One State Down!

One State Down, 9 more States and 1 Country to go!  As you can see by the picture above, Kelli and I have biked across Oregon and have officially entered Idaho.

Today Kelli and I got a taste of what it is like to be super fast and pass other riders instead of being passed.  Today’s ride was only 65 miles and was relatively flat.  Kelli and I typically take it pretty easy but something got into Kelli and she wanted to go fast today.  It was really fun riding the hills like a rollercoaster ride and getting into a pace line with a few of the other riders.  We got into Boise just before noon and enjoyed a flatbread pizza in a cute little restaurant in Hyde Park. 

Tomorrow we finally have a rest day but we will be spending most of the day preparing for the next leg of the trip.  I have some things to take care of regarding graduate school and Kelli has a bike fitting scheduled to see if she can get rid of her numbness in her hands.  I can’t express to all of you how great the people are on this trip.  Kelli and I have had the privilege to meet many of the people we are riding with and today we met an amazing man named Tom Randall.  Tom and his wife have adopted 48 orphans from the Phillippines and have built numerous orphanages and a camp in the Phillippines to spread Christianity.  Tom is also the Chaplain for the PGA Champions Tour (Senior Tour) as well as a half-time entertainer (we got the unicycle show just before dinner).  Tom is just one of many amazing individuals on this trip and I can’t wait to get to know everyone else along the trip across the country.  If you would like to find out more about Tom and Karen Randall you can visit their blog at http://bike4kids.blogspot.com/.

Semper Fidelis. 

 

A Good Day

Today was a good day. We biked 85 miles and managed to avoid embarassing sunburns. The first 50 miles were downhill so the day went by pretty fast and the rest was fairly flat. We biked on I-84 for about 7 miles today so that was a first for the trip. The only ‘adventure’ about today was when we got lost trying to find the hotel. Our directions weren’t very good so we ended up taking about a 3 mile detour. We got there eventually though.

 

 

It’s definitely getting hotter out there as we get further and further from the coast. I guess we made it to the mountain time zone today too! Tomorrow we will finally enter Idaho so that will be exciting to have one state down. We’ll get into Boise and will finally have a rest day. More tomorrow!

Semper Fidelis

 

Racing the Storm and the Cow Whisperer

  

Today was quite an adventure. The first 50 miles were pretty tough as we were climbing A LOT and were still trying to recover from our long day yesterday. The good news was it was a lot cooler today and after mile 50 it was pretty much all downhill.

We climbed three major summits today and when we got to the top of the third one, the support truck was there and waved us down. “Keep an eye on that weather behind you”, they told us. We hadn’t even noticed, but when we looked behind us the clouds were dark and looming. Luckily the next SAG stop was coming up so we knew we could always duck in the van if we needed to. Right when we got to the SAG stop the thunder and lightning started and we hopped in. We sat there waiting out the storm for about 20 minutes. When it cleared up we started to make our final 22-mile stretch.

Because it was all downhill we were moving at a pretty good pace – somewhere between 20 and 35 miles per hour. Well, because we were moving so quickly we ended up catching up to the storm!! We weren’t getting rained on yet but we could see the lightning and hear the thunder from all around us. Nathan said “let’s pedal faster so we can get ahead of it”. I’ve never pedaled so hard in my life. Thunderstorms freak me out so I was literally pedaling for my life. Without about 9 miles left to the hotel, we saw 4 other bikers pulled over and hunkering down underneath a canopy of trees by the river so we followed suit. We ended up staying there for about 45 minutes until we were absolutely sure we wouldn’t be biking into anything else.

 

 

Once we were on the road again we passed by a farm that had about 50 cows. Nathan really likes mooing at them when we ride by and today was no exception. When he did, about 20 of them all looked up at the exact same time. To see if he could get any other reaction out of them Nathan proceeded to moo in a very frantic and desperate kind of way. This really riled them up and 20 to 30 of them started chasing us!! I couldn’t believe it. Luckily they could only run alongside their fence and aren’t that quick, but it was a little weird seeing them all run like that.

Well, we’ll update more tomorrow but before we do I wanted to let you know Nathan made the Central Oregonian newspaper. Here’s a link to the article: http://www.centraloregonian.com/PCOSports0.shtml. You can also find the article write up in the ‘In the News’ link to the right. More tomorrow!

Semper Fidelis

Our 1st Century!

Today Kelli and I completed our first century and then some.  We biked 111 miles today and we are completely spent.  We started our journey at 0620 and got into the hotel just before 1700.  It was a really long day for Kelli and I and we are really proud to say that we completed the entire ride especially since it\is the toughest day of the tour.  The ride was suppose to be 117 miles but due to construction and only one lane allowed for traffic we had to be shuttled six miles in a van.  So not only was it 111 miles of riding but it also included two summits that each had an elevation gain of 4,000 feet.  I would write more but honestly I am too exhausted. 

P.S. you should see the sweet sunburn Kelli got on her forehead!    Think no sunscreen and a bike helmet with vents on top.  

The picture below is of a gorge we passed through at about 85 miles into the ride. 

ABB’s Version of a Rest Day

 

Today ABB (America by Bicycle) had us bike ‘only’ 60 miles so we could rest up for our big bike ride tomorrow, which will be 117 miles. Needless to say we’re a little terrified to bike that far since our longest bike ride ever was two days ago when we went 75 miles. This will be 42 miles further than that. I thought about that tonight at dinner and it made me really nervous for tomorrow.

Anyway, back to today . . . we started out at KahNeeTa and ended in Prineville. Today was a good day. We started the day feeling really good – rested, comfortable, and appropriately dressed (not too hot or cold). The first 30 miles went by pretty quick, but the second 30 was a little slower as the first 20 of it was climbing. No crazy hills or anything, just a steady, nagging, climb. The kind where it looks flat but you wonder why you’re only going 11 miles per hour. Also, we were battling a pretty good headwind for the last half. 

 

 

The highlight was definitely the Dairy Queen stop at the end of the day where we gorged ourselves until we could barely move. I wonder if it would be actually possible to gain weight on this trip?? We’ll see I guess! After we checked into our room, Nathan did an interview with the sports column of the Oregon Central. If he makes the paper, we’ll add the link to our page. Well, think about us in the morning when you’re sitting in your nice cushy chairs and help remind us tomorrow night why we signed up for this as we will probably be in a lot of pain!!

Semper Fidelis!

P.S. One of the tour leaders also posts a journal and pictures. I’ll add the link to the page, but for now you can click here: www.bamacyclist.com