“Ride as much or as little, as long or as short as you feel. But ride”

— Eddy Merckx

“There is No Truth in Cycling”
All across the United States Geert passed similar signs like the one sketched above, often planted near a parish or churches of all types. These would all have biblical, evangelical, or other religious quotes, sayings, and sometimes spouted total nonsense.

Geert was riding in Kansas and the headwinds reached a torturing level for days on end. It was so windy that a few times he would crawl down into a dry ditch, just to be out of the wind and the noise that was consistently hammering his ears. He’d close his eyes, put earplugs in, and tried to sleep for 20 minutes or so, only to resume the torture a bit later. Hence the quote above, used by his cycling mates back home in Aussie.

Sleeps
Most nights in the United States he camped in campgrounds and often wild. Geert also stayed with a few Couchsurfing hosts and also quite a few Warmshowers addresses. The Baptist’s often opened their churches for tour riders and he sometimes found a full fridge – for riders to use – some soft drinks, and in one lucky evening an old video player. And it worked! Geert watched Forest Gump, laying on the ground on the carpet of a church room, with his clothes bag tucked under his head for a pillow.