Day 6: Easiest Day Yet

I am writing from Glenn Ferry, ID where I am taking my afternoon break. I did 77 miles this morning in about 6 hours, which is most of the distance I had planned for the day. I guess I had thought that with Idaho being a mountain state I would be climbing a lot, turns out it is very flat going East out of Boise. Add to that a good nights sleep in a bed and a great big meal last night, along with a nice cool partly cloudy morning, you get a very easy day. Probably will push on past Bliss tonight, but figuring that out now. Also got my first gifts of the trip: the attendant at a gas station I stopped at for directions in Mountain Home ran out and handed me 2 water bottles as I was leaving. They had wished me luck on bicycling all the way to the next town, and were rather shocked when I respond by saying I was going to Boston.

Day 5 Complete

Had a really smooth ride today. Got an early start after a full night of rest and had a pretty flat and easy ride across Oregon nothing like the climb over the Blues yesterday. Rode most of the way from Caldwell into Boise with a retired A10 pilot who now runs his own business selling gun safes. Talking with him made the final 20 miles go really fast, which was great. I have only seen 4 other bicyclists since leaving Seattle, and this was the first going the same direction as me, I expected to run into more. Looks like a big thunderstorm is coming into night so good thing I have a roof over my head and hopefully it cools things down for tomorrow.

Tip

When going up a climb, just before reaching top drop gears and come out of the saddle to power over the top. It will give your seat a break and set you up to cruise the otherside.

Night of day 4

My first storm of the trip. I thought it would be a rough night, but it actually hit me at 830 with some really strong wind hail and rain, depriving me of a couple of hours of prime riding and forcing me to stop short of baker city--my revised goal for the day. I found some high ground and got in my high sack before getting too wet, but then the storm passed in about 30 min. I considered packing up and continuing, but ended up just staying put for the night--turned out to be really nice night.

Day 3 finished

Good ride today. Took full advantage of bed last night to rest-up and recover from the long day 2. After a hot breakfast and getting my smart phone setup, I finally made it out the door around 1 in the afternoon. Didn't make it through the Umitilla forest like I was hoping, but physically I am feeling great and should be able to go far the next two days with early starts and avoiding the heat of the day. 145 is defiantly not sustainable mileage, but if I stay closer to 100 I can go indefinitely.

Day 3: Fin

Day 3: Into Oregon

1 state complete

Last stop in Washington

Biggest city until boise

Day 3 begins

Leaving Richland

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Day 2 Complete

Arrived in Richland at 8pm today.  Each of the days deserve its own post.  But, to summerize:  Day 1 I ran into some trouble with my trail selection which put me 20 miles behind on the day-but physically I had no issues.  Day 2 I made this up, by doing about 145 miles in 11 hours of riding---and my bodying is feeling it.  May need to cut my miles for tomorrow, so I can recover.  Also, waited too long to put on sun block and got a savage sunburn.

More to Follow.

Me visiting the family in my hometown:

Pictures

Below are some pictures of me with my bike we took at UW yesterday.  We will see what I look like 4,000 miles later!

Day: 0

  I picked up my bicycle on Tuesday and did a 10 mile ride to test it out that afternoon.  Yesterday, I fully loaded my bike and did a 35 mile test ride, including a bunch of climbs up ridiculously steep Seattle hills.  Everything is looking good for the trip.

  Today, I am largely giving my body a rest to make sure I am fresh while picking up the last few essentials before I SP tomorrow morning.  I keep telling myself that crossing the Cascades tomorrow is going to be the worst day of the trip to help motivate me.  But, after all the climbs I did in Seattle yesterday, I must admit I am a bit intimidated by by the 3,000 ft climb tomorrow from Seattle to the top of Snoqualmie Pass.  It will be a hard day.

  My 'Droid (HTC Incredible) arrived in Richland today, so I will be able to pick it up Saturday night and begin blogging and taking pictures from the road.  So, expect updates from the route starting Sunday, but for these next two days I will probably be incommunicado until I arrive in Richland.  I will get some pictures up this evening of me and my bike.

(Almost) 1 Week to go!

Hard to imagine that in 1 week, I will embark on a massive journey.   Still coordinating a few more places to sleep a long the way and people to meet-up with.  Friday I get sized for my bike and see what I can do at the bike shop I have tentatively selected as my outfitter.  Looks like my Android phone and my sleep system won't make it here before I go to Seattle, but they both should be waiting for me to pick-up a few stops into my trip.

This trip is really going to happen!

Cambridge is Awesome

  After months of having people shocked by this trip: questioning the safety of this plan and my sanity; today (my first full day in Cambridge) I met 3 people that have done similar trips (going East to West), or have close friends that have done them.

  What a great city.