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