Whitefish to Avalanche Creek Campground (Glacier National Park!) 53 miles

6-28-2010

Today started off great!  We only had 30 miles to ride until we were at the entrance to Glacier National Park, and the park has rules against bikers being on the road from 11am to 4pm on certain narrow sections of road.  So rather than hurry up and wait, I decided to sleep in and take my time getting there.  As I enjoyed my oatmeal and a muffin (what a treat!) I decided that I should try and stop at the bike shop in Whitefish to see if I could get some lower gearing for my bike.

The bike shop was open, and they were willing to shift around schedules to get to my bike. They estimated that it would take them 2 hours, though it turned into 3 and a half.  Out of the stop, I came out with a new 24 tooth front sprocket to replace my 30, a new rear derailer (mine was bent somehow), and two new spokes.  At some point I had broken 2 spokes and hadn't even realized it.  What an important catch, because once you start losing spokes, you put more load on the remaining spokes causing more to fail.

Finally after much effort by the bike mechanic I was able to leave town.  It was a very pleasant ride along back roads to Columbia falls where I got lunch.  While I was there I met an older man riding his bike.  He liked the looks of my bike but bragged that his flag was bigger than my flag.

Then it was off to Glacier.  Again my route took me along some back roads, avoiding most of the traffic of the main highways.  This was fabulous until the road turned into dirt for 2 miles.  That section was awful, every vehicle that passed me, left a cloud of dust.  I was soon covered, and worse, I couldn't see anything after they passed.  I was worried that I'd hit a pothole or get hit by another car.

Finally I made it to Glacier, just 15 minutes after the road opened for bicycles.  Then I had a beautiful ride through the park to get to the campground.

I realize that I'm a couple of days behind now.  I'll try to get caught up again, but I'm finding it really difficult to motivate myself to type every night, especially when it means sitting out in the mosquito filled air.  So be patient with me.

Eureka to Whitefish (56 miles)

6-27-2010

Today was supposed to be an easier ride, but turned out to be quite a bit more challenging that we were expecting.   I think we're finding out that just because there's no big climbs, doesn't mean the day won't be hard. 

I met Jim, Don, and Bob at a nearby restaraunt for breakfast at 6am.  Mine was excellent, I had 2 eggs, hashbrowns, 3 sasauge links, and some sourdough toast.  Yumm.

Then after quickly loading up our bikes, we all were ready to get back on the road.  The day started off with some monster hills, during which we were passed by some "super" bikers.  The three of them were all college age and raced up the hills I was struggling up.  Finally we got back to route 93, which meant the hills were more gradual.  Unfortuneately it also meant that the trees weren't blocking the wind anymore.  For the next 20 miles we pushed into the wind, at times pedaling hard to get 9 mph on the flats..Yuck!

Rest stop...sometimes that would seem like we were really close.  Today it felt like forever.

To make matters worse, the traffic was very heavy, though we did have a good shoulder.  However as soon as we were able to, we left route 93 to take backroads for the last 15 miles into Whitefish.  Along the way we saw the coolest effect.  Their were some bizzare clouds under the sun.  The clouds had ripples in them, like waves, and were very thin.  As the Sun shown through them, it created a rainbow effect.  It wasn't a solid circle rainbow like you get with sun dogs, but looked more similar to the Arura.

 Unfortunately the colors don't show up, but you can still see the interesting cloud pattern.  Hopefully Don's photos turn out better and I can post one later. 

Finally, after another nasty stretch on route 93 I rolled into our campground in Whitefish.  It's  very nice campground with good facilities and it's right on a lake.  After setting up camp, I road into town to do some shopping and hang out.

Tomorrow we'll head into Glacier national park for 3 days of riding.  I doubt I'll be able to post updates until we get out of the park, but we'll see.

Rocky Gorge campground to Eureka, MT (27miles-half a rest day)

6-26-2010
Last night when everyone was deciding to where to ride to, we were all looking tired.  We decided that a rest day was in order, the only question was when and where.  Rather than try to get all the way to Whitefish (85 miles) we decided that a short ride to Eureka and then stay in a hotel would be better.

We all slept in...whh how wonderful it is to wake up, and know that you can sleep as long as you would like.  Then everyone packed up their tents, and got on the road by 9am.  The ride started off failry pleasant.  The temperature was cool, because we were still in the shade of the mountains, and the traffic was light.

I was shocked that we didn't see more wildlife, though I did get a great picture of two bald eagles perched 200-300 feet above the road.

However, as the day wore on the hills became quite onerous.  They were all pretty steep, and several were fairly long.  Then with about 15 miles to go, the temperature really soared.  At about that same time we were also confronted with the busiest section of the road so far, and there wasn't a shoulder to ride on.

Finally we rolled into Eureka to stay in a cheapish motel.  I split a room with Jeff, though everyone eventually decided to stay in the hotel.  After a fantastic salad for lunch, bleu cheese, grilled chicken, apples, and candied walnuts, Jeff and I walked down to do some laundry.

After a little TV, we went to a Mexican restaraunt for dinner.  I had beef fajitas which were fantastic.  Then back in the room I flipped on the TV to find the first Transformers movie on.  Pretty soon it was time for bed.

Dorr Creek Campground to Rocky Gorge Campground (north of Libby) (72miles)

6-25-2010

After another good nights sleep, we had a couple nice stops before completing an exhausting, hot day of riding.

Once again we were on the road before 7am.  This time after only 16 miles we stopped at a beautiful waterfall, and hanging bridge.  We all locked up our bikes and started on a bit of hike to see the hanging bridge.  What a sight!  Quite neat, and awesome to see the power of water in action.

Don heading across the swinging bridge.

After pictures, and some "oohing and ahhing" we headed up the river to get to the proper falls, which were more like big rapids, but still incredible.  So all together, we had about an hour break, and then we were back on the road.

Our next stop was Libby, where we purchased some food and had some lunch.  Unfortunately it wasn't a quick stop, we all seemed to scatter once we got into town, and had a hard time connecting back up.  Because of all those long stops in the morning we had a long ride in the heat of the afternoon.  As we started to ride, we encountered some thunderstorms.  We saw lightning and heard thunder, and even got rained on, but it never seemed to be too close to us.  However we did take shelter at the Libby dam where we could get under some cover.

Libby Dam

While at the dam we saw 5 different bald eagles flying around the bottom of the dam, it seemed like they were fishing in the calm spot at the bottom of the spillway.

Those three blac specs are eagles thouh it's pretty hard to tell.

Then it was back on the road.  I slipped on my ipod and just buckled down to finish the ride, 22 miles left.  Finally I pulled into our campground, another beautiful Forest Service site.  Once again I hurried to put up my tent, so that I could jump in the lake to relieve the burning (sun burn) in my legs.  While sitting around that evening, almost everyone decided that we needed a break, so we decided that a short 30 mile ride to Eureka and a hotel was in order.

Sandpoint to Dorr Skeel campground (71 miles)

What a memorable day, good food and awesome scenery.

After a rough night in Sandpoint, 40 frieght trains a day (and night), we left early for New Hope.  We had heard that there was a fantastic bakery there, which we were all looking forward to.  The morning was beautiful.  It was cool but sunny.  As we circled Lake Pend Oreille we encoutered some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip.  There were beautiful wetlands, great views of mountains, and amazing wildlife. 

Rest break, beautiful surroundings, though the road was really busy.

After 14 miles, we turned off the road to get to New Hope, thoughts of a cinimon roll and coffee circling through my head.  Only we pulled up to the bakery and found that it was closed.  What a disappointment!  We road a little further and part of our group had found pastries in a gas station, but I just couldn't get excited about them. 

Neat looking bakery, too bad it was closed.

I decided to push on to Clark's Ford instead, with hopes of a cafe or bakery in my mind.  What we found was perfect, a mennonite group had opended a small grocery store and bakery.  They were in the process of making fresh cinimmon bread, and carmel rolls.  After a roll and coffee I was feeling much better. 

Yum, I love bakeries!

Then the group headed on a scenic bypass of the main road that we had been on.  There were some gorgeous farms with fields of daisy's, all with amazing views of mountains in the background.  Then after a short trip on  dirt road we rolled into Heron, only to find another little store/backery.  There we all got $1 soft serve ice cream cones, yum!

There were several of these farms with fields full of daisy's.  Gorgeous.

Then came the long hot final section, we were going downhill but were still pedaling hard.  It just never seemed to end.  Finally, we pulled into our campground, completely hotted out and exhausted.  We quickly set up our camp, then got into the lake.  Brrr, boy was it cold, but it felt great.

Panhandler campground (20 miles south of Ione) to Sandpoint, IDAHO (71 miles)

 6-23-2010 Today our goal was to make it into Sanpoint by early afternoon, so that we would have plenty of time to get the tandem's wheel repaired. 

We left earlier than usual, one group of guys left by 6am so that they could stop for breakfast, the rest of us left by about 6:45.  The morning's ride was very pleasant, the temperature was cool, the sun's rays were blocked by a thin layer of cloud.  Just about perfect.  After less than 3 hours, we rolled into Newport, WA, to buy groceries and allow Don to pick up his new credit card.  (his wallet was stolen in Anacortes.)

Doug, Terese, Jeff, and I quickly got back on the road.  We were all anxious to get their bike repaired.  After a few quick pictures at the "Welcome to Idaho" sign, we started up the biggest hill of the day.  It was nothing compared to what we had been doing, but it was still a rude welcome to Idaho.  It's pretty cool to know that I've riden across my first state.

One state down, many more to go.

As the afternoon wore on, the ride became harder and harder.  The clouds burned off, raising the temperature considerably.  We also experienced more hills, many of which were quite steep.  However, we did get to see several Osprey nests, which was very cool and the overal scenery was very pretty.

Finally, we turned onto Route 95 into Sandpoint, which was extremely busy.  Probally the busiest road of the trip so far.  Luckily after about 3 miles, we were able to get onto a bike path which was much quieter.  Part of this path is a stretch of converted highway bridge.  They shrunk a 4 lane highway bridge to just two lanes and made the other two into a bike path.  That was a very neat ride.

Jeff riding with me across Lake Pend Orielle.

Once into Sandpoint we were able to get the tandem fixed up, and I was able to get and install new pedals.  After a quick ride around town, we setteled in at a campground right next to the beech in downtown.  The campground was a dump, but we had access to the Best Western's pool facilities.  The hot shower and hot tub more than made up for having a poorly maintained campground. 

I highly recommend to everyone, that they visit Sandpoint if they're in the area.  It's a very nice town, extremely bike friendly, with lots of neat shops and restaraunts.  I would have enjoyed having a couple more days to spend there.

Coleville to 20miles south of Ione (71miles)

Today was another hard day for me.  I made it through the first 2/3rds all right, but then I was exhasted and really didn't feel like riding the 20 more miles to camp, but I made it.

The day started a little late, our tandem friends, Doug and Terese, had an appointment with the bike shop to try and get their tire fixed.  So with the earliest start time possible being 8am, I was able to sleep in a bit.  By 9am we were on the road, though the tire wasn't able to be fixed.

Yay for hotels when you're exhausted.

The day started out tough!  The hills were some of the steepest that we've had on this whole trip, made all the tougher because we had thought we were done climbing for a while.  Eventually the hills evened out and we were able to get into a good climbing rhythm.

Rest break after those awful hills.

After a quick lunch at a restaurant/general store in the Coleville national park, we finished up the climb and headed down the mountain.  Then a quick ride brought us to Ione, where we stocked up on food for dinner.  Bob, Doug, and I purchased some fantastic Ice Cream, mine was Huckleberry...Yum!

Crystal falls, was amazing.

After that ice cream I was ready for bed, and had no get-up-and-go to finish the days ride.  With 20 miles to go I was counting down the miles.  With 13 to go I started counting down the quarter miles.  The Forest service campground, Panhandler, was gorgeous.  We were right on the water, and had plenty of room to spread out our tents.  A quick dinner, and some blog posts, and I was off to bed.

Joe, my hero for having extra pedals, and bob.

Republic to Coleville, WA

6-21 was a brutal day.  We started off by going off route, on a supposedly easier route, that avoided climbing nearly 1500 feet, instead we spent the final 30 miles of our day battling exhaustion and head winds (a cyclist's worst enemy).

The day started with a very nice, enjoyable ride north.  It was mostly downhill through beautiful farm country.  After a break at a nice coffee shop, we headed up into the hills.  Again it started fairly smoothly, but quickly turned into a grind.  After 11 miles slogging up hill, we were all excited to be close to done with the day.

Rest stop

We enjoyed our final screaming decent (11 mile downhill, max speeds around 40mph) and met up at the bottom of the hill.

As we started our trek into Kettle Falls, we were met with a 10mph headwind.  After stopping for a snack at a convenience store, we headed off again, only to have the wind pick up even more.  Finally, after slogging against the wind, and up the short steep hills (which we didn't expect).

After the grueling ride, we unanimously decided to stay in a hotel for a night.

Sorry for the short post, but I'm tired, I'll try to make a more detailed post tomorrow night.

Omak to Republic, WA (72 miles)

Sorry for posting so late, between rain and exhaustion, it got hard to stay caught up.  The description of 6-20 and 6-21, will be significantly shorter than usual.

We started off at about 6:30am on this day after a rest day in Omak.  We started by stopping at McDonald's for breakfast, then were off by 7am.  We had  nice leisurely ride into Tonasket, where we met up for a snack at a restaurant. Then we up towards the Wacunda pass.

That was a difficult ride, it was very steep for the first 5 miles, then it leveled out.  Just about then, Doug and Terese (on the tandem) broke a 6th spoke, which necessitated a good long break.  Then onwards and upwards we went.

At this point, my knees really started to hurt, they'd been hurting pretty badly every time I pushed on the pedals, but now they were throbbing.  A few advil, and a rest break and I went back to it.

Then to make matters worse, my pedal fell apart!  I was riding along, and I noticed that my pedal was wiggling around a lot.  I stopped to take a look, and noticed that the cap was off, and a nut had fallen out.  I tighted the one remaining nut and took off again, only to have it and the whole pedal fall of 200 feet later.  With Bob's help, we jury rigged a new screw to hold it on, though it still slid back and forth a lot.  Finally, we got up to Wacunda, a town that is supposed to be near the top of the pass.  Only the store was closed, and we found the steepest section was still ahead of us.

Finally, we crested the pass, and screamed down the other side into Republic.  After some discussion, the group split up, Jeff, Jim, Don, and I enjoyed a pizza dinner, and the rest of the crew headed to an RV park off of route 21.

When we left the restaurant, we came across Doug and Terese, who had spent the entire time repairing another broken spoke.  We called around to find a bike shop, but found out it had closed down, then we made the 5 mile trek to the RV park.  The ride felt long, but the campground was beautiful.  The grass was very green, and inviting, and we had a large fenced off site all to our selves.

After warm shower, the clouds opened up and it was off to bed.

Bike Barn to Omak, WA (58 miles)

A bit of a scary day for me.  When we first started riding into town, I noticed that both my knees were really hurting.  I pushed through the pain, and made it into Windthrop for a very nice breakfast at the Duck Brand.  While we were there, my parents joined us for a quick hello and a brief visit.

Then we headed down the road to Twisp.  I took my time, but my knees were still really hurting.  During a break I took a few advil, and put on some suncreen (yay the sun finally came out!) and pushed on.

Not one of us, but another cross country rider and his dog.  His wife is carrying all of his gear in an RV.

The next hurdle was the Loup Loup pass, about 12 miles of very steady climbing.  Every push of the pedal was painful, and I was afraid that I might not be able to finish the ride.  I took some more Advil, and some Tylenol along with a snack, hoping to dull the pain enough that I could ignore it.  That worked with the help of Jeff, who rode beside me keeping me in a conversation the whole way up the mountain.  Then we had another steep downhill, and we were in Okanogan.  The ride through town was easy, but it never seemed to end, finally we rode into Omak our final destination for the day.

We set up our tents in an RV park at the city fairgrounds, a decent campground, but pretty noisy and very busy.  We also decided to take a day off to rest and recuperate before tackling the last two passes in Washington.  Hopefully this day of rest will allow my knees to heal up, otherwise my trip might be in jeopardy.

Tomorrow, we've got a 70 mile ride and a pass to go over.  Hopefully my knees survive that.

Colonial Creek campground to the Bike Barn (54 miles)

Phew!  What a ride today.  We started off bright and early at 7am.  The weather was cold and very damp.  Facing a 32 mile climb, we knew to take it easy right off the bat.  Shortly after starting my right knew began to hurt.  Everytime I pushed down a sharp pain shot through my knee.  Pretty soon I knew that I had to do something, or I wouldn’t make it up.  I stopped and took a couple advil, and I was off again. 

Doug, Terese and I stopped for a breather beside a beautiful stream.

Pretty soon I was into a rythum, eating through the miles.  I’d stop every 15-20 minutes for a quick rest, and then tackle the next section.  At about 12:30pm we crested the first pass of our journey, Rainy Pass., where snow lay on the sides of the road.  Then followed a steep downhill, which would have been great if I didn’t know that I had to go up all of those feet and then some.

Yay, Jim and I made it to the top.

The last major hill of the day was even worse.  3 miles uphill to cover 1800 feet or so.  It was very steep, and just never seemed to end.  Plenty of rest stops, and snacks later the sign came into view.  What an amazing feeling/relief to know that I had made it up one of the hardest stretches of climbing on the entire route. 

Then after bundling up, we had a cold, scary, and exciting downhill trip into Mazama.  The hill was amazing, we went down all the feet that we had climbed that day in only 18 miles.  After coasting into Mazama, I saw Joe, relaxing on the porch of the general store.  After a coffee and a pastry, we set in to wait for the rest of our team.  At about 4pm, with everyone reassembled, we decided to ride ahead 6 miles to a bicycle only campground that a couple, Jim and Jan, had established.

At Washington Pass, Jim, Doug, and Terese are bundling up for the long, cold trip down the mountain.

Proof that I made it.

Tomorrow we’re looking at another 53 miles, with the Loup Loup pass to climb before our day ends in Oakanagan.  Hopefully, we’ll take a day off there to recumperate, and wait for our two newest team members to catch up.  Doug and Terese joined us in Cement, and have fit in really well with our group.  I personally appreciate that because they’re riding a tandem, they’re traveling at a similar pace to me, especially uphill.

The Bike Barn, a nice place to stay.

Concrete to Colonial Creek Campground, WA (41 miles)

Written on 6-16 but posted on 6-18.

Today, I was up with the sun and moving around by 5:30am.  I enjoyed a quick breakfast of oatmeal and peanut butter, and coffee.   It was very damp out, and everyone’s tents were soaked, however it didn’t rain all day long.  By the early afternoon, we had sun and it had warmed up nicely.

Our campsite, with Jeff packing his things

The ride started out nice, but quickly turned into a grind.  It was slightly uphill most of the day, with steeper hills periodically.  At 10am we stopped in Marble-mount to purchase food for the next day, the store clerk told us this was the last food for 69 miles.  I guess he didn’t know about the store in Newhalem 10 miles further east. 

In Newhalem we waited for everyone to get caught up while enjoying a slow lunch.  We knew we only had 10 miles to go, and we didn’t feel like rushing.  After an hour break, we started our final section of the days’ ride.  Unfortunately it was also the toughest stretch we’ve had so far.  Right out of Newhalem, we had a 4 mile hill which gained about 1100 feet, about an 8% grade.  A nice downhill followed, but another steep, long hill ended the trip.

Now we’re staying in a beautiful national park campground.  In the background I hear the sound of water rushing over rocks, and birds chirping.  The sun is out, helping to dry everything out and to make the environment quite cozy.

 

Tomorrow we’ve got a doozy of a ride, as we crest Washingon pass at 5, 477 feet.  Right now we’re at about 2000 feet.  So 3,477 feet over 31 miles and then another 31 miles into Windthrop where will spend the night.

Jut after I finished typing this post, a storm moved in.  First, came the cold wind, then the rain followed about 7:45pm.  Everyone quickly fled to their tents and went to sleep early.  I'm posting this on Friday the 18th, I'll get the next two days out tomorrow, as we're taking the day off to rest and recuperate for the next two big passes.

Anacortes to Concrete, WA 60 miles

Day 1 day,

Today,  I met the group of men that I'll be riding across the country with.  They all seem like a great bunch of guys, with a lot of different experiences.  We met at 8am at the Washington Park boat ramp in Anacortes, WA.  We said our hellos (we had gotten together for dinner the night before), and those who were interested dipped their wheels into the ocean.

From the left, you have Joe, Bob, Me, Don, Jim, and Jeff.

Then we were off.  The ride started pretty good, the weather was perfect Northwest weather.  It was drizzly, windy, and cool.  As the day wore on, we had our first flat tire.  Don, has a nice nail as a souvenir for that.  Then just as we started again after that pause, the rain started to come down really hard.  So we all stopped and put on our rain gear.  Naturally, this pause took longer than we would normally want.

Then we were able to get a good 15 miles under our belts before lunch at Subway.  The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, some rain, but mostly it dried up.  We even saw the sun poke through the clouds and trees!

Tonight, we're staying in the Eagle Creek RV Park in Concrete, Washington.  The campground is pretty nice, and the showers are warm..  Tomorrow, we're headed up into the Cascade Mountains, we'll get about halfway up during our 42 mile ride.  Then the next day, we'll complete the 5,200 feet summit before heading down to the bottom to camp for the night.

Take care all, right now I'm thinking bout the awesome get together with my family before I left home.

Riding in the Rain 6-10

It rained just about all day June 10th.  At first, I planned on doing a good long ride, but as the day wore on and the rain continued to come down, I procrastinated.  Eventually,  I did get out for a ride, about 26 miles, but it was sure unpleasant.

In Rock Springs, most people treat the rain differently than most Portlanders ever would.  In Rock Springs, rain is a treat and while it can be unpleasant everyone knows it's needed.  In Portland, rain is treated indifferently, until enough is enough.  Right now, everyone in the Portland area is sick and tired of the rain.

That brings me to riding in the rain.  Riding in the rain, is an incredibly unpleasant experience.  It's impossible to stay dry, as the rain and water is forced into every nook and cranny on your body.  Water hits your face, then runs down the front of your jacket.  You then spend the rest of your ride in a wet, clammy, and cold state.  Further exasperating matters, your hands are completely exposed to the weather and quickly get cold, while more water is forced up your arms under your sleeves.  Finally, as your legs get wet, even if you have waterproof shoes, the water runs down your legs into your shoes.  All together once you've had the experience, you would really rather not duplicate it again.

So my ride started off ok, it was drizzly but it wasn't raining hard.  However, just before I made it to the I-205 bridge, the clouds opened up.  I decided to take a break under the bridge, in hopes that I might wait out the squall.

There, I ran into another challenge.  Trying to take your own picture, in a challenging environment isn't easy.  I spent about 10 minutes trying to get a decent picture of me sitting on my bike under the bridge but no luck.  Of course once I stopped trying that, I didn't have any problems getting a decent picture.







Then I had a decision to make, to ride into the rain which was only coming harder, or to head home, still getting soaked in the process.  I decided that a 2 hour ride just wasn't going to cut it, and pressed on.  The ride across the bridge was downright terrible.  On this bridge the bike path goes straight down the middle, with 4 lanes of traffic on both sides.  Every time a car passes me, I was splashed with a wave of water, full of dirt, grime, and oil.




Just as I turned off of the bridge, the rain slowed down and then the sun came out.  If I wasn't already soaked through, it would have become a very pleasant ride.  However, after pushing through another 2 miles, I decided that I'd done enough and turned around.

Now, I'm gathering up all of my things and loading my parents van.  Tomorrow morning, we'll drive up to Seattle to meet Don, one of my riding companions, and then we'll head to Camp in Anacortes.  Just 3 days left as I'm writing this, and we'll finally get started.

By the way, I would really appreciate any comments you have.  Whether you have questions or are just letting me know that you read the post.  It'll help me keep my motivation up to post when I get really tired.

Packing and traveling 6-9

School finally let out, so it was time for me to pack up my things and head out.  It's amazing how much stuff I've decided that I need to have for this journey.  When I weighed it all out, it was over 56 pounds!  and that's with me really limiting what I'm bringing to the bare necessities.

Then it was into the car, and the 14 hour drive to Vancouver, Washington.  I made it just in time to have a little birthday dinner with my parents.  Then, the next morning it was back to training.  

The ride was pretty nasty.  I rode out to Ridgefield, WA, about 16 miles away.  I've ridden the route many times over the years, training for other trips, but I had forgotten how difficult it can be.  It's got some really steep hills, which are made worse by all that extra weight I'm packing.  By the time I got to Abrahm's park, I was glad for the break.


Now, I'm off the grocery store to pick up some spices to help make my one pot casseroles a little more appetizing.