Made it!

Alllllmmmost there!

So close! I definitely could have finished off the trip today, but I've got a schedule to keep. I'm a little over 30 miles away :)

Went through Wine Country: Napa and Sonoma valleys. Lots of vinyards and wineries. It was hilly, but not too bad. There were three passes through mountains that were about 300' climbs and not very steep.

I'm doing my own routing to get into SF. Overall it wasn't too bad but there was one iffy section in high traffic where the shoulder went away in the middle of construction. Got yelled at by two cars but didn't have any close calls. Having "Share the Road" signs up in work areas is quite nice.

I did 52 miles, though a few of those were because I routed around route 37 to minimize my time on it, which turned out to be a mistake because for the short time I was on it I had a 10' shoulder. Ahh well.

I also changed my destination midway because the cheap motels in Petaluma are too out of the way. I'm in Novato: a little north of San Fran. I keep looking for ocean but there's too many mountains in the way!

I can't believe the trip is almost over! During Nevada I was totally ready to be done because it was just day after day of really hard riding ever since Colorado, but now I'm definitely going to miss it.

The only problem now is how cold it is. I start in the 50s and the max is in the low 70s. San Fran is even colder. Tomorrow's high is 56!

The winds suck too, but I'm quite used to that by now.

Stay on target!

Getting there! Another 50 easy miles today to Fairfield.

Met a guy called Joe who used to be 4 days behind me back in Utah/Colorado. We rode together for over half the day but he's going all the way to San Fran today. I'm actually only 30 biking miles from the end if I took the maps :). He's faster than me and was pushing me pretty hard. My legs are actually pretty tired for such a short day.

Two more days and under 100 miles. Woohoo.

It's getting colder out.

Stay on target!

Easy day. Wahoo!

I did 60 easy miles today though a few of those were off route since I took a wrong turn at some point. 2,000' downhill then flat to Sacramento with a few bumps inbetween.

Half the day was on a bike path from Folsom to Sacramento which was quite nice. I rode with one guy who was interested in the trip for around 15 miles (Dave) so it was nice to have some company. And yup, I was right next to the prison from the Johnny Cash song but never got to see it (just some fencing with barbed wire on the top).

I didn't see the couple from Indiana. Goodbye!!

I did, however, see a group of 8 just starting their eastbound trip to DC. They're a group calling themselves Bike4Peace (you can google it). One's actually a former 6 term congresswoman who's now running under the Green Party. They're intending to join some sort of bicycling rally in late September in DC.

They're not going to make it. There's no way. I don't think they quite grok what it is they signed up for. I haven't seen a single person on the Western Express who wasn't in very good shape and in their 20s or early 30s. They're mostly older and mostly overweight. I've seen other older people and other overweight people, but never two in one and never on the Western Express. On top of that they were carrying too much stuff... especially the congresswoman. On top of that, they've got a very aggressive time table. *Maybe* they could handle the TransAm on a more flexible schedule.

Their website is also treating their trip a bit nonchallantly. It doesn't seem like they know what they're in for (it's just like going for a 20 mile ride inbetween meals! Anyone can do it!). They've got to respect the physical and mental challenge that lays ahead of them.

Good luck to them though. I hope I'm wrong. They were going to get a taste of their first actual climb today. Hopefully it opens their eyes a bit.

Saw a rattlesnake on the path! It got into the bushes before I could get a good shot of it. Another biker almost swerved into me to avoid it then apologized explaining it was a "rattler" at which point I exclaimed, "Really?", looked, then "That's so cool!" and stopped for a picture. Ahh well.

It's all gravy from here

Those were the words of the last eastbounder I saw, and now that I'm finally done with all these mountains, I'm looking forward to some easy days.

Today was hard though: almost the hardest of the trip. I think it was about 5,000' total of climbing. The initial climb to get over Carson Pass was just the beginning as there were two more big hills ahead of me and the entire 6,500' descent was punctuated with small hills every few miles.

I didn't get much relief from the downhills either. For the first half, the road quality was really bad (lots of cracks and potholes) and there was lots of traffic. For the second, the route took a turn and I got on the backroads: road quality got worse, it got more winding, and gone were the turn-specific speed limit signs which are very useful. During the fast parts I had to constantly scan for potholes directly ahead, turns in the distance, my current speed, and cars behind me in the mirror. It took a lot of concentration.

However, during the second half the traffic was almost all gone, and I went through a national forest with very big trees right up the shoulder. It was actually very nice, just me and the trees. It was slightly depressing because there were so many dying trees, but overall very enjoyable (mild winters and early springs are leaving way too many pine bark beetles alive which is killing huge swaths of trees and turning the pacific northwest into a tinder box).

I reran into the Indiana couple last night when they rolled into the campgrounds past 8pm. I also ran into them at my destination in Placerville. Hopefully we'll ride a little tomorrow. I didn't see them last week in Austin because they got a motel and took a rest day.

Speaking of camping, it was really windy last night and I got very little sleep. I'm very tired, especially considering how hard the day was.

It was really hot again. I took an hour rest mid-day because it was getting to me.

I'm at 2,000' elevation. I haven't been this low since Kansas. Tomorrow I'll be at almost sea-level. I haven't been *that* low since Albany.

I did 86 miles. Last long day of the trip :)

Today I bathed in a river

I think when most cyclists are confronted with this situation, they simply opt to go without, but not me... especially not me with this horrible backne problem.

It's the West Fork Carson River and it was so cold... so very very cold. I think it was cold enough that if you stayed in much more than a few minutes, you might get in trouble with hypothermia. It took my breath away when I dipped all the way in. It felt great afterwards though!

Speaking of great, today was awesome! I got a very early start, my body was extremely well rested, the terrain was easy, there weren't any winds, it wasn't too hot, I was back in civilization, and I'm nearing the end! I felt good throughout the 95 miles I rode: 2nd longest day of the trip.

Two things weren't so great though: I flatted in the morning because I didn't see a big rock in the road (it was a pinched flat) and the place I was going to stay at didn't have lodging, so here I am camping without water. The food situation isn't so great either, but I'll get enough calories.

I'm camping 1.5 miles west of Woodfords, CA about 1,000' up the Sierra Nevadas. I'm in California! It's so nice to be back around people and services. The desert was really tough.

FYI: a pinched flat is when you flat from your wheel striking something (like a pot hole or big rock). The inner tube gets stuck between the tire and the rim on both sides and you get two small holes: also called a snake bite. I've had just about every type of cycling flat tire this trip: two punctures, a slow flat, a blowout, and a pinched flat.

Getting no reception right now so I'll post this tomorrow morning as soon as I find some.

Last rest day!

Only 385 miles left: 64.2 mi/day to San Fran (28th). I plan on 2 long days to get over the Sierra Nevadas then 4 short days in CA so I can enjoy it a bit more and not have to race to the end.

Almost there!

Civilization at last!

I finally entered the more densely populated part of Nevada today. Fallon is quite nice since before you hit downtown there's lots of trees, grass, and farms: things I haven't really seen since Colorado.

It's a little strange because 20 miles before Fallon is the most desert-like environment I've seen: no vegetation, just dirt, sand, and salt (I think the area was called Sand Springs). There was even a giant sand dune called Sand Mountain. The picture shows some of the salt part. I got off my bike, walked to the salt and tasted some: it was salty... and sandy.

I ended up taking a half mile detour to try and get a better picture of Sand Mountain. It was off the highway on a very bumpy dirt road. I decided I had enough and stopped to take a picture. First, though, I had to wait for a couple of cars to pass the other way to get out of my shot. The first car stopped and asked if I was alright. "Yup. I'm fine." Then out of nowhere I got the question: "You crazy?" That was awesome. I've never been asked if I was sane before. I think it was the spine sitting on top of my tent because after I told them that I was indeed all there they asked what type of skeleton it was. I told them I didn't know, I just got it off the side of the road, but given their line of questioning I should have immediately responded with "human" and stared. Ahh well.

I only did 48 miles today because Silver Springs doesn't have lodging. I'm going to try to make it up over the next two cycling days. The second day's gonna be *tough*. Rest day first though :)

I was right about the military base. I rode by a bunch of naval air stations an saw a whole bunch of jets. The main base is right next to Fallon. It's actually bigger than the town if the maps are right.

Behold the town of Middlegate

The signs say "middle of nowhere." 64 miles to the east is Austin and 48 miles to the west is Fallon. It's actually pretty nice. They have wifi, a super cheap motel, a bar/restaurant/mini-mart, and somehow cell phone reception.

Today wasn't as easy as I had hoped, mainly due to the heat. I'm not sure why, but it really started getting to me towards the end of the day. I left late figuring the terrain was easy, which was a really dumb idea. It was 98 when I arrived. It was also really windy again :(

Today also marked the end of the service drought through the desert. Fallon is 48 miles away and after that it seems there's a town every 20 or 30 miles. That'll make things soooo much easier. Being able to stop for shade and maybe AC from a gas station is huge in terms of comfort.

For some bad news, it seems there's no lodging in the city I was planning on stopping at tomorrow (Silver Springs), which really mucks things up. I had a very nice plan that would carve up Carson Pass into a two day climb, but now I might need to do it all in one. Bah. It's also a problem because this means tomorrow will be a 48 mile day. My friend extended the date of his party one day ahead so it's no big deal, but I was hoping to get my shorter days in CA. It's good though because I really need a short day + rest day. Legs are tired.

There must be an air force base nearby because I can hear (but not see) jets all day long. I may even have heard a distant sonic boom because at one point there was a very loud boom that kind of shook the ground.

Who builds a city on a 6% grade?!

I'm at a place that started as a mining town. Getting around is quite difficult by bike. It sucks because the RV park is at the top of town while the food and stuff is over a quarter mile away.

Today started as a good change of pace from the last few hard days. It was nice and easy all morning. I think I overdid it though because my right calf got quite sore and stiff about halfway through. I pressed for speed because I hadn't had a stretch that easy for that long (40 miles) for quite some time. So now I'm sporting my compression tights and taking in lots of protein (these drinks are nasty).

Of course I developed the sore calf right before the very difficult climb at the end. Oof. I'm pretty sure it'll heal up by tomorrow which is an easy day anyway (mostly downhill without any steep terrain). It's already feeling better than it did.

I passed the group of two again. They were just starting a rest when I caught up with them and I was interested in pushing on because I was making good speed and I would run into a water problem if I stopped for too much or went much slower. I was a little agressive this morning when packing water into the bike: kinda stupid thing to do when you've got 70 miles of desert ahead of you. Oops.

I'm actually a little worried about them because we had the same destination and it's 8:40 as I write this and they haven't showed up. I'll send a text a some point but reception has been terrible throughout Nevada. They've camped at the side of the road before (which is perfectly legal in most of Nevada) and they're usually very well supplied. They're probably fine.

Got a couple of easy days ahead of me. Woohoo :) I'm in Austin, NV after 70 miles.

Last hard day (for awhile)

Today finished off three extremely hard days. I won't have another 4,000' day until I hit the Sierra Nevadas. Yay. Tomorrow will be 3,000' but 500 of it is very gradual.

It was 78 miles with no services, no shade, high 90s heat, strong headwinds (up to 30 mph!!), and 4 mountain passes (though 1 was easy (the one in the picture)). It's good to have these few days behind me.

Again, I caught up with the couple from Indiana and rode with them for the rest of the day (they start early). That group of 25 is now behind me.

Not much other than that. I'm in Eureka. Whew. Hungry.

The loneliest road in America isn't that lonely

Today I started on route 50: the supposed "loneliest road in America" dubbed by Lifetime Magazine. It's not lonely. There's a car every one or two minutes. Maybe it's the loneliest federal route, but yesterday's state route 21 had a car every twenty or thirty minutes.

I ended up not planning on riding with the other two since they were going to leave extremely early, but they ended up leaving late and I caught up with them pretty early. Unfortunately Georgia (the girl) flatted and I decided to move on.

The rest of the day was me playing tag with the group of 25. They would pass me and I would catch up as they regrouped (which was often). Today was naked day for the group. This meant that some of the guys went shirtless and some of the girls went sportsbra. Pretty weak stuff. Apparently last year they went full nude and got caught and charged with rape of an inanimate object. They plea bargained down to indecent exposure.

Our legal system is so messed up. What should have been a simple "Put your clothes back on" turned into diminished career prospects for several overachievers. Yeah okay America, very constructive there. You sure made society a little bit better.

Our legal system needs an enema. Badly.

Anywho, the terrain today was very difficult and I rode 63 miles with nothing but a bar along the way (which made a decent steak sandwich). Had two major climbs about 2,000' each with a valley inbetween (see pic). The winds sucked. Hot again but the cloud cover and winds made it not so bad.

In the morning 2 of the 25 were riding parallel about 50 feet behind me. A motortrike wanted to pass them but didn't want to get into the other lane even though it was completely clear. So he honked a couple of times and almost hit the rider on the left when he passed (I watched this in my rearview mirror). I gave him the tracking middle finger as he went by. He responded with the shaking fist middle finger and that was that.

I'm now in Ely. The group of 25 rests tomorrow so I may or may not see them again after my rest day.

Ow my legs

Today was 84 miles of desert with nothing inbetween. There was a small town after 75 miles but there wasn't much there. I woke up very early to avoid the forecasted 100 degree heat (see pic) but got lucky with overhead clouds.

On top of the nothingness were 3 mountain ranges to go through for a little over 4,000' climbed. I'm really tired.

The couple I rode with yesterday ended up not staying in Milford and took the first range to avoid such a long day today (camping on the side of the road). As such I was alone, which I was looking forward to. I had wanted to do this particular day alone because it's the longest without services and people. I reconnected with them in Baker and maybe we'll ride together tomorrow.

A little after 50 miles in, I ran into 25 Johns Hopkins students. They're doing a supported tour for charity (to do it they each have to raise at least $4,500). I'll be seeing them on and off for the next few days... Which I'm not sure how I feel about. Nevada's supposed to be barren and lonely and having 25 other guys around with 2 vans of gear kind of diminishes that.

Got some tough days ahead. Made it to Pacific time!

Pretty easy

Biked 55 miles today to Milford. Pretty easy stuff since there was only one range to pass through and it was a pretty easy grade. Tomorrow I'll have 3 ranges at steep grades for 84 miles and finally hit Nevada.

Almost halfway into the ride I caught up with a couple of students (one just graduated, one's almost done) doing half the country (they started in Missouri I think). There's a good bet I'll be riding with them for a little while at least. They seem pretty nice.

At the end of the ride, while I was working on getting a motel room, a 67 year old lady with an end-of-world fetish accosted them. She originally was quite nice and gave them about $15 to contribute to the trip. I joined the group and then she asked us if we knew about the New World Order.

She believes the Illuminati and the power-elite are working to eliminate 80% of the world's population via a modified Ebola virus while keeping the young and fit (us) around as slaves. This effort was started by Bush and is now being led by Kenyan-born Obama. The rounding up of people is already starting in other countries and in some US states (people are being sent to FEMA camps). Oh and don't ever talk with black people because they might be a member of the Black Panthers who are Obama's henchmen in all of this.

She went on and on for about an hour while the other two just nodded while I sat there with a huge grin on my face. I wanted to engage her on some of her crazier points, but I didn't want to jeapardize the money she gave the other two and they felt obligated to listen to her ramblings because of the money.

She 100% believed everything she was saying. It was awesome.

Rest day in Cedar City

My good buddy Dave is having his bachelor party on the 29th, so my new goal date is the 27th (box bike on the 28th, fly early 29th).

On top of that, my maps have me take a ferry in Vallejo to get across the SF Bay. I want none of this. I took one ferry across the Ohio awhile back, and that was taint enough. Plus this ferry is like 25 miles long! That's so much taint! As a result, I'll be extending my trip about 67 miles.

Thus I've got 849.5 miles left: 65.3 mi/day to arrive July 27th. Including a rest day that's 70.8 mi/day! Oh my!

Wish me luck.

Final easy day

At least for awhile. The next week or so of biking will be dictated by services. Coming up I've got stretches of nothing that go on for 84, 63, 78, 68, and 65 miles. It's over tough terrain too (lots of 1,500' climbs). I'm looking forward to it just to have done it, but I sense I'll be sick of it after day 1. Hopefully the weather stays reasonable (low 90s).

Did the final 39 miles into Cedar City and I'll be resting tomorrow. Got lots of movies to catch :)

The descent coming down from 10,600' wasn't as good as I was hoping for. For the first half the road was being worked on and wasn't really pavement (small rocks) and there was a fair bit of traffic throughout. No biggie.

Met a German couple doing a tour going all over the place west of the Continental Divide (Seattle to San Diego, Grand Canyon, etc). They were quite nice.

Picture is from 10,500'. I got a panorama that I've got to put together when I get back (discovered the "Stitch Assist" functionality of my digital camera).

Shortest day so far

Only did 36 miles today: 1,200' down, 1,800' up. I could have made the 75 or so to Cedar City, but I figure I can afford the short days and I'm going to have plenty of long days in Nevada whether I want them or not.

Utah's having some odd weather. I haven't really had any days over 90 and last night it got down to the low 40s (at 7,700' though). My bag is rated for 30 degrees but standard practice is to add 10 to what's advertised, so I was quite cold. It took me forever to get up. Long sleeves and tights tonight!

At the burger place a grandfather, a father, and a young son were eating next to me. Towards the end, the son spilled his french fries all over the deck. They left without cleaning up. I was a bit upset that the father set such a terrible example for the son in not cleaning up after themselves, but also happy because the cashier was terribly inflexible with substitutions, overcharged me, and couldn't provide change for a 5. Have fun cleaning up!

Other than that, not much happened. I was forced onto a 4 mile bike path that was skinny, had lots of sharp turns, and forced me to overuse my brakes. Met an eastbounder named Sarah doing a supported trip who seemed nice. Had yet another Very Strong Headwind. Gonna have another one tomorrow too. I'll leave a lot earlier though so it won't be as bad.

Camping near Lake Panguitch tonight. It's USFS so no showers. The nearest place that sells them is 3 miles away so looks like I'm having a sponge shower out of either a hydrant or a sink. Ugh. Maybe I'll make the trip for the shower.

Looking forward to tomorrow's 4,600' descent. It looks awesome and so hard going the other way.

Hard day

I only did 50 miles but man was it tough. 1,800' up, 1,600' down, 1,800' up. Add an 18 mph headwind and I am *tired*. Slowest day yet at 8.5 mph beating out the Monarch Pass day of 8.7. Most of my days are under 10 now :/.

I woke up late due to staying up watching MSNBCs marathon of Lockup. That was my first mistake. My second was poor tire maintenance because as I was about to leave, I noticed my rear tire was flat. The culprit was a sharp piece of rock that probably worked its way in over time that I could have removed if I was looking after my tires properly. As a result, I didn't get out the door until almost 10 (I usually aim for 8 or 8:30).

Rained again, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as yesterday. I rode through it for the hour that it lasted.

Not much other than that. I'm camping near Bryce Canyon near Ruby's Inn, UT.

I'm alive!

Holy moley exciting day.

First I had a 3,000' climb to 9,600'. For two hours of that climb it rained. It was pretty light so no big deal. I was worried about the descent because I didn't want to do it wet.

Fortunately it looked to be clearing up when I got to the top and I had a nice downhill ahead of me. About 5 miles into the downhill: clouds move in out of nowhere! It started to rain pretty heavily. I think it was very small hail too because it really stung my face and my waitress mentioned it later on in the day (I didn't try stopping at 35 mph to find out for sure).

I eventually got way ahead of the clouds and got into Boulder with the sun shining: 26 miles to destination. There I decided to keep going to Escalante and try to beat the storms.

I didn't beat the storms... at all. In fact, the clouds descended upon me just as I entered The Hogback: a 3 mile stretch of road on a ridge that drops off to either side and features intermittent 14% grades. It started raining lightly, lightning started flashing almost constantly, and gusts of wind led the storm.

So there I am, bombing down 14% grades with cliffs on both sides, huge gusts of wind, and lightning everywhere. It was becoming difficult to control the bike and I needed to get off.

I was able to make it the 3 miles when the road entered a canyon. At this point I should have immediately gotten off the bike and next to a canyon wall, but I kept looking for a good spot with shelter from the rain. Then the sky lit up and I immediately heard an incredibly loud clasp of thunder. Ohhhh boy. It was right on top of me.

I stopped the bike immediately, put it up against a mile marker and moved as quickly as I could to a canyon wall. I lucked out with the winds and when the sky really opened up and started to pour only half of me got soaked. I stood there for about 45 minutes before I decided I needed to move on. It was only raining lightly at that point and the thunder was in the distance and I couldn't see lightning. Plus I was getting extremely cold and needed to warm up. There was a climb two miles down the road which sufficed nicely (you get really hot during steep uphills even in the rain).

Anywho, that was my day. The rest was an uneventful ride to Escalante: 65 miles total. I looked for Slim Jims at the gas station in town to add a little more excitement, but sadly couldn't find any.

I saw 3 eastbounders right before the big storm and they all stopped to talk: the last one especially because I was the first guy he saw the whole trip. I was a little anxious to be off because we both could see the storms coming.

Saw some cows walking along the side if the road. Utah has lots of open ranges. This means there're lots of cattle guards across the road which are horribly bumpy if you don't hit the 2 inch strip of metal that parallels the road.

The Hogback had the best views of the entire trip so far. I didn't get much for pictures considering the circumstances :(

I've got 125 miles to Cedar City with some very tough terrain. I think I'll split it into 3 short days.

I'm pretty sure Utah is a fair bit harder going east from looking at both the maps and from experience.

Ahh, this is the life

I was originally planning on camping tonight, but it was starting to rain, I got finished early, and I didn't want to be outside any longer (see below). Thus I found myself checking into this awesome hotel. For a little over 50 bux, I get wifi, a pool, a hot tub, a hot breakfast, laundry, and an awesome view of the mountain I'm going over tomorrow. To top it off, this is the first place that actually has separate conditioner in addition to shampoo :). I just got out of the hot tub after swimming a bit in the pool. Sooooo relaxing.

What's not so awesome are the gnats. For the past several days, I've been getting swarmed by gnats whenever my speed drops below around 10 mph. It's especially bad when stopped. There's got to be at least 50 of them at a time and today was the worst (I think because I was tracking a small river and there was lots of vegitation).

I checked it out and apparently mid May to mid July is gnat season in southern Utah. Wherever there are Juniper trees (their home), there will be gnats. They hone in on your CO2 exhalation and go after you (apparently females need blood to mate). I've had gnats in my ears, up my nose, in my mouth, and in my eyes. I even spit one out in the shower a full 30 minutes after stopping for the day.

I tried some of those Bounce sheets that apparantly can act as bug repellants... didn't work. Tomorrow I'll try carrying bug spray and maybe I can find some netting for my head, because I'd really like my breaks back. I think the trees go away by Nevada.

Other than that, did another short day: 48 miles and I'm in Torrey. It was all uphill for a 2,500 foot elevation gain with the occasional steep part. I didn't do more because that would be almost 3,000 more feet up and I can afford short days for a bit.

Calm before the storm

Today was another relatively easy day. I only biked 51 miles and the terrain wasn't so bad. There was one half mile climb that must have been over 9 or 10 percent grade that I took at a robust 3.5 mph, but not much other than that. I forgot to check at the top for the exact steepness (Utah usually has signs).

I've been getting free drinks all over the place. I passed a couple yesterday doing a supported tour and the lady in the SAG car gave me a bottle of vita-water. A random trucker saw me struggling with the broken soda machine at the lake and handed me a bottle of apple juice. A guy and his wife (Jeff and Rachel) were interested in my trip and brought over some mango drink (along with a whole bunch of questions). Jeff followed up with a big ginger cookie this morning. Finally today 4 eastbounders asked if I needed anything (I told them no, but they offered!). Altogether pretty sweet :)

In looking at Monica's blog, she's almost done with CO and says the climbs are nothing compared with Utah's. They start tomorrow. Oof.

I'm in Hanksville.

And check out my new accessory!

Today I bathed in a lake

The service station has wifi, but somehow they don't have showers. Not a bad lake for first time lake bath, though. It's Lake Powell, part of the Colorado River.

I finally hit desert today. I'm not sure if I've officially entered the Great Basin, but I saw my first cactus, so I'm calling it desert. Plus there's nothing around except orange dirt, balls of grass, and canyons. Spectacular scenery though.

Other than that, biked a pretty easy 80 miles: 1,000' down, 2,000' up, 3,000' down. I'm at Hite, UT by the lake. Tomorrow will be pretty easy again and much shorter. It'll get harder after that.

Had shade for the first time at mile 75 next to a large rock :/

Also, I had the Day Man theme song from It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia stuck in mr head all day long...

Long days ahead

In looking over my maps, I've got some REALLY hard days ahead. The terrain's going to be at least as hard as the Rockies, but with far fewer services, and it'll get very hot. It starts tomorrow with a 74 mile dead zone! (but just one 2,000' climb).

There's a good shot I don't get any reception tomorrow since I'll be at a primitive campsite at Lake Powell with no town around me.

I mentioned that there won't be any huge climbs left, but I actually have three: two coming up and one at the very end. If I was going east, there'd be one climb that'd be 8,000 feet! Fortunately I get to go down this at the very end (it's the Sierra Nevada pass).

Anywho, resting in Blanding. 1,148 miles left. 45.9 mi/day for Aug 1 (down from 49.7). 35.9 mi/day for Aug 7 (down from 40.8).

Out of the state of Colorado!

And into the Mormon settlement of Utah! Say what you will about their cultural diversity, they do make some fantastic signs. I'm seeing three different meanings of "elevated."

I'm also pretty much out of the Rockies. There are some mountains still around, but I'm not going through them. Today didn't have any big climbs; it was just hilly. The end of the day was nice due to a 1,000' drop.

There's still some extremely difficult terrain coming up though. Instead of one 4,000' climb on a given day there'll be multiple one or two thousanders. At some point, Utah becomes the Great Basin desert which will continue through Nevada and have lots and lots of ranges.

I did 82 miles and I'm in Blanding, UT. Despite all my complaining, this was actually a very good week distance wise, especially given the terrain. I haven't calculated it, but my miles/day to Aug 1 is going to go down considerably. This should give me more flexibility going forward, though flexibility my not be an option in the desert due to lack of places to stop.

Much needed rest day tomorrow.

This trip would have been sooooo much easier

if only I had done it west to east. Every single day the first thing I do is check the weather on my phone. Every single day there's a W in the wind forecast. Usually it's a pretty light wind, but these last few days have been brutal.

Today was supposed to be a 23 mile 3,000+ ft climb over Lizard Head Pass followed by a 50 mile easy ride to Delores on the descent. Instead it was a 50 mile struggle because of the 17 mph in-my-face headwind I faced the whole day.

On top of that it was cold. When I left it was in the low 50s with a high of 70 forecasted (at 7,500 ft). This made it extremely cold once I got above 10K ft. Bah.

I'm at an RV park in Dolores after 72 miles. Happy 4th.

If you listen carefully

you might be able hear my dad cursing the day he bought me that new tent. There were some bear sized droppings at the side of the road too :D

Today started out pretty good, but turned bad after 25 miles.

I got out of my tent and on the road much faster than yesterday. Then I had a not-so-bad 1,000' climb followed by the best descent of the trip: wide and clean shoulder, good visibility, not very sharp turns, and no wind.

No wind until I hit Montrose, that is. Once there I faced a 20 mph, right-in-my-face headwind that would last the rest of the day. The rest of the day was a 3,000' climb to Dallas Divide that got very very hard at the end followed by the descent. It was steeper than Monarch Pass, but that part only lasted 4 or 5 miles so it wasn't as bad. The descent sucked too because it wasn't nearly as steep and with the wind, I had to pedal through most of it.

At Montrose, I spent a ton of time trying to figure out where to stay for the night. I really wanted to get over Dallas Divide because otherwise I'd be doing two 40 mile days. Unfortunately, all the campgrounds looked to be closed (disconnected phones when I called). Stealth camping was out because I'm right at two national forests in the mountains and I really don't want to worry about big animals.

It had to be motels... The only lodging is in Telluride... A world-class ski and summer resort town... On July 4th weekend.

As luck would have it, there's a lodge on the trail 12 miles out of town in Placerville that's only costing me $125 for a night. I got it $60 dollars off (originally $185!) and the places in Telluride proper were $250. This is ridiculous.

I wish I was mayor of Telluride because I would immediately order some low income housing and campgrounds to be built just to piss of the whiney rich bastards that can afford this place. They'd be able to fight me though since it's a National Historic District with strict zoning laws. The ironic part is that Telluride started as a mining town filled with saloons and bordellos. Rich People Only now. Don't want them poor folk to enjoy nice things.

The one bright part of the 2nd half was getting a late lunch with an eastbounder at Ridgeway (Hi Monica). She teaches Swedish at a university in Sweden and is getting the summer off. If you're reading this, Monica, I forgot to tell you about "The Route" page to the left as well as "Progress" (Monica's interested in going to NYC instead of Virginia but doesn't have a route).

With the delay in Montrose, the absurd winds, and the lunch, I wasn't able to get to this retardedly expensive lodge until 7:30. I'm in Placerville and did 75 miles.

At least they serve good meatloaf.

Much easier

I wanted to do 98 miles, but I bailed at 75 and am in Cimarron instead of Montrose. The additional 20 miles would have included another 1,000' climb and it was getting late and a storm front was coming in and I was heading into some very strong winds. Ahh well. Probably a hard day tomorrow.

The rest of the day wasn't too bad. A lot of it was a very slight decline but with strong headwinds completely nullifying it. I got lucky with the weather and dodged storms all day long.

Met an eastbound couple on a tandem who said that Monarch Pass looked to be the hardest climb of the trip. If true, it's encouraging to know I've got the worst behind me (especially since it's a harder climb going west).

I'm camping again. It's much better with a real tent. I've got to figure out how to get out the door faster in the morning though. I think the rain is hurting because I've got to get everything inside the tent and it takes some time to dry it after waking up.

The roads can be incredibly deceptive at times. I could have sworn I was going downhill for several miles but I was really going up. Sometimes I turn the bike around just to test the other way and make sure I'm not going nuts.

Again no reception! Just wireless.

The tap water here comes out yellow.

I thought these were supposed to be gradual!

Today was so hard. It was almost all uphill. The first 25 miles weren't so bad. The next 10 got steeper. Finally the last 10 were at a 6% grade incline and completely kicked my ass. I know it was 6% because they had signs to warn truckers (including runaway truck ramps for emergencies). I'm pretty sure this was harder than the Ozarks.

I did 10 more miles at a 6% decline which was scary as hell because I was so tired at that point and you really can't afford any mistakes.

That said, I made it and I'm in Sargents, CO after only 54 miles. I'll be camping tonight. Let's see if the tent can handle some rain!

Max elevation was 11,314 ft and it was called Monarch Pass. I was freezing my ass off towards the top. I think that'll be the hardest climb until I hit Utah.

Speaking of temperatures, it's a lot colder here. It's especially bad in the morning because it's hard getting out of bed when it's so cold (was in the 40s last night). Which is a problem because of the inevitable afternoon showers I'd like to avoid (it showers in the afternoons in the Rockies a lot).

Other than that, as soon as I hit the campground, a family from Texas offered to have me sit down with them for dinner. That was awesome. They're renting out bunk house with 8 or so bunk beds and going 4-wheeling during the day. They talk funny too, but I'll let that slide.

I'm pretty sure the lady at the campground cash register is a total meth head. That, or it's something else. She is definitely not all there.

The picture was taken during the steep part.

:O

Being greeted with this view from 9,300 ft after climbing for 5 hours is really something else. It's a tremendous feeling especially with endorphins from the climb coursing through your system. The picture doesn't do it justice either. It needs a panoramic view.

And that was pretty much my day: said goodbye to Mom and Dad then up up up up dowwwwwnnnn. Finally it was pretty much flat as I rode along the Arkansas River.

The down is actually the scary part because you're going so fast with limited visibility (winding mountain roads). You can't just ride your brakes either because you'll burn right through them. So I just tried to keep it around 30 mph alternating brakes as needed. It seemed to work out.

The way up was really really hard. People said it would be gradual, but I had miles and miles of very steep terrain. I'm pretty sure they put something in the asphalt on the steep parts to make it more sticky too. I stopped for a break and when I lifted my shoe the bottom was covered in tar. I had to sit in a bunch of rocks to dig some of it out to make my clips operable. It's still covered in the junk.

Other than that, my new camelbak is awesome. Hydration is now trivial and I've got a bunch more storage capacity. Grabbing a water bottle on a steep incline at 4 mph is really hard. Taking a sip from a camelbak is really easy.

I was going to try the new tent out but the bunk house at the campground I'm at was just too temping. Tomorrow I'll definitely be giving it a whirl though.

I'm in Coaldale, CO. I rode 84 miles but tomorrow won't be so long since I plan on staying up and not going down.

I saw a bunch of horned goat like animals lounging in the sun. I almost missed them but some pickup truck stopped an took pictures.

Rest day in Pueblo

Rest day with the parents in Pueblo today. Driving back from Pikes Peak right now. Looked awesome (see pic). Had lunch at 14,000 feet :).

Had a good week last week. 1,590 miles left. 49.7 mi/day to Aug 1 (down from 52.1). 40.8 mi/day to Aug 7 (down from 44.2).

Getting there!

Look who decided to show up

Hi Mom and Dad!

They come bearing gifts and supplies. Dad decided I should have a better tent and got me a few other things I was in need of, which is totally awesome.

Seeing as how my parents were going to be in Pueblo, I made today a very easy day. Got in 50 easy miles in under 4 hours and caught up with them around noon. Had lunch and will get dinner and tomorrow we'll be going to Pike's Peak going up the easy way.

I gotta say, approaching the mountains as they take up more and more of the horizon is pretty damn cool. After the rest day I'll be jumping right in with a 4,500' climb (spread over 30 miles) :O. Looking forward to it though.

Not much to say other than that. Saw some prairie dogs at the side of the road. Also saw a snake.

Got a couple of trains to honk as they went by. That was fun.

Almost there!

If you click into the picture and look veerrryy carefully at the horizon, you can just barely make out the Rockies! I can't imagine doing this west to east doing the best parts first.

Very easy day today. I got in 62 miles in about 4 hours riding a tailwind into Ordway (record speed of 15.3 mph!). I definitely could have made it to Pueblo, but I'm not sure if another century would be a great idea right now and I need my legs for the Rockies. Tomorrow's going to be another easy day.

A lot of the small towns in eastern CO are making an effort to try to make the area as bicycle friendly as possible (expanded shoulders, share the road signs, etc). It's quite nice. I think the center of the effort is in Ordway. It seems everyone in town knows they're on the TransAm route and are very welcoming to cyclists. They even have little brochures about it with a services by town grid and other info. It's a shame there are so many boarded up storefronts.

Speaking of friendly, one lady in town, Gillian, takes in cyclists for free. I'm using her computer right now and I've never even met her! I met Nick, a cyclist who's taking a rest day here and he showed me around. She had 16 cyclists last night! A bunch of them were that group I was riding with awhile back. They're heading for Pueblo today and I won't see them again since our paths diverge. Ahh well.

Saw 6 east-bounders today (3 groups of 2). At least 2 of them were here last night. They're the ones who told me about the place.

I'll try to upload some photos from my digital camera to a Picasa album. The computer has an SD card slot and a pretty decent internet connection. I haven't been taking toooo many pictures, but I'm getting a little better.

There are countless grasshoppers on the road. They all jump as you ride by... sometimes right into my spokes.

Finally out of that wretched state

Today was much better than yesterday. I got off to a very early start to avoid the heat, my right leg healed up nicely, the winds were much more manageable, and there was almost no traffic on the roads (I think it's because it's the weekend and I'm now in cattle country (there's much less rainfall in the high plains)). It was in the high 90s again but it was very dry so the heat index was only around 90 (another advantage of the high plains). Altogether it made for an easy 80 miles to Eads.

I tried eating some wheat from an unharvested field. I figured I've got to do it at some point in Kansas. Doesn't have much taste, as expected. Also, if you stop at a wheat field for any length of time, it seems flies just start attacking you... lots and lots of flies.

I can't believe I made it through Kansas without a drop of rain. For the first few days there were some massive storms (tornados, etc), but they were all to the north. It would have been nice to see one of those (from the comfort of a motel room). Oh well. I might get some rain tonight or tomorrow, but it's just brief thunder showers in this part of the country.

I'm now on mountain time (achievement unlocked!). I'm also at 4,200 ft.

After taking that picture I crossed the street and peed on the welcome to Kansas sign.

Slow and hot

Kansas continues to be my least favorite state to bike in. Today featured high 90s temperatures, a constant 20-30 mph SW wind, almost no shade between towns, a constant uphill (only 10ft per mile but that's noticeable in straight roads and 10 mile visibility), and of course more trucks.

Another thing I don't appreciate about Kansas is the smells. They come in waves, but it'll usually be either manure, fertilizer (ammonia) or oil. The worst are the cattle trucks. Every time one of those goes by you get a strong blast of warm manure-smelling air. The only time it ever smells any good is if you're biking across a field that's being harvested. The problem then is that it's really dusty.

I wanted to make it to Tribune to set up three easy days to Pueblo, but I only got as far as Leoti: 48 miles. I need to give my thigh more of a rest. It's not fully healed. That combined with the conditions put me at 9.7 mph for the day: tied for slowest of the trip. Unfortunately, I've got to ride 80 miles tomorrow in similar conditions :(.

I see a lot of anti-abortion signs on the road. These people don't seem to understand that Republicans have a vested interest in keeping abortion legal (galvanizes the base and garners them votes) and that value voting is a ridiculous thing to do. Politicians and values go together like oil and water and voting on the off chance that the guy isn't a complete hypocrite is silly. For 6 years we had an incredibly pious president, Republican dominated House and Senate, and one if the most conservative courts in history, yet abortion remains legal.

I've been meaning to watch the documentary called "What's the Matter With Kansas" (based in the book) about how Kansas has slowly been destroying itself by voting against it's own socioeconomic interests. Maybe this trip will get me to finally see it.

Looking forward to a hot breakfast tomorrow. I'm in a really good motel for the cost.

My right thigh is killing me

I can cross "catch a tailwind in Kansas and have a huge day" off the list, because today I rode 127 miles! That's 40 more than my previous best. A tailwind was in the forecast, the terrain was flat, and it was going to be in the 80s. I pretty much had to do it.

The tailwind wasn't that strong and turned into a crosswind by 2, but I was able to get in several hours at 17 mph. I ended at 15 average for the day (1.7 more than my previous best) but it would have been a lot higher had the wind kept up.

Unfortunately I had to leave David behind. I feel a little bad, but I just wasn't going to be able to make it if I stayed at his pace, so I left him about 3 hours into the ride. Maybe I'll see him my next rest day.

Kansas is now my least favorite state to bike in by far. Right now it's wheat harvest time. This means that the roads are FILLED with 18 wheelers hauling either grain or a very oversized load (usually gigantic John Deere havesters) bringing the grain to the local co-op elevator. It's not like they're being driven by truckers either. It's either farmers or farmers' teenage sons. I think the fear-of-death adrenaline really helped in getting me to the finish though. Ugh.

I've got to say, the rearview mirror I've got attached to my glasses is sooooo helpful. It helps a ton knowing when I've got to get off the road (e.g. Pinch point involving a train of oversized loads behind me and a grain truck ahead: GET OFF THE ROAD PANTANO... NOW!). The farmers appreciate this too.

Didn't see any other bikers on the road until about 6 where I passed three eastbounders. Two girls who didn't look like they wanted to stop and a nice Korean guy named Mu. He started in San Fran. His advice for the desert was to start early and bring 2 gallons of liquids. I was already planning on doing both of these, so that's reassuring.

I'm in a small town called Dighton. I'm pretty sure it's one of those disappearing Kansas towns. This place is depressing. I'm just glad the motel is still open.

I'm eating a fried steak for dinner. It's pretty gross but I need the protein.

I hope my thigh heals by tomorrow. I may have overdone it a bit.

Halfway through Kansas

Pretty good morning. Pretty bad afternoon. The morning was low traffic and low winds. The afternoon was very strong headwinds, lots of trucks, and not much shoulder. Flat terrain all day long. We survived.

Originally we were going to stop in Nickerson and camp there tonight. Instead we pushed north to Lyons, which is off route but allows us to go west all day tomorrow (we went north today instead of tomorrow). This is good because tomorrow we *should* be getting a tailwind all day long :). It's not going to be super strong, but by the afternoon it should be 10-15 mph. This will be my first all day direct tailwind on easy terrain :).

Let's hope the forecast is accurate. I should be getting in at least 95 miles. I'm not sure if David's gonna make it though. I think he might be pushing himself too hard to keep up with me. He's down to his last 3 Codeine.

There are these really annoying kids outside Wendy's yelling at cars to eat there. Something to do with the 4H club. I've got no idea where they're getting so much energy. Yeesh.

Ahh. I forgot to mention that during the ride to Newton a random lady gave us 20 bux for lunch! She's a cyclist living along the trail and oftentimes hands out Gatorade and the like to passing bikers. I thought it noteworthy.

That's it for today. Pretty standard day.

Did 73 miles.

Rest day in Newton

This was my slowest week since probably the first two weeks. It's only because I'm so confined by lack of motel availability (and because I wussed out yesterday). I feel fine. Body and bike are doing great. Next week will be better (except tomorrow).

2,058 miles so far. 2,035 miles to go. That's 52.2 mi/day for Aug 1 (down from 52.3) and 44.2 mi/day for Aug 7 (down from 45.4).

I'm itching to get to the Rockies and the desert. Those look awesome. I'll start the mountains in a little more than a week.

Bah!

I am worthless and weak.

Last night while perusing my maps I noticed Hutchinson wasn't too far away from the TransAm route. It was also 35 more miles of biking.

It's a bigger town than Newton, it has a better movie theater, it has bike shops, it would save me a day getting into Pueblo, it would help out the average, and I would have my century.

But nope, I stopped in Newton after 74 miles. I suck.

Let the excuses roll. I was tired. It was getting late. The heat index was over 100. There was a 20-30 mph crosswind all day long (that might have been going slightly east). David was having a slow day (he's 53 and keeping up with me has been tough on him) so I was out there for longer than expected.

My Aug 1 target is barely going to move when I recalculate :(. The worst part is that I KNOW I could have made it. I just would have been absolutely miserable.

I'm in an econo lodge in Newton, KS.

Side note: I passed the 2000 mile mark and the halfway point!

Side note 2: when David pees, he just stops his bike, stays on it, leans a bit to the right, and pees. It looks like he's checking his maps or something. I left David behind at mile 50 to try to do my century (we were going too slow for me to make it) and so I tried his method a little down the road... I peed a little on my right shoe. Gross.

Side note 3: David shaves his legs. Says it's way more comfortable in terms of cycling/sweat. Odd. I won't be doing this as I value my leg hair too much.

Easy day

Kansas is pretty flat.

Did 63 more miles with David. 75 tomorrow though. I haven't had a longish day for awhile mostly because of the distances between towns and how few towns there are.

Hot again, but we left a bit earlier and got in 40 miles before noon. Rolled into the motel a little after 2. It's a lot better than the last one.

I'm in Eureka, KS.

Just for posterity

D:

Nailed a few more

That last one was a wily one, but I knew I couldn't let it survive and pass on its superior evasion genes to its offspring.

This place needs to be condemned

Those are just the ones I could kill! At least it's really really cheap.

Met another cyclist today: David. I found him resting on the road about 1.5 hours into the ride. He's a pretty accomplished rider, and this is actually his 2nd time crossing the states. He biked the northern states last time. He's also a bit of a mechanic and built his own wheels, so he shared some wisdom and showed me a few basics (truing a wheel, what should be tightened, what to lube, etc). He also gave me a Kevlar spoke, which helps out in the peace of mind department.

Today was the first time he's seen more than one tourist in 2 months. He just hit the TranAm trail yesteryday. He started in North Carolina a couple of months ago.

I say more than one because we bumped into three guys going the other way. They were travelling extremely light and on road bikes doing over 100 miles a day.

He likes to motel it up too, especially in this heat, so we'll probably stick together for a couple of more days, until either my rest day or I start hitting bigger distances (got a couple of big days scheduled).

Speaking of heat, it's getting absurdly hot. It's going to be high 90s for the foreseeable future with a heat index in the 100s (today was 110). The best way to combat it is to start early. I hate getting up early :(

Had a good morning with some tailwinds going northwest, but it switched up in the afternoon and became a headwind. No big deal since it was only like 5-10 mph. Minimal hills :)

Other than that, did 59 miles and I'm in Chanute, KS.

Oh yeah

The verdict on those dried apples: not great. They're not as good as the trail mix ones. I think it's a texture thing. The trail mix version was more chewy while these are a little more chunky.

Maybe they'll get better as they get a little more stale... Or maybe I'll throw some rice in the bag to dry them out some more :).

Either way I'll still eat them, but not with the enthusiasm I was planning on.

Out of the Ozarks

And into the headwinds. The mountains are worse though. At least with the winds you've got something to combat the heat.

Plus if the 10 day forecast is accurate it's gonna get really hot for quite some time. No rain though, so there's that.

Today I met two new cyclists. I found them in the last big climb just as we were getting out of the Ozarks. They knew my name before we met and I knew their nationality. They are two women from the Netherlands: Anna-Marie and Elizabert (I've got no idea if I'm spelling that right. It's the Dutch version of Elizabeth). They've ridden before with one of the guys I rode with a few days back (that's how we knew of each other).

So I rode with them for about 50 of the 63 miles I biked today. Which was nice, because you can draft each other and avoid some of the headwind. Plus it's good to have company. We split off at the end of the day as they headed to their motel and I headed to the bike shop. They'll be resting tomorrow, so there's a pretty good chance I won't be seeing them again :(.

At the bike shop, I ran into that group I rode with again. They're down to 3 now: John, Will, and Joe. I got dinner with them at a pretty terrible Italian place. They'll probably be biking a good 30 more miles tonight. It might be awhile before I catch up with them (if I do at all). Either way, our trails diverge once we hit Pueblo.

Overall a pretty good day. It's good to finally hit some flat terrain. I'm just hoping for one day of tailwinds in the next 600 miles.

I'm in Pittsburg, KS.

Last thing: I should mention that the people at the Running Spring Farm (kind of a bunk-bed and breakfast) were all extremely nice and made for excellent company for the couple of hours that we saw each other.

I found some!!

Ever since I got a taste for them from a random bag of trail mix, I have been searching every grocery store I've been in for dried apples. Today, at long last, I found some.

From a distance I glanced at the corner of the store and saw what appeared to be a very large Sun-Maid dried fruit section. It was by far the largest I had seen throughout the trip. As I got closer, it became clearer and clearer that indeed this may be my day as I could tell the variety was unmatched (usually stores carry just raisens and cranberries, and maybe apricots).

And then I spotted them. Dried apples!! Yes!!

Needless to say I had a huge smile on my face as the cashier checked the 4 bags I picked up. I almost took all 7 but I wasn't sure how they would stand up to the heat inside my bags.

Not only do they taste great, but they're almost all low GI carbs with a good amount of potassium and sodium (electrolytes that you lose from sweat).

Taste the sunshine indeed.

As for the biking, today was much harder than I had expected. It was almost all big downhill, creek, big uphill. The hills weren't huge but they were all steep. Based on the elevation profile, I thought it would be an easy 55 miles. Nope. It was probably the second hardest of the trip.

Towards the end of the day, I ran into that group again. They lost 2 people, but gained 3, but it looked like they were losing 2 more. I knew they were ahead of me too from a gas station lady where I breaked. They went ahead to Golden City, while I stayed back in Everton to stay in a bunk bed on a farm. I *might* meet them tomorrow as I plan on getting an early start. We'll see.

Maybe I'll buy a better tent and camp more during the 2nd half of my trip. Maybe it's worth doing.

Big storms again!

Winds in excess of 60 mph :O. Going right through Marshfield.

One long month

Made it a month! Woohoo! Overall, I'd say it's gotten much easier. I am in wayyyy better shape than when I started and 50 miles in a day seems like a short ride. Now let's just hope it's good enough to survive high altitudes in the mountains and super hot temperatures in the plains and desert.

The rest day helped a lot and I had a ton of energy throughout the the day. The weather also worked out nicely. There weren't any winds and it was very cloudy for most of the day. If you look at the picture, it looked like that to the left and to the right for about 4 hours. I lucked out and got about two drops of rain.

It was hilly, but nothing compared to the trip to Houston. I only had two rest stops for a little food and other than that I was on the bike. I did 68 miles. Maybe one was vertical.

Almost out of the Ozarks. I've got about 1.5 days until I hit fairly level terrain and a little over 2 until it's pretty much flat.

Two more days until I hit the bike shop that's put aside a tire for me.

I'm in Marshfield, MO.

I saw cow poop today while I rode by. It was gross.

Rest day in Houston

Apparently some people have been asking my dad what I look like without the glasses and helmet. There you go!

Most people, it seems, do this trip with fewer rest days. I feel like if I kept going for that long I would be asking for injury. I know from running that you've got to take at least one day off a week or you'll suffer from injury or overtraining. I can't imagine it would be much different with cycling. Admitedly I know next to nothing about the details and it's a small sample size, but with that group I rode with for two days, two of them were wearing knee braces and one I didn't meet had bailed due to knee problems. They were going on 2.5 weeks without a rest.

Anywho, 2407 miles left (1674 so far). 52.3 mi/day to Aug 1 (down from 53.2). 45.4 mi/day to Aug 7 (down from 47)

I can't believe I'm not even halfway there!

Disaster strikes!

GeoTagged, [N37.30875, E91.96194]

About an hour into my ride I hear what sounds like a gunshot coming from my front tire. My inner tube burst through the sidewall of my brand new tire leaving both of them completely useless (3 inch long gashes). I think I may have damaged the tire trying to get it on my rims (puncture resistance tires are really hard to put on).

I'm on my spare but I'm feeling very exposed and uncertain. I've only got one unpatched tube left (the one with the very slow leak) and no extra tires. I've got to find that leak asap.

The next bike shop on route is around 180 miles away. I've got to call them tomorrow and see what they have in stock for tires. If another tire fails I guess I'll limp to the nearest campground and overnight a new one via Amazon.

I guess it's just lucky it happened on a climb. There were some BIG downhills today.

Speaking of today, I think today was the hardest terrain I'll be biking all trip. There were 8 extremely steep 200-400' climbs and one 700' that started extremely steep then went gradual. On top of that there were countless 25-100' mounds.

I ended up doing the full 71 mile trip so as to rest tomorrow and to test myself (if I can do this I can do the rest of the trip). I think about 2 of that 71 is vertical. This was also the first time since day 2 that I had a single digit average speed (9.9).

I'm in Houston, MO.

Soooooo tired.

You know what really grinds my gears?

Sunblock containers. You can never get the last of the sunblock out and you inevitably have to throw some out. They should switch to the same containers used for toothpaste. At least those you can roll up.

I've developed a pretty bad case of backne. It's worse than high school. I'm not sure what to do about it.

Anywho, did 59 more miles of the Ozarks today. Both the hills and the heat weren't as bad as yesterday, but they were still pretty bad towards the end of the day. The beginning of the day was just a gradual 600' climb followed by a gradual decline. The shortcut that saved me 7 miles was much less hilly than the map path.

I'll decide tomorrow, but I might take two short days tommorow and the day after. I'm not sure if I can do 75 miles of these hills in a day and the terrain looks a lot worse coming up.

I saw a couple of dead armadillos on the road today. I don't think I've seen an armadillo before. I also saw a dead dog and a dead cat :(

In happier news I helped a turtle get across the road. He was just chillin' in the center.

I'm in Ellington, MO.

Into the Ozarks

I woke up this morning with two weather alerts: one for potential flooding along the Mississippi and one for the heat. I didn't get any flooding but it was brutally hot.

Started out the day early with 40 miles of flat terrain and then entered the Ozarks after crossing the Mississippi. They don't get very high (max elevation I'll be seeing is 1600') but man are they hilly. People say this part is harder than the Rockies, so I guess it's good to get this out of the way... only 300 more miles left!

Headwinds again, but they don't really matter when you're climbing at 5 mph.

Had my scariest dog encounter yet. I get chased by dogs... a lot. They usually just bark and chase a little until you get away from the property. This one was big and fast and very aggressive, making me swerve and unclip a shoe to avoid it. I should have given it a swift kick, but the owner was there (yelling at the dog to come back) and I was able to get away. Bah.

I had to do another 40 miles in the hills to get to a motel (I'm so tired): 82 in all (with a few shortcut miles again).

I'm now in Farmington, Missouri.

They letter their routes here.

Raaaiiinn

First off, camping was worse. I had company and the site had better facilities, but rocky ground makes it really hard to put down stakes and it was much hotter than last time. I couldn't get to sleep because I was so uncomfortable. Maybe I should have brought a better tent.

Second, it's a good bit nicer riding with other people. However, I'm not sure if it's nice enough to compensate for the misery of camping and the extra weight needed for a mostly camping tour (kitchen + better tent + more clothes).

My new friends ride a good bit differenly than me (I'm not an expert biker. In fact I'm pretty new at this). First, they take hills a lot slower than me. This might explain why very hilly days make me so incredibly tired. Second, they seem to take the whole day getting to their destination (with their destination a LOT more flexible than me because they camp). They stop for large meals (that last over an hour) and do a little sight seeing. I don't eat large meals while I ride (banana + trail mix every hour) and don't do much else other than ride while I ride. Third, they do less distance with fewer rest days (they were going on 2.5 weeks without a rest). They would do very short days for rest instead (30 miles or so). Finally they can draft each other on strong headwind days! Unfair!!

As for today: it rained. A lot. We had 4 very strong showers and were only able to find shelter 3 times. Got drenched during storm 4. I was just barely able to get to the bike shop before it closed (had to leave the other guys behind to make it).

Unfortunately I had to leave everyone back in Carbondale and move ahead to Murphysboro on my own. I just won't be able to make it to tomorrow's motel if I don't and it's supposed to rain all week (I do NOT want to camp in the rain).

I may or may not re-meet up with them. I can follow where they are online. I neglected to take photos on the iPhone. Sorry!

I did a little over 60 miles (with a couple of shortcut miles on top of that).

Met some other cyclists

But those guys aren't it. The pictured guys were going west to east. Nice guys though.

Basically as soon as I got on the Transamerica path (finished off the Underground Railroad), I found 5 other cyclists going east to west. They're all nice guys. Only two of them started together. They met on the road.

They do a lot of camping, so I might not be able to keep with them for too long, especially considering the fact that I have reservations for tomorrow already.

I've got zero reception. The campgrounds I'm at has wifi.

Did 70 miles, but count it 65 due to a very big wrong turn. I'm getting new tires tomorrow too. I need them.

Got another flat today, but it was very slow. I was able to ride on it until the campsite (pumping every 20 miles or so).

Exteremely hilly today and will remain so for a long time. These guys tell me this will be the hardest terrain for the trip, though the heat in the desert will be very difficult.

Late night getting in. I'm in Eddyville, IL: out of KY.

My motel has a laundry room!!

I've been hand-washing my clothes since Buffalo. There just hasn't been anything convenient anywhere. I must admit my gloves were really starting to smell.

Speaking of smelling, pig farms smell bad. Very bad.

Today sucked.

First I had the thunder shower in the morning. After waiting an hour and a half I finally get back on the road. Riding in wet pavement gets mud and water all over you and your bags.

Then it rained again. I was expecting it because of the maps, but ugh. It got a little heavy once and was light for the most part but it's really no fun to ride in the rain. It finally cleared up at 1.

My speedometer decided to stop working for 5 minutes. I've got no idea what that was all about. Maybe I should get a new one at the next bike shop.

Getting into Henderson was a pain because some roads I was supposed to take were closed due to construction. It ended up saving me 5 miles but put me on a slightly dicey road.

And finally, you guessed it: 10 to 15 mph headwinds all day.

I can't wait to get out of Kentucky. Between the rumble strips, the rain, the hills, the construction, and the 2-way stop signs in cities (4-way is better) I've had enough of this state. I'm in Illinois in 30 miles.

I did 60 miles and I'm in Morganfield at a very nice motel for what it costs.

Thunderstorms again

GeoTagged, [N41.94554, E73.99731]

Bah. Looks like I've got to wait it out a bit longer this time, but I should be able to get there alright.