This is most of what I'm taking, though there are a few things missing. Notably, it doesn't include the panniers, pump, polartec pants, toiletries, and a few other sundry items.
7/15/2009 | 1 Comments
Today, the first day, was the biggest, baddest hill I've ever climbed : Teton Pass. 2300 feet from 6300 to 8600. Due to a variety of problems, I never had a chance to acclimate, getting in only about 20 miles beforehand, gasping for breath the whole time. I probably stopped 25 times on the way up. Between my poor form, the altitude, and a nasty little headwind the last quarter mile, a very tough day.
I went so slow hikers passed me up. They were kind about it, claiming they had been passed by bikers when on bike as well, but I didn't believe them. Near the top, horse flies descended. They didn't bite, so I thought my biggest worry was having them lay eggs on me, which would probably hatch before I got to the top. They didn't, but alas, the nonbiting was shortlived.
Tomorow more mileage, but less climbing. Unfortunately, might be a nasty headwind.
7/16/2009 | 2 Comments
Fifty-five miles in the blazing sun. Didn't take many pictures, as it was a very fast day, i.e. everyone was going fast and I didn't want to get TOO far behind. The terrain was as above, if you can extrapolate from the picture above: lots of rolling hills covered with crops, beautiful Tetons in the background.
We did pass some fun stuff, though, including a 15-ft buffalo on a saloon, the "Spud Drive-In", and the "Big Hole BBQ". Got into camp by 12:30, only to arrive in a sunny campground in 86 degree heat.
Today felt a LOT better than yesterday. Of course it was relatively flat, and about a 1000 feet lower. Tomorrow we go up, though: 50-ish miles in the heat followed by climbing the Targhee Pass to 7000 feet (crossing the continental divide).
Sunday is a layover day in West Yellowstone, followed by two long days in Yellowstone. What to do? Harry Potter? Bus tour in the northern sections of the park?
Stay tuned...
7/17/2009 | 0 Comments
Fifty-three miles, followed by a four mile climb, followed by ten more as we raced into West Yelliwstone. Well, at least the first five were racing, 40 mph at times. But then when the road turned up by one degree an entirely different story.
Today was hot: 85 in the shade with an absolutely brutal sun. Listening to all the unbelievingly locals (you biked how far? Over that?) almost made it worthwhile.
Tomorrow is our first rest day, and probably our first rain. I think Harry Potter is a possibility...
Then Sunday, into Yellowstone for two days of riding!
7/18/2009 | 1 Comments
Today was a day of rest in West Yellowstone, one of those tiny towns that doesn't have much going for it other than a nearby attraction. Still, a coffee shop inside the bike shop was quite nice, and the game room, complete with pool table, was. Nice place to wait out the rain/ hail storm we had this afternoon. My 2.5 lb tent is a bit different than others, needing to be set up slightly differently for rain, but all was well.
People split up on layover days. Some went out for dinner, some ordered pizza, some went to Harry Potter, some went to the IMAX yellowstone movie.
All of us, of course, are heading out bright and early for the climb over the continental divide (8300 feet, again), and then the divide again, as we head into the park. On the plus side: buffalo (bison), bears and wolves (maybe).
7/19/2009 | 2 Comments
The pictures are of a bald eagle's next me at the continental divide the first time we crossed it (at 8361 feet), one of the old restored yellow tourist busses, and Old Faithful shortly before it went critical.
Fifty-eight miles, two brutish climbs, a huge number if animals (1 elk, 1 bison, 1 eagle, 1 chipmunk, ... innumerable mosquitoes). We expect to see many more animals tomorrow, as well as the "grand canyon" of yellowstone, and at least one more crossing of the continental divide.
I should add that when I talk about a "brutish" climb above, I'm talking about a climb up to maybe 7% at worst, up 1000 or so feet. This is a *hard* climb, especially at altitude, but it's not in the same class as the Teton Pass.
I'm also happy to report that I'm *not* the slowest climber here, I might even be near the (lower) middle. Today I was in a threesome (w/ buddies from last year London John and Nita) that arrived at the campground first. Not that I'm competitive.
As for yellowstone, the fauna have been underwhelming, old faithful is obviously a bit too much hype. On the other hand, the landscape is beautiful, the mud pots neat, and it kind of feels like we're camping on the moon: we're on a mountaintop at nearly 8000 ft, and the trees are mostly young, interspersed with dead burned spires from the fires 20 years ago.
7/20/2009 | 1 Comments
Today was a "close-to-nature" kind of day. It started with a bull moose sauntering into camp in the morning and nibbling on Kai's shorts, then narrowly missing them when relieving itself. Right outside the campground entrance traffic was stopped as more elk sauntered across the road.
The buffalo encounters were continuous, one sleeping right on the side of the road near an early stop. Another walking through woods near the road. A parking lot where two stood while two laid down, completely oblivious to the cars pulling up within four or five feet, the people who walked up within feet. Another blocked traffic while bling through a gap in traffic straight towards me. When he got within about 15 feet I hid behind a car, when he turned and started ambling down the shoulder, at which point cars started slowly moving again. Having no alternative, I took the lane and biked past, not more than eight feet away. I could go on.
Other highlights included the Yellowstone Lake Lodge (very comfortable rocking chairs on the veranda), the Moose Tracks ice cream, the Japanese clerk who replied "yes, but only Trojans" and started walking away when I asked for a headband (I didn't know whether to flee or follow her; choosing the latter I found she had in fact led me to headbands with little animal heads, i.e. *children's*), and the "Grand Canyon", a beautiful deep gorge with a tall waterfalls at one end.
So today was long, 74 miles, and tomorow is to be longer: 85 miles! However, it's mostly downhill. The only hiccups are that 1) my butt hurts, and 2) I (and Yves) have to cook for 13 people after the longest, though certainly not the toughest day in the tour.
7/21/2009 | 2 Comments
Ninety-one miles in the heat on a day that was supposed to be "all downhill", but actually had 1500 feet of climbing and a stiff headwind. Depite being fortified by the awesome second breakfast shown (and that's a huckleberry pancake), I do believe I'd rather do Teton Pass again rather than repeat today. The folks in the picture are Yves, Kai, Kamilla, John, and Nita.
One of the upsides, though, was that I was so wiped out and late (almost 5pm, and one of the first), that I was able to lead a successful insurrection against cooking in camp (and I was suposed to be the cook), and we trooped across the street for wonderful BBQ. I've never had a better pulled pork sandwich, and I've had one or two.
Fear not, however, I didn't get off Scot-free, I still had to shop for lunch and dinner tomorrow, and will be up at 6am chopping fruit. Then we go on a 2000 ft climb...
Edit: That pancake was the best of the trip!
7/22/2009 | 2 Comments
So today started with a 5-mile climb up 2000 feet, so this was *hard*. On the other hand, we then had a 3-mile descent, hitting 45+ mph, into a cute little down for second breakfast.
Then we had 36 more miles, but they were either rolling or slightly downhill (last 8 miles). A few of us did those last 8 miles at speed, 20+ mph.
Speaking of which, my form is coming around. The first day I got out of breath limbing out of a parking lot. Today I spent some time out of the saddle, pushing hard. I even passed Nita and Kamilla, two of our best climbers, half way up the aforementioned hill. The fact that both were stopped on the side of the road addressing Kamilla's mechanical difficulties doesn't diminish my sense of accomplishment in the slightest. Even better, I later passed up one of the team-jersey-wearing skinny dudes (cue evil laugh).
Three long, hot, 70+ mile days coming up.
7/23/2009 | 1 Comments
Today was the first of three straight 75-mile days. Today differs from the others in being almost entirely uphill, from beginning to end. This can wear on you....
The ride included two nasty climbs, the second into a headwind, and their was no water the last 35 miles...
On the other hand, the vistas were great (think west Texas), there was a very welcome rainstorm in the middle (though I could have done without the hail), and we finished with an 11-mile slightly downhill section where I was able to hang with the two big dogs of the tour. Very nice to show the others that I can ride a bit!
The day was absolutely made, however, by the endpoint in back of the saloon at Jackson, MT, population 38. Jackson only exists because of the hot springs; there are no cold taps in town, and the best part is that the saloon has a pool that it fills up with the 140-degree spring water every Wednesday, and then trickles more spring water in it the rest of the week to keep it warm and fresh. When we went in it was probably 102, and absolutely wonderful after a hard day cycling. We floated in the pool drinking beer for about an hour, before finally dragging ourselves across the street to the town's restaurant for a very good meal (I had a fajita pizza :-).
The only downside was that the town was inhabited by millions of thirsty mosquitoes. They were everywhere, leading to everyone doing the "mosquito dance" in a vain attempt to avoid them. When I got in my tent I counted over 20 clinging to the outside of one section of netting. Inevitably some got in. I tried to kill these as quickly as possible, but most had already struck.
So when morning rolled around, there were smears of blood on my legs, arms, the walls...
7/24/2009 | 2 Comments
Today we ate breakfast at the saloon; I had a fabulous burrito with green chilies. We had a late start because the kitchen didn't open until eight. We went outside just in time to see a small plane buzz the town's one street *very* low. This seemed to fit in with the biker/ cowboy/slacker pattern that seems common in the very small towns.
Heading off, we had a relatively tranquil first 35 miles, with about six of us staying together (unusual). Then a 17-me climb, though only the last couple were in anger (steep). By then I already had known that I was completely wiped out from the day before, and I was very slow on this climb.
However, cresting Chief Joseph pass, I coasted *nine* miles, followed by five pedal strokes, followed by another three miles of coasting, and then another three miles of light pedaling as a couple of us pulled into a town that claims a population of 50, but we only saw 2, plus a couple large carved bears. We spent a good 20 minutes lounging in the comfortable chairs on the porch of the town's single building, before averaging 20 mph on a slight downhill for the remaining 18 miles.
The weather was fun: a little rain near the top of the pass, withe the rapidly warming and drying dyeing the 3000 feet we eventually descended. Upon putting up our tent, three straight weather systems moved through, the last shelling us with 15 minutes of acorn-sized hail. Luckily we had a small kitchen building with a porch, so we were able to have a leisurely dinner while watching it all happen. Now if only knew what the air raid siren, which went off during the hail storm meant!
One more day until the layover in Missoula.
7/25/2009 | 0 Comments
The picture is outside of the cafe where we had second breakfast. Whoever is in front has to pick wisely, as the rest of the crowd often sees the Bikes and stops as well.
So this was the last of the 70-mile days. Generally it was an easy 70 mile day, if such a thing could be said. However, 15 miles from the end we ran into the headwinds from hell. We had grasshoppers (Jessie + Clyde) plastered to the front of our panniers from the sheer force of the wind.
At one point we stopped for a rest and talked for a while with a couple, Lisa+Ted, who were doing the trans-am (Norfolk to Eugene, OR). Odd couple: he's the boyfriend of her business partner, and they don't seem to get along all that well, but they've biked over 2000 miles together and show no signs of stopping. They've had some harrowing experiences: two incidents in the first few days (one in the first three miles) where they were the indirect cause of accidents. In the first, a van stopped to let them turn and for rear-ended hard. In the second, a pickup passing them on a curve of a mountain road was on the wrong side of the road when a bus turned the corner. The pickup driver swerved back and almost went over. With the truck dangling on the edge, the driver made to restart and try to inch back. Ted, however, was convinced that it would just go right over the edge and pleaded with him to just get out and leave it, which the driver in the end did.
Needless to say, I've *never* had any experiences like that, and am trying very hard to keep it that way!
7/26/2009 | 1 Comments
The first thing many of us did today was to go over to Adventure Cycling's head quarters: to commune with the touring gods, sign the register, and get some free ice cream!
After that, not much except bike shop, pool, laundry, REI...
7/27/2009 | 0 Comments
What's with the cows? Are they sick, Canadian? Do most herds lie down at night?
The other picture is Nita with her new preferred mode of camping. I'm not seeing Nita all that much as she has been practically taking the climbs at a sprint, usually ahead of everyone else.
Today was one of the easiest 60-mile days I can recall; it was almost all uphill, but gentle until the last two miles. Then a gorgeous downhill through a deep valley, filled with pine trees, a pretty river, and sharp ridges.
Beautiful tent site, good dinner, but the problems started as I put up my tent. Two bees and a wasp got it. So I opened bothe doors and let it be for a while. When I came back an hour later: no bees. So I flopped into the tent for a spot of reading before bed. Then Kamilla said, from a nearby picnic table and in a tone with which you might announce the weather on a clear sunny day, "There's a eat in Pete's tent.". As *I* was in my tent, I hastily looked around. Seeing nothing, I kicked the pannier down by my foot. A furry brown head poked itsel up near my toe. "Golly, this concerns me!" I said (or word to that effect), and ran out of the tent. Right after me ran an evil little squirrel. Sally, our fearless tour leader ran over to help me, or at least so I thought. Actually, she was taking pictures of the evil rodent and trying to help the little rat over it's terrible trauma. When she started poking peanuts down it's hole I began to understand my true importance in the grand scheme of things.
7/28/2009 | 0 Comments
Well, it kind of felt like gliding at times. Over 70 miles, almost all downhill, through a beautiful verdant valley. Fir trees, exquisite rock formations, etc. Ok, I was beautiful, allright? Still, after 70 miles I could have done with at least a bit of change....
Two interesting things: 1) my painful bum. Gettind more and more sore. In desparatuon tried biking in thin $8 sports shorts. For the 20 miles definitely better than the buker shorts (I have a fancy leather touring saddle which many swear works better the closer your skin gets to the leather). So, mixed results, but who'd have thunk that I could have done 70 miles in street clothes?
2) The Sign. Sally asked if someone had moved away. "No," the answer came back. "One guy voted for Obama."
7/29/2009 | 0 Comments
This was mostly a long, very scenic slog. We slept for free in the Lion's Park, which was nice, but meant that the neighborhood kids felt free to use our tents for their games. "Look, there's a rat in Pete's tent!" rang out again, but this time it was just an 8 yo kid.
We were sent to a neighborhood pool for showers, which also went well except for the fact that the travelers, by and large, showered in the buff. Moms were soon herding their kids away and glaring.
7/30/2009 | 0 Comments
Today was definitely a high point for th trip, literally and figuratively. We climbed another 1000 feet out of the gate, though gradually. Since the day was to be relatively easy, noone was in a hurry, and most of us ended up climbing together through the woods, with rabbits, deer, and cows densely inhabiting the woods.
At the top was a dude-ranch/B&B where the friendly hosts were feeding their hosts. She invited us up so the whole group trouped up to pet the horses. Evidently she advertises on a bike-and-B&B website. (That's Kamilla w/ the colt.)
The downhill consisted a mile on the main road, followed by a 3000-ft descent on this absolutely gorgeous switchbacked road (the old 98). The valley was beautiful, the surrounding hills were smooth ripples, you could see bikers crisscrossing below (or above) you. Altogether totally excellent.
Leaving town we ran into kook #1: the owner of an RV park who quickly name-dropped through the Brookings Institute, MIT, the UN, and some unnamed institute in DC. He was extremely talkative, probably because he claimed the rest of the town's dwellers were "not nice," despite his 15 years in town. He wanted $1/person to use the bathroom.
Moving on, we biked another 25 miles by the shores of a river with many rafters, getting progressively more dry and baked in the sun (94 in the shade). Eight miles short of our destination, we hit the metropolis of Lucille. Lucille consists of a B&B, many motor homes, a post office the size of an outhouse, and kook #2.
Kook #2 was panning for gold. He hadn't found any yet, but he was confident that he'd selected the spot using a "witching rod." Before we got away, he railed against the guvmint, the tax collectors and the BLM. He was also convinced that we will all soon have implanted chips: "The mark is coming! It's already in pets!"
Three miles later we ran across a great fruit stand (I ate three peaches!), which fortified us for the last five-mile push through some serious heat. Our site is a bit crude, but one can drift in the river to cool off (in in back-eddies; this river has a serious current).
A good dinner, highlighted by a huckleberry milkshake, ended a *great* day.
7/31/2009 | 0 Comments
You probably can't read the signs on that building, but it says something along the lines of "Jesus is Satan's Son", and "Religious Book Burning Service." I have a better picture on my camera and will upload it eventually.
Today we basically climbed all day, in the hot sun. The mind wanders during these climbs. Passing signs for a town called "Weizer" (pronounced "wheezer"), I came up with the following bit of doggerol for you all to enjoy:
There once was a geezer from Weizer,
Who loves her as soon as he sees her,
But she sasses him loud,
In front of a crowd,
So he shrugs and says "Who needs her?"
Thank you, thank you very much....
8/01/2009 | 2 Comments
Eight-one miles in the hot sun today as we descended into (and partially out of) Hell's Canyon. The day was extremely hot. My bike computer, in the sun, registered 118 degrees. Now, readings in the sun routinely are degrees above readings in the shade, but..... I literally drank a couple gallons of water, a couple dousings in hoses, and massive doses of electrolytes in the form of powders, fizzing tablets, and even a chewie.
The result was that even though I basically bonked 79 miles into the ride (dried apricots and an orange saved me), I didn't have a headache afterwards.
Basically, though, this was a pretty neat day. Tons of climbing, but the Snake River area was beautiful and we covered a lot of ground.
I was a cowboy! No pictures (maybe later from someone else's camera), but 20 cows had gotten out onto the road at the top of the pass, with barbed wire on both sides. So I come huffing and puffing up the road (it was a relatively gradual 1500 foot climb, except the last few hundred feet, which were tough), and the cows panic, stampeding up around the corner right at a couple other bikers who were waiting for me at the top (I'm not a world-class climber, go figure). They got pictures, and then at the last minute the cows turned and huddled against te barbed wire. Very lucky one of the relatively frequent semis hadn't come blindly around the corner and plowed into them. Or a motorcyclist: we saw several memorials on the side of the road.
The other odd incident was the plague of mutant-zombie-beetle crickets. They're big, ugly, and eat their dead. The road had a several hundred foot long brown stripe from all the smushed little monsters.
Finally, after all this (plus a bit of drama in the group), we arrive at the RV and tent camp, which has been used by ACA bikers several times in recent years, only to find that it's now a hotel (in the tiny 340-person town of Halfway, Oregon), and a barn. You can pitch your tent near the barn for $5.
Now, we had all gotten up at 5:30 to get some of the long day out of the way before the sun gets intense at, oh, 10 am, so some of us got into camp by 2pm, Oregon time. Sleeping in the field would have been fine, but I wasn't spending the afternoon there after such a day. Five minutes later and I had a room with a quite good air conditioner, fridge, etc. Absolute luxury! Almost noone else got one, but several stopped over for leisurely chats, even though they didn't seem to have much to say. Best $50 I've spent in a while.
8/02/2009 | 2 Comments
Today was one of those days where you wonder what you are doing, wondering why the hell you are putting yourself through it. I drained all three water bottles, a Dew I got out of an old soda machine we found and plugged in, a cold bottle of water donated by a passing Good Samaritan when I was replacing the first of two flat tires, and more water donated from both Nita and Sarah, and I still ran out of water while climbing a pass in >100 degree temperature, not a cloud in sight.
The day actually started out well, I seemed to have finally found my climbing legs a bit, climbing well over the first 1000-foot hill, and the first ten miles of the long gradual climb afterwards.
But the climb was unrelenting, as was the sun, and I just got ground down. Somehow a group of about five of us converged and located a working spigot on the back of an abandoned guard shack at the base of a hill leading to some sort of interpretive center (far too high for any of us to get to at that point). Three bottles of water drunk, two more over my head, a sandwich and some cookies, and I was able to stagger the last two miles up the hill and coast down the other side to the campground.
On the plus side, we all bonded while complaining how tough this day was (though only 53 miles, vs 80+ the day before), and then the pool and a cool evening breeze completed te revival.
Still, I'm tired.
Layover day tomorrow. Maybe Harry Potter.
8/03/2009 | 0 Comments
Today was our last layover day, in the metropolis of Baker City, OR, population at least few thousand.
Given our last few days, and the tough days ahead, we all took it pretty easy. Well, another of our number abandoned today, but it really wasn't her fault. She came on the trip with her fiancée, who, being a bike racer, seriously minimized the challenges when he described them to her.
So we ate a lot, did some shopping, laundry, and a few of us saw Harry Potter (capsule review: fun, but nowhere near Azkaban, or one or two others).
I mailed back most of my cold weather gear today, immediately cuing up some rain and a potential change in the weather. This would be a *good* thing: tomorrow's 70 miles with three mountain passes and no known water sources would be much more doable without 100-degree temperatures. Might actually be fun.
Speaking of fun, I want one of these vans. The second picture is me, contemplating whether I can stay awake to dinner or not.
...taken by Liam Healy during his drive into Jackson.
8/04/2009 | 1 Comments
That's Sarah, Kamilla, and I in the covered wagon. Today included three mountain passes, over 4000 feet climbing, and 72 miles overall. It could have been desperate if it had been hot, but we had quite a bit of cloud cover and climbing the three distinct thousand-foot hills was actually doable, and through very pretty country. We started in what looked like New Mexico, but quickly climbed to pineforest and through bucolic valleys.
8/05/2009 | 1 Comments
Actually, I'm tending to do things more and more slowly. Today was 84 miles, but the first 46 were mostly downhill. Then we climbed a 2200- foot hill, but it was over 20 miles. However, it was lumpy, meaning that some was flat, some was slightly downhill, and some steeply up.
The gods answered my prayers from two days ago, ie things cooled down. However, they cooled down because of the rain, last night, intermittently today, and for the last three hours.
This was a bit problematic, as Kai (big German), and I were cooking. It's also a town (Mitchel) with one small grocery and an owner who plays the banjo when bored. We ended upmaking spaghetti :-), w/ meat sauce (onion, ground beef, tomatoes, garlic, and prego. Luckily, I had gotten three loaves of bread earlier.
Re the pictures: the town hall is Dayville, the gorge is the Picture Gorge, and the tree has shoes on it.
8/06/2009 | 0 Comments
Today was supposed to be an easy day, only 48 miles. A big climb early, and then mostly downhill for the last 30.
Alas, things didn't work out quite that way. The trouble started the previous night with a 12-hour rain (at times extremely hard). As some of you know, I have a high-tech singlewall 2.5 lb tent. This morning I had puddles in the tent (some water through mesh, some directly through the thin fabric) an the tent probably gained five lbs.
Everything is wet, which is why I'm at a coffee shop next to the laundrymatte right now. Also, the slight downhill was into a brutal headwind. The picture is of Chris and Kai gearing up while it was still raining. Note that the hill was 2500 feet, our biggest so far.
More worrisome than the above is that my back tire has a big cut, and a corresponding hop. I have gotten over 5000 miles on it, mostly with loaded touring, so I can't complain.
There's a bike shop 20 miles down the road tomorrow. In the meantime, I just need to stay in front of Liam, who is carrying *two* spare tires...
8/07/2009 | 2 Comments
Last night was a fun change of pace, at least at first. The county fair was right next door with free entry, so we wandered next door to commune with the pigs, cows, chickens, rabbits, horses, corndogs, and cotton candy.
Uber bike-chick Nita is posed outside the cotton candy stand, and I won Biff (the red guy) at a water gun race. John is having a bad day, and right outside a town we encountered vast fields of burned trees.
On the other hand, being next to a fair was not conducive to getting any sleep.
Today was probably the easiest day of te entire trip: 46 miles and inky about 1000 feet climbing. However, between the hard day yesterday, general wear and tear, and little sleep, I ended up taking my first afternoon nap of the trip.
Tomorrow, over the cascades!
8/08/2009 | 3 Comments
Today was Mackensie Pass through the Cascade Range, the last ofthe high passes, or at least it should have been. Mackensie was closed, a fact we happily discovered before climbing too high. Instead, we went up Santiem Pass: almost as high, just as pretty, with about five times the traffic.
Nonetheless, I had a good day, powering up the hill behind only Nita and Kai (not that I'm competitive), and of course the first one down the hill.
The landscape changed dramatically as we crested the hill, becoming much more lush fir forest before turning into a volcanic playground, the soil basically crumbled red lava. We're spending the night in a national forest with a rushing river nearby.
The pictures are of The Three Sisters (coincidentally the name of the city whose park we stayed in last night (as also did a raucous wedding party)), John halfway up the Santiem Pass, and some Hot Lava.
Four more days of biking!
Composed on the 1800-foot climb to the Santiem Pass:
Pass McKensie turned out to be closed
Our plans were totally hosed
But we did not despair
'cause Santiem was there
"Why worry?" is the question we posed.
8/09/2009 | 1 Comments
A mostly downhill day into the Eugene suburbs. Very pretty: covered bridges, rolling roads, the occasional dam, a couple frolicing behind a house (but in view of the street), mushroom clouds of smoke rising from brushfires. And last night we cooked sausages and s'mores over the fire!
From here we head NW, hitting the coast near Waldport, then down to Florence for the official wheel-dipping, then back to Eugene again. There, I'll have my bike boxed and shipped, have a final farewell dinner, and then head home on the 15th.
About 1500 miles done, just a couple hundred left...
8/10/2009 | 3 Comments
Today was a fairly generic blah ride out of the Eugene area to Alsea, a tiny town halfway to the coast.
However, a local (who turned out to be a retired biochem prof from Texas Tech) advised Yves, Nita, and I of a much nicer way to go. Long story short, we went this way and it was indeed very pretty and almost no traffic, as advertised (one big exception: a couple on a tandem pulling a kid on a tag-a-long and a kid in a trailor).
However, instead of the 800-foot max 6 percent climb from the standard way, we had an 800-foot max 12 percent climb. This is as steep as the Teton Pass, but, go figure, it didn't hurt anywhere near as much. Guess we have actually gotten stronger (though it's true that we are currently near sea level).
Three of the pictures are from the neat Alsea Falls during the ride; the other is of a sign outside the place from which we ordered pizza.
Update: No, there were no gizzards on the pizza.
8/11/2009 | 1 Comments
We woke in a light drizzle after a gentle rain all night. The tent handled the light stuff fine and I think it could handle the heavy stuff too, but everything has too be set up exactly right.
So off we went, towards the coast 35 miles away, at which point we would turn south and use the usual north-south wind to waft gently 35 miles south, to Florence. Of course, the rain started up soon after we hit the road, getting progressively worse as we went.
Hitting the coast, we cast about for a place for second breakfast, and I spotted "Dan-O"s,a place recommended to me by the locals a year ago. I re-visited my previous order: hashbrowns with cheese, onions, and salsa, and a short stack of buttermilk pancakes. Though I remember barely finishing half last year, this year I polished it all off with room to spare. I attribute the difference to the fact that last year we'd only been on the road for a week, so mumetabolism hadn't rev'd up yet.
Continuing down the coast into the massive headwind (the wind changes after bad weather), we visited some of the same places we saw last year: beautiful rugged coastline, sea lions (and a whale). Even camping at the marina seemed like coming home, in a sense.
The coast is beautiful.
8/12/2009 | 0 Comments
Finished! No grand ending like last year (note the elevation on today's "pass"), but still a big sense of accomplishment: over 1700 miles and a dozen named passes, including the Tetons and Cascades.
Equally, there was beautiful scenery: from the mountain passes, to verdant fields, to dry desert, to wild hailstorms, to the pacific coast in the cold and wet. We biked for hours in 104'ish (118 in the sun) heat, and had ice on our tents in yellowstone. We had close encounters with elk, chipmunks, and bison.
The tagline for this tour was "the best part of the Trans-America route", and I think it lived up to it's billing, although I don't think anything else in north america can match the sheer beauty of the Colorado passes. Note that, aside from altitude, the Colorado passes are generally easier than what we covered. Hmm....that gives me a thought...
8/13/2009 | 5 Comments
