Bike Ride Across America (Um, or Not)

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Day 12 - Lincoln MT to Missoula MT

2005-07-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

Ave 11.3 miles an hour
Dist 79.4 miles
Time 7 hours
Vertical feet 1510 ft

Total: 777 miles

This is it for the ride. We went a long way, but ran into some trouble in Lincoln which made us a little uncomfortable - so, we pedaled back to Missoula and called it a day.

This is the summary I sent to Greg from Adventure Cycling:
We came in through town and stopped at the convenience store and a resturant before setting up camp in the campground that was in town. We asked the convenience store clerk about camping and he said it was the only place that he knew of. We set the tent and went to sleep to be awoken at 3AM by a car inches from the tent with it's headlights on blasting the horn. That was kind of surprising to say the least. It drove away and Jesse got out of the tent at this point and was putting on his shoes when the truck came by again and threw a lit bundle of firecrackers at the tent (which was the largest bundle of firecrackers I've ever seen - like maybe a pound - and which didn't go off thankfully and we didn't find until morning because it had actually rolled underneath the front of the tent - disastrous for the tent if it had gone off). They drove away once again and I got out of the tent and we went over to the bathroom to decide what to do. Our cellphones didn't work and we just had our bikes so we were kind of stuck. We waited for a while and watched as now the truck was joined by a car and they drove by the tent again and again firing smaller fireworks off at it. The actions were annoying but we were worried about the motivation. Did they just pick a random tent? Was it a race issue, or maybe because we were two guys sleeping in the same tent? The campground had a lot of campers, tents and RVs, and it was strange that they had singled out our tent. We heard a car door open, and then shut. I had left the rainfly open when I left and they may have now realized we weren't in the tent. We heard footsteps go around the campground for a while and now we were getting pretty on edge. Someone walked to the bathroom and went inside - we said hello, he was carrying a small firework and was surprised - "you guys smokin?" - "no, you need a light?" - "no" - and we left. We went now and banged on a couple of RVs to tell them what was going on - one person woke up and told us to talk to the camphost at the front of the campground. We hid underneath an RV at the front of the campground as the cars came by again. They drove around for a bit cussing some more and then they spotted us and now we were kind of freaking out. As it turns out there is no camp host at this campground, but the lady whose RV we banged on was very nice and offered to drive us into town to call the sheriff. It was a very small town and everything was closed and we had to wake up a motel owner to use a phone. They said there were no sheriffs in the area but they would send one there. The motel had no open rooms but they lady who drove us to town offered for us to sleep on the floor of her RV, which we would do. When the sheriff arrived we told him the story and he thought we were asking for trouble by staying at campgrounds near the 4th of July (it was June 30th). Anyway, he was right, it was getting near the 4th and roads would be getting more crowded. Jesse said he would have a hard time sleeping in the tent the next night, and we were getting tired and sore anyway so we decided to stop. When we set out on the trip we decided we would go until the trip wasn't fun anymore, and this at least temporarily put it over the edge. Anyway, we had a good time and it's not like we have nothing else to do now. I've been learning PHP and MySQL server side web page languages in Truckee, CA and will be going back to Boston on the 25th to try my hand at building something like a steam engine and Jesse has been/will be visiting people in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Arizona, Orlando and then back to Boston.

Day 11 - Missoula MT to Lincolin MT

2005-06-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Ave 11.3 miles an hour
Dist 79.4 miles
Time 7 hours
Vertical feet 1800 ft

Day 10 Wilderness Gate to Missoula MT

2005-06-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

Extreme Cycling Stats
Extreme Distance 94 mi
Extreme Vertical 3115 ft
Extreme Riding time 7:28

Notes on the day:
-We rode over the Lolo Pass which was 5,225 ft.
-Met cyclist at the Lochsa Lodge Who was doing Lewis and Clark the real way, not the cheater way. He tells us that going to Missoula would be a big push. He didn't understand how extreme we actually were.
-Remet the couple from the couple in the UK on the tandem. They were stopping at the Lochsa Lodge right as we were about to be extreme.
-It rains on and off all day, causing my foot to freeze in my shoe.
-We came into Missoula as it was getting dark.
-We saw Fort Fizzle. Fo shizzle fort fizzle.
- We see lots of animals, including the majestic elk.

Day 9 Wild Goose to Wilderness Gate campground

2005-06-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

Avg 12.5 mph
Distance 28.81 mi
Riding time 2:18
Vertical 808 ft

Notes on the day:
-worst day ever.
-Rained very hard all day. I had no dry clothes.
-My rear wheel decided that it had had enough of this biking thing. I pumped it up several times. It then wobbled a lot. Spent several hours truing my wheel on the side of the road in the rain (had to do it twice.) Finally we called it a day at the Lochsa Historical Ranger Station.
-To quote Bavetta, "We were riding uphill, in the rain,over broken glass, in a headwind, both ways."
-The ranger let us dry off and then drove us a mile to the next campground were we fixed the bike and setup the tent underneath a pavilion in which biking and tenting were the only things not allowed.
-The pavilion was surrounded by groundhogs. We observed the groundhog variety hour starring 8 different groundhogs with "skyhog" patriot of the skies. In his most death-defying feat, this courageous groundhog climbed 4 ft off the ground up a bush.
-I got no snacks today as my repair time was too long.
-We see most cyclists on the day with the most rain. A tour through ID passed us going the other way.
-We also meet a German traveling across the country solo. He doesn't speak english very well but is very excited to be here. He was awesome and had bike from DC to northern ID on his way to Seattle.

Day 8 Winchester ID to Wild Goose State campground

2005-06-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

Cycling stats
Avg 12.8 mph
Distance 73.7 mi
Vertical 1906 ft
Riding time 5:45

Notes on the day:

- We went supposedly downhill according to our elevation map. But actually climbed a lot of hills.
-Met and had dinner with a volunteer firefightin family of sidecar enthusiasts. They were from outside of carson city, NV and had been attending a sidecar rally. They had really cool motorcycles and liked nuclear power.
-Met a jack of all trades, John Snyder, who was really cool. Helped us find all the stuff we wanted in Kamiah, ID. He had the coolest business card.
-Bavetta had the largest chili dog I have ever seen. Said it was healthy because of all the vegetables.
-We swam in the rapids at Wild Goose, but Bavetta did not go in for very long because he was being unextreme (cold).
-Farmers in ID seem to enjoy rides up and down the same 1/4 mile on motorcyles without helmets. Seriously, we saw this several times.
-We bought soda from a closed conveniece store.
-I declare snack time and repair time to be one and the same. Bavetta disagrees.

Day 7 Lewiston to Winchester

2005-06-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Cycling statistics
Avg. 8.5 mph
Distance 44.5 mi
Riding time 5:12
Vertical 4113 ft

Notes on the day

-Bavetta got 2 flats
-I felt that snack time was too long
Lady at the diner told us winchester grade road was actually a different road, but the local farmer eating his lunch, saved our day.
-Climbed Old Winchester grade road which was long winding road uphill with lots of switchbacks.
-Winchester Idaho has a cool sign with a gun, sort of scary though.
-The campground people are not nice and tell us to go somewhere else. They suggest a dry camp run by the highway dept. The dry camp sounds cool in theory but is actually very scary. So we slept with the animals off the highway.
-It rains in the middle of the night. Bavetta decides to rainproof the tent by staking out only his side. "There was something rustling in the bushes on your side. So I came back in the tent." Way to go Bavetta. Thank you very much.
-The lady at the minimart gives us the svenhard's for free, but bavetta doesn't notice until a couple days later.
-Swede and Ron play country at 7:00 at the highland inn. We left at 6:55.
-People at diner tell us about the moutnain man rally and the wolves.

Day 6 Lewis and Clark Trail State Park to Clarskton, WA

2005-06-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Cycling Stats :
Distance : 75.3 miles
Riding time : 6 hours 10 min
Vertical: 2800 ft

Notes on the day:
-climbed Blue mountains, hills took forever. 10 mile straight uphill. 20 mile downhill took over an hour. Reached summit at 2875 ft.
-Ate at Planetary Pizza which was a pizza parlor/laundromat. Most excellent place ever in Pomeroy, WA. Had lots of ice, gave us maps, and advice. Waitress was a walking atlas.
- Met some recently enlisted sailors, waiting for job assignments.
-Met Dr. Dave Spencer at Baskin Robbins in Clarkston WA. Extremely helpful and generous person. Gave us lots of information about local area.
- Chief Timothy state park charges $5.63 utility fee to use the bathroom. Bavetta decided he could hold it.
-Saw lots of trike harleys form Alberta, Canada on their way to Redding, CA. beauty.

Day 5 Umatilla to Lewis and Clark Trail State Park

2005-06-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

Cycling Stats:
Extreme milage : 83.35 mi
Riding Time: 6 hours 17 min
Vertical: 2552 ft.
Mechanical Problems: JLAB - 3 flats Bavetta - 0

Notes on the day:
-Left Columbia River
-Road went to one lane due to paving construction for two miles. Raced at the end of a traffic convoy for the two miles.
-I bought two more spare tubes at the Bike Barn in Walla Walla and then used them 10 min later.
- Met recumbent tricycle expert and enthusiast at the Bike Barn. Informs us that recumbent tricycles are superior in all aspects to bicycles because they have one more wheel. BAM! third wheel.
-Nerds exist everywheres, sort of like mosquitos.
-Met 3 kids from Berkeley who were doing Portland OR to Portland ME. They had cool 70's cycling jerseys and majored in astrophysics and molecular biochem.
-Met 2 guys traveling across oregon/washington with nothing but 2 water bottles.

Day 4 Roosevelt Park to Umatilla

2005-06-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

Cycling Stats
Distance: 56.5 miles
Time: 4 hours 10 min
Vertical: 1083 ft
Mechanical Problems: JLAB - 0 Bavetta - 4 flats with 2 at the same time

Notes on the day:
-When we stop for water bavetta rolls over the the dreaded Puncture Weed (which look like little spiky devil heads ) and pops both tubes.
-Bavetta comes up with idea for Roomba tractor or Roombactor 7000
-Tunnel underneath highway has an enter if you dare sign
-Tillicum Motel conveniently located next to strip club, unfortunately they only have hourly rates.
-Met British couple on tandem doing same route we are except heading for DC.
-Met trucker at restaurant who was tired of the new direction trucking was taking.
-We outpaced a thunderstorm into Umatilla

Day 3 Columbia Hills State Park to Roosevelt Park

2005-06-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

Cycling Statistics for the number junky. You know the first one's always free.
Distance: 54.73 mi
Riding time: 5 hours 45 min
Vertical 2450 ft climbed
Mechanical problems: JLAB - 1 chain break Bavetta - 0 JLAB wins again

Notes on the day:
-Stiff headwind slowed our avg speed to 9.5 mph. Downhill travel was extremely hard.
-Riding through semi-arid country we almost ran out of water. We now carry a secret reserve stash.
- Met an old woman named Bessie fishing at Sundale park. Gave us some ice, we then helped her friend up from a sitting postition. Got water from the nice workers at Sundale fruit farms.
-Saw cute baby goats.
-Decided Bavetta is Lewis and I am Clark, mainly because Bavetta is more of a Merriwether than I am.
-Turned into a one lane road because of construction for a short time.
-Trees all disappeared. No tress in Washington or Oregon after the Dalles.
-The Roosevelt Park is excellent with world-class windsurfing, but has hi-pressure sprinklers which act as an alarm at 2:30 in the morning.
-The restaurant in Roosevelt listed on our map is closed on Mondays. The mini mart on the other hand is awesome. The owner is a reenacter and shows us how to make char cloth and old-style cigarette lighters. He also gives us a pound of Washington Cherries for free.
-Stopped at Stonehendge War Memorial. Shop only carries ice cream and water. We then blew that popsicle stand.
-Started day with huge hill out of campsite.
-Also, it has been determined that I hate snacks or perhaps more accurately snack breaks.
-Locals tells us we don't know wind.
-Met trucker who had broken his transmission, when he finds out that we are travelling the country on our bikes, "Ya'll didn't look that stupid right off."

Day 2 Cascade Locks to Columbia Hills State Park

2005-06-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

Cycling Statistics (in metric because it's the beauty way to go (Note: bavetta does not like metric and he calls himself an engineer??))

Distance: 87.6 km (54.4 mi)
Riding Time: 6 hours 21 minutes
Vertical: 850.4 m (2790 ft)

Notes on the day:
-Started with the 1000 ft hill we never found yesterday which wasn't on the map today.
-Rode on I-84 for about 10 miles with a harrowing 1 mile section of narrow shoulder and debris.
-Saw a "Litter and it will hurt" sign. Notice the lack of a direct object. Will it hurt me, the enviroment, the people cleaning the highway?
- Locals in Hood River mislead us about the hills. "not that bad."
-3rd hill is through very pretty cherry farms, still uphill though.
-A semi passed us while we were talking to the fisherman on the bridge at the Dalles. We decide to walk our bikes across the rest of the bridge.
-Miss Lewis and Clark reenactment at the state park by an hour. Apparently this guy comes every sunday and shoots off a blunderbuss.
-Met 5 people who travelled across the country by bike.
Person:"You'll hate each other by the end."
Jesse:"We already do."
Bavetta:"Why are you riding next to me. Get out of my face."
-Met old couple who were travelling the country by bike too. They had already gone from NYC to Astoria and were on their way back.

Day 1 Portland to Cascade Locks

2005-06-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

Cycling Stats for all inquiring minds:
Distance: 51.5 miles
Riding Time: approx. 5 hours
Vertical: 2,140 ft
Mechanical Problems: JLAB-2 chain breaks Bavetta - 1 flat Day 1 to JLAB

Notes on the day.
-Camp hosts at Cascade Lock drove Big Rig for 32 years and know a lot about local history and the local native american tribes.
-The ride out of Portland is simply astounding. Starting with the beautiful bike path along the Columbia River and ending with the Historic Columbia River highway. There are lots of waterfalls and cliffs lining the route.
-Bavetta, I mean we, made a mistake reading the elevation map and did not end up climbing a second 1000 ft hill.
-Bavetta has trouble selecting sunscreen from the wide variety available at the Rite Aid.
-An old gentleman said we were going pretty fast as he passed us.
-Saw floating houses on the Columbia in which you park your boat in the garage.
-Kid at the Travel Center says "I want to be one of you when I grow up."
-There's a stairwell on the Columbia River trail that has a bike groove.
-Bavetta starts making up comebacks for compliments we receive along the way.
-The Cascade Locks Campsite has the added feature of Union-Pacific Train Lullabies sung right next to your tent.

Ready, Set.....

2005-06-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I have put together the bikes, bought food for tomorrow, and packed most of our gear. We don't know where to go yet...but we'll check the map soon. We want to head out tomorrow morning at around 8 or 9AM. Jesse's Uncle has been very kind in letting us stay and have fun with them. The weather has been pretty ugly, and it doesn't look like it's going to let up until mid-next week. My dad has hurt his back but is in recovery mode and will hopefully join us again in a week or two.

bike is here!!!

2005-06-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

bike is here!!!

we can now update this

2005-06-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

we can now update this page by phone!

Jesse's Uncle

2005-06-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

We're at Jesse's Uncle's house and we've been packing at gathering supplies from around Portland. We even saw the Burnside skatepark made famous from Tony Hawk's skateboarding video games - sweet!

Sierra Century

2005-06-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling better now. Me, Robert, Wallace, Leeds, Mom and Dad rode in the Sierra century, all but Leeds did the metric century. You can find the pictures Here. 67 mile, 4500 vertical foot training ride. Jesse is driving down to Florida now, but it sounds like he might be having some car trouble [6/6/05]

Crash

2005-06-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

I crashed on my bike on a training ride but am ok, minus a few scrapes. Going down the hill to the 7/11 a car passed me. Then, by the hair cutters, the car suddenly braked as it thought a construction truck didn't see his car and was going to crash into him. I had to brake quickly and went over the handle bars onto the ground.

New Route

2005-06-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

A new route has been introduced. It seems to be about the same mileage as the previous map, but it follows a river (the Missouri) for a third of the way. This could be nice. Here is the map of that route, incorporating the Adventure cycling maps for the Lewis and Clark trail at the beginning, RAGBRAI through Iowa, then the TransAmerica route to New England (the New England portion of this map is not quite correct, but the rest is good):

Planning

2005-05-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

The start date is now set - June 17th. Jesse will leave MIT soon after the 3rd to drive to Florida, then fly to Portland to stay a week with his uncle culminating in the June 17th start date.

Training

2005-05-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Route Planning

2005-05-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Finally decided on a rough route, at least temporarily. We'll start from the Portland area in Oregon and take the "Transamerica"route by Adventure Cycling to mid Wyoming. On a side note, why aren't there more companies that do what Adventure Cycling does? It seems like a pretty lucrative, easy business printing maps and such. From Wyoming we'll head out on our own for about a week to the edge of Iowa to mark the start of RAGBRAI on July 24th. If we're still up to the challenge, after RAGBRAI, on the other side of Iowa, we'll will use several other Adventure Cycling maps to navigate past the great lakes and into New York. New York kindly provides bicycle routes online. The final ride through Massachusetts and into Boston has not been planned yet.