Andy's TransAmerica Trail Cycle 2008

Tips For Future Riders

2009-03-04T10:00:00.002-06:00

It is nearly a year since I began my trip and I have had the opportunity to speak to about 15 people who are now planning to do the same journey. I have been able to put many of them in touch with each other, particularly the British contingent but there is a recurring theme of people wanting advice on how to prepare for this kind of ride, and what they should be aware of.
Hence I thought I would write one more post with a collection of advice to would be travellers.

1.) The main thing to remember is that on the TransAmerica Trail you are not Grizzly Adams. This trail has the massive advantage that it is pretty well populated and so you are never more than 60-70 miles from civilisation at the longest point. This means that there is always food, water, a warm bed and a set of spanners around the corner.

2.) Following from the above point, you don’t need to pack like you are a mechanic. Some people take every type of spanner and sprocket wrench under the sun but this stuff weighs a ton. Take a puncture repair kit, a couple of spare brake pads (buy the ones where you just replace the pad and not the whole metal bit as they are super light), maybe a spare brake/gear cable, and a multitool. If worst comes to the worst and you need a set of spanners in the middle of nowhere, there are SUV’s driving by every few minutes and they can give you tools or if you need it, take you to the next town with your bike in the back.

3.) Clothing – Its not a fashion show. Take 2 or 3 pairs of shorts, 2 t-shirts, a fleece, a long sleeved top, lycra trouser things, underwear and a good rain proof jacket. If it is very cold then wear both t-shirts, your long sleeved top and the fleece together. Have a casual top and a pair of light cotton trousers for towns and maybe a pair of flip flops. You won’t need anything else and will be posting it back home after a week or so. Don’t forget swimming shorts though!

4.) Bike – buy a decent bike. A good bike will hold together far better than a cheap old bit of tat and so will save you having to carry loads of silly tools. I bought a Cannondale with Schwalbe Marathon tires and am still on the same tires after about 6000 miles or more! Make sure you have good gear ratios http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/gears.htm

5.) Don’t bother getting a super warm sleeping bag. They get too hot in hot weather and if you are caught in a snowstorm then get a hotel! You got to bed with all your clothes on if it is a cold night and that saves you carrying a mammoth sleeping bag which weighs loads.

6.) Tents depend on your personal comfort. I took a 2 man tent and valued having the room to stretch out and put my bags inside when it was raining. It depends on how much you value having a comfy evening after a long day. I was happy with a 2-manner!

7.) Practice changing your tires. I only had 3 punctures over 4500 miles but hated changing the inner tubes. Whilst you are sat at home watching telly, deflate your tire, take out the inner tube, put it back in and refit the tire. When you’ve done this 50 times whilst watching Eastenders, it will become second nature and not a hassle when you are in the middle of the mountains doing it.

8.) Buy the Adventure Cycling Maps. These are great and really help you find your way. A solid investment.

9.) Having been smart and adhered to my previous points, you should only need rear panniers. I had front and back panniers which enabled me to pack really lazily which is a synonym for heavily. The more space you have, the more junk you will pack. I didn’t have a handle bar bag but wish I did. They are great for storing camera, snacks, pepper spray for dogs and bits and pieces.

10.) Plan your route each day and keep a destination in mind. This helps you keep focused and having a target keeps you motivated. Also, get up early – 5:30am and get a lot of miles in before the sun and the wind kick in. I tended to get 2/3 of my day done by midday.

11.) Stay clean. The bane of cyclists is saddle sores and these will come from not showering regularly since you work up quite a sweat on the ride. Since you can’t shower every time you camp, buy a pack of body wipes from a supermarket when you get there and use them!

12.) Get your bike repaired on the ride – when you come to a big town – Carbondale, Pueblo etc put it into the bike shop for a couple of hours. In the US it only costs about $50 for a decent service and you will be grateful when it runs smoothly and doesn’t break down on you. $50 really is nothing to pay for the peace of mind that everything is working every 1500 miles or so.

13.) Don’t take a laptop. They are heavy things with all the power cables and stuff. Get an iPhone. They are great, perfect for blogging, you will find free wifi in every town bar a couple of really small places. Even if there isn’t public wifi, for some reason in the US, people don’t secure their domestic wifi networks so just hover around and you will pick up a free signal. If you have an iPhone and an iPod then you can save on carrying two chargers as well. Best not to use the iPhone for playing music as this is your main computer device so you don’t want to use up battery unnecessarily. That said, there are power points in every café, diner, church and gas station so you rarely get low on battery. Also, iPhones now have apps like Truphone which enable you to make calls over the web for 1p a minute or something trivial like that so you can call home cheaply.

14.) If you can, then get a US mobile off a friend or someone over there. Then, never use it to make calls home, but buy calling cards from gas stations which enable you to call home for 1p a minute if you can’t use the wifi option on the iPhone. It costs a fortune to use the pay-as-you-go phone to call home without these calling cards. Alternatively, just use payphones using the calling cards as every town has a payphone and you have to pay about a 50 cent premium on the total call cost for using these phones.

15.) Don’t be shy of hotels. If you have had a tough day doing 120 miles in blazing sunshine then don’t worry about being the outdoors man and camping – grab a motel for $40 and have a shower and a movie. You’ll be grateful the next day.

16.) When training for your trip, make sure you do plenty of rides with all of your kit, and ideally do a few days in a row, camping in your back garden if you need to, so that you get a realistic idea of what it is like to be on the road day after day.

17.) Get in the habit of cleaning the key working parts of your bike – chain and cables, and regularly greasing them up. Make this a routine and your ride will be a lot smoother. Make sure you know your way around your brake pads and how to tighten/loosen them etc.

18.) Read a few blogs and get a feel for what problems people encounter but don’t read any within a month or two of your trip as it will spoil the surprises if you know what is coming around the corner (normally a hill).

That's just about all. If you have any questions, do get in touch via the address on the front page and I can hopefully put people in touch with others who are doing the ride at a similar time.
Enjoy!

Back Home

2008-07-07T07:00:00.004-05:00

So I made it safely back home to London after a couple of days on the beers with my Dad up the Oregon Coast and in Portland and after no sleep for 24 hours walked jet-lagged into a delightful welcome home/30th birthday party.

A few weeks later after a bout of flu, several heavy drinking sessions, 2 day long music festivals and a Ben Folds concert I thought it would be good to collect my thoughts on the trip and hopefully offer some tips to future riders who stumble across this blog (I have already met one chap who is going to take it on next April)!

I'm not the kind of person who needs to "find" themself and so this trip was never about getting to know the inner me or any of that new age nonsense. It was first and foremost a physical challenge and to that end it was a success. I found that once I was past the Ozarks and into Kansas, the physical side was no longer a problem as by that stage your body knows what is expected of it and just knuckles down to the job. The toughest physical aspect of the trip was definitely the first 2 weeks or so. No matter how much training you do, you can't realistically get yourself ready for the daily grind of 60-80 miles each day in blazing sunshine then pouring rain straight afterwards topped off with a ropey night under the stars!

Mentally, there were some tough elements since the hills and the wind really get you down, particularly when thrown together. Again, you can get used to the hills since they are clearly of a finite length but when you are being battered backwards by wind and driving rain, you definitely contemplate stopping 5 miles into the day and going back to bed! I suppose that all you can do is what I did do, and just get your head down and keep pedalling and hopefully other riders won't get as rotten weather as I had this year! I found that i helped so much having a daily goal to aim towards in terms of mileage as without this it would be so easy to do short days not out of necessity but out of laziness when your body pretends it is more tired than it really is!

I met some great people along the way, both fellow cyclists and saner normal local people in the various towns I passed through and 99% of these folks were hospitable and welcoming. I never felt in any physical danger and rarely locked my bike up either at night or during day stops, and when I did, I just used the world's smallest lock. I wouldn't recommend taking anything other than a lightweight bikelock as some people I met were carrying absolute beasts that could secure a building but just weren't necessary.

I can't call my favourite state overall, as it is probably a 3 way tie between Kansas, Colorado and Montana. This is partially influenced by the weather since Oregon looked lovely on my last day but was cold and wet for the rest of the time, and the same applies to Idaho and Wyoming which didn't get a fair crack of the whip. Colorado was truly stunning with the best scenery I have seen all around me, Montana rode really well and had a great mix of snowy mountains and sunny meadows, whilst Kansas was just nice and flat and I had a lot of fun going through it!

Finally, I just wanted to mention kit. This post gave an overview of the equipment I took with me, but eagle eyed readers will have noted that I ditched a lot of this along the way as it was just too heavy and I didn't need half of it. I kept all of my tools, but luckily only needed my puncture repair kit but perhaps if I was going through a country with fewer bike shops then I wouldn't have got my 1000 mile services.

I won't go through all my clothing, but in summary, I had way too much. I survived with one pair of casual shorts and a casual shirt, 2 cycling tops, 2 nike under tops, one long sleeved top, 2 lycra shorts and some socks and boxers. There were plenty of laundromats or just sinks to do handwashing in, so this was plenty. I'm pretty sure I could have squeezed all my stuff into my back panniers and done without the front ones but it was nice to have the spare space to store food and water along the way, as well as books and various bits of junk I picked up!

My tent was great and my sleeping bag was more than enough to keep me warm since I didn't camp out in the coldest parts of the mountains, so I could probably have taken a lighter one but it was good to know that I could sleep just about anywhere with the equipment I had. I didn't miss not having a stove since there were cheap diners everywhere and I would rather pay 5 bucks and have dinner cooked for me than struggle in the wet with a gas burner.

Beyond that, I can look back on a fantastic adventure with memories to last a lifetime, or at least until Alzheimers kicks in, but if anyone wants any tips or advice then feel free to drop me a mail on the address on the front page, and hopefully I will see you on the road!

Thankyou

2008-06-11T00:37:00.005-05:00

It is Tuesday evening and I have left my trusty bike with the guys at Newport Cycles, who are going to box it up in preparation for my flight home on Friday. I have had 2 lazy days since finishing the TransAmerica Trail on Sunday and ridden a grand total of 50 miles up the Oregon coastline. I would have gone further but the weather has been rotten with more wind and rain and so since I have completed the ride, I seem to lack the motivation to pedal for hours whilst getting drenched, just for the sake of some sightseeing. My dad is flying in tomorrow morning and the current plan is to hit this brewery a mile or two from the hotel, then head to Portland on Thursday to try some of the local micro-breweries so things are looking up!

I wanted to take use this post to thank everyone who in various ways have made this trip possible, easier, and worthwhile.

Firstly thanks to Matt Benkert who put the silly idea of riding across America into my head, and then answered an endless chain of e-mails about what to bring, what training to do, and how to avoid rednecks. I am meeting with two potential TransAmerica Cyclists on my return to England and hopefully I can pass the baton on to them!

Thanks to Amy for letting me abandon her and Scruff for two months without too many complaints and for putting up with the worry when I vanished off the radar for a few days somewhere in the mountains of Colorado!

Thanks to Larry, Julie, Bob, Chris, Carl, and Dave for the great company and companionship whilst riding and for giving me a varied range of targets to catch up with along the way as well as for keeping me cheerful on the tough days.

Thanks to all of the kind people who helped me along the way with food, water, shelter and most of all words of encouragement and support as I passed through their towns and farms. A more organised system of support for touring cyclists is taking shape at www.warmshowers.org so if anyone here is willing to offer a garden to pitch a tent in or a hot meal and a shower then do sign up!

Thanks in particular to everyone who has donated to the NACC over the last two months since we have raised over $5000 (I can't find the pound sign on this US keyboard) which makes the trip a lot more worthwhile than was first intended.

Finally, thanks to everybody who has been reading this blog as it has been encouraging to have an audience for what on some days were just moans about the weather. I was amazed to find that through the trip the blog recorded over 1250 unique visitors with a high of 370 individuals reading it one one day and an average of around 60 people a day.

I am still hoping to do a post-mortem on the trip once I am back in England next week but for now, thanks once again!

Job Done

2008-06-09T09:35:00.005-05:00

I spent the evening in Eugene finishing uploading my photos, and then watching a couple of bands at a local open air gig. I was up early in order to finish off the final 78 miles to the coast.

The hotel had a pretty solid continental breakfast so I was fed and on the road by half seven with a brilliant 5.5 mile bike path leading out of town to the west. The ride was one of the nicest I have had on this trip with one small hill interrupting a lovely downhill it was easy going with no wind, no rain and great sunshine. It was cool to have such nice weather for the last day's ride and I finally got to have a rain free look at Oregon's countryside which was really scenic with miles of trees lining the roads.

Along the way I met Anthony, Aaron and Peter riding from California across the States, and then a few miles later came across Jim Craven, a maths teacher from Cincinatti Ohio. Jim was on a funky recumbent bike which looked comfy but must have been a killer on the hills with the riding position restricting the power you can generate. Next up was a fellow Londoner, Toby from Tottenham. Toby is riding from Seattle to Virginia and being a teacher he managed to skip school for the last half of summer term!

Leaving these chaps behind I continued on the leisurely roll downhill in glorious sunshine and stopped for lunch 15 miles from the sea at a cool train themed cafe which served a mean club sandwich and fries. The road from here was a bit more hairy as it became the 126, the main highway into town with a rough broken shoulder and loads of traffic.

Soon after 3pm I passed into Florence, met Dave at his hotel and unloaded all of my gear from the bike before the 6 mile pedal through town to get to the beach to dip my front tire in the Pacific having set off with my back tire in the Atlantic 55 days ago. By the time I had carried my sand coated bike back from the surf I was knackered and so slowly rode past some Tsunami warning signs back to the Lighthouse Motel, for some beers which had been 5 months in the waiting!

My plan from here is to ride a few miles up the coast towards Pacific City depending on the weather which is set to rain again apparently, then on Wednesday I am meeting my dad for some beers when he flies in from New Jersey via California. I guess I will collect my thoughts in the next few days but for now I am both relieved and happy to have made it across the country but equally I know I am going to miss the new sights each day and the challenges of the trip.

Eugene

2008-06-07T21:20:00.005-05:00

I managed to get 11 hours sleep last night despite what was all in all a crappy hotel. The Americans have a great expression, "Nickel and Dimed" meaning when someone screws you on the small things and is trying to squeeze cash out of you. There have been a few places on this trip where I have felt I have been screwed, be it a restaurant in the middle of nowhere asking for $5 to use their wireless when I had already spent $20 on a meal or a shopkeeper asking for a dollar just to fill up with tap water. Last night, I got a room with no heater, rubbish bed lined, and no tv or wifi which was directly above the bar so I had a load of drunken noise coming from there until after 11. This wouldn't be a terrible thing but I got the impression that the slightly high room price was made up on the spot when I arrived and the owner calculated the price that a cold and wet cyclist would pay for a dry room! This kind of slyness is a real shame and hopefully in the long run does them no favours as cyclists along the route recommend hotels and campsites to each other and equally will warn each other off these bad places.

That aside, I set off mid morning into a clear blue sky which soon enough saw me coming and switched to clouds and rain but I notched up 15 miles and got some breakfast down the road which filled me nicely. 15 miles later along a pretty busy and scary 126 highway (I took this rather than the more circuitous route by mistake)and I was into Eugene an hour too late to catch the "Global Naked Bike Ride" that was in town apparently!

I chilled in town for a while before heading to an internet cafe to begin uploading my photos from the trip that haven't made it on yet, then took a break to get a hotel and look around town. Eugene is the biggest stop on the route at about 130,000 population and it appears to be a mecca for the 'alternative community'. Town was filled with tattoos, piercings and general scabby looking folk in need of showers but it did give the place a relaxed hippy kind of vibe. The photos up top were in the middle of the town where some kind of bongo and flute playing improv session was going on with a pretty strong whiff of dope!

I finished uploading my photos so we should have a full set from Day One of the trip now. I realised that I could just switch my memory card from the first camera into the second to get those photos before I went home and it did the job so enjoy!
I am 78 miles from the coast and will probably head over there tomorrow depending on how this evening goes as there are some bands on in the town centre that I might go and catch but I it is nice to have time on my side for a change!

Also, if you haven't got around to donating to the NACC, then please do go to www.justgiving.com/transamerica as they are a great cause and could use all the help they can get!

McKenzie River Pirates

2008-06-06T21:00:00.002-05:00

My night in a wet tent was pretty restless as I seemed to wake every half hour in anticipation of the morning when I would have to find a gap in the rain to evacuate my kit and pack up. It seemed to be pouring whenever I woke so around 5am I made a dash for it and bagged everything up as best I could and headed for the main lodge.

Sadly the warm dry lodge didn't open until 9 so I sat outside waiting for someone to leave so I could get in. By half seven Dave had hit the road as he wasn't up for rafting and a few minutes later someone left the lodge so I grabbed a seat and dried off a bit. I spent a while chatting to Gary from last night who it turns out is a teacher back home, then by half eight he set off to do the reverse of our previous day's work.

I hooked up with some fellow rafters, Mark and Shirl from Kansas and Mark's sister Diana and her husband Tom from Indiana and soon enough we were getting kitted up for the river as in the photo. I decided to leave my camera behind on the advice of our rafting guide since I didn't want to lose all my trip photos and we were soon 7 miles upstream climbing into our raft! The 2-3 hours down the river was cold, wet, exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure as I was sat up front with Mark setting the oar pace for the others and getting the full force of the class IV rapids! This was a cool excursion and well worth it despite the shivering, bone chilling cold on the way back to the lodge which was fixed by a change of clothes and some hot food!

Once I was bored of being warm and dry I set off towards Eugene, sixty miles away, in the pouring rain and biting wind. After nearly two hours I decided to stop half way along since I have time to play with and was bored of being drenched again. There was a motel on the map about 28 miles from Eugene so I checked in there and one steak supper later am in my room drying off various bits of tent and clothing. I am planning a huge lie in tomorrow which probably means I will wake at 5 as normal but I only have about 30-40 miles on the cards for Saturday so I can take it easy all day!

Cold and wet but progressing

2008-06-05T23:17:00.002-05:00

It was pretty chilly overnight so I didn't sleep the best and was up and packed before Dave surfaced for once. We set a 30 mile target as the price of breakfast and were soon coasting into the first town of Prineville where my iPhone came to life. It picked up signal for the first time since early Colorado and so a flood of texts came through. I guess you don't use AT&T if you live out west!

Despite being forewarned I managed to misread the map leaving town so saved us 3 miles but it meant riding on a horrendously busy highway with very little shoulder. We entered Redmond from a different location than expected and so after navigating some roadworks ended up in the Hispanic end of town with lots of Taco joints to choose from for breakfast. Eventually I found the Black Bear Restaurant which dished up 'The Grizz', a huge feast for $10 although I was stung five bucks for an OJ.

I have been sneakily pushing Dave to do more miles each day (I squeezed 22 extras out of him yesterday) and his original plan had us stopping 19 miles down the road at the town of Sisters today. Since we were on course to get there by 11am we agreed to have a stab at Santiam Pass, the alternative route to Mckensie Pass which was closed by snow.

We stopped in Sisters Library to check mail and met Tom Perry from Knoxville Tennessee who was a few days into his eastbound ride. We left him in fine spirits as he went to meet another rider who had emailed him and was also in town!

The climb up the pass was 19 mile of which 12 were gentle and 7 steep. At 10 miles in the temperature began to drop and the rain started up to accompany the headwind so I put my head down and just worked the hill like a machine. I made the top soon enough but had a twenty minute wait for Dave who climbs a bit slower than me and I started to freeze on the exposed hilltop. I added some layers and we began the descent in driving rain, and I'm not ashamed to say I nearly wet myself. I was riding my brakes but still going about 25mph when a huge logging truck and a big gust of wind combined to fling my bike about, well out of my control for a couple of seconds. I didn't come off or get sucked in by the truck but I was sufficiently scared to grab an extended breather at the next layby!

The next dozen miles were freezing cold with the rain obscuring some nice scenery from what I could see, and eventually it slowed to a light shower and the elevation reduced to a warmer level. We had hoped to stay at a campsite near the pass but the rain convinced us to ride on until we found somewhere dry to pitch up. 98 miles in to the ride and we pulled up at the Belknap Lodge and campsite where we decided to call it a day. Rooms were too pricey since I have spent a small fortune so far this trip and so we opted for the $20 camping option.

The incredibly slow woman at the front desk gave us a map to the camping which was clearly drawn by Stevie Wonder as it bore no relation to reality and so Dave and I were hunting through a thick forest for ages! When we finally chanced upon the appropriate clearings, the rain started up again and I rushed to pitch the tent before it got drenched. Joyfully I chose this moment to combine clumsiness with a mind blank and I was unable to get the tent up for ages! By the time I made it work, it was soaked inside so I just chucked all my bags in and swore my way upto the lodge for a shower.

At the lodge were 3 more cyclists headed East, Brian and Molly from Portland and Gary Hicklin from Virginia. We chatted a while then I showered, caught up on email and booked myself in for whitewater rafting tomorrow morning with a firm that picks up from the lodge. Having seen how high the river was today, it should be quite a ride tomorrow. I'm heading back to my wet tent now for what looks to be a damp night's sleep!

Mountain Men

2008-06-04T22:56:00.002-05:00

Yesterday at the church was cool, getting all of my laundry done, drying my tent out from the previous night and meeting Ted and the gang. The computer was on dialup internet which was a shame as I wanted to upload a few photos but should get a chance at the weekend. For dinner we walked down to the only restaurant in town and the fools offered us all you can eat tacos for $6.95 which we gladly accepted and we certainly got our money's worth with about ten each. Once Ted, Ian and Nikki got back from Ted's ride I played frisbee with his dog, Angie, before getting an early night ahead of today's climbs.

Dave and I were up, showered, packed and out by half six and hungrily set off since there was nowhere in town open til 11 and nowhere on route for 40 miles. The morning session was an absolute bigger with 32 miles of constant climbing into an incessant head wind that kept you at 6 or 7 mph. It was understandably slow going and my frustration mounted every time I clicked through on my speedometer to check the mileage only to find I had travelled about 2 metres forwards.

One redeeming factor in the morning ride was the scenery as we were riding through the John Day Fossil Beds. This now arid area used to be a tropical jungle back in the olden days and was inhabited by rhinos, sabre-toothed tigers and giant sloths, fossils of which can be found today.

Near the top of the hill I met a father/son combo who were riding do Idaho with all of their kit being driven by mum but I didn't catch their names before finishing the climb and a 7 mile descent into the town of Mitchell.

This old mining town has had it hard since it began as a trading station, with two huge floods and a fire destroying 90% of it over the years. I waited 15 minutes or so for Dave to cone down off the pass then we ate well at a small cafe on the outskirts of town where there was a grumpy cyclist from Vancouver going to Ohio who wasn't up for much chat.

Having won the endurance contest against Keyes Creek Pass, we had the shorter but steeper 16 mile, 2500 foot climb up Ochoco Pass next. Our ascent stopped after about half a mile as my bike's handling worsened and I could tell we had puncture problems again.

It was the back tire but I made surprisingly light work of it and with a hand from Dave, was back on the road in about 15 minutes! A mile or so later we met Slade Bradbury from Colorado Springs who had a racing bike with trailer and was going from West to East. He was a great chap and should make good time with his light set up so we recommended the Dayville Church and carried on upwards.

We stopped a few miles further when I spotted a rattlesnake by the road and the little chap was both alive and active! He gave us a little rattle and posed for some photos before skulking off into the bushes.

The rest of the climb was steep but bearable since only the last 7 miles were granny gear material and soon enough I was relaxing at the top snacking and returning waves from drivers whilst waiting for Dave.

From there we had a 22 mile downhill that took us to Ochoco Lake Country Park (the lake is in the top photo) where we are camping for the princely sum of five bucks! Dave cooked a mean bowl of Ramen Noodles whilst I repaired the inner tube from earlier and it is now time for a trip to the land of nod as there are big riding plans for tomorrow.

God Rocks

2008-06-03T18:34:00.006-05:00

I was asleep by half 8 last night, cosied up in my tent, and woke at about 1am to the sound of heavy rain again! By the morning it had stopped long enough to put the tent away and get on the road in order to finish off the 3 peaks with a quick ascent of Dixie Peak. It really helped not having the sun overhead, and we were at the summit in no time without any stops on the way up.

There was a 7 mile downhill from there, with a short break at a lookout point over Strawberry Mountain which was great seeing the mountain top encased in morning mist. The town of Dixie City at the bottom of the hill was pretty quiet and its 2 restaurants were both closed which was most annoying since there were two hungry Englishmen outside and the rain had started up with some gusto.

There was nothing to do but get through the next 13 miles to the town of John Day and we aced this section in well under an hour, arriving dripping wet but eager for feeding. $7.99 bought a huge breakfast with pretty much everything on the plate from bacon and eggs to sausages, hash browns and pancakes and we tucked in heartily! From here we had to make a couple of stops around town for the post office so Dave could send some stuff home, and I had to go to an office supplies store where the lovely Vanessa let me use their computer to type a reference letter and then fax it back to London. One more stop at the post office to send the hard copy of that letter and a quick phone call home for both of us (Dave's call was answered by his daughter Amy and I think he had tears in his eyes afterwards) and we were hot on the trail of the final 30 miles to Dayville.

7 miles in and a garage beckoned us to eat their fresh cookies which we willingly did, and then we braved the rain again for the last 20 or so miles. All was well and we were averaging 15 mph despite the rotten weather, when we hit some unmanned roadworks where there was basically 3 miles of gravel on our side of the road. This dragged the pace down below 10mph and it was like riding through wet sand so I skipped into the left hand lane since there was no traffic as far as the eye could see. Eventually we got through this joke of a road and soon pulled into Dayville.

In Dayville is the local Presbyterian Church which is well known amongst cross country cyclists for putting riders up for the night. They have a washing machine and dryer, hot showers, dial up internet and a kitchen so you can make yourself at home here - as I am doing now. When we got here there were 3 people already encamped in the church hall and they are fellow cyclists (well one of them is at least).

Ted Schneck is a marketing executive from Oregon and he is riding across the country to raise money for dogs with cancer - www.DogCancerRide.com - which is a great cause by the sounds of it! Ted has two friends with him, Ian and Nikki, who are running a pretty hi-tech media operation with video, photos, blog and lots of other funky stuff and they are hoping to both raise a lot of money for Dog Cancer Treatment, and to raise awareness of the cause through local media across the country. Ian and Nikki are driving a car/jeep and carry Ted's equipment for him and they are just getting used to the day to day process of hotels/hostels/possibly future camping as they move along the route.

I have a load of washing in the machine whilst drying out my tent from last night, and am going to grab some food in town soon before hitting the hay pretty early tonight in advance of a beast of a hilly ride tomorrow.

Short Day

2008-06-02T20:16:00.003-05:00

I got a beauty of a lie in until nearly eight am today and showered in the most powerful shower I have felt for years. This thing was like a fireman's hose and I left the motel feeling super clean. Dave and I grabbed breakfast at a cafe a few doors down before hitting Safeway for food drink and assorted painkillers and face prettying goods. On the way out I bumped into a fellow cyclist who is on his way to Virginia. He was Chuck Bell from Paradise, California (seriously) and was looking way too fit and healthy for a guy in his 60's. Chuck's bike was the same weight if not heavier than mine when I started and he is aiming to post about 30 pounds of excess kit home in Missoula.

Dave and I finally left town at half ten, now fully in wind down mode, and we began the 29 mile climb to the first peak if the day, Sumpter Pass. It was slow going with a wind in our faces but after a few hours we were sat at the top having lunch and I nearly dozed off in the sun when I lay down to stretch my back out. Dave woke me just as I was drifting off and we rolled downhill for 7 miles before beginning another climb up to the top of Tipton Pass where they once hand laid a railway to take logs and gold down the mountain. I took a few breathers on the way up but still made it to the top ahead of Dave who managed no breaks but a slower steadier pace.

After a relaxing descent we decided to save the third peak for tomorrow. The only campground at the top has fallen behind apparently and you can now only camp on gravel with no water either so we set up camp at Austin Junction which has a restaurant and gift shop complex and they allow camping in the back forest. One club sandwich later I am stretched out on an old wooden swing bench at the front of the store writing today's entry. We just met a couple of motorcyclists, Kurt Peterson and Matt Longtin from Portland and Eugene respectively, and these guys are on the tail end of a week long bike tour down by Utah and Nevada. It turns out that they are both cyclists and have ridden the Rawlins to Florence section of this route and they are hoping to do the Pueblo to Rawlins section next. Coincidentally, on their motorbikes they have also been to Jeffrey City and they had a pretty similiar experience to me (as did Dave it seems!!).

I received an email from Carl who has now finished his trip and is chilling in Missoula so congratulations to him as he had some rough days along the way! Early night tonight and we are staying at a church tomorrow which has showers, laundry machines and a PC which should be cool.

Whamatron

2008-06-01T22:21:00.003-05:00

I slept well after the steaktastic dinner last night and had to be woken by Dave rather than by the tweeting of birds for once. Dave had been up since six, cleaning a huge amount of bird poo from one side of his tent, left by what must have been a giant creature apparently!

We were packed and out soon after 7 then 500m later we entered the Pacific Time Zone and so gained an hour. In today's 72 miles we went up 4000 feet in elevation with some pretty hot sun beating down so it wasn't an easy one.

The 30 miles to breakfast were made up of a gentle climb leading up to a steep hill which felt too much for such an early hour but we had the compensation of a 6 mile downhill into the town of Richland. A dishonest sign told me that the library was open on Sundays so I bumped along a gravel track for no good reason before returning to the local cafe to wolf down a mediocre 'breakfast burrito' and some watery OJ.

We had a 41 mile stretch from Richland to Baker City next, with no services or shade so we packed some spare water and slowly began climbing out of town to what was an uneventful section marked by several medium sized hills and attractive cliffs. We didn't meet any eastbound riders today which was a surprise after the last few days so there wasn't much to break the ride up but a few water stops later and we were at the foot of Flagstaff Hill staring at a 5.5 mile climb up 1000 feet which was beaten by a series of one mile pedals and then rest! I can definitely feel the last week catching up with me but have a beautifully light schedule ahead with under 450 miles left to the coast and 10 days to do it in. I am planning some time off to go rafting along the way and may even cycle to Portland once I get to Florence in a week or so...

The final ten miles were accompanied by rain which came from nowhere but actually was welcome after the day's heat and wasn't heavy enough to soak my bags or clothes. We grabbed a £20 motel which has wifi and just had a great dinner at Paizans Pizza restaurant which had the tastiest 'stromboli' pizza which was a pizza wrap/baguette thing and has filled me up to burst.

Nine down, one to go.

2008-06-01T00:54:00.002-05:00

That was a good day. I didn't get to bed last night until after 11 as I was taking apart and cleaning my bike which was filthier than Mark Oaten. With that done it ran a lot smoother today which a much cleaner transmission and effective brakes.

I had my lie in til half seven then hit the road to the nearby town of Cambridge where 22 miles later I met a 50 strong cycling club who were organised for a local ride. I chatted to a few folk there including a chap called Butch Schwarz before heading over to the local cafe where I hooked up with Dave from yesterday. He had camped on the far side of Council last night, hence my inability to find him but we discussed destinations and settled on a 65 mile day to Oxbow, Oregon.

Dave and I had some good chat today and I heard about his 9 year old daughter Amy (10 in 18 days!) his work back home as a welder, and his multiple hiking trips including the epic Appalachian Trail. Dave is a self confessed 'worzel' with a heavy Somerset accent that leads one to expect an offer of an ignition device for some farming equipment. It is good to have some English company for a few days and to hear 50 years worth of stories.

We left Cambridge and stopped at the edge of town to speak to a young guy from Canada called Zach who was a couple of weeks into the West-East route. He is carrying a lot of excess stuff (stove, multiple pots and pans, jeans, hiking boots and a spice rack) so I urged him to hit a post office but we will see....

Next up were a team of 4, Bill from Oregon, Mickey from Holland, Natalie from Wisconsin and Sue from North Carolina. They were riding staggered and I think Bill might split from the gang as he looked and sounded quite hardcore whereas the others were more leisured. Mickey lwas one of the original cyclists on the Bi-Centennial ride so was back for seconds which was good going!

We left those guys and continued on our 15 mile climb before a six mile leisurely descent to lunch with a $2 two hotdog combo each at a shop/cafe type place. The last few miles were gentle with some cool views over Hells Canyon, the deepest river canyon in the whole US which was a big boy and we took our time, stopping to chat to the sheriff and to take in the sights.

Our destination of Oxbow had a recommended campground so we pitched our tents up in a great park within earshot of the river with towering hills all around. I showered and then started wrestling with a couple of labradors by an RV and got chatting to their owners who kindly invited Dave and I to join them for dinner of steak and salad!

Brandon and Tammra, their daughters Katie and Andrea and their energetic foster son TJ made us feel at home and while we ate well, we got a great insight into hunting and fishing and the multitude of laws and permits involved in shooting various animals with various guns and bows!

We also bumped in to a Geordie from Washington just south of Newcastle, who us doing some touring around the Pacific North West by car. His name was George Thompson and by the sounds of it he has some pretty cool things lined up to see round here.

I also received a nice email from Tony who runs the cafe in New Meadows where I had my tasty club sandwich yesterday and where I sent the other cyclists to feed after I saw them. . Tony tells me that Council, where I stayed yesterday, is so named because Indian used to convene there for their big summits and discuss things 600 people strong. When we met, Tony told me about his time in England and his inability to understand northerners and how because of this he turned down a trip to Scotland, fearing the scale of the communication barrier!

We have quite a big day of climbing ahead on Sunday and now I am in Oregon I can almost smell the sea!

The Huntsman

2008-05-30T22:53:00.002-05:00

It felt like I had only slept for about 10 minutes when I woke this morning but it was 5 am ( I didnt bother changing my clocks yesterday as they change back today due to the circuitous route I take though Idaho.

I was showered and out by half past, determined to hunt down Dave before my legs gave up after the recent marathon days I have been riding. My now familiar riding companion, Mr Precipitation, was waiting for me at the door so we headed off together like two old friends.

The first couple of miles saw the end of my climb to the top of the hill I began yesterday and then I had a beautiful switchbacking descent all the way to White Bird where I filled up on oatmeal and toast. The problem with some of these descents is that you are going so fast and the road is so precarious to stop on that you can't take any photos of the views which are stunning at those heights but at least I have the memories!

Through the rafting haven of Riggins I rode alongside the Salmon River which I was told is teeming with the tasty fellas but I didnt see any jumping out of the water to be grabbed by a bear which was disappointing. It happens on telly!

More climbing was matched by an end to the rain and the start of some sunshine which soon changed from a welcome addition to a humid annoyance with all my rain gear still on.

After another 30 miles I turned into the town of New Meadows and spotted a half loaded rig outside a cafe and looking inside I recognised our friend Dave Fisher from his Polaroid at Adventure Cycling HQ! I approached him like a confused old friend, "Dave...Dave Fisher....is that you buddy??" His bemused and slightly scared look led me to start laughing and I explained the situation which helped!

Dave was finishing lunch so I grabbed a Club Sandwich and we caught up on each other's trips and on the people we had met in common. His destination for the day was another 25 miles down the road so I agreed to meet him there after I went to the library in New Meadows. I am most happy with my catching of Dave and Carl in the past few weeks. I'll hunt down Jimmy Hoffa's grave for you next week!

A few emails and a couple of phonecalls later I was pulling out of town when I met 3 cyclists coming the other way. They are doing the same route as me but from West to East so are just starting out compared to me. Whilst we swapped notes on good places to stay and dives to avoid, two more Eastbounders came into town, Gaby and Cesar from Argentina! Gaby lived in London for 9 years in Camden Town so was able to probe deeper into where I lived than the usual, 'oh Europe' that I often get.

After a few rounds of photos we went our separate ways, they to eat and I to the small town of Council. It was an uneventful ride with some nice forests that smelt how you wish Pine Fresh air fresheners did but don't! I rode past a logging firm which had a bizarre 50 metre high mound of logs that were being hosed with water from all angles. I guess this must be to prevent fires when they are chopped into planks??

I was in Council by 7, wondering to myself if they have a Council Council and I couldn't spot Dave anywhere so grabbed a cheap motel since I need to take my bike apart and clean the chain which is giving me grief lately due to the rain probably.

I am now sat in the Council laundromat getting some fresh clothes and will probably hook up with Dave in the morning as I hope to have a lie in til half seven then play catch up on the road. It should be nice to have a biking compadre again for a few days at least. His schedule for the coast isn't too dissimiliar to mine so it should work out well.

On a final note, it is nice to start seeing more bike traffic coming the other way as this is a warmer time of year (in theory at least) so there should be a steady flow of cyclists from now on to chat to as we meet. On the top photo there are myself and David(not the English one) crouching down, then Adrienne and Candice from Ohio and Gaby and Cesar who I mentioned. Good luck to them all (coincidentally it turns out that David has been reading this blog in his prep for his trip!!)

Idaho

2008-05-29T20:28:00.007-05:00

After yesterday's rotten finish, I spent the evening trying to dry my clothes and shoes in front of a tiny portable heater which was pretty difficult. I went to bed at half eight with the heater on full blast facing the bed on the end of which I had draped my shorts and balanced by shoes but then woke up thinking it was morning to find it was only ten pm!

I got up again at the right time of 0515 and put on different shorts and top but had to make do with soggy shoes. It was of little consequence though as it was already raining outside and I headed out prepared for another soaking. The ride began with a 1000 foot climb to the top of Lolo Pass where I crossed the border into Idaho. Apart from yesterday's antics I really liked riding through Montana. It is a pretty state not unlike parts of England but with some bigger rolling hills and you can see why they call it 'Big Sky Country'.

The top of Lolo pass was shrouded in mist and I could only see a few metres ahead of me as I headed down a 9 mile hill towards an early breakfast at Lochsa Lodge since the clocks went back an hour at the border. Here I met Bob and Lori, a couple of cyclists from Victor, Idaho who were riding the Lewis and Clark trail. For any non-US people, Lewis and Clark were the leaders of an 1804 expedition to explore the American West at the behest of Thomas Jefferson after the Louisiana Purchase of huge swathes of the west from France. These guys are big names over here since their 3 year journey helped map out previously untouched parts of the US. Bob and Lori met Dave from England yesterday morning and he apparently left Lochsa yesterday morning.

The next 65 miles had no services but were slightly downhill following the course of the Lochsa River but I had constant rain beating down on me as I pedalled down one scenic but slightly monotonous road. Traffic was light with a few RVs and logging trucks blowing me around and I was glad I didnt go rafting along here. The rapids are rated as Class V which is up there with the fiercest and from the road l could see how rough the water was cutting up. After 85 miles of riding for the day I pulled into The Wilderness Inn, a surprisingly busy cafe/bar where I ordered loads of food!

Just before my food arrived I spotted another cyclist coming in so I invited her to sit at my table only to find out she was a fellow Brit! Her name was Gill Hamilton from Edinburgh and she works at the National Library of Scotland. She managed to negotiate a 4 month break from work to cycle from Washington to Maine, having previously done a mini tour in the Rockies! Gill's website is www.pedalplenty.com . It was so good to meet another Brit and we ended up chatting for about two hours and compared kit since we both have Cannondales and Arkel Panniers. It would have been good if we were going the same way but eventually we headed opposite ways down the road and I finished the last few miles to Grangeville via dinner in Kooskia but overall the end of the journey dragged a bit after my extended break!

From what I hear, Dave Fisher is making some good ground and is riding a rig about half the weight of mine so I will have to rely on the youthful energy that I am supposed to have although I am definitely catching up! It is nice to see a few more cyclists on this section of my trip and I guess it is because most riders do their touring from May and June onwards to avoid the terrible early season weather.

Beautiful Weather

2008-05-28T20:32:00.002-05:00

I slept so well last night in the hotel room of dreams and would definitely rate it as the best room I have stayed in, all for half the price of a room at the Travelodge back home! It took me a while to drag my corpse out of bed but after a shower and some emails I was out by half six.

The journey to Missoula was slightly uphill but made easier by a bike path for the first 12 miles. The remainder was terrible with road works which had filled the tiny shoulder with thousands of stones and bits of glass. I was right up against some fast moving traffic and almost came off when I edged into the crash barrier but it was more of big stumble than anything else.

Once in Missoula I made my way across town to the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters. They are the non-profit folk (reminds me of the joke about Mohammed getting turned down for a job at the Cancer Research shop as they are a non-prophet organisation) who make the maps I use and do lots of other cyclist friendly stuff.

I was met by Becky who takes care of riders when they come in, and she got me to sign their guestbook and took a Polaroid of me for their 2008 wall. I was amazed to see that Dave Fisher, a cyclist from Somerset England was in there yesterday morning as he was a week ahead of me at the start of Colorado and is travelling light with only two small bags of kit! The top photo is of one of several bikes they have on the walls there and this one was a Peugot PX10 ridden by their chief cartographer, Carla Majernik when he rode the TransAmerica Trail in 1976 for the first time.

I was left to use the computer and all their facilities including a fridge full of drinks and a freezer full of ice cream, before leaving at 11 having dawdled long enough. One problem I had today was that I lacked a clear idea of where my destination was. Without that it is easy to mess about and get nowhere since there is no target and I did just that.

I stopped at the bike shop to pump up my tyres with a decent track pump and bought a tiny allen key for my brakes, then spent ages getting lunch and making calls at Safeways where I met a nice chap called Marty Mastas who gave me some tips on the roads ahead and some white water rafting spots, so it was nearly 2pm when I headed out again.

A few miles outside Missoula I stopped to chat to a cyclist coming the other way fully loaded with kit. He was Robert Menegio from Santa Fe and was riding from Oregon to Virginia by a most circuitous route through the Great Lakes and Canada (he doesn't like the heat). He saw Dave from Somerset yesterday and apparently he is racing to get back for his daughter's birthday so I may not catch up with him.

I began a gentle climb out of the town of Lolo up towards Lolo Springs, where I knew I could stop for the night if I felt lazy. I stopped at a garage to fill up on water and to put on more sunscreen since it was really cooking and then minced around on the phone a bit more.

There were 25 miles between me and Lolo Springs and I took the first 15 at a nice steady pace, slowly watching the sun disappear behind a darkening mass of black cloud. Soon enough it started to rain so I had to unpack my rain jacket which I had confidently put away last night and I moved my camera and phone inside my bags.

This was not to be a light shower however and the heavens opened like never before on this trip. I may as well have been under a waterfall as within minutes I was soaked through, the rain even coming in at the neck of my jacket. With the precipitation shock troops having done their job, the heavy guns came out and wave after wave of hail came down, stinging my face really painfully and reducing my vision to about 3 metres. Thunder and lightening filled the sky, getting closer and closer together as the hail started to fill the roads a few centimetres deep accompanied by small streams that were forming on the road.

There was no let up and nowhere to seek cover as there was a river on one side and a now flooded ditch on the right between me and a wire fence. All I could do was keep moving onwards towards Lolo Springs and hold my breath whenever a logging truck sped by me. I did see two other cyclists on the opposite side of the road but there was no way we were going to stop in these conditions.

Eventually I made it to the top and stood shivering in the Lolo Springs bar whilst I waited for the cabin man to turn up. Having spoken to Robert earlier I was hoping to follow his recommendation and stay in a teepee up here but the state of me necessitated a cabin with heater to try and dry my sodden clothes and shoes.

So the lesson of today has to be 'Don't mince around as you never know what's ahead of you'. However I am sure this storm is following me across the last few states - just look at the weather photo from a couple of posts back and you can see the evil intent.

Ascent and Descent

2008-05-27T21:30:00.005-05:00

I was up early once again today and on the road by 6 which was tough with my whole body fighting to stay in bed. i hadn't decided on a final destination for the day but I knew that Missoula was up ahead at 144 miles and there was another mountain between us so today was not going to be a day to break any records.

I made solid time to the town of Wisdom which was sadly lacking any crowds but I had a great breakfast in a restuarant there which seemed to combine every breakfast item into a hash brown mix. The owner of the restaurant was actually just back from a 2 week trip to the UK so she told me about her trips to Rye, Chartwell, Aberdeen and the Shetlands. She also stayed in a B&B a few miles south of Gatwick so she may have had the honour of a Horsham visit (she couldn't recall).

The next 30 miles of climbing went by pretty smoothly with lots of deer to keep me company at the sides of the road and only the last 4 miles were particularly tough. Just after the summit I found myself about 100 yards from the Idaho border but following the proper route meant that I had to ride away from it and look forward to formally crossing it in a day or so. From here there was a scary descent from the mountain pass since my back brakes were disconnected as they were fully worn and would damage the rims if I used them. I made it safely to the bottom and rewarded myself with an ice cream and then powered through the next twenty to the town of Darby where a huge burrito awaited me for lunch.

It was 2pm now and I was beginning to entertain thoughts of going the further 78 miles to Missoula but my body wasn't too happy with that plan and made the next 20 miles particularly painful with the sun now in full glow and my knee and back aching with every mile. At Hamilton I stopped at the bike shop and bought some new brake pads which was a relief, and borrowed some tools to tweak a few things that weren't ship shape including my speedometer and cadencemeter which has been broken for almost a week since Buhler.

I considered stopping here for the day but pushed on to Stevensville 19 miles down the road which wasn't a fun ride with no shoulder and narrow lanes all the way. One downside of leaving the high elevation is that the flys attack you again. Up high there were no flies, bees, grasshoppers or other creepy crawlies but as soon as I went below 4000 feet they began their attack on me.
With still more rain clouds gathering in the sky and 120 miles in the bank I treated myself to another hotel and have found a real beauty called the Stevenson Hotel. It is some sort of historic building and I have a suite with its own jacuzzi and a PC for 30 quid! Bargain bucket!

I have been through the pages since Pittsburg and arranged the photos so that they look a bit better and have uploaded the ones from the last few days so enjoy.

Jackson Hot Springs

2008-05-26T22:06:00.003-05:00

The alarm wasn't too welcome at the now regular 0515 time since I stayed up watching Rocky Balboa til ten last night and didn't sleep for almost an hour with all my faffing around.

Nevertheless I was out by six, having answered some emails from back home and had an easy ride to Twin River ten miles away for breakfast. I had thought about pushing on to Twin River last night but knew that with my luck it would have been ten miles of twisty, windy hills! I had a 'Cowboy Breakfast' which was terrible for my arteries but good for my energy and was out of there by half seven onto the 30 miles to Dillon.

Dillon is a small college town hosting the University of Western Montana (I think that was the one) and the journey there was legendary. I have heard about, read about and even dreamed about tailwinds but today I was spoilt by possibly the first wind from the East that I have had all trip. Within two hours I was parked up outside Safeways in Dillon and proceeded to load up on snacks and supplies for today since I had a 50 mile stretch with no services. I was also happy to raid their medicine aisle since my back has been killing me for the past 4 days with what feels like a pulled muscle and I had run out of nurofen.

I spent the next hour doing circles around town as I couldn't find my way onto the 278 road and finally I realised I could get to it via the interstate for two junctions.

According to my maps, the next 50 miles consisted of a series of climbs over two peaks/hills depending on your optimism (the official term is 'mountain pass')! The first one was about 15 miles of climbing and its top marked my pre-planned lunchtime stop where I sat in the rain wolfing down a bad boy sub from Safeways and a granola bar. As I finished lunch and set off I saw another rider coming from the other direction so we both stopped for the now customary cyclist chat.

Since this chap was just on a road bike (racer) I assumed he was a local out for a fun ride in the rain but appearances can be deceiving. Dennis Farling was in his mid to late 50s, from British Columbia and was doing the TransAmerica Trail from West to East. He must be the luckiest cyclist ever as he has convinced a pal to drive a Volkswagen van all the way with all his kit and a mountain bike for the tough hills in it! His friend is also a radio buff and so they have two way radio going on too! It must be so much easier doing the trip that way as his road bike must weigh about 5-6 times less than my loaded bike and the option of switching to mountain bike gearing will be useful in the Appalachians!

We said our goodbyes and I sped down the other side of the first hill which was scary in the wet as my brakes are wearing out and really need new pads so don't work too well in rough conditions! One day until the next bike shop....

The second hill didn't seem as tough apart from the final mile which felt vertical and then I had a steady downhill all the way to the town of Jackson. I had heard good things about Jackson Hot Springs Lodge and picked up a basic lodging for $28 which got me out of the rain and thanks to my super speedy pedalling I was in their huge sulphur spring pool by 1630! This pool was the size of a a proper swimming pool (as per the top photo) and piping hot as one would expect from a hot spring so I soaked there for an hour or so, reading my book and relaxing.

I've just eaten at the lodge restaurant which was surprisingly good and would love to stroll through to the bar next door but still have a week or two free of the devil's buttermilk so will retire to my room for the night!

Super Sunday

2008-05-25T20:30:00.003-05:00

I had a nice leisurely afternoon yesterday in the town of West Yellowstone, catching up with family on the phone and working through a couple of days of e-mail accompanied by snacks from Tubby's Bakery.

Again I was up at 05:15 this morning and in the hotel office by 6 for their continental breakfast. I remember when I was younger that pretty much every hotel I stayed at had huge meaty breakfasts with none of this continental lark, although this one was better than most since to accompany the usual spread of toast and cinnamon rolls were some freshly cooked omelettes of which I had 4 to get some energy for the day ahead.

It was still almost dark as I set off since dark clouds obscured any sign of a sunrise and this continued for most of the morning with light showers and black skies following me for the first 40 miles. As I left town I passed West Yellowstone Airport and had the temptation to hop on a flight for the coast to get away from the terrible weather of the last few days but resisted bravely. It is interesting to see how many of these small towns have their own airports when they only have populations in the hundreds..

The general terrain for the morning was sloping downwards which gave me some momentum to help my tired legs and I rode through some pretty nice parts of the countryside including two lakes, the giant 'Hebgen Lake' and the smaller 'Quake Lake' formed by an earthquake which caused an 80 million ton landslide to dam the Madison River back in the late 1950s. Fishermen were starting to head out in boats to Hebgen Lake as well as on foot into the streams of Madison River to do some fly fishing reminiscent of 'Legends of The Fall' which was set around here.

By half eleven I had put 60 miles in the bank and arrived at my lunch stop of Cameron, which wasn't even a town but more of a bar/cafe/shop combo in the middle of nowhere. That said, they served some great food and the bar looked pretty snazzy with a couple of pool tables in good condition but sadly I was flying solo so couldn't embarass myself. I stopped at the next town of Ennis to make a couple of calls and got chatting to a guy called Barrett who comes from the town of Bozeman which was a fair few miles back on my route. Barrett is also a cyclist and is planning to do some riding in Canada this summer with his wife who coincidentally had just bought some prints by the Scottish painter and engraver William Strang!

I didn't have time to stop long in Ennis but it looked quite a cool little town with lots of oldy worldy shops and it was the sort of place I could imagine taking a rest day in if my diary looked different. From Ennis I had the pleasure of a 3000 foot climb back into the mountains and this was a slow one. I think I climb better when I have company as it encourages me not to wimp out and stop for a breather every couple of minutes, and the road to the top took me a fair while. I felt cheated when I reached a false summit and had another mile to go but soon was sailing down the other side with a 7% gradient which reminded me that I need to get some new brake pads this week or I will be in trouble pretty soon.

Two historically preserved/reconstructed towns were at the bottom of the hill, full of shops and buildings which looked like they were from the old west but time was ticking so after an ice cream and a chat in a cafe I made tracks for the last 20 miles of the day. I eventually made it into Ruby Valley and the town of Sheridan on the dot of 6 feeling pretty well cycled out after 115 miles today so I checked into the Moriah Motel which included getting my laundry done in the $50 a night price so I was happy looking at the storm clouds building up outside.

Tomorrow's route contains more hills than today's did so I don't think I will be making the same kind of distance but it feels good to have done some solid miles since I am of the perhaps naive belief that I can ride far enough north to get away from the storms! The picture below was sent to me by Barrett and shows the weather system over Montana yesterday....nice!

Montana

2008-05-24T17:50:00.002-05:00

Today was a rotter! I stayed in a comfy hotel last night which was cool apart from their poxy restaurant with a moron for a waiter. The food quality was lower scale cafe quality but his stupidity was amazing - he brought me my appetizer and main course together and after 3 attempts to explain to him how the concept of an appetizer works got me nowhere, I told him to take it away and I would just have the main course. He didn't get a tip.

I was up before dawn at 5am in a vain attempt to set off before the rain woke up and it failed miserably. I was out of Teton and into Yellowstone Park by 6am and it was pouring with rain as I enjoyed the sights around me without the distraction of cars going by. I had a solid bit of climbing to do to get to yet another continental divide at around 7000 feet but it was worth it for the spectacular views. I know that "Spectacular Views" can be an overused phrase but the landscape really was stunning - at one stage I was just stood for 5-10 minutes in the pouring rain gazing down at the snow covered cliffs and the river a few hundred metres below me.

As I got higher the rain turned into sleet and then into hail which really hurt when going downhill and so I stopped after 25 miles to put on my long trousers as my legs were freezing up. There were two more steep climbs to two more continental divides and then a blessed 9 mile downhill stretch which took me to Old Faithful. Old Faithful is the world's most famous geyser capable of shooting boiling water up to 55m into the air ever 1-2 hours. I pulled in just as it was going off and so rushed over to get a couple of snaps before it stopped and, although they weren't perfect, I wasn't going to wait in the rain for another ten minutes let alone 2 hours.

Having killed off 40 miles by 11am I had to get through another 30 miles in now torrential rain in order to get to the next stopping point of 'West Yellowstone'. In this section I saw a bit more of the park's wildlife with a couple of moose and some pretty big stags which was good although whenever I stopped to take a photo I got soaked as did my bag that I opened to get the camera.

It was a real shame that the weather was rotten for the last few days (and the next few apparently) since I have put some good mileage in so far, in order to spend more time in places like Yellowstone and to take the parks at a leisurely pace. In this kind of rain and snow it really isn't possible as you can't enjoy the days and you can't camp out safely at night, and the hotels in the parks cost almost $200 a night! I just hope the weather clears up through the next few days so that I can have some easier days in the mountains without being drenched and then shivering for the rest of the day.

As you leave Yellowstone Park you come into Montana which was a happy moment for me as I didn't get much love from Wyoming. For the most part it was Kansas with hills and more wind, not to mention the rain, and I missed the climate and terrain of Colorado. Montana is supposed to have some pretty mountain passes which should be good, although mountain passes suggest some serious climbing again, but my legs don't really mind that anymore so long as it is dry! I'm not sure what is happening with my right hand that got sunburnt. The sunburn pain has gone but now it is permanently blue/purple so I hope that is just part of the recovery process...if it falls off I will be sure to get a picture.

National Parks

2008-05-23T19:22:00.002-05:00

We were up at 0515 this morning and set off after a quick breakfast at a restaurant over the road. There was no way I was going to pay $6 for some porridge so I had a daddy sized ommelette which did the job.

The schedule for the day was climbing and lots of it. The first 30 miles contained 3000 feet of climbing but we made quite good time to our base camp (a grocery store 10 miles from the top). 90 minutes later we had climbed from cloudy hills to the top of a snow covered pass at 9658 feet.

The views from the top were stunning with snow as far as the eye could see and the banks at the side of the road were about 7 foot deep in powder. Having reached the top, our main satisfaction and relief was the lack of rain thus far. After yesterday's drenching we were both rekitted with dry gear fresh from the laundromat's tumble dryers, fullly expecting a soaking as per the weather forecasts.

The descent from Togwotee Pass was brilliant with a sign warning us of a 6% gradient for 19 miles! I rode my brakes all the way down, avoiding some sneaky potholes that wanted to dismount me and after a junk food top up at a garage we coasted all the way to Moran Junction.

Moran Junction marks your entry into the National Parks, the gloriously spacious and wild conservation areas of Wyoming. Tomorrow will be Yellowstone Park but today I started in Teton National Park with the Teton Mountains. The park was quiet due to the weather so we were able to coast through at a leisurely pace looking for wildlife all around us. Today I saw a couple of moose, some deer and from a long distance a bear cub and its mother. With snow all around, Teton is a brilliant place to ride through, regardless of the animals and so I can't wait for Yellowstone which is 2.2 million acres of forests, meadows and lakes with over 100 waterfalls and loads of bears who will be eager to be fed and petted.

I left Carl 16 miles back as he has booked a log cabin overlooking Jackson Lake and I need to take the next few days a bit faster than him since he has plenty of time to play with before he finishes in Missoula, Montana. I have had a good couple of days with Carl and it was nice to have some company through the bad weather and big climbs.

The forecast for Saturday and Sunday is more rain so I'm hoping that the weather gods do me a favour like today.

Rotten Rain

2008-05-22T17:22:00.006-05:00

Today was a rubbish day. We were up at 5am and having breakfast by 6am in a restaurant down the street which was nice but slow and hard work to get the waitress moving..A bowl of porridge and some fried eggs later and we were off on the 75 mile journey to Dubois (pronounced 'do boys').
The weather channel had already told us to expect some bad storms with an 85% chance of precipitation and it didn't let us down. We had a lovely mixed bag of rain, showers, heavy rain, windy rain, sleet and more rain for the first 40 miles.

There were three stops which made things easier along the way. The first was a grocery store on an Indian Reservation where we shivered and put on more top layers before braving the rain again. The second was a lovely little rest area with bathrooms where we used the hand dryers to try and get some water out of our clothes. I switched my socks and shorts over for dry ones and tried to dry my gloves but to no avail. Ten miles later was the service station at Crowthorne where we sheltered from the rain, ate junk food and then chanced upon a bargain. For only $5 they were selling big rubber gloves that looked pretty waterproof and since my own gloves were full of rain water, I invested in these huge monstrosities. The whole time we were in the shop (30 minutes or so) the lady behind the counter seemed to suspect us of being shoplifters as she kept following us around the shop and watching us like a hawk. We twigged this and so split up to confuse her!

The real problem we faced today was not so much the rain as the cold. It was hovering a degree or two above freezing so that all of the rain your clothes had absorbed became a chilly coat of icy water around you. We were praying for the temperature to drop a couple more degrees so that it would snow since snow just brushes off you rather than seeping into your clothes and then your bones! Sadly, it refused to snow so I was unable to put on my long trousers since they would just soak up all of the rain and make me even colder so I persevered in my lycra shorts and 4 top layers covered by the rain jacket of dreams!

After a couple more hours, Carl and I finally made it to Dubois and found the hotel with some excellent help from a chap called Ammon who lives locally but comes from Utah. Great guy. The hotel is v.basic and I have left Carl back there trying to make the heater work but for 12 quid each for the night it is a lot better than camping in this weather. Also, now that we are here, the rain has turned to snow. Too little too late for my liking...

Tomorrow we have about 60-70 miles to do, starting with a 30 mile climb over a 9500 snowy mountain pass which may be closed if the weather worsens but apparently we end up at a cool set of cabins looking out over a beautiful lake (v.romantic) so I'll give it a go, weather permitting. 3 weeks til I finish so I can start to dream of Oregon but by the looks of the weather forecasts and the terrain maps, it isn't going to be an easy cool down session from here on in.

I also received 2 e-mails today from an A-Level student from Sussex and a guy from Brazil who are thinking of doing the trip so hopefully this journal will encourage them to give it a go (despite the rotten weather). Everywhere I go I am told by the locals that the rain/heat/snow/flooding is unseasonable and hasn't been like this for at least 10 years at this time of year so I guess I am just lucky... :-(

Rest Day in Lander

2008-05-21T18:26:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I finished off my shopping, did my washing, grabbed some food and chilled out in the hotel. As the evening wore on I started to feel a bit ropey though, and so I made up my mind to take a day off today. The decision was helped by the interruption of TV programming to tell me about a major storm warning and 60mph winds, and the fact that I could watch the Champions League Final on TV today!
I couldn't sleep in since my body clock is switched to earlies, so I rotted in bed until 9, then went into town and waited for the library to open.

I have spent a large part of today on the computers in here, uploading some of my photos (basically, a selection of the snaps I have taken with the new camera since Pittsburg on 7th May). I will have to upload the older ones when I am back home with my charger.. I haven't ordered them around text but have just left them on the bottom of each relevant page and you can hover over them with your mouse to get the limited description.

I headed back to my room to catch the football at lunchtime and grabbed some McDonalds, where I bumped into Carl who had caught up with me having been a day behind. We caught up on the last couple of days which was good since I felt bad when I left him at the edge of Colorado and since I have 2 beds in my room we decided to shack up together.
After a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat in the football, I have come back to the library to finish the photos off and am hoping to get up early to get 70 miles uphill to Dubois tomorrow. Its gonna be a tough one..

Great Day

2008-05-20T15:46:00.003-05:00

I went to bed at half eight last night having got half way through Genesis in the Gideon Bible and Abraham has just offered Isaac as a sacrifice to God (it's ok - he survives!). This early bedtime enabled me to be up at 5am and on the road by 05:40 which set me up nicely for today's ride.

I had no water or food and hadn't exactly eaten well yesterday so was keen to nail the first 18 miles to Sweetwater Station where there was a grocery store waiting for me. The photo above is from about 6am looking over the mountains behind me as I headed fown the road. I arrived at Sweetwater soon after 7am and engaged in a swearing fit as the shop was shut and I rode over some glass just to find that out. Luckily there was a rest area half a mile ahead which had a water fountain that I filled my bottles from and chilled for a bit. All morning I have had some back pain that I haven't been able to stretch out but hopefully it will go by tomorrow as it is a nuisance when you're riding.

From Sweetwater it was only 41 miles to the daily destination of Lander so I made tracks hoping for an early finish to the ride and was helped along by a 6 mile downhill stretch which was signposted as a steep bad boy with warnings to test your brakes before driving down and suchlike. I added 3 miles to my top speed going down at 45.4mph and could have gone faster if I wasn't such a coward applying the brakes in panic.

There were a few more hills to climb back up over the next 20 or so miles and then I came to a campsite with a cafe so I thought I would grab some breakfast at last. I rode down a crappy muddy track, parked up, and found that it was also closed (derelict may be a better word). Like a proper English gentleman I didn't swear or kick the door quite hard, and just pedalled away towards Lander whistling merrily to myself.

Lander came around 10 miles later and it felt great to roll into town before 11am with my whole day's riding done! I thought about going further along the way but there was a campsite 6 miles further then nothing for about 30 miles so I resigned myself to a day of leisure. So far I have checked into a comfy hotel with a hot tub, been to the bike shop to get some puncture repair patches, a new pair of riding mitts (I lost my right one and that led to my horrible swollen burnt and blistering hand) and popped in a shoe shop to get some leather conditioner for my saddle to try and soften it up beyond the granite state it is currently in.

I'm sat in the local library, have published yesterday's blog post and think I am going to put this one up there now, confident in the knowledge that very little exciting is going to happen today beyond a soak in the hot tub, plenty of junk food consumption and HBO movies! From here the elevation increases again, back up to 9658 feet from the current 5358 feet, and so I may not get any signal or wifi but I will try and keep this upto date during two days of solid climbing.

Freaksville

2008-05-19T20:27:00.006-05:00

As I write this, I am in a scabby hotel in a scabby town full of
scabby freaks -Jeffrey City, Wyoming. I don't even have the basic
hotel essentials such as TV or wifi so won't be able to publish this
until the morning when I get closer to civilisation.

The day began well with a six a.m alarm and I was out of the ludicrously expensive hotel by 0645 - they didn't even do a continental breakfast unlike just about every other hotel I have stayed at. I rode half a mile down the road to a restaurant attached to a Quality Inn and wolfed down a big bowl of oatmeal (porridge) and then made tracks.

Today's target was just shy of 70 miles and I had knocked out the first 33 miles by about 1130 when I stopped at Grandma's Cafe, a truck stop in the otherwise empty town of Lamont. Since it wasn't that long since breakfast I passed on food but had the tastiest chocolate milkshake ever before returning to the midday sun with two long sleeved tops and thick winter gloves on to protect my sunburn which seems to be blistering on my hand!

All through the ride today I was kept awake by a few episodes of 'From Our Correspondent' on my iPod which I realised I hadn't listened to. Some of these dated back to last year so it was interesting to hear comment on the US elections before the Iowa Caucuses with the benefit of hindsight.

It was an hour or so to a place called Muddy Gap which was just a service station but they sold cold water and ice cream and had wifi so I chatted to a few drivers and idled away an hour there hoping it would cool down in the meantime. It didn't.

The last 25 miles were broken up nicely by a chat with a driver who pulled over and offered me a beer or a coke from his coolbox - I must have looked like I was flagging! His name was Daniel Hendy and he works as a carpenter having served in Iraq for the last couple of years and he was on the way to Teton National Park for a job. Apparently his son does some riding in mountains but on a unicycle which must be a killer! One can of coke later and I was on my way and will check out Dan's website http://www.sluggotinfantryman.blogspot.com/ (I think that is the right address).

A few miles further and I was at Jeffrey City, my final destination. I fancied camping but needed some running water for my sunburnt hand so headed to the motel which was unattended. I wheeled my bike a few hundred yards up the road to the diner and here the freakery began.

I walked into what looked more like a dingy classroom than an eatery and a woman grunted in my direction and walked out back to the kitchen. After such a warm welcome I made myself at home, eager to enjoy a slice of this good ole fashioned Wyoming hospitality.

After about 15 minutes of being sat there a peculiar hunchback woman dragged herself through the room oblivious to me. I walked over to her and asked for a menu and without answering she shuffled back into the kitchen. She was replaced by an older lady who shouted that "We don't have menus; you can have a burger and fries or two burgers in a bun and fries". After weighing up the smorgasbord of options I opted for the former of this tasty twosome and sat back down eagerly awaiting my feast.

The food arrived and was devoured in 2-3 minutes such was its paucity then I had a 20 minute wait for the bill. I asked about the motel and was delighted to find that the hunchback's mother/creator owned it and I was instructed to wait over there. Eventually the old woman arrived, stung me for $40 and gave me the room key.

I haven't braved the shower yet but the sink is constantly running and I can't make it stop and the telly only has black and white fuzziness and no sound. I think an early night is on the cards so I can escape this hole and get 59 miles to Lander tomorrow. Interestingly enough, this town used to have a population of over 2000 people when it had a thriving uranium mine but that was closed several years ago. I think I know where the makers of "The Hills Have Eyes" got their inspiration from. Bloody monsters. By the way, the pic at the top is from Muddy Creek Service Station where you can sign the wall and put a pin in the map of the USA to show where you have come from.

Gruelling Day

2008-05-18T22:12:00.004-05:00

After I wrote yesterday's post, young Carl rode into town having taken the sneaky shortcut from Kremmling which saves a hefty amount of mileage and we decided to grab dinner together. We ate so much at the local diner with a few salad/pasta bar visits and a big chicken strips with jacket potato meal. It was actually good to spend some time with Carl as he wasn't as taciturn as the other day so I found out a lot more about him - he went to uni for 2 years then the army for 5 years and is now back at uni doing International Relations having been over to Iraq and Afghanistan for some first hand experience as a soldier!

Carl is only taking the ride as far as Missoula, Montana as he has to get back for uni in early June so is working on a nice easy 60 miles a day schedule so can afford to take it relatively easy from now on. I don't have that luxury yet and so have to push for a few more miles than Carl each day but we agreed to head out together and see how we held the pace. With an 05:30 start and breakfast at the local diner we were on the road by seven a.m which was good and Carl's aim was 66 miles to Saratoga which looked easily achievable compared to my 115 miles to Rawlins.

Anyhow, we started off together and Carl was behind me but after a mile or 2 I looked behind me and I had put a fair amount of distance in so he was out of sight already. I was riding well so carried on and that was the last I saw of him, for which I felt a bit bad for not saying goodbye! I nailed the next few miles to the Colorado/Wyoming border and at the 50 mile mark it was still only 10:30! On this stretch I set a new top speed of just over 42mph which was great but a bit scary as the bike started wobbling above 40 and I was terrified of hitting the brakes in case I flew off...

At the 50 mile mark and the town of Riverside I stopped for a banana and some more water and got chatting to some girls who were taking a boat out for the day. They echoed Carl's sentiments about the wind in Wyoming (apparently it is a horror and can really kill your progress) but I thought that nothing could dent this day having had such a fast first 50. As I turned out of town, the wind began and didn't really leave me for the rest of the day. It toyed with me along the way, switching from headwind to crosswind to a delightful combination of the two, and if I turned a corner, it would switch again so that I was still getting blown backwards.

The 18 miles to Saratoga were slow going due to the wind and some light hills but I was in town by 1pm so I bought a couple of sarnies and some water as well as a box of cherry tomatoes for the healthy side of lunch. From here it was another 41 miles to Rawlins with a service station 20 miles in but with the heat and the wind it felt like 80. By 15:30 I was at the halfway point (Walcott - population 35) and was dying on my feet but a sit down in the shade was ended by red ants running all around the one shady spot in town..

The first 13 of the next 20 miles were on the hard shoulder of Interstate 80 (US equivalent of a motorway) which was scary with huge lorries zooming past at high speed and the wind was a full on headwind so I was clocking between 5 and 8mph. I finally crawled into Rawlins at about 7pm and there was no way I was camping as I needed a bed and a shower really badly. The first hotel was asking $129, the second $145 and so I took the Days Inn option at $95 which is still ludicrous compared to just about everywhere else on the trip...greedy f8ckers. I couldn't be bothered with my healthy eating gig this evening and so dined under the golden arches which was as delicious as ever.

I am so sore now as my saddle still hasn't broken in properly so I am sitting on a brand new tough bit of leather with no padding which is getting tiresome to say the least. Also I am quite badly sunburnt from yesterday when I rode without my riding mitt on my right hand and so that got a whole day of sunshine for the first time on the trip. It is now bright red and swollen which isn't comforting...I spent whole day today with a long sleeved top on and my thick winter gloves to protect the hand from any further burning and so I wasn't really dressed for the sweltering heat!

I have a pleasant 62 mile ride tomorrow but the weather channel is promising 20-30mph Westerly wind and yep, I'm heading west but I shouldn't moan as I'm onto a new map, in a new state and am only 300 or so miles from Yellowstone Park which is meant to be epic!