Slog Across America
Socks/Tours
The winner of the Sock Contest is California Bear! This sock has promised to represent our home state well and make all the other socks proud. Second place went to No Gas. The third place winner, Bad Kitty has been disqualified. Apparently, there is a length requirement and Bad Kitty fell short. Here’s how Bad Kitty measured up to the winner:
Therefore, according to the rules of the Contest, Barbara gets to select a winner at random from the runners-up. She has chosen Bicycle to accompany her on the trip. Bicycle said “I think I speak for all the socks when I say I was surprised Bad Kitty was allowed to enter this contest. Bad Kitty is clearly too short and you have to wonder what type of person could even wear that sock. I am happy the rules were adhered to in this case. I will be a great addition to the panniers and I promise not to get too dirty.”
The winner of the $10 Amazon gift certificate is Alexa Anderson, Subscriber No. 17! That puts Alexa roughly in the middle of the “scores” of people who voted in the contest.
Thanks to all of you for voting. Stay tuned for the next contest.
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Barbara’s socks are holding a contest to see who gets to be among the three pairs that she’ll take with her across the country. Each pair of socks explains why it should receive the honor, with a rebuttal by the remaining socks. Please sign up for our email updates and vote for your favorite sock. A random email subscriber will be chosen to win a $10 Amazon gift certificate. Contest is closed: Winners: California Bear, No Gas, |
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| Nominee | Candidate statement | What the other socks say | |
| No Gas | I make an important statement about conserving fossil fuels and I’m black, which goes with everything. | You’ll incite violence in the Midwest where people don’t care about the environment. And black socks will make her feet too hot. | |
| Kona Bike Works | She bought me on her last vacation to Hawaii with Jay. I’ll remind her of good times. And I have different designs on each side, unlike the rest of you, so I’m more interesting. | You’re a poser---she’s never done an Ironman Triathlon and that’s what those socks are for. Plus it’s mean to remind someone who’s putting in 8-hour days on a bike that she could be lying on a beach somewhere in Hawaii , on a vacation that a sane person would take. | |
| Roaring Mouse | I’m a souvenir from their trip to San Francisco last August. And I’m cute! | Isn’t that how she got a stress fracture in her foot? Walking 17 miles around San Francisco in crap shoes looking for bike socks? 'Nuf said. | |
| Salem Cycle | I’m from the super fun trip to Boston that Jay and Barbara took in 2008 with their friend Deborah from Australia to go visit Jay and Deb’s old roommate. | Big deal. Plus you look too much like Halloween. And you’re a gross color. | |
| Bad Kitty | I signify danger and power. Hills will fear me. And I’ll remind her of Orange Kitty, whom she loves. | Wasn’t she wearing you when she crashed last year? Plus you’ve shrunk quite a bit and barely cover her ankle. And you’re mainly pink, which is not a power color. | |
| Bucking Bronco | She got me in 2010 after completing a one-week tour of Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, which ended with a three-mile climb of over 2,200 feet up to Teton Pass , so she’ll know she can climb hills every time she sees me. | Okay, that’s impressive. But she’s not from Wyoming and you’re kind of silly-looking. | |
| Cal Coast Bicycles | I’m from the shop where her Surly Long Haul Trucker came from. And I’m blue, which matches a lot of her cycling clothes. | Yeah, but you’re a part of the official Cal Coast team kit, and she’s not on the team. Plus you’re boring---you come from a shop one mile from her house. Snore. | |
| Dr. J’s Bicycle Shop Solvang, CA | I am a fond memento from a 2009 road trip to see Jay’s twin brother, Martin, in San Francisco. | What’s with that multicolored stripe at the top? It’s icky. And it’s hard to make out the figure riding a bike in the logo. It looks like a third-grader designed you. | |
| Bicycle | This is what it’s all about, folks. A bicycle. That’s me. Plain and simple. | Plain and simple is RIGHT. How boring can you get. And you’re white, so you’re going to get filthy in about two weeks and stay that way. Ewww. | |
| California Bear | I am a proud emblem of their home state and quite handsome. | Dude, it’s not a good idea to let people in the rest of the country know that Barbara and Jay are from the land of weirdos who don’t allow smoking in restaurants and other freak things like that. | |
| Hoisted Bike | Elisabeth, Barbara’s twin sister, gave me to her this past Christmas. I’m from West Maui Cycles so I connote fun. | Barbara’s never even been to West Maui Cycles so she has no emotional connection with you. All you are is a white sock with a scribbled black logo. Yawn. | |
Past Tours
Click here to read about our trip around Lake Michigan
In summer 2010, we rode around the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park for a week on a self-contained Adventure Cycling trip. It was super fun. We saw tons of elk, bison, deer, and moose. A bison is the size of a chest freezer on legs with a 1970’s era microwave oven for a head. Quite gigantic. Here are some highlights:
In summer 2007, we did the Des Moines ’ Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. RAGBRAI is the country’s largest, oldest, and longest bicycle touring event. This was our first bicycle tour. A tour company carried our gear for us, so we just had to ride 80 or so miles from town to town each day for seven days. Most of Iowa is populated with towns of 1,000 people or less, so it was neat for us to go through such small towns. The year we did it, Lance Armstrong also rode most of the route. (He signed up AFTER we did.) The Iowa Highway Patrol estimated there were 17,000 cyclists that year! Here are some highlights:
