Month from Hell
cheap cialis icag.biz Once again, a big apology for the lack of posts. The Month from Hell has raged onward, and left me little to absolutely no time to actually blog. Seriously, essentially every moment I’ve been awake the past week or so, I’ve been either biking or watching baseball. Besides that, not much else. Maybe eating lunch on a few occasions. The good news? I survived.
Let’s go back to Cincinnati. It seems so long ago to me, but it was honestly only a few days ago. In fact, it was Wendesday. I had to bike a ton of miles to make it into Cincinnati. 130 to be exact. My host Lukas, who had heard about B4B through reddit, reached out, gave me a great place to stay. He also joined me for the ballgame the next day! Woohoo! Thanks Lucas. He did a great job showing me the bars of Cincinnati, the different neighborhoods, and the different buildings. I was really impressed with the city itself as well. At the bars, I even got a chance to watch the Brewers live on TV! A huge plus, as the nearby Cleveland Indians were playing in Milwaukee at the time.
The ballgame in Cincinnati was game 1 of a doubleheader. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to attend a doubleheader. Old school doubleheader, where you get two games for the price of 1. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in Cincinnati. You needed a separate ticket for each game. Not cool. Not that it really matters. I wouldn’t had been able to attend the game anyhow, as I had to get on the road to Cleveland immediately following the game. The race that is the Month from Hell continues.
The game at Great American Ballpark was a blowout. The Reds dismantled the Cubs to an easy victory. The Reds even showed a special video message about Biking for Baseball on the jumbotron! How cool is that?! Great American Ballpark was still flying high from hosting the All-Star game a week earlier. The field still had the faded paint recoginizing the Mid-Summer Classic.
The ride to Cleveland was a race. I had to get to Cleveland in time for the game on Friday. So I pedaled, pedaled, and pedaled some more. Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure if I would make it in time. I knew if I had a problem, such as a broken derailuer or wheel, or whatever it may be, I would be in trouble. I couldn’t afford to have any delays. Thus, I raced. I got 125 miles in on Thursday and then another 100 on Friday before the game. I even had time for a shower before heading to the ballpark! Impressive, eh?
Ohio did a tremendous job with their Rails to Trails. Countless of different trails that linked together different parts of the state. It was mighty impressive. I even crossed paths with PanOhio, a race that was going to Cleveland to Cincinnati and raising money for the American Cancer Society. Over 350 riders raced past me in the other direction! Way to go! The bike trails are also shared with the local Mennonites and their horse and buggies. So combined with all the bicyclists, it was a busy trail!
My host in Cleveland was Kevin, and he was great. Despite recently getting in a bike accident and breaking his thumb he still wanted to make sure I could stay with him. He and his wife spoiled me accordingly. Kevin was extremely bummed that he couldn’t ride with me. He still managed to bombard me with goodies for my next day’s ride to Pittsburgh. Thanks Kevin!
The game in Cleveland was a friday night game, with 2 dollar beers from 5-7. Safe to say, a lot of fans made sure to get their early. They even had dollar hot dogs! That not enough? There were also post game fireworks! Crazy! No wonder the house was packed. Not a sell out, but an impressive crowd for a team with a losing record. Unfortunately, the White Sox got to Corey Kluber a few times, and the Indians couldn’t generate much run support for their Cy Young Award winner.
It was the first time the home team lost in 7 games. Bringing the record of the home team to 14-6 at the time. Progressive Field is an underrated ballpark in my opinion. It’s open, you don’t ever seem crammed into a corner, it’s spacious, and gorgeous. It should certainly get more attention than it currently does.
I rode into state 18 yesterday. Yes, 18 different states I’ve ridden through on this trip. Pretty crazy. I haven’t hit the east coast yet! Where states are as close as children waiting in line for the ice cream truck. So stay tuned, the number of states is about to skyrocket significantly.
The game in Pittsburgh was one I’ve been looking forward to significantly. So many people had told me how PNC Park was. It was a ballpark that I’ve certainly had circled on my calendar. The ballpark most definitely lived up to it’s expectations. The view at PNC Park was UNREAL. Gorgeous. Whatever you want to call it. It was impressive. The game was sold out with the nearby Nationals in town for a series. In fact, big thanks to B4B Supporters Max and Erica for snagging me a ticket to the ballgame! The Pirates fans were pumped up, and ended up getting the win 3-1. Even as a NL Central foe, I’ve always liked the Pirates, mostly because they’ve suffered much like the Brewers had for many years. Thanks for a great ballpark experience Pittsburgh!
A big thanks to my host Ryan in Pittsburgh, he took me around town, and even scored me some Pierogis! One of my favorite foods! He also took me out to eat at a former Catholic Church converted into a Brewery. It was odd at first, but turnd out to be pretty cool! They still had the pipe organ, the alter housed the brewing tanks, and the cantor stand had the pizza ovens. Pretty cool! The beer was delicious too!
A big thanks to Ryan for hosting me in Pittsburgh! He even is riding with me out of town tomorrow. Hi5!
As for me, I’ve officially survived the Month From Hell. It was undoubtedly the toughest physical feat I’ve done in my life. In 29 days, I rode 3,033 miles. 22 of those days were centuries. It was a crazy feat. It was hot, I had a broken derailuer, broken phone, attacked by ants, and so much more. But I made it! Now the ballparks get closer, the off days increase and the mileage decreases. I can do this!