Guys, as promised I will keep ya'll updated on my travels. My ride fell through for yesterday but in about an hour I will be off- of Staten Island and officially begin my traveling.

Here's a link to my blog, not sure how often I'll get a chance to update it or what will come out of it but will definitely post here as well.

http://ltt3.blogspot.com/

I will be doing most of the riding in my Kissena Kit so I'm excited to talk to people who know about the club/ track/ nyc racing. When I was hiking and mentioned Kissena to a rider I met on the road we had a long conversation about racing track back in the day.

I should be doing some cross races (NCCX & Bamacross) so will give you guys race reports as well.

Once again thanks to everyone who provided me with any help.

good luck, W!

keep us posted, and please please please let us know if you need help of any kind

This is WHITE HOT!!!!! can't wait till you reach the land of gator-jerky! Good luck!
yack

Woj,
have FUN& beCAREFUL!
-h

It's been a week now since ive been on the road. I've made it to Culpeper (earthquake 2011 epicenter) Virginia and am now headed to Asheville NC to meet up with a Major Taylor rider who is attending college there. 
I'm truly happy and loving every second of this trip, if you want all the info take a look at my blog which I just updated

ltt3.blogspot.com. 

Ive met a cyclist on Tuesday while going up a dirt road who mentioned he knew a Mike V? On kissena and something about a team Pro health?  I'm pretty bad with names but he was the first cyclist I met and right off the bat he knew about kissena. 

I've been averaging roughly 70-90 miles daily, all have come preety easy. Yesterday while climbing a dirt road at 12% grade to get up to the blue ridge mountain road I cursed myself for having difficulty with devils kitchen and ToC. I've set my expectations as far as strength gain/ readiness for next season super low, even thinking this tour might hurt me. I feel like it has already helped me though. 

I'm preety set now on biking around the whole country. Will head out west soon after reaching Florida in hopes of getting to California before January. Will stick the winter out there and have a cold ride back in march to NY. Of course I still will need consider weather patterns/ routes a lot more as I wouldn't want to get stuck out in an Dakota blizzard. 

This might seem a bit ambitious but I have been thinking a lot about RAAM. I've always thought about it but never considered doing it myself a possibility. Yesterday while riding on a side road in pitch darkness I actually gave it a serious though and am considering it a possibility now. If so I will definitely do  the qualifier next year and see where that goes. 

That is all I got for now! Haven been able to follow the forum much so I hope I'm not missing too much fun stuff & that you're all saving your witty comments for when I get back. 

Peace, 
   Wojciech 

Awesome Wojciech, I'm from VA so I've got some friends and family living there if you need places to stay. What other cities are you going to hit in VA?

I'm down to support your RAAM attempt but get used to hallucinating, mild psychosis and all sorts of other goodies that come from sleep deprivation.

Joe, thanks! I actually headed down south to NC preety quickly after Culpeper. It got really cold once I left (Needed 4 layers in the mornings) so I wasn't looking to go out of my way.

John, sweet! I am looking forward to that. It's still quite a ways off but who knows, gotta keep dreaming, right?

Got to Asheville, NC today; and damn what a ride it has been on the Blue Ridge Pkwy. I took 89 all the way from Eden, NC to get onto the Pkwy. In my head I was thinking "whats the easiest way to get to Asheville and avoid all these hills? Oh, I'll take the parkway! Have one nasty climb to get up onto it (true) one awesome decent to get off of it (true) and a nice, flat road atop mountains in between (FALSE). I think throughout the whole 3 day Parkway ride I had 10 miles of true flats.

Yesterday I hit a milestone, 10k' of climbing in one day. That was over 60 miles. I probably matched that today, and have done at least 40k of climbing in the past 5 days. It was tough but fun at the same time. Climbing made me sweat like crazy and descending made me freeze half to death. Camped near an overview last night some 4000 feet up. I passed Mt. Mitchell today but decided not to make the trek up it, will definitely hike it sometime though.

The road surface has been impeccable up here. I didn't give it a single though until I got into town. I think I hit 2 sections of "rough" pavement the past three days. Even the leaves have somehow managed to stay off the road. I maxed out at 53mph on the downhills yesterday and even with my trailer and handlebar bag it didn't phase me out too much. My main concern was hitting a deer, but I've been told since that they are not too common around here.

I'll be staying at a friends dorm the next two days and possibly hit some mountain bike trails with the Warren Wilson College team. Looking forward to going into Columbia, SC next and then the coast to cruise down to Florida.

Hope New York isn't getting cold already and that you guys are killing it at cross & road.

yeah man

keep these updates coming!

also, post some pictures!

Great posts! Yeah, ^, send a bunch of pics. I want to see "nature", whatever that is, along with watching you slowly become more and more disheveled as you wander around the wilderness. Birds start nesting in your beard. Toes sticking out of your shoes. All that.

careful now, Jeff

i saw you last week, and you kind of remind of what Wojciech will look like in a month

7oct2011
woj,
THIS IS MY NEIGHBORHOOD SC/NC mts! have raced the Assualt on Mt Mitchell (3)times with this year the 1st in a Kissena kit! The 5miles up to the summit from the parkway are 'b r u t a l' as the grade is deceptivly steep & relentless....TOO COOL that you ar there.
HEY call me because i want you to stay in greenvilleSC or at least lunch/brekfast/dinner with my mother LaRue and or brother Marc or father Harry3. LarRue in is Greer& could meet you in town, brother in right downtown, father near mother& Hincappie Sports right downtown GreenvilleSC! the route you MUST take from Asheville to Greenville is 'Old rte26' down the Greenville watershead, starts in Hendersonville NC. Man! wish i was there with you! &AWESOME climbing esp. with your cart...you R going to be so strong!
so, call me 718-640-8680 txt or email me hbolick@gmail.com.
-harry bolick;>

William,

Exactly. I need company.

I havent been able to get too disheveled! Everyone is offering me places to stay/ take a shower. Dammit! I want to be dirty

Will be racing my first ever cross race tommorow, Pigsah Brewery Cyclocross. Will start in the C's and possibly do the B's after, looking forward to it!

Photos are up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97457524@N00/













lol^ this is going to be wallpapered on one of my walls when I get a place back in NY.

Get ready to read the gnarliest cross race report ever!

So I got some cx tires yesterday from the local bike shop to use for free, they were preety good. I lined up rather early for the start in order to get a good position. The course was flat as could be, really bumpy with two 16"? barriers one after the other, 2 180 degree turns and two fast long sections, & about two dozen other turns. It was all on grass but as the day wore on all that became of the grass was sand and from that a shit load of dust.

Were off... The bumping begins & soon ends, I'm in 6th position as we start to stretch out. First time dismounting & remouting in a race could not have gone better, i practiced a bit the day before and watched some YouTube videos but other then that had no prior experience. I was so good (bragging, sorry!) that I even managed to pass guys on the barriers and was in 3rd place after two laps. On my third remount I heard a snap. Oh? Then my seat started shifting up and down (blush). Then the rattling noise came... What can I compare it to, a bolt that's not tightened rattling on metal!? Yeap. My seatpost bolt must have snapped, crap.

4th time around I take the corner right before the barriers a bit too fast and slide out. Shit! Get up get up get up. I did, and as I was jumping over the barriers I heard "hey man you lost your seat!" hahahhaha

Rode the final 20 minutes with no seat and a slowly leaking front tire. Ran the last minute to the finish line as I couldn't hold a corner anymore. Finished 14th/ 60ish.

It was fun, deffinitly wish I could do staten cx. Will be racing more cross in Alabama.

: D

wp,
classic, ride! ...seems all the best have a noSeat report @some point in career. bravo u 'lil bragadocio! -h
ps. take old rte 25east (not26) from hendersonvilleNC to greenvilleSC, &hope u can ride w/ hencappie development team tuesday moring, their ride rout is quite beautiful+a challenging climb up&back to Ceasar's Head on SC/NC. order. i believe they leqce from downtown Main St&peace center @ around 7-8a.

A big thanks to Harry's family for letting me chill with them on Monday and Tuesday and to Normans family for letting me spend the night here in Blythewood, SC and making me actually gain weight.. never thought that would happen! Seriously guys, thanks for setting this up.

Going to head south tomorrow and will hit georgia on Saturday. Hoping to be in Florida by Monday. Some pictures below, more on flickr

That's beautiful, man.

wow!
3rd photo is a winner!!!!!! wp, better enter this image in the "magnum" classics!

...great that U managed to hook-up with my brother marc &family in greenvilleSC, sorry u missed
our dear mother LaRue - anoter time in the NC Mts @ Nantahala. did you meet-up with Hincapie group?

Norm we both have SC connections! stay intouch. will be headed down for thanksGiving.
-h;>

Thanks guys ^

Currently in southern Florida, will hit Miami tomorrow (the only reason I want to see it is so I can compare it to GTA vice city)

Florida has been the worst state for bicycle touring yet. The people are super nice and friendly but there are just too many of them and every piece of land has something on it or is fenced off, making stealth camping a bit difficult. I did 107 miles on Thursday, 120 yesterday and will probably match that today! Rest day tomorrow, then alligator valley!

Can't wait to start heading west.

My thigh- bike shorts tan lines are as immaculate as one could ever hope for. I will be making grown man cry with 'em when I get back to NY. : D

Hope everyone is doing okay

W

If you want a place to stay north of Tampa, my mother is down there right now in the town of Bayonet Point - http://maps.google.com/maps?client=opera&rls=en&q=bayonet+point,+fl&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x88c29a506026e375:0xa4219c15211f8f7,Bayonet+Point,+FL&gl=us&ei=5PyiTpIH4t_RAdnPqKcF&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=2&ved=0CDEQ8gEwAQ

let me know if you want me to talk to her.

Woj,
Love the posts, please keep 'em coming!
(and watch out for disgruntled wildlife!)
j

If you are going through Boise, Idaho on your way back east...whenever that may be...A good friends has offered food, lodging and grog.
Yacks

Talking about disgruntled Wildlife....



Did my first 36 hour ride the other 2 days! Spent two hours napping in a parking lot but besides that just kept pedaling.

East of Tampa now, passing through Ocala tomorrow and then finally west<3

lulz

was it cause there was nowhere gator-free to set up camp?

very impressed over here

continue rocking!

Nah William, the people were just horrible (really negative, stared at me like crazy, no one waved) and I was angry at the millions of shopping plazas/ stores I was passing. Like do we really need all of that! So I was like, "hm, if I bike through the night I could get out of here faster!" so I did & will probably do it again sometime soon. I took a complete rest day the following day so it was alright.

Anyway, I made the staten island advance, page 4. When the reported contacted me I was like "sure, but make the story more about long term travel and getting away from this sick society then about me" that was ignored and it's a page full of me (and a toysrus ad). The main picture they chose represents kissena pretty well though

I've got a scan of it but can't upload it to here from my iPod, if anyone wants to post it up email me and I'll forward you the file! Thanks

Wjplata@gmail.com

Hey Wojciech -- sorry about those Floridians, they're not real Southerners, you know?

I don't know your exact route, but when Texas comes to pass, I recommend going through Austin.. real nice folks there, and you can head through the hill country which is gorgeous country. Like all Texas though, you'll have to steer clear of the pickup trucks with massive deer battering rams up front. Also, my mom probably told you that we have kinfolk in Temple, TX --real nice folks, they will serve you up some serious steaks and train you up for some rodeo activities, you would really like my cousin Wade, an exquisite horseman and unearthly cool dude. Good God, the food those people would lay out before you! Let me know if I should queue-up some introductions...

I also have some peeps Arizona way, Tucson and Phonenix.

Meanwhile, if you want those deep south folks to show their hospitality, just stick one of those Christian fish ornaments on your trailer and ditch the cycling "hail-mint" (southern pronunciation) for a Bud Light bandana.

Best wishes and safe journeys...

-Norm

Love reading this shit Wojciech, keep it coming!

I'm not sure how you feel about us Czech folk, but if you do pass through Phoenix and you get tired of all that Swygert BBQ fare, I'm sure my mom and stepdad could hook you up with some paprikash or something -- not to mention a pretty plush crash pad. But no matter how great the weather happens to be, don't take Karl up on his suggestion to sleep out back under the desert sky. He'll just turn the sprinklers on you. (This is actual advice.)

Good luck with Texas.

Wojciech! F'n rad. Next time I want to see you wrestling the alligator and making him cook your dinner.

Hope you don't have to enjoy the suburban sprawl and strip malls much longer,
-j.