Day 4 - Baker City to Caldwell, ID

Maybe I shouldn't be tempting fate but I'm feeling really strong both mentally and physically at the moment. I'm also relaxing and getting into vacation mode too. I was the last person to leave base camp this morning and had caught most of the folks by lunchtime.

We spent most of the day on the Oregon Trail again. There were two brief sections on I-84 as we had no alternative. It actually turned out to be the smoothest piece of tarmac on the whole trip so far. One whole side of the freeway was closed to cars while ODOT was laying new tarmac. We got to ride on the smooth surface before any car had been on it. As I came up to one paceline of our tour group, I noticed that Susan (the older lady on the recumbent) was leading the charge. It looked just like the pied piper of Hamlin leading the kids down I-84 to Idaho.

Today we crossed over into Idaho. And approximately 12 seconds later, I got my second flat tire of the trip. One per state might turn out to be pretty expensive.

I did manage to find an old CF trailer by the side of the road. How appropriate I was wearing my Conway jersey. Pictures are here

One of the best things about having reached Idaho is that now i more inclined to tell people I meet that we are heading to Georgia. It felt a bit lame to say that when I was still in the same state I started with. I was chatting to an old ranch hand earlier on today. I told him about the bike tour while he reminisced about the Korean war. He was seriously chatty and I bet I could still have been there if I hadn't said I needed to head off.

Tomorrow is our first day of less than 100 miles. 99 to be exact. I'm tempted to ride round the parking lot at the end but...

Day 3 - Pendleton to Baker City

It seems like everyone has finally got into vacation and touring mode. Breakfast was more leisurely than usual and no one was in a rush to leave. Must be something to do with the oatmeal and blueberries.

We rode through the Blue Mountains on the old emigrant trail and managed to stay off of I-84.. The route followed the old Oregon Trail. Despite climbing 2500 feet in the first 20 miles, everyone was all mellow and in fine form. We even had time to ride up a gravel hill off the course to take some pictures of a scenic viewpoint.

Our group had it's first accident today. One lady fell while removing her arm warmers on a descent and is now on her way home to California with a broken pelvis. Get well soon Lisa.

The puncture counting crew will be glad to hear that I got my first flat today.

Apart from the downer of knowing that a new friend was leaving, today was a good day to get into the groove. I'd heard that if you get through the first five days, you can get through the whole tour. I should be fine as long as I keep a steady supply of Chamois Buttr.

The other big highlight today was the way I "crushed" everyone for the 45th parallel sign. Oh yeah baby, it was all mine. I saw a few upset sprinters banging their bars in disappointment but they knew the best rider won. :)

It's weird being back in Baker City and not being here for the Elkhorn stage race. I rode a slow lap of the crit course. Very slow indeed as I got stuck at a traffic light. Tonight, I'm playing the role of Julie the cruise ship entertainment hostess as I'm rounding up the troops to go to Barley Browns brewpub.

Tomorrow we hit the first two big milestones of the trip. 1). Changing timezone and 2). Crossing into Idaho.

I'm feeling very excited and energetic at the moment about the tour. I do promise to keep blogging when I am run down and feeling like a$$ though.

Pictures are on my flickr a/c. Time for dinner and a celebratory beer or two.

I forgot to add that I saw my first Conway truck about 5 miles outside of Baker City...

Day 2 - The Dalles to Pendleton

Today's ride can be pretty much summed up in two words. "Tailwind" and "I-84".

The first 110 miles were almost all on the freeway heading east. The group (more about them in a minute) rode the first 100 miles in exactly 4 hours. If we'd been going the other way, we'd have needed headlights. The excitement of the day was our attempts to avoid running over rumble strips and gators (shreds of semi's tires). Between the 5 of us, we had 4 flats.. none by me... Hmm, did I just jinx myself?

Our little band of road warriors was a disparate group. Ann and I from Portland, a father and son from Traverse City, MI and a lady from Central California with a prosthetic foot. This sums up the whole tour group. We have a 60+ year old lady riding a recumbent bicycle, a 16 year old kid who thought this looked like fun and a couple from Denver on a tandem.

The last 30 miles today were along a beautiful valley next to the river. As soon as we got off the freeway, we turned off the gas and got to ride at a more mellow pace. We arrived in Pendleton earlier than expected. This gave us some time to go get a beer and milk shake before checking in to the hotel.

Pictures are here

Tonight's dinner was at the all you can eat buffet at the Indian casino just outside of town. Oh yeah, we got our money's worth out of them.

Tomorrow is the big sprint day. 45th parallel sign which is about 15 miles outside Baker City.

For anyone that cares... yesterday's ride was 103 miles in 6hrs 21 and todays 135 mile ride took 5:50.

Day 1 - Troutdale to The Dalles

Day one started the previous night when I had to do the 26 mile round trip back home to pick up my cell phone. While I was there, I also found my sunglasses which I'd managed to leave behind... Good job I used my checklist eh?

This morning was a 'late' start for the tour as we got to 'sleep in' until our 6:30am breakfast.

We rolled out of the hotel at 7:15 with a ceremonial escort for some of the guys from my cycling team. Thanks John, Mark, Saul and Tom. The first few miles were nice and mellow as we headed out to Sandy on Hwy 26 and our first rest stop at Rhodedendron. Being smarter than me, the Half Fast Velo boys turned round and headed for home.

On the climb up to Government Camp, it started to get warm. For a brief moment there, a few of us thought about taking the side trip up to Timberline lodge... After calculating that this would involve a 6 mile climb and another 2000 feet elevation gain, we saw the error of our ways.

Between Government Camp and the turn of for the Meadows ski resort, we saw hundreds of butterflies that apparently had a death wish. I'm not sure what type of butterflies they were but if you check out my flickr page maybe you can tell me.

After lunch, my full belly helped in the descent off of Mt Hood on Hwy 35. Apparently I didn't eat enough though as I then swallowed a bug whole and spent the next 5 minutes trying to free the beast.

Hwy 44 had a few miles of climbing and then a beautiful 15 mile descent down into Dufur. The scenery went from Douglas fir trees to Ponderosa pine, sage brush and then wheat fields in the blink of an eye.

This is when things started to go pear shaped. It's only 14 miles from Dufur to the Dalles but, we hit ferocious head winds and somebody turned on the oven. Riding down the final descent into the Dalles is supposed to be a super fast road. I had to stand up and pedal to hit 18mph. Riding through downtown The Dalles, I saw a temperature gauge reach 94 degrees. It made me so happy that I'd worn my all black cycling team kit.

Several cold showers later, we chose to ignore the recommended restaurants for dinner and went to Cousins. You know a place is going to be good when the door clucks, baahs and moos when you open it. The large John Deere tractor in the restaurant didn't hurt either. One pot roast, large vanilla shake and two hefeweisens later, we waddled back to the hotel.

Time to start getting things ready for tomorrow as breakfast is at 6am.

D-Day minus 1

Spent most of today packing, trying not to get too excited and running round like a headless chicken.

Drove out to Troutdale with my gear bag and met the supprot crew. They are are pretty cool people. Then drove home so I could ride back out... In the process of all this, I realized I've left my cell phone at home.. doh!

Just got back from the pre tour briefing... Lots of rules and regulations but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it after a few days. Most of the riders seem a bit older and while I'm sure they have all been riding for a million years, I have a the feeling I should be able to keep up.. :)

We're off to the pre dinner banquest at the Edgefield in a few minutes. Time for a beer and then possibly another bike trip home to get my phone... We'll see how motivated I am.

The attached photo shows the route sheets for the next 30 days. They weigh about 1/2 a pound...

The Pre Tour tour

So my bike tour officially starts on Sunday from Troutdale. Having heard from a million people the question why my coast to coast trip starts there, I decided I really should go coast to coast....

With a bit of bribery, one breakfast in Cannon Beach, Ann drove myself and Craig over to the coast. Craig said he'd rather ride 87 miles with me today than have to paint his garden fence.

In typical Oregon summer beach weather, it was a beautiful day the whole way to Cannon Beach except for the last 2 miles when the fog socked in and you couldn't see the ocean, I swear it was there as I could hear it and about 100 seagulls.

After the obligatory photo close to the beach we headed off inland. When we got to Portland, I was surprised to find anyone still in town as it seemed like every single car in the Pacific NW, was on Hwy 26 heading to the ocean.

Today had lots of climbing and even more heat. As we got into town, the mercury was reading 93... Anything over 75 and I turn into a puddle of sweat.

No major catastrophes or excitement to report except that the new bike is better than awesome.
More pictures here.

Tonight is the last night I get to sleep in my bed for a month. 30 different beds in that timespan. Sounds like a good excuse for me to get one last trip in to Thai Noon.

Tomorrow is the tortuous ride from my house to Troutdale. All of 13 miles.

Hey Geoff, I know you are in Shanghai but thanks for letting me take your car to the coast today :)

Bad luck and good luck

Less than a week to go and it's time to taper off on the riding, relax and start to get mentally ready for the ride right? Wrong, I managed to make things a bit more stressful for myself by breaking my carbon bike frame. I'm not exactly sure when I did it but I'm guessing it was a couple of weeks ago when I rode from Tygh Valley back to Mt Hood on a really crappy road. The expansion bumps were massive and occurred every 20 feet for about 10 miles...

I noticed the crack last Friday night on my way to Bend. While there, I ended up riding a couple of times and I saw that the crack got worse. I started to think that the chances it might not be too smart to try and ride this bike all the way to Georgia.

Sooooo, on Monday morning, I took my bike over to my favourite bike shop Cycle Path in North East Portland. I wanted to find out if my frame was rideable or if I could get it warrantied. This is when my luck started to turn.

I got to the shop and bumped into the rep for the company that made my bike. It gets even better than that... Scott Montgomery, the CEO of the company (Scott Cycles) was also in the shop just visiting Portland for the day. When I told him I was planning to ride across country on this bike this coming weekend, he got all excited and told me he would do what he could to help me out. Normally it takes several months to get a new bike frame back from warranty. I was more than happy to hear that he was going to help me out.

Tonight, I went back to Cycle Path and found out that the frame hasn't arrived yet and that if it doesn't come tomorrow, I won't be able to get it until Monday as the shop is closed for the July 4th holiday. This would be a problem as I'm supposed to be in Pendleton by then. Cue stress levels raising instantly... However, Bill, the co owner of Cycle Path told me he would strip down one of the bikes in the shop and then use that frame to build up my bike with my existing parts. He's going to rush this through on Thursday so that I will have a bike for the tour.

All I can say is thank you from the the bottom of my heart to Scott Montgomery and Greg Talbert from Scott cycles and a massive thanks to Bill Larson at Cycle Path. If you ever need a recommendation as to where to buy a bike and what brand...

Oh yeah, here's my new frame. Beautiful eh?