So yeah, I biked from Milwaukee to Knoxville.

[Guest]

And it was fucking awesome. See for yourself. I'm the douchebag with the mustache and stupid hair. The other three are my friends John, Alex, and Adam.

First day. Shit mostly sucked. It was super hot and we didn't get very far.

This was our first campsite. It was in Kenosha. We only made it out 40 miles on the first day. Things started looking up after this though. The next day we had breakfast at Frank's Diner, which is one of the best restaurants ever and we decided to make up for lost time / avoid the heat of the day and what would have been the shittiest area to bike through by taking the train into Chicago.

This was at the train station in Chicago and we were trying to figure out where the hell we go from there.

Taking a break while riding on the lakeshore trail.

Ok, this is where shit starts getting really awesome. We got kinda lost getting out of Chicago and ended up in East Chicago, IN and while there we stopped at a bike shop and the people there pointed us in the direction of the Erie-Lackawanna Trail and that took us from Highland to Crown Point. We had a quick stop in Crown Point and decided to bike on to DeMotte. We got there around 11 at night and we're looking for a place to sleep. We find some people outside a restaurant and ask them if theres anywhere we could sleep around there that would be out of the way when all of the sudden a cop pulls up and asks us what were up to. We tell him about our trip to Tennessee and that we were looking for a place to sleep and, holy shit, it turns out DeMotte, IN is home of the world's coolest cop. He says he can take us to the park that's by the police station and that we can sleep there and that if anyone bothers us, just hit up the station and he'll clear it up. Seriously, it was the coolest fucking thing. So yeah, back to the picture, this was in the morning at DeMotte at a diner that turned out to have a very "Local's only" vibe, but it was pretty cool anyway.

This was en route to Logansport, IN at a town called Buffalo. There is nothing in Buffalo except a bar and a gas station. The people the run the gas station are some of the nicest people ever.

This is somewhere in Indiana.

We found a place in Logansport that made their own root beer. It was super tasty.

On the Monon bike trail in Indianapolis. We had a love-hate realtionship with Indianapolis. Decent place, but we could not get the fuck out of there.

More trailin'.

This is what happens when you can't get the fuck out of Indianapolis.

Climbin' in Kentucky.

BIKE TUFF

More BIKE TUFF.

CREEK TUFF

Martial arts training outside of a Waffle House. Yes, we ate at a Waffle House.

Checkin' shit out before heading up a bitch of a hill.

Fuck. Yes.

About 20 miles into Tennessee, we had a catastrophic breakdown and was left to do nothing but call up my friend's brother and have him come and pick us up. It was going to be about 2 hours, we had broke down right across from a cliff, so to pass the time we tried climbing it and Adam not only got up the cliff, but also a tree that was atop the cliff. Check the middle and you can see us. I also had a flask full of whiskey, so we took celebratory shots and got kind buzzed and started to see what we could light the strike anywhere matches off of.

We climbed up this and a found a baby rattlesnake. It was cool.

I don't know where this is!

Some downhill action.

John and Adam love climbing shit.

More downhill!

We slept at median that was right across from the Perry Park, KY post office. That is all there is in Perry Park. Also, a cat lives there.

We were sitting at the edge of someone's yard so they released the hounds on us. This guy is now the official Bike Dawgz mascot.

Who the fuck knows.

Yippie ki-yay, motherfucker.

I worship at the altar of bike.

These are the ones I took!

This was behind a gas station that we ended up sleeping by because we got a flat at around 11 at night and was 10 miles away from the nearest town that had a bike shop. That kinda sucked.

We ate here! It was actually pretty good!

The toughest motherfuckers to ever live.

This was in Madison, IN. Its in the valley of the Ohio River between Indiana and Kentucky. It is a beautiful town and to get there we went down 2 miles of downhill that was surrounded by gorges and cliffs and waterfalls. If we weren't moving so fast, we would've gotten pictures of all that, but yeah, we were scooting pretty fast down the hill.

Right before crossing the Ohio River.

And right after.

Another view of the majestic Perry Park post office.

On the other side of the Kentucky River. Biking down into the valley was awesome, up the other side: not so much. The view was awesome though.

I wish this wasn't so dark because it was an awesome view. This was while we were going through Daniel Boone National Forest.

At the Great Smoky Mountains National Forest.

More of the Smokies.

Knife + mountain = awesome.

That black dot in the trees there is a bear. I yelled at it. People got pissed about that but continued taking flash pictures of it like it was no big deal.

Fascinating.

Deer!

Yeah. Shit ruled and it was the best experience of my life. Everyone should get out there and do something like this at least once.

[thedavidescapeplan]

This sounds awesome! A few friends of mine just went on a 90 mile long endurance ride to raise money for a charity, I would have done it had I not found out the day before. I would love to do something like this.

Had I known you were doing this I could have helped you navigate through Northwest Indiana. Good job, sir.

[adamlikesmusic]

How long was the trip overall? (distance)

A lot of people in my family like biking really long distances. I think they're all crazy.

And Waffle House is pretty good.

[icecream]

Those are some rad fucking shorts where can one purchase those ?

I plan on going on a bike trip like this if I can ever get my lame ass friends to put down the 360 controler.

[Guest]

We made it 610 miles in 9 days. The shortest day was only 40 miles and the longest was 90. The 90 mile day was through a pretty hilly part of Kentucky too. I felt pretty damn awesome having done that.

[Guest]

Those shorts used to be a pair of bell bottom pants that I found at a resale shop for real cheap and since I was never going to wear them as pants, my sister cut and hemmed them into shorts for me.

[lonesomexloveus]

i thorougly enjoyed looking at those photos.

awesome that you guys did something like this!

obviously next time you should just cart me along behind you so you have a personal photographer to document your travels.

[Guest]

That would be rad. We could have you skitch behind us on a skateboard or something.

[desensitizedbyu]

That was fucking cool. Jealous!!

[Guest eriathomas]

I wish I was in even a decent amount of shape to attempt something like this.

[headtowall]

Two of my good friends are riding across country. pretty intense!

[kittenmittons]

that looks fun as shit.

[mariawithoneeye]

that looks pretty awesome. congrats on making it all the way

[flicker]

legit

[vedant]

that's seriously awesome man, very inspiring.

also! the part between kenosha and chicago (the shittiest part) is exactly where i live, haha

[bruins4ever]

That's so sick buddy. How was the showering situation? Did you guys sink shower, or just stank it up for the 9 days?

[thousandjulys]

very cool.

so how many collective flat tires did you have on this trip?

[oakland]

I would love to do that. Unfortunately biking to anywhere from Denver would be hella boring. Back east would be the way to go for sure. Congratulations for making it all the way.

[Fartcat]

Looks like a rad fucking time. I dig it, except helmets are for pussies.

[scully]

Enjoyed the pictures, sounds like a great time. Wish I would have done something like this...before wife and 2 children.

[xlovecolouredx]

epic.

this is an epic journey story i ever heard from vcer.

you and your dudes are the man, rad....

[monk0nuggets]

Whoa! That looks fun and intense! Congrats on making it! Thanks for the pictures!

[Guest]

@vedant: Yeah, I've lived in that area for most of my life but since I've moved north, I've rarely looked back. I have some good friends from around there, but I seriously hate going through that area. There are some aspects of those suburbs that I miss, but for the most part, I much rather enjoy living out in the boonies.

Showering: We had 3 hotel stays, so we showered up there, but yeah, most of the time we just used sinks.

Flats: We had 14 fucking flats, 3 new tires, and one entire wheel replaced. We had no luck when it came to that shit.

Helmets: I crashed twice (once because of a nasty pothole, the other because my friend was being a jackass and made a sudden stop to get a bungee cord he found on the side of the road) and both times I bonked my head. If it wasn't for the helmet, I would've been fucked. I'd much rather be a pussy than in a coma/paralyzed/all that other nasty shit that happens from brain injuries.

And I'm really glad you guys liked the pics and all that and thanks for all the praise. This was seriously the best thing I've ever done and I'm really itching to do some more long distance trips like this.

[oakland]

A guy I know biked all the way across the country from California to Connecticut with his dad. I'd totally be down for something like that since I have no job anyway.

[Japes]

Did you think Kentucky was beautiful or shitty? It seems to vary, but I honestly think it's quite beautiful here.

I hope you enjoyed the mountains/hills/hollows/rednecks/dogs/shitty broken-down houses and your time traveling through, haha.