Week 2 Photos (Unedited)

Week 2 Photos

Day 12 Ennis, MT to West Yellowstone, Wy

Wind was the story of the day. Spent morning pedaling in a pace line with Wallace and Robert at ~ 9mph into a 15 mph headwind. Sagged into camp after lunch. Camped out side on the grass at nice RV park with WiFi. Forest fire downwind with a lot of smoke blowing away from us
My day
37 miles
1460 ft of climbing

Day 11 Townsend, Mt to Ennis, Mt

Left in what has been the norm lately cool morning which later warmed up to be a nice day. Stopped mid morning at a Pastry shop just after we crossed I90. Ride had two rather hard climbs on busy roads with rough shoulders complete with rumble strips. One nice downhill I hit 46mph, Robert 48 but Wallace was the speed champ at 50mph. Robert had a bad experience though his bike went unstable and he had a hard time controlling the shimmy. Not sure why. Slept inside again, much easier than tenting.
78.7 miles
6.15 hrs riding
12.5 ave mph
46 max mph
3472 feet of climbing

Day 10 Lincoln, Mt to Townsend, Mt

Very cold morning warming nicely later in the day. Had a good paceline going and then a weird thing happened, Roberts seat post bold broke and he had to sag 5 miles into the lunch stop. That was strange enough but even stranger was the fact that the very same seat bolt broke on my bike 1 hr later after lunch. I did a self rescue by riding 3 miles into the only bike shop within 100 miles in the town of Helena Mt. Rode like crazy by myself after leaving the bike shop stopping only to help Beth change a flat tire.
91 miles
2700 ft of climbing

Day 9 Missoula, MT to Lincolon, Mt

First day riding with Robert and Wallace. Started in Rain and it rained on and off most of the day. Stayed the night at Lincoln Public School. I think the campground where Ryan and Jesse stayed and where they were hassled by locals was right across the street. Sure enough at 2:20 in the morning some kids pushed a trash bin into Kimmarie's tent damaging both the tent and her bicycle which was inside the tent. Meanwhile Robert, Wallace and I were sleeping happily, blissfully unaware of these events inside on the gym floor. Had another lasagna dinner that would make about 6 in a row.
80 miles
3092 feet of climbing

Day 8 (Monday) Missoula, MT to Lincoln, MT

Robert and Wallace arrived yesterday and we rode together today. Woke up to cold and rain. Could not find my biking sleaves so I wore 2 wind breakers and survived the day OK. Scattered sunshine in the afternoon and the ride was beautiful. Most of the way along the banks of the Blackfoot river. For those that care to know my butt seams to be recovering.

Waynes Blog

Blog with many more words about the trip by another traveler
Waynes Blog

Day 7 Thompson Falls, MT to Missoula, MT

Easy 100 mile day. I sagged to give my saddle sores some time to recover. Staying 2 nights at Montana State University Dorm.

Day 6 Kellogg, ID to Thompson Falls, MT

Backtracked on bike path for 6 miles then had lovely morning ride along the river. Late morning there was a long 16 mile climb up Thompson Pass. Lunch at top. Nice long downhill after lunch hit 40 mph. Butt still sore.
70.3 miles
Ave Speed 12.2 mph
5.44 hours ride time
3014 feet of climbing

Day 5 Spokane, WA to Kellogg, ID

Relatively easy ride. Last 40 miles were flat along a Rails to Trails bikepath along a lake and later following a river. My butt is sore as hell.
99.8 miles
7.5 hrs ride time.
12.8 ave speed
2333 feet of climbing. Camped at middle School.

Day 4 Electric City, WA to Spokan, WA

Big morning climb up out of Electric City, with mostly rolling farmland after that. Stayed night in private room at Gonzaga University. Joined Starbucks Internet for a month for $9.95
97 miles
7.37 hrs ride time
12.1 ave speed
3350 feet of climbing
ave gradient 3% max 8%
Odometer 5452

Day 3 Wenatchee, WA to Electric City, WA

Hardest day yet. Rode with Jim Briskey breaking the wind most of the day.Took about 11 hours. Bad trail marking after first bridge over Wenatchee River caused with routing for some folks although Jim and I made it through OK. Camped at Sunbanks Resort just below Grand Coolie Dam.
100 miles
5500 ft of climbing

Day 2 Skykomish,WA to Wenatchee, WA

Cold morning climb up Stevens Pass to sk area. Fun but cold and wet 17 miledownhill along side raging ~ class 5 Wenatchee River.Camped aat Foothills Middle School.
77.7 miles
6.23 hrs ride time
12.1 ave mph
4429 ft of climbimg

Day 1 Marysville, W to Skykomish,W

Flight from Reno to Seattle went smoothly. Met by Cycle America staff (Ryan and Dan) and driven to Marysville about 1/1/2 hours north of Seattle. Got there around 5PM and set up my tent and assembled my bicycle. Time I finished it was too late to go to dinner with the rest of the folks. The lunch person took pity on me and I had dinner consisting of 2 yogurts and 2 granola bars. Went to the evening meeting to get the intro and learn about the next days ride.

It turns out that there a 26 coast to coast riders and a half dozen others that are riding from 1 to 7 stages of the trip. It looks like a rather elderly group. All but a few came to ride by themselves.

Well it started to rain about the time I went to bed, roughly 10PM and it rained all night. Me and my two over sized duffel bags all fit in nicely in my new MSR Mothahubba 3 person tent that was super easy to set up.

It rained all day today as well making a rather easy 71 mile trip rather uncomfortable. I was cold and wet by the time I got to Skykomish High School. I got in rather early 1PM as I blew by both water stops and the lunch stop.

When I got in I took a nice long hot shower (I was later informed that they ran out of hot water), bummed another yogurt and two energy bars from the lunch ladies, set up my tent and all my wet clothes to dry out inside the school, and had the mechanic adjust my bicycle shifting.

Had dinner at 5:30PM consisting of lasagna, salad, garlic bread with butterscotch pudding and cookies for desert.

Statistics for the ride excluding the 9 mile ride down to the waterfront to do the ceremonial tire dip. 62.23 miles miles, ride time 4h 48m, 2237 feet climbed, ave clim 2%, max 13%.

I sitting outside the Skykomish Public Library in the cold writing this as I was not able to connect to the schools DSL.

Tomorrow we climb Stevens Pass. Should be about a 3000 foot climb, and hopefully it will be sunny on the other side.

No pictures today as camera ran out of battery at the dip in place.

50 Year Old "To Do List"

To Do List, originally uploaded by abavetta.

April 17, 1956 list of things to do after college. I wrote the list as part of a Health Science Class project for which I received a B grade. Riding my bike across the country was #85 on the list just below "Win in Olympics" and above "Play Good Ping Pong". Well I never medaled in the Oympics but I do play a pretty good game of Ping Pong. Lets see how the ride goes.