Battle of the Bulge

We left Sunday morning under beautiful sunny blue skies. After 9 miles of slight headwind, gentle rolling terrain and serene scenery our idealic ride took a change. Chris noted a clicking sound from my bike as we were coming down a hill. No big deal, we stopped, checked the obvious and then saw " the Bulge" on my rear tire, same wheel we had just had replaced. We were 9 miles out, we tried rearranging my load snd letting some air out of the tire, but the weight of riding made the bulge worse, so we started walking back. Several riders stopped, but really could do nothing other than offering verbal support. BUT to our good fortune, one rider came back with his truck after we had walked our bikes 3 1/2 miles and drove us the rest of the way back to Whitefish. We will be off to the bike shop momentarily to hopefully get a replacement tire.

Pit Stop: Whitefish, MT

What a week it has been and what wonders can be accomplished with a credit card! We had some work done on our bikes at ashop in Sandpoint so we thought we were in good shape heading out for Montana... We had some rainy spells and some great campsites and we headed north along the Bull River. We saw a black bear cross the road about 200 feet ahead of us. He just ambled along his way and probably didn't know we were there. Meanwhile I'm noticing that while climbing hills I drop down to first gear sooner (or more often) than expected. Then, while taking a snak break, we see another bear, brown in color, cross the road about 150 feet in front of us. Bears dont see very well but they have a great sense of smell. He was downwind of us and I was eating peanut butter & bread. He paused, sniffed the air, took a step and looked toward us then ambled on his way. We packed up and moved on. Im pretty sure he was a black bear. Nancy was pretty sure she was going to buy bear spray at the next town. That afternoon we made it to Libby, MT, and camped in the city park. NF got bear spray and I counted the teeth on my new cassette (the gears on the rear wheel). Long story, shortish, through miscommunication or malfeasence my 34-11 got replaced with a 32-11 (translation: my lowest gear was not so low any more). AND I had a disconserting clicking while climbing. We met other bikers...we saw awesome country...we sweated...we got wet. We biked up the east side of Lake Koocanusa and camped at an amazing USFS campground with only 2 RVs. It was so quiet...except for the birds and, for a while, the generator of the "camp host." Meanwhile, NFs brakes are getting worse. She had a cable replaced in Sandpoint but now her breaks are going thunk, thunk, or as she says, like catch and release. So eventually we make it to Whitefish, MT...I guess that was yesterday. We get a campsite at the state park and ride into town to visit the bike shop. Do they have a 34-11? Well, they have 4 models to choose from. This is a great bike shop! Whitefish is at the junction of the Northern Tier bike route ( thats us, coast to coast) and the continential divide bike route. They sell me the cassette, install it for free, and remedy the clicking. I figured Nancys breaking issue was a wheel out of true and a decent mechanic could remedy that in a few minutes. Not so. This was more like one mechanic saying to another, hey, have you ever seen this?!? The rim was bulged out and would have to be replaced. And we have 20-inch wheels which are not standard and this was a Friday afternoon. After going through some options with the wise and kind mechanic, Nancy called Bike Friday the folks in Eugene, OR, who manufactured our bikes. After some back and forth and some call backs she arranged for BF to send a new wheel to the bike shop by Fed Ex Express. The mechanic was skeptical, they never get Fed Ex on Saturday...but if it arrives they would call us and get us road ready. The state park was great but the train went by about 5 times during the night about 150 feet from our tent. Today we moved to a hotel, the wheel came in, they changed out the reusable parts, adjusted everything, and charged us $18!!!!! Nancy gave them a tip. This evening there was a thunderstorm. We really enjoyed Whitefish but tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park. Our plan is to have 2 short days then ride over Logan Pass / Going to the Sun highway....the biggest, baddest pass of our route. That is the continential divide and we will be over the rockies and on to the great plains....we'll see.

Across state line

I'm sitting in our tent with light showers, i'm toasty with my down bag on my legs and my down booties on my feet. We have crossed two state lines - WA & ID We did two 60 mile days and made it to Sandpoint last Friday. We stayed with wonderful friends- my good friend Maries brother and sister inlaw - Faye & Mark. F & M rock!!!!! They are the best to stay with, its like going to a fancy inn for the weekend. Faye is an incredible cook and we have gourmet meals each evening. It feels like visiting family. How lucky we are to have such good away friends. One of the interesting aspects besides faye's lawn artwork she creates and mark's craftsmqnship is the dogs. They have two dogs but several neighborhood dogs always there, it seems like doggie daycare, only the dogs self refer themselves. We had 2 good weather days of riding, yesterday was a mixture of sunshine and forboding dark clouds all day. It finally started rainy at dinner and continued through the night. We had a break when we were packing up, but the rains soon returned, i called for a very early quitting day, but the skies lightened up, we had a beautiul stretch of country road and we pedalled to our next campsite on the Bull River this afternoon. I love riding, being outdoors, smelling my our environment, seeing new sites, being in the tent snuggled in my sleeping bag, but i will be happier when summer comes and we have warm weather and sunny skies, the rain and cold are tiring! Snipets: The campground host commented that we were much older than most of the bicyclist that come through here. I guess we can take that as a compliment. Dogs: we had some scary enounters with dogs, i'm practicing the different techniques recommended. It was hard to feel confident when the pair of dogs came out on each side at the same time or the pitbull with full bark and teeth gleeming, luckily they all backed off, must of have been my commanding voice telling them to go home. Those scary incidents occured riding through an Indian Reservation. I think i will try and avoid them when we can.

From the sea...to Sherman

Sherman Pass, that is! Yesterday we went over the fourth and final big pass in Washington. We huffed and puffed up 3000 feet then zoomed down 4000 feet...quite a bit of rain but not too bad over all. The descent was fun, not scary steep, though my hands were getting numb so I had to stop before they stopped working. The best part of the ride down was watching Nancy ahead of me. In addition to her cool color scheme - lime high vis vest, purple wind jacket, and orange paniers (saddle bags) - she is a competent rider and seeing her in the context of the forested mountain road added scale and perspective to the scene. Our map says we have covered about 340 miles of the route since the coast but my bike computer which also tracks our canoodling around to campsites, stores, and the occasional missed turn has us at 380 miles. We are now in Colville, WA, taking a combo rest and weather day. Yesterday after coming down from the pass we crossed Roosevelt Lake which is the part of the Columbia River that is backed up by the Grand Coolee Dam. Yesterday evening there was a big lightening storm (well, big for us) and more was predicted for today so we are taking a day off to recover and we are expecting better conditions tomorrow.

It gets better!

Saturday we left the lovely haven of Methow Valley Inn to conquere our next pass - Loup Loup pass. Skies were gray, slight wind, but we were ready for the challenge. We made it up to the pass in two snd half hours, no rsin and occ shot of sun. A couple of "young" touring cyclist also summitted, but they zoomed past us on the way down. If we had all started at the same time they would have zoomed past us on the way up too. We aren't fast, but steady! We camped at the Stampeded Fairgrounds in Omak WA. The camping was great, parts of Omak may have seen better days in their past though. For the first time on our trip, we woke up to real sunny, warm weather today, what a treat! We had sn ambious day planned but as with all great plans we changed them, our legs and butts were not up for another long pass crossing as we noted while riding this morning. There was no camping noted on our map so we headed to the visitors info center for motel recommendations in Tonasket WA and to our surprise the visitors info center was developing bicycle camping "for free!" behind their building and invited us to stay there, they also shared there was another "bicycle camping" offer up the road as well. We will have to let thefolks know at Adventure Cycling of the updates. This is the best spot for tomorrows climb, we'll hit the climb as soon as we exit town. We met another cyclist and will meet up with him later this afternoon to share stories. This truely is an adventure you never know when you will have a stroke of luck, we've been doing well for the unexpected delights! Just a smidget on Tonasket- it is a combination of cowboys, old hippies, organics,& artists and according to the visitor info person a community that works together. The visitor info center is all volunteere, they host monthly art exhibits by local artisians. This month is woodworking, from what is on show there are a lot of talented community members. The visitor info person has really gone out of her way to make our stay as pleasant as possible. Koodos for Tonasket!

A Simple Twisp of Fate

This blog is not exactly chronological so let me recap a few days...Tuesday started rainy and cold so we took a weather day. Our objective was 5500 foot Washington Pass and if it was rainy where we were, it was snowing up in the pass. North Cascades National Park has long held a fashionation for me but Tuesday was a bit dreary. The trees were massive and mossy but we were wearing all our clothes and were still not exactly toasty! We did succeed in reducing the weight of our food supply, fended off cheeky chipmunks, and took a couple of nice walks in the almost deserted campground. No cell reception. Wednesday we were up early, excited and a bit anxious, and were on the road by 7. We guessed we had about 6000 feet of climbing to do in 33 miles then it would be all down hill to the first town. The first grade was a real grinder and after 45 minutes I was starting to think that maybe we were not in good enough shape for the loads we had. Things eased a bit but it was windy and we had to balance the heat we produced by working so hard, the layers were were wearing, and the heat loss from the wind. I think we saw one car in the first hour. After an hour we started seeing snow along the road. It was wild, raw country. Massive granite cliffs and spires, huge waterfalls, and giant avalanche chutes. In many places it was obvious that it had taken a lot of effort to open up the road in April. We made good progress, took a lot of short breaks, and made it to the top by about 1:30. We had a real sense of accomplishment! The descent was really steep so we took quite a few breaks there as well. We stopped in the first little town (Mazama) to get coffee to warm up then continued to a biker only campground. This nice guy wants to support bicycle touring so he lets bikers camp on his property. He has a new composting toilet and an outdoor shower and a picnic table. We cooked up and ate a big meal and got a good night of sleep. In the morning there was sun on the mountains and frost on the tent. By the time we had eaten and packed up it had warmed up and was just starting to rain. Jim said we could stay in the barn if we wanted but we figured as long as we were packed we should make some forward progress. It poured and we set an all-time distance record for loaded touring, for us: 18 miles! (that would be the shortest distance we have covered in a day). We ended up at a very nice inn in the town of Twisp...so nice we doubted that they would want to take in a couple of dripping, drowned-rat bikers! We were wrong; they were very welcoming. AND, a friend of the innkeeper rescued a couple of bikers off the pass that we had crossed the day before (they were stopped by snow and fog) so we got to meet a couple of experienced, but perhaps not so lucky or patient, bikers. We spent today (friday) exploring the Methow Valley and tomorrow we plan to go over Loup Loup pass. There are two more passes after that but we have the biggest one behind us and the weather is supposed to get better...we'll see!

Rain

Well we know why the Pacific Northwest is so green and vibrant- it gets a lot of rain and we have had first hand experience. Its rained everyday but today since we started. We had a giant pass to ride today (biggest of all 5 passes in this area) and we waited out yesterday for a better forecast - it was cloudy, overcast and definitely not too hot (lots of snow up top to keep us cool), but no rain. We've also learned that it is unseasonabily colder than usual - that does not make me happy, but we love riding and are making the best of it; my silk liner for my sleeping bag is getting nightly usage! As always seeing snd experiencing the environment is one of the many wonders of bicycle travel that we really enjoy. We have another opportunity to see the sights at a slow pace as we climb up loup loup pass tommorow but we only climb 2500 feet before we get to zoom downhill. Today we had about 25 miles of downhill zooming!

Get your (human) motors running...

...head out on the highway, Searching for adventure, In whatever comes your way... What a great day! Anacortes (named for an early settler, Anna Curtis) is a little sea-side town with a history of timber, fishing, but now the state ferry and oil refining are a bigger part of the economy. Reminds us of Seward. We wobbled out of the hotel parking lot, a bit overloaded but well-provisioned; we plan to eat our way to a reasonable load! Soon we were on a bike trail along a misty bay. Costumed riders headed toward a festival in town as we made our way toward the East. A sign warned of bicycle tire hazard from broken shells on the trail. From the looks of the shells and the crab parts I think gulls drop mollusks on the trail and eat the soft parts. After some navigating on back roads we turned onto the highway (Route 20 which we will follow or parallel for the next week or so. BTW, I grew up one block from Rt 20 in Massachusetts; we called it "Westfield Street") and the gentle mist turned to a downpour. We got a bit confused about how to navigate a BIG bridge but we able to consult with some local bikers (on carbon fiber road bikes). So where are you headed? one asked. "Maine". On those?!? We are riding our "Bike Fridays", which have 20-inch wheels and can fold up into a suitcase. They look odd but are good touring bikes. The rain continued on and off, the route left the highway to follow a gravel trail through a wildlife refuge. The Northwest is so green and the flowers, especially the rhododendrums, are so vibrant! We did about 30 miles today and it was pouring as we sloshed into Sedro-Wooley so we grabbed another hotel. Roughing it? Perhaps not. Having a blast? ABSOLUTELY!

The Start

Its day one of the bike adventure! After a week in Seattle getting ready, visiting with family we are at the start of our odyssey. My brother drove us to Antecortis WA today and dropped us off at a motel where we are spending the night. We thought it would be easier to spend a dry evening - it's quiet rainy at the moment! We decided to ride the start this afternoon and continue from out motel tomorrow. It feels good to be starting, but it was sad to say goodbye to family and a little unnerving when my brother drove away with the car. Rain is in the forecast hopefully misty versus downpours!!!