the road goes ever on and on ....

been rather absorbed in the steady blinking of my cursor for the last 20 minutes. how the dickens do you conclude a trek like this in writing?

more than anything else, I want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, your encouragement, your giving, your support and love. never before have I seen grace so marvelously shown. from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the sacrifices each of you made to make our trip possible. 

the Linkas (Morehead City)

John & Alison (San Francisco)

Paul & Sue (Del Valle State Park)

Joel (Caswell State Park)

Tom (Mocassin Point State Park)

Kevin (Sonora)

Dave & Merrick (Sonora)

Diane & Bill (Benton Springs)

John & Geneva (Cathedal Gorge)

Fred (Zion Cycles)

William, Jessica, Helen & Keith (Zion)

Bob (Riverside RV Park)

Mimi (Escalante Outfitters)

Sharon (Arches National Park)

The Haywoods (Moab)

Tracy (Up The Creek)

Joey, Michelle, Brayden, Brittany, Bryce, Landon & Luke Burns (Montrose)

Paul Janzen (Salida)

James Walker (Salida)

George & Sheri Hill (Salida) 

Salida Baptist Church (Salida)

Ron & Judy Dobson (Salida)

Paco, Andrew & Brandon (Pueblo)

Sheila & Dave (Chester)

Rick (Chester)

Grace Church Ministries (Chester)

Jenny Brown (Chester)

Mike & Jo Jean (Chester)

Bob Everidge (Chester)

Sue (Bardstown)

Dave, Kathie & Robby (Berea)

Peter & Cynthia Gaw (Boone)

Robert & Sandy Barrett (Lewisville)

Andy & Susan Davenport (Mebane)

Guy & Kay Holsclaw (Raleigh)

Rudy & Connie Mintz (Kinston)

and there are others. so many others, I'm glad the Lord's keeping track because I'm sure I missed quite a lot. He sees and He remembers and He blesses those who are obedient to His calling, and who give grace to others in abundance. 

I'm at a loss. how could one ever hope to fully capture all the emotions, thoughts & reflections of a trip of this magnitude, let alone write an appropriate conclusion? will it ever truly be "over" for us? things we learn about biking, about each other, about others, about life - these will forever influence who we are and how we choose to spend our time here on earth. 

may the road rise up to meet you

may the wind be always at your back

may the sun shine warm upon your face

the rains fall soft upon your fields 

and until we meet again

may God hold you in the palm of His hand

josh & mark

the lifecycle team

touring 101: you've been touring too long when....

10. you hear a noise behind you, and look first to where your rearview mirror should be before turning around. 

9. you point out potholes and debris to your friend walking behind you. 

8. you walk right down the middle of the road in small towns.

7. you attribute feelings and take into account the preferences of your bike. 

6. you are furious when signs say "10 minutes ahead" rather than listing the mileage. 

5. you keep your helmet and glasses on at all grocery stops, lunch stops, water stops, etc. 

4. you talk about what you're going to eat for dinner when you're eating lunch. 

3. you wait til you're already on your bike to figure out your route for the day, and til that afternoon to figure out where you're staying for the night. 

2. no matter what type of building you walk into, the first thing you look for is a power outlet. 

1. you run out of things to blog about. 

until next time,

may the road rise up to meet you

josh & mark

the lifecycle team

Day 54. 10.28.2013. 100 miles from Mebane to Kinston.

Is this real life? We rode our last century ride today, and finished at the home of the amazingly hospitable Minst family. Rudy and Connie, and Doph their son, welcomed us into their beautiful residence. 

But to get there we had 100 miles of mostly back road and flat riding. For the first 25 miles of the trip we rode the Neuse River bike path that Guy had recommeded us to ride. The best part of that trail, other than it's peacefulness and beauty, was at it got us out of Raleigh without riding in any traffic. Wheeeee. 

Cotton fields I think?? With an NC sunset. 

Neuse river trail. Diagonal for fun. 

It felt good to stretch the legs out a bit again today and do a few more miles than we have been doing. We filled up in the morning with an amazing egg and bacon breakfast that Kay made us. We also had such a sweet conversation with her (Guy had already left for work when I got up) and left with much encouragement and many words of advice. We couldn't have asked for better hosts. (Shout out to Mr. Linka again for finding us a place!) 

Guy and Kay Holsclaw. Soooo sweet. 

I can't stop thinking about the beach that we will see tomorrow. What are my legs going to think after tomorrow when they wake up and don't have to pedal all day??? What am I going to think?? Right now I think I am ready to finish, to put the cap on this amazing trip. But I'm sure in a few days I will miss this lifestyle; meeting amazing people, having beautiful visual stimulation for 8+ hours a day, riding with Josh, eating like a Grizzly bear, and falling asleep the second my head meets the pillow, but most of all being in situations every day where I need God to come through and help me out. I have loved putting my utmost faith in Him and watching Him work His perfectness into our trip on every level. I really really want to live my life this way forever where I am so dependent on God and not myself or anyone else. 

Man, I shouldn't be writing all these reflections yet... We still have another day of Biking left!!! I'm sure there will be some more reflection blogs in the near future. Stay tuned. 

Beach party tomorrow at 4 pm! Atlantic beach, North Carolina. We would love to see you at our last moment of the ride :):) 

God bless 

Tailwinds, just one more time

Mark

google bike. what the what?!?!

a quick addendum to your arsenal of waves as a cross-continental cyclist before we get started: the "non-touring-north-carolinian-sunday-afternoon-cyclist" (yes, it's rather limited in use, I know). you've got one of three options:

1) small wave

2) head nod

3) smile

at no point should you attempt more than one of these greetings at the same time. by doing so, you run the risk of appearing over-enthusiastic, and at that point, your multiple forms of salutation will almost always go unanswered. it's simply the way things are down here, I suppose. 

feel free to mix it up, of course, though be mindful of where they're at on their ride. don't expect a wave or smile from a cyclist climbing a hill, for instance. best to just give them a nod of respect and roll on. 

back to business. today started off the way all Sundays should start in the south: sweet fruit smoothies shared with fellow believers as the sun came up over the back garden. birds singing. flowers blooming. a wonderful time of worship before the Lord and with his people. food and fellowship after. 

then we followed google bike. 

I cannot even begin to fathom what the programmers were thinking who coded google's suggested cyclist routes across north carolina. 

brick sidewalks through UNC's campus.

apartment complexes. 

bike paths. 

state parks. 

5-lane highways. 

under bridges. 

over bridges. 

quite the merry hunt for Raleigh they lead us on this afternoon, though I must give credit to those crafty programmers where credit is due: we rode by Sir Galahad Road and on Camelot Road today. 

it's the little things in life. 

until next time,

may God hold you in the hollow of His hand. 

josh & mark

the lifecycle team

Day 52-53. 10.26-27.2013. 80 miles from Lewisville to Mebane, then 57 miles from Mebane to Raleigh.

Saturday our route took the most turns in one day that we have ever done. Literally I don't think we rode more than 2-3 miles on any given road. That's what happens when you use google maps and punch in the "bike friendly" version of your directions. Josh calculated something like 54 turns we had yesterday. We also ended up riding right through downtown Winsten-Salem, which was a fun sort of adventure. The route continued its nice trend of becoming easier as the days go on. It is basically just a nice rolling downward slant to the ocean, and has been since Boone. I would say its a great way to wrap up such a long and enduring adventure (AND FUN!!!). 

So I love Chick-Fil-A. Firstly because its chicken sandwiches are my favorite, secondly because it's a great Christian run business, and third becuase my last name is in it. My college cross-country coach pointed the third one out to me a while back (Shout out to Q!). Mark-Fil-A. haha. So we finally found one of these great restaurants to eat at for lunch. The girl at the cash-register commented on my sun-glasses tan so I said I've been working on it since San-Fancisco so I sure hope it is a good tan line. The manager heard our little conversation and said since we rode from San Fran then our meal was free.... I didn't even get to the riding for wells part yet... haha. But what a blessing, so two sandwiches each and a milkshake later we were back on the road. This was in Greensboro. 

The best Chick-Fil-A Ever!!

In Mebane we stayed with Andy and Susan Davenport. It was so sweet to see familiar faces. They were the ones we met in the McDonald's in Moab, Utah! It was awesome how we could tailor our route to go by their house. Our stay with them was so much fun as they invited their son Michael's family over (5 Kids!) for dinner. We shared lots of stories and then got a good night's sleep before church in the morning. Our church experience was very interesting and enlightening. Andy and Susan are part of a small church that meets in a chiropractor's office. What is more unique is that they do their best to worship, and have a service, as much like the early church did. They sing from the Psalms, they pray together, and listen to some great preaching from the word from Dr. Carrick. What a wonderful teacher he was. His Brittish prose was very eloquent and clear. I have not heard many people exegite a biblical passage as clearly as he did.... Okay I have never heard anyone do it as clear as he did. He preached on the parable of the weeds (or tears) in the wheat in Matthew 13. After the service we ate lunch with the church before heading out for the ride. =) =) Church meals are soooo good =)=)

The Davenports, Andy and Susan. Josh took the picture, and the sun was very bright which explains the squinting smiles =)=)

Thank you Davenports for your amazing hospitality and for treating us so well. I am so glad we got to meet again =) God bless you in every way. 

The Psalms in songs of worship!

-----------------

Today's ride included just as many turns as yesterday, but was 20 sum miles shorter. What a crazy ride. These routes happen for a few reasons. First, there are so many roads to choose from because around here the land is incrdibly populated. Second, we chose to use google maps again. I'm telling you, if anyone wants a bike adventure come to NC and follow google maps for bikes, you never know what you will get. We literally were taken through the sidewalks of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, we rode through Apartment complexes, and mixed in 3-4 different bike paths along the way (that lasted like 1/2 mile each haha), and also a gravel hiking trail through a state park.  Goodness gracious. 

A highlight for me today was seeing so many bikers. I don't think we have seen anyone on a bike since Missouri, and today I saw about 55 bikers out on the roads getting some excercise. Carboro, and Chapel Hill I guess are huge bike towns. But I think they were fair-weathered bikers because they were riding on a perfectly tempertured sunday, on the flat rolling terrain of NC. I think I say this grudgingly because I couldn't get too many of them to waive or smile at me haha. We were used to seeing other tourers and then we would stop and chat with them for 5-10 minutes usually, so I was accustomed to this as general biker behavior. Most of the bikers today just kept riding without looking our way, or maybe if we were lucky we would get a nod of the head. Josh loved it, and I took it as a challenge to get some waves back =) I got a few but not many. It is serious bike country around here. They must be recording their rides on strava trying to beat their previous best times. 

After our adventuresome route through North Carolina suburbia, we made it to our host home in Raleigh; Guy, and Kay Holsclaw. Mr. Linka connected us with them through their Anglican Church. What a nice couple. They had hot showers and food ready for us right when we rode in. Their dog Aussie also is super fun and full of energy. Guy is a local cyclist himself so he helped us plan our route towards Kinston tomorrow. They have three daughters who are all grown up now and live in the Carolinas. They were originally from West Virginia, but moved into their now home in Raleigh 40 sum years ago and fixed up the house to make it quite the charming place. They have a really big wood stove that just makes the living room sparkle with charm. Thanks Guy and Kay for a wonderful wonderful night with y'all. Southern Hospitality is quite the real deal. 

Tomorrow should hold more of the same I think, a gentle ride to Kinston (about 85 miles or so) and another warm bed to stay in. Tuesday is our final day of riding. Yeesh, two more riding days and we are done. I don't know what to say. 

God bless you from wherever you may read,

Tailwinds, for almost the last time, 

Mark

saturdays in suburbia

fifty-four roads of North Carolina Suburbia today. 

rather than post a whole lot of pictures or try to describe what we saw, here's a ride you could try on your own and see for yourself! cycle around your neighborhood houses (large or small neighborhoods will work just fine, the latter simply requiring more turns) for 80 miles and you'll know exactly how our day went. easy riding, fairly flat, and a free lunch at Chick-Fil-A (note: you may have to have already cycled across the country to enjoy that last feature). all in all though, a good starter day for a tourer if you ask me. 

a sumptuous feast at the Davenports for supper this evening. warm house, warm showers, warm food, warm conversation and warm beds. feels great after a few snowy days in appalachia. 

until next time,

may the rains fall softly on your fields 

josh & mark

the lifecycle team

title of this post

snappy intro sentence (i.e. the "hook")

(photo from the day's ride)

explanation of why photo has been included in blog post. further information on where photo was taken and what (if any) significance it's contents have historically, culturally, etc. 

(another photo of the day's ride)

nice segue into wordy description of current landscape features. creative weather report. exhibited wonder at uniqueness of said landscape features compared to anything seen previously. realization those exact same sentiments have been expressed in every post thus far. failed attempt to reconvey such feelings differently. 

(yet another photo from the day's ride)

colorful elaboration of sights and scenery (i.e. to increase feelings of jealousy among readers). quirky fact noted about an aspect of touring experienced that day. relation of aforementioned aspect to some deeper philosophical or biblical thought. 

(yet another photo from the day's ride)

closing sentiments and conveyance of lodging accommodations (i.e. to ease parental worries).

overwhelming thankfulness for blessings and for those who have bestowed them. listing of any/all food and amenities provided. acknowledgement of the trek's impossibility without others help. continued gratitude to all prayer warriors. 

stated commitment of further documentation,

(i.e. undisclosed desire for the follower(s) to continue following)

partial irish proverb

names

brand

Day 51. 10.25.2013. 90 miles from Boone, almost to Winston, NC

Today we woke up to this!!!!!

Boone Sunrise out the back door of the Gaw's place

Getting ready to ride...

It was a cold cold ride, but the beauty of it made me forget that it was even cold. Not only were we in the beautiful Appalachians, but the fall colors added with a nice coat of snow?! Amazing. 

Last high view of the trip...

Today we finally found the apple cider, farm market, thing.... that we have been looking for for weeks!!!! We got some grade A+++++ Cider, and some boysenberry jam. 

A&J Farm Market!

Staying with Peter and Cynthia was just so refreshing, and peaceful. I forgot to take a picture with them unfortunately though.... arghhhh

The riding today was blustery, but relatively flat... after we bombed down the eastern side of the mountains :):):) We found ourselves on smaller highways most of the day which didn't allow us to ride two-wide... hence a more boring day when we can't really talk much. But eventually we found our way onto some back roads en route to a warm showers hosts' home. Warm showers is an app, or community, of people who ride bicycles who sign up on the website to host cyclists coming through the area. Mathias highly recommended us to the site. So we met Robert and Sandy Barrett.... Our host family for the night. They have shared so many stories with us about their travels to Australia, Robert's bike tours, and their childrens adventures. They are quite the story tellers and have a nack for humor intermixed in each story. They are some of the funniest people that I have met. 

Robert and Sandy Barrett

Tomorrow we will be in Mebane, NC staying with the Davenports, who we met at the McDonalds in Moab, Utah. That was the McDonalds that we also reunited with Sharon... what a great memory. But it continues to live on as we will reconnect with Andy and Susan tomorrow night and then attend church with them on Sunday as well. 

Mr. Linka has been connecting us with all sorts of people for homes to stay in in North Carolina. Southern hospitality he says. I guess this is the best way to find out right?? 

Today I was reading in John, and 1 Peter again. 1 Peter 4:12 tells us basically to expect trials, and in John Jesus says that they hated him, our master, first so of course we will be persecuted as well. I think the biggest thing I am realizing is that Satan does attack, and I am learning to recognize those attacks earlier. I also can't get over the fact that Jesus, the father, and the Spirit are one. Jesus just explains the relationship so well throughout John, I love it!

Well time to go rest in a bed with a big pillow... Weirrrrrd.... but awesome :)

Thank you Lord for another day,

God bless,

Tailwinds,

Mark``

boone

short ride. short blog. 

today's ride took us straight south from Damascus, VA and down into the northeast (and mountainous) corner of Tennesee. every now and then, the tiniest of snowflakes could be seen in the chilly air as we followed the Laurel Creek through the Iron Mountains - great pine-covered peaks capped with snow above a perfectly horizontal elevation line. 

not more than 20 miles past our last state border sign on the trek, we stopped in Boone, NC for the day, welcomed into the home of Peter and Cynthia Gaw, a superb couple that treated us to an amazing home-cooked dinner, warm beds & showers, laundry, and of course, great conversation and fellowship over hot cups of tea. once more, God sees it in His will to take me to school in the meaning of grace, a lesson I will continue to lern all my life. blessed without any chance of being able to repay such kindness, I've seen the power of God at work once more on this trip through the hospitality of the Gaw family. 

until next time,

may the wind be always at your back

josh & mark

the lifecycle team