NEWPORT OREGON: the final frontier for the summer of 2008

Well team, we made it to the finish line. I apologize for the lack of posts through oregon, the internet wasn't that great in the towns we went through and we realized that after dropping the trailers we'd be getting in about a week earlier than expected so i took this opportunity to get an early flight home and surprise the boy, which worked out nicely. Getting into oregon felt like coming home, the air was amazing and cooler. Our first night we slept in vale oregon then pedaled through gradual hills desert and old lava fields into burns oregon. Oregon has forests that surpass those in fairytales and my imagination. The trees are so big and healthy and there's just so much green, it was heavenly. One of the best/worst rides we did that i definitely want to go back to do again was a 98 mile stretch from the town of bend oregon to the town of sweet home, or. For the first few miles its realitively flat on a nice road and you pass llama farms and forest and then you get to pedal your way over two passes at about 5,000 feet, passing the pct intbetween them. Passing the sign for the pacific crest trail was sort of a surreal moment for me. I developed an idea for the ultimate biathlon race/endeavor, you start on the appalachian trail and hike north, then you hop on a bike and ride the northern tier biking route from maine to the pct where you begin to hike southbound till you hit southern california where you hop on a bike again and cruise back over the AT, just a thought. anyways, the last 25 miles of the 95 mile stretch are completely down hill, and you hit a river bed that you continue to follow for another 15 mile or so, you end in sweet home where there is both a dairy queen and a DQ, not much else you could ask for.
Our last day into newport ironically ended up being our worst day, mechanically speaking of riding. My seat had somehow become unleveled or something and was causing immense pain just to sit on, none of our maps matched up with the mileage we were seeing on signs and garland took a spill and nearly tore one of the spokes clear out of his rim, but the night is always darkest just before the dawn. We cruised down the mountains of the coastal range for what felt like forever, at every turn i was hoping to see the ocean.
At 6:40 pm i stopped to get some sugar in my system and as we had given up on the maps i checked my trusty gps and it told us that we were 5.4 miles to newport, this gave us newfound hope that we knew we had to take with a grain of salt, as has been the golden rule for this whole trip, we got back on the bike and finally saw the ocean. I got chills at the first sight of it. We started screaming as we rolled into newport and closer to the shore line, amazed that we had finally made it. We passed the entry to coastal route 101 where route 20 ends/begins and flew past it to get to the beach. We christened our bikes in the water and sat in awe for a little bit/
I think part of what draws me to trips like this is that, apart from the physical challenge, they simplify life completely and allow you see what is really important, but for me at least, they also allow me to experience the simple joys that life has to offer on such a human level. Having a bed and shower become amazing. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables becomes orgasmic. The worst day on the bike is still better than a good day at the office. This was an incredible way to see the country and we met people who literally brought tears to my eyes with their selflessness and trust in us.
here are some facts and stats of the trip:
number of gatorade/electrolyte enhanced drinks it takes for two people to bike cross country:
240 bottles which comes to 7,680 ounces of gatorade.

number of dairy queen blizzards:
12 - this still wasn't enough

number of porsche cayennes that nearly took me out:
4

number of calories burned based on a 150 pound man which inbetween both of our weights:
378,000

calories burned per day:
6,000-8,000

number of flats:
3

we saw more obama stickers than any other candidate
more for hillary in nebraska than any other state
ron paul was very popular in central new york and some desolate farm lands out west
one mitt romney stickker found on a jeep wrangler with a colorado plate

cheapest gas
3.75 in oregon


longest day:
130 miles burns-bend oregon
shortest day:
48 miles somewhere in new york.

tubes of chamois butter:
2.5

IDAHO- featuring nobody puts baby in the corner and keep on peddlin' till you can't peddle no mo'!

The quasi cool thing about idaho is that its flat you get to go through old lava fields, its wide open spaces and small charming towns, however when its 100 degrees out and there's no coverage you get a little cooked. Today was our first day with out the trailers and it was amazing, my knee felt peachy keen.the first part of the day felt like a 22 mile time trial, there's a stretch in idaho where it joins with I-84 and cyclists are allowed on however there was a 22 mile section where road work was being down so we barely had an shoulder and it seemed like everyone and their mom was out for a ride. We were dodging glass, gnarly road kill and some genius who had dropped a box of tons of screws. Riding with your nerves jacked like that isn't that much fun, after lunch things turned around and we are camped in a really cute little farm town near the oregon border. We downed some delicious sangys for dinner then walked to the local DQ to fuel up for our big mile days coming up. The time after we get into a town and before bed is my favorite, I had the same sensation on the AT where you stroll around some small town with a feeling of happiness in knowing that for this one night, the town is your home and tomorrow you'll be on the road again. Tomorrow I will lock lips with and shake my booty at oregon. The light at the end of the tunnel.
Song of the day:
Midnight rider- allman brothers.
Quote of the day:
'I gave all of my fat clothes to my fat friends'
'Hey! I like this izod t-shirt'

idaho falls

The cool thing about route 20 in idaho is that it goes through the valley in between two mountain ranges which means you can go flat and fast. Unfortunately my left knee has been getting progressively more painful over the past few days. I took some pain killers for a few days knowing that I didn't want to finish this trip taking 12 ibuprofen a day just so I can finish, I did that on the AT and paid the price with some surgery a few months after. As I rode through the pain I began scheming 'the idaho plan', goat and I are going to ship our obese children, felix and little boo that constitute our trailers home and go with literally the bare essentials. Hopefully dropping the weight will help. Those of you that know me well, know that I am very stubborn and get maybe just slightly angry when I can't exert or be kinetic in the way that I please. Doing stuff like this is sort of how I metabolize life and transcend its curveballs and such. So we're taking a zero in idaho falls where I will ice my knee and drink water like its my job and hopefully I'll be able to finish this beast healthy and in one piece. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't pay money for a nice little cortizone shot right now, but I am 23 and I've learned that I love and need my knees if I want to stay afloat.

Dear Yellowstone: I think 'bout you in the summertime.....

Well folks, team presta-schrader/schrader-presta made it through yellowstone alive and kicking. We camped at an rv park in buffalo bill national forest outside the park and enjoyed a hot tub dip, shower and a little wild west breakfast where the other patrons on the ranch were legit cowboys. We then began the moderate 10 mile climb to the east entrance where we stopped for a lunch break, to fuel up for the brutal 8 mile climb up to the continental divide at over 8,000 feet. I was so greatful to be able to see the park by bike because I knew we were catching details that you get never get from an rv or car. It made me think a lot about john muir and his treks of simple bliss into awesome wilderness. We played in some snow fields at the top of the pass and then coasted down to yellowstone lake at 7,000 feet. It was stunning, we camped at bay bridge and the sign might as well have said ' rv's welcome, CYCLISTS ENTRANCE IN BACK' we got a total shaft on our camping spot, you'd think they'd let those who cycled or hiked and actually worked their butts off to get this point a spot near the entrance as oppsposed to the gazillion rv's but that's not the case, so we had to climb two hills to get to a mosquito infested spot where we slept next a church group whom we were sure would increase our chances of a bear attack as they had food strewn all over the site.We woke up and quickly busted out of the campsite. The cool thing about climbing into yellowstone is that you get to fly out of there going downhill. We stopped for lunch at old faithful and it was sort of a culture shock, it was more conjested with tourists than any other big city we've gone through. After getting odd looks as we ate our lunch because we look dirty and smell funny we decided we had to bust out the park as fast as our legs were willing to go.we covered 70 miles in record time and rewarded ourselves with pizza and chocolate milk in west yellowstone montana. We are currently in idaho enjoying some of the flat plains.
Here are some quotable from the past few days:
'When I grow up I'm gonna go in a hot tub'- a little boy watching goat and I in the hot tub.

Goat: does the next town have any churches?
Local gas station worker: well there's an elementary school with a fence. They had to build the fence because mountain lions would stalk the children'
'Goat: how do you say bear in french?'
Me: ourson, see they're cool because they actually use part of the scientific genus name instead of some word like bear. Its winnie the bear.
Goat: what do we call him?
Me: winnie the pooh, we call him winnie the pooh.
Goat; what the hell is a pooh, who came up with that? Why do we call him that?
This was both us delirious in our tents hiding from bears and mosquitos and extreme christian campers.
Songs: 50 ways... By my steadfast buddy of wisdom and rythms to live by, paulie simon

Holyman by blindmelon

And every song written by elton john, ever

wyoming- let me tell you something 'bout yourself you don't know

We get it, you're big and desolate and you have more cattle than people. Put it away.
We rolled out of caspar today into the empty but stunning abyss that is 93% of this giant state. I don't know what my deal was today, whether its because we pushed hard the past two days or my body is starting to break down a bit, but I was not feeling it at all. We usually take a break every 90 minutes or so but today the heat just cooked us and every 50 minutes or so we had to get off the bikes and just sit. It just felt like I was pedaling forever and not getting anywhere. We passed the 'town' of powder river with a population of 10 and another gem called Moneta which boasts a wholesome 5 people. Our day was looking pretty bleak as it became apparent that the water sources we were depending on did not have water. We finally caved and stuck our trusty thumbs. The first truck pulled over and we threw our bikes in and introduced ourselves to brian, who was born and raised in lovell wyoming and had a lot of cool stories about the state. We bought him a six pack in exchange for the ride and cruised along through mountains and canyons. I saw a wild horse roll around the ground like a playful cat with his three horse buddies looking at him like 'what are you doing, we don't really play like that'.tomorrow we'll head into yellowstone.
Song of the day:
Tuesday's gone with the wind
After this we've got three more states. Giddy- up

wyoming- let me tell you something 'bout yourself you don't know

We get it, you're big and desolate and you have more cattle than people. Put it away.
We rolled out of caspar today into the empty but stunning abyss that is 93% of this giant state. I don't know what my deal was today, whether its because we pushed hard the past two days or my body is starting to break down a bit, but I was not feeling it at all. We usually take a break every 90 minutes or so but today the heat just cooked us and every 50 minutes or so we had to get off the bikes and just sit. It just felt like I was pedaling forever and not getting anywhere. We passed the 'town' of powder river with a population of 10 and another gem called Moneta which boasts a wholesome 5 people. Our day was looking pretty bleak as it became apparent that the water sources we were depending on did not have water. We finally caved and stuck our trusty thumbs. The first truck pulled over and we threw our bikes in and introduced ourselves to brian, who was born and raised in lovell wyoming and had a lot of cool stories about the state. We bought him a six pack in exchange for the ride and cruised along through mountains and canyons. I saw a wild horse roll around the ground like a playful cat with his three horse buddies looking at him like 'what are you doing, we don't really play like that'.tomorrow we'll head into yellowstone.
Song of the day:
Tuesday's gone with the wind
After this we've got three more states. Giddy- up

wyoming! a little left leg left leg right leg right leg

We are now two days in wyoming camped out in caspar. Yesterday we pulled 70 miles and it was the hardest day we've had so far. Wyoming itself isn't that difficult, there's nice gradual uphills and even though everything looks and feels fairly flat, we keep passing towns that are above 4,000 feet. Mount katahdin is over 5,000 feet, so its cool to put that in perspective, however yesterday we had a crazy relentless headwind that even when we were going down a big hill, we still had to pedal hard just to get 10 mph, we usually go upwards of 28 mph downhill. We were absolutely cooked at the end of the day and found a nice little park with a pavillion and a bathroom as a bonus in glendo wyoming. This morning as I was riding the song jack and diane came on and just the lyrics jack was gonna be a football star were played, I looked down and saw a football on the side of the road. Out of the whole state of wyoming and out of all the songs that I could have been played, those moments somehow were in syncopation with each other. I love stuff like that. Apart from the dead animal carcasses and soda bottles fill with piss, wyoming is awesome to ride through. All of my muscles hurt, I'm shedding salt and my pee is a nice healthy nuclear neon yellow, but loving every minute of it. This why we came out here. Heading into yellowstone in a about two days.
Song of the day;
Into the great wide open- tom petty.
Quote of the day;
So you wanna take a break in like 10 miles and cry for a bit?
Me to goat as we left our lunch spot and headed out into the wind

nebraska helped me name my little hernia

Well we made it into and almost through nebraska, its flat and beautiful with absolutely nothing for as far as the eye can see, we've been passing towns with populations of less than 100 and towns that don't exsist anymore. I've never been to nebraska or seen anything like it but its awesome for big miles.had a little bit of heat exhaustion scare or something earlier today. I was feeling totally fine and then pulled over to a subway and sort of came in and out of consciousness for a bit goat and I then decided to make it an early day since the next town is 47 miles from here with literally nothing in between. We keep passing historical markers for the oregon trail and its so cool to think about what it must have been like to come west on wagon never knowing if you were going to see a town or place for food. We talked about how many people need to be rescued because they venture out into the wilderness unprepared or worse yet they assume that someone will come and save them, back then you had to be prepared to endure whatever where and whenever.we've got three more states to go and few more days until we head into yellowstone and the mountains.
Song of the day: hurt so good- john mellencamp
Quote of the day: do you know what you're naming your hernia?
Mmmmm. OGALLALA! Its name is ogallala.

Some pictures up to this point

I'm sure there's a better way to do this, like make an album or something, but I can't seem to figure that out right now:

CLEVELAND ROCKS................. sort of

well team, here's how the last few days went down. We woke up to pouring rain on thursday and lazily put our gear together and got breakfast, this should have been my first red flag, I'm usually quick and efficient in the morning, anxcious to start the days miles and get a move one, although waking up in a bed always makes this slightly difficult. We watched the weather channel as we packed to see a large green storm across the screen that we knew we'd be riding in all day. Second red flag, I decided to call my mom, just to check in and see how she was and what her game plan was for meeting us around the 4th. When I was little, whenever my mom stayed home from work, I would inevitably suddenly feel sort of sick myself and end up in the school nurses office, only to go back home shortly where I knew my mom was. Part of this was because I just wanted to be with my mom, which I didn't get to a whole lot when I was younger and part of it was because I knew she was home and I had an out. After getting off the phone with her and deciding that I should suck it up and stop being a baby about riding in the rain, Garland and I looked at each first settled on waiting till it stopped pouring, both sort of knowing that maybe we should just take a zero day ( a day off, called a zero because you bike zero miles) but neither of us wanting to give in to it first. Third red flag, we both gave in our situation, decided to go get back in bed, and officially take our first zero. We went and saw Hancock and then proceeded to sneak into Wall. E, which was very charming and cute. We ate and slept and then ate some more. It poured all day. We figured it was either ride only like 40 miles through cleveland traffic and be cold and upset, or chill out and be able to wake up fresh and probably cover twice the distance the next day. We woke up on the 4th and hit the road around 7, we coasted along the lake erie coast cruising at like 15 mph the whole way, the eastern suburbs of cleveland were very green and pretty. I then proceeded to get the worst possible flat a biker can get. I heard a large POP and pulled over to hear all the air gushing out of my tire. We joked about how if this had happened the day before in the rain, I would have been livid. We continued to ride along and went right through the projects and slums of east cleveland along the way, enduring some friendly cat calls and looks that said, what are these crazy white kids doing here?
Thanks to the holiday there wasn't a whole lot of traffic and I don't think we would have made it through alive on any other day. We fell in line with a cycling group out for the 4th and rode with them for a little bit till we saw the route 20 turn off, we turned a corner and quickly realized that we were going onto an on ramp where 20, 6 and 2 become a fun little stretch of super highway. Knowing that this was completely illegal, we pedaled our little hearts out, waiting to hear the sirens to pull us over, once again, if it had not been the 4th, we never would have made it. Happy to be outside of cleveland we coasted through the flat roads of central ohio.
Quote of the day:
'maybe you're being a baby because you know you have an out'- my mom
'I'm tired of my thighs rubbin' together!' a large black man wanting to lose weight

song of the day:
A little 'lawless and lulu' by buckcherry:
And now the dreams are near and the conscience clearing
Crazy about your love
Another change of direction and the motivation
King and queen of the nighttime world

we like state lines

I am currently lying bathed and fed on a motel 8 bed with ac cooling my sunburned legs and this might be close to heaven. We rode into ohio today and cruised through ashtabula, which I'd always heard in that bob dylan song (you're gonna make me lonesome...) And now I know where it is and that they have a nice bike shop.prior to doing this trip I never really cared for ohio, mostly because it was the longest most boring state I would have to haul through on drives home to chicago, I now appreciate it a bit more because its crazy flat, but so far its also full of the worst drivers we've had this trip. As the day got crazy hot we took a nice afternoon break for some sweet tea and sat in the shade and watched a beetle get frustrated in the grass. We are 11 days into the trip and I think we're finally 'trail tough' so to speak, our bodies are used to the abuse the bikes provide, we can pull bigger miles and our appetites continue to soar with this calorie burning festival.word.
Song of the day:
A mix of ziggy plays guitar and holyman by blind melon.
Quote of the day:
you must do a lot of waiting around in the morning- the pastor dan to me as we sat around for while waiting for goat. Mornings are tough for him.

team prest/schrader schrader/presta crosses another state line (finally)

Today we had some of the best weather I've seen so far this trip. We cruised past some more new york vineyards and made our way across the PA state line around lunch time, we stopped at mcdonalds for the only thing we ever stop at mcdonalds for apart from bathrooms. Sweet tea. Everything else is crap but this summer 1$ for 32 oz. Of cold glucose flowing liquid is the best deal a cyclist can handle on a hot day. I treated myself to a brief listen on my ipod and took in the into the wild soundtrack by eddy vedder, it made me think a lot about this trip, the boy, and the love/hate relationship I have with this country. Every town we go through everyone is trying to sell their suv, the cheapest gas we saw was for 3.99 in western mass, and every town has at least 2-4 cvs, rite-aide or walgreens on opposing corners. Plus walmarts and targets full of other crap we don't need. On one level everything looks the same, and from an outsiders perspective we have to look like complete idiots. I mean, I understand there are certain rules for fair competition on the market (although between you and me, in my heart of liberal passionate hearts I think that said rules exist because we say they do and thus we abide by them... but anyways), do we really need to clutter our land and streets with the same stuff? Do I sound like a typical skeptical angsty 20 something thinking I'm unique with these thoughts and cool because I can 'damn the man'? Absolutely.
Is my experience still valid because it is mine and mine alone? Sure.
Today I was almost taken out by a gentleman in a porsche cayenne. Let's stop and think about this for a second. I can respect a porsche for its fine craftsmanship as a fast machine. But a porshce suv. nobody needs a porsche suv. This is why we are jerks. No one is going to off roading in their porsche suv. The common man does not need a hummer h2. that is in fact the last thing we should be satiated with. Anyways... We rode into erie pa and a pastor by the name of dan offered us his home for the evening, we got shower, eat an amazing sandwich and dan took us out to see an amazing sunset over lake erie. It is gestures and generiousity like dan's that make me love this country and fuel a hope inside me, its the gems in their porshe cayennes and corporate homogeny that clogs our landscape and breeds future generations of idiots that challenges me. Some things you fight till the death.