Friday, January 14, 2011

Quick ServiceTrek Bike Shop




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Quick Service Trek Bicycle Shop



Today I worked on the "Work Horse" The set of wheels that carried me safely on the many roads of my Trek...And yes its a TREK! I bought her about 5 years ago from Quick Service Bike Shop 701 N. Lincoln Ave. Bridgeport, Ohio. If you haven't visited them you should!They are the kind of local shop you want at your disposal.if they don't have what you need, they will get it. Kathy & Rob Reed are active in the Ohio Valley Trail Partners,promoting the trails and cycling,and have ridden themselves for years. When I needed a trail-a-bike to pull Max,(my son) on a trip on Great Allegheny Passage,Rob let me have the old one he used to use for his children,"in the day!" Max followed me for many miles before he out grew it, when he did Dave Crow was there to help me work on a used Tandem I had picked up in Pennsylvania.When I want anything done right, as far as bike mechanics Dave takes my place as "Johnny on the spot" Never needed an appointment, just bring it in and throw it on the stand,Thanks Dave! And thanks for the new tires, bottom bracket and the work you did on the old Trek to prepare me to 'log the miles' on my Free Wheelchair Mission 1000 mile ride.Kathy& Rob, your donation of parts and labor are reflective of your giving nature. Everyone kept asking ,as I migrated North,do you have snow tires, I am sure Dave would have found some if I had asked!Thanks Rob,Kathy,& Dave,you know how to treat and keep customers and your support of the Free Wheelchair Mission, speaks for itself,You are THE BLESSING! I have taken all my racks and touring gear off of the old trek and have her ready as soon as I see dry pavement to roll again, She has about 8000 miles on her, and I know Dave keeps telling me I need a new bike and my wife keeps telling me I don't! Perhaps someday she will wear out(not my wife!) The bike, and you will be able to take a new one out of the box,rather than to help me pack the old one,as you did to ship to Florida.Until then look for me,come spring,and keep the doors to your shop and to your generosity always open. We all benefit when we strive to serve others. Thanks from me and the Free Wheelchair Mission for greatly helping to make my fundraising ride a success.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Of course there were countless people who insisted on taking the time to lend assistance & kindness to me on our FreeWheelchair Mission Wheels4wheels Florida Trek.First and foremost were the Warmshowers host family's who followed my every move on our blog in anticipation of offering their homes and a bit of themselves when my cadence brought me into their cities and towns.These folks who provided lodging,food,conversation & at times SAG support are listed below:

Joan & Brenda Gladwell(Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge P.O.Box 430513 Big Pine Key,Fl 33043-0513) Who provided me lodging and companionship when I rode in past Dark to Big Pine Key with no pre-determined place for the night. Their normal rate was $50.00 and hearing of FWM and my ride charged me $0.

Blake & Emallie Daveis (1615 Michigan Ave.Apt.#8 Miami Beach,Fl 33139) Blake & Emallie hosted me in their Miami Beach home,Prepared me a wonderful Cuban Dinner and late in the evening we all mounted our bikes and toured Miami Beach at night seeing all it had to offer.What a delightful young couple with a zest for life !! Thanks guys!

Scot S. Toski and his wife hosted me on New Years Eve in their Boca Raton Home and I will never forget the food,drink,conversation,and kindness of this family as well as Scot's personal escort to and from my A1A route,upon arrival and departure. I could have taken you, Scot with me, You are a hardcore cyclist & are cut from the same cloth as I. Thanks Brother,I will be back ! (4484 Brandywine Dr. Boca Raton, Fl 33487-2175) and thanks for finding me a place in Jupiter,Fl. Since Ms.Tiger Woods was unavailable to receive guests!!!!

Lynn Daniels & Paul opened up their cozy home with virtually no notice, they are serious Warm Shower hosts and rotate a multitude of traveling cyclists into their lives. Thanks Paul for the awesome meal, and I felt like a kid in a candy store admiring all of your bikes kept neatly hanging from the walls of your home. Keep up the Great work you do for the cycling community! Jupiter, Fl 33477

Anne Paine (Hickory Street Melbourne,Fl 32904) Thanks for receiving me as I arrived late in the night, and who could forget wine and soup,what an awesome way to end a 100 mile day,other than the Warm Shower and comfy bed. Keep cycling in Melbourne!!!

Owner Conrad Matt & caretaker Chris Calf of The Pirates Haus Inn (32 Treasry Street St. Augustine, Fl. 32084) Thanks for taking me in and donating a room ($50.00 Value) in Beautiful Old Town St. Aug. & for your inside assistance steering guests to the best places in town, and who could forget Pirate Pancakes Chris, You are a culinary artist. Expect me and my family back, Keep the Pirate Suite available.Max & I will sword fight with you guys!

Sallie & Bob McDonald (3523 First Ave. Fernandina Beach, Fl 32034) Thanks for your constant communication and help navigating from Jacksonville Beach to your home on beautiful Amelia Island. It was not an easy feat, with the Mayport Ferry closed in front of me and the skies opening up with buckets of rain.You, hands down have the worlds best Spaghetti and particularly sauce in the world, nothing like a great meal with Merlot to sooth away the challenging day.I am very proud of you and your brothers travels by bicycle, you make the planet seem more at peace, keep up the great work!

Don Borgman & family( 221 Jasmine Dr. Summerville,SC.29483)Your help getting to your home and back on route was priceless! A stranger cycling in town needs a local friend, and you proved you were just that! And what awesome accommodations. A fully stocked camper/with heat! Remember I told you I still want that camper! Keep the gate locked!!!

Heather L Jordan (Sleep Inn 3345 Church Street Conway, S.C. 29526)A big thanks for reducing your room rates by a big % to help the FWM ride. I am sure it was at least a $50.00 savings. And you need recognition from your employer , your help with mass transit to and from Myrtle Beach was invaluable to a guy with a bicycle and a sliced tire and no bike shops anywhere around. And I hope you ordered more bananas, my consumption was over the top, sorry! Also tell the gal working with you on the breakfast bar, I said thanks again and keep up the outstanding work!!

Lisa Edwards,Kim Sutton and Jim Mincher of the (TWO WHEEL DEALER Bike Shop 4408 Wrightsville Avenue Wilmington, N.C. 28403) You took the time to give me $100.00 worth of new tires with installation to support my FWM ride and literally get me back rolling again. What a great shop,and what two awesome employees(Lisa & Kim) who go that extra mile for any walk in customer! Please give them a raise!

Truman & Moya Parmele (Ashland Coffee & Tea Shop 100 North Railroad Avenue Ashland ,Va 23005. When it was discovered that my Warm Shower host was out of town you took me into your coffee shop and your home on Sunday afternoon,fed me,lodged me and kept the coffee in my veins. I am sure you could have easily told me go get a hotel, but trough your actions I learned ''what kind of stuff you are made of" and IT'S GOOD STUFF!. Thanks for your human compassion. Keep the coffee hot, I will be in one day!!!

Steve & Terry Lynn Bailes ( North River Mills/Capon Bridge,W.V. 26711) What an idyllic way to finish a journey, Tucked away in the mountain hideaway with a couple of West Virginians. An Awesome Evening, that's all that needs to be said, You are the hosts of hosts and I envy your little corner at the "End of The World" Believe me "you have arrived"...... I checked and you are only 200 miles from my house. Keep the hot tub warm ......

Also lets talk about Travis Reed from (Cycle Spectrum Jacksonville Beach,Fl.) I kept pinching myself, Your help and support seemed unbelievable, I really felt like I was the President or some VIP. You REALLY need a raise! You also need to be recognized as the nations most customer friendly bike shop employee on the planet. Thanks for the Free Tune up on the bike and the help getting around the Mayport Ferry. You exemplify the meaning of above and beyond the call of duty! And you impressed me as being the only one who knew what that canister strapped to my front fork was. Many have looked in confussion and asked what the heck is that? You announced to your co-worker , thats Bear Spray! Keep up your mind -boggling attitude!

Michael Beaver !!! Are you sure you aren't an angel ???? You posses all the traits, and then some! A Wheeling boy gone south, but still remaining a guy from the "Friendly City" I don't know where to begin, you did it all ! Your Concern and help getting off of The Truck Thruway Rte 17 safely into S.C. Was really the right help at the right time. And thanks for buying me Georgia's best noon buffet. I think they had to close after you and I wiped out the food ! Your constant emails and calls throughout my journey became something I relished and expected! Someone owes you something big ! Look for it,I am sure that you will be rewarded greatly for all you give of yourself! If you were the only Friend I made on my 1000 mile ride it would have been worth every mile. Don't ever change, if you do the world will get a bit sadder. Thanks Mike!!

One other outstanding couple who literally saved my cycling butt ! Charlie & Amanda Irwin (1434 Pleasant hill Drive Hemingway,S.C. 29554) After screaming down Pleasant Hill Drive trying to make Conway S.C. before nightfall I ran over a broken glass bottle smack dab in front of your home. You went out of your way to cram my gear and bike into your yellow mustang and drive me 25 miles to Conway, took me to a tire shop and Walmart in search of a new tire, when that failed you helped me find a hotel. You did all of this because of who you are, and you should be proud of that, you are what we as human beings are expected to be, there for one another, you spent 4 hours of your own time helping a stranded cyclist. You have earned a place in the human compassion book at the beginning of chapter one !! Your reward is in heaven . THANKS !
Thanks also to Gig Meredith for the emails and concern, it meant alot.. And thanks to Gary Loh for your contact before my ride and for all you do to make this a better world.

This is just a small list of those who proved that we are all in this "ride together" we call life. You deserve a huge pat on the back and I am sure you already felt your reward for helping me. You all most definatley enriched your lives and without a doubt enriched mine. My Helmet is, and always will be "OFF TO YOU"

As a final note, I spoke with many, folks on the road and shared my cycling and FWM story with them, and they all presented the Face of God to a stranger and they all know who they are and how they made me smile, warmed my heart and allowed me to Cycle with Confidence. Till the next tour ....Keep on enjoying the ride because:
LIFE SHOULD NOT BE A JOURNEY TO THE GRAVE WITH THE INTENTION OF ARRIVING SAFELY IN AN ATTRACTIVE AND WELL PRESERVED BODY,BUT RATHER TO SKID IN SIDEWAYS,CHOCOLATE IN ONE HAND,LATTE IN THE OTHER,BODY THOROUGHLY USED UP,TOTALLY WORN OUT,AND SCREAMING, "WOO HOO, WHAT A RIDE!"

Special Thanks to Wendy Scatterday with FWM is Wheeling,W.V. Ashley Herron and Don Schoendorfer FWM in Irvin, Califirnia and all his staff for giving me the ultimate reason to cycle. You have enriched my life and I hope in some small way I have helped your cause to lift people off of the ground and give them mobility.
"Keep the Cycle going" John

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

PICTURES !!!!

Monday Ashland Ride


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone (cycling on AC's atlantic coast route)
Virginia Bike Routes


PAW PAW TUNNEL
C&O Towpath





The Bike Barn



North River Mills Landscape





Ice Mountain


Brother Steve Bailies
The Keeper of the Mountain


Terri, Steve, John. (what a party!)


Soaking off the miles in WV!





Vineyard in Ashland Va


Cumberland



Welcome Home to frigid WV












DAY 14 &15 Mon Jan 10/Tues Jan 11

After spending Sunday night at the home of my newly adopted Ashland,Va. hosts Truman & Moya Parmele,(owners of the best little Coffee shop on the planet, The Ashland Coffee & Tea Shop),I awoke Monday morning to the smell of coffee. Moya had used her magic and special skill's to prepare a wonderful french pressed blend of brew from Peru along with breakfast fit for a king! Together we scoped out the weather forecast on the planned route home, which let me entertain alternative plans to avoid freezing to death! Armed with the knowledge of storms to come, yet tempted by the sunshine breaking the morning dawn, I loaded up the "touring machine" with panniers and gear, donned my winter cycling clothes,attached my new 'bar mitts' to my handlebars and slipped into my Lake winter cycling boots,and bid my new friends farewell and headed out into the country side heading back to Ashland.Cycling for 3 hours on Bicycle Route 1 and 76 and returning to Ashland to pay a visit to Chris Shoup at the local Enterprise Car Rental store. I felt, after exploring the Ashland countryside that I should yield to what mother nature had in store for me,and advance myself on four wheels. Heading out of town driving on my proposed cycling route with my bike tucked neatly in the trunk I headed towards North River Mills/Capon Bridge, West Virginia to pay a visit to my final Warm Showers hosts Steve & Terry Lynn Bailies.Arriving at their mountain hideaway home (the End of the Earth, as Steve calls it!), I was greeted by the Bailie's at the end of their driveway, and ushered into their lives and treated like a brother. We chatted well into the night about bicycle touring, world travel, the Free Wheelchair Mission,West Virginia & the weather! and topped the night off with a soak in their outdoors hot tub, nestled in the West Virginia woods under the canopy of the West Virginia skies spitting snow flakes into the warm soothing waters. After sleeping like a log in their cabin loft I soon awake refreshed Tuesday morning to another world class breakfast, and of course pots of coffee! After breakfast Steve escorted my to "The Blacktop",(which meant my 1000 mile cycling journey had come to an end,) and I must return to "civilization". So return I did,but returning armed with memories of, yes miles of wonderful cycling but much more valuable were memories of the hundreds of people I encountered, chatted with on the road,stayed with in their homes,and rubbed the shoulders of folks bubbling with kindness, compassion ,caring, interest and willingness to show the face of their creator to a "Stranger Traveling on a Bike", whom they insisted on eliminating the Stranger part giving me a place in their lives and enriching mine. turning me into Someone in their 'ride through Life'. Once I compile the list of these "Strangers turned Friends" I will post them and the role they played in my Safe Transition from Sunny Key West to Snowy Wheeling. John
.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

NEW TIRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oops looks like I forgot to post about The Two Wheel Dealer Bike shop in Wilmington and their Role in getting me up and rolling Saturday evening. Kim and Lisa were instrumental in providing me with two new continental gator skin tires. Lisa and her family were my Wilmington WS host family, ending up by sending me to Lisa's bike shop....Thanks to the folks at the Two Wheel Dealer.



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Day 13 Sunday Jan 9th

After speaking with my Warm Shower hosts from Wilmington to Richmond, decided to bypass bad weather conditions and turn my "tire fixing rental survival car" in at Richmond, and complete the final 350 mile leg of my journey from here, My Ashland Va WS Host was out of town. So I strolled into the Ashland Coffee & Tea Shop located in the center of town where two major bicycle routes intersect, After telling everyone of my FWM ride,the owners Truman & Moya Parmele offered to Go with me to the airport 15 miles away to drop off this '4 wheel obstacle to cycling' as well as opening
up their home in the country for me to stay till morning.Steve Bailes from Capon Bridge WV helped me from afar with lodging between he & I and with route info. Spent the afternoon relaxing on the sofas and talking FWM & Cycling with some of "our" customers. After a weekend off, 2 day rest, tomorrow we ship home everything except necessary cold weather cycling gear and head out cross country making my own route home from here.Long live cold weather bicycle touring!!!!!


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Sunday afternoon at the coffee shop!!!!!! Better enjoy it 350 cold miles ahead, & you gave up a perfectly good car!!!!!!


Ashland Coffee& Tea Shop Owners took me under their care






Location:N James St,Ashland,United States

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Sat 1/8 Day 12

Sat morning finds me in Conway SC. But it was no easy feat. After leaving my good friends house Don in Summerville(again going off AC route onto Rte17) Don actually hauled me back onto 17 at Moncks Corner I covered 50 miles then bad luck hit about 35 miles from Conway smack dab in the middle of nowhere South Carolina My rear tire blew!!!! I examined it and found an inch slice, all the way trough to the tube. I walked back and found a broken beer bottle to be my downfall .My bad luck happened right in front of a rural home. I knocked on the door and explained my situation and was hauled to Conway by Charlie and Amanda in a small Ford Mustang with the bike hanging half way out of the trunk! No bike shops are in Conway , so I lodged at a hotel and this morning I am looking for a way to get to a bike shop. Since I am out of commission. Must get a new tire......Then set my sights on Wilmington and access the weather. Wish me luck! Should have carried a folding spare tire but my good friend Dave Crow at Quick Service put the top of the line Bontrager Hard Case tires


With Kevlar on and I they have never failed me, but then again I never ran over jagged glass!!!!




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I am counting on that !!!!!!!!
It's just me and you Lord, out here on this lonely stretch of road !

Location:W Hwy 501,Conway,United States

Friday, January 7, 2011

Day 10&11

What an incredible last couple of days. They seem to have run together.Enterprise drop point was in St Marys,Ga.Prior to dropping the car I dropped off my camping gear & misc. "extra" weight to lighten my 50 lb gear weight , 20 lbs went into a box bringing my gear (mostly clothes/winter cycling boots/cold weather items) down to 15 lbs each pannier.St Marys positioned me on the alternative route 17 North which Miichael Beaver suggested (and lives off of), as being a much shorter route than adventure cyclings which curved you way west. I soon discovered why, As it seemed to be a semi log hauling route!! With little berm to ride on, But a appriciated less miles. Well after about an hour Mike appeared on this lonely log hauling path in Georgia and took me to I think Georgias best noon buffet for lunch.After mulling over maps Mike helped me around Savannah and I soon crossed over into S,C. Ultimately ending up at Warm Shower host Don Borgman. Looking at the road ahead It looks like right at 1000 mi remaining, weather turning cool. I hear snow further north. So we will see what the future holds, My next WS Host is in Wilmington Two days ride.

SHEDING SOME POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone (cycling on AC's atlantic coast route)

Me & My Georgia Savior !!!!!!
Talk about a heart of gold!!!!
Thanks Michael,for putting me on the correct path, you the man.....








WShower hosting Camper SC style !!!!


Remember as you look at these pics that sometimes life gets turned upside-down, when it does turn the screen around !!!!!!!!
I suppose I have an upside Dow
n media library ......

Location:Crossandra Ave,Summerville,United States