250 miles left...

4 ride days left, totaling probably about 250 miles.  It's incredible to think that we are almost finished.  It's in the back of everybody's mind, and we are all handling it differently.  Right before we pushed off from our campground in Wilbur this morning, I said "5 ride days left, let's make it a good one," and Eileen shot me a death stare.  Yeah, she's not really in the mood to talk about how little time we have left.  I can understand the sentiment; I'm not exactly dying to get to the coast.  It's interesting how we are all approaching this.  While we are all excited to state that we have cycled across the United States, I think the general consensus is that we'd rather not be done.  After this our old lives await: either going back to school, finding employment, or returning to our old jobs.  We know what's on the other side, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, a lot of us would rather stay in the Bike & Build bubble for a little while longer.  We have become so comfortable with each other and our routine, and while our butts, hands, backs, and legs will enjoy newfound freedom from pain and discomfort, most of our hearts and heads would prefer to keep going.  

I guess it's like graduation from any other program/lifestyle that builds a lot of camaraderie with your peers.  For me, the end of Bike & Build will be comparable to my graduation from high school, Colorado, AmeriCorps, and Cornell.  I will leave having gotten to know some great people and enjoyed some incredible experiences.  So ultimately, I'm thinking I may not relish the fact that I biked across the country so much as the relationships I have with these other 31 riders and the stuff we've done along the way.

I did get to see my old WSU roommates in Spokane; Shawn, Matt, Ebone, and I went out for burgers and a few beers.  It was really cool to see them and catch up/reminisce.  The best part of the day, however, was crossing the Idaho-Washington state line.  We carry a lot of sidewalk chalk with us for directions, but when we got to the line (by bike path, the Centennial Trail) there was a ton of chalk commemorating our final state line and all the stuff we have completed.  I took a video of it, so I'll have to figure out how to post it on YouTube.  The ride into Spokane was great; few cars to worry about on the bike path.

The next morning we woke up to our meanest hill of the trip (in terms of grade) at probably around 15-16%, but it was short.  I always enjoy climbing so I thought it was fun.  We later passed by the Spokane Airport, which was a blast from the past for me since that's where I used to fly into when I went to school at WSU.  We continued along into some heavy headwinds for the rest of the day, but as we cruised into our campsite in Wilbur, we were all pretty satisfied with the ride.  Some of the folks behind our lead group got caught in a wicked rain shower that dumped on them, but they all came in laughing and in great spirits.  Maggie, Suzanne, and Eileen came in completely soaked but really happy; part of me was actually a little jealous that I didn't get to bike through the conditions (only part of me, of course).  

The ride into Omak today was a difficult one: 75 miles with a solid 15-mile post-lunch uphill that required a fair amount of determination.  I enjoyed the climb with Beth, Kyle, Natalie, and Erika, but I ate way too much for lunch so I was dragging a little.  However, we crested the pass (about 3,100 feet) and found a 23-mile descent into Omak.  That was a lot of fun.  A fantastic spaghetti dinner and a huge ice cream eating binge finished off the night.

We are camping the next two nights, and our final night will probably be filled with some sort of event, so I may not hit this blog until Seattle (or post, depending on how busy we are).  If I don't fill you all in until after the 17th-2oth, thanks so much for reading and following our progress.  Mom and Dad, your faithful comments have been a joy to check in on.  I love you guys, and I'm so proud of how you've helped the team.  Thanks to the rest of the folks who have commented as well.  I'll do a summarization so this won't be my final post, but we are coming up on the end!  Talk to you soon!

Sweep, Final Build Day, Into Washington tomorrow

Hey there, things are really coming down to the wire now.  We enter our final state, Washington, tomorrow and Seattle a week from today.  Today we had our final build day with the Coeur d'Alene Habitat affiliate, which was a very well-run, organized operation.  We put up a fence, put a second coat on a house, tore down an old shed, and built a front porch (among other projects).  

Our rides the last few days have been fantastic, including a few mountain passes (Lookout Pass on Saturday, 4th of July Pass on Sunday) and some gorgeous scenery.  Western Montana and northern Idaho are beautiful places to live.  

I had a really good day yesterday.  Beth and I were "Sweep," meaning we'd be the final two riders along the route to make sure everybody gets in to the host site.  We took our sweet old time and ending up arriving about 3 hours after everybody else; lots of good adventures throughout the day.  

It started with a time trial on a superb bike path between Wallace and Kellogg, ID.  6 of us decided to mark off a 4-mile stretch to test our speed.  Raj went ahead and timed us, and we shot off from the starting line every 30 seconds.  Danny won with a time of 10:32; Shawn was second at 10:38, and I finished third at 10:41.  Lots of fun.  

The time trial actually ended around 10, but Beth and I didn't leave Kellogg to 3 PM.  We had a solid nap (I'm finding out that I can sleep anywhere without compunction, this time in a park along the bike path) and then scored a discount gondola ride to the top of Silver Mountain ski resort, where we hiked around for a while.  It was beautiful up there.  We figured we were far too late to catch the group for lunch, so we phoned ahead and then grabbed a burger and ice cream at a local place.  

After another stop to enjoy the scenery along the Coeur d'Alene river , we decided to finally head to the host site around 5 PM.  We didn't get in til after 7, averaging a little under 5 mph for the 50 mile ride.  Safe to say, I missed a fair amount of what the rest of the group did for the day (although I hear that Lauren became our undisputed cake-eating champion by downing a full bucket of leftovers, probably about 15 pieces in total).  It was a great day, however, just enjoying the scenery and conversation.

From here, we move on to Spokane.  I'm hoping to catch up with some of my old roommates from Washington State while we are in Spokane tomorrow.  After that, we have a few camping days as we move across the Evergreen State.  I wish we were going closer to Pullman (home to Washington State, where I started undergrad), but the outskirts of Spokane have similar terrain to the Palouse.  Anyway, hope you guys are doing well.  Claire, sorry I missed your birthday the other day, I'll give you a call ASAP.  And a special shout out to Kathy and Hal: Maggie says hello!

Homestretch ahead

Today we had our second-to-last build day, in Missoula, MT.  It was by far my favorite build day of the trip so far; the entire crew was busy throughout the day.  Most of the Habitat affiliates that have hosted us thus far have been a little stumped on how to handle 32 volunteers for a full day, but the Missoula Habitat affiliate kept us busy on three houses.  Most of the crew painted or hung sheetrock, while a few hung siding.  Kyle, myself, and a few others did various odd jobs throughout the day, including cutting a ton of rebar (which Lauren dominated, by the way), doing a wood recycling run, cutting wood for a porch foundation, and installing a vent through a roof.  I actually got to use some power tools and a hammer instead of just digging, so it felt like I was really building.  We even got to meet one of the partner families at dinner later in the evening, which was very cool (three really cute kids under 5 years old).  Overall, a great day.  I also got to talk to my parents and Aaron down in NOLA and Schirmer (congrats on the job!).  And of course, thanks to Keri, Schirmer, Denise, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Cindy for the mail drop.  Aunt Cindy, the team is definitely going to enjoy the cookies at lunch tomorrow (but I think I'll hog the cherry sours for myself).  Thanks!

Overall, the last few days have been relatively uneventful.  We crossed the Continental Divide for the third and final time on Tuesday over Flesher Pass on our way to Lincoln, MT.  It was only around 6,000 feet, but the climb was a pretty steady one that lasted a few miles.  I was trying to chase down Jake (probably one of our 2-3 best climbers) throughout the climb; I couldn't quite catch him but I sure made it up faster than I thought I would.  I'm getting to the point where I'm relishing the climbs and I'll be pretty sad when we crest the Cascades.  I spent the entire morning riding with Ariela and Lauren, which was a lot of fun.  They'll keep you entertained all day long.  

We camped for the first time on the trip that night, and I took the opportunity to sleep outside under the stars.  I guess it rained on us for about a minute that night, but I never woke up and I found myself dry the next morning.  Had a few bug bites and was a little cold, but still an enjoyable experience.

The ride to Missoula yesterday was a solid downhill; I cranked with Beth, Natalie, Kristie, Kyle, and Erika most of the morning probably around 20 mph as we moved downhill with a slight tailwind.  We were cooking and it was oodles of fun.  At lunch Natalie met up with a full-time ranch-hand that took us up to A Bar L Ranch, where Natalie worked for a summer after she graduated from Cornell in '06.  It was cool to see Natalie so excited and see what a guest ranch looks like.  The ride after lunch started with a long uphill, but once we summitted we had 30 miles of downhill into Missoula.  Now, the quality of a town is directly related to the quality of its ice cream, and I can attest to Missoula's attributes after eating two double scoop cones in one sitting after the ride at The Big Dipper (Vanilla & Reese's on the first and Maple Walnut on the second).  I then went for a solo evening on the town and attended a Missoula Osprey minor league baseball game, which was a treat.  I've been missing live sports this summer.

Anyway, that takes us to our last few days before Washington.  We'll be in Coeur D'Alene on Sunday and do our final build day there.  Then I'll be in Spokane on Tuesday, which I'm looking forward to.  I started my undergrad career at Washington State University in eastern Washington (Pullman, about 80-90 miles south of Spokane), so I still have old roommates in Spokane that I'll hopefully get to see.  From there, it's a straight push to Seattle.  Most of us are starting to realize the end is near, but we are handling it pretty well.  There will certainly be a lot of sadness when we leave, but right now we are all looking forward to making the most of the rest of trip.  

Alright, hope you guys are doing well, and thanks for the comments.  Alison, sounds like your brother did RAGBRAI in Iowa; we heard about that ride from about every other person we talked to when we went across the state.  Very cool that your brother did it.  It's huge there.  

Into Montana

It's going to be a quick one tonight because I'm flat exhausted after our fourth century of the trip today.  After the highs of our climbs up Togwotee and Teton passes last week, we moved on to Ashton, ID and then to West Yellowstone, MT.  We had an off day in West Yellowstone, which is a horrible tourist trap (think Gatlinburg, Blue 2), but a group of us rented a few cars and made it into the park for the day.  We had a good day viewing the sights, including Old Faithful (overrated and too many people), Lake Yellowstone (very cool), and some paint pots and geysers throughout the park.  All told, it was a good day.  Yellowstone is far from my favorite national park, however, and it ranks far behind the Tetons from a few days previous.

The ride from West Yellowstone to Bozeman yesterday was incredible.  It was a 90+ miler, but it was almost entirely downhill and along the beautiful Gallatin River.  I cruised for much of the day on my own, which was really nice to reset after an off day.  The scenery was absolutely incredible, rivaling the Tetons (in my opinion at least).  Bozeman was a pretty cool town (or at least it had good ice cream, haha).  We had a great chicken dinner and got to chat with a B&B alum from last year's Central Route who lives in Bozeman now (she made us a cake, ballah on dessert last night!)

Today's ride was a tough one: 100 miles with over half of it in headwinds.  I started the morning in a poor mindset; I was upset because me and a few others were doing most of the clean-up chores after breakfast and when I started bringing things to the van, there were no less than 10 people sleeping on couches instead of helping.  I stormed off on the bike and actually had a productive first 20 miles just chewing some things over in my head (let's say this morning was a microcosm of things I've been fighting for years far beyond Bike & Build).  I actually pulled off and logged a quick journal entry on the back of my direction sheet, which helped calm me down.  I had a good rest of the day into our second lunch, pacelining with Isabel and Danny for awhile.  I crashed after second lunch, however, losing all energy and coasting into Bozeman on fumes after the headwinds and heat hit.  Today was definitely a "Survive and Advance" day.

We supposedly have great scenery over the next few days into Lincoln and Missoula.  Looking forward to it.  Hope you guys are doing well!

More Pics, Up Teton Pass

(1) The men celebrating on top of Teton pass (sorry, the woman took their picture before I could get my camera ready; (2) Surveying the climb we just made overlooking Jackson; (3) The road ahead before our climb (yessir, the testosterone was flowing today)

Best Day Yet

(1) Saskia attacking the roads paralleling the Tetons.  (2) Maso and I on the Continental Divide.  (3) Scott, Natalie, and me at a gorgeous lake on Togwotee Pass; (4) Back in the mountains again!!!

Huge two days today and yesterday, both will rank in my top 10 at the end of the summer (for those who don't know me very well, I rank just about everything).  We climbed two passes - Togwotee and Teton Pass - in successive days with about 3,000 feet gains apiece.  Thus, we are all pretty exhausted tonight, but very content with what we completed.  Both days in description:

July 29, Dubois to Jackson

We woke up at 5 AM facing 85 miles with temps in the 40s and a climb early.  I was channeling the energy that got me so jacked up before our failed ride to Mount Vernon in Iowa.  I had to remind myself to pace myself because the climb would last until about mile 30.  Around mile 15-20 we started gaining noticeable elevation into the Absaroka Mountains.  It was so great being back in the mountains after being away for so long.  I used my acclimatization to altitude to make my way up the pass quicker than I thought, and before I knew it Scott, Maso, and I were at the top.  We took some pictures at the Continental Divide sign (9,658 feet) and then started our descent.  Amazingly, no construction interruptions yet.  Unfortunately, that changed pretty quickly.  We were tripped up by an 8-mile stretch and they had to shuttle us to the end of the road work.  Of course it sucked, but because EFI was already done it didn't bother me as much as the previous interruption.  Just another stretch to add to the list that I have to do to complete the trip in the future.  

The rest of the day more than made up for the construction.  Just a mile after lunch we came over a hill and saw the Tetons in the distance.  It was so beautiful.  We spent the next hour approaching the range, which seem to explode out of relatively flat ground surrounding them.  They just dominate the landscape.  We spent $12 and entered the park for the afternoon.  I've camped there before, so it was really cool to see some of that stuff again.  Most of the group hadn't seen the Tetons before, however, so they were very excited.  At the end of the day, most of the people claimed that it was their absolute favorite day of the year.  Pictures don't do those mountains any justice.  The ride was great as well, with a slight tailwind and a small downhill most of the afternoon into Jackson.  We even got to cruise on a winding bike path at about 20-25 mph; probably a little dangerous but a lot of fun.

July 30- Jackson to Ashton, ID 

I loved the ride to Jackson, but it was nothing compared to today's ride this morning.  The ride up Togwotee Pass was fun but it was honestly too short and shallow.  I felt like if we were crossing the Continental Divide, we needed something hardcore to make our efforts worthy of the accomplishment.  Today's climb up Teton Pass took care of that.  

Two things: Natalie was driving the van today, so she woke up really early this morning, unbeknownst to all of us, and did the climb around 4 or 5 AM.  While we were getting ready, somebody noticed that she was missing and her bike was gone.  Remember, she's doing this with a broke wrist and she can't shift out of her second ring or brake with her front hand because of it.  That didn't stop her from wanting to get in on the action.  It set a great tone for the day.

Second really cool tone-setter: Shawn is slowly healing from his car run-in, but he's still nursing a sprained knee and has no bike to ride.  Making the best of the situation, he resolved to carry his busted bike, the one he built on his own, up the pass by walking it while we rode. Again, a great message to the rest of us.  

We left early amidst really cool temps (probably low 40s), but we would quickly shed the Under Armor and limb warmers when we started climbing.  One of my favorite pictures of the day is of us in front of a sign warning of a steep climb at 10% grades (up 10 feet for every 100 feet forward).  It was straight up almost from the very start.  I got into my lowest gear and just cranked for about 40 minutes.  There were some incredible views on the way up, but I didn't want to stop and lose momentum.  I just trusted the view from the top would be worth it.  I did have to stop to remove my Under Armor and pee, but I tried to jump back on the bike asap.  Didn't want my legs to tighten up.  Anyway, after a few switchbacks, I finally saw a sign at the top of the hill warning of a sharp descent in the other direction.  That gave me the last bit of energy I needed and I reached the top on sheer adrenaline.  Jake and Tino were up there waiting, and we shared a bunch of whoops, yells, hugs, and pictures while we waited for the rest of the group.  

They slowly started coming in: Maso, then Trevor, then Jonathan, then Lauren.  For each of them we were yelling like crazy people; the drivers on top of the mountain probably thought we were nuts.  The excitement that we had basically conquered the Rockies sent us over the edge of sanity.  After about half the group made it up, Jake and I were so jacked that we decided to do part of the climb again.  We dropped our camelbacks and started descending.  We made it about 3/4 to 1 mile before turning around and whipping back up.  However, about halfway up we approached Shawn, who was almost to the top while carrying his bike the whole time.  Jake came up with the idea that we should dismount and carry our bikes with him in a show of solidarity.  What was really cool was that other people had the same idea: Eileen, Peter, and Isabel all came tooling down and joined us.  A few more people saw us and joined as well; by the time we reached the top we had about 10 people carrying our bikes, with Shawn in front, in a total replay of Cool Runnings.  It was so awesome (and organic).  

We spent another hour on the hill taking pictures and doing a dance party, and then we descended.  Teton Pass has a mean descent, and it caused some nerves among a few of us, but everybody made it in one piece.  (Tino hit 56 mph, a new group record.)  We took a few pictures by the Idaho stateline sign before moving on.  The rest of the day was pretty ho-hum with about 25 miles of flats and 25 miles of hills before we reached Ashton.  The climb itself made today my favorite day of the trip so far.  What a rush!

Big Day Tomorrow

Hey gang, tonight is going to be a quick entry b/c we have a big day tomorrow: approaching the Tetons with 85 miles, our biggest mountain pass yet (over 9,800 feet, up 3,000 from where we are at now), rainy weather, 58 degree high predicted, and road construction at the summit.  Tomorrow is going to make Roscoe look like child's play.  Needless to say, we are all pretty excited.  I'm a little worried that our ride along the highway paralleling the Tetons will be obstructed, but we'll deal.  Tomorrow is going to be a hell of a day.   

Today was a great ride, about 75 miles from Lander to DuBois, WY.  We had our best scenery of the trip thus far, coming up on numerous mountain views and crossing Wind River multiple times amidst great backdrops.  Just gorgeous.  I rode with Maso again most of the day, which was a treat.  She's quite fast and makes me work to keep up.  She's a great conversationalist as well.  

We had a strange experience today coming across a Christian missionary who was walking across the country.  Originally I thought this was really neat and wanted to chat, but she made James Dobson and Focus on the Family look like a bunch of Al Sharptons.  This woman was so far off the reservation that I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing/cringing/yelling.  Apparently there are two types of people living today: missionaries for Christ and partying sinners.  No gray area with this person, so I just kept my mouth shut and moved on.  She said some other pretty interesting stuff that probably isn't fit for print.  We also ran into a more docile pair of bikers who were going across the country in the opposite direction.  It was much more fun talking to them.  

We ended the evening with a little square dancing at a local bar in DuBois, which was a blast.  Very few of us knew what we were doing, but we had a great time making fools of ourselves.  We actually started to get the hang of it towards the end.  Also, I got a Fat Tire for the first time in several years; like a little taste of home.

Other than that, both Lander and DuBois have made my list of favorite towns in the United States.  Very neat places to spend time, and lots of hiking and recreational activities to do.  Anyway, hope you all are doing well and I'll talk to you soon.  Big day tomorrow!

Great Build Day

Hey group, hope all is well with you.  Lots of events over the last few days:

(1) We had a big scare a few days ago when Shawn was hit by a car about 10 miles outside of Lusk, WY early in the morning.  He is okay, sustaining minor bruises and some scrapes.  Thankfully no broken bones or major traumas.  The ambulance came and we were all pretty worried, but he was joking around before leaving the scene and we were pretty sure he was okay.  His bike, on the other hand, suffered major damage.  Shawn put a lot of time and effort into his bike, particularly his frame (he welded the steel together himself), so that was really disappointing.  Better the bike than him though.  He's in the van for the next few days until he heals and we figure out how to get him a new bike.  He's in good spirits though, so that's great.  As for the woman who hit him, I didn't see the accident, but apparently she just didn't see him as she was turning left into an intersection.  I guess she was pretty shaken up about it.  In the end, no long-term damage done.

(2) We came into Casper, WY yesterday after a nice 60-mile day.  We had a 10-mile detour to a natural rock bridge formation that we really enjoyed, with some great scenery to make the ride go quickly.  The best part of the day, however, was pulling into the Casper Best Western for a two-night stay at a hotel.  The Casper Habitat chapter apparently swung some discounts and put us up for the weekend in these rooms.  We are all very happy to be sleeping in beds for 2 nights.  

(3) The build day today was quite fruitful.  We moved two already build sheds into permanent position behind two houses, laid sod in the backyard, and began installing fencing around the house.  Normally we complete tasks too quickly for these chapters to keep 32 people busy for the full day, but we were moving around for most of the day with something to do.  That was really nice.  Certainly my favorite build day so far.  

Otherwise, just pedaling and pedaling.  I got to talk to Aaron yesterday and Schirmer today, great to hear their voices.  Hopefully I can hit up some more friends soon.  Thanks to Mom/Dad, Grandma/Grandpa, and Claire for the mail drop letters and goodies the other day, I really enjoyed reading/eating them.  Talk to you guys soon!

Great Day, Finally Into the West

I had my parents bring my computer to Chadron for their visit, so I now have more access to the 'net.  I want to make sure it doesn't consume me, but at least I have more consistent access in case I need it.  Anyway...

I wanted to write about today because it was one of my favorite of the trip thus far.  We had a fantastic ride from Chadron, NE to Lusk, WY.  We are now officially in the west; I feel like I'm home.  It started with the parents coming to see us off, which was nice.  I enjoyed how a fair amount of the riders were genuinely interested in meeting them.  That was really cool and spoke to the character of the people I'm riding with.

We had great weather from the start and used that to set a quick pace, about 15-17 mph for the first hour plus.  I spent most of the morning riding with Eileen, and then we caught up with Susanna and rode into Harrison together.  Outside of Harrison was Fort Robinson, a key army outpost operational from the 1860s until after WW2.  Susanna and I ventured into the Fort Robinson Museum while a bunch of other folks took in the Geological museum across the street.  The museum's depiction of the Army-Native American relationship was a little shady, but I enjoyed reading about how the fort was used to house German POWs during WW2.  

Right after Fort Robinson we had a steady 3-4 mile hill to climb that put us on top of a butte.  We had a great view once on top of the climb and took some neat pictures (which I'll upload eventually).  From there we had an easy coast to lunch, where donated Subway and pulled pork sandwiches greeted us (Ballah!!!).

The afternoon was just as eventful, mostly due to a very impressive rock formation that about 25 of us climbed in our cycling cleats (that was a bit of a challenge) and then the Wyoming state line.  Our final approach to Lusk was relaxing and beautiful; no cars and good roads.

As I was climbing a small hill this afternoon, I realized that in the east and the midwest, you know what type of scene you are going to face when you crest a hill: rolling hills and farmland. In the west, you have no idea.  Sure enough, right on top of that hill we had our first mountains in the distance.  I had to pump my fist when I saw that. 

We have a big week coming up after our build day in Casper.  Teton Pass is looming...