 8:00am. we rode up the hwy 1 until pete had to turn around and go back to his brothers place. thanks for riding with us pete. -he surprised us at last night's show in Santa Cruz which was a great show in a really unique space. we highly reccomend the watermelon lemonade beverage. - we rode up to the slide detour at Devils pass, pissed in the bushes, ate some snacks. and asked a couple of cyclists whether to take the 84 or the 92.

they said the 92 had less hills. there was our answer. big mistake. lots of crazy logging trucks barreling past us all the way up to the summit which was probably a five mile climb. John ate a total of 5 Cliff bars and was really hungry by this point.

a nice Santa Cruz boy brought us fresh organic peas, which ended up being our only fresh veggie of the day.

amanda rode up the hill multitasking on her cell and delivered the message that the Euro Van carrying all our gear was broken down. Abby laughed hysterically because everyone was paranoid that we couldn't make the KFOG performance on Friday morning because we were traveling by bicycle, and what happens? the brand new Dodge Sprinter craps out during week 1.

here are greg and boo trying to deal with the vehicle situation

we rode the rest of the way into San Francisco and John crashed his bike 5 blocks from the restaurant we were going to eat at. we took him to the hospital to get checked out.

he kicked ass. he rode 80 miles, crashed his bike, spent 4 hours at the emergency room for a cut on the chin, and he did it all on 7 Cliff bars. way to go john! after we said goodnight to everyone and sent john back to Sunnyvale, we went and ate a thoroughly mediocre meal at Herbivore. However, the eavesdropping was top notch. we listened to a table of three, location dropping just about every country on the planet.

John had the quote of the day after he heard amanda sing a Red Lobster tune, "i'd eat that, i'd eat anything right now, other than a Cliff bar" cliff bars are great, it's just hard to believe he ate 7 of them. other details: 79.11 miles, lots of hills, some wind, lots of traffic. songs stuck in abby's head: I shot the Sheriff
songs stuck in amandas head: tunes from the musical "hair". abby ate half a piece of vegan carrot cake, 3 ravioli, rice noodle salad, veggies and quinoa, piece of bread dipped in good olive oil, 2 and 1/2 Go Macro bars, 2 has apple roll ups, lots of salt and peppered cashews, cranberries, sunflower seeds, rice cereal, apple. amanda ate:

We rode our bikes to San Francisco and played 5 shows on the way! thanks to everyone who came and made it a special trip.

abby with skeleton

one of our openers and our friend Jimmy Perry

boo at merch

natara riding on two wheels at the attic. what a fun show that was.

may 31st...day 7

2006-05-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

today was a short ride and WIND FREE!!! oh what a feeling to go 16 to 20mph on flat ground after days on end of wind. we rode about 47 miles today from Monterey to Santa Cruz. what a fun show last night at Monterey Live.

a great bunch of people came out to here us and Vermillion Lies. we really appreciate the support. Justin drew some amazing drawings of the show.

this was the first night playing with the back drop on this tour. eric and dennis came all the way from LA and were a big help in the set up and loading this afternoon.

Jimmy Perry made a beautiful poem dedicated to John Lambdin called "The Ditty Bops have ascended upon your town"

ride details: most of the ride took us along a bike path and through agricultural fields of strawberrys and artichokes. abby's USDA certified organic status is no longer applicable as she rode through a cloud of pesticides sprayed by some guy dressed like the scientist who messed with E.T. Amanda had her first spill on the sidewalk in front of a Bagel internet cafe. she fell gracefully. ian's photoblog might have a photo. amanda's smell of the day was "Crazy Flower" abby renamed it "chemical Flower". songs stuck in the head today were Nickle Creek's "Anthony" and Jesca Hoop's "Seed of Wonder". Ian rode fastest today. abby's mom has been sewing and washing laundry for us while we ride. we all met for lunch at the infamous "Walnut Cafe" in Santa Cruz : Abby ate: tofu broccoli scramble, potatoes, berry muffin, sips of amanda's blueberry smoothie, a bite of peach turnover from the Santa Cruz Farmer's market (amazing!), half of a pancake with maple syrup, my mom's garlic bread, hot fudge sundae from maryanne's, that's all for now until my late night post show snack. amanda ate: stack of pancakes, some of my mom's ahi tuna, peach turnover, some of abby's potatoes, spinach and leek turnover, hot fudge sundae, blueberry smoothie, cliff nectar bar, cucumber watermelon lemonade, that's all till dinner.

tomorrow we ride with our friend john who will be busting his butt with us to make it to San Francisco before friday morning. if the wind is at our backs we can surely make it.

years ago, abby and john wanted to go on a cross-country bike trip. here is the original list they made of things to pack for their hypothetical trip.

may 30th ride and show

2006-05-30T18:28:00.001-07:00

the wind just couldn't let us get away with a 30 mile ride with out making it a pain in the ass for the first 1 and1/2 hours. after that it was fairly nice all the way into monterey except for a long long hill with a lot of noisy dump trucks. we left around 7:50am after a fun set at Fernwood last night in Big Sur. thanks to all the great dancing girls, dancing Ira, and Jimmy and John for coming up on a whim to see us play. we loved our little cabin in the woods even though it took us about 45 minutes to make a fire, and especially love our rooms tonight at the Monterey Plaza Hotel overlooking the water.

here is abby with jimmy at the hotel

here is amanda with her bicycle valets at the monterey plaza hotel

today's songs stuck in our head while riding were: that dan hicks song that goes "caught in the rain, i took the lane, that said 'bout four more miles", and abby was singing an annoying song she accidentally made up called 16mph. we're feeling a bit sore today but took restful naps to prepare us for our show at Monterey Live tonight. food log: abby ate rice cereal, cranberries, sunflower seeds, figs, 3 apple roll ups, 1 pb Go Macro bar, brown rice, black beans, avocado, grilled onions, half a greek salad, some orange cake, that's all till dinner. amanda ate: rice cereal, cranberries, figs, huge veggie burger with the works, orange cake, half a greek salad, that's all till dinner.

here's greg with his famous nachos.

don't forget, if you can't make it to tonights show we'll be in Santa Cruz at the Attic tomorrow night.

May 29th

2006-05-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Day 5 in our bike tour and what a great day of riding. 70 miles, a lot of big hills and great weather for us. we're in Big Sur and playing a show at 9ish tonight at Fernwood on Hwy. 1 a mile north of Pffefer state park. thanks to diane (or diana not sure) for letting us jump in and play last minute like this. hope to see you there for our acoustic set. they even have a piano for greg!

Boo and Greg seen here

Jimmy and John and Abby at gig

details of ride: saw very little road kill which is always good because it is not pleasant for the animals. saw lots of amazing colored water and the white caps were the color i wish my teeth were. amanda made up a song to the tune of Jolene: 2 mile, 2 miles, 2 miles, 2 miiiiiles...why'd you have to lie and say two miles...you said to miles till i get there, now it's been 3 i'm splitting hairs, the sign did lie to me it said 2 miles."
meanwhile i made up a song called "gotta get to gorda" which i hope to finish and play sometime on this tour. ian and amanda saw a guy sleeping in a ditch, amanda's knee was giving her greif, a bird almost shit on ians head, and abby passed on the $15.95 fish and chips even if they were the rated top 5 of the United States. met a very helpful and friendly cyclist/musician traveling from Vancouver to Mexico. gave me the inside scoop on the slide detour north of Half MOon bay. WE Loved today's ride and are staying in a choice location.

This was lunch!

Dinner was great!
2 Jicama Butter lettuce salads, nachos, 2 baskets of chips and salsa and guacamole, salmon with coconut milk and cabbage and mango, bites of incredible boo's incredible chocolate cake, ice cream and ian's sopapillas...So full! want more ice cream.

This awesome man is Chris. he let us use the wireless from his hotel to update this weblog entry!

Day 4

2006-05-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today's ride was very much a repeat of yesterday but not quite as long or hard. there were a lot of nice smells in the morning like strawberry fields, eucalyptus trees, and other plants that i'm not sure what they were. we rode 71 miles today and here are the highlights: the area just north of San luis Obispo, the rock at morro bay, the vultures straight out of jungle book, a large deranged wild cat running across my path causing me to cross the Hwy. 1 in fear that it might have rabies and attack me, stopping in at Art's Cyclery in San Luis Obispo.

Entertaining moments were: the horrible excuse for a song i made in my head while riding up a long hill, the moment when amanda asked "is it Super Bowl Sunday?", watching a lizard do push ups and thinking i could climb up a hill if he could do that, then shortly thereafter realizing how slow i was going when a lizard was moving faster than i was.

post ride song i sang in the shower was Dan Hick's : I feel like singin'

Amanda Saw lots of cute cows grazing today. Saw an old man carry sweet pea flowers near the beach. There was a very Goonie's like Rock coming out of the ocean in Morro Bay. Watched many flight battles between vultures and smaller birds.

Amanda's Mind-Tunes (songs stuck in her head during the ride) were "If I were a rich man" from Fiddler and "If I were a rich girl" by Gwen. Yesterday's song on repeat was "Summer Lovin'" from Grease.

Amanda counted 28 dead animals on the road today. 3 times she started to count lizards and they ran away alive and well.
Abby saw 2 dead rattlesnakes and one unusually large snake that her sister thinks could have been a bull rattlesnake.
There's a lot of life and death out there everyone, so be safe when you're driving home from your three day weekend adventures.

Amanda's Food Log: Breakfast was granola and rice milk. Snacks throughout the day were multiple Haas Apple Fruit Rolls, 1 and a half bags of Clif Shot Blocks, 2 Nectar Bars, a luna bar, a clif bar, Clif electrolite powder in water bottle. Lunch was delish at Natural Cafe in San Luis Obisbo. Love that place! and the town, so cool. It houses the Madonna Inn - a must-stay for any traveler who likes theme rooms. Lunch was the best smoothie I've had in a long time called Michelle My Belle, Half a salad and half a veggie stir fry with yummy tofu. So many things to order that we didn't have time to get. Dinner: tamale and beans, rice and chips.

Abby's Food log: only one cliff nectar bar, 2 and 1/2 HAs roll ups, lots of figs, rice cereal, toasted sunflower seeds, the same lunch as amanda only not as much smoothie, cheese quesadilla, way too many chips and salsa, beans rice and guacamole, electrolyte water.

Tomorrow we ride earlier and hope to avoid late afternoon winds. two days till Monterey!

A bad relationship

2006-05-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

Lana and our guest rider Brandan with Abby. This is before Abby knew what was in store from the day.

Today we were in a bad relationship with the wind. a hellish relationship that lasted for approximately 7 hours and 15 minutes of actual peddaling time. we left at 8:37 am and did not stop until 7:30pm. we rode approx. 71.6 miles until amanda got a flat and i virtually collapsed (ian rode 78 milesall the way into Guadalupe). for the last 15 miles we were going approx. 6 miles an hour on completely flat ground and 8 miles an hour downhill. at times we were completely stopped mid-pedal stroke. our eyes are wind burned even though we were wearing glasses the entire ride. it was extremely hard to enjoy the surrondings because of the extreme conditions. we later found out there was a high wind warning for that area. things we did to distract ourselves from the pain: counted 6 dead rattlesnakes on the shoulder
1 other snake of unknown variety (possibly large lizard)
4 lizard (some dead)
2 cauliflower heads
1 rabbit and 1 dried up dog/coyote carcass

At one point ian and amanda were both staring at a beautiful grassy hill with cows on it. Ian said, "That looks like some tasty grass" to which Amanda replied, "Yeah. It looks really comfortable...like a nice bed." They then realized they must be hungry and tired.

there was one great hill climb and a fun downhill which was exciting and beautiful but it set us up for dissapointment when we were faced with constant wind between 25-33 mph for the last 1/4 of our journey. today the only thing we heard was wind and it was not music to our ears by any means. amanda ate: snack - 2 and a half peanut butter go macro bars, 3 bags of clif gummy squares, 1 pecan nectar bar, 3 haas farms apple fruit leathers, 3/4 of an orange from michael, lunch - 1 cheese avo sandwich, 1 dense choc cookie, 3/4 salad, 1 blueberry smoothie, dinner - some avo cucumber sushi, grilled salmon, salad with thousand island dressing, half spinach gomaae, edamame, miso, and 2 luna bars, 2 clif bars for dessert. abby ate: rice cereal, lots of dried figs, 4 Ha's apple roll ups, 1 and 1/2 pb macro bar, one pack of Cliff electrolyte chews (save me from collapse at last mile of trip), one grilled cheese sandwich with avocado and veggies, half a small salad, health food stlye choc. chip cookie, part of amanda's blueberry smoothie, spinach with sesame sauce, veggie avocado/cuke roll, edamame, miso soup, some of amanda's salmon, rice, bite of Boo's plum ice cream, part of amanda's Cliff carrot cake bar.

Day 2

2006-05-26T23:44:00.001-07:00

santa barbara critical mass

today we left our wonderful hosts in the malibu hills for Santa Barbara at 8:35am. we were delayed because we had to repair amanda's flat tire. the weather was cool in the morning and breezy. we were pestered by a rabid squirrel at point mugu, we saw glorious fields of vegetables and fruit, and of course the ocean to our left the whole way. we rode as a group of four with our friend Lana joining us for the day. then we were joined by Ian's friend who took us to a great lunch spot in ventura. highlights of the day were: strawberry signs, the train that passed and the hissing of the tracks afterward, riding with the santa barbara critical mass, becoming honarary members of the santa barbara chapter of Los Furios@s. We had a great dinner at Sojourner then rushed off to our last minute show at Mercury Lounge in Goleta where we were greeted by Critical Mass and some fans who had patiently waited for us to arrive. We played outside on the back porch to a very supportive group of people who were quietly listening as we tried to muster up our loudest voices. It was a peaceful way to end the day. Today we rode 81.46 miles. it took us about 8 hours to get to Goleta but that includes two flat tires and a leisurely lunch stop. We were actually pedalling for just over 6 hours of that time. Amanda rode two miles more because she got lost. Post ride music is currently playing in the i-tunes: the Moonlighters, a great group out of New York City. Today's food log, Amanda: Jill Greenbergs homemade granola, 3 peanut butter Go Macro Bars, Corn Burritos, 1/2 a tamale, beans and rice, 1/2 box of strawberries, underripe peach, eggplant parmesan, side salad, polenta squares with marinara sauce, sip of abby's juice, almond crunch, granola(again) with rice milk. Abby's food log: Jill's Granola with soy milk, 1 granola bar except for the piece i dropped on the sidewalk which Lana picked up and ate, 1 peanut butter Go Macro bar, 2 Ha's Apple Fruit rolls, 3 strawberries, 1/4 tamale, beans and rice, 1 taco burrito thing, piece of dried Mango, Salad with ginger tofu and brown rice, small beet celery carrot juice, bite of Lana's tempeh rueben sandwich, stir fry veggies with spicy tempeh and cashews, a lot of almond crunch, a good amount of dark chocolate to keep me awake while i type this. See you tomorrow at the Ramada inn parking lot for an 8:00am meet/departure time as we ride north toward monterey.

WE'RE OFF!

2006-05-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

At the start of our departure, we were serenaded by Lou Wow and the Poi Boys in Venice. photo Jeff Thrasher.

We dip our tires in the Pacific for take-off. photo Jeff Thrasher.

Today we rode from our apartment in Hollywood to Venice where we met up with a wonderful group of people to wish us well on our journey. The Poi Boys, dressed in disguise as Pirates on Stilts, played us farewell tunes as we dipped our back tires into the Pacific at Will Rogers State Beach. Then we rode up the coast to Malibu and had a lovely afternoon picnic with a great group of riders who made the trip out with us. we flew Lana's butterfly kites, watched a boy doing backflips, ate grandma's Chewies (a secret recipe), and saw a group of dolphins swimming close to shore. We rode a total of 36.53 miles to our final destination across from Zuma Beach. Ian (our bass player) joined us at the beach and will be riding with us through Colorado. Today's food log is incomplete because we have yet to eat dinner. Tomorrow we ride to Santa Barbara via the PCH and will be leaving at approximately 8:00am. So far no shows have been confirmed for Santa Barbara but there could be an impromtu performance. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us at our record release show last night and today's farewell ride.

bops and robot at Zuma Beach. photo Lana Fukushima

amanda, abby and ian plan the next day's route

Eric Meacham takes pics.

We eat Jill's yummy home-cooked food.

Amanda and Michael Kelly ride on the path. Photo Jeff Thrasher.

may 22, our last training day

2006-05-23T01:19:00.000-07:00

what am i doing awake at 1:00 am when i've got so much to do in the morning? writing my training log of course. oh yes, and now that it is after midnight it is officially the day of release for our new album "Moon Over the Freeway". The RIDE: Today's training ride was beautiful. we waited out the storm and rode an afternoon ride in the hollywood hills and up through griffith park. a nice little 40 mile loop. a lot of technical difficulties with amanda's bike made the trip just over 4 hours long. today's song stuck in abby's head while riding was the chorus from that new Madonna song, "time goes by...so slowly". the song stuck in amanda's head while riding was Dan Powter's "Bad Day". Today's ride insults consisted of none directed at us aside from an occasional blaring horn. One angry driver crashed into a curb while having a fight with his cell phone. another angry driver yelled get a job at a homeless man asking for help. Lots of loud ugly noises today. Favorite overall insult thus far was the young woman who took the time to roll down her window as she nearly ran me over telling me to "Get a Car!" i secretly fantasized that she would crash into a brick wall (without getting hurt of course), and be extremely embarrased. The view from the top of Ferndell was quite clear and lovely. Today's top speed was recorded by abby at 32 mph. Today's post ride wind down music was Charlie Byrd. Abby's food log: half grapefruit, quinoa, pickled cabbage, avocado, nama shoyu, shredded daikon, brown rice nori maki, salad with tahini dressing, half a cucumber and apple juice with ginger, apple with almond butter on every slice, cherries, piece of watermelon, peanut butter macro bar, toasted sunflower seeds and cranberries, almonds, some really dark chocolate. Amanda's food log: Kombucha tea, orange, quinoa, avocado, saurkraut, flax oil, 2 and 1/2 nectar bars, one veggie burger with the works, half a cucumber and apple juice with ginger, small salad, some of abby's salad, two pieces of abby's nori maki, cherries, watermelon, late night PB and J sandwich on Alvarado bread. This is probably the last training day until thursday's departure. We hope for beautiful Los Angeles sunshine on the 25th.

LA river training ride

2006-05-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's ride was not worth mentioning. but i mentioned it anyway. today's ride was tiring for no reason at all. it was 45 miles of hills and flats. everything was hard and i was riding by myself (no amanda). i saw a lot of cool graffiti on the los angeles river bike path. by the way, if you live in the los angeles area don't forget this sunday is the LA river ride and proceeds go to help the Los Angeles bike coalition. they need members to help make LA a bike friendly city. today's pre ride story was Truman Capote's "children on their birthdays". highly recommended by me. today's post ride music was birds and wind chimes. today's ride details: lots of wind seemed to be against me at every turn. uphill downhill, north south, east west, WIND. today's food: oatmeal with rice milk, cliff bar apple cran. cherry flavor, quinoa with pickled cabbage, avocado, large lima beans, daikon radish and nama shoyu. also kale, hijiki, tofu salad, kabocha pumpkin soup, buckwheat noodles, miso soup, Laloos goat ice cream, and i'm thinking about getting a cookie for a midnight snack.

training is almost coming to a close as the big departure day of May 25th draws near. hope to see you all on the Venice Beach bike path at 10:00am at Rose ave. for our Ride out of town. there will be music, bikes, and fun. see you there if you don't have to work.

Mother's Day Training Ride

2006-05-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

The highlight of today's ride was not the shit filled plastic bag strewn across mullholland drive, nor was it getting pulled over by the cops for running a red light in encino. For Amanda it was sleeping on the sidewalk in front of a Canoga park eatery after consuming two spanikopita, a large salad, and a carob mint shake. Details follow: a 58 mile ride with lots of hills, some long and gradual, some short and very steep. it was cool in the morning and hot in the afternoon with a bit of a head wind. all the mustard on mullholland drive is in bloom and it looks beautiful despite all the smog down below. abby was dissapointed that she did not meet her 60 mile goal for the day, but she added in extra hills instead of the flats so what does she expect. the total miles for last week was 293. high speed was recorded by abby at 36.5 mph followed closely behind by amanda at 36.2. today's food log; abby ate: one bowl of oatmeal with apples, raisins, and rice milk, half of a mushroom and grain burger, a choclate mint shake, a large salad, two bites of amanda's spanikopita, bowl of brown rice, cup of miso soup, two cups of fish soup, kale, hijiki, tofu salad, lotus root, three to four bites of rick's soy ice cream, cherry flavored, one glass of herbal tonic, a lot more cherry soy ice cream later. amanda ate: one bowl of oatmeal (same as abby's), the aforementioned spanikopita lunch, half a bowl of fish soup, one cup bean soup, one glass herbal tonic, pickled cabbage, hijiki, kale, tofu salad, five spoonfuls of abby's brown rice, half (at least) of rick's four scoops of cherry soy cream, and a lot more ice cream later. abby agrees the highlight was lying in the sun on the sidewalk. today's ride completed a good training week for us. tomorrow is a rest day and we're glad because our legs are a bit sore already.

For those of you who don't know what we're talking about, we're in training for our cross country bike tour. we will soon have a new page for our day to day blog but for now it'll be on the news page. for more training ride info. see other entries below.

May 13 Training Ride

2006-05-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

there are only a matter of days before we leave for our "Moon Over the Freeway" bicycle across america tour. we've been training hard and here is our account:

todays ride, May 13th: 80 miles. mostly flat with 15 miles of hills at the tail end. relatively cool with clouds then sun. amanda got a sunburn. abby got a flat tire at the end near her house. today ABBY ate: half a grapefruit, one organic cliff nectar bar, one bowl of rice cereal, eggplant and navy bean salad, two small pieces of bread drenched in olive oil, entire head of butter lettuce and tomato salad, half of a raspberry tart, half of another rich dessert, deep fried mochi, brown rice, huge miso soup with lots of vegetables, arame with raw saurkraut. one large chocolate chip cookie. today AMANDA ate: one piece of yeast free toast with blackberry jam, one peanut butter cliff bar, bannana smoothie with rice milk, two HA's apple dried fruit rolls, eggplant and three bean salad, oven roasted veggies, kale, tofu salad, sesame bean sprouts, pickled cabbage, cup of bean soup, deep fried mochi, coconut macaroon, one large chocolate chip cookie.

today was the first day riding 80 miles!!!

May 10 Training Ride

2006-05-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today's ride was 40 miles of long hill climbing. Abby got hit by a car in the firts five minutes of the ride but she was not hurt. We continued to ride up into the Hollywood hills and across to Topanga State Park where we were chased by a swarm of angry bees. Then we were stalled on the trail for 5 minutes debating which way we should go to get around the rattlesnake that was taking a nap in the middle of the trail. all this and we still made it to Tap Dancing class with 10 minutes to spare.