Washington state university

Monday 4/30 Day 10
I woke up a few times during the night to the tip tap of the rain coming down. Then it turned into the sound of a shower on the tent. I was concerned enough to turn on a light to make sure nothing was getting wet , we were ok. Although I do believe if we were using my tent we would have been soaked. My tent has some structural flaws that have been advanced since I got the tent eleven years ago.

Cool house!

When we woke up at seven thirty there were a few pools of water on the rain fly and it sounded like it was still raining outside. We devised a plan which involved running to the car and stuffing our things in it as fast as possible to maximize us staying dry. One of us forgot a rain jacket, her name will go un mentioned :). To our surprised once we managed to get out the tent, the only rain coming down was the dripping from the trees so we could abandon our original speed plan and take a more relaxing approach at packing. As we were ridding down from the national park the land got drier and drier. Now if you looked at the spot for this day it looked like I rode over one hundred miles. I did not. I did not ride at all from Dayton to the park, also Garrette dropped me of ten miles north of Dayton so we could spend a bit more time together.

My audience

When I was dropped off I went through my bags and got rid of all unnecessary weight including a big bottle of soap, a towel, and many other things. Let's just say now my sleeping stuff has its own back pannier and my food has the other. I also traded my draumidary for a nalgen. I'm finally getting the grove of packing. I can probably get ride of a bit more weight once it warms up but I need to carry a bit more cloths for the cold weather.
After a quick breakfast that I cooked in the trunk of Garrett's car, totally safe since I'm a professional, I said my good byes and headed off. As I left I told her I would probably beat her to beat her to the east coast where we would see each other next. She is driving out there at the end of June.
Today had some pretty long and sustained climbs. About thirty five of the seventy miles were up hill. The great part was that for some of the uphills I had the wind to my back. The bad part was for some of the early downhills the wind was at my face. I was stopped in a few places going downhill again and that got pretty frustrating. Going downhill is suppose to be easy and it's suppose to be the break. Lunch was great, some cheese in a tortilla while i sat at the edge of the road and watched the wind blow through the wheat. After lunch I sadly missed my turn on highway 194 and had to go up to Colorado to take 195 in to Pullman. These last fifteen miles on this road were terrible, it was uphill almost the entire way, had a pretty strong cross wind, and it was hailing and raining on me. I did get through it and I was glad to be in town at the end.

Cat

When in town I dropped my bike off at the house I was staying at, I was staying with a Scott and Susan. They did not get home for a few more hours so I went and explored the city a little bit. I went up and saw Washington state university. While I was walking through there I saw the students and I did not envy them. I got a feeling of relief that I didn't have to be trapped at a school to learn I was able to explore and lean a different way. I'm sure someday I'll go back to school but right now I have no idea what it is I would study. Which brings up a question that I have asked my self a few times on this trip and a few others have too, what do I want o do with my life. I think the more appropriate question to ask is what do I want to do when I'm done with this part of life. And my response, I have no idea. I toyed around with the idea of a mechanic, or fire fighter, or a space man. This is an idea I need to think on a bit more during this trip and over my time in Japan.

WSU

When I got back to the city I got a coffee at the local coffee place, where I started chatting with Kayla who served me my coffee. The idea of living in the moment and focusing on that moment came up in our coversation. It's amazing how much more you can do and realize in your life when you practice this train of thought. I have a perfect example of this and how looking into the future affected where I was at that moment, for tomorrows blog.
For dinner with Scott and Sue we had pizza. We talked about or travels on our bikes. I gave them some good advice for rides in Washington. They shared with me their trips in Canada and Europe and than we plotted tomorrows route out on good old google maps. Another set of amazing people. As much as I have enjoyed camping out in various parts of the west I truly do enjoy this warm showers a bit more. Everyone so far has been amazing, so kind and caring and a willingness to listen to where I have gone and a willingness to share where they have gone. I think the coolest part of all this is the trust. We both have to trust to make it work. I mean I'm basically hitch hiking in their house haha. But without trust this idea would never work. It's a powerful tool!!!

Umatilla National Forest

Sunday 4/29 Day 9
Today was a lazy morning. Nothing is better than waking up in a tent rolling over grabbing a book and reading for a out an hour. Then I moved outside the tent and blogged it up. I found an easier way to type. I type all my. Logs in notepad now and then copy it over to blogger so I'm able to type with the iPod sideways. For breakfast I had Some new sweet Quaker oats flavored edition. Makes eating oats so much more enjoyable. I didn't start moving till about ten where I rode the last five miles into the city of Dayton where I waited for Garrette. She drove past me.... I guess she thought I was a homeless person again. But once she came back for me we ended up heading south to the Umatilla national forest!

The hike

Very beautiful area!! We drove a ways into the park and ran into a bit of snow, and back tracked to a pretty decent camping spot. We set up camp and ended up going for a little hike which ended up over looking the valley. Oh so pretty. It was here the attacks started happening. No not grizzlies or wolves but tics. They came from all directions and i had about four on me and Garrette had just as many. Thankfully no one became a carrier. It was nice because they were not around our camp ground because it was to cold.

Camp

Oh before the bike we had a Jeff and Garrette classic, Bree and crackers, along with home made cookies :). I was surprised there was no raspberry pie. We had a whole pie baking month during march. For dinner we did rice and sausage burritos, tasted pretty good. We Also tried to start a fire which over a span of two hours we were successful, well it was a very tiny fire. The problem was that all the wood was wet so nothing would catch or stay Burning. Garrette was pretty persistent and got a couple logs burning, I gave up after ten minutes haha. Went to sleep to some clear sky's. We had a few worries for bears so we took car of our food. I'm moving into bear country so hopefully I can get indoors more until I get passed glacier national park.

It was great having Garrette come down I had been missing her even though it had only been a week. I get such a warm feeling in my heart when I see how much she does for me and how much she will go out of her way to see me or deal with my weird humor :). I mean she remembered getting mission tortillas because I diss approve of all other types, that's a keeper right there!! I do need to make sure she gets a bike and starts ridding, I think she would really enjoy this sport, and then I would have somebody for the next trip.

Through the wheat fields to Dayton

Saturday 4/28 Day 8
On the move again today, something like 64 miles and a couple of stops for sight seeing. I had a quick breakfast with John and Ellie and I started my pack up. John gave me a couple of maps for route finding and instructions on how to get out of the city. The maps were part of a Lewis and Clark map set for biking tours, could be. Fun follow up ride, well to ride the other half since I have already done parts of it. When I think of the trail I think of my buddy Benni who someday is going to come back to the USA and explore it. We had talked about going on the trail someday, I had never thought I would end up on it with a bike. Though it is a very convenient way to explore it and read all the signs. In the morning I ended up going to a Sacajawea park which had a museum about the whole exploration. But that's getting ahead of myself.

Train Bridge out of Tri-Cities

At about nine thirty I said goodbye to my hosts where I got my picture taken to go with the other bikers that have stopped through. One other biker was called the biking Viking. So my picture will be next to that haha. Very hospitable and wring people which made it difficult to leave.
On the way out of town I stopped and picked food supplies, needed to replenish a few. Also they had this pretty amazing bike path that followed the river which I was able to take super beautiful. I had to cross a bridge but thankfully this time I did not have to ride next to traffic, there was a separate path. And as I said before I stopped at a museum that talked about the Lewis and clack expedition along with the native tribes from the area. It was very well done. I finally left the museum around one and started on my journey. Today's landscape was farmland. It was time the commercial feed lots of Greeley it seemed more normal haha whatever that means. There were peaches, grapes, and of course the majority was wheat. These wheat fields were so cool just rolling hills of green. For the most part there was a shoulder on the road so I did not have to fight with traffic.

Different color wheat

Fourth five miles and four hours later, after the museum, I wound up in the little town of Waitsberg. And I was so thankful there was a home town brewery there!!! I ordered an imperial blond which was super strong and a beer for the road. It's moments like these I wish I had someone on the trip with me to enjoy a beer after a long days ride. With that being so I made the best of it and found some guy to chat with at the bar. He was funny and really into the roadside geology. We talked a bit about Yellowstone and how it could blow up and take out half the USA, haha he must have listened to the same podcast that my buddy mike listened too.

After beer I had a four mile ride to camp where in talking to the rangers they let me stay for free, woohoo. Spent the rest of the evening eating and reading. I'm finally hooked back into this book maybe I will finish it on the trip. Road about 64 miles today.

Rest Day

Friday 4/27 Day7
I woke up a bit later this morning and my body appreciated it. John made some pancakes for breakfast and we sat around and talked for a bit. The morning followed with a few tasks that needed to be completed, first being my IRS form for Japan. The process did not take long due tofu exact that John let me borrow his computer and a few envelopes. The next task was going to REI, not to by climbing gear, but for bike tubes. Finally got. Few more, that I will hopefully not have to use. I have had pretty good luck with the tubes, none have pinched since the first few days. Although I did get my first real flat going into the tri-cities. I had a goat thorn go in through the side of my tire. It even went around the thick plastic strips I put inside my tire to protect from things like that. But I was ok with it because it was my first flat from natural causes. When we got back from REI I fixed the flat and cleaned up my chain the bike was ready to ride tomorrow.
For lunch we went to a little sandwiching joint where I had spilled pork sandwich, and it was at this point I realized I was turning into dad because I'll I order is pork now haha. That's ok be abuse they a great sandwiches. A bit after lunch we went to the animal shelter that John and Ellie helped establish. It was state of the art facility which held I think 60 dogs and 60 cats. We toyed around with the idea of putting an animal basket on my bike so I could take one of the puppies with me. Early afternoon led us to get a pint of beer at the local beer house followed by a relaxing afternoon of reading Atlas Shrugged.
Over beer we had an interesting conversation about school discipline systems, Ellie was a 5th grade teacher. It sounded like the Pasco school district enacted this program called make my day which had a four leveled system which seemed to allow the kids to notice behaviors and then learn from them. Some similar stuff we did in wilderness. It sounded like it has worked well with these kids. They seemed to start the program in the elementary schools and then it just follows suit the higher they go.
We finished the night by going to dinner with some of their biking friends at a Mexican resteraunt. Great bunch of people with the passion of riding. Shared stories of riding out to Bickleton, Mt Hood, Seattle to Portland, an many others. I posted some photos for the previous days when I got home and I was itching to get back on the road tomorrow. I really enjoyed a day off and the experiences of exploring the cities a bit and I think I'm addicted to biking right now. I just want to keep going further and further, good thing I have plenty of space eastward.
Oh I also made a plan change, I'm headed further north again to glacier national park. It sounds like the road may be almost completely plowed by the time I get there. With this change I will be staying Montana and skipping Yellowstone, who has yet to stArt plowing the roads. I thought this to be he best choice since I forgot my snow tires.

I uploaded pictures instead of writing this post. I'll post it when I have internet again! Back to some camping :).

I'm staying in the tri-cities today. I'll rewrite this post tonight.



Headed to Dayton WA tomorrow.

To the tri cities of Washington

My Ninja camping spot

Thursday 4/26 Day 6
let me tell you something about camping in a tent. You have as high of a chance to get soaked from the rain as you do from the condensation. I did manage to stay pretty dry last night, at least my sleeping things. Although my stuff was dry my tent was soaked!!! Except the bottom. It rained pretty dang hard last night. As I was packing up I was thinking of the times at second nature when I would give the kids like 16- 25 minutes to pack up everything. Those kids were rock stars because they actually did it, it took me a solid forty minutes to pack up. I bet in two months ill be able to get it all done in half that time. Most my time is wasted looking in bags multiple times for an item that I had put away.

The Canyon I slept in

Again I started off with a climb and it kept going and going. It was pretty chilly and damp out. I had my leg warmers and my rain jacket on. I ended up going only six miles in about a hour and a half where I was so frustrated that I rolled off the road and had breakfast. There must have been something in those chia seeds because after breakfast I flew. I was the machine.

Sexy...

Pete gave me the idea of riding a bit before breakfast to get the body moving, get out of your camping area, and to break up the day a bit. It works great, but the goal of twenty miles before breakfast did not work today. The only city in my path in the morning was Bickleton with 90 people in it. Filled some water and went on my way. The old ladies in the cafe gave me a weird look as if wondering where i appeared from. the down hill that followed the city was perfect. I got about 23miles in an hour the land turned into these grassy hills and the road flowed between them. I saw no cars on the road for over an hour so i took up the entire lane. The rest of the day followed suit. I was able to get 88miles today and it felt more relaxing than the first ninety mile day to Portland. The body is getting used to all this riding. Since I'm not riding tomorrow it puts my first week at almost 350 miles.

Action Shot, SPEED

John, with warm showers, was unable to meet me and ride with me into town, but he did give me detailed directions to get to his place. We were in Richland one of the tri-cities. Once there I was able to dry my stuff out, get a shower, and washed my cloths. my two pound tent weighed close to ten pounds with all the water on it from the night before. Dinner was great sausage and pasta where we talked about Italian heritage, biking, and Oregon. By eight I finished talking to Ellie, Johns wife, and went upstairs I was exhausted.

Climbing into the rain

Merry Hill

Wednesday 4/25 Day 5
Today started off climbing the two mile downhill that I finished yesterday on, although there was no wind. When I got to the top I went a mile east to a world war one memorial that looked like stone hedge. I had a quick breakfast stop here and it was the day I tried the chia seeds. My Dad and Garrette are reading the book born to run and in it they talk about the natives using these seeds to allow them to regain energy. Well long story short Garrette got some for her twenty mile run and my parents were able to try some and were convinced so they got me some for my trip. I just put them in my oats, didn't even notice them. Perfect timing because after breakfast I had another six miles of climbing, I think it was a total of 2000 feet elevation gain all together. Slow and steady won the race.

WWI Memorial

I rolled into Goldendale at about eleven thirty and headed to a star observatory that opened at two. On the way up there I met a guy named Jon who talked a bit about his adventures in life working at middle silos, national parks, Vietnam, and Lewis and Clark reenactments. It was great he even brought some old photos out for me to see. At the observatory it was a bit disappointing because I was unable to look through the telescope due to the clouds on the sky. But it is a public telescope that you can see dead spots on the sun, nebulas, galaxies, and many other things. Next time hopefully it won't be cloudy, it was at least cool to see it.

The Telescope

As I left I was welcomed by my first rain of the trip. It was only a drizzle but the main cloud was headed right for me. Somehow I was able to outrun it. I headed down Bickleton highway, a flat open road overlooking the country side I ended up missing all the rain. I met a guy who was sleeping in a car on a pull off. We exchanged stories of our travels and chatted about the path ahead. It sounds like the s scenery gets pretty boring after the next town I dropped into a canyon and camped in there for the night. Ate some subway and read my book Atlas Shrugged. And now it is poring rain out as I type this in my tent.

Bickleton Highway

One final thought, I dislike sleeping in places I know I'm not suppose to be. I get jumpy to all sounds around the tent. I had to go on private land that had a no trespassing sign and I did some "stealth camping". I guess you could consider me a navy seal or something. But the idea is to camp so no one can see you, often that means you need to move into your spot when it is dark and move out early in the morning. hopefully I'll get some good sleep tonight and stay dry.
Biked about 30miles today. :)

Onto Washington

Tuesday 4/24 Day 4
Today started off with some espressos and granola followed by Pete fixing a flat tire. Haha this was the forth day in a row for flat tires, I'm due for one tomorrow. We said goodbye to Kris in the morning. Our first six miles was all down hill. Although it was super windy it was very enjoyable. On the way down you could see a breathtaking view if mount hood. By the way I am taking pictures u just can't upload them with the iPod so when I get to a house with a computer that u can use I will update these posts with pictures. At the bottom of the hill we entered the city of the Dalles where we got a little bit of lunch and planned our split. Pete had another seventy mile day south to get just past Maupin in northern Oregon. I was going to merry hill which was only about twenty five more miles. We split after our food. It was great having him along for the first few days. It was super helpful to have had that support when I had my first flat tire and learning how to pack all my stuff and realizing what stuff I needed to send back home. He will be missed.
After he left I crossed a bridge into Washington where I got a few pictures of the state signs. Once I got to the other side I started riding due north into the wind. I was blown off my. Ike twice!!! But once u reached highway14 the wind was behind me where u cruised. Along this road were markers for the Lewis and Clark trail. I guess I have been following it since the beginning of my trip. Even though the land has changed and I'm surrounded by civilization it is fun to be able to walk where some American history took place. I was thinking how intense it would have been to be those first explorers for our country. To have been able to create the first maps meet the natives and to think fast with all the perils. Could have been a pretty cool job.
I made it to merry hill and my last stretch to it was a steep downhill section. There were times on it that the wind was blowing so hard that I was forced to a stop, going down hill!!! It was almost a 7%slope. I made it to camp at about four and relaxed the rest of the evening. Camp was a beautiful state park for all styles of camping i tucked my tent behind a few trees and i was able to overlook the river and was pretty secluded from the park. I got really excited because I got a message from my next warm showers location. A man by the name of John called said that they were looking forward to seeing me and hearing my stories and that he was going to rude out and meet me on his bike and take me into the city. Just hearing that brought a warm feeling to my heart. I will probably write it over and over again in this blog but so far I am amazed at how hospitable people in America can be. This is what I remember my travels in Europe like, and why I enjoyed the people from there. They had a way of making you feel welcome and want to figure pens the time to figure out who you were. Biked about 40 miles today.

Columbia gorge to Mosier

Monday 4/23 Day 3
Believe it or not but I woke up today feeling pretty good. First thing on our agenda was getting some breakfast so we went to an i hop style breakfast and got a ton of food. Now rising through Portland is not that desirable. Even though it is a biker friendly place it still can be a bit scary riding with all the traffic. There was only one close call with a car coming to close and Pete was called an asshole only once. So our goal was to get out onto the old historic Columbia gorge high way as soon as possible.
We made one stop at a bike shop to get the tubes u needed. And it was here where u figured out the written on my tire meant. I knew that the size of the tube was written on the tire but on mine it is written in both standard and metric back to back. I thought I needed the whole thing for my tire haha. So in case you were wondering I need a 700x32c presto long valve. They were out of those so I got one size smaller and one short valve, one will work until I find the long stem.

Me  Multnomah Falls

At about eleven we made it out of the city and started a climb up the gorge. After about 1000 feet of elevation gain we leveled off to an overlook over the gorge. It was one of the most beautiful sites I have seen. It reminded me of the fiords in Norway but not as sharp. On the way down the backside it was a winding road with one side being a stone wall covered in moss and the other side was the mountain. It was covered in trees so we were riding in shade. Now throughout the road there are huge waterfalls some of the largest in the world and as we cruised into the first one I got another flat tire haha but this time I changed it in about ten minutes. Now a professional at it. It seems we also have a three day streak of flat tires lets hope that does not continue. We stopped at two water falls on the way down the first I forgot the name be the second one was I believe was waloma or maloma falls ok I forgot the name and I don't have Internet to look it up, but look up the largest waterfall in Oregon. ***(looked it up, it is Multnomah falls, I was close)

On the old Highway, same for the next one

There was two parts to our final stretch into Hood River the first being able to ride on a section of the old highway that had been turned into a bike path even cooler than the first part of the day. Pete and I were the only ones on it, besides a friendly homeless man who was camping out of the city for the night. The road had tiny bridges with enough room for only one car, beautiful cliff drops to one side of the road, and an interesting moss that covered the path. The other half of the ride was on interstate 84. About twelve miles of trucks and cars whizzing past at 75 mph. I put my head down during this section and tried to go as fast as I could.

We had an appointment to meet Kris, our warm showers host at the local bike shop so we went there. Now u told you in the last post I would explain warm showers. If you have heard of couch surfing it is that but for bikers only. (www.warmshowers.org) If you have not heard of couch surfing, warn showers is a website that you create a profile and search for people willing to host you at there home for a night or two or sometimes longer. They may t a bed, food, laundry, transportation, and of course a shower. It is also international so if you bike abroad it is a great tool, it specifies which languages the host speaks. So Kris took us to her place and made us some dinner gave us a warm shower and offered us advice in paths we should take the next day. In Tuesday Pete and I would be separating, he would go bake to bend and I decided to go north and fight the snow if I had to. We chatted with Kris till a out 11, she's Does contract work with computers and she spends a lot of time touring the world on a bike. She's been to Asia, South America, Europe, and Australia. She offered us advice in packing bikes to be shipped and also how to make a stove out of a tuna can and cat food can. Look it up.
We think the total miles today was about seventy if not a little more and believe I or not the sorest part of my body is my neck. thanks to my brooks saddle my butt feels great!!!!

Over and beyond 40 miles

Sunday 4/22. Day 2
Today we woke up at about nine in the morning. I heard several cars drive by our camping spot but no one stopped to yell at us so we were in a good spot. Now usually we would put our tent in a more hidden location but we thought we were on a side road going to a park it turned out we were on a road leading to some houses further down the way.
For breakfast we ate oats worth cranberries and had some tea. Oh man i forgot a spoon!!! So i need to pick one up soon. We tried to dry our tent out from the dew but that proved unsuccessful due to the shade, so I saved that task till later.

MMMM Subway, Thanks for the Support!

Looking back at the rest of the day it seems like a blur. I stopped several times I ate several times, I went and got water at gas stations several times. The reason it is a blur is because we rode almost 90 miles to Portland. This was my longest ride of my life more than twice as long as my longest training ride. It really wasn't that bad, not until the last five miles.

Pete Fixing the flat with the Guy

We stopped for some subway in Clatskanie. I only ate one but looking back at it I should have eaten two foot longs to help with all the calories I burned. Pete had his first flat tire and it was here we met a guy who talked to us about our trip and also his motorcycle trip up to Alaska. I find it amazing something as simple as a loaded up bike can break the ice enough to start a conversation, for people who in normal circumstances would never speak to each other. Why does it take something of this magnitude to open up to the people around us?
Well after Pete fixed his tire we hustled to Portland. The road was pretty mellow, it had some fun down hills. We were able to see mount Rainer mount st. Helen's mount Adams and mount Hood. Legendary views of all the peaks, we were super lucky to see them since usually the are in the clouds.

St. Helen's

Coming into Portland we crossed the river on this massive suspension bridge that when you were midway across you could see all of Portland. We went and stayed with Pete's friend Jon where getting in at about nine we made dinner and took some showers.
It was a great first long day even though our legs were all wobbly. The hope for Monday is to ride seventy miles east along the old Columbia gorge high way just past hood river We have a warm shower waiting for us. I'll explain that on 4/23.

The spot

Found a small bit of information about the spot device I'm using on my trip. Check it out!!

Also I should be updating that daily unless I'm staying in the same spot.

http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102

The beginning

Beautiful Start

Saturday 4/21 Day 1
I started the trip today. I woke up to an upset stomach which I think came from my nerves about the trip. After a bit of packing we went over and picked up my buddy Pete. I had one last farewell burrito from Rigobertos. It was tough leaving Bend. A lot of good memories there and I was leaving some really great friends behind.

Hike out of the Beach

The next part of the day was a six hour drive to Astoria. It was here, well about ten miles to the west where Pete and I started the trip. We ended up starting at a wall of rocks where we allowed our bikes to be splashed by the pacific ocean. Once the picture was done had to say goodbye to Garrette. It is hard to say goodbye to someone for three months when they have been as supportive and caring as she has been for me. She clocked my speed as we were leaving the parking lot, I was cruising at a whopping twelve mph. Oh one thing I noticed to when I started I had to much food!!! My bike just weighed to much so over the next few days I'm going to drop some weight.
Two things happened on our first day, the first being me making the the wrong turn to begin my journey. Instead of going right out of the parking lot I took a left. Haha apparently I wanted to go further down the peer towards the pacific.

Garrette & I, man shes cute.

Took a quick break in Astoria, sadly i did not locate the house from the Goonies. After we were all charged up with food and Gatorade we headed east on highway 30. Maybe ten miles out if town i has my first flat tire. Apparently my tube got pinched in the tire so there was about four holes right next to each other. To save time I got a new tube out where I realized I had the wrong size tube. They were close but not as thick as mine. I spent some time patching the holes and got the damaged tube ready to hold air again. It was here when I was pumping up the tube where the valve exploded off the tire. And no I did not over pump the tire. So when it was all said and done I had to put the tube in that did not fit, because that's all we had. Had to wait till we got to a bike shop to get replacements.

Pete & I...I'm caring all the group gear...:)

This whole ordeal took two hours with a moral of the story, if you don't know what size the tires are just being the tire in. It's ok to look like you don't know what your doing when you don't know what your doing, if you don't at some point you will be forced to look like you don't know what your doing. It will catch up.
Pete and I finished our night have dinner at a small restaurant in Knappa logging town. It was good to get a beer and some dinner, we also were able to find a place to camp from our waitress. We ended up riding about thirty miles today not bed for the first day.
Tomorrow hopefully hit Portland about 80miles away.

***most often I will not post on the actual days that the events happen I will try to date my posts.

Training, or no training

In contemplating whether to train or not I had 2 theories of thought to choose from.  The first being...Dont train!  I will have 3 months to work into the ride, so why waste time training for the trip.  I liked this train of thought.  Why put more effort into it than I need to, I am going to be riding anyways.  But then I heard the other side, rummors of not being able to move for several days did not sound appetizing.  The other side involved four to five rides a week for a couple of months before the ride. I liked the idea of getting practice and at the same time getting used to the new life style on a bike.

Well what ended up materializing for my training was a mix between cross-fit and a few bike rides. Starting in the end for March/beginning of April I participated in two to three cross-fit work outs a week.  Now for those of you who have never seen this work out before I highly recommend checking it out online.  It is a high intense workout for the body in a very little amount of time. In the afternoon's I would go over to my buddy Mike's place where in his garage he has a home made cross-fit gym.  My primary focus during these workouts was my legs...and they got worked.  I remember after the first few work outs I could hardly walk.  I think this was a great base for the rest of my training.  

The second half of my training involved three bike rides.  Two of which I did over 1400 feet of elevation gain in about 20 miles each.  On these rides I started to notice that I was becoming more attuned with my bike.  It was easier to turn, clip/unclip, look behind me without swerving, take my hands off the bars, and of course easier to control it at fast speeds.  For the record, I'm at zero crashes right now and hope to keep it that way.  my final ride I packed it up and went on a test run as if it was a day during my trip.  It was a 39 mile ride out and back to Horse Ridge in Central Oregon.  At first getting onto the now 50+ pound bike felt strange, I could barely hold it up.  But after riding with it for a few minutes it was easier riding my bike with weight on it then with out it on.  I ended up riding almost 19 miles in 1hour 20 minutes, and on the ride back with a head wind it took 1 hour 40 minutes.  These times really excited me, I can take a much easier pace and still cover a substantial amount of ground!

Overall I think my training was short, well rounded and for the most part has prepared me for the upcoming journey  I will be headed out the Astoria Oregon where I will begin on Saturday April 21st!  I'm thrilled and excited for this next adventure in life, be sure to stay tuned and scroll down to see me exact location on the first map starting on the 22nd.

If you see this butt on the
high way you know its
me!

Finally I would like to give special thanks to a few people who have really helped get this bike trip rolling and help keep me sane during this time of transition. Mom and Dad  came all thew way out here to Oregon this week to help move my life back to Colorado while I go on this trip.  Also during their time in Oregon they helped support me in purchasing many of the lose ends I needed for my bike including a patch kit :), food, and countless things for my tires.  They are definitely my mobil support crew which would come anywhere to help me if I needed it. Garrette has been an irreplaceable mental support, giving me someone that I can express anything and everything to and also encouraged me to stay fat with a McDonalds gift card ;). Mike and Abbey King whom helped plant the idea of biking across the US in my mind and through every turn have been there to answer any question I have had and to show me all the little tricks of the trade for living on a bike.

PS I'm still a bad speller, and I may not have spell check...so there will be missspelled words :)