After a wonderful stay in Vancouver and an incredible trip all summer i am back at home, once again vegging in front of the TV. While the memories of how difficult and absurdly ridiculous some parts of the trip were are still in my head they are overwhelmed by how much fun I had. But the trip was genuinely more than just fun. I was able to work on a 10 houses across the country providing countless hours of work for people that needed it. The best part of working on these houses was working along side the future home owners, and hearing their stories.
Another great aspect of the trip is the church members and communities that helped Bike and Build. We were fed to our stomic's content nearly every night and the hospitality and the love that everyone across the country gave us was remarkable and heart warming. I cant thank them enough. All of them made this trip so much more enjoyable and just incredible. I admire those cyclists that can go across the country by themselves, but for me, those warm meals and the talkative people made every night a new home instead of just a place to sleep. Especially after those long windy and wet days camping. Their was nothing better than to arrive to a church with snacks and cold water with church members awaiting to cook us a nice warm meal. I cant thank them enough!
As of my fellow bike and builders. We share something that is unique to us and will stay with me forever. We have struggled, sweat, and overcome mountains like Washington Pass together. Not only did we all survive we all made it with smiles and laughs along the way. I owe my ultimate thanks to my fellow riders and my fearless leaders. Without their attitude and individual personalities this trip would not be nearly as good as it was. I will miss them dearly and hope to see them in bike lanes shortly.
To my readers. Thank you for baring with my terrible writing and spelling. I understand my blog was not the most interesting or the most dramatic but i hope you enjoyed staying with me on my journey. So thank you and i loved the support and the comments all along the way.
Totals:
Me------------------------------Group
3939.7 miles--------------------114251.3 miles
6303.52 km----------------------182802.08 km
271 hours 10 min on the bike----7863 hours 50 min
72 days-------------------------72 days
3007404.58 tire revolutions-----87214732.82 revolutions
~1575880 pedals-----------------~45700520 pedals
$4,200 raised-------------------$175,000 raised
128 pb&js-----------------------3584 pb&js
29 new friends
thanks again.
out.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
VANCOUVER!!!!!
Everyone made it, everyone went completly across the country on their own power on a bike. I am just so pround and privledged to be part of this group i cant thank them enough. We made it across without serious injury or complications and considering our only van ride came from Katrina's broken finger going into rugby (where she proceded to come back from the hospital and the same day ride another 25 miles to make up the distance) we are one hell of a determined group. This trip has been unforgetable and unbelievable in every sence and i cant thank the riders and the leaders enough. While our trip was not blessed with the weather for the most part, i feel incredibly blessed with everyone involved in it. We had so much fun despite sleeping in campground bathrooms and having hypothermia. Spending 1680 hours nearly continuously with my friends grows a connection that is indescribable and I will truly miss being around them.
Final thoughts to come later.
Final thoughts to come later.
Friday, August 22, 2008
2 days left!!!!! where did the summer go?
So i am alive. Past few days have been crazy and sorry for not updating more but camping and the Cascades have prevented me from finding a public computer.
Overview:
Republic to Omak - Good ride, easy pass (comparatively), then rain. then more rain. then wind... climbed to just over 4,000 feet but the pass was really not so bad. I was a sweep with Pen which made it nice to just take it easy. We took lots of breaks including one right after the pass at a local diner. The only bad part was that while being in the far back meant we got rained on, twice. At this point in the trip so close to our final destination rain is no longer a fun event, it is an annoyance and the effects of being wet can last for days. The scenery changed dramatically as we passed the pass. It immediately turned to desert. I was surprised at seeing a desert in Washington state, my opinion was that Washington got too much rain, (Thanks Grey's Anatomy)but apparently this area needed it badly. Figures, leave it to Bike and Build to bring the rain in an area which gets very little... Also, the wind, jealous of us being challenged by mountains and stupidly high climbs like Sherman pass, returned to impose her superiority over any obstacle we have faced. She remained to tortured us for a few hours just to ingrain in our heads that the one element to be feared and respected over all the others is wind. We plan to make a sacrifice shortly to the wind in honor of her power over us.
Omak to Camping Day number 1. uggg rain, again. probably a pass that was stupidly high. cant really remember. out of dessert and just like that in a forest again. Beautiful.
Camping day number 1 to camping day number 2 - uggg rain. cold, wet, hypothermia, 2 passes. (Washington pass - 5477 ft, Rainy pass - 4016 ft) cold. umbels. last 80 +_ mile day. --So much to say about this day but i will try to spare you the novel and keep it as brief as possible.-- We woke up in our tents to rain, then we left in the rain, then we climbed for 15 miles, in the rain and the cold. Though the ride up was spectacular views of endless mountains in cloud cover and trees. From the begining we knew this was going to be a hard day but we had no idea what was really in store for us. We finally made it to the top and we were cold while climbing up the mountain, which is a bad sign since we usually work a sweat in any temperature. It is so cold at the top some actually reported seeing snow flakes. Well we bundled up and started the decent knowing we would have to climb up rainy pass soon after the initial downhill. I was in my shorts and rain jacket and that was about it. After 50 feet people were jokily hugging to stay warm, little did we know that in another 3 miles people would be legitimately having initial stages of hypothermia. I made it to the bottom and i wasn't in too bad of a shape. I stopped to throw on almost every piece of clothing that i had in my camel back (thank god i have a massive and awesome camel back with tons of bandannas). So i had one bandanna covering my ears and head while another wrapped around my face and neck, i had my rain jacket (and my camel back rain jacket which is so cool i cant get over it) my jersey, and then i had my spandex shorts. i immediately started pedeling with the intention that if i just kept moving i would generate enough body heat to stay warm and for the most part it worked. I stayed warm enough that i could still control the bike enough to stay on the road... Others had other opinions on staying warm, most huddled shoulder to shoulder in a bathroom...again. I kept going though eventually to find the top of Rainy pass only to find Derek and about 7 bikes with no riders. The front riders had had enough of the cold and flagged down an RV to jump inside and get warm. They left their bikes and cruised in the RV down to our lunch stop. where they jumped into our van. So i take out my camera, snap a few photos with Derek, and decide to just keep on going. I figure i made it this far i can keep on going. So i continue. About a mile down i am shivering so bad its hard to keep the handlebars straight and i cant feel my fingers anymore so i am unsure on my braking abilities. Little did i realize 1,000 miles or so back that my 27 miles of riding no handed continuously would prepare me for a biking technique to stay warm for the Cascades. My new method for descending this rainy, miserable, mountain was to shove my hands in my pockets and just let the bike take me. The plan worked mostly and i regained feeling in my fingers at least enough to stop at the lunch stop. I ate as much as i could stand, and as much as i could make while shivering as much as i was. But really i was fine because about 30 min later i was back on the road using my theory that body motion meant body heat and this time it worked great, 3 miles out of lunch the rain stopped shortly and i was slowly regaining feeling. The sun came out briefly and the scenery was fantastic. I would say this place rivals Glacier national park in terms of beauty, absolutely spectacular. We rode along the valley with steep mountainsides on both sides of the roads with amazingly green trees and moss covering the wood. Waterfalls were stair casing down from the top spraying water into the clouds that were still hanging around. Despite the rain it was still jaw dropping to ride through. It was like this all the way through the park and into our next camping stop where Anson's Grandmother and uncle were there to warm us with delicious snacks and amazing food. All in all a good ride minus the hour or so I thought i was going to die.
Camping day 2 to Lynden. Beautiful. easy last 70 + mile day sunny.
ok got to go computer shutting down in t-minus 1 min ....59 sec...58....ahhh~!
thanks for reading this rediculously long blog! excited to be coming home soon!
Overview:
Republic to Omak - Good ride, easy pass (comparatively), then rain. then more rain. then wind... climbed to just over 4,000 feet but the pass was really not so bad. I was a sweep with Pen which made it nice to just take it easy. We took lots of breaks including one right after the pass at a local diner. The only bad part was that while being in the far back meant we got rained on, twice. At this point in the trip so close to our final destination rain is no longer a fun event, it is an annoyance and the effects of being wet can last for days. The scenery changed dramatically as we passed the pass. It immediately turned to desert. I was surprised at seeing a desert in Washington state, my opinion was that Washington got too much rain, (Thanks Grey's Anatomy)but apparently this area needed it badly. Figures, leave it to Bike and Build to bring the rain in an area which gets very little... Also, the wind, jealous of us being challenged by mountains and stupidly high climbs like Sherman pass, returned to impose her superiority over any obstacle we have faced. She remained to tortured us for a few hours just to ingrain in our heads that the one element to be feared and respected over all the others is wind. We plan to make a sacrifice shortly to the wind in honor of her power over us.
Omak to Camping Day number 1. uggg rain, again. probably a pass that was stupidly high. cant really remember. out of dessert and just like that in a forest again. Beautiful.
Camping day number 1 to camping day number 2 - uggg rain. cold, wet, hypothermia, 2 passes. (Washington pass - 5477 ft, Rainy pass - 4016 ft) cold. umbels. last 80 +_ mile day. --So much to say about this day but i will try to spare you the novel and keep it as brief as possible.-- We woke up in our tents to rain, then we left in the rain, then we climbed for 15 miles, in the rain and the cold. Though the ride up was spectacular views of endless mountains in cloud cover and trees. From the begining we knew this was going to be a hard day but we had no idea what was really in store for us. We finally made it to the top and we were cold while climbing up the mountain, which is a bad sign since we usually work a sweat in any temperature. It is so cold at the top some actually reported seeing snow flakes. Well we bundled up and started the decent knowing we would have to climb up rainy pass soon after the initial downhill. I was in my shorts and rain jacket and that was about it. After 50 feet people were jokily hugging to stay warm, little did we know that in another 3 miles people would be legitimately having initial stages of hypothermia. I made it to the bottom and i wasn't in too bad of a shape. I stopped to throw on almost every piece of clothing that i had in my camel back (thank god i have a massive and awesome camel back with tons of bandannas). So i had one bandanna covering my ears and head while another wrapped around my face and neck, i had my rain jacket (and my camel back rain jacket which is so cool i cant get over it) my jersey, and then i had my spandex shorts. i immediately started pedeling with the intention that if i just kept moving i would generate enough body heat to stay warm and for the most part it worked. I stayed warm enough that i could still control the bike enough to stay on the road... Others had other opinions on staying warm, most huddled shoulder to shoulder in a bathroom...again. I kept going though eventually to find the top of Rainy pass only to find Derek and about 7 bikes with no riders. The front riders had had enough of the cold and flagged down an RV to jump inside and get warm. They left their bikes and cruised in the RV down to our lunch stop. where they jumped into our van. So i take out my camera, snap a few photos with Derek, and decide to just keep on going. I figure i made it this far i can keep on going. So i continue. About a mile down i am shivering so bad its hard to keep the handlebars straight and i cant feel my fingers anymore so i am unsure on my braking abilities. Little did i realize 1,000 miles or so back that my 27 miles of riding no handed continuously would prepare me for a biking technique to stay warm for the Cascades. My new method for descending this rainy, miserable, mountain was to shove my hands in my pockets and just let the bike take me. The plan worked mostly and i regained feeling in my fingers at least enough to stop at the lunch stop. I ate as much as i could stand, and as much as i could make while shivering as much as i was. But really i was fine because about 30 min later i was back on the road using my theory that body motion meant body heat and this time it worked great, 3 miles out of lunch the rain stopped shortly and i was slowly regaining feeling. The sun came out briefly and the scenery was fantastic. I would say this place rivals Glacier national park in terms of beauty, absolutely spectacular. We rode along the valley with steep mountainsides on both sides of the roads with amazingly green trees and moss covering the wood. Waterfalls were stair casing down from the top spraying water into the clouds that were still hanging around. Despite the rain it was still jaw dropping to ride through. It was like this all the way through the park and into our next camping stop where Anson's Grandmother and uncle were there to warm us with delicious snacks and amazing food. All in all a good ride minus the hour or so I thought i was going to die.
Camping day 2 to Lynden. Beautiful. easy last 70 + mile day sunny.
ok got to go computer shutting down in t-minus 1 min ....59 sec...58....ahhh~!
thanks for reading this rediculously long blog! excited to be coming home soon!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Chelewah and Republic, WA
I made it to the last state. All that is left is a few more mountain passes and about 400 miles.
So our trip out of Idaho was a relatively good one until we started climbing a hill. Five miles later we were still climbing the hill. Five miles after that we were in sight of the top. This was a nasty climb. the outside temperature was recorded at 106 degrees and working all the way up the hill just adds to your body temperature. We woke up at 5:15 in hopes we could beat the heat but even at noon when i was just about to the top the hill was unbearably hot. I feel bad for the others that were behind me because it would only get worse for them. Everything turned around at the top of the hill though. I think it was called the Flower trail pass with a top elevation of 4,046ft or something like that. My favorite sign (downhill truck sign) was posted about every mile on the downhill just to remind us that we were in fact going downhill (not that we needed a reminder). 8 miles later of continuous downhill we made it to the church. This church that we stayed at was amazing. upon arrival they had a potluck they invited us to and laid out a delectable array of fruits and snacks soley for us. It was fabulous. So after i ate about 200 grapes i went out back with a few others and just sat in the ice cold stream. Then like we really need more exercise we started a game of volleyball for about an hour and a half. Then the church was so nice they reserved the public pool for us. Again...like we really need the exercise we were just playing basketball in the pool and getting absolutely exhausted. But it was so nice and spectacular that the church put this all together and fed us so well! I loved it.
So today's ride started off well once again. Then at mile 35 we started climbing. 25 miles later of continuous uphill riding we finally made it to the top of Sherman pass with an elevation of 5,575ft. I cant stress how much up hill that is, just ridiculousness. Thats the distance from mainland to Catalina Island all uphill. or for people that have not gone to Catalina thats a complete marathon distance all up hill! Then from the top to the bottom it took me 34 minutes without using my brakes going around 30mph on average.
so to recap. yesterday we climbed 4,046 ft. then went back down. then today we climbed 5,575ft just to once again come back down. yeah cant we just stay up at 4,000ft until Vancouver?
So our trip out of Idaho was a relatively good one until we started climbing a hill. Five miles later we were still climbing the hill. Five miles after that we were in sight of the top. This was a nasty climb. the outside temperature was recorded at 106 degrees and working all the way up the hill just adds to your body temperature. We woke up at 5:15 in hopes we could beat the heat but even at noon when i was just about to the top the hill was unbearably hot. I feel bad for the others that were behind me because it would only get worse for them. Everything turned around at the top of the hill though. I think it was called the Flower trail pass with a top elevation of 4,046ft or something like that. My favorite sign (downhill truck sign) was posted about every mile on the downhill just to remind us that we were in fact going downhill (not that we needed a reminder). 8 miles later of continuous downhill we made it to the church. This church that we stayed at was amazing. upon arrival they had a potluck they invited us to and laid out a delectable array of fruits and snacks soley for us. It was fabulous. So after i ate about 200 grapes i went out back with a few others and just sat in the ice cold stream. Then like we really need more exercise we started a game of volleyball for about an hour and a half. Then the church was so nice they reserved the public pool for us. Again...like we really need the exercise we were just playing basketball in the pool and getting absolutely exhausted. But it was so nice and spectacular that the church put this all together and fed us so well! I loved it.
So today's ride started off well once again. Then at mile 35 we started climbing. 25 miles later of continuous uphill riding we finally made it to the top of Sherman pass with an elevation of 5,575ft. I cant stress how much up hill that is, just ridiculousness. Thats the distance from mainland to Catalina Island all uphill. or for people that have not gone to Catalina thats a complete marathon distance all up hill! Then from the top to the bottom it took me 34 minutes without using my brakes going around 30mph on average.
so to recap. yesterday we climbed 4,046 ft. then went back down. then today we climbed 5,575ft just to once again come back down. yeah cant we just stay up at 4,000ft until Vancouver?
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Sandpoint, IDAHO!
The end is near for NUS 2008. I think we have only 8 more days of biking. To be honest i don't know how we made it so far in so little time. But we have one more US state line to cross before I have to give my goodbye's to an absolutely fabulous group of people.
As for our ride out of Montana it was a pretty usual day. Except it was difficult from the extreme heat we are in. For some reason i haven't been drinking enough water making riding very uncomfortable. The distance of 84 miles has been a challenge but yesterday it was hard for me. Only after drinking about a gallon of water at lunch did i feel good again. The ride was again scenic and filled with trees and lakes. This time we had quite a few cars since we re-entered civilization. Entering Sandpoint was great to because the whole day i wanted to go swimming and i didn't have the perfect opportunity. We even gained an extra hour entering Pacific Time Zone so we had the time yet their were no good spots along the route. Well the second i got to the united Methodist church i asked Dan if there was a good spot to go. He simply responded "lets go". I followed him to be the best hangout spot i could wish for on a hot day after a long ride... a rope swing into the river. This rope swing was almost perfect. It was completely public and in plain site of everyone which meant it was approved by the town as safe and all the locals were there. I must have spent an hour there just waiting in line to jump in. Then i headed back to the church, then after about 30 min later i headed back to the swing.
The next day was our build day, which turned out to be a half day build. We nearly finished applying side paneling to the whole house so it was cool to see progress throughout the day instead of a never ending giant pile of dirt. The site was great and we left around 12:30 and took a good 1.5 hour nap to break up the day. Then what else was there to do but head back to the rope swing. Again stayed for a really long time then called it a day. Went to have dinner and now i am looking forward to some Thermerest.
Hope all is well.
Until next time.
oh and to add to my list
Huckleberry honey
Huckleberry margarita
As for our ride out of Montana it was a pretty usual day. Except it was difficult from the extreme heat we are in. For some reason i haven't been drinking enough water making riding very uncomfortable. The distance of 84 miles has been a challenge but yesterday it was hard for me. Only after drinking about a gallon of water at lunch did i feel good again. The ride was again scenic and filled with trees and lakes. This time we had quite a few cars since we re-entered civilization. Entering Sandpoint was great to because the whole day i wanted to go swimming and i didn't have the perfect opportunity. We even gained an extra hour entering Pacific Time Zone so we had the time yet their were no good spots along the route. Well the second i got to the united Methodist church i asked Dan if there was a good spot to go. He simply responded "lets go". I followed him to be the best hangout spot i could wish for on a hot day after a long ride... a rope swing into the river. This rope swing was almost perfect. It was completely public and in plain site of everyone which meant it was approved by the town as safe and all the locals were there. I must have spent an hour there just waiting in line to jump in. Then i headed back to the church, then after about 30 min later i headed back to the swing.
The next day was our build day, which turned out to be a half day build. We nearly finished applying side paneling to the whole house so it was cool to see progress throughout the day instead of a never ending giant pile of dirt. The site was great and we left around 12:30 and took a good 1.5 hour nap to break up the day. Then what else was there to do but head back to the rope swing. Again stayed for a really long time then called it a day. Went to have dinner and now i am looking forward to some Thermerest.
Hope all is well.
Until next time.
oh and to add to my list
Huckleberry honey
Huckleberry margarita
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Libby, MT
wow..yeah 12 days in Montana. Tomorrow we will finally be leaving this ginormously huge state. Though i must say i will miss western Montana. The rides recently have been fabulous. Yesterday I had a great short ride into Eureka and today we had slightly longer ride but it followed a lake the whole way with a nice wide shoulder for most of the time. The day was hot and clear so it felt great to jump into the freezing waters. The best part of the ride today into Libby was that most of it was through Kootenia National Forrest meaning there was absolutely no development. The ride today reminded me of half New Hampshire and half Southern California so i am happy. I am sorry to disappoint but i have no exciting stories other than Montana is obsessed with Huckleberries and I have tried nearly every form it comes in.
Huckleberry Pancakes,
Huckleberry Gummiebears,
Huckleberry hot chocolate
Huckleberry crepe
Huckleberry taffy
Huckleberry ice cream
Huckleberry shake
Next post will be out of Montana! (But everyone in Montana is awesome just fyi, super nice)
Huckleberry Pancakes,
Huckleberry Gummiebears,
Huckleberry hot chocolate
Huckleberry crepe
Huckleberry taffy
Huckleberry ice cream
Huckleberry shake
Next post will be out of Montana! (But everyone in Montana is awesome just fyi, super nice)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
whitefish, MT
So... I have biked over the Rockies. All the way up, and all the way down. From Cut Bank we made it into St. Mary's the "Gateway to Glacier National Park" after a very long hard very hard ride. It took me 6 hours on the bike to go just over 60 miles. I will spare you the details because i just dont want to think about that day. Lets just say headwind. The last part of the ride (15 miles) was great. We were entering mountains and the backdrop was intimidating because we new we had to climb it the next day. But the change of scenery inspired me to just pound out the ~2,000 ft elevation climb after being harassed by the wind all day. I saw a group of wild horses and trees... yup we made it to trees. So after the climb we got this amazing downhill looking over the Rockies down into St. Mary's. The wind hadn't died down at this point either so even going downhill (12% or something like that) we were still only going 18mph. But we made it. Our campsites were in a great location and everything was hunky dory and despite the fact that we were camping, it didnt rain! Sadly the wind stayed all night. But the Camping went well for the first time on our trip.
The next morning (11th) we woke up to climb the Rockies. The wind was still there (i guess it really likes us) and the temperature was around the 50s something that is very new to us all. Despite the cold and wind the ride up and down the Rockies was breathtaking. I must have taken 300 photos during the two days and each one of them is spectacular. Bikes wernt allowed on a certain part of the park between 11am-4pm so we planned to just spend all day in the park and ride out after 4. This was one of the best decisions i have made on the trip. We made it to the Continental divide (6.650 ft or something) around 1pm and still had 55 miles to ride and an entire park to see. So we took our lovely time going down with barely enough room for cars. the sun was poking though the clouds every once in a while spaying light over the mountains and the glacier water below. Many pictures later we made it to the bottom at 4 and then stopped for more food and pictures. After the mountain there was still quite a bit of riding to do. we still had 40 miles left and the entire ride out of the park was perfect. We were following Lake McDonald and enjoying the greenish blue glacier water. i jumped into one of these rivers as a white water rafting trip was passing (calm section dont worry mom) and this was the coldest water i have ever been in but the river was just calling for me. Then we had "lunch" at mile 51 around 630pm... and i still had 25 miles to go. So after being in slight shock from the river and lack of food i ate as much as i could handle and I raced the sun to my destination of Whitefish. Needless to say I won, yet it didnt really matter because the van broke down again standing all of our stuff until about 10 pm that night. luckily the church members at the First Pres are amazing and arranged to tow the trailer with all of our stuff to the church so we could all change and go directly to sleep.
today was supposed to be a day off but we ended up having a optional surprise build day. The Habitat site that we worked at was extremely organized and just put us right to work and it was a great way to spend part of the day. We shingled about half of the roof with the help of the excellent site supervisor then called it a day. Now i am exhausted and need a day off....already. But Whitefish is an amazing little town and has been a lot of fun to have our day off in i wish i could spend a few more days here. But VANCOUVER HERE WE COME
The next morning (11th) we woke up to climb the Rockies. The wind was still there (i guess it really likes us) and the temperature was around the 50s something that is very new to us all. Despite the cold and wind the ride up and down the Rockies was breathtaking. I must have taken 300 photos during the two days and each one of them is spectacular. Bikes wernt allowed on a certain part of the park between 11am-4pm so we planned to just spend all day in the park and ride out after 4. This was one of the best decisions i have made on the trip. We made it to the Continental divide (6.650 ft or something) around 1pm and still had 55 miles to ride and an entire park to see. So we took our lovely time going down with barely enough room for cars. the sun was poking though the clouds every once in a while spaying light over the mountains and the glacier water below. Many pictures later we made it to the bottom at 4 and then stopped for more food and pictures. After the mountain there was still quite a bit of riding to do. we still had 40 miles left and the entire ride out of the park was perfect. We were following Lake McDonald and enjoying the greenish blue glacier water. i jumped into one of these rivers as a white water rafting trip was passing (calm section dont worry mom) and this was the coldest water i have ever been in but the river was just calling for me. Then we had "lunch" at mile 51 around 630pm... and i still had 25 miles to go. So after being in slight shock from the river and lack of food i ate as much as i could handle and I raced the sun to my destination of Whitefish. Needless to say I won, yet it didnt really matter because the van broke down again standing all of our stuff until about 10 pm that night. luckily the church members at the First Pres are amazing and arranged to tow the trailer with all of our stuff to the church so we could all change and go directly to sleep.
today was supposed to be a day off but we ended up having a optional surprise build day. The Habitat site that we worked at was extremely organized and just put us right to work and it was a great way to spend part of the day. We shingled about half of the roof with the help of the excellent site supervisor then called it a day. Now i am exhausted and need a day off....already. But Whitefish is an amazing little town and has been a lot of fun to have our day off in i wish i could spend a few more days here. But VANCOUVER HERE WE COME
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Cut back
Nothing extraordinary to report, Montana has lots of the same terrain for a really long time. And we are still on Route 2 and its still hot and we are still biking...
Good news though is we are finally in visible range of the Rockies and we get to try camping again tonight! so that should be fun, hopefully all the storms are past and i can actually sleep on a night of camping.
oh yeah and I tallied of the votes and SHAVED! so thanks for your input, I decided it just had to go and now no one can recognize me.
Off to bike 66 miles. MOUNTAINS!
Good news though is we are finally in visible range of the Rockies and we get to try camping again tonight! so that should be fun, hopefully all the storms are past and i can actually sleep on a night of camping.
oh yeah and I tallied of the votes and SHAVED! so thanks for your input, I decided it just had to go and now no one can recognize me.
Off to bike 66 miles. MOUNTAINS!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Chinok, MT
Yup still in Montana. Points of interest today: We had a tail wind (which is the best thing for a long flat road). I rode without touching my handlebars for 27 miles continuously (look Ma, no hands) and I would have been able to go longer but my front tire went flat. I hit 38.9 mph on flat ground. Less than 3 weeks left for the trip.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Malta
Miles - 70.8
riding time - 4 hours
wind - ok
avg - 17ish
mosquitoes -my new enemy
camera - freaking out
scenery - fields everywhere, one road, all 70 miles
Dinosaur museum - freakin awesome. The museum is located in Malta where we are staying and this non-profit museum is home to lots of real dinosaur artifacts and really cool information. The best part of it though was that a very nice lady named Sue showed us around the whole exhibit explaining everything and anything pertaining to Dinosaurs. She was so helpful and made me want to go start looking for dinosaur remains. Apparently Montana has huge amounts of fossilized material and they find teeth and horns daily. The museum is home to "Leonardo" a nearly complete mummified dinosaur remains that has detail down to the scales and even toe-nails! Really cool stuff and the best part is Discovery channel is putting on a show airing September 14th on it! SO DON'T MISS IT
Mosquitoes - Guinness book of records for greatest density (just wanted to say how much i hate them)
weather - sunny
bike - happily clean
until next time
riding time - 4 hours
wind - ok
avg - 17ish
mosquitoes -my new enemy
camera - freaking out
scenery - fields everywhere, one road, all 70 miles
Dinosaur museum - freakin awesome. The museum is located in Malta where we are staying and this non-profit museum is home to lots of real dinosaur artifacts and really cool information. The best part of it though was that a very nice lady named Sue showed us around the whole exhibit explaining everything and anything pertaining to Dinosaurs. She was so helpful and made me want to go start looking for dinosaur remains. Apparently Montana has huge amounts of fossilized material and they find teeth and horns daily. The museum is home to "Leonardo" a nearly complete mummified dinosaur remains that has detail down to the scales and even toe-nails! Really cool stuff and the best part is Discovery channel is putting on a show airing September 14th on it! SO DON'T MISS IT
Mosquitoes - Guinness book of records for greatest density (just wanted to say how much i hate them)
weather - sunny
bike - happily clean
until next time
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Glasgow, MT
Finally a nice easy ride with no head wind! it felt so nice to go fast and for only 2.5 hours! ahhh amazing. Anyway the Evangelical Church we are staying at here in Glasgow is perfect. They have all these toys and games for us to play and the people are just so nice. Thats not to put down other churches either, i just wanted to say thanks to all of them. They are such a crucial part of bike and build that we cant thank them enough. I love it when they go out of their way to make our trip more comfortable and enjoyable. For instance last night the church set up a Bike and Build event at the public pool for us and it was so cool. we had the pool to ourselves with slides and water jets.
So thank you churches and hosts!
Now i am off to bed to get up to bike again tomorrow.
So thank you churches and hosts!
Now i am off to bed to get up to bike again tomorrow.
Monday, August 4, 2008
...
Out of New Town and on to Theodor Roosevelt National park, to Culbertson-MT, and finally to Wolf Point-MT. It has been a long long few days. So in the morning before leaving for new town we discovered that once again the van would not get out of park...so all of our gear was stuck at the high school until we got the van fixed again. So i packed everything that i would ever possibly need into my ginormous cammelback. I had my rain coat, camera, my hammock, a change of clothes, about 6 pounds of food, and of course 3 litters of water.... you know just in case the van didn't get fixed. The ride was outstanding we had the best weather, the hills and the scenery were all brand new and the ride was great and to top it off fir the last 15 miles we had a tail wind for the first time as strong as our normal head wind. So we made it to Roosevelt's National Park in no time and the last five miles were great because we were just cruising in the park and i got to ride past all of my Buffalo from Catalina! They were all over the park, and the ride was perfect. So we were all excited to be camping and enjoying the outdoors. Well, we toured the park and got ready for a night in the tents! So i set up my hammock and i thought i was preparing myself by setting up an old rain tarp just in case we got some rain, and i was pretty confident that my setup would keep me dry even in the heaviest of rains. So around 2:30am i wake up to a light drizzle and i make sure the tarp is on and secure and i was happy that i wasn't getting wet. About 30 minutes later it was raining pretty hard, and lightning in the background. It was really cool to be out in it and i was sure i was going to get through this. Well the wind picked up, and blew with hurricane force, it was so strong i am pretty sure i was parallel with the ground at some points in my hammock. The wind speed kept on increasing and i was starting to get nervous about my rain tarp. So far it was holding up and i was completely dry. then one gust came and it was so strong it ripped my rain tarp from the strap it was sewen on to. I immediately was drenched and I had no chance of fixing it in this storm. Since i was drenched already i took my time to make sure i had everything and i waddled my self to the Men's bathroom to find it empty so i hung everything up to drip dry and noticed i didn't have my Pillow that Karen gave to me. So i left the shelter of the bathroom to search for my pillow to no avail. On my way back i noticed all the tents that we set up for Bike and Builders were litterally flattend. everyone in the campsite seemed to have abandoned their tents for some sort of shelter. I began looking for them and found nearly everyone jammed pack in the girls bathroom. It still boggles my mind that everyone managed to cram themselves in one bathroom while the other was completely empty. I eventually returned to the men's bathroom to spend the rest of the night. Yup... I spent the night in a bathroom! yay for bike and build. oh and the ironic part of it was the park charged us for entry so these were the most expensive accommodations we have stayed in yet....and i was sleeping on the ground of a bathroom.
Anyway we all survived and the next morning i did find the pillow about 50 yards away in the brush. The morning was again perfect weather and we were back on the road. After helping to fix Bobby's 4 flats we were out of the park. Oh and we had to hop a fence because the buffalo were taking over the road to get out of the park. Well the day was really hot and long but we finally made it. I had been riding with Isaiah all day and the poor kid fell in the last 100 feet of an 85 mile day. He pulled up on his handle bars and it broke one of the bolts holding his handlebars to his bike and there was nothing he could do to recover because he was holding his handlebars and they were separate from his bike. He is ok now and is already eager to get back on his bike.
Today's ride was also long because of the headwind but its good to be done at such an early time.
Well i am off to get ice cream!
hope all is well and i will be finalizing the votes on the facial hair one week from today so get your votes in now!
observation of the day: Its frustrating to know that my mood is determined by which direction the wind is going...
Anyway we all survived and the next morning i did find the pillow about 50 yards away in the brush. The morning was again perfect weather and we were back on the road. After helping to fix Bobby's 4 flats we were out of the park. Oh and we had to hop a fence because the buffalo were taking over the road to get out of the park. Well the day was really hot and long but we finally made it. I had been riding with Isaiah all day and the poor kid fell in the last 100 feet of an 85 mile day. He pulled up on his handle bars and it broke one of the bolts holding his handlebars to his bike and there was nothing he could do to recover because he was holding his handlebars and they were separate from his bike. He is ok now and is already eager to get back on his bike.
Today's ride was also long because of the headwind but its good to be done at such an early time.
Well i am off to get ice cream!
hope all is well and i will be finalizing the votes on the facial hair one week from today so get your votes in now!
observation of the day: Its frustrating to know that my mood is determined by which direction the wind is going...
Friday, August 1, 2008
New Town, ND
QUESTION TIME! Ok so my facial hair is getting long.... and I need your help! I really need your participation on this so send your vote to me via any of the below.
cell 626 975 3869
blog - comment
email -erik.m.bell@dartmouth.edu
look ----------------------->
Should I shave now? or wait for the end of trip. I have not touched it all summer. Need your votes. Thanks! I will do what the majority wants
ANYWHO....
We all made it! including our van!
So first of all let me clarify the little "i hate wind" comment. I truely do hate wind. it is the bain of my existance and it will not leave us alone. We dealt with a headwind into Rugby, all 60 miles of it. i was just so furious i couldnt stand it. Oh and we heard from a local that the storm that caused us to take shelter behind a biulding had winds that reached 60...
anyway today's ride was simple enough. We started in Minot, ND where yesterday we had a day off. It was good to sleep and not ride my bike for 5 hours. So this morning, the local media came to see us off which was great. we left the church and headed on our way. we were less than 2 blocks away and we already were lost. So we spent the next 10 minutes asking around for directions and were off again. luckily we didnt follow google maps which had us going 10 miles east before heading south so we got to bypass 9 miles on the day. So around mile 20 our van pulls out infront and christopher the driver gets out to chalk. the only problem was when he got back in th van, it wouldnt come out of park, leaving us stranded for a couple of hours. I stayed back with Joy and Christopher to make sure the van got onits way fine with the tow truck and all, and to pass the time we all climbed in the van to get out of the wind and watch a movie. Well eventually the towtruck showed up and got us on our way and once again we were biking. The only real descriptive word i can use for ND terrain is it has lots of fields....lots of them. We could see our road for miles and miles and it was perfectly straight and their was not a town in site, then we would look back, and we could see for miles and miles without a town again, perfectly straight. We biked farther than we could see. The van got fixed and we made it to the small town of New Town, ND. We were just welcomed by a flash thunderstorm and looks like we will have many more later:
cell 626 975 3869
blog - comment
email -erik.m.bell@dartmouth.edu
look ----------------------->
Should I shave now? or wait for the end of trip. I have not touched it all summer. Need your votes. Thanks! I will do what the majority wants
ANYWHO....
We all made it! including our van!
So first of all let me clarify the little "i hate wind" comment. I truely do hate wind. it is the bain of my existance and it will not leave us alone. We dealt with a headwind into Rugby, all 60 miles of it. i was just so furious i couldnt stand it. Oh and we heard from a local that the storm that caused us to take shelter behind a biulding had winds that reached 60...
anyway today's ride was simple enough. We started in Minot, ND where yesterday we had a day off. It was good to sleep and not ride my bike for 5 hours. So this morning, the local media came to see us off which was great. we left the church and headed on our way. we were less than 2 blocks away and we already were lost. So we spent the next 10 minutes asking around for directions and were off again. luckily we didnt follow google maps which had us going 10 miles east before heading south so we got to bypass 9 miles on the day. So around mile 20 our van pulls out infront and christopher the driver gets out to chalk. the only problem was when he got back in th van, it wouldnt come out of park, leaving us stranded for a couple of hours. I stayed back with Joy and Christopher to make sure the van got onits way fine with the tow truck and all, and to pass the time we all climbed in the van to get out of the wind and watch a movie. Well eventually the towtruck showed up and got us on our way and once again we were biking. The only real descriptive word i can use for ND terrain is it has lots of fields....lots of them. We could see our road for miles and miles and it was perfectly straight and their was not a town in site, then we would look back, and we could see for miles and miles without a town again, perfectly straight. We biked farther than we could see. The van got fixed and we made it to the small town of New Town, ND. We were just welcomed by a flash thunderstorm and looks like we will have many more later:
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