July 19-21, Dallas-Fort Worth

July 19

Fort Worth, Texas

What a great day to be a Horned Frog. Today we biked into my second home, Fort Worth. So far on this trip I've felt like I haven't been biking to Washington DC; I've been biking back to TCU. I've been looking forward to returning and seeing friends and brothers and today has been a great day for it. It's not just the familiarity that's made things great though- today would've been an amazing day even if I wasn't from TCU.

I planned on having people waiting at the end of the ride to greet us as we came in, so coming into the ride I knew that I wanted to be near the front. Make fun of my competitive spirit if you want to but that's just the way it is. Now, just because I wanted to get there in a hurry doesn't neccessarily mean that I've got the firepower to do it so I asked Joey Haynes, Reid Grobe, and the Blackstock brothers, Chuck and Bobby, to ride with me because they're all great riders. They're fast and they're really good at pacelining, which is important because it helps a lot as far as conserving energy goes. Some guys can go really fast but don't always keep you with them. These guys are great to ride with because they make the ride easier.

We started off pretty quickly and I was determined to be the first group in. However, about two miles into the ride I got a flat tire. We wasted precious time hanging it and then got back on the bikes again. The start of the ride had a lot of rolling hills where momentum is an important factor so when someone gets a flat tire or loses a water bottle (which happened to Chuck about five minutes after my tire got changed), it really kills the flow of the ride. Things smoothed out a bit and then, at mile 27, Reid's chain broke, meaning he couldn't pedal any more. Bobby (the only guy I know who's as competitive as I am) made the executive decision to not stop the ride so we let Reid coast on the downhills and Bobby pushed him on the uphills for three miles until we made it to our crew stop at mile 30. We stopped and got water (it was our first stop of the day) and left Reid so we could get back on the road.

At this time we had several pacelines ahead of us and we were 30 miles into a 75 mile day. I wasn't sure if it would be possible to catch up to the front groups but we were determined to try. Some guys like to enjoy the ride and others like to push it a bit more but the Blackstock brothers and I are the only people on the Journey who actively view certain days as races. This isn't always the case, but my motto has always been "whatever gets you through the day" and if viewing the day as a race is what takes you from the start of the ride to the finish then that's all that matters. So, coming out of this crew stop, we had plenty of energy but not a lot of spare time.

We spent the rest of the ride in good conditions. It wasn't too terribly hot (all things considered), the wind didn't hinder us at all, and we had a lot more downhill than uphill to cover. We passed a group doing the Bruce Rodgers Challenge, which is where you try to do an entire ride without stopping. (They ended up not using a single crew stop but had to change a couple of flat tires. Congrats to Jeff Lehman, Todd Stacy, and Rich Alexander on their completion of the Challenge though!) We kept skipping crew stops and making up time and we were rewarded for our progress by passing several other pacelines. It was a pretty simple ride but for me it was one of the toughest of the summer. We'd be going at a certain speed in flat terrain and then all of a sudden a hill would come and we wouldn't slow down a bit. We pushed the pace in the flats, on the climbs, and on the descents. I had to draft as much as possible to conserve as much energy as possible. I spent most of my day with my tire inches from Chuck's. Whenever it was my turn to pull, it felt like I was sprinting with a 50 pound weight on my back. But I knew the other guys, even though they're better cyclists than I am, were hurting too and they were biking hard so I could see my chapter brothers as soon as possible. Knowing that kept me going. I almost burned out completely when we kicked hard and passed what I thought was the front paceline. However, I didn't see Jon Cook or Shaun Peterson (a Pi Alpha from TCU who was doing a ride-along and an absolute beast on the bike) in the group. Out of breath, I weakly tried to shout, "Where's Cook?" The group, who wasn't working nearly as hard as I felt I was, answered back that he was still ahead and my heart fell a bit. I didn't know how much I had left in me. We kept working hard though. At about mile 68, we saw the leaders ahead of us. At this point we hadn't stopped in almost 40 miles and I was gassed. As tough as it was, the guys in my paceline pulled me through it all and we somehow made it. Getting to that point felt like a dead sprint to me. I've never worked so hard in my life.

Just a couple of miles later, we made it into Fort Worth, where we were Red Flagged as we waited for the crew vans to catch up and mark our turns into the city. For me it was an extremely welcome break. Once the vans passed us, we took off again and headed into the city. It was a really cool experience to realize that I was biking roads that I've driven before but Fort Worth can also be pretty crazy. It's hard to feel completely at ease when biking through urban areas. Stoplights keep you from finding a good rhythm and we had the nagging feeling we might've taken a wrong turn at an interesting intersection. Additionally, we had to deal with a cobblestone road that was pretty rough on our bikes and joints. It wasn't the best experience of the trip but within a few miles we saw the Chipotle where lunch was being sponsored for us. I'd been expecting the chapter to be out, clapping and cheering us in; that was why I'd been so motivated to go fast. However, when I rode in, I was instead greeted by two TCU guys and little else. It turns out we'd arrived an hour and a half earlier than everyone had been told we would.

In the end, we were there to see everyone else come in and throughout the next hour and a half we saw all the Eta Chi guys arrive as well as the other riders. It wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind but it was still great to see everyone. All in all, about twenty people came out to visit and have lunch with us. I can't tell you how great it was to have so many friends out there. It made me feel rally proud to be doing what I'm doing and it was great to connect with everyone again. All in all, it was one of my favorite meals of the trip.

After lunch (which tasted amazing in addition to being a great social event), we put our bikes on the racks and drove to a posh Holiday Inn. I for one didn't really know how to react to the concept of luxury. This is only our second hotel of the entire trip, unlike the North Route, who's been "eating cake", as my teammate Jon Cook would say.

We got settled in our hotel and got to enjoy some of the amenities offered (free internet!) before heading out to the University of Texas in Arlington, where we had a wheelchair basketball game scheduled against the Movin' Mavs, who are 7-time national champions in wheelchair basketball (which puts them just a little bit out of our league). Within twenty minutes, we were down forty points and going crazy every time we somehow got lucky enough to score (or even get across half-court). Regardless of the score, we always have a great time playing. You can tell how much we love it because when it's time to make substitutions, guys run out to the chairs to play. It was great playing against such a good team and seeing the fluidity with which they played, and they were all college guys just like us so we connected with them really well.

Once dinner ended, I left the team to spend some time on campus while the rest of the team went back to the hotel for some needed rest and relaxation. I spent some time at TCU, where it was so great just to see the familiar sights and old friends and then I headed back, stopping at the airport along the way to pick up a friend who came all the way from Iowa to see the team and who'll be staying at TCU (Thank you so much for visiting, Leslie. I can't tell you how much your support is appreciated!). After that, it was finally time to enjoy that beautiful bed that Holiday Inn provided for us. I don't think anyone has ever slept as well as we do on those occasions when we get bed.

It's been a great day, one of my favorite of the trip. The ride was beautiful and Fort Worth is a great city. Tomorrow is an extremely busy day but things with the team are the great and I'm loving every minute we're spending together. When times are good like this, any challenge seems conquerable and I know that we'll arrive in Washington, DC with our entire team as one family. Days like this remind me that I am blessed beyond measure.

Spending time in the Dallas/Fort Worth area has been, for me, the highlight of the summer. Getting to Fort Worth was great and things have remained good the entire time we've been here. We were supposed to ride thirty miles yesterday and have a day off today but because of inclement weather and other circumstances, we've actually logged about three miles on our bikes in the last two days, which has been a great rest for us halfway through the trip.

Yesterday morning, we woke up and made it outside under cloudy skys. Our Dallas schedule was a pretty weird one: we were to ride three miles to Arlington in a double paceline with a police escort to do an arrival, eat breakfast, and talk to the media before getting back on the bikes and riding the rest of the thirty miles before arriving in Dallas. Once we made it to our first arrival, we listened to a proclamation from the mayor of the city of Arlington and enjoyed breakfast burritos and Krispy Kreme donuts. I got to do another TV interview, my second which was a lot of fun. Apparently it was for one of the big stations in the area so it feels good to know that I got the call. Unfortunately, it soon started to rain really badly and once lightning started striking, we knew we wouldn't be riding for awhile. When the lightning didn't let up, we racked our bikes and drove our route to Dallas, which was a disappointment but could have been a lot worse. At least we got to get on our bikes and do a little to work out the soreness in our muscles and, while I can't speak for the rest of the team, I enjoyed the nap that the drive afforded to us.

Once we got to the center in Dallas where we'd be staying and having an afternoon friendship visit, we hung out for awhile and then gathered about half a block away from the center to have an arrival for the participants, who were looking forward to seeing us ride in in our full glory and splendor. My friend Todd Stacy and I have maintained that we're all slowly going insane on this trip, and oftentimes something will happen that causes us to just look at each other with the shared understanding that we have truly lost it. Today, that time came about when we were all getting on the bikes to head off to our stage-up. All around us, guys were getting on the bikes that we'd been off of for less than 24 hours (not counting our ride earlier this morning) and zipping around on the parking lot looking like overjoyed little children. Todd and I had to note the irony that the bikes that cause us so much anguish by breaking down and by wearing us out every day suddenly became the coolest toys we could ever want for whatever reason. Maybe it was the lack of direction or destination that made us enjoy coasting around in the parking lot, nearly missing each other on passes and caroming around.

After our arrival, we performed a KOB for the participants at the center and then enjoyed lunch. This place was pretty unique in that it was both the site of our friendship visit as well as our lodging for the night so once we finished eating we moved our bikes and bags in and set up base. The afternoon was a relaxing one for us- most guys were able to sleep and relax. I did as well while I waited for Alyssa and Leslie, two of my favorite people, to come by and visit. Once they arrived I had to play the part of host, a tough task all things considered. When your own bed is an air mattress, what can you provide for anyone else?

After dinner, we all loaded into the vans and drove out to a place called Top Golf, which was set up by Matt Proctor, one of my teammates from Dallas. Top Golf is something pretty complicated to explain, but basically it involves golfing and hanging out with friends. Proctor is a business major and it shone through here. The social outing was his idea and he took care of the entire process of setting us up and getting us a discount. In addition to Leslie and Alyssa, several of my other TCU friends came out and got to meet my fellow Journey of Hopers and hang out. It was a great night. Usually on a free night like this, there'd be a split in the team, with the minors watching a movie or hanging out somewhere and the older guys hitting up the bars or finding something similar but tonight the entire team was together and having a fantastic time together. I loved seeing everyone having fun and for me it was one of my favorite nights of the trip so far.

Once we finished at Top Golf, we all drove back to lodging. We had some time to kill before curfew so a group of us walked down to the lake that the center sits on and enjoyed the night. My friend Jeff played a guitar that Alyssa brought and the rest of us simply looked out on the lake. It was a rare moment of complete tranquility in the midst of the most hectic of times.

Morning came too soon the next day. The price I've paid for all the fun I've been having is that I've been coming in right at curfew, something I'm not used to, so I haven't been getting as much sleep as I need. It's worth it though. The schedule today was full, but it was all good stuff so I have no complaints. Our afternoon friendship visit was at a water park and our sponsored dinner was at a whirlyball court, which was a lot of fun for the team. It was sponsored by some Pi Alphas from a long time ago, and they let us look at their old scrapbooks and photos, which was also a blast. The night ended with more mixing between school friends and Journey mates and I said my goodbyes to Alyssa, Leslie, and Maddie right at curfew, narrowly escaping trouble. Dallas and Fort Worth have been great to me and it's been my goal up until this point just to make it here. Now, arriving in Washington DC actually seems like a real event. I'm biking across the country. I can't believe it.