Interesting times as we head into Montana

 

We all hung out at Glen's Cafe as we let a rain shower pass on our way out of Missoula

We had beautiful weather in Missoula for our rest day.  I made a trip to REI to buy fenders for my bike looking at the rainy weather still in the forecast.  Several people had appointments at a bike shop to have work done.  I have become the unofficial bike mechanic for the trip.  

Last week, Kevin, one of our  group rolled into lunch with his bike barely moving and his belt (not a chain drive) nearly falling off.  He is riding a Priority Pinion transmission drive bike, which I happen to have a similar bike, which I have a love/hate relationship with.  Anyway, I know how to adjust the belt tension on that bike and took a look.  His rear axle was mostly unthreaded which was also a problem.  I got those 2 issues fixed and his brakes were rubbing.  So I checked them out and he had NO brake pad left.  He had a spare set of pads which were the wrong size.  That night I helped him order the brake pads for the bike and had them delivered to the hotel in Missoula.  He is now back on the road with us.

Along with the weather being a little unsettled, we also have had some staff issues.  The general consensus of the group is that we would not recommend this tour company to anyone else.  We are getting by, but the guides and cook are working their fannies off just to keep up.  There are organizational issues, planning issues and logistic issues.  Our head guide, Kelly quit in Missoula after yet another disagreement with the owners over something.  I would have put money down the cook would quit first.  He spends an inordinate amount of time unloading and reloading the trailer to get to his cooking equipment and food.  The trailer has no refrigeration so multiple old fashioned plastic ice chests that need ice every day.  And a regular kitchen cooking stove installed.  It is all pretty amateur and home brew.  Maybe good for a week long trip, but this is 11 weeks and a commercial outfit (supposedly).  The owner and husband (operations director) are now with us to keep the trip moving.  We'll see how all this goes.

 

Jocelyn getting ready to stop and put her rain pants back on.  She took them off less that 10 minutes ago under sunny skies.

The weather yesterday may be one of the most unusual days I have seen riding.  We had to climb up to Chief Joseph's pass about 100 miles south of Missoula.  In that 8 mile/2200' climb, I put on and took off my rain coat 5 times and went through 2 snow storms.  We came out of one snow storm and rode for a mile with a clear blue sunny sky.  So we all shed our rain coats and rode on, only to put it all back on in 10 minutes when the next snow storm hit and dropped the temperature 20 degrees.

The tour company decided to pick us all up as more snow squalls were in the area.  We were about 20 miles from our next hotel, so we were all glad to get to a warm room and a shower.

Entrance to the "Yellowstone" Dutton Ranch used in the TV series

As we left Darby, MT we were told to look for the "Yellowstone" ranch set just outside of town.  The making of the TV show had been a big boom to the local Darby economy.

Ranch house for "Yellowstone" as viewed from the highway

Today's ride from Wisdom to Dillion, MT was pretty uneventful.  It was a chilly morning start, but turned into a gorgeous day for riding in "Big Sky" country.

Riding out of Wisdom, MT

After 20 days on the road, I am at 934 miles of riding with 45,800 feet of climbing.  We'll be in Yellowstone National park in 3 days, so that will probably be my next post.

Group going up the last big climb before descending to Dillion, MT 

Memories... Old and New - Lolo Pass and Entering Montana

Lolo Pass Outside Missoula, MT ... 2013 and 2026

The past 3 days I have been riding the same route that Beth, Nicholas and I did in 2013.  If you would like to take a look at the original blog from 2013 here is a link to it.  This is a beautiful and very remote area of Idaho.  The road follows the Lochsa River most of the way to Lolo Pass, more than 80 miles.  There are Lewis and Clark points of interest all along the way since this was their route to the Columbia river.  It was beautiful in 2013 and still beautiful now.  I have great memories of this area during our trip in 2013.

One of the aspects of riding with a group of experienced cycling tourists is that we all have stories of our rides that we share.  Of course, almost all of my riding trips were with Beth and we had some great adventures like riding a dirt road in Chile over the Andes to the Argentine border; riding in Africa and losing the front axle to the bike; or just great days like we just had riding up the road next to the Lochsa River.  The group has been great letting me tell some of the stories of our adventures and very understanding of the loss of my wife, best friend and traveling companion. I'm learning how lucky I was that Beth and I both enjoyed riding the bike.  Most of the group are married or have significant others that will join for a day or two at most, but not share this entire experience together.  

Lots of white water rafters and kayakers.  The rapids can stretch for miles.

The road follows the river just like this for about 80 miles

One of our campsites along the way was a wilderness hunting camp.  It was a collection of several cabins with various bathroom configurations from none to a full shower and toilet.  The beds were just mattresses on a frame and bring you own sleeping bag.  I have been sleeping really well in my tent with a very low cot and thin air mattress, so I just opted to pitch my tent.  What it did have was a full kitchen that Hank, our cook took full advantage of.  Hank is a great cook and he has pulled off some amazing meals with the equipment he has.  We are all starving after we ride all day which probably helps with our meal reviews.  I'll have to do a blog just about Hank at some point.

Cabins at the Wilderness hunting camp

Sleeping arrangements in one of the cabins... yeah... I don't think so.  I like my tent better

"The 3 Amigos"  or "The Rabbits"  depending who you ask. L to R John (66), Chuck (76) and me (69)

The 3 Amigos, to balance out the 3 Amigas, are John and Chuck, both from the Chicago area and me. We are the fastest of the group.  And of the 3 of us, John is the strongest rider.  He can leave Chuck and I in the dust if he wants.  Chuck and I are pretty closely matched and depends on the day, who goes just a hair quicker.  But, Chuck and I are not in much of a hurry and can ride together for hours at a good pace.  To be honest, Chuck at 76 is in amazing shape and this is his 3rd time riding across the country.  His second time was when he turned 70 and he is already thinking about an attempt at 80.  Me... I'm just trying to finish this one!

It was raining as we rode to Missoula, but snowing in the higher elevations where we were yesterday.

We have a rest day here in Missoula. It was a chilly ride from our campsite in Lolo Hot Springs.  It was in the low 30's last night, so most of us opted for a hotel room across the street from the campground.  Chuck and I shared a room and it was nice not to have to deal with a wet tent this morning when it was raining.  It rained on us most of the way into Missoula.  Going downhill in the chilly rain wasn't all that fun, but we got here and are enjoying the hotel for a couple of nights.

Current stats after 16 days on the road:  Currently in Missoula, MT for a rest day after riding 765 miles and 35,700' of climbing... a good start on our 4000+ mile ride.

Ok... Let get serious

 

Track from our ride on Wed 6/3

The riding after the rest day in Walla Walla got more serious as we get closer to the mountains.  Our first day was a ride Pomeroy, WA, a small farming community with a campground at the country fairground.  It was a nice place and had showers which was good after our 68 mile and 4000' of climbing day.  The climbing wasn't steep but very long sections of constant up hill. 

Campground at the Pomeroy County Fairground

Yesterday was our big riding day for the week, over 70 miles and over 5000' of climbing with the biggest climb coming at the end of the day.  Our favorable tailwinds were not with us, but luckily we didn't have a lot of head winds either.  John (66) and I took an alternate route to the finish which took us up a 2300' climb where the first 8 miles were pretty steep, but then leveled out a little as we made our way to Winchester.  The views from the road were amazing and no traffic.  There are few main highways in this area, so the truck traffic is more than you would like.

Views along the road to Winchester.  The yellow field in the distance are Canola.

Today was a relatively easy 46 miles to Kamiah, ID.  There were a number of significant rolling hills, jand then an 1800' drop at the end that was a lot of fun.  It would have been more fun if there wasn't a 10 mph headwind in my face going down the big hill.

Train trestle along our route to Kamiah, ID

Tomorrow we join up with the route that Beth, Nicholas and I did in 2013 all the way to Missoula, MT.  It is a long slow climb tomorrow for nearly 60 miles.  Then the day after tomorrow we'll climb over Lolo Pass which will be the highest point on the trip so far.

The "Three Amigas" - (left to right) Dorothy (73), Jocelyn (62) and Sheri (74)

I'll fill you in on some of the riders from the tour.  We call them the "Three Amigas".  Almost from the first day they have been riding together or very close.  

Dorothy (73) is from the Finger Lake area of up state New York and taught Veterinary medicine specializing in large animals until just recently.  Her husband Steve rode with us from Astoria to Portland, but Dorothy is a far stronger rider and frequently was ahead of him.  This is her first long cycling trip and was fairly worried about being able to make it.  We are now 10 days in with a couple of serious riding days and she is doing fine.

Jocelyn (62) is from the Asheville, North Carolina area and still a part time CPA.  She has a Starlink with her so she can do some limited amount of work even in remote sites.  Jocelyn is a veteran touring cyclist with many multiday/week trips and is also a strong and steady cyclist.  She is frequently in the lead of the Amigas grinding their way up a hill.

Sheri (74) is from Bainbridge Island, WA, just across the sound from Seattle and a retired elementary school teacher.  She is riding an ebike we loving call "The Beast".  It must weigh well over 60 pounds fully loaded.  Sheri has also done a lot of cycle touring and is usually bringing up the rear of the Amigas, just peddling along and conserving her battery for the big climbs.

All three have a great sense of humor and are taking the riding and camping in stride.  Tonight there was a motel option at our campsite and they all took the opportunity for a real bed and a private bath.  I don't blame them, but I have been sleeping better in the tent than any hotel so far, so I am in the campground.

Rest Day in Walla Walla

Colville Street Patisserie dessert case

We had a nice rest day in Walla Walla, WA.  It is nice little college town with lots of winery tasting rooms in the well maintained downtown area.  At Heidi's recommendation, a number of the group went to the Colville Street Patisserie.  The pastries seemed to be right out of France and the desserts looked unbelievable.  Most of the day was taken up with doing laundry, running to the bike shop and everybody taking care of personal things while we had the chance.  

It also gave Hank, our cook, a much needed day off from feeding us.  He actually spends more time setting up and tearing down his cooking equipment and moving ice chests than cooking.  He is becoming very frustrated and more than a few of us are concerned he may quit.  The group is tossing around some ideas to make his life more manageable by packing our own lunches at breakfast and not having him set up for lunch.  This is the first time BIKEternity has run a coast-to-coast trip and there are some bugs to work out.

Food trucks in the park

For dinner, a few of us went to a local park for a "Food Truck Night" which was a good alternative to a restaurant, but I had flashbacks to RAGBRAI (ride across Iowa).  But at least there weren't 20,000 people in the park!

Today, we head into the mountains.  The next couple of days will be some of the more difficult riding days with 68 miles and 4000' of climbing followed by 71 mile and 5280' of climbing.  The week in general will be a good workout as we make our way to Missoula, MT for our next rest day on Monday (5/7)

Beth and I rode the route the final two days into Missoula back in 2013 on our ride across the country.  It is remote area mostly following the Lochsa River up to Lolo Pass then a big downhill ride into the Missoula area.  While remote, it is a very pretty area.

From Portland into the Columbia Gorge

Overlook of the Columbia Gorge and Vista House

 I knew this would be one of the pretty sections of the ride.  We rode out of Portland on a nice bike path and then start to climb old highway 30 toward Hood River.  It is quite a climb to get up here, but it is well worth the effort.

Closeup of the Vista House from the overlook

From the Vista House there is a twisting, rapid decent back to near the river level which was a lot of fun.  From there we passed several waterfalls, Horse Trail Falls, Latourell Falls, Bridal Veil Falls  but the most famous of them all is Multnomah Falls.

Multnomah Falls

Because of some road construction we took a highway department shuttle for 3.5 miles to avoid the construction.  What we weren't told about was the landslide that had closed about 100 yards of the bike trail.  As more of the group showed up we formed a "bucket brigade" for bikes to hand them up a steep makeshift work around on the trail.

Landslide bypass.  The picture really doesn't do justice to how steep this was.

The landslide that covered the trail

We made our way across the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks, OR and entered Washington to reach our campsite for the night.  Of course the trip planner had to pick a campground 3 miles up a steep hill, but it was a nice enough campground.

Bridge of the Gods

Jim and Heidi came and took me to dinner at a local brewpub and it was good to see them one more time before I head to points east.  Heidi brought some cookies she had made from the Milk Bar cookbook that I am pretty sure Beth had given to her a few years ago.  They were a big hit with the group at our first stop the next.   They were really good!

The next day we were riding Washington Hwy 14 east toward Bingen, WA which is just over the river from Hood River.  Jim and Heidi and a number of others said this is NOT a good road to ride and they are correct.  There many places with very little shoulder, several tunnels with no shoulder and a significant amount of impatient traffic, but the tour organizer was hell bent on riding this road so we did.  No body died so we will call that a win.

Shoulder on parts of Hwy 14

View from Washington side back to Hood River.  Jim and Heidi's house is about mid-way up the hill to right side, but kind of buried in the trees. 

We made it past Lyle and the road improved and the traffic got thinner which was nice.  Plus we had a nice tailwind to our campground at Maryhill State Park.  That night the wind picked and with a thunderstorm.  But the wind blew so hard that the tents were dry by morning.  

The ride on Friday was an absolute scream.  We had 25-30 mph tailwinds the whole day which made our 61 mile ride a "breeze".  The average speed for the day was 17mph with 2700' of climbing. A lot of the time we were going 30 mph, so we felt like the pros in a peloton. We rode though lots of orchards and vineyards, so a really nice ride.

Cherries almost ready to pick

When we got to the Crow Butte campground for the night, the wind was still howling and our campsite was fully exposed to the wind.  The ranger for the area said we could camp in the Day Use area which had a number of shelters and buildings for us to get some relief from the wind which was really since some of the rental tents are very big and really hard to set up in the wind.

Using the bathhouse as a wind break for our tents

Today, Saturday, 5/30, was an easy 30 mile ride to Umatilla, OR.  We took the opportunity to stop in a local coffee shop and plenty of time to set up our tents in the Marina RV campground.  We are close to I-82, but the noise isn't bad with the wind still blowing east.  Tomorrow, we ride 60 miles into Walla Walla, Washington for our first "Rest Day" of the trip.  After that the riding will get more serious as we start to enter the western edge of the Rockies.

Mileage for the first week of the CX50 trip was 361 miles and 15,700' of climbing... it will be more next week for sure.  

I'm having a good time with plenty of adventure so far.  The camping adds something of a new dimension, but I have done it before, but at least I am not packing it!  

It is a good group, but sadly we will lose one of our riders tomorrow in Walla Walla.  Dave, our 80 year old, was in the hospital a couple of months ago with a pretty serious infection. Against the advice of his wife and doctor he went ahead and started the trip.  He has not been feeling well for several days and will head for home to recover.  However we were joined by two new riders yesterday, Doug and Deb from Iowa.  They are following our same route and had been in touch with Arlen, our tour director about joining us, so they will be with us to at least South Dakota. Plus they brought down the average age of the group being 61 and 65!

And so we begin... XC50

 

The Whole Gang

If you wonder about the XC50, this is the 50th anniversary of the publishing of a trans-America (XC -Cross Country) bike route by Adventure Cycling.  So I may frequently refer to this trip as XC50.

Before the rain started

The ride began for real from Astoria, OR and my expectations for the ride were met as we rolled to Rainier, OR.  I had anticipated this to be a wet ride on a very busy highway with many areas with little to no shoulder.  Yup... that is what is was.  Sometimes you just have to slog your way through some areas.  We got in a couple of hours of riding before the rain hit, but it was steady for several hours after that.  We had to wait a while at the campsite for the rain to let up so we could set up our tents and get a hot shower.  Nobody died, so we'll call that a win!

And as an added benefit my Wahoo GPS died in the rain and I don't mean the battery died.  It is gone.  I had enough cell service at the campsite to order a new GPS from Amazon and have it delivered to the hotel here in Portland overnight.  I am back in business with routing instructions on the bike.  Today I used my phone with an ear bud so I could hear the turn-by-turn instructions from the Ride With GPS app on my phone.  Plus, I rode most of the day with Chuck (76) and John(66) and their GPS's were working.  We are by far the strongest riders on the tour.

We didn't get a lot more rain overnight, but it was still cloudy with scattered showers around as we broke camp and headed out toward Portland.  We were still on Hwy 30, but as we got closer to Portland the road improved with either a bike lane or a wide shoulder, but the pickup trucks pulling 5th wheels had been replaced by semi's, so the traffic was still substantial.

As we rolled into Portland we had to cross the Willamette river at some point.  There are a number of bridges, but only a few that you would consider riding a bike across.  We followed the route directions to the Broadway Bridge.  During the route discussion, they kind of failed to mention the "stair climb".  There are several people with ebikes on the tour, so climbing 40 stairs is not really an option.  We have a group text message  set up and I used Google maps to find an alternate route onto the bridge and sent it to the group behind us, which they appreciated.

Right after we crossed the bridge we rode a mile to our next scheduled rest stop.  This provided insight into some of the things the Portland Chamber of Commerce doesn't publicize.  I am pretty sure there was a drug dealer on the street, a number of homeless smoking pot, or something stronger and some very colorful language between the park patrons, etc.  We arrived just as Susan, the guide, showed up to set things up for the snack table.  We didn't hang around very long.  As most of the riders showed up, Susan called the other guide and advised they just pass up this stop since it was only 10 more miles to the hotel.

Tomorrow we leave Portland and head into the Columbia Gorge.  I plan to have dinner with Jim and Heidi.  They will come pick me up from our campsite on the Washington side of the Columbia River and go to a local brew pub which I am looking forward to, plus they will get to meet this cast of characters.

I have found out the ages of all but 2 of the riders.  Dave at 80 is the oldest and Miles at 64 is the youngest (so far).  So I may be a little below the the average at 69.  

The 3 oldest men on the trip (L to R):  Dave (80 and you would guess it), Chuck (76), Glenn (77) - Dave and Glen are old friends, riding ebikes.  Glen has done RAGBRAI 18 times (ride across Iowa)

The back of Susan, one of our guides at lunch.  I wish I had a picture at the end of the day.  Her jacket was pretty much black from road grime.  

The first camp site of XC50 at Hudson Parcher County Park

Back on the Road... Again - The Prologue

It has been 8 years since Beth and I last posted on this blog. A lot has happened since then. A pandemic. Several more adventures that went undocumented here like a "Bike-n-Barge" trip from Paris to Brugge Belgium. A week long cruise on a converted crab boat into Glacier Bay National Park which included adding a bike ride in Juneau, Alaska to complete riding in all 50 states. 

And then the shock of Beth's diagnosis of Stage 4 Vulvar cancer in Oct of 2023. She passed away on March 2, 2024, just 4 and a half months after her diagnosis, while  enduring radiation and chemo treatments through the holidays. So the past 2 years have been very difficult at times and I expect will continue to be a roller coaster. 

I had thought about just starting a new blog, but decided against that.  If you come across this blog you can go back and visit some of Beth and my prior adventures including the original ride across the country in 2013. 

So a few months ago I was trying to come to some decision about what to do this year. One of the last things Beth asked of me was to keep doing what WE had been doing... taking trips that hopefully turned into adventures. 

I was poking around on Google and came across the description of a bike ride across the country from a small company called BIKEternity based in Missoula, MT. It was to be a celebration tour of 50 years since Adventure Cycling of America had published the "TransAmerica" route which was the basis of our 2013 Ride Across the USA with our 16 year old nephew, Nicholas, as our support person driving a 22' Sprinter motorhome.  What an adventure that was!

Terrain map I made of the cross country route

I looked at the route and saw that it included pieces of things Beth and I had done together like riding over Lolo Pass outside Missoula and the Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills. But also plenty of places I haven't ridden including some sections of "Rail-to-Trail". Long story short I signed up and the ride begins today, May 24, in Astoria, OR. The average is 63 miles per day, so not quite the 80 mile per day pace we did in 2013, but I'm 13 years older as well! 

It is a small group of 11 riders with 4 staff. I think, at 69, I may be in the middle of the pack age wise.  I know that Chuck is 76 and a really strong rider, may be the oldest. The youngest I know of is John at 66 and also a strong rider.  There are 4 women and 7 men, so a pretty good mix for a long distance tour and two women guides, so it should be a pretty balanced group. It is an 11 week trip with over 50 nights of camping with a couple of nights in hotels every week or so.  Definitely NOT something Beth would have agreed to do.  The 17 nights of camping on our Africa bike trip were the first and last camping bike trip!

In the past, the blog was a joint venture between Beth and I.  So, I'll try to keep up with posting something every few days, but with cycling and camping I'm not sure how much energy I'll have for keeping up with the blog.  We'll just have to see.  Hopefully there will be some tales to tell!

The Peter Iredale

Today, we went for a fairly short ride from the hotel in Astoria to Fort Stevens State Park, which Beth and I had visited a few years ago on one our trips to the Oregon coast.  It was a beautiful day for spring on the coast.  We rode to the beach where the wreck of the Peter Iredale is located.  After the official dip of our bike tires in the Pacific Ocean we are on our way across the country.

The weather forecast for our first real day of riding toward Maine, is NOT supposed to be so picture perfect... Chilly and rainy all day and into the evening.  It will also be our first night of camping so we'll see how that goes, but that is just part of the adventure.

The women of the tour L to R: Sheri, Marianne, Susan (guide), Jocelyn, Kelly (guide) and Dorothy

John and me