Whereas my previous entries described only bits and segments of my trip, this one will be styled a bit different. There will be no long and never ending paragraphs, so for those of you with short attention spans, as well as everyone else, I hope this serves as a treat.
Starting point: Deming NM-its about the closest town to the border you can find. Sure I would have loved to start at the mexican border, but I wasn't about to bike through 100 miles of thorn ridden desert to do so.
End point: Rooseville, Canadian Border. I'm a little disappointed I didn't make it all the way to Banff in the Canadian rockies as I had hoped. Time as well as money was running out. Maybe for another time.
Total distance traveled: ~2500 miles, an average of a little more that 60 a day
Most distance covered: This one is hard to pinpoint since my odometer wasn't working most of the trip. I did have 4 days were I covered over 80 miles. It was probably day 28 when I went from Yellowstone NP all the way to Ennis MT, 85 miles in total.
Longest biking day: Day 12-Grayback mtn to Rio Grande National Forest. Started riding at about 5:45 am and stopped around 8:30 pm. I did take many long breaks during the day including one from 9-11:30 am and many more in the afternoon. Needless to say, I fell asleep as soon as I got in my sleeping bag that night and slept for 12 hours straight.
Hardest day: Day 22-Great Basin to Great Basin. Rode from 8:30 am to 9 pm. The elevation changes weren't too bad, no long climbs, just rolling hills. The wind however was anything but a stiff breeze. It blew all day and night, the fact that it was a headwind 80% of the time helped little. Combine the wind with a hard set of directions to follow, a tire that I have to repair with duct tape and the nearest town being 30 miles away; It all made for one tough day. To my credit I did ride slightly over 80 miles that day.
Rainiest Day: Day 38-Ford Work Center to Eureka. Right at sunset the night before it started to rain. The rain, though with various intensity, fell all night. The tent and sleeping bag stayed somewhat dry, dry enough that when I woke up I really didn't want to go outside. It rained all morning only stopping at 4 in the afternoon; at which point Julien and I called it quits and got a motel room for the night. We were both soaked through to the bone.
Coldest Day: Day 11- Grayback mountain. Caught in a snowstorm. Temperature falls to 10 degrees. Shivering in a sleeping bag with all my clothes on. I woke up with all my water bottles and pop tarts frozen stiff. Need I say more? I did snap some nice photos at sunrise.
Most "I want to quit day": Day 17- Breckenridge to Kremmling CO. The bike was having some problems early on, the weather in the morning was cold and it was raining out. I followed the trail which strayed off the main road to go over Ute Pass as 9500 ft. Cleared the pass only to be greeted by a fierce rainstorm which lasted 3 hours. This wasn't even a rainstorm, it was more akin to a deluge or biblical flood. One car that passed me even stopped to ask if I needed a ride, which I denied. After 4 hours and more than 30 miles, I rejoined the main road which I was on in the morning. The distance from where I left the main road to where I rejoined it (as indicated by the mile markers) was only 20 miles. Had I stayed on the main road I would have covered that distance in less than 2 hours through a slight drizzle. But going on detours is half the fun right?
Worst Bike breakdown: Day 37- Broke my rear gear shifter. Duct tape won't even fix that one. Fortunately I was only 10 miles away from a bike store and got on the road again by the afternoon. I saved the mangled gear shifter.
Muddiest road: Day 9- Near Hopewell lake NM. Mud a good 6-8 inches deep. A couple pickup trucks attempted to pass through the road, all made it with extreme difficulty. I made it through with a lot of time and patience. Managed to cover 1 mile in 2 hours, fun. The trick to moving through is to push the bike through the puddles since there usually is gravel at the bottom. Its messy and sloppy, but on the Divide, what isn't?
Longest Climb: Marshall Pass CO-18 miles of uphill, I started at about 8,500 ft and ended up at 10,800 ft. The climb itself wasn't bad, road wasn't too steep and weather was good. After 2.5 hours of climbing though, you're ready to go downhill.
Biggest elevation change: Coming out of Salida CO-Salida was stuck in a valley at about 7,000 ft, and in 10 miles I was back at 10,000 ft. Hard work on the legs, but a scenic view of the famed "Collegiate Peaks".
Steepest Descent: Outside Helena MT-This was a single track that was nearly impossible to find through the maze of forest roads and 2 tracks. Very steep on a narrow trail with lots of rocks and roots. The descent effectively knocked out what was left of my brakes.
Best "in the zone" moment: Outside Ennis MT. The sun was setting. Sky was clear for the first time in 2 weeks. Bike was working well (for the moment). Road was flat. Kicked it into high gear and averaged 20 mph for 45 minutes.
Prettiest state: All where pretty in their own respect but as far as scenery go, Montana takes the cake.
Least prettiest state: Wyoming, empty, windy, dry, been there done that.
Best restaurant experience: Daylight Donuts in Breckenridge CO. Their biscuits in Gravy and prices are hard to be beat...and their doughnuts are something else.
Worst restaurant experience: Bulldog's in Whitefish MT. The establishement isn't a bad one, I just ordered wrong. Had a pork sandwich, which served as an eerie reminderof my high school's cafeteria mystery meat on toast.
Most Charming Town: Ennis MT. Charming with a historic feeling yet it didn't seem like a touristy town.
Most touristy, high end town: Breckenridge CO, this town just smells of trust funds and high end condominiums.
Best Hotel experience: Fireside Inn, Breckenridge CO. A hostel for $28 is a gift in this town (see above) it had a cozy family room too for all the guests' enjoyment with a TV, newspapers and a nice reading selection. Continental breakfast included.
Worst Hotel: Kremmling CO. I shouldn't rant about this place too much, don't expect the moon when you pay $20 for a room.
Number of nights Spent in:
hotel/motel/hostel: 6
RV parks: 3
Established Campgrounds: 3
Roughin' it on a patch of grass: 28
Number of showers taken in 41 days:
7
Bike Breakdowns:
Flats-a couple, don't really remember
Tires-Tore both the front and the back
Brakes-Had to get them replaced, and definitly should have replaced them sooner
Gears-Broke the gear shifter, had to get a new cable, going to need a new set of gears on the back wheel
Chain-chain is damaged, need a new chain too.
Back Rack-It broke in Helena, had to get a entirely new one
10 things to Remember for future bike trips:
1. Don't try to ride this trail on a bike from Wal-Mart or Sports Authority. It will break down very fast. Within 3 days of riding on his $300 bikes Julien was already breaking spokes on his back wheel. If you're going to do any sort of bike packing expect to spend at least $1000 on a bike
2.Pack at least 3 inner tubes. If you're unlucky as I was you'll run out quickly and thats never a good position to be in.
3.Don't pack too many clothes. In fact pack as little as you need. Pack 2 shirts (one t-shirt and one long sleeve), bike shorts, regular shorts, raingear and a fleece. Clothes get dirty really fast, so its no use trying to pack too many, they take up too much space. You get used to being dirty really fast.
*I went through a 6 day period without ever taking off my shirt. Gross, I know.
4.Make sure your back rack is well attached and doesn't come anywhere near your backwheel. In addition, get a durable one made for hauling lots of gear. When you carry 30-40 pounds of gear, you need a strong and durable one.
5.Oil your chain. A lot of gear problems I had in the end stemmed from the fact that I didn't oil my chain nearly enough. Don't use WD-40 either, use actual bike oil.
6.Make sure you have a good properly calibrated odometer, preferably one that's water resistant; It makes following the map directions A LOT easier.
7.Don't try and save money by getting cheap raingear. The jacket I bought for $40 clearly showed why it only costs $40 by the end of the trip. The seams were weakly stitched and allowed water to seep in. I won't even talk about the pants...The last thing you want is to be riding through a rainstorm soaked from head to toe.
8.PB&J and pop tarts make a great food combination for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Powerbars, Clif bars and such things are great, but they will sure drain your wallet very fast.
9.Plan for some rest days. Riding day in and day out for 40 days is demanding, 1 rest day for every 2 weeks would be good.
10.Ride with a buddy. The entire experience was great both the part alone and the part with Julien. But its always nice to have someone to talk to during dinner and someone to argue with when you're lost at the top of a mountain.
That being said, to all my readers out there this will be my last blog post about this 2,500 mile Odyssey. It is an experience I will not forget anytime soon, and one with which I have no regrets about. I am sure this isn't the last of my bikepacking trips, but it will surely be the most memorable as it was my first.
To everyone out there tinkering with the thought of doing something of this nature, definitly do it. Training isn't really necessary, you can train on the beginning days of the ride and the experience is unforgettable.
Happy Trails
Clem
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The last few days
After leaving Big Fork MT, I started making my way North towards Columbia Falls, Whitefish and *gasp* Canada. Turns out I didn't do such great of a job of bandaging the tire as the tape gave after about 20 miles. I could feel something was wrong as once again I felt the tire was hitting the frame; but foolishly I kept on riding. I was forced to stop when I heard a pop about as loud as a gunshot when I instantly knew...I had just blown out my inner tube. Changed the tube and once again taped the tire and got going in about 30 minutes.
I set out the next day with only 20 more miles to whitefish, where I could finally find a bike shop and get a replacement tire which I sorely needed. However I would be beleaguered by yet another breakdown only 10 miles from whitefish. In the morning, the tape was coming undone again, but I fixed that really quickly, not wanting a repeat of the previous day's incident. However, while changing gears in preparation from the upcoming hill everything went wrong. The gears refused to change and I heard a lot metallic noise of something hitting the spokes on the back wheel. I stopped immediately only to see that my gear shifter, or derailleur if you will, was stuck in the spokes contorted out of position. When I went to remove it from the spokes it snapped off. Without this part, the bike is as good as worthless, from a riding standpoint anyways.
Despite this precarious situation, my luck wasn't all that bad. I was on somewhat of a busy road only 10 miles away from repairs, which considering the places where I've been, is a pretty fortunate spot to breakdown in. In addition, a passerby stopped in his pickup to see what was going on. Julien asked him if he could give us a ride to whitefish, he instead said "well whats wrong with your bike?" so we showed him the broken shifter and he said "broke your derailleur eh? what is that a shinamo XT derailleur? let me run home and see if I've got a spare one". He turned around and showed up 5 minutes later with a derailleur and some tools. He sold me the derailleur for 25 bucks and straightened out part of the bike frame. I managed to mount the shifter succesfully (something with which I was pleasently suprised) but couldn't attach the cable succesfully, and I had knocked a brake pad loose in the process and had no clue of how to put it back in. We caught our second break of the day when another car stopped and said "you guys need help? I passed you half an hour ago and you're still in the same spot". So we asked him for a ride to whitefish...which he gave us.
At the bike shop the guy properly put in the derailleur and fixed the brakes, and yes, I got a new tire too. However he showed me that the bike had 2 other problems: the chain was crooked and the gears were worn down. He said he could fix everything but that would be a bit pricy and take some more time. Then he said, "but since you guys aren't doing too much more distance...you'll probably be fine, the gears aren't going to shift well and you can't strain the chain too much, so if you have a steep uphill, you'll have to push the bike". We left whitefish around 4 pm and covered pretty good distance, a lot of which was uphill, but then our progress was stalled when we hit the last part of Red Meadow pass. The grade steepened and the chain would just slide right over the worn down gears whenever I pushed hard. So I had to push the bike for the last 1.5 mile of uphill. Fortunately it was a dirt road so no one besides my brother had to see me take the walk of shame.
Made it over Red Meadow pass and back down into the next valley by nightfall when the sky just opened up and rain started falling. It fell all night and we packed up extremely wet tents in the morning, the temperature hovering around 50 degrees did little too help either. That morning we climbed the whitefish divide, the last pass on the trip. The climb itself, though in the pouring rain wasn't bad. It wasn't too steep so I didn't have any gear problems and it was only 10 miles. The real hardships came during the descent. Contrary to what we had hoped, the rain didn't stop once we got to the other side of the mountain, it intensified. Furthermore, we had a 14 mile descent ahead of us. We both reached the end of it in a state of hypethermic shock, but by the end it had stopped raining and we were able to warm up a bit by pedalling to the next town where we got a motel and called it quits for the day.
After warming up and getting a good night's sleep, we set out for the border, now only 8 miles away. Went across, took some pics, got some postcards, and went back. I didn't have too many problems with my lack of a greencard, just a good stern talking to by the U.S. immigration officer. It was probably the most exiting thing happening all day. After the Border we pedalled back towards kalispell by the main road which was a little less than 80 miles away. On the way back we averaged a speedy 13 mph average.
Camped out near Kalispell, went to a UPS store in the morning to ship the bikes back. Went to the airport and after a connection, delays and a car ride, finally made it back to Basking Ridge NJ. How sweet it is.
I'll have another entry in the next few days reviewing the trip, but this is it for now. Time to go unpack, clean out the tent and finally spend a day without getting up, getting on the bike and pedalling...its been a while.
I set out the next day with only 20 more miles to whitefish, where I could finally find a bike shop and get a replacement tire which I sorely needed. However I would be beleaguered by yet another breakdown only 10 miles from whitefish. In the morning, the tape was coming undone again, but I fixed that really quickly, not wanting a repeat of the previous day's incident. However, while changing gears in preparation from the upcoming hill everything went wrong. The gears refused to change and I heard a lot metallic noise of something hitting the spokes on the back wheel. I stopped immediately only to see that my gear shifter, or derailleur if you will, was stuck in the spokes contorted out of position. When I went to remove it from the spokes it snapped off. Without this part, the bike is as good as worthless, from a riding standpoint anyways.
Despite this precarious situation, my luck wasn't all that bad. I was on somewhat of a busy road only 10 miles away from repairs, which considering the places where I've been, is a pretty fortunate spot to breakdown in. In addition, a passerby stopped in his pickup to see what was going on. Julien asked him if he could give us a ride to whitefish, he instead said "well whats wrong with your bike?" so we showed him the broken shifter and he said "broke your derailleur eh? what is that a shinamo XT derailleur? let me run home and see if I've got a spare one". He turned around and showed up 5 minutes later with a derailleur and some tools. He sold me the derailleur for 25 bucks and straightened out part of the bike frame. I managed to mount the shifter succesfully (something with which I was pleasently suprised) but couldn't attach the cable succesfully, and I had knocked a brake pad loose in the process and had no clue of how to put it back in. We caught our second break of the day when another car stopped and said "you guys need help? I passed you half an hour ago and you're still in the same spot". So we asked him for a ride to whitefish...which he gave us.
At the bike shop the guy properly put in the derailleur and fixed the brakes, and yes, I got a new tire too. However he showed me that the bike had 2 other problems: the chain was crooked and the gears were worn down. He said he could fix everything but that would be a bit pricy and take some more time. Then he said, "but since you guys aren't doing too much more distance...you'll probably be fine, the gears aren't going to shift well and you can't strain the chain too much, so if you have a steep uphill, you'll have to push the bike". We left whitefish around 4 pm and covered pretty good distance, a lot of which was uphill, but then our progress was stalled when we hit the last part of Red Meadow pass. The grade steepened and the chain would just slide right over the worn down gears whenever I pushed hard. So I had to push the bike for the last 1.5 mile of uphill. Fortunately it was a dirt road so no one besides my brother had to see me take the walk of shame.
Made it over Red Meadow pass and back down into the next valley by nightfall when the sky just opened up and rain started falling. It fell all night and we packed up extremely wet tents in the morning, the temperature hovering around 50 degrees did little too help either. That morning we climbed the whitefish divide, the last pass on the trip. The climb itself, though in the pouring rain wasn't bad. It wasn't too steep so I didn't have any gear problems and it was only 10 miles. The real hardships came during the descent. Contrary to what we had hoped, the rain didn't stop once we got to the other side of the mountain, it intensified. Furthermore, we had a 14 mile descent ahead of us. We both reached the end of it in a state of hypethermic shock, but by the end it had stopped raining and we were able to warm up a bit by pedalling to the next town where we got a motel and called it quits for the day.
After warming up and getting a good night's sleep, we set out for the border, now only 8 miles away. Went across, took some pics, got some postcards, and went back. I didn't have too many problems with my lack of a greencard, just a good stern talking to by the U.S. immigration officer. It was probably the most exiting thing happening all day. After the Border we pedalled back towards kalispell by the main road which was a little less than 80 miles away. On the way back we averaged a speedy 13 mph average.
Camped out near Kalispell, went to a UPS store in the morning to ship the bikes back. Went to the airport and after a connection, delays and a car ride, finally made it back to Basking Ridge NJ. How sweet it is.
I'll have another entry in the next few days reviewing the trip, but this is it for now. Time to go unpack, clean out the tent and finally spend a day without getting up, getting on the bike and pedalling...its been a while.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Lightning strikes twice
Typing this from Big Fork MT, only 140 more miles until my endpoint in Canada. Lots has happened since Butte.
After leaving Butte, Julien started having problems with his luggage rack. Problems as in, screws holding it in place had loosened eventually fell out making the rack impede the rotation of the back tire. With a lot of rope, the remainder of the duct tape and some creativity we fixed the problem. After that, some spokes on his back wheel broke. The bike could still go on, but its never a smart idea to continue with broken spokes.
Thus far, his bike was the only ones having problems, mine was still rock solid, though my brakes were getting very very worn, and every downhill was a concern for me. After a rough downhill, I noticed, or rather heard, my own luggage rack rubbing against the tire. I wasn't too concerned at first because it has done so before when the weight was distributed unevenly or after doing a lot of side to side up a hill. So I stopped, re-arranged the bags, re-centered the rack and continued. Whereas in the past this would have sufficed, I now noticed that the rack kept hitting the tire on one side no matter what I did. There was obviously a problem but I just rode on. By evening, when we stopped for dinner, I noticed that one of the attachements to the frame was completely broken. Not a good thing. In addition, the odometer hadn't been working for a couple days which led to a couple "detours" one of them lasting a good 2 hours.
With both our bikes in serious need of repair, the only feasible option at that point was to head off the trail to Helena, which fortunately was only 20 miles away. Julien's bike was in good enough condition that he could ride it there. Mine wasn't really rideable...so, I reverted to hitching a ride; which this time took a while, because cars only came on the road I was on every 15 minutes or so. I ended up catching a ride a worker in his electrical truck, very nice person. He told me stories about all his hunting expeditions, all the places and jobs he had worked, the history of montana, Butte, Helena, worker unions. He liked to talk; had a montana accent too. When we got to Helena, it was about 10:30pm, he dropped me off in front of the bike shop, told me there was a church nearby where I could camp out for the night. Then he gave me two rolls of electrical tape and a $10 bill and said "hopefully someday you'll also be able to help someone". I was pretty much speechless.
I was able to meet up with Julien and we both got our bikes fixed the next morning. He got a brand new back wheel, a stronger, better one than the previous one. I got a new luggage rack, new odometer, and new brake pads, which apparently I had been in dire need of, as the old pads had been worn so much, that had I kept using them, not only would I have needed new pads, but also new discs as the discs were starting to get damaged.
We left Helena, and apart from a intense rain storm made good progress. The next day started off well but an hour into to ride my back tire started to make noise. I stopped to check it out, and it was going the way of the front tire. It had ripped and the inner tube was leaking out. Before this trip I had never seen a ripped tire; in a period of 2 weeks I incurred 2 of them. Lightning does strike twice. With some electrical tape I was able to fix the tire until the next town which was in 20 miles. At that town I got some duct tape to re-bandage it. So far its held up 130 miles. After I'm done typing this I'm going to re-tape the tire again so it can last another 40 miles to whitefish where I'll be able to get a new tire. I do get a lot of strange looks when people see a third or my backwheel covered in duct tape, but it's done the job so far.
140 miles to the border...keep on pedallin'
After leaving Butte, Julien started having problems with his luggage rack. Problems as in, screws holding it in place had loosened eventually fell out making the rack impede the rotation of the back tire. With a lot of rope, the remainder of the duct tape and some creativity we fixed the problem. After that, some spokes on his back wheel broke. The bike could still go on, but its never a smart idea to continue with broken spokes.
Thus far, his bike was the only ones having problems, mine was still rock solid, though my brakes were getting very very worn, and every downhill was a concern for me. After a rough downhill, I noticed, or rather heard, my own luggage rack rubbing against the tire. I wasn't too concerned at first because it has done so before when the weight was distributed unevenly or after doing a lot of side to side up a hill. So I stopped, re-arranged the bags, re-centered the rack and continued. Whereas in the past this would have sufficed, I now noticed that the rack kept hitting the tire on one side no matter what I did. There was obviously a problem but I just rode on. By evening, when we stopped for dinner, I noticed that one of the attachements to the frame was completely broken. Not a good thing. In addition, the odometer hadn't been working for a couple days which led to a couple "detours" one of them lasting a good 2 hours.
With both our bikes in serious need of repair, the only feasible option at that point was to head off the trail to Helena, which fortunately was only 20 miles away. Julien's bike was in good enough condition that he could ride it there. Mine wasn't really rideable...so, I reverted to hitching a ride; which this time took a while, because cars only came on the road I was on every 15 minutes or so. I ended up catching a ride a worker in his electrical truck, very nice person. He told me stories about all his hunting expeditions, all the places and jobs he had worked, the history of montana, Butte, Helena, worker unions. He liked to talk; had a montana accent too. When we got to Helena, it was about 10:30pm, he dropped me off in front of the bike shop, told me there was a church nearby where I could camp out for the night. Then he gave me two rolls of electrical tape and a $10 bill and said "hopefully someday you'll also be able to help someone". I was pretty much speechless.
I was able to meet up with Julien and we both got our bikes fixed the next morning. He got a brand new back wheel, a stronger, better one than the previous one. I got a new luggage rack, new odometer, and new brake pads, which apparently I had been in dire need of, as the old pads had been worn so much, that had I kept using them, not only would I have needed new pads, but also new discs as the discs were starting to get damaged.
We left Helena, and apart from a intense rain storm made good progress. The next day started off well but an hour into to ride my back tire started to make noise. I stopped to check it out, and it was going the way of the front tire. It had ripped and the inner tube was leaking out. Before this trip I had never seen a ripped tire; in a period of 2 weeks I incurred 2 of them. Lightning does strike twice. With some electrical tape I was able to fix the tire until the next town which was in 20 miles. At that town I got some duct tape to re-bandage it. So far its held up 130 miles. After I'm done typing this I'm going to re-tape the tire again so it can last another 40 miles to whitefish where I'll be able to get a new tire. I do get a lot of strange looks when people see a third or my backwheel covered in duct tape, but it's done the job so far.
140 miles to the border...keep on pedallin'
Monday, June 15, 2009
There and back again
After a good 4 day hiatus of not riding on the divide trail, I'm going back on it today for the last 500 or so miles.
Riding off the trail and on paved roads was a welcome change. It was a lot easier for sure, and because paved roads usually lead to somewhere, I passed through towns a lot more often. I do feel bad that I missed some of the sights on the trail such as Togotowee pass and the Legendary Fleecer pass which has an elevation change of about 2000ft in less than 5 miles. Rest assured though, there was much climbing the way I went, and there still is much climbing left to do before this ride is over. I aslo did get to see yellowstone, soak in some hot springs and see the headwaters of the missouri river on my detour; and last but not least, I also have a riding buddy now! So yesterday I was busy showing him the ropes on how to go riding the divide...I think he's learning well because he too is buying pop tarts now.
Furthermore in the next few days, I'll be running into riders biking the great divide race. These guys are insane! They go from Canada to Mexico following the trail in 15 days! Basically, what it takes me 3 days to do, they do it in one. So hopefully I'll run into some and see what they're all about.
Less than 2 weeks to go!
Riding off the trail and on paved roads was a welcome change. It was a lot easier for sure, and because paved roads usually lead to somewhere, I passed through towns a lot more often. I do feel bad that I missed some of the sights on the trail such as Togotowee pass and the Legendary Fleecer pass which has an elevation change of about 2000ft in less than 5 miles. Rest assured though, there was much climbing the way I went, and there still is much climbing left to do before this ride is over. I aslo did get to see yellowstone, soak in some hot springs and see the headwaters of the missouri river on my detour; and last but not least, I also have a riding buddy now! So yesterday I was busy showing him the ropes on how to go riding the divide...I think he's learning well because he too is buying pop tarts now.
Furthermore in the next few days, I'll be running into riders biking the great divide race. These guys are insane! They go from Canada to Mexico following the trail in 15 days! Basically, what it takes me 3 days to do, they do it in one. So hopefully I'll run into some and see what they're all about.
Less than 2 weeks to go!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Detours and a buddy
I'm in West Yellowstone MT. Finally made it to the last state on my trip; Montana.
After leaving Jackson hole I rode a good bit through the Grand Teton National Park which was absolutely stunning. Huge rock formations rising several thousand feet in the air above flat valley floor--Amazing. The only thing better would have been a clear blue sky, but as my luck would have it, it was raining.
After the Teton park, the route called for me to go west through Idaho and the up north into Montana. However, being that the Yellowstone National Park was only 10 miles up the road, I decided to forgo the American Cyclist route and go through Yellowstone. Afterall, how many other times in my life am I going to be near Yellowstone. Yellowstone was a scenic ride too, though I must warn anyone who attempts to bike through there, the park is BIG. By 6 pm I had made my way to old faithful geiser, and wanting to be a typical tourist for a day, I waited till the next eruption which was predicted at 7:20. True to its name Old faithful went off at 7:22 pm, 2 minutes close to the predicted time. It was cool but nothing entirely too special. I would have loved to hike around and see all the other features of the park, the hot springs, sulphur springs, bubbling mud...but it was getting dark and I had to cover another 16 miles before sundown.
I then headed further in the park to Madison Junction where I camped out for the night. A scary moment was riding on the road with buffaloes flanking me on both sides. Apparently these beasts can run up to 30 mph when they charge, and they have charged at people before. Being that I was on a bike and not in a car, I felt a bit uneasy when a couple miniature wooly mammoths were standing only 10 feet away from me. Fortunately nothing happened.
I ran into a biker I had met before in central Colorado too, which was totally unexpected but a welcome thing. We shared stories of what had happened since we split back in Frisco. Although we took different routes to get to Yellowstone, we both had similar stories about central Wyoming: wind and rain. I aslo met a ranger in Yellowstone who, curious about my heavy loaded bicycle asked me where I was headed. I told him mexico to Canada. He then said "this doesn't mean to rain on your parade but several years ago I met a cyclist, who was came from Tierra Del Fuego and was headed towards the arctic circle"--that's something I'm perfectly happy to read about, but would never consider doing--for now.
Lastly, I'm not going to be finishing this trip where I planned it, or alone! I'm still going to Canada, but I'm not going to fly out of Calgary; I'll be flying out of Kalispell MT. Calgary tacks on an extra 250 miles and unless I pull some really long days, I won't make it in time. Furthermore, my older brother Julien is flying into MT on saturday and we're meeting up on sunday in Three Forks MT, and finishing up the last 600 miles or so of the trail together. Though riding the trail alone is spectacular in its own right, I have to admit, its better when you have someone to ride along with.
After leaving Jackson hole I rode a good bit through the Grand Teton National Park which was absolutely stunning. Huge rock formations rising several thousand feet in the air above flat valley floor--Amazing. The only thing better would have been a clear blue sky, but as my luck would have it, it was raining.
After the Teton park, the route called for me to go west through Idaho and the up north into Montana. However, being that the Yellowstone National Park was only 10 miles up the road, I decided to forgo the American Cyclist route and go through Yellowstone. Afterall, how many other times in my life am I going to be near Yellowstone. Yellowstone was a scenic ride too, though I must warn anyone who attempts to bike through there, the park is BIG. By 6 pm I had made my way to old faithful geiser, and wanting to be a typical tourist for a day, I waited till the next eruption which was predicted at 7:20. True to its name Old faithful went off at 7:22 pm, 2 minutes close to the predicted time. It was cool but nothing entirely too special. I would have loved to hike around and see all the other features of the park, the hot springs, sulphur springs, bubbling mud...but it was getting dark and I had to cover another 16 miles before sundown.
I then headed further in the park to Madison Junction where I camped out for the night. A scary moment was riding on the road with buffaloes flanking me on both sides. Apparently these beasts can run up to 30 mph when they charge, and they have charged at people before. Being that I was on a bike and not in a car, I felt a bit uneasy when a couple miniature wooly mammoths were standing only 10 feet away from me. Fortunately nothing happened.
I ran into a biker I had met before in central Colorado too, which was totally unexpected but a welcome thing. We shared stories of what had happened since we split back in Frisco. Although we took different routes to get to Yellowstone, we both had similar stories about central Wyoming: wind and rain. I aslo met a ranger in Yellowstone who, curious about my heavy loaded bicycle asked me where I was headed. I told him mexico to Canada. He then said "this doesn't mean to rain on your parade but several years ago I met a cyclist, who was came from Tierra Del Fuego and was headed towards the arctic circle"--that's something I'm perfectly happy to read about, but would never consider doing--for now.
Lastly, I'm not going to be finishing this trip where I planned it, or alone! I'm still going to Canada, but I'm not going to fly out of Calgary; I'll be flying out of Kalispell MT. Calgary tacks on an extra 250 miles and unless I pull some really long days, I won't make it in time. Furthermore, my older brother Julien is flying into MT on saturday and we're meeting up on sunday in Three Forks MT, and finishing up the last 600 miles or so of the trail together. Though riding the trail alone is spectacular in its own right, I have to admit, its better when you have someone to ride along with.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Into the wind
Right now I'm in Jackson Hole WY, I had to go off route to stop off at a bike shop for some emergency repairs. I'll get to that part later.
I crossed the Basin! Here's what I have to say about it: Its empty, its windy and its cold. Right before leaving Colorado, I stopped at this B&B place to refill my bottles. The owner told me she gets a lot of Great Divide Riders coming through this place, though they mostly come in July/August. She was very nice, gave me some carrots and some bread and we chatted a little about the trail. I told her I was headed towards the basin but was unsure whether or not I was going to cross it, since I didn't have a GPS. Then she told me "yea heading in there without a GPS isn't a good idea, the basin is really empty and you wouldn't want to get lost out there. All the riders who have come through the basin though have great stories about it, especially about the wind". Once I left Rawlins and headed into the basin without a GPS, I understood what she meant about the windy stories.
The wind DID NOT STOP. It started at right after sunrise, kept going throughout the day, took a break at sunset and then howled some more all night. The first night I slept there, the wind was so strong it blew down my tent, with me inside. I actually had to use all the stakes to re-pitch it and make sure it did not get blown down again. Trying to fall asleep that first night was something as I watched my tent being blown and battered by the wind; It held firm though. Furthermore, the wind blew in a eastward direction. Not good for me considering I was going west. I faced a headwind for a good 100 miles of the 140 mile crossing. When facing a headwind I managed an average of 6 mph, when the wind was at my back, I averaged 13 mph. Quite a difference. It was quite frustrating at times and the worst part is there is nothing you can do about it. Cursing at the wind out of sheer frustration, as I did many times didn't do anything. Pleading with it didn't work either. Nope, all I could do was pedal.
The first day I pedalled well though, I didn't get lost and covered nearly 80 miles. Saw 5 vehicules the entire day. Empty. The second day was a bit thougher as the temperature dropped to 40 and the rain started to fall. It made for one cold ride, but I was able to cover the last 40 miles to Atlantic city, where I finally encountered civilization and was able to warm up and recover (80+40=120; I covered the first 20 miles of the basin the day I left Rawlins, overall it took 2.5 days).
Furthermore, my worst fear came true. The bike broke down in the middle of nowhere. Somehow my tire ripped which caused the inner tube to leak out like a tumor. This happened when I was 30 miles from the nearest major road/city, not a good spot to be in. To fix it, i used some athletic tape I had in my first aid kit to bandage the tire so that the inner tube would have no chance of escaping. To my surprise it worked pretty well and lasted 100 miles till atlantic city where I was able to retape it. I ended up re-taping the tire every 50 miles or so until I got here to Jackson Hole, where I was able to buy a new tire and put a permanent fix to the problem.
This breakdown showed me something. Always carry duct tape. It allows for quick and efficient repairs.
I'm going to be headed up to Yellowstone later today and then back up into the mountains and forests of Montana within the next week. On the lighter side of things, I have less than 1000 miles to go till Canada.
I crossed the Basin! Here's what I have to say about it: Its empty, its windy and its cold. Right before leaving Colorado, I stopped at this B&B place to refill my bottles. The owner told me she gets a lot of Great Divide Riders coming through this place, though they mostly come in July/August. She was very nice, gave me some carrots and some bread and we chatted a little about the trail. I told her I was headed towards the basin but was unsure whether or not I was going to cross it, since I didn't have a GPS. Then she told me "yea heading in there without a GPS isn't a good idea, the basin is really empty and you wouldn't want to get lost out there. All the riders who have come through the basin though have great stories about it, especially about the wind". Once I left Rawlins and headed into the basin without a GPS, I understood what she meant about the windy stories.
The wind DID NOT STOP. It started at right after sunrise, kept going throughout the day, took a break at sunset and then howled some more all night. The first night I slept there, the wind was so strong it blew down my tent, with me inside. I actually had to use all the stakes to re-pitch it and make sure it did not get blown down again. Trying to fall asleep that first night was something as I watched my tent being blown and battered by the wind; It held firm though. Furthermore, the wind blew in a eastward direction. Not good for me considering I was going west. I faced a headwind for a good 100 miles of the 140 mile crossing. When facing a headwind I managed an average of 6 mph, when the wind was at my back, I averaged 13 mph. Quite a difference. It was quite frustrating at times and the worst part is there is nothing you can do about it. Cursing at the wind out of sheer frustration, as I did many times didn't do anything. Pleading with it didn't work either. Nope, all I could do was pedal.
The first day I pedalled well though, I didn't get lost and covered nearly 80 miles. Saw 5 vehicules the entire day. Empty. The second day was a bit thougher as the temperature dropped to 40 and the rain started to fall. It made for one cold ride, but I was able to cover the last 40 miles to Atlantic city, where I finally encountered civilization and was able to warm up and recover (80+40=120; I covered the first 20 miles of the basin the day I left Rawlins, overall it took 2.5 days).
Furthermore, my worst fear came true. The bike broke down in the middle of nowhere. Somehow my tire ripped which caused the inner tube to leak out like a tumor. This happened when I was 30 miles from the nearest major road/city, not a good spot to be in. To fix it, i used some athletic tape I had in my first aid kit to bandage the tire so that the inner tube would have no chance of escaping. To my surprise it worked pretty well and lasted 100 miles till atlantic city where I was able to retape it. I ended up re-taping the tire every 50 miles or so until I got here to Jackson Hole, where I was able to buy a new tire and put a permanent fix to the problem.
This breakdown showed me something. Always carry duct tape. It allows for quick and efficient repairs.
I'm going to be headed up to Yellowstone later today and then back up into the mountains and forests of Montana within the next week. On the lighter side of things, I have less than 1000 miles to go till Canada.
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Long Haul
Right now I'm in Rawlins WY. Interstate 80 passes right through here, meaning that if I wanted to, I could hitch a ride out east and wind up almost next to Basking Ridge. Tempting, but not for today. The scenery in WY is a lot different than that of Colorado. Lots of rolling hills covered with salt brushes and juniper trees. Overall very dull and desolate, not much surface water too which does pose a problem, but a manageable one at that.
Officially half way into the trip! This is my 21st day of riding. So far today I've been putting the pedal to the metal as I was able to cover 42 miles in slightly over 3 hours. Quite an impressive feat. I did have more downhill than uphill, so that definitly helped. Some of those downhills were pretty steep too, I was able to top out at 51 mph on one of them.
Upon leaving Rawlins later today I face a dilema: How to get to south pass city? The suggested route has me going through dirt roads in the great basin. The distance from rawlins to south pass is 140 miles through the great basin. The problem: 140 miles of nothing. No bike shops. No Traffic. No people & No water. In fact on the map they tell you to have at least 3 gallons of water before attempting this long haul (Thats 25 pounds!). The alternate would be to follow paved roads around the basin. Towns are still few and far between along the paved roads, but if something happens, its better to be on a paved road than in the middle of the basin. Decisions decisions...I'll visit the ranger office in town and see if I can get some detailed maps of the basin (the bike one isn't very detailed) If I can get the maps, I'm going through the basin. If I can't gets the maps, I'm going around.
Besides that, some more memorable experiences since Breckenridge.
1. Turns out the Great Divide Trail and the Transamerica trail (it goes ocean to ocean) share parts of the same road in Colorado. I met a few bikers doing the Transamerica. All older and all better equipped than myself. Some were really nice and some were somewhat arrogant and self righteous. I'm saying this because instead of trying to make conversation, they just rode straight on.
2. Had another snow episode in Northern Colorado going over the watershed divide at 9,500' near a town called Clark. I started hitting drifts at 8,500' which was not good since I had to crest at 9,500'. The drifts weren't nearly as high as the ones on Grayback Mtn, however, the snow was softer which meant a lot of times, I would take a step and wind up knee deep in snow. It took a good hour to make it the last mile to the summit and another half hour to make it down to where the road became snow-free again.
3. Yesterday my food was running pretty low, all I had left was a box of pop tarts and half a loaf of bread. Seeing that It would be at least a day and a half before I made it to Rawlins, I went off route to this town called Savery. It was supposed to have a general store; it didn't. Turns out the store closed a year ago (when the population is listed at 25 you wonder why). The town also had a western museum whose motto was "its worth the stop!". I went in the Museum, much more interested by the snacks they sold in the gift shop than by all the antique dolls and cowboy outfits it had on display. When the lady at the counter saw me, all pathetic looking with 2 bags of peanuts (thats all they had besides candy) she said, "you're one of those bikers aren't you?". I was. Then she said "well, don't waste your money on this, come with me I have something better for you. I always keep stuff on hand for you guys, because believe it or not, you're not the first biker to come through here looking for food". So she led me to a kitchen where she gave me some Ice tea, a box of triscuits and a block of cheese and said "you can have as much of this as you want". As tempted as I was to finish the whole box of triscuits, I didn't. I was so thankful for that lady's generosity that; I wound up buying the peanuts anyways.
Happy trails,
clem
Officially half way into the trip! This is my 21st day of riding. So far today I've been putting the pedal to the metal as I was able to cover 42 miles in slightly over 3 hours. Quite an impressive feat. I did have more downhill than uphill, so that definitly helped. Some of those downhills were pretty steep too, I was able to top out at 51 mph on one of them.
Upon leaving Rawlins later today I face a dilema: How to get to south pass city? The suggested route has me going through dirt roads in the great basin. The distance from rawlins to south pass is 140 miles through the great basin. The problem: 140 miles of nothing. No bike shops. No Traffic. No people & No water. In fact on the map they tell you to have at least 3 gallons of water before attempting this long haul (Thats 25 pounds!). The alternate would be to follow paved roads around the basin. Towns are still few and far between along the paved roads, but if something happens, its better to be on a paved road than in the middle of the basin. Decisions decisions...I'll visit the ranger office in town and see if I can get some detailed maps of the basin (the bike one isn't very detailed) If I can get the maps, I'm going through the basin. If I can't gets the maps, I'm going around.
Besides that, some more memorable experiences since Breckenridge.
1. Turns out the Great Divide Trail and the Transamerica trail (it goes ocean to ocean) share parts of the same road in Colorado. I met a few bikers doing the Transamerica. All older and all better equipped than myself. Some were really nice and some were somewhat arrogant and self righteous. I'm saying this because instead of trying to make conversation, they just rode straight on.
2. Had another snow episode in Northern Colorado going over the watershed divide at 9,500' near a town called Clark. I started hitting drifts at 8,500' which was not good since I had to crest at 9,500'. The drifts weren't nearly as high as the ones on Grayback Mtn, however, the snow was softer which meant a lot of times, I would take a step and wind up knee deep in snow. It took a good hour to make it the last mile to the summit and another half hour to make it down to where the road became snow-free again.
3. Yesterday my food was running pretty low, all I had left was a box of pop tarts and half a loaf of bread. Seeing that It would be at least a day and a half before I made it to Rawlins, I went off route to this town called Savery. It was supposed to have a general store; it didn't. Turns out the store closed a year ago (when the population is listed at 25 you wonder why). The town also had a western museum whose motto was "its worth the stop!". I went in the Museum, much more interested by the snacks they sold in the gift shop than by all the antique dolls and cowboy outfits it had on display. When the lady at the counter saw me, all pathetic looking with 2 bags of peanuts (thats all they had besides candy) she said, "you're one of those bikers aren't you?". I was. Then she said "well, don't waste your money on this, come with me I have something better for you. I always keep stuff on hand for you guys, because believe it or not, you're not the first biker to come through here looking for food". So she led me to a kitchen where she gave me some Ice tea, a box of triscuits and a block of cheese and said "you can have as much of this as you want". As tempted as I was to finish the whole box of triscuits, I didn't. I was so thankful for that lady's generosity that; I wound up buying the peanuts anyways.
Happy trails,
clem
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