Did you ever find a pet sitter for your little amigo? Don't see him in any of the pics

Dubnjoy, thank you for the support I keep forgetting to say that because my mind is reeling from the past 35 hours of no sleep.

Ebro dog track is splendidly decrepit and casual really hoping to come back regardless of the result in poker. They are racing dogs tonight and a small crowd is forming, there was a brief but heavy rain it will be interesting to see if there are "mudders" in dog racing.

Yes he is with my friend Alex can't wait to see him, think he could make some noise out here he is VERY fast.

I'd love to take him on a bike tour someday but caring for him would certainly complicate things and make for less miles.

I'm without a lock on this trip, which is stupid I know so while I play this tournament my bike will be kept on the ground level protected by a wet floor sign and partition stand.
Everyone has assured me this is the best place, it also has all my goodies conveniently positioned near the men's room. Tournament starts soon, they have a few 1-2nl's and one 2-5 that looks juicy but alas I don't have cash game money only one bullet for this mtt. You can smoke practically anywhere which is great?

There is a light mist coming down here at the track but the punters are undeterred, I this gent might be worth chatting up for a superfecta tip.

Cute dealer

Holy cow - just noticed that you rode 180 miles in a day ... that's a really long way!! Neat stories about spotting raccoons and a shooting star along the way ...

From your description, it sounds like a lot of weekenders may have shown up at the casino, looking to have a little fun at the tables on a Friday night? With a little help from the cards, hopefully things go really well for you with your tournament! GL!!

Your dog must have been so happy to see you when you came back from your first trip - he looks very happy and very well taken care of

Thanks Sam! There were 38 entrants and sadly I bowed out in 15th after peaking a little over 4x starting stack, thankfully I spewed some of my chips off to this gorgeous Thai lady.

Not too hung over so I'll just ride back home on highway 20 it's about 100 miles.
Yesterday on the last stretch from PCB to Ebro there was a sweet bike path that ran parallel to 79 for a few miles that was nice.

Ahhh, tournaments - have been in your shoes many a time

Have a safe trip - should be nice to have that sprightly little doggie back home to greet you after a long trip (at friend's place)

Made It back to tally around 10:30, great trip over 300 miles in two days which is another personal best.

One of the best parts about biking across the us is the eye catching religious signs, this one was short and sweet.

No problem bro, am following indeed, and perhaps we will get to cross paths when I make it to Florida in Febuary-March...

Am I the only one for whom the pics are not working and show up as a blue question mark, like in the tweet icon above?

I definitely boogered up the photo upload, didn't catch it til your comment because I had my image display turned during the trip so I could load the page faster. My laptop is in the shop but if anyone wants to look at the photos my Imgur page is

When you come to Florida I'm guessing it will be to visit family in Tampa area? If so that's not terribly far so we will have to meet up and kick it, maybe ride some bikes it won't be a 105 F out on the highway then.

Next trip might be something involving my B.O.B trailer and a hunt for feral pigs out in one of the wildlife management areas along coastal Highway 98 definitely will bring Svën along for that.

This is more or less a chronological of my trip, will upload the rest once Imgur allows me to add more files.

A big inspiration for this ride was the death of Mike Hall a British cyclist who competed in long distance cycling unsupported, he was killed on the final stage of a trans Australia tour last year. Check out "Inspired to ride" for more on this very special athlete.

I'd like to share some more aspects of my everyday bike riding activities which include commuting, working as a Jimmy John's bicycle delivery rider, playing bicycle polo, dumpster diving with bicycle, and community bicycle shops which Tallahassee has two of.

Saturday is the opening of the college hand egg season and FSU will be playing the "Crimson Tide" (AL) in Atlanta I'm scheduled to work 11AM-10pm but likely will work past 10pm as it's a 7pm Est start for the game and the night manager wants me on board to keep things "freaky fast". Another one of my bicycle riding goals is to have a 100 delivery day at JJ's last fall I did 89 and 91 working 12pm-3:15am. On the day of the FSu Clemson game my bicycle was stolen in front of the shop around 2:15 am and I was at 89 deliveries so it's possible whoever snagged my old #4 car denied me of that milestone.

There has been a lot of residents added to our small delivery zone since then, 2 massive FSU dorms, multiple apartment complexes and some new retail which leads me to believe business this fall will be better than ever and the 100 delivery day will take place if stars align and there are no whammies.

I've got a go pro camera on loan from my bicycle polo mentor Bob who's probably one of the best players in the country if not world this clip is from him at the North American championships 3-4 years ago.

https://www.instagram.com/p/2zV0cmio4N/

I've ridden bikes for two plus decades always loved it but the combination of polo, delivery, and community based shops has really expanded my skill set and saddle time. By Saturday I'll have the GoPro set up and maybe I'll have a video package of me doing the JJ's century by December plus some bike polo footage from our very tiny clubs pickup games.

I'll be working 40+ hour weeks at JJ's lots of stories there, like last week when I lost my helmet after a street "fight" vs some drunk college kids and had to work a 5 hour shift wearing a unicorn helmet meant for children because that's the only one a coworker had as a spare. It was too small to buckle the chin strap without restriction of my neck so I basically rode around with a unicorn hard hat just to satisfy the JJ's rulebook.

This is bad picture of the Unicorn helmet but otherwise a great picture of me and Tevyn a coworker fellow bike rider Tevyn who studies Japanese at FSU and is all around one of my favorite colleagues he lets me take meat and bread scraps out of the trash can with impunity, destroys at all aspects of the job which helps us bikers make maximum hourly. Also he's a fellow angler and sportsman, working with guys like T-Payne which is his actual last name enables me to be perfectly content working at JJ's for low pay and no health benefits. If your unfamiliar with the artist T-Payne he is one of Tallahassee's most successful native sons/recording artist.
So many more interesting characters to profile at work.

Am really enjoying your blog Hank - you seem to have a real gift for photo-journaling, in a way that brings the places and characters to life

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks Sam! Getting ready for my 11+(?) hour grind doing hoagie logistics might not be the bonanza We need for the 100 delivery day largely because it's Labor Day weekend and many students have left to go home and parts unknown.

Know your a big fan of my little buddy Svën so here is a photo of him riding with "whining boy". WB's owner is Scot the founder and director of bicycle house Tallahassee a volunteer run service organization that helps facilitate access and repairs to bicycles. Every Thursday for over a year me WB and my buddy Eli who i rode to Key West with would travel by bike with gigantic surly Bill and ted flatbed trailer to the resplendent Kearney Center (homeless shelter) to do mobile bike repair and outreach.


WB bit one KearneY center guest right on her nose because she was trying to cuddle with him. He has bit 5+ people at bicycle house, one guy was a big burly ex-con fresh out of the pen, dude was fine but kept threatening legal action kind of hilarious to be mauled by a 7lb runt chihuahua mix.

Also WB is legitimate fast and conditioned as Scot who is a former pro road cyclist takes him out on trainers where WB can hold 15mph+ for miles. Maybe I'll dig up a photo of the othe bicycle house micro dog beauty who is 13 years old and my favorite dog of all time.

The UNICORN helmet with its new sticker, we are talking about making the slowest rider over a calendar month wear it for a day. Slow here just patched two busted tubes.

Oh my goodness!! They fit so perfectly into the basket - would be tempted to try and give them hugs as well ... guess WG's bite is bigger than his bark!

Can tell that they love the open road - great fun that you've both got dogs that share in your passion


That's a really nice thing you've all been doing, helping provide greater access to bike repairs to those in need. Having access to transportation must make a world of difference - one only has to look at Sven and WG to see how much happiness having access to a well-functioning bike can bring

Yesterday was bananas, riding bikes down here in North Fl there's loads of sand, dust, and bugs so having a nice set of sunglasses is key. Wouldn't you know it yesterday around noon I went to the JJ loo and found a $150 set of Ray-Ban stunner shades (bling bling edition) sitting on the soap dispenser. No one claimed them so now I'm channeling Corey Hart and wearing them all day because the lenses on these glasses are so good you can do it safely(?). Also showing up to a customer at night with shades on might be good for tips they are like lol wtf shades at night? Standard response is they are prescription, either way I've never owned a nice set of real ray ban glasses and absolutely love these, they actually have a serial number.



Left work at 12:15 am and did 46 deliveries for about $90 which is pretty standard because the average tip per check is around $2.

Part of our delivery zone includes the FAMU (Fl Agricultural and Mechanical university) campus and after completing a delivery there last night in front of their main dorm at 677 Gamble st a guy asked me if I could deliver him two berry flavored backwoods. I said sure, $3 + cost of cigars and no problem as there are two gas stations in between that dorm and our shop. I left the dorm, bought the cigars and wrote down his number for whoever would next go to that location and my boy Aiden delivered those cigars unfortunately he wrecked his bike going down a steep, wet, sandy, hill after passing through a roundabout. From the looks of his road rash, cuts, and scrapes it was surely a hard fall that particular roundabout is very dangerous despite being new as some drivers will refuse to give you the right of way and they enter it at 20+ when your going downhill at similar speed.

After buying the cigars at gasso a local Biker who I know well, undocumented guy from Honduras was sitting on the pavement looking sad and apparently he had busto tube on his bike so he asked if I had one. Of course I have a spare 700cc tube because 99% of the time there's one in my seat bag along with patch kit, multi tool, tire levers, brooks saddle cover and possibly a roach or two. Sold Francisco the tube for $5, it was one of the busted tubes discarded by my coworkers that I patched.

There was a lot else that happened, diffusing fights with huge muscular drunken dudes on the JJ block, grappling match with a customer who was 40 lbs bigger than me. Calling the police on a guy who was camping on my landlords acreage because he showed up after being 86ed drunk as ****. Got done playing bike polo today which went ok, didn't have a grand showing considering all the activity and stress of Sat.

Been drinking a big bottle of wild Irish rose as I peck out this post,
For those unfamiliar with that particular brand of booze it's a "bum wine"$7 will get you a little less than a quart of ****ty sweet brutal hangover inducing grog.
Here's a great George Jones song about the degradation of said beverage
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UfAPhJW5fOY

Another 10 hour day of bike delivery tomorrow hope I have some more stories maybe I'll profile one of my favorite coworkers lots to choose from.

Shoes wear out quickly

Hey Hank


Am not very familiar with hurricane prep, but this doesn't look ideal

(from google)

Hopefully the storm maybe loses a lot of steam over the Caribbean? Hope you and Sven are able to stay safe, especially if you'll be riding in the wind and the rain!

And thanks so much for today - that was such a nice thing for you to do

Hey Sam, here in Tallahassee with current predictions we could see Irma arrive Monday Am with some pretty high winds (40-80mph) and of course buckets of rain. The FSU home game got canceled in part I think to alleviate highway traffic and allow those fleeing the most dangerous areas extra hotel space. Traffic around here has been nuts, lots of people coming and going yesterday quite a few deliveries went to the Residence Inn .03 miles down the street and hopefully that trend arcs up because in the bike delivery game short deliveries with no elevation gain to folks well off enough to purchase a $200 hotel room are very coveted.

For the past two + years this little cabin has been my home, there are multiple 70ft+ pine trees outside of the frame within striking distance of my hovel so when the storm hits me and Sven will be safe somewhere else!



Been taking better care of myself feeling sharp and entering beast mode on the old Trek 420, snapped a spoke yesterday possible due to it being laundry day had to pack the saddle bags and basket to capacity maybe if I was more diligent about checking my equipment the offending loose spoke would have been found. At some point before work it would be good to swap out the wheel @ Bicycle House sure I could probably ride on it but don't want to ruin the wheel and today will be and 11 hour day minimum.

Twice in the last week coworkers have had biggggg wipeouts from sandy patches resulting in some gnarly road rash. Yesterday Jesse tore the top of his hand something fierce, looked like his hand got blasted with steam and the flesh had melted off. Got him some ibuprofen, rinsed it off, slapped some antibiotic cream on there and added a big gauze tape bandage. Funny thing is our first aid kit had no medical tape so we just used the masking tape that we secure fountain drink lids with. Jesse is a trooper and worked another hour or so taking a few deliveries in the process.

My worst falls have been at slow speed on very slippery surfaces usually painted sidewalks or blacktop, I've actually had way bigger falls/crashes on the bike polo pitch.

JJ's will be closed all day Sun/Monday so there's a positive, 10 plus years ago when riding over the Lehigh river in PA during 30+ MPh winds a not so small tree branch sheared off and hit me right on the top of my head. This is back when I wasn't regularly wearing a helmet, left quite a knot so not having to do delivery in high winds is wonderful news!