This morning was cool and dry in Lincoln and though the tents were wet, I got an early start on the climb up Flescher Pass and crossed the Continental Divide at 6130 feet. On this side of the divide, all the water eventually flows to the Mississippi.
The first half of the ride to our picnic stop was nice. At the picnic stop, however, there were ominous clouds and rain in the direction we were heading. (It's hard to always use the singular first person when there are 60 people riding along with you, though every day I ride with a different group or person, and often alone. But, for now, I'll stick to plurals).
Shortly after leaving the picnic stop and getting on Interstate 15 for 8 miles, it started raining. Hard, but not torrential or anything. There was a lot of wash from the trucks though, and we were glad to get off the interstate and onto the busy regular highway, where soon it cleared up. At mile 68 we had a water break, and at mile 70, my riding partner of the moment, Leslie H., noticed that my wheel was wobbling. I had broken a spoke and had to stop as I didn't have all the parts and tools with me to fix it. I finished the last twenty miles in the sag wagon with a lot of people who just didn't like getting wet.
We're in Townsend tonight, a nice, clean little town, with a modern school and library where I'm posting this message from. We head to Ennis tomorrow. We seem to be in a river valley and the riding should be much easier, and the weather is supposed to be clearer and warmer. I'm planning on loading up the BOB and taking in along for my first fully loaded ride since starting.
Category: X-C 2005 (Page 7 of 8)
Marks posts from my 2005 cross country trip
"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." — H.G. Wells
Oh, the ol' sleeping bag felt mighty good tonight. The first 60 miles today were fairly easy, but the last 40 were really hard with a series of small climbs, and we had significant headwinds. At one point, we had to ride 2 miles on a bone-jarring gravel road through a construction area. There were many tired & sore bodies rolling into camp, all ready for a good rest.
I'm in Missoula Sat & Sunday. Sunday is our rest day & everyone is doing laundry, writing postcards, e-mailing, shopping, and generally taking it easy. Last night, a group of us had dinner at a local restaurant and had a few tasty at some local bars. While walking past some street performers,I asked if I could play the guitar if I made a donation. The guy started to hand it to me, but pulled back quickly and said, "Money first!" I tossed in a bill & he handed it over. After putting it somewhat in tune, we played & sang for about 15 minutes & somebody actually put money in the hat for us (it was empty before). Busking in Missoula with the homeless. That was an experience.
My fellow Altoonan, Dave McConnell went home today and I'm going to miss him. It was such an experience running into him when we never connected in school. We rode together a lot this week and "talked about the hometown, a million miles away." Though the week was pretty grueling at times, he said he had a good time. 14 other riders left us today, & 10 new people are joining us for week 2. Tomorrow, we're off to Lincoln, MT.
I'll try to talk about some of the people I've met, but there are so many, so I'll try to hit the highlights. This week's most interesting bikers were Richard and Errol from England. They were riding a tandem, with Richard the son in front, and Errol in the rear. Errol is from India and has stories about travelling the world with his wife. He's 72 now, and is rather stooped over and walks really slowly, but he rides and rides. A true inspiration.
Some pics from the first days of journeying…
Dipping the wheels in Puget Sound
Steven's Pass
I saw a moose! It ran away before any of us could get a picture, but I'm counting it.
Today's ride was leisurely compared to the last three days at only 70 miles and 1 big climb. To those of you familiar with the biking around SC, it was close to an up-over-&-back of Pine Grove mountain. Just the kind of hill I've was training on with 8-11% grades over 4 miles. Almost like home. Many of the other riders weren't so enthusiastic about this climb, but most of them made it.
We're in Thompson Falls, Montana tonight. We had dinner at the local Elks club & it was quite a good dinner and quite a hoot. The Elks were so friendly and nice and we had a great time telling them our road stories & seeing pictures of the bears in their yards.
Every night we have a briefing on the next day's ride, a weather report (Continued sunny and dry) and a joke or two. I sang Robert's & Baron's "Nine Times a Night" for this evening's joke and it was a big hit.
Tomorrow's ride is 99 miles to Missoula & a deserved & needed day of rest.
One state down, 14 to go.
One of the prettiest days that we've had so far. Leaving Spokane was a little crowded with traffic and fumes, but the day was bright and cool and we soon left the commuters behind.
I also left Washington behind, my 1st state of 15. In 5 days, I've put on 480 miles and climbed 17,940 ft. (> 3 mi).
It's funny how quickly the landscape changed between WA & ID. Very subtly, but very noticeable. The roads we were on were definitely less bike-friendly, but then we hit the Couer d'Alene rail trail which took us through Harrison City and on to Kellog, ID. The trail is over 50 miles long & we were on it for 45, along the Couer d' Alene river & lake & vast 'fields' of water lilys, & Ospreys, but unfortunately no moose. YET!
June 21 — From Wenatche to Electric City — Wow, what a day of riding. We started earlier this morning, with breakfast at 6 instead of 6:30. That was to get an early start on the forecast heat. Well, it didn't help. The temps were in the 90s and we had a lot of climbing through almost desert like conditions on newly chip-sealed roads. Many of the riders just couldn't make it. I did the 100 miles in about 8 hours, about an hour and a half longer than it normally takes to finish a century. There were stretches where the only shade was from a "Pass with Care" sign, and I used that little bit of shade to rest for a moment. By 2 in the afternoon, even that didn't work because the sun was straight overhead. The country we were going through was really pretty, but looked more like Arizona than Washington. And we had headwinds for about 90 of the 100 miles — so much for starting in the west to have the wind at my back. Anyway, as much as I'm complaing, it was a really good ride and as I keep telling myself, one good training day for when I leave on my own with the bob. Late in the day, a group of us traded some sleeping time for a short trip to Grand Coulee dam to see the laser light show. Interesting, but not worth the lost sleep.
June 22. Today was sunny and prime for a repeat of yesterday as we were going 96 miles to Spokane. However, the temperatures were mostly in the 70s and low 80s and we had a tailwind almost the whole way. Everybodys' attitude was much better today. I was pleased that, though I'm a bit sore, I was able to finish in 6:15, and generally felt really good. The All that training time was good for something. The scenery today didn't change much and was mostly wheat fields (which we learned at the light show last night are irrigated from the water provided by the Coulee Dam). Spokane is a pretty little city, but I won't see much of it. The tour time takes quite a big chunk of the evening and add in a little personal time for laundry and blog writing, and the whole night is gone. Tonight, we're staying in Spokane at Gonzaga U. (whose I-net terminal I'm using right now), and tomorrow, it's another 98 miles to Kellog, Idaho. Again, patience is asked of everyone I owe e-mail repsonses to. We have a free day on Sunday and I'll be definitely resting and catching up.
Later. Got to get to the group meeting and get tomorrow's route.
The lodge we stayed at last night had no cell & tonight we're supposed to be at Gonzaga Univ. in Spokane where there is allegedly web access. I'll try to write answers to everyone who's written AND get the blogupdated. I00 miles today & 96 tomorrow. Sore, but still pedaling.
Skykomish is a little town with one street, two bars, a train track running though it, and a little school that was probably built around 1920 2O yds from the track. That was our home last night. They weren't quite ready for us, either. The showers were as cold as the nearby stream. Still, the school grounds were well kept and we had a good dinner of lasgna and waffles & sausages for breakfast, courtesy of the local lion's club. Dave McConnell & I had two very tasty beers at The Whistling Post, a bar built in 1903, before dinner.
It was a cool evening and the tent was soaking when I packed it up. The early climb wasn't so bad, but after we crossed Steven's pass, and descended it was like we were transported to Arizona. The tall trees & cool, thick forests were replaced with scrub grass and heat in the
90's.
The cool shower at the much more modern Wenatchee school was on purpose. I also opted to sleep in the gym which means a faster (and dryer) start in the morning.
Tomorrow, we're doing 100 miles and its supposed to be in the 90's again so we're starting earlier tomorrow & I gotta get some sleep before the 5:30 alarm goes off.
Much more to come.
Today I dipped my wheels in the salty water of the Puget Sound and rode the first tour leg east to Skykomish, WA. 56 miles, another 1800 ft of climbing, my first glimpse of snow covered Mt. Ranier, and the Cascades(themselves with spots of snow high up).
The tour people had a fantastic picnic lunch set up for us & a Lasgna dinner tonight. I've got to be careful or I'll be putting weight on!
Tomorrow's ride has us climbing over Steven's pass at 4600ft. After that feat we get a 15 mi descent – which are sometimes harder on your bodythan the hills.
Friday morn was rather bleak & a good time to spend reassembling my bike and trailer. Only problem was a slight wobble in the rear wheel. By noon, the sun poked thru & Sue got me to a bike shop to have the wheel treated & then treated me to a grand little tour of the Seattle area. We got in a visit to the Pike Market & a great view of the mountains I'll be climbing over this week from the water tower at Voluteer park. Very pretty here – lush greens against deep sky blue dotted with titaniumwhite clouds.
Sat morn I had breakfast with Sue & Alicia, finished packing the BOB & headed off to join the tour in Everett. That little 50 mile journey turned out to be quite challenging. While the Seattle area is one of the bike-friendliest cities I've seen in the US with paths & bike lanesalmost everywhere, I still had 2300 ft of climbing getting to Everett.
The tour people are great – very organized & friendly. After my ride here, dinner at a local pizza shop hit the spot & so did the showers. We're camped out in a school athletic field. And small world, Dave McConnell of my home town Altoona is on the trip for the first week. He was a year ahead of me at BG (which all Toonies know to be Bishop Guilfoyle) and until a week ago, worked at the same hospital as mybrother Ed.
No pics yet. Sorry. But stay tuned. All for now. Gotta get some sleep!