Day 57 - Christmas in July!!

Lewiston, ID to Waitsburg, WA

Today was Christmas in July!  The 25th of July, and a secret santa party at night, but we had to get to Waitsburg first.  One of the church members cooked an amazing breakfast for us in Lewiston and made it hard to leave, with huge omelettes, pancakes with blueberry syrup and fresh fruit.  Then we had one of our best Moshers yet from Justin, his first time, and we all acted out our favorite land mammals, a continuation of a conversation from Yellowstone.  We only need to get Conor and Clinton and everyone will have done a Mosher.  I was a squirrel, in case you were wondering.  Other highlights were Clinton's cat, James's wallaby, and Conor's platypus.  Jay, one of the church members rode out with us in the morning, we were all impressed that he could manage to go the first 25 miles and stick with us.  The ride was exceptionally boring for the first 60 miles, but it was cool to get into Washington, its unbelievable to think that we in a state bordering the Pacific, and that we only have one state left until we are done!  The ride was pretty long and we had to climb out of a valley.  We had one long climb 10 miles in for about 12-14 miles but it wasn't too steep until about the last 5-7 miles, and then another at the 60 mile mark that was shorter than expected. Washington is a very dry state so far, and so we saw a lot of browns and sands today, but once we got closer to Waitsburg, it got nicer and we saw some really cool scenery.

Finally, after dinner we got to have Christmas and that was really awesome.  Everyone had great gifts, and it was really fun because almost everyone really put thought into it and had great stuff.  I got some beef jerky and some new keys for my collection from Matt Cady, which I absolutely loved since I've been looking for some cool keys in a few places along the trip, but hadn't been able to find anything yet. Other highlights were Cady getting ear candles(which was interesting to watch later, those things are crazy and gross), Tim's light-up helmet(awesome), and Isaac's sweet noise-making Fantastic Four shoes that actually fit over his riding shoes so he can ride with them on his bike(hilarious).  Tomorrow is a short one, but a hot one, it's supposed to be over 90 degrees again!

States traveled through:18(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA)
Distance today: 80 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3574 mi

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks the two month anniversary of this ride, and it looks like we have a lot of catching up to do. Idaho was unexpectedly beautiful, and luckily mostly downhill. We continued the tradition of "Indecent Idaho" where we took our shirts off to ride the huge downhill coming out of Lolo Pass. The next day we rode what was supposed to be a 60 mile day, but turned into a near-century. We arrived at our campground, only to find that it was closed. So, we hung out in steaming hot springs while we searched for alternate campgrounds. The next full campground was 30 miles away. Along the way we had the good company of other touring cyclists. Boy did they make what we do seem easy! One was touring from coast to coast for his 70th birthday!

Washington was surprisingly hot as we rode through record high temperatures. Despite the heat and lengthy miles, our rides through cherry, apple, and apricot orchards were extremely delicious. The whole team learned their lesson about gorging on too much fruit which was demonstrated throughout the lines outside of the bathrooms at our stayovers.

We rode to Mount Rainier National Park and everyone was shocked when the mountain actually appeared before us. It is a staggering 14,000 feet and topped with glaciers. Luckily our max elevation for the day was around 4,500. We then had a rest day at the park and half the team took the day as an opportunity to visit Mount Saint Helens.

Today was our last near century ride of the summer. As we rolled into town were excited to stop at a local bakery and purchase a little bit of happiness. We were also surprised with showers, laundry and a wonderful potluck dinner from some members of the congregation at St. Paul's Lutheran church.

Tomorrow brings: Ferry Rides!

Day 56 - Christmas-time is coming...

Today was long and really hot and not very fun, but wasn't one of the worst days we've had.  We climbed lots of hills all day and got lost multiple times.  The ride was supposed to be only 70 or so miles, but turned out to be over 85 miles, and the uphills were pretty killer.  A few roads that we planned to take turned out to be gravel so we had to go around, which added about 8 to 12 miles.  We also turned down the chance to take a really awesome downhill because it was another climb to get there and we didn't think it would be worth it, but everyone said that it was one of the coolest downhills of the trip.  We are staying at the United Methodist Church here in Lewiston, ID, and they made us some amazing grilled dinner, burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad and some really good apple pie dessert.  Afterwards, I went and got my presents all set up for Christmas in July, which consists of a secret santa tomorrow night, mainly consisting of funny items people have found along the side of the road.  I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow because we have to climb out of this valley that we're in, so we definitely have some more hills tomorrow and it will be another long hot one, but we get to enter our second to last state, Washington!!

States traveled through:17(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID)
Distance today: 86 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3494 mi

Day 55 - Uphill 'til the end...

Wilderness Gateway Campground, ID to Kamiah, ID

Our ride today was short since we had tacked on an extra 30 miles yesterday, so we only had 59 miles to Kamiah, which we made the most of.  We had another 20 or 30 miles of the same beautiful but repetitive mountains and streams from yesterday.  At the lunch stop, we went down to the river and sat in the cold rushing water until the last group came in, and tried to take in the amazing scenery of the river and mountains and amazing weather.  It's crazy to think that we almost take this kind of beauty for granted now, the flat land in every direction back in the Chicago suburbs will be a shock when we get back.  The ride was similar to yesterday's scenery-wise, but we found some civilization near the end of the ride and actually had to worry about cars on the road today.  Kamiah is nice, the city is spread out through the hills and of course, as usual, we had to climb up a final massive hill to get to the church.  The amazing people at the Pine Ridge Baptist church made us a delicious dinner and we stuffed ourselves with spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and brownies with ice cream. 

States traveled through:17(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID)
Distance today: 59 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3408 mi

New timezone unlocked: Pacific!

The following post was written yesterday:The past couple of states have been so picturesque it is getting hard to appreciate the majesty of our rides. That being said, Idaho is beautiful. If I had known better I would have taken some photography classes before coming on this trip. My pictures will never do this state justice. For the past two days we have been riding mostly downhill with a river on our left and mountains surrounding us. And forests. The line of trees has been almost unbroken since Missoula.Some of us got in the stream during our lunch break today. After 40 miles of riding, it was a nice way to cool off. Yesterday most of us took a long, long break in the Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. It may not be as convenient as a hot tub, but those hot springs were pretty. And great. They were pretty great.I got to ride in the van for 30 miles yesterday because of a camping mixup. It turns out that the camp grounds we were supposed to stay in had be closed. For a while now. So we decided to head down to the next camp ground about 28 miles away instead of hiding out in a deserted campground. The reason I got to ride in the van is because I was on cooking duty until this morning, and needed to get dinner started so that it would be ready in a timely fashion.

Day 54 - Indecent Idaho

Missoula, MT to Jerry Johnson Campground, ID

The ride today was interesting.  It was hard to ride away from Missoula, the city was so nice and felt like a really big and bike-friendly place where you would definitely want to live if you were from Montana.  We woke up and planned to go 68 miles into Jerry Johnson Campground, Idaho.  We made it into Idaho with not much of a problem, and since the border of Idaho is also the time zone change into Pacific Time, we enjoyed a day with an extra hour as well.  We had a downhill as soon as we got into Idaho, and made it from Mustache Montana to Indecent Idaho, so we all rode the first 5 miles into Idaho shirtless and with hiked up shorts, so hopefully that will help my tan lines a little too.  Brad decided to shave his mustache at the border with only a water bottle, which seemed really painful and unnecessary, but he wouldn't be convinced otherwise, so we'll see if he has any skin left there tomorrow. The ride was interesting, we had a downhill almost the entire way from the Idaho border to our campsite, and the scenery was a very "deja vu" experience, as we kept following a river on nearly identical mile-long stretches twisting through huge tree-covered mountains.

    Once we got close to the campground, we stopped under a mile away from the campground to check out some hot springs.  This time, the hot springs were actually really hot, and were mixing with a freezing cold river right next to it, so it was really weird to sit in these pools that had formed.  On one side of you, you could have your hand in freezing water and feel like ice, but your other side would be burning from the water continuously spraying from the rocks.  I've never felt anything like it, it was a really bizarre experience.  We found some pools that were the perfect temperature, and managed to squeeze about 10 people in and just hung out for as long as we could. 

Unfortunately, we eventually found out that somehow the campground which we were planning to stay at was not open and hadn't been for a long time, so we all decided to ride an extra 28 miles to another campground along the route.  We were still making great time because of the time change, and we made it into the new campground by about 4 or 5PM.  Everyone agreed that it was probably the easiest 97 miles that they had ever done, and many people said it was one of their favorite days as well.  We also had a really cool guest rider, Tom, who rode along with us for almost the whole day and camped with us at night. He is touring from Jackson Hole, WY to Eugene, OR so we were impressed with his riding since he had to go up all the same hills as us except with 50 extra pounds of stuff on his bike and he was doing it alone.  It's cool to be meeting more cyclists out west as we get closer to our destination. Dinner was a pretty good lentil and sweet potato stew, helped out by my custom treat of cocoa puffs in peanut butter eaten with a spoon. 

States traveled through:17(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID)
Distance today: 97 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3349 mi

Makin it hot

Things I'm not gonna miss: waking up at 6 am, showering with a freezing cold hose, calling things ("I call first shower" "I call the couch" "I call the raisin bran after Kristen" "I call the pump next"), my eyes hurting constantly from all the wind

Todays ride was just ok... pretty tough- a few decent climbs and a huge downhill stretch... but man, it was just so hot, upper 90's at least... and I don't think its gonna cool off anytime soon according to the forecast.

As soon as we got into Lewiston, we went straight to wendy's.  I got 2 jr bacon cheeseburgers, a double stack, crispy chicken sandiwch, fries, and a frosty.  Then I spent some time going to some bike shops with some other guys to look for a new tire and water bottle cage and we returned to a nice feast of burgers, dogs, pasta salad, and such provided by the united methodist church here.  Spent some time working on my bike, hose showered, and now its time for bed...

Training camp starts tomorrow... someoneout there DVR the T.O. reality show for me

cell phone service at last

7/25

We had the coolest downhill ride today ever. We rode uphill for about 40 miles straight and when we reached the top, the trees opened up into a grand view of the rolling hills of Idaho. We started at a pretty low elevation and just looking over the shoulder of the road made me feel uneasy because of how high we were. The descent lasted about six miles, but it was super curvy and the most fun I've had on a bike yet. The lack of a guardrail was somewhat unsettling because a tumble over the edge of the road would most likely lead to death. Funny enough, when we reached the bottom, the local newspaper had an article about a man who died from falling down a cliff after toppling over the shoulder of a neighboring road while on his bicycle. I'm glad all of our bikes held together for the whole ride.

7/23

So far, Idaho has exceeded my expectations. I imagined Idaho to be another state full of farms, but instead, as soon as we crossed the Montana/Idaho border, the bare mountains of Montana transformed into a lush forest growing from the mountains. The road through the forest ran adjacent to a winding river that had cut a path through the mountains. The cliff walls were extremely steep, but amazingly, trees were still able to grow and cover the walls entirely. It was a scenic ride through the mountain pass and it was mostly downhill as well, since we were following a river.

Right by where we were supposed to camp, we came upon some “warm springs,” which are definitely more hot than warm. After riding 65 miles in the roasting sun, hot water was the last thing we wanted to sit in. Fortunately, we found a place where the hot water drained into the ice cold river and people had moved giant rocks around to build little artificial tubs. The rocks blocked out just the right amount of water from the river and kept in the right amount of hot water to create a pool that must have been almost exactly body temperature. There were other less than perfect tubs that let in too much water from the river and were freezing cold, but the one that had perfect temperature was so comfortable, that we laid in there for over two hours.

Early in the ride, we passed by a touring cyclist named Tom, who was riding from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Eugene, Oregon. He had just left from Missoula that morning as well, but was only planning on riding 45 miles that day. He decided to put in another fifteen miles to reach our campsite so he could have someone to camp with. When we reached out campsite, however, it turned out that the site was closed. We had a vote whether we should camp there anyway, or ride 28 miles to the next campsite which had bathrooms and running water. We almost had a unanimous vote to turn the day into a century and ride to the next site for a better campsite and so that we'd have an easier day the next day. This was unfortunate for Tom, because he was doubling his planned mileage and had never ridden so far. The next campsite was well worth the ride, though, because the route was so scenic and the campsite was right by the river. The temperature was perfect, unlike freezing cold Yellowstone. We shared our signature lentil soup dinner with Tom so that he wouldn't have to do another night of Top Ramen and peanuts.

We parted ways with Tom the next morning and continued our ride through scenic Idaho. Though the ride was easy, it turned out to be a day of terrible luck and clumsiness. I was messing with Connor by poking him with a long piece of wheat and he splashed me with his water bottle. When I splashed him back with my water bottle, I ended up unloading my entire bottle all over his camera instead. It doesn't take pictures anymore... hopefully the water will evaporate and everything will be fine again. Five miles from our destination in Kamiah, Idaho, a spoke in Clinton's rear wheel snapped and caused his wheel to lock up and instantly grind the rear tire to nothing until it blew out. We had to wait for the van to catch up to us, so we laid our bikes down on the side of the mountain wall and I climbed up the wall a bit to take a nap. While I was napping, I had my foot resting on a large rock, and suddenly it dislodged and slid down the side of the hill, and to continue my luck with destroying Connor's belongings by accident, it hits his bike and leaves a big dent in the frame. I was at a total loss for words, and I'm really glad he's a great guy and hasn't murdered me yet. I might need a bodyguard when I go to sleep though...

Time For You To Get A Watch

One of the most frequently heard sayings on this trip when asked what time it is, is becoming all too true to the riders of this team. As we approach Washington, August 2nd gets closer and closer; less than 10 days of the trip!

 Today's ride was confusing to start with: immediate cue changes within the first two miles which added 5-10 miles to our morning, so that wasn't so fun, but it was gorgeous out: amber waves of grain on all sides. Most of the ride was rolling hills which was a little unfamiliar since we have been so fortunate the past few rides with great downhills and awesome scenery. But today was a long day and it was a scorcher too. To lift our spirits and get us to the church, some of the girls and I stopped at a gas station (to ask for directions since we missed a turn, obviously) and it may have been the best gas station stop of my life. Listen to this: we got 44oz. fountain drinks for 69 cents (best deal in over 3,000 miles), ate some donuts and fritos, and then we applied some fantastic temporary tattoos and rode into Lewiston, Idaho with revived spirit and flashy new tattoos.

We were extremely surprised and so grateful for the amazing meal that the First United Methodist Church provided, veggie burgers, pasta with squash, and apple crisp for dessert. It was so delicious, how lucky did we get? Honestly. Plus, we all got a great hose shower with a superb view of the mountains and the sun setting just above them; it's pretty hard to beat that.

Updates from Idaho

After some great rides through Montana, and a rest day in Missoula, where I went tubing down the Blackfoot River, we reached Idaho.  There was climb to get to the state line, but it has been all down hill since then, over 100 miles of gradual downhill.  Yesterday we had to add an extra 28 miles to our ride because Jerry Johnson Campground, which we were supposed to stay at, is apparently no longer open.  So, after a spending about three hours in some hot springs, we tacked on the extra 28 miles to get to the next campground.  It was really not a big deal because it was all down hill.  Since getting to Montana and Idaho, we have started to meet a lot of other touring cyclists, including two yesterday.  One was a 69 year old man who is riding from Virginia to Astoria Oregon fully loaded with no support.  He also happened to be a cancer survivor, so his story was very inspiring.  We also met a younger guy named Tom who is riding from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Portland, Oregon.  He actually camped with us last night.  It was great having Tom around, I just hope we didn't drive him crazy with all of our questions.  Today a spoke on my rear wheel broke while were going downhill and got stuck in my chain so it locked up my rear wheel, which caused me to skid and almost wreck, until the road burned completely through my tire and gave me a flat, at which point I finally came to stop.  This caused me to have to ride in the van the last five miles. Tomorrow, in Lewiston, I will have to buy a new wheel and chain.  Tonight we are staying at Pine Ridge Baptist Church in Kamiah, Idaho.  Everyone at the church was incredibly nice, and provided us with a great meal, so thanks to everyone who helped out and made us feel welcome.

The land of potatoes

Idaho has been sweet so far.  Yesterday as soon as we left Montana, we had nothing but downhill that hasn't yet stopped.  At what we thought was the end of the ride yesterday, we stopped at Jerry Johnson Hot Springs and chilled in the natural hot tub for 2 hours- so relaxing and refreshing.  Eventually, we found out that the campground we were planning on staying at was closed (poor planning by someone, typical) so we rode ahead another 28 miles to another campground, which turned out to be a sweet idea... The whole ride was beautiful, through a huge river canyon in the clearwater national forest.

The campground we stayed at was awesome too.  There was a bunch of trails so i explored via a 7 mile run up the side of the mountain which ended with an amazing view.  Our campsite was right next to the river, which was the perfect temperature for a bath.  Something about bathing in a river really makes you feel like you're one with nature.  Some great tasting lentils for dinner and some good hanging out by the fire capped off an amazing day- one of my favorite of the trip.

Todays ride ended up being 30 miles shorter than planned since we rode ahead yesterday, which was nice.  Even with only 55 miles or so and plenty of downhill, we got in at around 2 since we were slowed up by a lot of construction, a wreck (no realy injuries, just some messed up bikes, not mine), and a flat tire.  Lots of great dancing at the water and lunch stops, which is always good.... We're celebrating christmas in july in two days and i think im the only one without a present for my secret santa- gotta get on that.

Don't want this trip to end.

Naked Idaho

The ride from Missoula was awesome. We went over Lolo Pass around mile 40, and the rest of the ride was downhill. Also at mile 40 we hit the Idaho border, where we continued the tradition of riding shirtless for the rest of the ride. Around mile 67 we hiked just over a mile to hot springs, where we hung out for over two hours. Just before we arrived at the hot springs, we realized that the campground we had intended to stay was closed. So we had a decision to make, either we would stay at the closed campground, ride 3 more miles to a campground without water, or ride an extra 28 miles to the next full camping area. We decided to ride the extra 28, so our 68 mile day turned in 96 miles. Since we knocked 28 miles off yesterday, we had an extra short 58 miles today!

Idaho has been a great state so far, not only because it's been mostly downhill & beautiful, but also because we've met a lot of cyclists who are doing similiar things as we are. Yesterday we met a man who is cycling from Boston to Portland for his 70th birthday-BY HIMSELF! He was definitely an inspiration to all of us. We also met a man, also touring by himself, cycling from Wyoming to Oregon, and he stayed the night with us at our campsite. After meeting all the tourists, and seeing the gear they carry with them, it's clear that we definitely have it easy!

A few hiccups

The ride into Butte was another tough one.  Temp in the mid 90's and super hilly with a headwind the last 40 miles.  We were practically crawling.

Fortunately, when we arrived there were tons of leftovers sitting around from a large dinner that the church in Butte had and let us polish off... Its amazing how food can change your whole attitude on life...  I had no energy that night and just sat around the church and read.

The next day I realized at our lunch  stop, about 40 miles out, that I had left my wallet in Butte... typical Matt... I spent all day trying to call the church and finally got a hold of a special woman- Carol Brown, who found my wallet at the church and overnighted it to me in Missoula... not the first time a stranger returned my wallet to me and probably won't be the last.

The ride into Missoula started off great.  about 18 miles in we stopped to swim in some hot springs that were really not that hot at all, but still sort of cool.  Nice waterfall and huge boulder/cliff to jump into the water.  There was also an awesome cave that you had to swim underwater to get to.  This very small cave was the site of one of the funniest scenes of the trip... I went in first then everyone just started coming in one by one, hitting their heads on the rock everytime.  eventually, it was crowded like a clown car since noone on the outside could hear us telling them to not come with us all running out of oxygen and laughing hysterically... trust me, it was funny.

The rest of the ride was troublesome.  We were riding on I-90, which is always loaded with debris and I nailed a huge stone and 4-5 miles later realized my front fork was completely cracked... We made it to the lunch stop and I was pretty worried I was going to have to get in the van, but I managed to rig it up with some epoxy and duct tape enough to get me into Missoula...

Last night we once again took advantage of the rest day and went out... started at a brewery that had stopped serving 10 minutes earlier, so we got a growler of "Fresh Bong Water", their finest pale ale and took it down the street to a park.  We eventually ended up at a pizza shop for some very dissapointing buffalo wing pizza.  I got reprimanded by the staff for initiating a huge bleu cheese versus ranch debate (bleu cheese is definitely better)... saw some T.O. reality show business on sportscenter at one of the bars and got pretty pumped.

Today I went to six bike shops to try to find a new fork.  None could help me out.  The Cadex is just too outdated.  I was pretty resigned to riding it in its current state- sketchy, duct taped, and super unsafe... Eventually I ended up at the headquarters for Adventure Cycling Association, which is based in Missoula.  I guess its the spot to stop on long bike trips.  I meant 4-5 other guys who were on long journeys like ours.  They also had free ice cream and pop for tired cyclists and took my picture and hung it on the wall with all the other passerby's from this year, which was pretty cool...

After talking to one of the guys for awhile, he suggested the I take my bike to a welding shop and have the fork welded back together.  Why didnt I think of that?  After spending an hour helping a guy out in a place the reminded me way too much of working at Electric Materials, we got it welded and sanded down... so now I'm back in business

Had some birthday cake tonight to celebrate Matt Harlans birthday then went and saw the new Harry Potter with Zernyu and Adam... tomorrow we're supposed to be staying near some realy hot springs.

Can't believe we're gonna be in Portland in 12 days.

Blah

Well my bike broke down again so I had to ride in the van for a day and drive it the next. It turns out that when a chain stretches past a certain point, it'll rapidly wear down the cassette, the gears in the back. If I had been checking for chain wear before, I could have saved the cassette. Well, I always seem to learn the hard way. I'm currently in the college town of the University of Montana, Missoula. It's a really nice campus and bicycle friendly too. There are about five different bike shops within walking distance. All but the last shop I checked didn't have the right cassette for my bike, and the cassette was pretty pricey. At least I can ride my bike into Portland now. There's a river that runs through town and you can kayak or ride an inner tube down it. I really wanted to go, but unfortunately I had to get my bike fixed.

Driving into Missoula was very scenic; Montana is completely covered and surrounded by mountains, and the road passes by rivers and waterfalls. There is a place by the road where a small waterfall flows into a little lake, the size of a swimming pool. The locals call it Nimrod and it has the clearest water I have ever seen in my life, like bottled spring water. The water has a slight smell of sulfur, so it probably comes from a hot spring. It was almost the perfect temperature: cold enough to be refreshing, but not too cold for you to start shivering. A large rock rests by the water and you can get about a ten foot drop from jumping off of it into the water.

Around the rock is a little underwater tunnel that you can swim through which leads into a tiny cave. We were all too chicken to go through at first because it was dark and you couldn't see the end, but Matt Strick finally went through and realized that the tunnel was about three feet long. We all started to swim through the tunnel and when we popped out of the water, we realized that there wasn't enough room for all of us in there, so we started yelling for people to stop. Sound doesn't travel from the cave to the outside, so people kept coming in, and at one point we had eight people inside, and it became pretty hard to breathe. Matt Harlan forgot to take off his glasses and when he swam out from the cave, they came off his face and fell to the bottom. We spent probably an hour searching for his super-thin-framed glasses with a headlight that barely worked and swimming goggles that leak and give you double vision. I'm glad he eventually found his glasses.

7/18 Tour De Pain

Within the first twenty miles of today's ride out of Ennis, Montana towards Butte, there was a hill we climbed that had a really steep grade on the other side where all of us reached our fastest top speeds yet. I topped out at 52.4 miles per hour, which was quite an exhilarating ride. The next sixty miles were absolutely exhausting, though. We climbed hills that seemed to never end or go down on the other side, and the temperature climbed up into the 80's as well. Twenty miles away from Butte, there is one of the most brutal mountain passes I have had to ride through so far. Though it was only eight miles of continuous uphill with a manageable grade, we had a headwind all the way up and all of us were completely dehydrated. I'm pretty sure we were all delirious halfway up the mountain and I was getting tunnel vision.

Lately my chain has been skipping a lot while riding, and it got worse and worse while I was riding through the mountain pass, which was driving me crazy. I brought my bike into the local bike store and it turns out over 3000 miles of riding is enough to stretch a chain. We found out that the store was owned and run by the brother of Levi Leipheimer, a Tour de France rider who was just injured in a crash during the race yesterday and he was in fourth place. Everyone at the store was really cool and friendly, and Levi's father even came in to take a picture of us with Rob Leipheimer. It was definitely one of the coolest bike shops we've been to on the trip so far. The walls were covered with all of Levi's jerseys from previous Tours. I'm not sure how to end this entry, so this is the end.

The Home Stretch

It's been a long time since I last wrote about the trip so bear with me as I try to recount all the great things that have happened over the last week and a half. Wyoming was really beautiful and scenic as we got further into it with a lot of beautiful landscape.

Let's talk about one of the most exciting parts of the trip: Yellowstone National Park. The ride in long and tough but after a lot of hard work and a steep 10 mile climb, we made it to the campsites. Camping was really fun and we ate some really good chili thanks to Clinton and Conor. That night we just relaxed and enjoyed the much cooler temperatures. The next day, a rest day, I did a trail called the Elephant Back Trail with a few friends and it was such a fantastic view at the top. You could see the entire Yellowstone Lake, islands in it, and big mountains in the distance. It just so happened that that was the best place to get reception in the park. Later, I just read by the lake and rested as much as possible. I thought it was pretty funny too how legitimately homeless we all look around a campfire wearing everything we own and eating (mostly beans) out of cans.

The ride from Yellowstone to West Yellowstone is one of my favorites so far. It was 65 miles I believe and was so scenic. We stopped at Old Faithful and checked out tons of geysers in the area. We even met a bunch of alum while walking around and waiting for Old Faithful to go off. It's pretty neat hearing people read the back of your jersey as you walk by them. We've come so far already; actually making it to Yellowstone was a huge milestone in itself. The rest of the ride that day was awesome. We had a great water stop near the bank of a winding creek and a hill and "Loveshack" to dance to and keep us going. In the last 15 miles, we saw elk and a bald eagle. That was really amazing. Traffic was at a standstill as we all watched and waited for the bird to soar and she finally did. Apparently, a bald eagle's wing span is about as big as me-5 feet. Crazy. The town of West Yellowstone was really cute too. While it was pretty touristy, there was an extremely wonderful homeade ice cream shop: City Creamer. I had the double chocolate orange and I would definitely go back for more. So good. A few of us then found the best book shop ever: The Bookworm. It was cramped and just chock full of books and antiques and little rooms with more stuff to look through. Probably the best one I've ever been to.

Montana so far has been really great. Two nights ago we stayed in Drummond and were given such a great meal it did not even feel like real life at all. Stuffed peppers? Are you kidding me? It was delicious, we've got it so good. A family across the street from the church was walking by as a few of us were reading outside. They told us about Missoula (our next stop/rest day) and one of the girls, Megan, asked if she could ride in the morning with us. That was really awesome, she didn't even know us but just wanted to ride!

The ride to Missoula was gerat. It was a shorter day and we stopped to jump into a hot spring. The water wasn't really all that hot, but who cares? We jumped in and explored a sweet cave that you had to swim under water to get to. It was pretty scary, but something I will never forget.

The rest of the ride was great, I only regret to say that I've had a bunch of flats lately and my rear tire finally blew out after 3100 miles. I even got one when we got to Chinese restaurant last night. So that's kind of stressful but I'm getting over it.

Today, I checked out the downtown area, went to some bookshops, shopped for my secret santa (christmas in july for the i4k), and just enjoyed walking around all day. We're in the homestretch of this ride already, I can't really believe it. Tomorrow we'll be in Idaho, then Washington, then Oregon. Less than two weeks of riding left, oh boy. It seems like so long ago that we left Central Park, it feels like a lifetime. I'm not sure how I feel about it really. More excited that we're nearing the end or sad to leave such a fun and crazy lifestyle. Hopefully the next two weeks are really great as I'm sure they will be.

i am so bad at blogging...

Hello world! My parents have been reminding me daily that I have a blog to fill, and I have still yet to fill it. I don’t know why I am such a bad blogger, but I promise to do something about it for these next… two weeks. Wow. How insane is that? We have traveled over 3000 miles, been gone over 7 weeks, and are still going strong. What an amazing feat! I am very good at talking about the trip, I can hardly keep my mouth shut, but I am pretty awful at writing about the trip. SO, I thought I’d post some pictures I have taken over these past few weeks, to tell the story for me.

Day 52 & 53 - A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Drummond, MT to Missoula, MT

Today's ride was a short one, and we knew we would have fun with it.  At the 20 mile mark, we saw a "hot" spring and pulled over and everyone jumped in, which was a lot of fun.  The water was not really all that hot, especially at 9 in the morning, when we got there, but we found a great place to jump off the rocks into the spring, and there was a waterfall and an awesome underwater cave that we explored.  You had to swim underwater and through a passage, and then up into a room where you were inside the rock and could hang out.  It was scary to try to get in and out of, but it was really cool once you made it inside.  After that, we rode on, and made it into Missoula with not much trouble.  Cady broke his handlebars, but somehow managed to glue them back together for the last 15 miles of the day.  We  explored the city a bit, and it is nice to be in a big city.  Missoula actually has traffic, and stores with actual things, its almost strange to be in a normal city after the past few weeks.  We visited a few bike shops with Sae-bin, his derailleur broke the other day and he decided to buy an entire new bike, despite the fact that we only have two weeks left.  At night, we had some chinese food for dinner, where we met an older man who biked across the country in 1987, and did it only 40 some days, so we were all humbled by his stories of riding 90 miles a day all by himself.  Then we all headed out to some local watering holes for Matt Harlan's b-day, which was at midnight.

Today is our second-to-last rest day(!) and after I finish blogging and putting my pictures up, I plan on getting some food, doing laundry, trying to send some stuff home so that I can pack my bag again, and then maybe exploring Missoula a bit more.  Sae-bin just walked in with his new $4000 bike, but he got a great deal on it, it was originally $6000, and the thing is insanely light, I can easily pick it up with one hand.  This is a college town, since the University of Montana is located here, the home of the dominating Grizzlies, one of the best football programs in D-II college football.  They also have a huge letter M on one of the hills overlooking town, as many of the towns in the West have, so I am considering heading out there to try to catch the sunset tonight.  I am loving Montana so far, it is really scenic everywhere, and all the people are so nice.  I think this is definitely up there on my list of favorite states that we've been through.  It's funny, but you can't help trying to imagine living in all of the places that we've been going through, just to see if you can imagine yourself living there.  I am not really a fan of most of the small towns, there is just not enough happening most of the time, but Montana doesn't give me that feeling, despite it having way less people than any other state. We head to Idaho tomorrow, and then into Washington, then Oregon!  It's crazy to think that this journey is almost over, and that we have ridden 3200 miles already.  Weird.  New pics are up at http://www.flickr.com/people/8300819@N03/ as usual.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 56 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3244 mi

Day 51 - Montana Hospitality

Butte, MT to Drummond, MT

Our ride into Drummond was another kinda long one, but we managed to make good time and got into the town by about 1:30PM.  It turned out this was pretty lucky, since some of the riders in the back groups didn't get in until almost 5 PM.  Drummond is a small town, but their hospitality has been rivaled by almost none.  The ride was a hot one, and we were heading into the wind for the second half of it, but as soon as we got into town, they had cold water, amazing lemonade, hot dogs, and deer jerky waiting for us, and we were also able to use real showers from the high school across the street.  We really appreciate showers nowadays, we have been using garden hoses and their freezing cold water to shower recently, and we are getting used to the stares as people drive by and see kids lined up in front of a church in spandex using a hose to shower.  Anyways, we haven't had a real shower since Cody, WY, which was forever ago, so we really appreciated it, and when we got back, the Drummond church folk had an amazing dinner prepared.  We got to feast on roast beef, tons of fruit salad, fried chicken, and awesome macaroni salads, and for desert, rhubarb pie and strawberry shortcake, so needless to say, we all ate until we couldn't move.  After dinner, some people climbed a nearby hill to watch the sunset, and I read outside in the beautiful weather until it was dark.  Montana has been beautiful so far, and every place we've been people have been really nice and the scenery has been stunning.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 73 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3185 mi

Day 50 - Hills and High Speeds

Ennis, MT to Butte, MT

The ride into Butte was very long, and not very fun.  There were at least three separate mountains that we had to climb, including a very long one at the end of the day that exhausted everyone.  However, we did get some nice downhills after climbing each hill, and it was definitely an easier day than the ride into Yellowstone.  Once we got in, the church where we stayed had a ton of food out for us, so we were treated to all the pasta salad, sandwiches, and tiny White Castle-like mini burgers that we could eat.  All those downhills also meant that we could get some serious momentum going, and I hit a new high speed of 50.3 mph, which I was pretty pleased with, i didn't think I would be able to hit fifty after not being able to do it in the steep hills of Pennsylvania.  All in all, an exhausting day, but at night we were able to relax some, and I got to read a lot, so it wasn't a terrible day.  The town is also really nice, Butte is very spread out among the hills, and we had an awesome view when we were coming down from the mountains and riding into town.  A famous Tour de France rider, Levi Leipheimer, is from here, and some of the team went to his brother's bike shop and met his father and brother and hung out there, so that was pretty cool too.

States traveled through:16(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT)
Distance today: 80 mi
Total Distance traveled:  3112 mi

Missoula

We've made it to our rest day in Missoula, Montana-and we head to Idaho tomorrow. Montana was a lot of fun because we continued the tradition of Mustache Montana. Most the guys shaved their beards, and the girls drew mustaches on our faces everyday. We spent a lot of time explaining the tradition along the way.

The ride to Drummand, Montana was stressful. We had three flats along the way, two in which the van had to come back to supply tubes and tires. Luckily, we were warmly welcomed to the church with tons of food.

The ride into Missoula was a lot of fun. It was a short ride of 53 miles, and we stopped at the hot springs. We swam into a cave, which was really cool. It took me some time to get the courage to swim into the cave, but it was definitely worth it.

Missoula is a really cool town. I ran up to the M on top of a hill yesterday, and the view was amazing.  We're currently enjoying the mountain weather at a very fancy cafe.