A Confession

We are done.
We have been done since the 6th of August when we reached the coast.
 We came back to Portland.
We are all getting fat and lazy.

The big thing that I have to confess is that this trip was all an eloborate ruse, smoke and mirrors, not what it seemed. My plan from the outset was to disguise my true intentions and motivations. It basically boils down to this, I wanted to ride my bike across the whole country to meet my girlfriend in a different place and ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.

I rode my bike across the country

I went to the airport to pick her up, and hid in a deserted tunnel

I asked her to marry me

She said yes

Crown of the Continent-

  Glacier National Park is hands down the most beautiful place I have ever been. Hands down. No argument. The mountains the lakes and rivers, the sky, everything in the area is breath taking. While in the park,we hiked Grinell Glacier where I saw two live grizzly bears. One was about 500 yards away at the top of the trail in a snow field. The other was a younger bear on a hill that the trail skirted the bottom of. I ended up within about 30 yds of him, but luckily he was not too interested in me so I snapped a couple bad pictures (below) and went on my way. A day later we summited Logans Pass. Climbing going to the sun road was incredible and riding down the back side was a thrill that i could feel even through the biting cold. I will defintiely come back to GNP the first chance I get.

Generosity of Strangers

 This whole trip has been a whirlwind of experiences with people, some good, others less good. At the visitor center of St Mary we met two absolutely fantastic ladies named Carol and Gail. They took us to their campsite which had a few pictures , fed us some of the best food I have eaten on the trip and hung out with us all night. In the morning we had fruit smoothies and veggie juice, got a free yoga class, and then had second breakfast. To describe these two women is almost next to impossible, because they were so great. Generous , funny, kind, thoughtful, you name it and they are the real deal. I made a passing comment as we left their company that we must be in for some bad luck, since they had been so nice to us. Gail laughed and said, "You gotta stop thinking of it like that and get out in front of karma, pay it forward", while Carol agreed.  Coming from people who obviously  are living it AND doing it ( a rare combo) i think she might have had a great point. So Carol & Gail if you read this know that  I cannot thank you enough, ever, and that I am striving to pay it forward to others!

More Places

St Mary - Arrived in town after our first day back in some hill country. Sure does make riding your bike more fun when you get to climb some giant hills. Also I could definitely tell that I was breathing harder due to the thinner air.  My reward wad getting to go down the backside of the mountain once I made the summit at the protest of my legs and lungs. I think I topped my bike out at 48mph on the 3 mile descent into town. I wrote about the rest of our experience in Generosity of Strangers

Many Glacier- read Crown of the Continent

St Mary- Hiked in the morning and then rode 25 miles back to St mary to get ready for Going to the Sun Road.Planned on getting up at three to summit logans pass and watch the sunrise on the sun road. Apparently the weather had other plans. When we woke it was raining and windy with a temperature somewhere around 45. Pretty hard to talk me out of a sleeping bag when those conditions are what awaits me.

West Glacier-We did end up climbing it later in the morning , and we did end up cold and wet. As we were descending the west side of the mountain we passed HUNDREDS of cars on their way to the top stopped due to construction in the road. Many of the trapped yet still picture happy tourists took photos of us as we bombed the hill, which I found highly amusing. Mikes friend Hannah , who works for the park housed us for the evening and took us to a free dinner. If you are ever in west glacier on a wednesday check out the dew drop inn. They do whats called "game night" and we are not talking monoply. Mystery meat and sides are served, and once it is gone it is gone. I am pretty sure I ate elk with tater tots , but it could have been anything really, I barely even chew my food anymore.

Kalispell- started the morning by making a great breakfast at hannah's, where Mike had been in contact with the charity he is riding for.  Chuck Ludden the father of the founder of the charity took us into his home, drove us out to a First Descents camp, fed us and allowed us to participate in a night of camp activities. It was awesome to get to be a part of and if i ever do something like this trip again I would definitely try to raise support for FD

Near Condon , on the Swan River- stayed at one of the FD campers place. Amazing log home built on the swan river. Incredible views of  the river and mountains.

Bonner- Nothing special about bonner, excpet for we found out that they set their sprinkler system in the public park to go on at 4am. Woke up convinced it was raining only to be more horrified that we were being routinely sprayed with the high powered water dispersion system. Needless to say, everything that was not in a dry bag looked like it had been pulled out of a lake. I found the situation funny, but only becasue I knew that later in the day I would be in a hotel in Missoula.

Missoula- Brewery tours (Big Sky & Kettle House). Bike rides around the city. Went to the headquarters of the Adventure Cycling Association (see picture) Coffee. Thoughts of the ever closer end of the trip. More brewery tours. Getting some groceries and prepping for the last two weeks.

"Problems of our former life suddenly appeared petty, ridiculous, laughable. Worry about marks at school, about shows and dances, about atheltics-what were those things now? Good food and dry clothing and warm beds, that was all life held, we were sure."

-E. Severaid,  Canoeing With the Cree

 

 

The Same Old Question

 

I have made it across the great plains of america , the desolate farmlands, the rolling fields of grass, the sky stretching as far as the eye can see with nothing to break your line of sight. The winds were strong and the road was long and straight. Some days were torture, and others made riding seems like an after thought, to easy to be real work.

 

Every place we have gone , in every state , people have asked us the same question. Why are you riding west? Dont you know that the wind comes out the west? Dont you know its all uphill? I cannot count the times we have had to answer these slew of questions and more, with skeptical looks when we give a response.

 

Yesterday I saw the Rockies for the first time on my trip from roughly 75 miles away as the crow flies. I shouted with joy, by heart beat faster, I smiled and laughed, whooped and hollered. This is why I am riding west. In the words of one of my traveling companions " the heart of the restless young man lies in theses mountains".

Places I Have Been

Waterdeep MI- the only thing remarkable about water deep was that it was the day I discovered I can drink a full liter of chocolate milk for lunch and be totally fine with it. I may have just ruined the rest of my life

Wisconsin

Saxon- road into town with the impending doom of a large storm on the horizon. Naturally we found the local watering hole to seek refuge and as it turns out Terri, the owner, and best barkeep in the state is a generous person. She took time to tell us stories about hunting bear, life in Wisconsin and bought us a round of beers. When she heard what we were doing she insisted that we stay in the bunkhouse of her bar. It had four beds a kitchen and bathroom. Terri, if you read this, I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, know that I will remember you for a long time. Also our thoughts and prayers are with your daughter that she may make a swift recovery.

Superior - Probably one of the toughest mental days of the trip. WE road our first century ( 100 miles of riding ) into a head wind, which makes biking very frustrating. By the time we got to town we were so burnt out we did not care about much of anything so we went to burger king. We took advantage of a special sale on original chicken sandwiches for $1. Needless to say, while satisfying this gastric undertaking only added to my feelings of misery the next day, a sore body, and a sore stomach.

Minnesota

Grand Rapids- While riding into MN we met Mike (see related article), he decided he would undertake the journey with us, as he had been riding solo up to this point.

Bemidji- Happy birthday America! Spent the fourth of July in a public park where we gorged on hot dogs beer and baked beans. The boys got to dust off their skills with the ladies as plenty of young women were out and interested in a group of smelly cyclists. It was fun to play wingman and watch as the guys flirted and talked with a few ladies, whose company none of us have kept for quite some time.

Crookston- Nothing remarkable about this day except an incident I had with a Styrofoam plate, which i refuse to write about. If i know you well enough, or have had enough beer, ask me about it in person for all the details.

North Dakota

Grand Rapids- took a hotel where I made my last blog entry. Got the bike tuned up as this marked the halfway point of our journey.

Lakota - Lakota ND is a wonderful town in the midst of farmland that stretches as far as the eye can see. We found a very nice park to camp in and took full use of the swingset. As the sun began to set I noticed the way it was striking an evergreen tree. We stood and marveled at one of the more beautiful sunsets of the trip so far.

Rugby- Tailwind!!! When the wind is at your back, riding a bicycle is easy. We made 85 miles in four hours. To top it all off we got to stay with a guy named Dan who had one of the best stables of bicycles I have ever seen. Thanks for the hospitality Dan!

 

Minot- The damage in Minot is not overstated in the least. As we approached the area we road through 5 inches of water steadily flowing over the highway. Several people offered us rides across the mess but we decided to push on. It was pretty thrilling to ride my bike in such conditions. Upon entering Minot , we were informed that none of the water in town was fit for drinking. It had been a long day in the dun, and Bryce audibled for a hotel. Luckily his dad Kenny is a real gracious gentleman and obliged us. We slept indoors and had clean water to drink, which put my mind at ease.

Stanley- Unremarkable day, strong headwinds, struggled to make 55 miles.

Williston - Happy Birthday to Nick. Full description of the town in my post called Boomtown. We stayed with a wonderful family named the Lordemann's. They were so hospitable to us, taking us into their home, and putting us up for the night. We stayed in their basement and watched a a movie on their huge flat screen projector.  Joel and Jolene thanks a million if you are reading this! Oh yeah, Mrs Lordemann made us brownies, which I made myself sick on, wonderful!

Montana

Nashua- Our longest day of riding. We had a 30mph tail wind which we decided to capitalize on. We rode 136 miles in one day. Not as grueling as it sounds but tough none the less.

Malta- Apparently vanilla extract is the most effective bug repellent known to man when it comes to expelling gnats from your immediate vicinity. We bought some at a local store and were amazed at the effectiveness the sweet smell had on the swarms of pesky bugs. Upon arrival in Malta we camped near a rodeo ground were I spent a couple hours watching the locals have competitions roping cattle. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. That night as we slept under a pavillion we were treated again by getting to witness a real montana thunder storm. The lightning seemed to stretch for miles and the thunder shook the ground. I slept quite well knowing I would stay dry.

Havre- Ate mexican food. That is all.

Chester- The night before we decided that we would try to beat the wind which was forecast to be very strong by getting up at 5am and starting to ride. The tactic worked well for the first 30 miles, but once the day began to warm we faced 30mph headwinds again, and spent hours making slow miles. We decided to cut the day short and stay in Chester. I took the short day to nap and cook a delicious dinner of Frito chili pie followed by nutella crepes ( fried tortillas with nutella on them).

Cut Bank- Here we are today, in a hotel eating food and drinking drinks. I saw the rockies today for the first time on the trip.  Blow up the picture for full effect.

 

 

 

 

BOOM-town/ There Will Be Blood!/ OIL !

 

I have always imagined what the old west would be like. The crazy rush and energy of all these people heading into unknown territory to stake their claim and strike it rich. After traveling through Willistion ND, I think I have seen the clearest picture possible in modern time. Willistion is the capitol of the new American oil rush. In williston you cannot get a hotel room. Ever. Prices are high on everything. Rougnecks in brand new trucks are sleeping in parking lots. Man camps dart the edges of the town, where men are housed, and fed between shift at the rig, or in the truck. There is a raw energy about the town. Excitement even. You can tell something is happening there, something that I have never witnessed anywhere else. You can smell the money, and almost picture the lake of oil you are standing on top of.  The roads leading into and out of town were the worst I have ridden on in my life. Oil trucks passing me at 80mph, less than an arms length away from me. I am too scared to reach formy water bottle for fear of getting wiped across the road by a truck hauling two tankers full of oil, driven by a 19 year old that makes 75k per year and has been up for two days straight on caffeine and other more illicit stimulants. Upon passing thorugh towns I welcome the quite open space of the planes and grasslands.

Mike B.

 

 One day after a long climb out of the city of Duluth in Minnesota we met a guy named Mike. He is from VT and goes to school in Colorado. He is riding his bike for a charity called First Descents (outdoor camps for teens with cancer). He had ridden for almost 1500 miles on his own and decided he would ride with us for a while. He has been with us ever since, and now is just another part of the group. I thought a brief interview with the Dude himself might give everyone an idea of this man of mystery.
Birthdate- 07.01.1988 Youngin

Education- College diploma from Western State

Favorite Food- mashed potatoes

 

Three words to describe yourself- Damn Sexy. Thats one word. Sucessful. Very sucessful

Anything to say to the world or anyone reading this blog?- Thought those rockies mountains would look a little rockier than this. John Denver is full of shit.

Brief Update

We are in Grand Rapids ND, at a hotel. I think we all are a little intimidated of the riding that lays before us across the next 1000 miles, so it was nice to get a hotel and mentally prep for the grind to come. We have beenn warned of many things to watch out for as we cross ND and eastern Montana , and not many of them are scenic. Regardless, we are going to try to keep up our pace and make it to GNP quickly.

Bikes caught a tune-up here in Grand Forks. For me it was just your average once over, to hopefully prevent any problems from continuing or popping up. There is not a bike shop for a about 500 miles of the next 1k, so "be prepared" from scouting takes a whole new weight.

Next time we get into a hotel I will try and do a more complete and varied sets of posts. For now I will leave you with this, a movie clip that will give you some insight to some of the inane phrases and slogans that we have adopted as daily expressions to amuse ourselves and one another.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr0_iCohyhw

Warning link contains NSFW language.

Bug in the Slipstream

It has been a week since our last hotel and in that  week we entered the land of horseflies. All across Wisonsin and Minnesotta  while riding we would find our selves surronded with a peloton of these pesky bugs. The incredible, and frustrating, part of all this is that the bugs can keep up with us as we are riding close to 20mph. A stiff head wind? Horseflies are there. They also tend to fly in front of you,  and then dart back in to your body to find a place to land and nibble at you.

Its disconcerting to ride with that much bug activity in your field of vision, and even worse when the do land on you.  I have to hang my head and say sometime I forgo conventional safety standards to take a good swat at one or two of them, often to no avail.

Then I get really frustrated and pull over to wage war.

And they are gone.

The Mountain of Iron

Earlier today we rolled into the town called Iron Mountain in the UP of Michigan, we met back up with Taylor, who had taken a few days off the trip to go to a wedding, and then checked in to a hotel to spend a little bit of time relaxing. Did some laundry, bought some groceries, and opened up some awesome care packages from family, and my special lady friend. Needless to say it is nice (swag) to get to do nothing all day, eat , and drink cold beer. I took all my stuff out of my bag, and filled it with ice and tasty beverages. GENIUS!

As far as the old blog is concerned I am going to change up my post style a little bit to something I think is more readable and easier for me to convey what is really going on in my head during this big adventure. Basically I am ripping off my cousin Todd (www.the555.blogspot.com) who lives abroad and does an excellent job of giving the reader the general scoop as well as a peek in to the minutae of what its like to expereince a different place. So cheers Todd, thanks for letting me copy you!

Places I have been.

Here are some places I have been since Lockport NY and a little bit about each place.

6.16 Fort Eerie CA - Turns out the people that work at customs in Canada are not inclined to be polite to four guys that have no idea where to lay there heads each night. We got hasseled with looks of contempt for about 20 minutes as each of us was repeatedly questioned about our plans to which we all responded , we kinda figure it out as we go, Eh?

6.17 Port Dover CA- Famers Market. Hot Baltic Sausage. Fresh Baked Bread. NOM NOM NOM

6.18 Port Stanley CA – Slept on a beach, in a town that is the Canadian version of the embarassingly Americna TV show “The Jersey Shore”. Ate  icecream. Was severley overwhelmed by the large amounts of people. Its kinda strange spending all day around 3 other guys and then winding up on a beach with 3000 others. My brain kinda hurt.

6.19 Port Lambton CA- My first experience with Lawn Bowling, a gentlemans game. Non-ballers need not apply.

6.20 North Branch MI- One good experience with the police. At a public park the lady cop rolled up and asked “So do you guys plan on crashing here?” none of us knew how to answer. She invited us to stay under the pavillion in the park! SCORE!

6.21 Bay City MI- Tired Rainy, we wussed out and got a hotel at about 4-5pm (thanks Case Closed), didn’t update the blog out of sheer apathy. Met a crazy lady at the breakfast buffet named Jane. She got Nicks phone number. Many voice mails have followed.

6.22- Lake George MI- Stayed at a church, met a guy we call “Pastor Ben”, felt obliged to sit through Wednesday night service since they were letting us stay in their rectory. Six people attended, and we sang close to 10 hymns acapella. Awkward. Direct quote from sermon “ You can see into the spirit world” out of context yes, but take it in the craziest since possible, and you’d be about spot on.

6.23 Kingsley MI- We got chased out of a public park by some city council man. At first I was pissed but then he took mercy on us and showed us a sweet park up the road that was a good improvement. We broke camp after being chased out in roughly 5 minutes. Record time. Then this awesome guy named Seth came to the new campsite we were at and brought us 2.5 gallons of fresh water. His wife had heard us getting kicked out , so he thought he would drop in. What a guy. THANKS SETH!

6.24 Traverse City MI- if you ever have a chance go to Traverse City. Seriously it was so much fun. Great Brewery, cool downtown, wonderful food. Got our frist round of free beers bought for us. Hopefully not the last.

6.25 Mackinaw City and Mackinaw Island.  Obviously Mackinaw island was wonderful.The city is a tourist trap, but we destroyed a breakfast buffet. Got to the table at 650 and left about 9ish, totally got my oney’s worth.  Here is a dull video of the boys cruising the bike path around the island.

6.26 Epoufette MI- Boring.

6.27- Manistique MI- Karma is a strange entity. Some guy approached us at a café, and said he found $20 on the ground by our bikes. I intially took it out of confusion but after a few minutes of internal debate I gave it back and admitted it was not in fact mine. Sometimes the right thing is not always easy or convenient. Paid of in spades though, see below.

6.28 Hermansville MI. Found a iMexican Buffet  in Escanaba for lunch (our first legit mexican resturant to be found since the trip started) chatted up a guy who paid for our meal (KARMA SWAG!).

 Kept Riding on into Hermansville, went to a bar full of haggard locals who we thought would laugh at our weird bike shorts. Turns out they loved us, FREE BEER! (DOUBLE KARMA SWAG).This is tim, he killed a a 350 pound black bear with a .22 mag, an impressive accomplishment if you are familiar with ballistics. He lives on the UP , drinks heavily, picks morels for fun, and is into all things that are generally bad ass. Mad respect to Tim

WRECKED

So we had our first scrape up. Someone in the city planning council of Charlevoix MI decided it would be a good idea to make the bike trail out of wood, so it resembles a deck raised above the swampy land it passes over. Kind of a cool idea until that deck wood gets wet with dew, which turns out is extremely slippery. Keep in mind as we are riding on this deck path we are salmoning (riding against the flow) of the local marathon that was going on. So here we are dodging people that look more depleted than us, when all of a sudden I see Nick take the slowest most awkward fall that basically consisted of him just laying the bike over. BRAKES! DODGE RUNNERS! DON’T HIT NICK! And before I know it I too have fallen, and bryce has run into me due to the slick conditions. I am okay. Luckily my tailbone took most of the impact. Below are a list of words that ryhme with things I might have yelled at the top of my lungs in a group full of marathoners on their 23^rd mile while I dealt with the pain of getting spanked by a 2x6.

• Spit, Luck, Dog Cannit, Mother Plucker, etc.

You can be almost certain that there are several hundred people in Charlevoix Mi that went home and told the same tale I now tell you.

RANT.

Riding my bicycle every day has given me a unique perspective on the current state of transportation technology. Think with me for a moment, what is a car really? Most resemble boxes, of various sizes, they are metal, climate controlled, sealed off from the world, some are loud, some are fast, some make bad smells. While sitting in a car it takes you very little effort (plantar flexion of the ankle in the range of 15-25 degrees) to maintain ridiculously high rates of velocity. Something about your car gives you a sense of entitlement, I deserve to get where I am going with little to no exertion, excpet for the price of the liquified dinosaurs that the 1-2 ton casket I am sitting in drinks to do my bidding. This sense of entitlement is probably why people who see me peddaling down the road with all my stuff are enraged . The fact that they might have to slow down for thirty seconds before they pass me at 50mph in a lane marked non passing is outrageous. Of course the most logical and courteous way to express this anger is to honk aggressivley as they blow by me, literally making me jump. Before I left for this trip I foolishly considered bringing a hand gun, for that “just in case” scenario. Wisely I decided that humantiy is most good so I would not need the extra weight. I can tell you now , while the status of humanity  is still up for debate, I am glad I did not bring a fire arm, because I would be in jail for shooting out the rear windows of a few of the more entitled motorists I share the road with. All kidding aside, if you drive a car, please give cyclists a break, you are sitting in a box that could very easily kill or maim them, and if you feel that angry about their presence on the road, pull over and say it to their face don’t just honk as you blur by. Please. Thank you