Fired up and ready to go!

Day -2: 2023-05-03 1565

 

Tim, Mark, Paula, Geri, William, Stephane, and I are converging on Yorktown Beach and will meet for the first time this morning: May 4. Tomorrow we hit the road, starting with a 60-flat-mile roll through Williamsburg and headed west.

What is this all about? It's about 4,200 miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific, traversing nine states, climbing at least seven named mountain passes at up to 11,500 feet, and passing through three of the prettiest national parks: Shenandoah, Yellowstone, and Teton National Park. The ride will take 13 weeks, riding an average of 55.8 miles per riding day (about one rest day per week), camping whenever possible.

I initially booked the trip through Adventure Cycling (ACA), an organization I've traveled with many times in the past. Despite this being the grandaddy of of all cross-county bike routes in the US, they cancelled the trip w/ little explanation. So seven of us who had signed up (Tim, Mark, Paula, Geri, William, Stephane, and I) have been planning our own trip instead, using the same route and ACA maps. Judging from comments have made during Zoom sessions, I think the average age is about 61. What am I doing w/ these geezers? Sadly, I'm only 2 years younger than the average and a friend keeps reminding me that we aren't getting any younger, so I'm off.

ACA's blurb is the following:

    Thousands of cyclists have pedaled the 4,253-mile TransAmerica Trail and will tell you they captured
    a lifetime's worth of memories along their tour. For many traveling cyclists who haven't yet
    experienced the TransAm, it remains the holy grail of American bicycle tours.
  
    Starting in Virginia, you'll pedal westward through rolling hills into the steeper climbs of Kentucky,
    Illinois, and Missouri. After the windswept plains of Kansas and eastern Colorado, the remainder of
    the journey is primarily through the Rocky Mountains. You and your fellow group members can make
    this trip a unique experience like no other. Daily tasks, including shopping and camp cooking, are
    also shared on a revolving basis. Each day, you'll be free to ride at your own pace, shoot photos, chat
    with locals, and search out the best swimming hole in every state.

I will try to post each day, mainly to make sure my family knows I'm still alive, but also so that anyone reading this can appreciate the 100+ degree days, the sub-freezing nights, the brutal climbs, and oh-my-god the headwinds, just as if you were here as well. The links Why, What, and Route in the upper right corner give a bit more context on this particular bit of idiocy. Enjoy...

Mark and I just got back from a pub meal of Smash Burgers and craft beer, when Stephane arrived, after 80 miles on busy roads and rain. We meet Tim, Geri, and William for breakfast tomorrow morning, Paula arrives a bit later.

This ride is unsupported, meaning we each carry ~45-50 lbs of gear (clothes, tent, stoves, etc.). I've appended my packing list below:

   -  bike
      -  3 water bottles
      -  helmet
      -  frame bag (5.3 lbs)
         -  ulock
         -  multi-tool
         -  combo lock
         -  gloves
         -  tire levers
         -  man bag
            -  phone
            -  wallet/keys
            -  wall wart
            -  USB C - lightning
            -  USB A - lightning
            -  small battery
         -  banana bag
         -  pepper spray
         -  extra usb A to C cable
         -  multitool
         -  heart rate band
      -  left front pannier (10.5 lbs)
         -  anker extension/ports
         -  headlight
         -  toiletries
            -  toothbrush
            -  toothpaste
            -  floss
            -  drugs
            -  razor
            -  soap
            -  fingernail clippers
            -  deod
         -  butt buttr
         -  deet
         -  parts
            -  rohloff oil kit
            -  2 complete set brake pads
            -  2 tubes
            -  patch kits
            -  extra parts
               -  bolts, various sizes
               -  2 extra cogs
               -  super links
               -  zip ties
               -  duck tape
               -  chain pieces
            -  tools
            -  chain oil
            -  grease
            -  leatherman
            -  small screwdrivers for cog lock ring
            -  tiny crescent wrench
            -  lighter
         -  orange bag
         -  goo bag
         -  collapsible bag
         -  2 big twisties, orange strap
         -  rag
         -  collapsible quart bag
         -  extra taillight
      -  batteries for headlight.
      -  right front pannier (10.5)
         -  electronics
            -  extra glasses
            -  electronics bag
               -  beats earpods
               -  big battery
               -  laptop (in sleeve)
                  -  12 maps
                  -  map carrier for handlebar
               -  3n1
               -  C-light
               -  C-C
            -  kindle
            -  heart band charger
            -  front L&M light
            -  extra back light
         -  rope/clothespins
         -  kitchen
            -  frying pan
            -  mug
            -  plate
            -  (2) sporks
            -  via
         -  left rear pannier (clothes) (11 lbs)
         -  puffer jacket
            -  outer
               -  blue sweats
               -  rain pants
               -  eddie bauer sweatshirt
               -  silk pants layer
               -  silk shirt layer
               -  2 shorts
            -  inner
               -  1 thin/1 thick smart wool socks
               -  1 pair bambas
               -  2 underwear
               -  hat
               -  2 shirts
               -  2 long-sleeved shirts
            -  bag
               -  2 dew rags
               -  2 pair gloves (one extra, one cold weather)
            -  right rear (11.6 lbs)
         -  sleeping bag
         -  tent
         -  pad
         -  pillow
         -  footprint
         -  showers pass jacket
         -  crocs

Once

Shakedown day

Day -1: 2023-05-04 1566

 

First the good: great breakfast place, excellent burger and clam chowder at the lunch/supper stop.

The bad: Stephane keeps coughing so we decided the only way to stop worrying was to go get a COVID test, and he tested positive.

We tried to convince him to stay in a hotel for a week and then catch up, but he's insistent that nothing will stop him. So he's going to ride a bit behind, not go indoors w/ us etc. and hope he gets through it soon. Good thing is that he's already been symptomatic for four days, so hopefully he's past the really contagious part and getting ready to get better. And yesterday he rode 82 miles, partly in the rain, despite his condition, so he's clearly a very strong rider.

So w/ this and that, I ended riding nearly 40 miles on an 'off' day. Good thing I decided to wear the biking shorts.

Then I got mail from ACA saying that I'd moved off the waiting list and can now join the ACA TransAm Express: a supported ride starting 7 miles from my house. Yay! Except that I'm already in Virginia, have met everyone, and can't pull out now. Probably for the best.

So.

Tomorrow we (Mark, Stephane, and I) pack up and leave our campground by 7am, bike 7 miles to Yorktown, dip our front tires in the Atlantic Ocean, and then head 63 (flat) miles west.

It's on!!

First Real Day of the Ride: 1 of 90!

Day 1: 70.0 miles, 2018 feet climbing (total: 70.0, 4036): 2023-05-05 1567

 

3080 active calories.

Today was the first official day of the tour. As such, the most important thing to do was to dip tires into the Atlantic. That done, we headed out. The scenery was Virginia, pretty, bucolic, but not that unusual, at least if you are from Maryland.

Mark, Stephane, and I actually rode over 70 today as we had to go 7 miles from campground to beach, then another 63 to the church.

The willis church hosts a lot of cyclist coming through on the transam route, and they are very generous about it. Sleep anywhere in the church (I'm sleeping in the nave), there's a shower, a kitchen, and assorted goodies for cyclists. Much appreciated.

The meal today was simple: hot dogs, chips, and macaroni. Our grocery choices were Dollar General, and the shop attached to a Citgo. All things considered, we did okay.

The 70 miles was significant, as my biggest ride this year (1200 miles Jan - Apr) was only 40 miles, and that was unloaded. I can't say there is no pain, but it's marginal. Luckily, tomorrow is only 47 miles!

It's too late for me to watch the Lakers-Warriors game from last night :-(, as I still need to unpack and set up my sleeping bag, before crashing.

Very good start.

Also, Stephane insists that this trip is an opportunity for me to be learn more french. I am not convinced, but more and more is coming back, and I just downloaded duolino :-).

As I was talking on the phone to Rosana outside (everyone in bed early), I repeatedly heard shots and dogs barking in the distance.

Ashland - kindof in the middle of nowhere

Day 2: 42.2 miles, 1873 feet climbing (total: 112.2, 5909): 2023-05-06 1568

 

More bucolic forests and fields, generally good roads, but unremarkable. The picture of the solar array shows only one of several that we passed, and doesn't really give a good idea of scale. They are large. The pic of the highway is just because I feel smug being a cyclist on a back road rather than in a car on an interstate.

We did have a nasty little incident where a guy shouts something like 'You keep riding on the roads and someone gonna keel you!'. Then he passed us again (evidently having circled around) and contrived to cause the two riding in front to be sprayed w/ gravel. Fortunately, they didn't even notice. However, the vast majority of the people we've interacted with have been friendly and welcoming.

We spent the night at the Willis Methodist church. The entire place is outfitted to help any cyclists coming through. Shower, full kitchen, w/ coffee and a few supplies already there. They were content w/ us sleeping anywhere we wanted, including in with the pews. Since I was yacking and didn't stake out a classroom, I ended up sleeping in front of the altar. I wasn't smote, so all is good.

The big issue today is that Tim evidently had major problems yesterday caused by some kind of bug, and he and Paula got a ride in a truck to the church. Paula had no issues but wanted to keep him company. Tim decided this morning that he could not continue and is now gone. This is obviously a real shame, as we've all prepared for this trip for months, and perhaps Tim more than anyone. He was riding 35 miles w/ full packs a mont before we left. However, we continue.

Tomorrow we have another short day, followed by a layover in Charlottesville. The next week will take us to Damascus in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, where the climbs (for at least one day) will be brutal carrying all our gear.

For me, w/ days of 40/70/42 in the books, I'm starting to feel more confident of the ride. Legs overall are fine, my worry was the knees. So far, so good.

I contrived to get us into a hotel today, so tonight is game 3 of Lakers/Warriors!

Past Bumpass

Day 3: 43.9 miles, 1834 feet climbing (total: 156.1, 7743): 2023-05-07 1569

 

We seriously moved into horse country today. Thoroughbred horses left and right, and in training in the first pic. The other theme was old money; most of the ranches positively reeked of wealth and were often very old. One was 170 years old! Think what inequities are baked into a culture that has such long ownerships.

We had the usual harassment from drivers (just a bit of yelling and a couple honks, really), but I felt for them a bit. The roads were narrow, often uphill, and we'd be blocking them doing 8 mph. Would piss me off as well.

Tonight we are camping at Christopher Run Campground, very nice setting, despite steep grade of the entire surface. Our first outdoor dinner was cooked by Paula: roast chicken, rice, and peas. Went down very nicely, especially with the parmigano Geri brought. Dinner was delayed by a couple hours because of the 2-hour rain squall that sent us scurrying into our just-set-up tents.

Today's title doesn't mean anything, except we passed the Bumpass Post Office. Tried to get a postcard to post from there, to no avail.

Check out the full pic for the taxation sign (click on it, then click on 'full pic' at the bottom left). Also, some of the notices on the bulletin board are a hoot.

A Hard Day in Virginia

Day 4: 67.6 miles, 4034 feet climbing (total: 223.7, 11777): 2023-05-08 1570

 

Where to even begin on a day like today? Today was a hard day in so many ways.

However, let's start w/ wildlife: the 6th, 7th, and eight pictures. The sixth is a Luna Moth, which I didn't really know existed unless we're talking a superhero series starring Oscar Isaac. Very cool! Next was the happening nightlife scene in Paulmyra (actually a few buzzards overseeing the house). The 6th was me, aka BigFoot.

Going back to the first picture, it's a big nasty sore on the surrounding forest where everything has been clearcut. The 5th pic is Stephane and Mark after a particularly trying section of uphill.

Today was trying in that there was over 4000 feet of climbing, not in my top ten days but only 400 short and this wasn't even a climbing day, just up and down, up and down all day. Further, the grade, as eastern climbs in general as opposed to climbs out west, are shorter but much steeper. Many short 12-14 percent climbs, which are very difficult if you've been climbing them all day and are carrying 50 lbs of gear.

Today was also hot: mid 80s and sunny. I did not sufficiently hydrate and at one point felt faint and needed to get off the bike for a few minutes. After snacks and a lot of fluids, I felt a lot better, and in fact probably finished the day feeling better than anyone else. The climbs kept coming, and then really hit the fan on an uphill stretch of 53 outside Charlottesville, w/ no shoulders and rush hour traffic. We probably had 20 cars stacked up behind us at one point, all quite justifiably unhappy, though not as unhappy as we were. Mark tried the other side of the road and took a tumble (see 2nd pic after Geri, our resident doctor, fixed him up).

Google maps got us off 53 to ride the very cool Saunders monticello Trail around the estate of you-know-who. We were then able to get into Charlottesville through (hilly) back streets, make it to Krogers, get to our HipCamp (more on that tomorrow), and eat dinner by 10pm.

The 2nd pic is of one of the two crossings of US 250 today. 250 is the same highway that passes within a mile or so of the house my sister and I largely group up in. Also, Rosana and I had a memorable trip from Sandusky to DC almost entirely on 250.

Blue Ridge!

Day 5: 2023-05-09 1571

Today was a day off in Charlottesville, but tomorrow, we climb up on the Blue Ridge!

Blue Ridge Parkway

Day 6: 45.0 miles, 4782 feet climbing (total: 268.7, 16559): 2023-05-10 1572

 

Today we rode from our HipCamp in Charlottesville through Afton and on to the Blue Bridge Parkway. The Parkway is obviously the highlight of our first 10 days. It's always beautiful and today we had a perfect day, sunny w/ a high in the 60's.

Two days prior our ride into Charlottesville had been unexpectedly; we were all pretty much shocked and how much trouble we had w/ all the short sharp climbs and, honestly, a bit freaked by the idea of the Parkway, which could only be harder.

This was made by our routing process. ACA had given us a list of destination cities, ordered by date. We also have the ACA maps, which show the route and list relevant services nearby.

For today we hadn't found anything on the parkway (there is very little up here), and were planning on dropping 5 miles and nearly 2000 feet off the parkway to camp, and then come back the next morning. At the last minute I saw this and raised the alarm and Geri came through w/ a 'resort' that the rest of us had missed on the route. We rented a 4-BR house basically basically right off the parkway, turning a potential death march into something doable.

The plan was to bike 30 miles from Charlottesville, during which we knew there would be climbing, then jump up on the parkway for 15 miles, sleep, and do another 15 miles the next morning.

We didn't get out of last night's camp until after 10am because of our panic-stricken need to redo our route. Remembering my problems from the previous ride I had purchased a 70oz backpack water reservoir to complement the three water bottles I already had on my bike, and it was just barely enough.

The ride to Afton was even harder than we thought, routinely hitting 10-12 percent on the various hills. As usual, we often had multiple cars queued up behind us on the steep, twisty (limited sight lights) roads. There was really only one town on the way, Crozet, where we spent far too much time doing a bit of grocery shopping and bakery visiting.

Finally getting to Afton, we hit a series of truly hard hairpin turns, and this at the end of a hard 30 miles. Mark and I visited the 'Cookie Lady's house, at least partially because we had to sit down and eat something. The cookie lady lived in Afton for decades, hosting TransAm riders (for free) and feeding them cookies. Sadly she passed a decade ago, but the house, with all it's mementos and memories, is still there. Made us feel part of something.

Afterwards all we needed to do was to get up to the parkway, which was scary as shit because the access is on another highway that felt like an interstate. Those of us who'd made it stood on the bridge whooping and hollering at the others as they appeared around the corner and slowly made their way uphill (it's always uphill) to the Blue Ridge offramp.

From there we had a spectacular ride on the ridge, marred only be our fatigue and the fact that ridge has a few small pitches up in the 10-11% range, which we had not been expecting.

Arriving at the site, picked up Quentin, a 25yo med student riding across the country 100 miles a day. He'd been unable to reach the owners to set up camping, so we fed him and gave him some empty floor space.

The night finished in the hot tub, and I am now very tired...

Tomorrow: rinse and repeat

Blue Ridge II

Day 7: 51.5 miles, 3904 feet climbing (total: 320.2, 20463): 2023-05-11 1573

 

We woke up in our luxerious house just off the parkway, made coffee in our coffee machine, ate some leftover apple pie for breakfast and sauntered out to our new life as itinerants.

This 15-mile section of the parkway was mostly downhill: 1200 horrible feet climbing sharp pitches (one of the only places on the whole parkway >12%), but we also dropped 2700 feet down to Vesuvius in an entirely insane downhill. The road was mostly -12-15%, but shaded, cold, and very twisty. At some point I caught up w/ Mark in front of me and both of us smelled his brakes and had to stop to let them cool off. Bill Samsoe says for his west-to-east 1976 ride (10-speeds if they were lucky!), this was the worst climb on the entire tour. Good thing we were heading the other way.

We had a charming lunch at Gerty's in Vesuvius, cruised through buying food for dinner (Mark is a talented guitarist), and then headed the last 11 miles to the KOA. This turned into nearly 14 very hilly miles because of a road closure, but we made it in fine fashion.

Below is the awesome meal 'I' prepared for our abbreviated crew (Geri and William are with friends for the night). Actually, Stephane volunteered to make the salad if I bought him a couple beers. Needless to say....

A hostel for thru-hikers and transam cyclists

Day 8: 56.0 miles, 4416 feet climbing (total: 376.2, 24879): 2023-05-12 1574

 

Today was yet another long and hard ride, this time w/ some rain. We know those idyllic rides are out there, we're just not there yet! More beautiful virginia countryside, great rides along the rivers. up on valley edge looking out across. Of course, also many nasty 14 percent pitches, heavy traffic rides and only very basic services.

For me the highlight is visiting the Four Pines Hostel. It's a huge rume w/ 20 or so beds, seven or eight couches, 1 combination bathroom/shower. Today there about 15 hikers, plus us (and we are all camping outside except Mark). The hikers are a hilarious cross-section of humanity: from college profs, to 70's flower children, to a couple that are missing a few screws. All VERY friendly and appreciative. Most had started in Georgia 700 miles ago, and had 1500 to go.

Plus, of course, a few dogs. The room has crates that two dogs were using, but another slept on the be w/ her owner. The hostel is run by Donna, a real hoot. She introduced herself to a new dog 'What a beautiful beast you are. Got a little rottweiler in ya. Yo momma was a slut!'. Well, maybe you had to be there. More later!

Stephane Leaves

Day 9: 50.4 miles, 4394 feet climbing (total: 426.6, 29273): 2023-05-13 1575

 

Stephane is the second to leave the tour. He's strong enough, but just a bit freaked out by the cars. The velo routes in europe are completely car-free; this has to be a big change. Stephane is very nice, caring guy, we will definitely miss him.

Beyone Stephane leaving, this day was dominated by going off-route to Blacksburg for bike repairs (Mark and Geri). The bike show will also pack up his bike bike and drop off at fedex, and he can catch a train to NY.

Getting back to the route was difficult, and entailed more busy roads and climbs. It got to the point where google maps would give us a choice between 'steep hills' and 'moderate hills, heavy traffic' and we'd end up walking 18 0lls.

All is good, though, one more long and one short day into damascus where we have an airbnb for two nights of needed recuperation.

'Runt' and Ken in the picture are brother and sister. Runt has also biked most of the ring road in Iceland. There was a closure, so she started from Akureyri (a place near and dear to our hearts) and biked clockwise past Jokulsorlan around to Rejkjavic. Very impressive woman.

Seriously bumming missing both of Blue's visits in the next six weeks. Love and miss you both!

Short day into Fort Chiswell / Whytheville

Day 10: 30.0 miles, 2904 feet climbing (total: 456.6, 32177): 2023-05-14 1576

 

Today is a short day because of lodging logistics, basically 30 miles w/ reasonable climbing into a KOA. Tomorrow we will do mid-60s miles into Damascus , connection place for through-hikers. They have stuff sent to them, send other things home, etc. Given how much fun the Four Pines Hostel was, I'm looking forward to this. However, we do have our AirBnB house :-).

Captions have more info (click on a picture and look below, then left and right to see other pics same day).

Biblical! Into Damascus ....

Day 11: 64.9 miles, 4685 feet climbing (total: 521.5, 36862): 2023-05-15 1577

 

Today was a blast. It was long miles, lots of climbing (second most so far), but everyone did well; everyone had a good day. William, especially, came off the day completely jazzed and saying he could do that all day. Good thing, too, as when we go out west this is the kind of climbs we will be doing: mostly 7 percent or less, but going on forever. I'm happier doing high-grade climbs than william, but even 5 percenters wear me down after a a while. I'm really tired tonight, but I agree w/ the consensus: we can do this stuff as long as we don't have to do the insane 12-18 percenters. Of course, the Teton Pass is out there....waiting......

Lots of bucolic scenary again, but more on the hilly side, and the weather finally hit us. Started raining as we climbed the biggest hill, no problem because we were generating our own heat. Got harder as we hit the downhill, meaning that we really had to be on our toes (and the brakes) coming down the insistent switchbacks, and I started getting really cold. My aptly named 'Shower's Pass' Jacket is old and seems to have no waterproofness left, even though I treated it right before leaving. To add insult to injury, the taped seams started coming apart today as well.

We're going to spend tomorrow going through our group and personal gear, sending stuff home and getting new stuff in the outdoor stores around here that cater to the through-hikers, as well as the mountain-bikers who do the Creeper Trail. We were actually supposed to do 10 miles on the trail at the end today, but w/ the rain it seemed silly.

In our AirBnB for two nights, everyone gets their own room but we all share a single bathroom....

hollow noun A gap between ridges; a small, sheltered valley that may or may not have a watercourse. Also used in informal place names, as in Hell's Holler (NC) and Piedy Holler (TN)

Big, beautiful, extremely hard day...and a food desert.

Day 13: 54.2 miles, 4823 feet climbing (total: 575.7, 41685): 2023-05-17 1578

 

In addition to lots of little ups, there was a 1500 foot climb and then a very difficult 1000 foot climb at the very end. We had a lovely shrimp scampi dinner, from the frozen section of dollar general from, and are now camping in a park in Council Virginia.

Onto Kentucky

Day 14: 27.8 miles, 2126 feet climbing (total: 603.5, 43811): 2023-05-18 1579

 

Today is a short day on the schedule for seemingly no discernable reason. We found out why: three nasty 500-foot'ish climbs at the end with insane grades. I walked on two of them, and I think everyone else ended up walking on all three. They were steep, hairpin climbs. And right out the gate of the campground tomorrow is a 19 0rade.

We cook most dinners in camp, and today we were planning to buy food at Dollar General, like we did yesterday. To go into a Dollar General is often to go into a place where people seemingly have no hope. The clerks look vacant, like they think they'll never leave, and many of the customers are depressing because of another aspect of this hopelessness: they are huge. I was in line behind a man and wife who both had to weigh more than 100 lbs more than I, w/ a kid looks on his way as well. These areas are canonical Food Deserts, places where people have little to no access to nutritious food because anyone who can leave has already done so. There's no incentive for Food Lion to come to these towns.

The majority of the buildings we pass are derelict, there are rusted-out cars everywhere, and seemingly the only bright spots are the churches. The churches are bright, clean, and obviously the focal point of what community there is. The drab uniformity of the election signs for people running for local offices is stark: many don't just say 'Republican', it's 'Trump Republican', and some add 'Christ First' as well. I don't know how they reconcile those seemingly opposite claims.

Today, however, we found another grocery store on the way to the Dollar General. This was a good grocery, w/ produce brands that weren't all bottom rung, and most importantly the people were entirely different. I, personally, had 1-on-1 conversations about our trip w/ six people. People were friendly, interested, and helpful. I don't know if their politics are any different from those we encountered during the previous day, but it was a welcome relief after yesterday's downer.

Today's ride was short (even though hard), so we were in camp by 1pm. We are staying at the Breaks Interstate Park, which many have told us is beautiful, and it is! Breaks is shared by Virginia and Kentucky, not sure where we actually are. However, aside from short hikes to overlooks, we've concentrated on showers (no showers yesterday), laundry, and naps. Very different day!

snapped a pic w/ Everett, who is a prof at the university of maine, and also currently on sabbatical....

We also ran across a couple crossing the country on a Co-Motion tandem!.

Miles to go before I sleep.....

Day 15: 71.8 miles, 4948 feet climbing (total: 675.3, 48759): 2023-05-19 1580

 

This day killed us. We left Breaks Interstate (KY, VA, WV) at 9am, and got to the First Baptist Church in Hindman, KY, by 8pm. We had no major stops, just a lot of little (necessary) ones.

Kentucky is beautiful! Through verdant hollows (hollers), up 'mountains' (they call them that, and I'm in no place to argue), seemingly straight up smooth single-lane roads, along rocky passes blasted into the rock.

But of course there's the other side. Kentucky is known for it's nasty dogs that like to chase cyclists, and we had at least six in the road after us in the first two hours in today's ride. Two charged through a hole in their fence, down the dirt driveway towards the rode....and at the last second a toothless old man pulled his old buick across the road and smiled at us: 'Thought I might give you boys a bit of protection from the dogs. You have a big climb ahead of youselfs!'. From our vantage point on bikes traveling 4mph uphill, this was a very welcome good samaritan.

I think there was a another good samaritan later. A nice white dog ran along it's fence next to us while another dog in the yard snarled at us. The two dogs met and tussled while we biked away.

The map is on the wall of a tiny coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. The owner likes to keep track of all the travelers that come through; color-coded pins distinguish cyclist, motorcyclists, rock-climbers, etc. She also took pictures of all of us for her album.

The third to last picture is looking down in the valley from where we climbed. I circled the road where it peeks through.

Any Buckhorn in a storm...

Day 16: 50.1 miles, 3709 feet climbing (total: 725.4, 52468): 2023-05-20 1581

 

Today was supposed to be 67 miles, tomorrow 50, but a variety of factors interfered.

First the good stuff, we continue to meet friendly interested people who want to talk about what we are doing. A few more dogs took to the street after us, but they didn't bark. Apparently they were just friendly as well. And Kentucky is beautiful, gorgeous valleys, foreboding mountains, plentiful and varied wildlife.

The bad: Rained for five or six hours today, most of the time we were biking, and the biking was pretty harsh. Again, many relatively short 300-500 ft hills that veered between 5 and 13 percent. In other words, after the first one or two, we started walking again. Not supposed to be this way! Also, we know about the plentiful and varied wildlife mostly from all the roadkill.

Also, my replaced knee is sore. Not too bad: I'm starting to take a lot of ibuprofin and I expect it to be pretty good tomorrow, and much better after a day of rest.

Finally, I started reading 'Night Comes for Appalacia', a 1963 book how and why Appalachia and those in the Cumberland Plateau have such terrible and seemingly perpetual poverty, rampant illiteracy, etc. Spoiler: much of it has to do w/ coal.

Heading towards layover day in Berea AirBnB

Day 17: 71.4 miles, 5177 feet climbing (total: 796.8, 57645): 2023-05-21 1583

 

First off, my focus today was on my surgically repaired knee, and whether I can continue biking. Ibuprofin is my friend. W/ the aid of vitamin-I today was not bad. I was careful on the uphills, walking a bit more than before, and it was in pretty good shape after this day, which was 71 miles long and the most climbing we've done in a single day yet. So far so good, and now we have a rest day, where I'm doing nothing but working on the bike and walking to dinner at the Daniel Boone Tavern.

We're starting to see changes in the landscape. We're still on the Cumberland Plateau, so it's still poor. Berea is kind of a bright spot in the area, but it's basically all about Berea College. The checkout clerk in the best grocery store in the area (it's still not much of a store) said, 'You're biking all across the country? And you stopped in Berea? In the SaveALot?' It does seem odd when you look at it that way. But needs must!

Berea is all about Berea College. The college was founded by an Abolitionist preacher, named Fee, who caught the attention of a rich local: Cassius Clay (not the one you're thinking of, though he was also from Kentucky). Clay gave fee land and financing in 1855, and they named the surrounding area Berea. The school was founded to educate all, regardless of color. Unsurprisingly, only a year later the 34 people at the college were given 10 days to leave the state. Years later they were allowed back and the school grew dramatically: open to all w/ ability, free tuition, everyone worked on the farm as they studied, and generally it was a bright spot in a blighted landscape. The school grew so much that they started limited enrollment to primarily those from the nearby mountain regions.

During this time, the Kentucky Legislature got involved again in 1904, passing a law banning integrated schoolrooms. After a bitter fight, blacks and indians were banned. This ban was not overturned until 1950.

Yes, Kentucky is a bad scene all around. On top of the historic resource mismanagement and resulting abject poverty, our last two stops have been in dry, or 'moist' counties. 'Moist' means alcohol only in restaurants/taverns. Where's the rational there, unless it's just a speed bump for drunks? Every gas station convenience stores has signs like 'Don't take my country, don't take my guns, I don't want your handouts.' Except they do take handouts in disproportionately high numbers, and they are happy to take away my freedom to have a beer.

:-(

On the other hand, we just had a very nice meal at the 'Historic Boone Tavern' on the Berea campus. Started w/ a local Dunkel (eh), spoon bread (cornbread soufflet), french onion soup and 'Hot Brown': a big slab of ham, bacon, cheese sort of in the form of a sandwich. Finished it off w/ some Woodford Reserve. Not bad at all.

And re the comments on previous page: Combs were everywhere, and still are. There's a city, innumerable roads, endowed churches (and many ministers are also Combs), all named after this one family. Most of the beautiful landscape is either no longer inhabited, or inhabited by squalor, but every once in a while you catch a glimpse of a pristine white mansion behind a gate.

Springfield, which one? how many are there?

Day 19: 76.9 miles, 5168 feet climbing (total: 873.7, 62813): 2023-05-23 1585

 

Today was the longest (almost 77 miles) and possibly the most climbing of any day so far, and it was great! Spectacular!

Perhaps that's saying too much, but as you might see from the pictures, we've moved away from the short sharp hills and now are in more rolling hills. We still have climbing, but you can take a little momentum into the climbs and have fun w/ it.

I enjoyed the little things on this ride. At one point I came around the corner, carrying a lot of speed from the last hill, into a secluded tree-covered lane with cows by the side of the road. One by one they raise their heads and stared, before deciding I wasn't really very interesting and went back to munching grass. Picking up more speed I rounded a bend to find a couple chickens walking down the road. They tried to outrun me on the road, but eventually went right into the ravine, squawking their outrage as they went. A big hound dog on a nearby porch raised his head, completely dismissed me as a threat, and went back to sleep.

When checking out at the supermarket, the bag boy looked me up and down with his dull eyes and said, are you a biker? I said 'Yeah.' Where are you coming from? 'Virginia Beach.' He nodded. Where are you going? 'Oregon.' He nodded solemnly and said good, and walked away.

I passed up a farmer w/ tractor moving 10mph on a downhill. He had one of those colorful attachments on the back. We hit a long uphill, and he caught me, and ruthlessly passed me back. Half a mile later I caught him again just as he turned off to his house and we chatted a bit. Turns out it's a 'rake', for the wheat. ????

I've been watching a little birds chase and torment big birds, why do they do that? Do the big birds steal eggs?

Really interesting talking to Jerry (from the Netherlands) and Yusef (from Gainseville). Jerry and I have a lot of gear in common, from Rohloff hubs to dynamo hubs charging our lights. He's had an interesting few weeks so far. At one point he saw a '66 Mustang and wandered past all the junk in the yard to the car. 'What are you doing on my property!' yells the guy w/ a gun on his hip and a snarling dog at his feet. Jerry didn't know what to do, so he just turned to the car and said, 'I love that car' and he instantly made a friend. The guy kicked his dog aside when it continued to sniff at Jerry and they talked mustangs for 10 minutes and parted cordially.

The Day After

Day 20: 48.1 miles, 2558 feet climbing (total: 921.8, 65371): 2023-05-24 1586

 

Yesterday was a big day, a BIG day. We got up and hit the road for a 'short' day this morning, which is almost 50 miles. Predictably, most of us probably suffered more today than yesterday. I certainly did.

We had some beautiful scenery today, of the bucolic kind. Several of these were taken by Mark Mamerow, as are a couple each for most of the days in the past week.

The Maker's Mark 'solar array' (there was a sign) had us wondering how you build a solar array that looks like a big black modern building. Maybe all the glass can be vectored to superheat the contents of a boiler in the center? But why isn't it a perfect square, and why aren't the building situated in a grid? Looked more like a dystopian cell block, or a private jail.

Sadly, the reality is more prosaic. The black buildings are 'rickhouses' used to store and age bourbon. The solar array was hidden from view on the road, probably because there is a lot of anti-green sentiment hereabouts.

I made dinner tonight and it was not horrible. Thanks Rosana (and sous chef Geri)!

Transitions....

Day 21: 52.8 miles, 2756 feet climbing (total: 974.6, 68127): 2023-05-25 1587

 

We have crossed into central daylight savings time, and crossed over 1000 miles on the tour. Big round numbers! ... of a sort.

52 miles is enough less than the ride two days ago (and the one tomorrow) to qualify as a 'short' day. Was also supposed to be mostly climb free, but we definitely had a couple short sharpies.

The countryside could be Ohio, or any number of other places. There is money, large industrialized agriculture, and seemingly a church on every hill. OK, that probably wouldn't be Ohio, but it could certainly be a lot of other places.

Sadly tonight is again cooked from materials foraged from a Dollar General, but at least it's a wet county.

The dollar general manager was this cute, competent, friendly woman named Lisa. It almost seemed like we were in another store, in another place. Then she smiled, showing two missing front teeth. How could a 30yo be missing multiple front teeth besides violence? Argh...this is still a different place.

Almost no dogs chasing today, just a couple of corgis, I kid you not. They ran out into the street, their legs ablur, yapping so cutely I had to encourage them to chase a bit more. Sadly, they do not have much stamina.

Long-ass day, not a lot of new stuff happening.

Day 22: 77.6 miles, 4859 feet climbing (total: 1052.2, 72986): 2023-05-26 1588

 

Today was a looong day, supposed to be mostly rollers but we definitely had short sharpies as well. 76.2 on the ride, and then I had to immediately go to the store (Dollar General) and back. We also shopped at a local mexican store for ingrediants of 'black beans', which is more complicated and tasty than it sounds. Has onions, garlic, bacon in it, at the least.

At the end of today we're in another Baptist Church, this one in Sebree, Ky. The church has an entire wing devoted mostly to touring cyclists, including full kitchen, shower, some spare parts and tools. I was the sous chef today, so I made a salad w/ cukes, tomato, avocado and a honey dressing I put together. It was OK.

Jake, another cyclist staying here tonight, just got a text from another guy who started out from Yorktown Beach at the same time. He got knocked off his bike by a dog a few days ago, broke collarbone and crushed his hip. He just came out of hip replacement surgery today. Dogs in Kentucky are no joke. I had been getting a bit blase about them recently, but two big, mean nasties came after me today and came at me from both sides. I was moving fast enough that I could swerve back and forth and scare them off, but Jake's story makes even more unhappy about it.

A few short days going forward before a day off in Carbondale, IL.

Another church cycle hostel!

Day 23: 45.1 miles, 2746 feet climbing (total: 1097.3, 75732): 2023-05-27 1589

 

They seem to be the only game in town when you're in kentucky, and we are grateful. The pastor here is a young guy in his first year, and he gave us his whole backstory. Refugee from baptist, and then catholic religions, thought himself inoculated against them, but when his wife wanted to join a church to meet the community, he slowly moved in the direction of faith and now has his own Methodist church. This reminds me a lot of the pastor of the church I received communion from in Ohio

Another travel day, but we had fun. Alas, Mark's rear derailleur shifter snapped. He, William and I worked on it for about an hour. After viewing videos I was able to remove the frayed end from inside the shifter, but not able to get the new one to engage properly. We set it to the second-lowest gear in the back. This isn't perfect, but shifting among the three chainrings in front should get him through the next 90 miles to get to carbondale, where there are multiple bikeshops.

We've had a few problems finding alcohol in Kentucky (despite the whole Kentucky bourbon thing) because of dry or 'moist' counties. Today I found a bottle of Woodford reserve in a CVS pharmacy. Go figure.

To a horse camp!

Day 24: 52.0 miles, 4024 feet climbing (total: 1149.3, 79756): 2023-05-28 1590

 

Huge hills today. This seems to be a constant refrain on this trip, but at some point that's got to stop, maybe Kansas? Of course, then there will be headwinds.

Ten miles into today's ride we crossed the Ohio River on a ferry. The Ohio river is huge! The picture shows a tug pushing six discrete barges. When these assemblages go through locks up north, the tug has to take each of the barges (or perhaps two at a time) through the locks and then go back for the rest.

We stopped for a late lunch at Shotgun Eddie's: the only place to eat in Eddyville, the last town before the campground. Service was incredibly slow, but we really didn't care because it was early, and we were content to eat chips and salsa, washed down w/ weak beer. This place also had a live band playing outside, and a literal hitching post for folks to tie up their horses.

Our campground tonight caters to horseback riding on ridges in the area. The campground is filled with horses, trails of all sizes and types, and people riding their horses around. William had a 15 minute conversation with a woman as if having met in the produce aisle, except she was on a horse. She was on a horse! We (mark) talked to one couple who come from about 100 miles a way each year, w/ their horses, to ride the ridges. Many families do this year after year, seeing the same people. This couple also takes their horses out to Colorado for Elk hunting. Horse people traveling to events annually is a subculture about which I've certainly never heard, and not an inexpensive one. Some of the trailers are quite swanky.

The campground was full up, but they were happy to let us put our tents on any green grass that we found, of which happily there was plenty.

To layover day in Carbondale, IL

Day 25: 44.6 miles, 2986 feet climbing (total: 1193.9, 82742): 2023-05-29 1591

 

Where do you get a name like that? Just as you might think, some guy trying to make a buck bought a big parcel of coal-bearing land between two county seats, named it 'Carbondale', and incorporated it. According to ACA, we won't hit a bigger town until Pueblo, CO.

We were all tired at the start of this day, as the last four or five have been taxing, and had the choice of saving five miles taking the Google Maps route, or doing the (possibly) more scenic ACA route. I chose the latter, and the car-free wide-open country roads were welcome after all the climbs on beautiful roads that sadly had no shoulders (maybe 4').

But I got tired of it after a while, and turned to join the google route, but was soon thwarted by detour sign. Going back a bit I found another road and soon realized I was back on the ACA route, and that route also soon had a detour sign.

Sighing, I turned around and in three or four minutes ran into Geri and William coming the same way. 'I'm not going through the detour sign on my own, but if you guys want to try it as well...' I said nonchalantly. 'Let's do it!' cried Geri and charged ahead. Ah well.

There were a ton of big potholes that needed to be filled, and then some road surface that had been stripped, and then some road where lumpy asphalt had been laid down a few days before, followed by road where the asphalt was wet. I was in the lead and lucky not to drop the bike, but we soldiered through and were soon back on the track.

Today (Tuesday), we did usual layover stuff: mailing unused/heavy stuff home, visiting the bike shop, I switched a future layover day from a boring campground to another AirBnB, and Geri cooked exquisite meals. Mark's wonderful wife Jean visited and gave Mark and I haircuts. I had two naps!

Life is good.

Into the Eagles' Nest...

Day 27: 56.4 miles, 2228 feet climbing (total: 1250.3, 84970): 2023-05-31 1593

 

Ostensibly a 53-mile ride, like all the others it inflates by the time of the final tally. How does this happen? Is it recording me weaving back and forth across the roads during the uphills? Surely not enough GPS resolution for that.

The last 38 miles were either through a hilly countryside or a 'flat' trip along the levees. We definitely wanted to see the Mississippi and didn't mind the thought of fewer hills, so the choice was obvious. However, we only saw the river at the one spot where I have a picture of Mark, William, and Geri. The rest was through the countryside. The tailwind made up for the lack of excitement in the scenary.

It was neat seeing the enormous grain silos w/ a 1/4 mile (1/2 mile) conveyer dumping the grain on to docked barges, and the same for the coal.

Today we hit the 80's for the first time: 87. We all ran out of water, calling for a change in our approach tomorrow. We will try to have tents packed by 7 and be on the road by 7:30. Only 48-ish miles, so we should be able to get there by early afternoon (an RV park, so not really sure where we sit out the heat yet).

Tonight we are behind the Chester Eagles Club, which claims to have been formed by people in the performance arts back in 1898. Now it's a sports bar. Maybe we didn't talk to the right people.

First thing in the morning we cross the Mississippi into Missouri. After four days of 50-ish miles we have another layover day in Eminence MO, where we hope to get a float trip or go canoeing.

Into Missouri....and the heat.....

Day 28: 50.7 miles, 3780 feet climbing (total: 1301.0, 88750): 2023-06-01 1594

 

Second day out of Carbondale and we are staying at a HipCamp south of Farmington, MO. Yes, we crossed the Mississippi today at Chester IL.

We got up early and we're moving by 7am because of the projected heat (87 and sweltering). Maybe getting up early helped, but this was *hot*. We were a bit underwhelmed at the hipcamp that we finally got to, especially because it takes us off-route (read 'adds miles'), but w/ the help of our host, and good wifi in the camp, we were able to figure out a back route that makes the hit minimal.

This is good, because tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter: 90 and sweltering. Our proposed route is going to only give us 41 miles tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have our feet propped up in a library tomorrow before noon.

The short sharp climbs continue, but at least this morning we were all doing better on them. By the afternoon, w/ the heat, not so much, but we persevere!

Adventure!

Day -1: 2023-06-02 1595

 

Into layover in Emininence, MO...

Day 30: 51.6 miles, 4458 feet climbing (total: 1395.4, 96256): 2023-06-03 1598

 

This day might have been the most brutal: big climbs and searing heat. It only hit 88 when we were out there, but it felt much warmer. I started the day with about 144 oz of water (more than a gallon), w/ NUUNs and some BLOKs for hydration, and almost ran out. Most of the day we'd all periodically hide from the sun by hiding in the meager shade at the side of the road, or in a couple instances peoples' driveways.

By the end of it, I was laser-focused on getting to the layover day airbnb before I dropped, and limited stops to just long enough to take in food and water. I wasn't really *powering* up the last nasty hills, but I stopped walking and went back to taking momentum from downhills into the next uphills more aggressively. I hit 40 mph at least three times, and this was *with* braking. My max of 44.7 reflects braking, which is not really my thing on straight downhills. However, I was just jittery enough from this day to not want to push it.

Upshot is that I got to the airbnb first, and had time to take a shower and do laundry before anyone else showed up. I then took empty panniers over to the grocery store to carry the groceries back.

Layover day

Day 31: 2023-06-04 1599

 

Doing not much at all. Seven straight days biking start tomorrow.

I guess I did do one thing (see above pic).

Into Houston....

Day 32: 43.9 miles, 3468 feet climbing (total: 1439.3, 99724): 2023-06-05 1600

 

Named for Sam Houston, but located in Missouri, not Texas. I have been unable to find out why. He was evidently a...character though. At last one annulment because he was already married at the time and had been for years.

We've just finished the first day of seven straight rides w/o a layover day. Look at the last picture. Eminence, where we stayed last night, is the low point about 450f the way from the right. We started out the morning w/ an extremely hard 12-15 miles, but then the hills, while still present, stretched out. The longer hills are still hard, but you can get a rhythm on them, and at least I felt I did. It helped that the day was only 44 miles total. We also know things are going to get even smoother.

There are something like 180 individual maps for the TransAm route published by ACA (adventure cycling). Maps are combined into 12 different sections, each w/ about 15 maps. We started on section 12 and are working our way back to section 1 (which starts in oregon). Currently we are on section 9, and the picture of referenced above is the elevation profile for the whole section. I mention this because sections 8 and 7 ...... have no elevation profiles! In other words, out elevation will slowly go up until it starts going up very rapidly, but until then the short sharpies are going to be gone pretty quickly. Maybe two more days.

During these 7 days, including today's short day, we will cover 420 miles.

Day 33: 69.6 miles, 4521 feet climbing (total: 1508.9, 104245): 2023-06-06 1601

 

Tonight Geri and William are in a hotel because they appear to have caught something, and I'm down because a friend has had some hard news, so Mark and I spent the evening drinking and playing guitar music to each other. It helped assuage the pain both of us feel because of friends falling on hard times. I'm almost 60 and mark is almost 65, so this where we are at, but knowing doesn't make it any easier.

Good day riding, but I'm sending a big fuck you to the universe.

Into Ash Grove

Day 34: 48.9 miles, 3841 feet climbing (total: 1557.8, 108086): 2023-06-07 1602

 

The land is getting more spare, the people more arid-looking (dryer, more laconic), and agriculture has mostly disappeared (what is left is no-till to avoid losing the thin layer of topsoil): only ranching left.

They mostly sell off yearling cows to big combine farms in Kansas, who fatten them on corn for a year and then slaughter. On the plus side (for the cows), most seem to use bulls rather than artificial insemination. All of this is because most of the farms in this part of Missouri are small family-owned affairs, though of course most of the kids have left so not for much longer.

The dogs are back! A big white dog charged me as I topped a rise. I put on a little speed and thought I was in the clear. In my mirror I saw the shit silently closing in. Over the rise by then I was able to drop him and warn the others. Despite the warning the dog bit Mark's pannier, and bit and held onto Paula's pannier, causing her to do a slow-motion fall, which apparently satisfied the beast as he moved on.

On the way into town a pit pull chased Mark down the road but was unable to catch him.

What is wrong w/ these owners?

We are moving into Kansas-like land: flat (ahead at least, horrible sharp Kentucky-like climbs coming into town) and boring. We just have to get through this to get to Colorado and the Hoosier pass, which drops us into Breckinridge. Can almost taste the beer!

Ridewithgps says our Mac grade today was 19.8%. Insane. Tomorrow night we're in Kansas.....

Into Kansas.....

Day 35: 76.9 miles, 2968 feet climbing (total: 1634.7, 111054): 2023-06-08 1603

 

Long, freaking hot day. Including the beer run at the end of the day (Mark's birthday, had to have beer), 76.9 miles. First 30 miles were hilly and then things evened out and the heat started. There was a section 10-15 miles long where we had a tailwind, and that was *fun*. Probably averaged 15 mph during that section, w/ the majority over 18.

We are definitely into Kansas now. Landscape has flattened out, back into agriculture w/ less ranching. Not sure what causes the changes. Western Missouri seemed drier, why would Kansas be less so? Or maybe it's because Kansas is the realm of the big agrobusiness, so they can afford to grow whatever they want, wherever they want. Might also be better topsoil.

This is the fourth consecutive day riding, three more until our layover day in Newton. We are now 1650 miles into this trip. By the end of Sunday it will be my second longest tour, only the Southern Tier being longer.

Also, and more importantly, by then there will be little (save a heat wave) that can stop us from getting all the way into Colorado, where Hoosier Pass at 1,500' awaits us.

Be sure to look at the picture of the ferocious beast that attacked me....

Further into ..... Kansas. Yep.

Day 36: 58.2 miles, 1148 feet climbing (total: 1692.9, 112202): 2023-06-09 1604

 

Today we only climbed 1148 feet...over 58 miles. That is impressively flat. The land is growing flatter, more spare. A few small oil drills, lots of god and country displays (downtowns w/ flags still up, the hay bales (pic), the rodeo bible camps). But we continue to get nothing but positive good wishes from people we talk to. They don't all think what we are doing is sane, but they all want us to be safe.

Today was a bit of a milestone for me physically. It's the first day in a few where I didn't feel punished by the heat (lots of gatorade), and the first day I forgot to take any ibuprofin. Not saying I didn't feel them at all, but there was a ten-mile stretch towards the end where we had just a bit of tail wind and I was *moving*. More importantly, the limiting factor was my thigh muscles, not the knees. I'll probably pay for it later (next two days are going to be tough), but it was really a good day.

Camping is in a city park, a bit crude but w/ hot (smelly) showers, power, and nice grass. Shopped at Walmart because William is ambitious (he also bought a pan, a grill, and a lot of salmon). Walmart is a pain, because they have so much that you can't leave in 10 minutes, it takes at least an hour.

On the ACA map for tomorrow's route it says 'limited resources next 60 miles', so we're planning to carry large amounts of water and food. This will take us into Eureka, where we are in a city park again, followed by a layover day in Newton (airbnb!).

Into Eureka....

Day 37: 63.3 miles, 1683 feet climbing (total: 1756.2, 113885): 2023-06-10 1605

 

Today was a fizzle, but in a good way. Some of us have had cases of heat exhaustion after long, hot, hard days w/o proper hydration. We've now bought an enormous bottle of Gatorade mix and and we're trying to stay ahead of it.

But today was supposed (as of yesterday) to be hot, sweltering, and long. Instead, the wind came up early in the night, leading to great sleep, and turned into a thunderstorm by the wee hours (more good sleep). It was still raining hard when I woke at 5:45, a full 15 minutes after we were supposed to be up and about, and in the end we put our tents away wet and hit the road at 9:15.

The the roads dried quickly, we generally had cloud cover, and even the occasional tail wind. In my case I spent time talking to another biker (Eric from the Big Island), and the two of us drafted each other for a while. He's a very strong rider and I spent most of the time drafting him :-)

We also met another rider, Paul, is riding eastwards. He's had to interrupt his trip two previous years but expects to finish this year.

Mark and I stopped at a tiny town at a vacant picnic table and were hailed twice by neighbors: asking if there was anything we needed. This is a Good Thing, as the maps indicated 'few services for the next 60 miles' around this area, evidently they know it.

Tonight we're staying at another city pool park, which is still busy at 8pm. There are downsides, like kids running around and screaming (grrr....), but upsides of good grass, covered picnic tables, and it's free!

The bottom line is that the TransAm is a big enough thing to make an impact on the local communities, and they appreciate it. And Kansas is widely talked of as the most friendly state !!!

Tomorrow we have a long (75+ miles) into our layover day in a Newton KS AirBnB. The pain will be worth it....

Into Newton...

Day 38: 74.3 miles, 2335 feet climbing (total: 1830.5, 116220): 2023-06-11 1606

 

Today was the last of seven straight days biking, totaling over 431 miles in one week. Today was the longest day, and had the potential to be gruesome. Instead it was merely hard.

Kansas is infamous in TransAm lore as the place bikers go to die, unable to make progress into heavy headwinds. Today had the potential to be long, hot and sweltering, and w/ a heavy headwind. Further, the maps helpfully notate 'scarce resources over the next 70 miles'. Finally, the individual who was responsible for ensuring we had sufficient fuel to cover 70+ potentially without resupply did a piss-poor job, and most of us headed out without sufficient resources. In my case this meant no energy bars, no sandwiches, just meat and cheese stuffed into a cardboard pita.

Given all that, we had a very fortunate day. The headwind remained a cross-wind for most of the day, a headwind for maybe a quarter of the day, and a slight tailwind for an even smaller amount. The heat never materialized. Instead, we had gray skies and occasional smatterings of rain. Further, I took the last 'group gear' on the day to carry for the day, as I usually do, and this gear included fritos, granola, and ham, so I was set.

I biked most of the day with eric, who's been biking w/ us for the last day or two, and potentially on Tuesday as well. He turns out to be an interesting guy: just retired from being a staffer in the Hawaii legislature (he's 60, though I would have guessed 15-20 years younger). He's also done the appalacian trail and things that was easier, but he did do that 30+ years ago.

The pictures are just to give you a sense of what the land is like. My favorite picture is one of Mark's, the 'Welcome Coysille' sign flanked by derelict cars whose motors have been long since removed.

Into Sterling: the self-professed most bike-friendly city in kan

Day 40: 59.0 miles, 1094 feet climbing (total: 1889.5, 117314): 2023-06-13 1607

 

Another blast out into another day that could have been an unrelenting nightmare, but wasn't. The day started w/ a 10-15 mph west wind (from the west), which would have been a killer if we had it all day. Happily, the wind was intermittent and came from all quarters.

I was cook today, so I made a homemade meat sauce (NYT cooking) and spaghetti, plus a salad. Mark was my helper, did a lot of the work, and also sanity checked me. This was my second attempt and it still needed some last-second doctoring, but the final result was yummy. I'll perfect it next time.

The locals continue to be friendly. Not only the sign in one of the pictures, but when I was out alone on an empty road taking a snack break, a grizzled customer hauling his (big) boat swung into the gravel and asked me if I need anything from water up to a ride.

We also have seen very few political signs (Geri saw one trump 2024 sign). This might be because there's no call to be preaching to the choir, but still.

Two days ago I was having lunch at McDonalds while waiting for our AirBnB to be done and I overheard the oddest conversation. Three old dudes who evidently meet there every week discussing the affairs of the day. They seemed well informed, but I had no way of fact-checking as most of it was either local, or difficult to trace: 'Them solar farm companies are owned by the Saudis and the Chinese through proxies. Don't want 'em in my neighborhood, our lawyers are looking into it.' And then a series of frankly hilarious bumpkin takes on national politics. Unfortunately they ended in sober agreement that DeSantis was a 'pretty good man.'

Afterwards another local interrupted me to talk about bike touring, and in this area specifically. People *are* interested.

And just now a train when right past our tent (75 ft?). That horn was one of the loudest things I've ever heard, and it woke me up from nodding off over my book. The rumbling in the ground was intense.

Into Grand Bend, KS....

Day 41: 50.5 miles, 745 feet climbing (total: 1940.0, 118059): 2023-06-14 1608

 

Today we biked from Sterling, which was a couple miles north of the route, to Grand Bend. We had several options for camping in Grand Bend, all bad, and at the last minute Mark made an appeal for others to look, so Super-Pete stepped in and booked an AirBnBd. Only $80! ($173 after cleaning etc.). For a last minute booking, it is fantastic. Doesn't have enough rooms, so William and Geri are actually camping out back. Don't ask, they are fine w/ it, and think it will bear fruit over the long-term.

So today we seemed to go from green Kansas, to somewhat arid Kansas. Interesting to read the 'Scenic Overlook' text; typical woody biomass have more mass above ground. Prairie biomass is mostly underground, helping it survive water scarcity, fire, and over-grazing (think buffalo). This type of biomass allows for different types of animals/birds than live in wooded areas. The reserves we are riding through attempt to preserve that balance through controlled cattle grazing and fires.

First picture below is from last night, when train went 50? 75? ft from our tents. Holy crap. The conductor had to rub it in by doing a 'shave and a hair cut' w/ the train horn. That was one of the loudest things I've ever heard.

Saw a prairie dog colony today. Picture stinks, but an entire field next to the barn had mounds, usually w/ at least three dogs on sentry duty at any time.

Next to this was a large red barn that gave a bit of shade. I started enjoying my ham sandwich when a big black lab bounded around the corner woofing at me. I offered it some ham and he became my friend, but he kept looking behind him like he was expecting someone. Then an identical lab came around the corner woofing it up as well. Last piece of sandwich went to him, and then I carefully, calmly pushed my bike back to the road and left.

Heading to Grand Bend was relaxing and enjoyable. Very chill vibe to the landscape and the towns we go through. People move *slowly* in these town. You come to an intersection on a bike and wait for the cars, only gradually realizing that the cars are generally not moving faster than bikes, so you might as well just go.

The AirBnB is a big win. I expect to sleep well tonight, which is good because tomorrow will be hard. At least 60 miles, and about 20 miles are over rough grooved pavement according to Eric (see previous posts).

We are still hoping to see some TransAm bike racers, though we've drawn a blank so far.

The vulture tree made me think of jungle book.

TransAm Race! And pete is blown off the road by a truck....

Day 42: 63.9 miles, 1218 feet climbing (total: 2003.9, 119277): 2023-06-15 1609

 

Today was of two parts. First part we had an intermittent tailwind, and a good road. This rocked. I cruised near 17 mph for a goodly stretch (and paid for it later). Mark couldn't stay w/ me. Haha old man! (six years older).

Second part had hills (up to almost 5 0radient!), swirling winds that often resolved to headwinds, and terrible roads for the last 15 miles. This part sucked for me (possibly because I went too hard in the first 30), and great for Mark.

Right now there is a Trans Am Bike Race going on (google it). Dudes doing pretty much the same route we are, though west to east, and using the Adventure Cycling gps data (which I'm using) rather than the paper maps, and of course doing the trip in a few weeks rather than a few months. The data and the maps are usually the same. In this case, they are different. We spend the night at Great Bend, for example, which is not on the GPS data and therefore the Trans Am Racers didn't come through. We didn't intersect them until about 30 miles into our ride at a crossroads gas station, w/ a nice young woman named Stacy who was making tamales. The tamales weren't ready yet, but she'd just grilled some brats, and they were gooood.

More interestingly, though, Andrew Backer, a grad student making the Trans Am Race his first ever race, came into the store when I was there. Really good guy. These guys sleep maybe three hours at a stretch on the side of the road, no tent, can't get any aid other than what they can purchase locally w/ credit card. I could have offered to pay for his lunch but he'd have to have turned it down. Somebody held his bike when he was changing a tire several days ago and a race monitor told him he was risking disqualification. He's currently in sixth place behind three who are already in Kentucky, and two others just in front of him.

Non-aero trucks have large bow waves of air. Trucks from behind you don't affect you much until they are past, when they suck you along. This is a good thing! Trucks coming the other way can slam you w/ their bow waves. A cattle truck is big, tall, and about as non-aero as it gets, so it has a big bow wave. One of these passed me on a section of the crappy road that was narrow and literally moved me three feet to the right, which luckily in this case was off the road and onto a nice forgiving gravel shoulder. Lucky.

Into a city park in Ness City, no showers. Luckily two nice city employees left their hoses for us and we took perfectly satisfactory showers, w/ soap, in time to pound a few beers and get in our tents before the afternoon storm hit (in progress as I speak).

Tomorrow we start gaining elevation towards the high plains.

The storm that is raging, though not actually dropping much rain, overhead has lowered the temperature to the point where an afternoon nap is feasible. Good night!

Scott City!

Day 43: 56.3 miles, 1044 feet climbing (total: 2060.2, 120321): 2023-06-16 1610

 

Blah, blah, you've heard it before: headwinds, monotony (my god Kansas is boring), sleeping in a city park. We've gotten to the point where some city parks seems luxerious, Geri and William come back and talk about the best public bathrooms yet! Whoo-hoo!

Ready to get to Colorado, and by that I mean the fun part, not eastern colorado, which will be even more barren than what we have here.

Luckily, mileage should remain relatively low (60 or a bit lower). We are definitely going up: now at about 3000 feet, so this probably qualifies as the 'high plains'. Looking for a drifter....

Another Trans Am Racer ripped past so quickly today that I didn't even notice him (I was texting and riding). Another rider, Jake, had lunch w/ the woman who is in first place. She said she'd slept one hour under a tree on the side of the road during the previous 24 hours. Argh!!

Andrew, the guy pictured in yesterday's entry, has now moved up to fifth place in the men's race. What little we hear third or fourth hand from the racers is that most upward movement now is because of people dropping out. Those that remain are spread out enough that it's unlikely one overtakes another unless some bad happens.

Chatted w/ cousins Patrick and Betsy, hope to see both in Breckinridge next week.

Seriously into the High Plains: Tribune

Day 44: 49.0 miles, 1071 feet climbing (total: 2109.2, 121392): 2023-06-17 1611

 

Last night was one of the most violent storms I've enjoyed in a small tent. And I do mean enjoy! They are a blast: wind bending the poles almost double, rain coming from all directions, and you stay dry because today's little tents are awesome. Here's a quick video I took of the sky when it was rolling in. See the pic of weather radar to see where we were.

In the end, almost everything was dry by morning (dry wind), and I had a great night's sleep. I woke up once because I heard pots blowing around. W/ visions of all our food and equipment (which had as usual been stacked ad hoc on a table under the gazebo roof) flying around.

However, Mark had decided to sleep w/o a tent also under the roof, and so was in a prime position to see the storm coming in and to make a little penguin herd of our stuff on the middle of the gazebo floor. A few things had flown, including my titanium spork (ye gads!), so I collected them and noticed something strange. It looked like Mark had set up his tent a few feet off the floor. Look more closely, the had quickly set up his rainfly by tying it to the nearby picnic tables.

Today was only 47 miles, up another 700 feet to take us to 3700 or so. In the next three days we will climb up to 5300', before beginning the Hoosier Pass climb in earnest: a climb to Hartsel at 8900', followed by going over the pass at 11,500' the next day. Hopefully we will be relatively well acclimated by then.

Had another Bud Light to support my trans and brethren and sistren ?? (yeah, once again it's basically the only option) and after a nice dinner in town we jumped into our tents before another storm, luckily not too bad so far, hit.

The biker is a 57yo Slovenian relatively far back in the standings of the Trans Am Race.

The grain silos are the defining structures in this part of Kansas. Any collection of grain silos defines a town, whether or not there's anything else in.

In camp, I spent some time talking to Steve, who says he's the official (probably self-appointed) greeter for transam riders. He was here when the original transam ride came through in 1976 and has a wealth of stories about the various craziness the the trail has brought.

Tribune was named for Horace Greeley, who started the New York Tribune. Greeley was a socialist very much against slavery ad who strongly pushed women's rights and the ideal of agrarian societies. It's clearly the latter which appealed to the locals. I asked Steve what the other local folk thought of their town being named after a socialist and he whispered conspiratorially, 'I don't think most of them know.'

Into Colorado...and the second half of our tour

Day 45: 57.8 miles, 1226 feet climbing (total: 2167.0, 122618): 2023-06-18 1612

 

Today we biked almost 60 miles from Tribune Kansas, to Eads Colorado. Eastern Colorado has been more empty and desert-like so far!

We started the day in a hole a bit because Mark had flats on both his tires, and we all got involved, setting us back an hour and a half. Still not sure they are right.

The resulting stress put Mark on the wrong foot right away, and he had a very hard day. I will say that we basically all had hard days, as this was the day we were finally smacked directly in the face w/ a 10 mph headwind that only relented in the last couple miles. Additionally, we had some climbing, a lot of heat, and a lot of people not having enough water (I did, until I started sharing).

Seeing more tourers go the other direction. Today there was a couple on a tandem, two guys starting from Pueblo and heading to the Atlantic (I only got a picture of one: Steve), and an Irish guy who has this crazy trip planned out, including doing the US Transam, part of the Ring Road in Iceland, lots of ferry crossings and a couple more country crossings. Seems very ambitious.

Today we were unable to get our permit to stay in the park (noone ever answered), so we splurged and are staying at a decent hotel.

Tomorrow, longer, stronger headwinds, and hotter, so I need to go to bed.

Holy shit that was hot.....

Day 46: 61.6 miles, 1020 feet climbing (total: 2228.6, 123638): 2023-06-19 1613

 

Second day of the headwind, and this was definitely worse than the first. However, the previous night we bailed to a decent hotel, and since Paula had already booked her own room at a cheap hotel nearby, Mark and I each ended up w/ our own room. Score! It was beautiful :-)

Still, we decided to leave early because of the headwind, which was supposed to increase throughout the day. At 6:40 we were on the road.

There's basically nothing between Euds and Ordway, inclusive. There was one body shop that sold us a couple sodas, but otherwise what we carried was what we got.

We got down to business right away. Geri and William are (almost) always together. Geri is in front, not extremely fast but strong, stopping only every 1.5 hours.

I rode w/ them for a while, but Mark had more tire issues. He's had a series of flats, and I've probably had more flats than anyone, plus I'm the only one w/ patches. We eventually got him back on the road and then only had 30 miles, 90+ F, to get into camp.

This was hard. There was nothing out there. I started scanning the road in front of me constantly to find shade, any shade, to get out of the sun for a few minutes. As opposed to earlier in the tour, we all had sufficient water, most of which was doctored w/ Gatorade mix to replenish the electrolytes.

The critter, an antelope? impala? deer? was just standing in the middle of a field all alone, probably wondering where everyone went.

As I neared 15 miles to go, getting very tired, Geri texted about a cute cafe w/ ice cream five miles from the end, which was GREAT. Not necessarily the ice cream, the ability to fixate on something cool at the end of a push.

During this last few miles, I started seeing a mountain at 2 o'clock floating above the horizon. Must be big, but I don't know what it was.

Second, I started noticing a bow wave being pushed up by my bike. There was evidently a cloud of grasshoppers, or locusts, and they were all over the line and the shoulder of the road. So as you cruise forward, locusts are jumping off left and right. It was actually, kind of cool, and most jumpers were successful. The only pair that weren't were procreating right on the road, so that's on them. Cue the beatles....

We're staying at another church-based place, basically a big gym w/ attached rooms and kitchen. Very nice for us, as usual.

Two more days to Canon city, and then after a layover we head up!

Holy shit...that was....not bad?

Day 47: 62.2 miles, 1442 feet climbing (total: 2290.8, 125080): 2023-06-20 1614

 

Today was supposed to be extremely hot, and with a 15 mph headwind. For most of the day it wasn't. Instead, there was a lot of biking on a busy small highway (w/o much shoulder), and then more biking on a big, busy highway (50) that had a big shoulder. That was better.

Despite the much better than expected conditions, I was doing poorly. I think this was the sixth straight biking day and there's another tomorrow. Part of the issue was surely the early rising (before 5am), which I really didn't appreciate. I think the rest was the general fatigue.

Yesterday I saw our first mountain, floating above the horizon like a mirage. Noone else saw it, and our host from last night's best guest was that it was Pike's Peak, but he doesn't really know.

Today we see an entire range. The Rockies are coming, no getting around it. We're excited, we're apprehensive, but it's going to happen on Friday, one way or the other.

We ended the day at Arkansas Point Campground in the Pueblo State Park. By the time we got there the predicted searing heat had hit, and each site only has a single shade provider. It's 6:30 now, sunset is at 8:25. Not moving (except possibly to take another shower) before then.

Leaning heavily on intelligence passed on by Jake and Eric, two guys with whom we've shared a few overnights. Both are now at Hartsel, half way up the mountain, expecting a 38 degree evening and wondering if the clothes they've carried for thousands of miles will suffice.

Into the layover day in Canon City...

Day 48: 37.9 miles, 1731 feet climbing (total: 2328.7, 126811): 2023-06-21 1615

 

Our layover in Canon City will be the rest for our climb up Hoosier Pass Friday and Saturday. Today we just had to get from Pueblo to Canon City, about 40 miles. Mark, Paula and I decide to follow Google Map's advice and go around reservoir as opposed to going back to no-should highway 96 that had limited appeal.

It was a good decision! The ride around the lake was very pretty. The Pueblo damn is two miles across and 200 ft high, built during the early 1970's. Some of the escarpments were quite striking, and very different from the terrain we've been going through.

After that, however Google Map let us down. Highway 50, a large, heavy-traffic divided highway strikes right down the valley, but Maps wanted us off the busy freeway and on the side roads. Some of the side roads were beautiful red gravel, similar to what I normally associate with Utah. Problem was, they were gravel, sometimes with washboard bumpiness.

I ended up jumping back on 50 which, for all it's faults, has a 10-ft shoulder. So the last 22 combined some climbing, some downhills, all with a tailwind, very nice.

Only problem is that the climbing seemed quite hard, despite the modest grades (3% ). My legs seemed like lead. Once we all gathered at the layover airbnb, it turns out that all of us, w/ the possible exception of Geri, felt the same way. Might be partially because of altitude (5300'), and partially because we have now biked nine straight days since our last layover. That's a lot of biking.

And what we're hearing from others that are a couple days ahead of us is that Hoosier is actually tougher than expected. So ....... tomorrow is going to be a serious chill day.

Canon City

Day 49: 2023-06-22 1616

 

Hanging out, working on bikes, watching the Tour show on Netflix.

And I had to post the storefront of the Fremont County Republican party. Lincoln, The Gipper, and Trump.

I've got nothing.

Into Hartsel, metropolis at the convergence of the TransAm and the Great Divide

Day 50: 56.4 miles, 5429 feet climbing (total: 2385.1, 132240): 2023-06-23 1617

 

Today is the first of two days to climb from 5300 to 11600 and go over Hoosier Pass. The *harder* day, where we climb up over 9000 ft and end up camping in Hartsel, CO, a hopping place because, well, there's nothing else within miles.

Everyone was nervous today because of the altitude gain combined w/ the total climbing, which is right up there w/ the biggest days we had back east. The schedule we inherited from Adventure Cycling sandwiched these two days w/ two layover days, the first in Canon City and the second in Breckinridge.

And it was tough! Oh my god it was tough! We left Canon City on rte 50 and turned on to rte 9 after 15 miles. We take 9 over the pass into Breckinridge tomorrow. One turn! And Mark missed it, dropping down into a beautiful valley only to realize his mistake and turn to begin the long climb back out.

For me, the majority was doable, usually less than 7%. It did occasionally get up into the 8 range (for a long stretch) and the 9's, but this was short. I stopped a lot, leapfrogging back and forth with Paula who was also climbing well and didn't really have a lot of problems. But I was just on the edge a couple times, saved both times by a timely tailwind that was with us most of the day.

Coming over a rise and seeing the Rockies spread out in front of us was a thrill. We are actually bypassing most of the Rockies people have heard of, but we'll be spending five days in Colorado up at least near 10,000 feet.

The day's end goal is Hartsel, one block of bars, restaurants, and convenience stores. Hartsel is on both the TransAm and Great Divide (off-road from Antelope Wells to Banff, I did one week of this back in 2016) routes, and the only place to camp is behind the bar, which is frankly a pit: trash everywhere, a couple porta-potties that stink, and some decrepit furniture. They don't have showers, but surprisingly clean and spacious bathrooms with soap and paper towels, so not too bad. We are able to use the restrooms here until it shuts down tonight (maybe 2am?), and after it opens in the morning at 6am.

Paula and I didn't want to put down stakes (literally) before we were sure there wasn't any place better, and so hung out in the bar (see picture of my first order). Two hours later Geri and William turned up, totally toasted, and then Mark appeared at the bar saying 'I think I'm going to cry.' But we all made it, that's the important part.

Geri and William set up their tent and suddenly the place was filling up w/ our four tents, a pair of Kiwi women, a couple from England, and Yusef, a young guy from Gainesville that we shared a park w/ way back in Virginia.

Rosana, I didn't make it into Zaccaro, but Geri says it's to die for and insisted I try a piece of her pizza. It was very, very good. Spicy, great crust, just the right amount of cheese

We are expecting 37 degrees tonight, 11 degrees cooler than any night we've had so far, so everyone seems to be planning how they can best wear every piece of clothing they own.

Over Hoosier Pass

Day 51: 39.9 miles, 2850 feet climbing (total: 2425.0, 135090): 2023-06-24 1618

 

This day was ridiculously hard. It was so hard it was almost fun. Let me put it this way: my cousin Patrick said it would take one hour to get from Fairplay over the Pass and down to his place in Breckinridge. It took me 2-1/2 hours, not one, and I finished significantly ahead of the others. Three of our party walked at least the last four miles to the summit. I walked maybe a quarter of it.

The day started w/ a 15-20 mph headwind to go along with a gentle upward grade.....for the 20 miles between Hartsel and Fairplay, all at 10,000 ft. This just destroyed us, and going higher made it worse. To top off hardness quotient, the entire climb was made on a relatively busy road w/ no shoulder. This is part of why the others walked the end and I had to hop off whenever cars from different directions were passing.

This was hard!

I reached the top (riding at this point) just as Bridget, a German rider in the TransAm Race also reached the top (walking!). Some of the women have already finished, so she's clearly a ways back, but still putting in amazing rides.

Then our AirBnB turns out to be on the third floor, no elevator. We have bikes and 45-50 lbs of gear each.

The fallout from this was that I was wasted, Mark destroyed, William has pain in both knees, and Paula is considering leaving the tour.

Hopefully William's knees will improve w/ the day off.

I was pretty wasted, but my cousin came and took me to Troll House, the Breckinridge mountain resort house my uncle Pat owned and now his kids share. Really, really cool to see them after having gone over the 11,500 ft pass starting from sea level. Hopefully we'll see each other again soon. Pat had friends from grade school there and both were very interesting. One, Chip, turns out to have worked on several recent high-level NASA missions from the military-industrial-complex side (LockHeed), including New Horizons (the recent mission to Pluto), and a current mission to Europa (looking in the Lagrange points for material left over from the solar system's formation.

Leaving Breckenridge, and sad......

Day 53: 77.1 miles, 2588 feet climbing (total: 2502.1, 137678): 2023-06-26 1619

 

Sad to leave Breckenridge, but also sad because Paula has left our tour, leaving the intrepid four: Geri, William, Mark, and I.

Today was listed as 61 miles on the spreadsheet from ACA, turned out to be 77. Luckily, lots of tailwinds.

We had an early headwind and I was feeling really weak (didn't sleep well previous night), so I just tucked in behind Mark and he pulled me along.

Later in the afternoon I started doing much better; total coincidence that the headwind had turned into a tailwind, we had dropped under 9000 ft for the first time since Friday, and that I had pounded some caffeine.

We had just completed going around a large reservoir on rt 30, which was up and down but completely untrafficked (to the extent that the lone convenience store closed last year). There was a very cool small dam at one end. The water spewed down a large artificial fall to a turbine way below.

We also passed a wildlife bridge, which exists to allow easy passage to wildlife across highways. Kind of bizarre looking, but they exist all across the west, including Canada. Not sure what restrictions exist on the two endpoints before public funds can be used.

We spent the night at Pioneer Park in Hot Sulphur Springs: no power, no showers, no bathrooms (portapotties), and no water. Definitely a low point in our lodgings.

Into Walden....

Day 54: 61.7 miles, 3303 feet climbing (total: 2563.8, 140981): 2023-06-27 1620

 

No, not the pond, the northernmost city of Colorado we will stay in.

Today was very different than yesterday. First, we woke up in a festering swamp of a campground. Second, Geri and William's friend Audrey Welch came to help us out for a day. They met a couple years ago on ACA's North Star tour (Missoula to Denali).

Audrey was awesome. First, she brought breakfast, and water! (none at the campsite) Then she tossed all our panniers into her car and went off running errands. So today we climb over the 9600-ft Willow Creek Pass w/ no bags, and a tailwind. And Audrey was waiting for us at the top w/ a table full of food and drinks.

On the downhill I ended up alone as I often do, as I tend to take them a bit faster than most of the others. Biking alone in the sage-covered basin, high up in the sky, snowcapped peaks in all directions. I felt I was exactly where I wanted to be right then.

Getting into camp (a city park w/ access to pool and showers), there was Audrey again, this time with more food, beer, and her husband Greg, who works on several programs that are all aimed at saving the habitats and biodiversity of prairie dog. Even more helpfully, he used to be a wrench at REI so he was able to help Mark fix a couple issues, and then spent 20 minutes going over a couple of bike issues I've been worrying about. Happily, he thinks everything is still in good shape for the last 2000 miles, and I learned a bit in the process.

Meanwhile, Audrey and Gerri had made butter chicken, and we had Brits Chris and Jayne at our table, along w/ a case of beer. Chris had a good time describing their evolution in understanding the differences between brits and americans. Evidently there is an adage 'Brits are too polite to be honest, and dutch are too honest to be polite.' His example is a bloke w/ two beers, who offers one to another bloke just to be polite. The other bloke of course says no, and both are happy: they were both polite, plus the first guy has two beers.

This was relevant for our dinner because Audrey invited them to share the park, and our dinner. If a random guy named Steve, who they met behind a gas station in Kentucky, hadn't educated them in the way americans speak, they would have politely declined the invitation, and we would have been left w/ too much food while Chris and Jayne would have been sitting in their tent w/ a 12-pack of beer!

Into Wyoming... moo....

Day 55: 71.0 miles, 2241 feet climbing (total: 2634.8, 143222): 2023-06-28 1621

 

Travel day! 68 miles for the ride, then another three for beer.

This morning a full-grown bull moose trotted through our city park within 12 feet of Geri, looking neither left nor right. What was he thinking? Where was he going? He does this every morning, do the dogs put him in the same class as the mailman and the Amazon truck?

We have seen wildlife. There was the moose. There were prairie dogs running for their holes within a few feet of the road. There was a bald eagle who leapt off road carrion and flew off before I could get the phone off it's mount.

There was a marmot who was frantically trying to pull another (roadkill) marmot off the road. What was that about? And why was this still ongoing 10 minutes later when Mark came by?

We are now in Saratoga, Wyoming, (VA, KY, KS, CO, WY) fifth state, 2571 miles out of something like 4440 (less than 2000 to go, whoo-hoo!).

After 210 miles over the last three days, we are happy to have a short 42-miler tomorrow. We are planning to sleep in and leave at ten.

Go-Go Squeeze is new favorite snack.

Red in tooth and claw....

Day 56: 44.6 miles, 1421 feet climbing (total: 2679.4, 144643): 2023-06-29 1622

 

Pics are the view from our window at the CopperLine Lodge, and a pic of our jaunt on I-80. I-80 crosses the nation, becomes the Ohio Turnpike, and passes within a couple of miles where Jenny and I grew up in Sandusky Ohio, thousands of miles away. Sadly, shredded radial truck tires gave me my first puncture flat of the trip.

Video given to me by the owner of the lodge, who got it yesterday when ATVing up in the nearby Snow Range. The video had just been taken by some kids (high schoolers) who worked w/ conservation corps in the hills.

(original Evidently near the north platt campground.

The owner ran into a park ranger soon after seeing the kids and told him about the attack. The ranger said he had just come back from looking for another sheep, one w/ a radio collar, that had stopped moving. He found it, w/ (possibly a different) mountain lion straddling it. The ranger's dog charged forward, barking, and the mountain lion attacked it, knocking it off it's feet. The ranger fired a pistol into the air and the mountain lion ran off.

Long day into Jeffrey City

Day 57: 70.0 miles, 1775 feet climbing (total: 2749.4, 146418): 2023-06-30 1623

 

From Rawlins, WY to Jeffrey City, WY. Jeffrey City is basically a bar, a church, and enough surrounding ranches to get 7 people to a church service every other Sunday. But years ago, missionaries from the Carolinas built them the church, free, and they resolved to pay it back by providing a service to some other group: touring cyclists. There's a kitchen, a multi-purpose room, and five bedrooms. It's all a bit crude and dated now, and the upkeep of the church is entirely paid for out of donations from cyclists passing through.

Today was stupid beautiful. Again I spent most of the day by myself zenning out at the scenery, which sadly I'm not talented enough to get across in pictures. However, I will say that there are a couple pictures here that I really like.

We biked 70 miles w/ basically no services (no food and water, also no cell signal) the whole time, going to the city I describe above. It's very remote, it's very far away from our day to day existance, and it was one of my favorite days so far. Two crossings of the continental divide, though neither required more than a few hundred feet of climbing.

The highlights were the mountains, some canted on their 30 degrees off true, the split rock and the storms rolling in from 20 miles away, but somehow leaving us unscathed.

The male pronghorn antelope attracted my attention by making a sort of loud farting noise. Then it crossed the road and did it again. A local at the bar said it had young nearby and was trying to get me to chase him. Little did he know that I was way too tired to either chase him or mess w/ his offspring.

Layover day in Lander, Wy

Day 58: 63.5 miles, 2159 feet climbing (total: 2812.9, 148577): 2023-07-01 1624

 

We started the day with relatively run-of-the-mill (for this beautiful part of the world) scenery, and a climb. Things radically changed after the first 20 miles. First we had a five-mile downhill, not that fast, but long, through increasingly dramatic scenery. With the red shale? towards the end it seemed almost over the top.

We are spending tonight and tomorrow in two AirBnB rooms of a beautiful house outside of town. Our hosts are generous enough to let us use their kitchen to cook our meals, and loan us their truck to quickly get into town for shopping.

Tomorrow we are going to talk about the the Yellowstone and Missoula plan. We currently have just too many days in a row and hope to put something better together.

Crazy headwind, climbing, storms...

Day 60: 78.0 miles, 3556 feet climbing (total: 2890.9, 152133): 2023-07-03 1625

 

'This is a test,' Wark muttered as he got off his fully loaded touring bike at the shaded picnic table at the convenience store, Nowheresville, Wyoming. 'It's a test.'

Our hero, Pete, looked at Wark and mentally did a full-body shake. 'Well, it can't get any harder than this,' he said.

'What are you talking about, the weather app says sustained wind of 19 mph this afternoon?', asked Meri. 'It'll be fine!'

They'd spent 48 miles to that point generally in a headwind that varied from 5 to 10 mph, mostly climbing, as this day was the first day of a two-day climb of the Togwotee Pass, a pass excoriated not for being necessarily the hardest pass, but for going on forever. In this case they had a headwind, and it didn't show any sign of shifting.

Pete pulled out of the convenience store parking lot and immediately the beautiful road surface disappeared; construction had gotten to the point of removing the road surface, but not putting anything back. This was painful!

This was painful in a literal sense. Pete had started the current bike tour 2700 miles ago w/ a Brooks Cambium saddle, which has the advantage of being impervious to rain, but had a hard textured surface that never conformed to the buttock. This proved to be a mistake which he corrected a couple weeks later, but this was still the most painful trip he'd taken since 2008.

The unsurfaced road continued for miles. Pete noticed a section about a foot wide inside the road lines that looked smoothed out. Carefully watching through his mirror he moved out into the lane and found Yes! it was better. However, this was just in time for the road to pitch up again, as we were supposed to be climbing uninterrupted the rest of the day. The ACA's elevation profile showed the climb to be uninterrupted.

The grade went from 20 3%, up to 5 0x0p+0nd back down. None of this was unexpected nor hard in and of itself. However, the wind seemed pegged at 15 mph, and every once in a while one of those 30 mph gusts would hit.

Pete continued, stopping occasionally, for another five miles before the right hand lane got pavement. The rest of the group, Wark, Gilliam, and Meri, hadn't appeared behind him on the last hill yet, so he was clearly out in front a bit. Jis and Chrayn were at least a hill out in front.

The return of the pavement was heaven. Yes, the grade was still 3-5%, but it seemed doable without the endless teeth-clenching rattling.

'I can do this,' our hero muttered with clenched teeth. Fifty-five miles in, w/ 20-odd to go, it was the only choice. There was nothing between Lander and Dubois (pronounced 'dew boys'), they had to get to the other end.

The hill pitched up; the pedaling became harder. Pete's knee began to hurt, his breathing became ragged, and the hill pitched up again.

Then inexplicably the road pitched down, and out of nowhere a tailwind appeared. The elevation profile didn't show the downhill, how could it be there?

Pete checked his bike computer; still on route. It had no business being here, but for a half mile the route had varied between level and down 3%.

Pete stopped thinking about it. Clearly, claiming that nothing could get harder had caused the climb to be harder, so taking no notice of the downhill seemed the safest approach.

Then, ahead a bit, a white splotch appeared. It was a bridge; a bright abomination on the face of Pete's determined disbelief. Bridges meant change, usually that a downhill on one side would match an uphill on the other.

Pete refused to look at the bridge, and especially refused to look past it. If he didn't see it, it didn't exist, at least not yet. The problem was that this white festering sore on the surface of reality was calling to him. He'd look away and his gaze would creep back.

The road was visible on the other side, but even when his eyes darted towards the abomination on their own accord, he refused to think about what he had seen. What isn't known, could change.

Still on a gentle downhill, Pete hit the bridge without having seen past, and immediately after the bridge.....the road canted up. In dispair he looked up, only to find that the road reached a summit in less than a quarter mile. He could do it! The bridge had not destroyed him, and he only had a quarter mile to redemption!

But unclenching was hit undoing. To relax meant he could no longer keep up the pace, and was soon stopped on the shoulder looking for the energy additive to add to a water bottle. Caffeinated water secured and consumed, Pete continued.

Thirteen miles left, and the road pitched up again, the wind careening down the valley blasted right in his face, and yet he was determined.

Ragged from the climb, ragged from the cursed headwind and still ragged from the construction-blighted road in combination with the constant traffic, Pete clenched his teeth and doubled down on his claim.

'It can't get any worse than this, goddammit!' he ground out between clenched teeth.

A cloud crawled across the face of the sun, and in the valley ahead, thunder rumbled.

CRASH-BOOM!

Pete tried to avoid the heavy downpour by huddling under a tree while simultaneously pulling a trash bag over his delicate leather saddle and extracting his raincoat from a pannier.

CRASH-BOOM!

Gilliam, Wark, and Meri huddled under the eave of an abandoned hotel as the heavy rain turned to hail.

CRASH-BOOM!

Jis and Chrayne were caught out on the open road, no possible shelter in sight, and so crouched down on the side of the road, holding their bikes and panniers in front of them to shield their faces from the oncoming storm, and the passing cars.

LIGHTNING FLASH!

A crack issued from the tree above Pete. He looked up.

LIGHTNING FLASH!

A lull in the deluge prompted Pete to jump back onto the road and a passing truck's bow wave sent him flying over the guardrail.

LIGHTNING FLASH!

Getting back on the road was hard, but with 13 miles to go there again was no other choice. Thirteen miles was doable regardless of the weather conditions.

He set out as the hail turned into a light drizzle. the traffic lessened and he was able pick up the pace, his alarm at his plight giving him strength. Up over the first small hill he plowed, to a slight turned that had him going straight at another cloud.

As if in recompense, the storm behind pushed him forward, the headwind becoming a strong tailwind, and he flew toward the oncoming cloud. The road turned again, and he passed the cloud w/ only a slight spattering of rain.

Weaving from exhaustion, our hero put his head down and drove towards Dubois. Tune in next time to 'As the Wheel Turns....'

Over Togwotee Pass and into the Tetons...

Day 61: 75.5 miles, 3848 feet climbing (total: 2966.4, 155981): 2023-07-04 1626

 

Yesterday was horrible, brutal and just the start of the climb up Togwotee. Today was the rest, but instead of a 15 mph headwind we had a 15 mph tailwind. Huge difference! We climbed up over the pass at 9600 feet at a slow, steady pace, and were able to crest the summit w/ only a vague unease that the wind appeared to be shifting.

It was. Headwind all the way down, but a headwind w/ 6 0ownhill is still great.

Today begins a five-day split in the group, basically because of differing tolerance for crowds. We all hate them, but Yellowstone is too spectacular to pass up for Mark and I. Geri and William are going to Colter Bay today, then Jenny Lake, over the Teton Pass, and up through Idaho, possibly ending w/ two long days in Yellowstone.

Mark and I will be going to Jenny Lake first for two days, then Colter Bay and then into Yellowstone for four days: Grant Village campground, Grant Village campground, Canyon Village campground, and Madison campground.

The two groups will meet up Rainbow Point campground in Montana. The difference is basically

Day -1: 2023-07-05 1627

 

Jenny Lake to Colter Bay...

Day 63: 21.8 miles, 810 feet climbing (total: 2988.2, 156791): 2023-07-06 1628

 

We had to make the number of nights for the two groups match up, so we stuck in another short day. Neither of us is unhappy w/ a couple short days, considering that after leaving yellowstone we'll have five long days in a row.

Colter Bay is on Lake Jackson, another lake w/ a good view of the tetons.

Our accommodations are a 'tent', which consists of a room w/ four bunk beds and an anteroom that has only two sides, and contains a covered picnic table. Didn't know we were getting this, but it works! (picture soon)

Mark is shopping and is going to cook. I'm sitting on a bench near the beach to get the free wifi. Sadly, T-Mobile seems to still suck in Wyoming, though it was probably the best carrier through the first half of the tour.

Into Yellowstone....

Day 64: 51.4 miles, 2680 feet climbing (total: 3039.6, 159471): 2023-07-07 1629

 

We left Colter Bay at a reasonable time, maybe nine, for the 40-ish mile ride into Yellowstone via the south interest. The ACA has always said that the south entrance is death, and their 'epic' transam trips have always circled around yellowstone by going south through the Tetons, over the Teton Pass from Jackson, and then up Montana to West Yellowstone to enter (and leave) through the west entrance. The supported Transam Express loads all their riders into a van and deposits them in Grant Village, and yet riders still enter through the south, including a couple guys we know who are a few days ahead of us: Jake and Eric.

So we headed out and the 20 miles to the park were great, hills not too steep or long, nice wide shoulders. A few miles outside of the park I caught the moose in the pic.

Inside the park the picture quickly changed: shoulders became narrow to non-existent, construction occasionally forced single-laning, and the road was very hilly. It was quite a relief to make it to the Grant Village turnoff, where there is a camp store, a couple merchandise stores, several restaurants, and 'camper services', meaning showers and laundry.

We ended up in a beautiful site in the back of the (extremely large) campground, forty feet from a gentle cliff overlooking the West Thumb of the Yellowstone Lake. We ate at 'The Lake House', a pretty mexican restaurant on the lake recommended by the guy at registration.

Old Faithful, on an off day!

Day 65: 21.0 miles, 1355 feet climbing (total: 3060.6, 160826): 2023-07-08 1630

 

28 degrees this morning.

Our off day dawned beautiful and chilly: 28 degrees at 6:45. We typically don't get on the bike during off days, and that was especially important for this day because after leaving the park we have five more straight biking days, averaging 68 miles / day.

However, Mark really wanted to go back to the Old Faithful basin (he'd visited last year), so we asked the network of bike tourers and they said yes, parts are nasty, shoulders are narrow, but only on the first half of the trip of the 20-mile trip.

So.....off we went. Construction pilons started two miles from the Grant Village exit. A couple miles later the road is single-tracked for six miles, meaning that we had to wait until all of our cars went, then we followed. Since we can't keep up w/ the cars (much of it was climbing), we eventually ran into the oncoming traffic. We pulled on to a rare pulloff on the side of the road and let them all go through. We repeated this when cars going our direction hove into our mirrors. After this we were able to get to the end of the single tracking just before the oncoming traffic started up again.

All of this, in fact almost the entire trip, is with shoulders 12-14 inches wide at most. This occasionally narrows to 0 when the road has eroded, which sometimes happened when there was a drop (not fatal, but not fun) to the right. The rest of the time on the other side of the shoulder is a gravel-covered ditch about a foot below the road surface.

After we got thorugh the single-tracking there are still construction pylons down the center of the road. The cars, frustrated from having had to wait 15 minutes or more because of the single-tracking immediately wanted to make speed. In general, cars were exceedingly careful going past us, but one idiot pulling a trailer was going too fast and so after pulling around us he came back into the lane very fast to avoid the pylon. His trailer was definitely inside of 18 inches from my elbow, and even closer to Mark, who went down into the ditch to avoid it.

After that the last couple miles *were* tame, as our contacts had said.

The old faithful basin was cool as usual, the pictures are Mark's except Old Faithful, which I caught from far away and blew up.

How to get back was an issue. We'd noticed coming down to the basin that, well, it was down, about 500 feet. This would mean almost 2000 feet climbing over the 20 miles, meaning we would be slow, and some of the drops w/ no shoulder here would be *large* drops, not like on the way down. Mark and I were both independently thinking 'pickup truck', but there weren't really many around. A ranger I chatted up said there were just no services to ferry people, and that a woman in a car wreck the previous week had had to wait several hours before getting rescued.

So I added 'energy juice' (caffeine) to two of my bottles and up we went. Happily, only there were some pickup trucks heading up the hill and the the third I waved at pulled over and agreed to take us up. I jumped in the back w/ the bikes and Mark got in the cab and chatted up our rescuers, who also happened to play guitar, and to be from Wisconsin. I was totally blissed out all the way up, the only 'off note' was hearing a random comment from the cab about Stevie Ray Vaughn being a 'one trick pony.' Listen to the album 'The Sky is Crying', people, educate yourselves!

Into Canyon Village

Day 66: 54.2 miles, 1987 feet climbing (total: 3114.8, 162813): 2023-07-09 1631

 

26 degrees this morning.

Riding from Grant Village to Canyon Village was a completely different experience to the ride down to the geysers. The first 20 miles were along various bays of the Yellowstone Lake, as completely idyllic as you could imagine. The traffic was extremely light, and there were other cyclists on the road.

We stopped several times just to bliss out on the serenity. Everyone has seen lots of footage of ducks going tail up (dabbling) to get food, or ducks diving completely under, but I don't recall ever seeing this in real life. I'm looking out at the lake and there are three Canada Geese dabbling in turns. A nearby duck (Merganzer?) was diving for 10-15 seconds at a time. And then a pelican (!!) flew over. Pelicans in Yellowstone.

We stopped in Lake Village to each lunch while the skies debated about raining or not (it rained, but never long enough for us to put raincoats on). And then headed north towards Canyon and the mud volcanos, and hopefully buffalo.

The whole chemical pot mud volcano ecosystem is a bit fascinating. It's interesting to me that they can remain stable for decades at a time, though they do change. The Mud Geyser (possibly wrong name) was basically a mud lake that had many bubblin sections, some violent. and had swallowed up nearby trees as recently as 20 years ago.

And then the buffalo. Three miles before canyon I'm like 'Where de Buffalo!!!', and then they were everywhere. They walked along a valley underneath a nature path and hordes lined the edge taking pics. Then their path headed up and over the path (I hopped on my bike and called 'Save yourselves!' as I rode off).

Buffalo blocked the road a half mile later, a confused buffalo was trying to get an ambulance (w/ flashing lights/sirens on) to move but was finally faced down. When we eventually got past there was an unhappy buffalo 20 ft to my left, and another 25 ft to my right.

We went to the upper falls vews for the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Really an incredible series of falls w/ enormous amounts of water coming down. We kept imagining all the movies showing people shooting african rapids in canoes.....it would not have ended well.

And then there was the buffalo calmly munching grass and licking dirt in the parking lot at Canyon Village.

Into Madison Hiker-Biker

Day 67: 27.9 miles, 1071 feet climbing (total: 3142.7, 163884): 2023-07-10 1632

 

32 degrees this morning in Canyon Village.

We took our time getting going today, beause we only had 30 miles to go and it didn't look like a lot of big climbs (300-ft-er right out of the gate nonwithstanding). Also, we had more pancake mix, and Mark also bought bacon. So this morning we had pancakes and bacon. And then bacon sandwich for lunch (though Mark added PB to his).

There are a variety of places to stop on the way to Madison: we stopped at three. The Norris Guyser basin is mostly a poor man's Old Faithful basin, but was neat because it was less crowded if you actually do a short hike into the basin itself, which we did. It didn't have the colors of some of the other basin (Morning Glory....), but walking through it seems like walking on a different planet. The whole little valley was steaming, or bubbling, or spewing. One of the guysers actually can spew 300 feet in the air (far more than Old Faithful), but it blows only irregularly (days to years), and with varying amounts of force. Despite their being fewer tourists than the other place, people were still walking a half mile just to get from car to the start. We, of course, road right up to the gate and walked in.

The laundry attendant at Grant turned us on to the Virginia Cascade, a little known gem that starts as a gentle stream meandering through the grasses and ends being a roaring waterfall down a deep canyon. It's a one-way single-lane poorly marked 7 or 8-mile lane that parallels the main road. We came in the wrong direction, but this was okay (because we're on bikes, WE DO WHAT WE PLEASE), and because that followed the progression from gentle stream to full-on canyon.

The last place we went was Gibbon Falls. Eh.

Madison is lower-key than the other places we've stayed. There is no 'village', just a motor home that serves as a camp store. There are no showers (though you can drive 20 miles up the road to the Old Faithful Inn and pay $5, no thanks). There are bear boxes everywhere, and last night a grizzly wandered about 30 feet away from where Mark put his tent. The picture is from William, who was here at the time. He had to get close because the mass of onlookers was so large he couldn't see the bear without joining them. Evidently 'Cindy' (a cinammon-colored grizzley) comes by relatively frequently at around 6pm (it's 6:30 now, no sign), but this time was more irratable than usual and had to be driven off by a phalanx of rangers, and finally shot w/ bean bags.

Goodbye Yellowstone.....

Day 68: 25.0 miles, 300 feet climbing (total: 3167.7, 164184): 2023-07-11 1633

 

I'm back! T-Mobile sucks when you're touring Yellowstone. I missed doing a Wordle!

However, Yellowstone was fantastic. I continue to think that bikes are the way to encounter the park, but one has to be okay with less than ideal riding conditions. On the 15 miles out to West Yellowstone 50 cars passed us (in an hour), and those were clumpy. By contrast, the lane of cars coming in was full, by which I mean much of it was not moving. A meadow full of elk (female and young, no antlers) had created a 2.5 mile backup. During the rest of the stretch it was non-stop traffic.

Tonight we are staying at Rainbow Point campground just outside of West Yellowstone. Tomorrow, we start five straight big days, including three named mountain passes, into Missoula.

It is pathetic how luxurious our campground tonight feels. Pit toilets, no showers, but a lake, power, and 5G.

Screaming across the desert to Ennis…

Day 69: 74.0 miles, 1556 feet climbing (total: 3241.7, 165740): 2023-07-12 1634

 

OK, not really a desert, but it seems like it as we cruised towards Ennis. We descended from 6600 down to 5300 and had a tail wind for a good portion of the day, with occasional bouts of headwind. All in all it was about as good as you could expect for 74 mile day.

Tomorrow will be different. We have a 2000-ft climb that will take us over an unnamed pass. The day after we climb Badger and Big Hole passes, and the finally Chief Joseph a day later. Day after that will be chief Joseph Pass. I remember chief Joseph pass from when I came through here in 2009. Long hard climb, followed by a 3000-ft 8-mile coasting descent. Thing I remember the best was the pancake I got at a little cafe by a river. Whole plate, crispy on the outside, topped by an over-easy egg and some bacon, filled with huckleberries. I loved that pancake.

The picture of the trees is Earthquake Lake, formed after an earthquake. The earthquake started by dropping 80,000,000 tons in a landslide on top of a campground, and splitting the Earth open in fissures 50 m across. Earthquake Lake has been stable since then, and still has some of the original trees back from 1959. The trees are still there because they have somewhat of a hard shell around them from the various substances leaked out by the earthquake, plus the water is very cold Decay doesn't really get a chance to just start.

He thinks we're talking about Dylan Thomas, whoever he was....

Day 70: 76.9 miles, 3002 feet climbing (total: 3318.6, 168742): 2023-07-13 1635

 

Into Dillon, MT. We went up a 2000-ft climb over a nameless pass, and then just tried to survive the next 60 miles. Yes, it was long.

We went through Twin Bridges, a place I went through back in 2009. The cyclist campground put together by Git-er-done Bill is still there, kept nicely, and evidently used a reasonable amount. I saw three tourists there today. It hasn't helped the down, though; seems more like a ghost town now than then.

In Dillon our destination is a city-supported cyclist hostel. It's mastermind is Larry, a guy who has been back and forth across the country a number of times, but is supported by biker donations, as most of these nice places are. There are need, durable enclosures built from reclaimed (and donated) century-old hardwood timbers ('hand-hewn square logs'), a fridge, showers, even a microwave. Most of us are still in tents, but it's a very nice facility for cross-country cyclists. Tonight there are a total of nine tourists in the facility.

Had several encounters with other tourists today, include a pair heading east. Both live very close to Rosana and I: one from Springfield VA, the other from Bethesda Maryland. Another cycling tourist, a single woman (only the second we've seen) passing the other calls out 'Transam?'. 'Yes!' I answer and she gives a bit of war whoop as she cruises away.

Meeting other tourists is fun.

Tonight is the lowest elevation at which we've slept since June 20.

Into Wisdom.....

Day 71: 67.3 miles, 3685 feet climbing (total: 3385.9, 172427): 2023-07-14 1636

 

Today had two hard passes: Badger pass at 1800 feet climbing, and Big Hole Pass at 1200. The rest of the day is all downhill, but we were cheated by a hellacious headwind that pretty much negated the downhills, and made the uphills hell. I was very unhappy when cresting the Big Hole Pass (picture).

We went through Jackson MT, which is supposed to have a few more establishments than when I went through in 2009. This is sort of true, but most of them have come and gone. There's very little that is open here except the saloon/lodge with the hot springs-fed pool on it's roof.

We stayed behind this saloon (after soaking in the pool on top) back in 2009. I was telling the others at the bar today that I had never in my life been mosquito-bit more often in a single day. The bartender pops up from whatever he was doing under the bar and says 'I believe that!'

We've been told that the valley farms are irrigated by flooding, whether natural or not I don't know. The result is a ton of standing pools, which breed mosquitos. Wisdom is in the same valley, the skeeters are not quite as bad.

We're going to try dodging the headwind tomorrow by leaving camp by 6:30, something we've only managed once before on this trip. The next day, into Missoula, is even tougher because it is longer than tomorrow, and will hit 97 degrees in the afternoon.

Luckily, I'll be turning off 23 miles early because I'm staying w/ Bill and Barb Samsoe on the off day!

Into Darby....

Day 72: 58.6 miles, 1574 feet climbing (total: 3444.5, 174001): 2023-07-15 1637

 

Today only a couple pictures, as this was essentially a travel day. I would have liked to take more on the downhill, but the ones I took just do not convey the fear and excitement of doing a non-stop 3000-ft downhill on an extremely curvy, somewhat busy, highway. Coming out of Wisdom we climbed 1300 ft up (about half in the last two miles), and then dove off the plateau down 3000 ft. This is an insane downhill, luckily into a headwind which reduced the need to brake. Still stopped twice because I was started to smell the brake pads, even though I was pumping them as per best practices. Given that I was still moving 20-30 mph, only a couple cars passed during the entire 11-mile coast down the hill.

Coming into the Travelers' Rest RV park I had the distinct feeling I'd been here before. Yes there are insanely huge RVs, but also there are all these 20yo's lounging around, fresh off stints on the Continental Divide trail. All the same stereotypes as at Damascus and the Four Pines Hostel back in Virginia, both of which were filled with hikers from the Appalachian Trail. Cute stoners, slackers, flower children, weirdos, and raving lunatics.

Reading through the info on our ACA maps, the three rivers that have a confluence near Twin Bridges (went through two days ago) were initially named Wisdom, Philanthropy, and Jefferson, after the current president. The town Wisdom was named at the same time. Soon, though, others decided to change the names, to Big Hole (a big valley), Stinking Water?, and BeaverHead (a landmark used by Indians and settlers passing through the area. Stinking Water was later renamed the 'Ruby' river, presumably an ad-man born too early.

Tomorrow into Missoula, or stopping 22 miles short in Stevensville to see Bill and Barb Samsoe for me. Layover day! Only one more layover day (in Baker City) until the end.

Heading to Bill and Barb’s place near Missoula

Day 73: 47.4 miles, 637 feet climbing (total: 3491.9, 174638): 2023-07-16 1638

 

We started at 5am because weather prediction was 95 in Missoula, and though I only went 45 miles, the rest went 66.

Judging from Mark's text afterwards, they had a fine ride:

'Did you get to you to friends' OK? The ride in was as hot as Satan's ballsack. If I never see the goddamn Bitterroot Trail again, it will be too soon.'

Lolo pass into Powell Campground

Day 75: 57.0 miles, 2900 feet climbing (total: 3548.9, 177538): 2023-07-18 1639

 

Minimal services including tomorrow. Absolutely beautiful ride can’t capture it with a camera.

Long travel day into Syringa

Day 76: 68.0 miles, 623 feet climbing (total: 3616.9, 178161): 2023-07-19 1640

 

Well five miles short at a USFS campground (like last night). The whole day is down a River valley, and beautiful, but all things start to lose their luster with repetition. All this beauty got boring!

Beautiful river (blah), beautiful valley (blah).

:-)

Update: this was probably the prettiest campsite we've had this trip. A tiny USFS campground (Wild Goose), maybe eight sites. We overlooked the river, where there was a sand beach. Not really swimming, but you could go down and submerge.

The Lamb Killed Us.....

Day 77: 58.2 miles, 3625 feet climbing (total: 3675.1, 181786): 2023-07-20 1641

 

Lots of sturm and drang today. First, we had conflict between Geri and I last night, at which I sort of blew my top (third time on this trip), and then Mark unloaded this morning. The result is that we are going to split up for the majority of the rest of the ride (everything not already nailed in stone, like an AirBnB in Baker City). Mark and I go one way, and Geri/William go another. It is a real shame, because I really like them both, but this kind of tour is a real pressure pot, and there are natural 'sides' when two of the four are married. We're all being mature and amicable, but it's still a shame, and it's never happened on any tour I've been on. Never been on a tour quite like this, though. Every other tour has been with people I know, or a 14-rider/1- or 2-leader ACA tour.

The day was *hard*. Coming out of the Powell FS campground we knew the day should total only 47 or so miles, but w/ a hard 2000-ft climb (the titular Lamb Grade), but we made it harder on ourselves by leaving late (what's the hurry?), missing a turn, and then going back 6+ miles to get to the turn. We could have continued towards Grangeville on our current path, but the idea of doing an insanely hard climb w/ cars and possibly no shoulder was not appealing. Mark had a flat coming out of second breakfast. Between that, and the extra 12 miles we did, we managed to hit the Grade just as the temperature was heading towards 90.

A young tourer coming down the grade game me a bottle of water and Mark a gatorade. Despite this and the six-ish bottles of water with which I started, I ran out about four miles before Grangeville. By the time I got to the store I was concerned. Mark didn't have that problem, but the Lamb did him in to the point where he was walking up tiny rollers at the end.

Still, made it to the end, and we're embarking on a new phase of the trip. Seven became six, five, four, and now two. Hmm.

The Naked Sun!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!

Day 78: 62.4 miles, 3074 feet climbing (total: 3737.5, 184860): 2023-07-21 1642

 

Wow, today was tough. We started out by doing a beautiful 2000-ft but-early-in-the-morning-so-its-ok climb. We were supposed to then briefly return to rt 95 before going back onto a the White Bird descent: few cars, crazy nice, but we missed it and went all the way down on 95: crazy fast and the multiple runaway truck ramps were scary!

As the day wore, we got further and further behind our schedule and the heat started ramping up. Mark's wife, Jean, sent a screenshot showing a temp of 103 (thanks, Jean!), and we felt every bit of it. Arriving in Riggens, about 10 miles shy of where we wanted to go, we were both destroyed. I recovered quickly because I sat down in front of a sprinkler and wriggled around until I had cooled off, and then had a 32-oz mountain dew. The sugar and caffeine shows no sign of wearing off, unfortunately, so here I am typing at 9:30 pm when everyone else is going to sleep.

We attempted to stay at an RV park about 4 miles back, as it wasn't clear Mark was going to make it past there. He was informed that 'no, we do not allow tents. It's right on the web page.' despite the fact he was pleading that he's a 65yo dude who just did 60 miles in heat that hit 103. We will pay the RV price. Nope, no dice. If there is a hell, it has a special room for people like her.

We ended up in the same small lot as geri and william (awkward....) at our originally planned destination, but life's too short to care too much about this.

Just grabbed a hotel for tomorrow night. Enough is enough.

The Sun continues .... pitiless.....

Day 79: 68.5 miles, 2862 feet climbing (total: 3806.0, 187722): 2023-07-22 1643

 

Yesterday's weather continued unabated today, though the official local high was only 101, not 103. Obviously these extremes are dangerous, and we are taking care to have shaded, usually supplied w/ sodas and gatorade, stops every 10-20 miles. So far so good. At Rosana's recommendation I used a wet kerchief on the back of my neck, and it seemed to help for that last 40-minute push.

Tomorrow is going to be 10 miles shorter, but w/ lots more climbing, both of the large sort, and of the annoying sort (constant up and down the last 10 miles). We'll deal.

Starting to get excited about the End of Days. 57 miles tomorrow, then 53 into Baker City layover day, during which we will be sharing an AirBnB w/ G+W.

After that it's just a mad dash for the coast. We might end up getting there a day early, which would help Mark get back to a family reunion). I am happy to hang out near the beach for another day before meeting family at our AirBnB on the 3rd.

Oregon at Last!!!

Day 80: 57.4 miles, 3431 feet climbing (total: 3863.4, 191153): 2023-07-23 1644

 

We're in Oregon! Last Freak'n State: VA, KY, IL, MO, KS, CO, WY, MT, ID, OR!

This is a good thing on so many levels. First, Idaho is gorgeous, but it's so hot, and there's no shade most of the time. The wind and sun are pitiless, and also it's probably the most red state in the union. This mainly manifests in the signage, but it's always something you are aware of. It's also where the hard core Mormans are, and they are 200f the population. Finally, and most important, entering Oregon is one more metric that says we've almost finished. Don't get me wrong, we have loved this trip, but it is loooonnnng.

Today was mostly along some of the reservoirs and past two dams (including Oxbow). There are very few trees, so no cover, so we basically plan our day to hit services. Today the first convenience store was 25 miles down the road, so that was the first goal. We had absolutely enormous breakfast sandwiches at a place whose front door had two signs: 'No Politics!', and underneath 'Trump 2024'. First place we had to endure Fox News.

The second stop was another convenience store/river adventure place, where the owner was decidedly not a fan of cyclists. In fact, he wasn't sure why anyone way here in August. May? Sure! June? You betcha! July? Why? Can't say I disagree.

The third stop is our lodge room in Halfway. Very nice owner and our room is quite cool. She's also going stocked the fridge for us as we will be leaving before the usual time.

The one off note: Geri's and William's bikes are parked in front of the next door room. We have literally been in the same facility every night since we 'broke up', and tomorrow we will be sharing an AirBnB. Awkward.....

Into Baker City Layover Day

Day 81: 55.5 miles, 3659 feet climbing (total: 3918.9, 194812): 2023-07-24 1645

 

The last day into Baker City, our last Layover Day! We've had such extreme heat (>100 degrees the last two days, despite forecasts in the mid 90's), that we decided to get going earlier than usual. We were actually rolling down the road at 6am this morning, our earliest start.

The day called for a big climb early, another late-esh, and a long run down a canyon in the middle.

The landscapes were beautiful. The ground cover is spare, but the folded gently rounded hills and mountains are a sight, especially w/ the cloud formations. Also, we sighted a very large Dalek!

Ran across several more W-E travelers just starting out. It's kind of heartening to see all the other tourers, and know that a lot of the small towns are quite used to us. 'Spose you're going to Astoria, just like the rest of 'em,' said one surly cafe owner. Yep! Or sorta, we're going to Florence instead, but definitely to the coast. Got a dip the tire!

My bike's gotten quite noisy, but as far as I can see the noises come from bottom bracket and/or pedals, neither of which are prone to failing suddenly. In other words, I don't see anything right now stopping me from finishing this tour. Mark is in a pretty similar position.

So coming out of Baker City we will have two very tough days: the first at 82 miles has three 1000-ft climbs. The second is 70 miles and has one bigass climb. Both finish with long (>20 mile) downhills, at least according to the elevation charts from ACA. I'm pretty sure these are hand-drawn, so one of my tasks tomorrow is to transfer the routes into RideWithGPS to get a more accurate read on our tasks ahead. Also tomorrow, washing clothes, washing water bottles, cleaning the bike and oiling the chain.

Also, Mission Impossible. Can't see Barbenheimer without Rosana.

Longest day - three pass summits - kind of tired....

Day 82: 81.0 miles, 4641 feet climbing (total: 3999.9, 199453): 2023-07-25 1646

 

The first day of our week-long blast to the ocean...the longest day of the trip and probably the most climbing of our remaining days. Coming out of Baker City we climbed Sumpter Pass, Tipton Pass, and Dixie Pass. None of them were that high (low 5000's), but all required climbs of at least 1000 feet. And despite all the weather forecasts, the wind was a west wind all day, meaning that we had it in our faces on all the downhills. On the steep downhills this is fine: no need to wear out the brakes! The shallow downhills became uphills, which is not quite cricket.

The land was beautiful, though, old growth lodgepole pines on arid, dry ground. There was life up there: hordes of crickets on the roads which jumped as you approached, and horrifyingly then started to fly at you! I kept my mouth shut in these areas as the flying crickets bounced off my helmet and chest.

There were birds as well: ospreys, hawks, and an incredibly blue small bird. Every feather had the color and finish of a blue M&M. It almost seemed airbrushed into the scenery.

Tonight we are in fair grounds at John Day city. It's basically an RV park, but there are a few other tents in the field as well, including G+W. I waved madly at Geri when I saw her and she gave a single, reluctant wave back. OK, sometimes I'm an asshole too.

They are only charging us $10/tent. Some helpful soul has removed the shower doors, opening them to all. On the plus side, free showers! On the minus, you really need to bathe in swim trunks.

Mark decided he needed to cook tonight, and I (me!) decided I needed a salad, so we made a spinach salad w/ grilled mesquite chicken. Quite tasty.

Into Mitchell....five rides left....

Day 83: 70.1 miles, 2903 feet climbing (total: 4070.0, 202356): 2023-07-26 1647

 

Beautiful ride today from John Day (not to be confused w/ Dayville a few miles down the road) into Mitchell. The profile showed a lot of flat followed by a 20-mile gradual climb.

There was a lot that this profile didn't show. For example, there was a spectacular 10-mile long series of canyons in the middle up to and including the beginning of the 20-mile climb. Also, the climb had basically two parts: a 4-mile relatively hard climb of 800 ft, followed by another climb of 850 ft on the plateau afterwards, over about 15 miles. Also, this latter climb, which should have been easy, was into a nice bracing headwind :-).

Nonetheless, the canyon was beautiful, and the 6-mile descent into Mitchell was both fast, and hauntingly beautiful as well. Check out the last pics.

Other things I noticed/pondered today: a flight of Canada geese went by w/ unwavering direction, but actually changed leaders a couple times w/o any visible change in overall flight plan. Second, one critique of meat is that it's an inefficient way of getting calories (grow the hay, feed the cows, eat the cows). However, what else grows in ground that is currently devoted to hay? It's basically grass, very hardy. The ground is not hospitable.

Prineville! Four days to go! 4000-mile barrier crashed!

Day 85: 51.5 miles, 2809 feet climbing (total: 4121.5, 205165): 2023-07-28 1649

 

Today started w/ a big (2500-ft) climb over Ochoco Pass. However, it wasn't that hard. At this point we are hardened enough that we can do a 5 percent grade all day. This might not sound like much, but note that we are old, carrying a huge amount of gear, and about a gallon of water each. The water was because there were no services noted between the pass and Prineville, 30 miles later. However, Mark noticed a small sign advertising cold water next to an igloo about ten feet off the road, just over the top of the long, long climb. Those damn christians! You can't keep sneering at them when they are so damn nice!

Last night was the Spoke 'n Hostel, a bike-specific hostel that could not have been nicer. Yesterday we came into town intending to stay at the city park, only to find about 20 tents already there. There was plenty of room left, but a guy (call him Jim), said that he'd rented the entire park, paid for insurance etc., and could not, in good conscience, let us stay there and risk his bond.

His wife snorted and rolled her eyes, but he was unmoved. He did say that we could follow him to the showers, which were at the aforementioned hostel. The Spoke'n Hostel was the nicest place we have seen. Just for bikes, everything top notch. We stayed in big beautiful beds. All I had to do for coffee in the morning was to add water. Ditto for pancakes (though we did have to flip them). The couple in charge, Jalet and Sam, were really great. Then entire place was festooned with signs showing various features and free stuff for touring cyclists.

For the last touch, she took me out to show off the shower, announcing to the crowd of a dozen cyclists from the park waiting for the single shower, including the guy who could find no room for us, 'These guys get priority because they are staying here!' Very satisfying :-)

All of this with minimal religious overtones. They asked for a donation, and there were a couple mentions of proverbs that you might want to ponder, but otherwise it was just very nice people helping cyclists out.

About 7 miles outside of town I stopped at a state park for some shade, and a brit heading the other way stopped to talk. He actually lives in the Sonoma Valley, and decided to do the transam this year because he retired and his two daughters had done the whole thing two years prior, so he had good tips on what to see and do. Lot of fun talking to him and giving tips on Yellowstone/Tetons.

Into Sisters, OR

Day 86: 51.0 miles, 1737 feet climbing (total: 4172.5, 206902): 2023-07-29 1650

 

Today a relatively short day to Sisters, OR, a town we went to back in 2009 but didn't really spend time exploring (cooked in camp etc.). There isn't really too much here, but quite a few quirky little cafes and grocery stores, lots of very friendly people, and no gun worship or other religiosity.

Since the day was short, we stopped at the Smith Rock State park to look around. What a beautiful hiking and climbing park! Sadly my knee was a bit unhappy from the 2500' climb yesterday (I just can't spin that long, and so start grinding up w/ a slow cadence that is not happy-making for the knee). Also, no good shoes, and the last big climb is tomorrow.

Coming out of the park we passed Alpaca Country Estates, according to google maps. Newly shorn alpacas are funny.

Note the sign on how bike-friendly the community is, or was until 2015 at least.

Over Mackenzie Pass

Day 87: 49.0 miles, 2427 feet climbing (total: 4221.5, 209329): 2023-07-30 1651

 

In USFS campground tonight near Mackenzie bridge. Mackenzie Pass was beautiful. On our 2500 foot climb, the land was arid but still beautiful in a spare sort of way. We get to the top, and the entire area is covered with three different lava flows that all happened around 3000 years ago. Around 3000 years ago they carved islands in the land where they flowed around high points. There are now islands of fir trees, very densely packed, in the midst of this horizon to horizon field of black lava (A A).

Going down the land suddenly becomes rich, lush, verdant, and filled with extremely tall old growth fir trees.

Since our campsite is USFS, it has beautiful sites, a few water spigot, and pit toilets.

It also has a river :-).

West of Eugene....60 miles from the Pacific...

Day 88: 70.1 miles, 1219 feet climbing (total: 4291.6, 210548): 2023-07-31 1652

 

I'm beat!

70 miles today, even w/ minimal climbing was very difficult today. Partly it was the nasty traffic and shoulders for the first 35 miles. Partly it's because we know we're at the end now and expect to be there, now!

Nonetheless it was a fun, not-too-hard 70. First 20-25 was in the beautiful forested area just west of the cascades (mackenzie pass etc). The next 15 miles were horrible traffic and shoulders, but then we got into the outskirts of Eugene and the riding, while not wonderful, included a bikelane and an Oreo Blizzard. After that we meandered through the University of Oregon campus and environs. I love college towns. Sadly, College Park MD isn't a good one. This is.

As we got further west, however, there were more homeless, and multiple warnings from locals who saw us cavalierly lean our bikes against a convenience store wall and wander in. It is true that Portland and Eugene are world-class bike-theft towns. We're vowing to be more vigilant from here on out.

Odd, out in the red (and redneck) areas, no worries about theft. People are taken aback if you even ask. In blue areas (cities), it's a different story. Too bad.

Very tired, going to bed. Tomorrow will probably be another 70 miles by the time we get to the beach and then back to the hotel.

Still, very, very excited!

TransAm cross-country tour.... done!

Day 89: 70.3 miles, 2364 feet climbing (total: 4361.9, 212912): 2023-08-01 1653

 

Whew: 4289 miles, 209,864 feet climbing (nearly 40 miles up! I could almost qualify as an astronaut!).

This trip has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. It was at times physically brutal, I had various ailments that made me question finishing (pain on the unreplaced knee, pain on the replaced knee of several different types, right achilles, I could go on....), but ultimately finishing was never really in doubt. Taking on this trip, for me, was about seeing the sights, meeting people, the physical challenge, and the mental challenge. The last was the most difficult. Keeping focused on the goal and not having the trip turn into a grim march west was sometimes difficult.

Ultimately, though, I had fun all the way through. There was always something new to see, some history to appreciate, some asshole in a pickup truck to yell at, or some old crusty dude slaloming his truck to block a couple big dogs streaking right towards us.

There were many highlights, but for me the beautiful places were the best. Biking up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and staying there for a day, four nights in Yellowstone and sharing roadways with bison, a couple nights in the Tetons. Some places come out of nowhere and gobsmack you with how beautiful they are: eastern Kentucky, the Ozark region, Idaho!

The pall of political differences was always in the background in many of these places, and sometimes right in your face. However, one on one, carefully avoiding politics, I never had a bad encounter the entire trip.

Mark was a blast throughout the entire trip. We were great traveling companions, especially when we were on our own (he likes to cook, and is good at it!). Geri, William, Stephane and Paula will all be missed.

A trip this long takes time to unwrap and fully appreciate. I am very curious how I will view it in a year. Will I be done w/ the big tours, or maybe just looking in a different direction (Velo Routes in Europe, yes I'm talking about you Stephane)? Regardless, this is a tentpole in my bike touring career.

Obviously, I couldn't have done this without Rosana. She has been dealing many, many issues on her own since I've been out here, and has been unwavering in her support. Love you!

Peace, love, and YOLO!

pete