Saturday, June 29, 2013

Day 13: Harlowton, MT to Billings, MT

Today was a 91 mile ride through the high plains of Montana. I spent the morning riding with Cara and we were speeding through the route with a tailwind at our backs and were able to hit the lunch checkpoint by 9:00. A fellow cross country rider crossed our path and joined the group for lunch. He was heading from DC to San Francisco all by himself. After lunch I got my third flat of the trip about 60 miles into the day. I stopped to change my tube and was rescued by Jeff, Melanie, and Olivia who had already done their share of changing tires earlier in the day. Jeff had two, Olivia had two, they stopped to help me, and we caught up with Cara a little down the road and helped her change her two flats as well. So between the five of us we had seven flats today. Anyone who tells you those gatorshell tires are bombproof has never biked in Montana. We finally made it to Billings around 2:00 after fighting the heat and headwinds which we encountered in the afternoon. We are staying in the dorms at the University of Montana tonight and tomorrow.

I was hoping this trip would be all the adventure I need to hold me over for a while, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's been so great that I am already thinking about the future journies I want to take. And Jack Kerouac is not helping to quell my quest for adventure, either. I really can't express how wonderful it has been to get out of my usual surroundings and routine lifestyle and dive into something like this. I decided I'm not really afraid of anything anymore. After years of holding myself back from doing a lot of things I wish I had, I'm realizing that the possibilities are really endless when you stop letting fear dictate your life! Tomorrow we have a day off and although some of the Big Riders head to do crossfit to work out on our days off my plan is to eat and sleep and try and get myself some bike speakers.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Day 12: Townsend, MT to Harlowton, MT

I am 101 miles and 2 flat tires closer to the east coast! It was bound to happen eventually and to be honest I'm surprised I was able to escape getting a flat all throughout my training and the Big Ride up until this point. I discovered the first when pumping up my tires this morning at camp which was a rather convenient time to find it. I had a feeling it had something to do with the patch of wet cement I accidently rolled through yestersay to avoid being splatted by a logging truck (my apologies to the very angry pavement guys, whoops).

The ride today started with a 25 mile climb through Helena National Forest then the rest of the day was nice rolling hills. With the tailwind helping us along after lunch Laura, Cara, and I were averaging about 22 mph for a good 40 miles or so. I got my second flat about 10 miles from the end, and Tom, the trip mechanic, came to the rescue with another spare tube since I had already used the one I was carrying earlier in the day. It was a gorgeous ride and one of the most open landscapes I have ever seen. You can look for miles and it's just plains and hills and road. It reminds you how small you are in the scope of this massive world.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Day 10: Missoula, MT to Avon, MT & Day 11: Avon, MT to Townsend, MT

Day 9 was a rest day in Missoula and I had a lovely day! Walked around the town a bit and ended up stumbling across the Missoula Art Museum which we decided to check out since it was free. I wasn't expecting much because I wasn't sure what kind of art is produced in the middle of Montana but I was blown away! One of the exhibits was a really criticial political collection and probably cooler than any I've seen in NYC. It was by a local guy and was all about the corporate statehood and about what a load of poop it is enslaving yourself with massive amounts of debt to attend art school. The other exhibit was old photographs that were embroidered with quotes from famous authors which was also pretty neat. Then we stopped at the office for adventure cycling, a nonprofit that promotes traveling by bike and produces a lot of the cross country bike routes. We got a tour and they put our picture up on the wall as they do for all the cross-country travelers who pass through. They had some bikes hanging up that had gone crazy distances, one of them traveled the entire length of the African continent (through the Sahara and everything)! We met a fellow traveler who was moving back east and decided to ship her stuff and ride her bike back all alone. Admirable, but I don't think I could do that by myself! I really hope this isn't the last of my long distance biking though, I think it's such a wonderful mode of (free) transportation. After that we headed to an event for the American Lung Association at a local bike shop where some riders and senators talked about the importance of clean air. We finished the day off with dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant as a group before heading back to the dorms to sleep off our food comas.

Day 10 was a century ride from Missoula to Avon. It was a long day but an enjoyable ride since the 50% chance of thunderstorms didn't end up happening. We climbed about 5000 feet yesterday in preparation for the Continental Divide. We stayed at a Mormon summer camp with delicious food (lots of pie) and pretty nice acomodations. We've been spoiled so far this trip! We haven't had to camp as much as I thought we would and most of our meals have been prepared by the places we stay. I am trying to enjoy it while it lasts because I'm sure soon we'll be sleeping outside and cooking for ourselves. Avon didn't really have much of anything going on except some houses, a cafe, and lots of "don't try meth not even once" signs.

Today was an easy 60 mile day from Avon to Townsend. It's nuts that 60 miles used to be a long day trip for me but now it's nothing and we're settled in camp by early afternoon. We passed over the Continental Divide this morning about 10 miles into the route. The last bit of the climb up was not as bad as I had imagined and the 12 mile downhill that followed was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far. Partially because it's like "holy crap I just biked over the Continental Divide" which sounds a lot scarier than it actually is, and also because the view was incredible and we were able to get some serious speed (I got up to 40 mph before I started freaking out that I was going too fast). We are camping on the luxuorious football field at the high school in Townsend tonight and it's perfect camping weather. The next 2 days are century rides so the rest day in Billings will be a day of doing as much nothing as possible.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Day 7: Sandpoint to Thompson Falls & Day 8: Thompson Falls to Missoula

It's been an exhausting two days! Yesterday all the riders agree it was a tough ride- only 88 miles but lots of hills and a bit of a headwind. We crossed into Montana and also switched time zones which made all the phones freak out. It was a difficult but beautiful ride along the water. I had no idea Idaho was so pretty! We stayed at a high school last night where we had the option of sleeping on the gym floor or setting up tents on the lawn. Most of the girls went into the gym while the guys tried to be tough and stick it out in the tents... until the sprinklers came on in the night and everyone ended up inside. A lot of people have been having knee pain which I have luckily escaped thus far, but with a little ice and some minor bike adjustments many seem to be doing a lot better.

Today I clocked 105 miles on my bike computer and it was the longest ride we've had so far. I had done a few century rides on Long Island but they were all totally flat and even though there were only a few sections of climbing today, they were enough to wear me out. We stopped for lunch on a turnoff from state road 200 with a beautiful view of the Rockies. The weather held up for most of the day with the exception of some showers in the morning and late afternoon. I spent most of my day riding with a fellow rider Laura and we saw some lovely wildlife- mostly horses and cows. We also encountered a herd of sheep which turned out to be pretty funny because I think they were afraid of Laura's Boston accent and the whole herd of them scrambled the other direction and started bugging out and baa-ing at us as we rode by chatting. The most exciting animal I've seen so far, other than the alpacas of course, was a bald eagle that was hanging out along the route on the way to Thompson Falls.

Yesterday I began my second book of the trip- Jack Kerouac's "On the Road". I can't think of a better time to read it than when I myself am on the road. Besides the fact that he is a brilliant writer, I'm facsinted by the search for freedom he describes. I think that freedom is a really subjective concept. I also think no cost traveling is the best kind, whether it be by bike as I am experiencing or hitchhiking around as he discusses or hopping trains or anything else. It's especially great timing to introduce Kerouac into my life because he mentions his time in Missoula in the first portion of the book and today on the way into town I saw some folks trying to hitch rides and it really got me thinking. One of them could be the next Kerouac for all we know! I haven't been this excited about a book in a really long time so I just needed to share.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Day 6: Spokane to Sandpoint

Yesterday was our day off in Spokane. I wasn't really a fan of the city itself (not very bike friendly), although I enjoyed my day of rest. After breakfast we went to REI to pick up some little last minute things before we hit the road again. Lynn told us that when she did the Big Ride on all of her rest days she went for a massage. I had never had one before and we found a place that agreed to give us a discount so I gave it a shot and it was absolutely wonderful. I felt totally restored and it made riding today even more enjoyable so I think I might have to do that again sometime.

Today was an exciting day for a number of reasons. For starters, we crossed our first state border! We left Washington and are now in Idaho. More importantly though, two other riders and I stopped at an alpaca farm this afternoon. We saw a sign and followed the driveway to find a house with a woman who bred alpacas. She let us go in the pen with them and we even got to hold a three week old baby! I had never met an alpaca before so it was pretty cool. We had a 78 mile ride with chilly but nice weather and beautiful scenery. It was much more pleasant riding conditions than the rain and 39ยบ we encountered on Thursday. At our lunch stop there was a rodeo parade going on so we hung around a little longer than usual to watch that and got candy hurled at our face by the people in the parade.

I'm thinking about investing in some bike speakers so if anyone has any suggestions they would be helpful. I've started playing music from my phone a bit but it really wastes the battery so I'm thinking about getting some speakers to play the ipod. Speaking of which, shout out to Allie's cousin Aubrey for lending me her old ipod since mine died in the fire! I really appreciate it.

Idaho is beautiful and I'm a little dissappointed we only have one night here. We rode into town for dinner and did a little exploring around and Sandpoint is a really cute town. There is a beach here and you look beyond the water and see the mountains and it's unlike anything I've ever seen. Tonight we are camping on the lawn of a health club who was kind enough to let us use all of their facilities, including the hot tub and massage bed. I have breakfast duty in the morning which means I need to be packed up and ready to go by 5:45 so it's going to be an early night. Also, keep an eye out cause something cool is happening with the moon tonight (some kind of eclipse or something).

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Day 4: Odessa to Spokane

Odessa only gets about 10 inches of rain per year, but in the (less than) 24 hours we were there they got 2 1/2. In all fairness, we didn't get any rain in Seattle where it always rains so I guess it all evens out. Today was rainy again and significantly colder. The group learned after yesterday to bring more layers than you think you need and it came in handy today. We stopped at the first check point and all hopped in the van with Lynn, one of the coordinators, to warm up and add a layer of garbage bags to our bike gear since it was cold enough to potentially get hypothermia. They actually keep you surprisingly warm. It was a 77 mile ride, but it's amazing how much faster you ride when you want to escape the nasty weather. On nice days I average about 13-14 mph but today we were bookin it and that number was closer to 18. It also helped that we had a bit of a tailwind this morning.

As nice as it is to be visiting all these small towns, I'm definitely more of a city person so it's cool to be in Spokane where there is civilization and things to do. We have the day off tomorrow which my legs are very happy about. We will be staying in some dorms tonight and tomorrow (with real beds!) so it should be swell. I can't believe that we've already traveled over 325 miles.

I think I'm over the initial shock of how difficult this trip is going to be. I also feel like I'm getting physically stronger so I guess that helps too. Anyway, I'm having a wonderful time so far and I'm excited to see what the rest of the country has to offer. I'm off to have dinner #1 with some fellow riders

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Day 3: Vantage to Odessa

83 miles in the rain is not as miserable as it sounds! We had about an hour of riding before the rain began, but it lasted the rest of the day. It was a lot of rolling hills and in total we climbed about 4,000 feet today, although I find them much more bearable than the ups and downs we've encountered thus far. Some of the best advice I've gotten is from my bike club back in NYC: don't look more than three feet in front of you on the hills. It makes it go by a lot faster and easier. I rode with Cara, one of my fellow big riders, for majority of the day and it is so much better riding with other people than riding alone. We are staying in the high school gym tonight so we didn't have to set up tents, which left more time for hangin out and eating! We walked to town for first dinner, then came back and had a second dinner in the school cafeteria here. After dinner Charlton, one of the ride leaders, gave us a class on some cycling mistakes he's been seeing, how to improve our skills, and tips for dealing with nasty weather. Tomorrow is a 77 mile ride to Spokane then we have a day of rest.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Day 2: Easton to Vantage

Today our journey took us to Vantage, WA. We were told by riders from previous years that it was one of the most beautiful rides of the whole trip. I'm not sure what the rest of the ride looks like but there were some truly breathtaking views this morning. It started with green, mountainous scenery then we moved onto the other side of the mountains which were more dry and open. There were no crazy inclines like we hit yesterday, although there was one stretch that was 15 miles uphill. However, what goes up must come down and the last 10 of the 72 miles were almost effortless. I'm definitely more of a fan of the downhill part. We stopped for a bathroom break at the Petrified Forest and it's amazing to stand on some of these roads next to fields that continue beyond the horizon and listen and hear nothing at all. It's quite a change from New York City.

As someone who enjoys eating way too much, this is the ideal trip. The American Lung Association CEO told us at our starting ceremony yesterday that as a group of 14 we will consume 2 million calories by the time we reach DC, and I am well on my way. Teams of riders prepare the meals for the group, and we also have a granola bar company sponsoring us so food is plentiful!

It's been fun to see all the little towns along the route. We went through a town this morning with a population of 500, which to me seems pretty tiny. Vantage is also a small town- so small that the town dump is one of the main attractions in the tourist brochure. We are all set up at the campsite and it's only 7 but I'm about ready to pass out. I could get used to this whole eat, bike, eat, bike, eat, eat more, sleep routine we have going on. It is so nice to leave my normal life behind and have nothing else to worry about for the next seven weeks.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Day 1: Seattle to Easton

Well today was the first day of the Big Ride Across America! It's the day I've been waiting for since I signed up in November. I have been traveling around the west coast with a friend for about two weeks, visiting some of her family members who were gracious enough to let us stay with them for a few days in Three Rivers, CA and here in Seattle, WA as well (thank you!!). After a bit of a bad luck streak missing a connecting flight from Salt Lake City to Seattle because we were sitting at the gate too busy talking to notice our flight boarded and left without us, as well as a fire our first day in Three Rivers that burned all of our stuff, it seems my luck has turned around! A big thank you to Garick at Speedy Reedy bike shop in Seattle for putting my bike together and also directing me to where I would be able to replace all my bike gear. I'd also like to mention Danny at Gregg's Cycles in Seattle who took his time and stayed late to help me replace all my gear that was lost. So if you are a cyclist and live in the Seattle area I would highly recommend these shops. Thankfully I was able to scramble all my things together just in time for the ride.

Yesterday was the orientation where we were told how our days would go and also went over some precautionary safety stuff. Once I met my lovely fellow riders and got the run down of how the trip was going to go it calmed any nerves I had built up. Leading up to the trip I kind of figured I would be so anxious I would want to poop myself the night before,, but I layed down last night more excited than anything.

We woke up bright and early this morning for breakfast at the dorms then had a sending off ceremony with some people from the American Lung Association. Our 94 mile ride today took us from Seattle to Easton, mostly along I-90 and some bike paths. It started at sea level and we are currently at 3500 feet, although I think it's safe to say we climbed a lot more than that because we had some pretty sweet downhills throughout the day. We went over the cascade mountains and that was quite a climb. I was glad to have a big ride alumni riding alongside to chat and pass the time as we made our way up the mountain. It's only the first day and I think it's safe to say that I have never done anything nearly this challenging in my life. I think I understand what people mean when they talk about giving something 110%: when your legs are so tired they feel as if they're about to buckle but you still have 20 miles to go and there is no stopping. That being said, I believe that all good things require a bit of struggle. I think the part of this experience that I'm the most psyched for is the fact that we don't have to ride the same road or stay in the same place for the next 7 weeks. And that I have a stack of wonderful books waiting to be read. I've been craving adventure and wanting to see the country so I think this is exactly what I need. Next stop, Vantage, WA!