Thursday, June 30, 2011

Day 12: 98 miles

Monday June 27

This morning, we woke up not from the pains of frozen toes and full bladders, but by the promise of hot blueberry pancakes made to perfection by Mr. and Mrs. Richardson. While we were eating, we met and fed a retired Vietnam veteran headed to Alaska and listened to his incredible story. He spoke of his service throughout his life, emphasizing his desire to see young men and women like us to do the same. He told us of his time first as a soldier in the Vietnam War, as a teacher first in high school and elementary school, and later as a counselor for convicted “beaters” as he called them. He suffered from PTSD from his experiences and had two different cancers resulting from his interaction to Agent Orange, so we found his life story to be fascinating and truly illuminating, as it gave us a greater scope into the lives of soldiers before, during, and after the service. He gave us some parting advice in talking to soldiers, took a picture with us, and wished us luck. And we needed it, especially today, as we rode 100 miles into a blowing headwind. For 10 hours. Besides my 8th flat of the trip, nothing really happened on the road, so it was not the most eventful 10 hours. The end was well worth the grind, as the Miller family greeted us with hot showers and a fantastic meal of meat, meat, and more meat. And a pasta salad. It was awesome.
Tucker Burleigh

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Day 11: 86 Miles


Sunday June 26

Hello blog followers! Today we rode a beautiful route from Olney to Cutbank Montana. It started off as a frosty morning, as we began to shake off our rain flap on our tent the water instantly transformed into frost! It was insane. We now know it gets a bit nippy early in the morning in Montana! Despite our wants to curl back into our warm sleeping bags we faced the cold and began to trek up the Rocky Mountains to the Continental Divide. We were happily riding along until we hit major construction then we were in for a bumpy ride! Thankfully our Terry bike seats cushioned our butts and made the ride more enjoyable or else the day might not have been as joyful as it really was.  We reached the support vehicle around 25 miles and apparently that was the top of the mountain we were climbing and had reached the Continental Divide. We couldn't believe how “easy” it was to climb up the mountain. All of our expressions and faces resembled something like, “That’s it? We’re really at the top?”  I guess after conquering the giant Cascade Mountains we were ready to tackle almost anything. We enjoyed a long and steep downhill until we reached East Glacier where we began to enter “plain country”. It was a sad and glorious thing at the same time, we were happy that we had scaled most of the mountains on the trip so far, but not so excited to be staring at corn fields and silos for the next 2 weeks.  We avoided boredom by having deep conversations, riding with no hands, and even singing songs. Anna R and I made up a tune called “Home on the Plains”. Check out our Twitter for the first verse (Click Here for Twitter). Beware, it’s very catchy, It’s been stuck in my head all day. We had an amazing tailwind and were hauling across the plains at a blistering speed of 25 miles per hour! My maximum speed was 37.8mph, but I think Aaron beat me with a neck breaking speed of 40mph.  Another highlight of the day was Browning, Montana; a Blackfoot Indian Reservation. It was a scary experience, because Browning has been known to be a little rough around the edges. We made it out of Browning safely, but we did hear two gunshots. Kinda cool, but mostly terrifying. Don’t worry parents…they were probably hunting…probably. We reached our campground in Cutbank around 4:30pm and settled inside one of the Rec. Buildings because a giant storm rolled in just as we arrived. Anyway, I can’t wait to hit the plains tomorrow. I really hope it’s sunny so I can work on my sweet sunglasses tan line.

-Brittany Marien

Day 10: 70 Miles



Saturday June 25 


 Today was a much needed and thrilling day.  The day before we biked 100 painful miles that seemed to take forever.  Today, however we only traveled 70 miles, a long ride, but not 110 miles which we were suppose to do.  What made this day even better was breakfast.  We woke up to our stomachs growling as usual, however instead of making breakfast at the campsite we rode our bikes about 14 miles to the Buffalo Cafe where we all had an amazing and helpful meal of eggs, meats and our daily intake of starch.  After about a two hour breakfast, we were off.  We biked for 55 miles to our next campsite.  This took a little longer than we expected though.  As we were flying through new tubes from flat tires we all made it to the campsite in one piece at a normal time.  That night we were all ready to just pass out.  Luckily, there was a bar where we stayed and we all had dinner there.  For most of us it was our first time ever having a buffalo burger and each one of us were satisfied.  After a great meal we all relaxed by a campfire and socialized in our tents until the next morning where we could start biking all over again.  And so it goes.

-Luke NoreƱa  

Day 9: 106 miles

Today there were some tears shed, some lunches tossed back up, and limits pushed. It was our first century as a group. A hundred miles gives you time to think about a lot of things mainly we looked forward to ferry day (day 30 we cross Lake Michigan via a four hour ferry), Harry Potter 7 part 2 (which we are planning to see at the midnight release July 15), the next rest day, and most of all the sight of the support vehicle around the corner. With the 94 mile day before, we started off sore, stiff, and already exhausted. My mom, as expected, had completely reorganized the trailer to her liking the night before, but this I had already warned the group of, so we were ready to depart with orderliness. Tucker (I don't do maps) Burleigh was unhappily forced to carry the maps and navigate after the events from the day earlier but he quickly relieved himself from his duties. Brit (I love twitter) Marien's hip was really bothering her but she lead the group fearlessly to the finish. Aaron (I want to snuggle with everyone) Weiss had to stop several times for vitamin I or more commonly known as ibuprofen for his knee which was steadily becoming more purple. Anna (best morning person) Hymanson turned into a not very happy camper after she was told there was still 8 more miles after an 102 miles biked already. Luke (mountain conqueror- PG version-) Norena was having trouble holding his food and Lia (chunder everywhere- her favorite phrase-) Keyser was struggling with a swollen ankle. Despite all of these maladies, the sun was shining and it was a particularly beautiful day in Montana. After all the grueling miles, we found the yard of which the owners agreed to let us set up in. As it was, there were two businesses in the small town of Olney, Montana: a dog sled company and the bar but no campground. The owners of the bar were very happy to accommodate us but they couldn't offer us any showers. There was however a river next to the yard so the brave hearted jumped in the freezing water while the others washed themselves as best they could in the cramped bar bathrooms. The day ended with burgers and fried chicken while chatting with the locals and the very sassy lady that served us our food. We headed to our tents with our bellies full and hit the hay early with a long and dreaded day behind us.

-Anna (blackberry addicted) Richardson

Day 8: 94 miles (110 miles)

Thursday June 23

            Tucker Luke and I cycled 17 miles off course today… The sun was shining and the temperature was high. It took the three of us over two hours to return to our plotted course. Thanks to Badger Balm sunscreen we survived the scourging heat of our mid-day mishap.  The Core energy bars gave us the strength to pedal the rigorous 17 miles in the wrong direction and then the 17 miles back to the unacknowledged turn where we met with Mr. Richardson. So you’re probably wondering: how did the all the guys miss a turn and all the women make the turn? At about mile 40 the girls started to sing Hannah Montana. Luke, Tucker and I decided to start our own pace line a head of the girls so we could talk amongst ourselves. We got so caught up in talking that we did not pay much attention to our speed, soon there was no sign of our cyclist behind us. I decided to slow my pace a bit, but Luke and Tucker continued at the same steady speed.  After a few minutes of slowing my pace, I was by myself. Luke and Tucker were so far a head of me I could not see them, and the girls, I thought, were so far behind me that I couldn’t see them. After passing through a stretch of highway that was being worked on I slowed my pace more drastically then before; still there was no sign of the second half our group. I stopped after traveling 6 miles in the wrong direction and checked my phone, when I saw that I had a missed call from Anna R. I knew us guys missed a vital turn. I ventured back through the roadwork, and crossed a bridge which led to a small town called Noxon.  I followed signs pointing east until I came to a fork in the road; both roads turned into bumpy dirt trails. The journey to the trails led me further from our original turn that I was set to take in the first place. At this point I was lost, without cell service, and by myself; I decided to back track until I ran into Luke and Tucker, which I eventually did. They had cycled all the way to a town called Trout Creek, and then they waited for everyone in town, thinking they were just way a head, when they realized no one was coming they looked at a map and discovered our mistake. We ended up meeting on route 200 south. Once we found a place with cell service we called Mr. Richardson, and he met us near where the roadwork was being done; he picked us up, made a few jokes, then dropped us off on our original course. The guys ended up ride 110 miles that day; 16 more miles then we were suppose to. No one in the group had lunch because the support vehicle was trying to find us during lunchtime, the girls we not very happy with our goof.  Throughout the day I saw two moose, and three deer. I ate four core bars, put of tons of sunscreen, and downed, I don’t even know how many, bottles of water. The guys and I also got to see a good chunk of western Montana. It was a great time!


Aaron Weiss

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Day 6: 93 Miles

Tuesday June 21

Today was slow to start, with everyone ready to be out of the Cascades and move on to our rest day.  After layering up with sunscreen and packing the trailer we were off again on Route 20, ready for what was in store for the day ahead of us. About seven miles in we were met by a very steep downhill that wound its way down the side of the last of the cascades.  We regrouped at the bottom of the mountain, where we crossed the river and headed down the valley towards our first stop at mile thirty.  After refueling with Mrs. Burleigh and making a few adjustments to our bikes we were off again.  With its flat gently rolling hills; this valley was the first real proof that we were finally out of the Cascades. The day was beautiful with the sun out as well as the local wildlife. We passed horses and cows and at mile forty four stopped to look at a heard of about one hundred buffalo grazing on the valley floor before us.  After a second stop at mile fifty, we continued on in the pace line only to be chased by a few very fast dogs and we successfully avoided some sunning turtles.  After merging on to route two, we passed the “Welcome to Idaho” sign, where we stopped for a photo op. and to celebrate the fact that we had finally crossed our first state. We made our way into Idaho, crossing through a town and having a near pileup with the pace line, sand stopped for lunch at mile 74. After a long lunch of sprawling in the shade and Anna Richardson almost consuming an entire box of Triscuits, we got back into the pace line and made our way the last eighteen miles into Sandpoint. After finding the Hotel and showering, we made our way into downtown Sandpoint, where we explored some restaurants until we found one with adequate cheeseburgers.  We then inhaled our burgers and milkshakes and made our way back to the hotel to watch the fifth Harry Potter movie.

- Lia  

Day 5: 85 miles


Monday June 20

Everything went pretty much to plan this morning, jumping into our climb and enjoying the lovely downhill, welcoming the break in pedaling. We struggled on, looking forward to our coming rest day, and we fought our first real headwind to get to a snack break. It really was a struggle, as the wind was strong, the traffic heavy, and the rogue dogs aggressive. We snacked, but still looked forward to the lunch break promised to us in a mere 20 miles. These, again, were a struggle, as the last and extra 5 were on a newly tarred and therefore soft road that, in the beating afternoon sun, felt like an blend of the molasses and some Elmer’s. It made the lunch my mother laid out all the better and all the more appreciated; Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches on an empty stomach are truly fantastic, especially when eaten, as Lia frequently does, sprawled over the tarp. Aaron and I, despite our fantastic tanning abilities, ate in the shade of the trailer. After lunch, we got back on our bikes and finished the ride with another 20 miles. Even with the impressive amount of food sitting in our stomachs, some of us, not going to say who, were quite motivated to finish out the ride seeming’s how we hadn’t seen a bathroom all day. Again, it was a struggle, but we all managed. We all got to the cabins we are staying at tonight and jumped in the very cold but very refreshing lake. The rest of the day went smoothly, selling a t-shirt to a man at the cabins and eating some dinner and then smores by the campfire. A good day.

-Tucker Burleigh

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Day 4: 58 Miles

Sunday June 19

       It had rained throughout the whole night, but we woke up with the sun shining, clear skies, and Emmy and Anne Burleigh cooking eggs for breakfast! We put on a ton of chamois cream and Badger Balm sunscreen and started riding around 8:30am. We rode through the town of Riverside and rode 28 miles before our first snack break. Along the way we saw many animals! We saw gorgeous horses, some cows, and scary snakes. Anne Keyser spoke to a man we met along the way and he said that there had been a mountain lion in the area as well! The sun was blistering so we decided to get going after our quick snack break. We rode 25 miles uphill through the next pass of the Cascades, it was a long haul but we finally made it to the top of the mountain where Mrs. Burleigh was waiting with our lunch. After lunch we were relieved to go 13 miles downhill to our next destination Republic, Washington. Republic Washington is a small town with extremely kind and generous people. We are staying at the Klondike Motel for the night and there are two men, Bob and Herb, who are cycling across the country (but they went the other way and are ending on the West Coast!) and are also riding for a cause. We shared our pasta and quesadillas with Bob and Herb as they told us their story. Bob underwent a Colostomy after being diagnosed with a disease that lead to colon cancer. Bob is living with a "poop bag" as he referred to it, but is living a perfectly happy and active life. He is being sponsored to ride across country by support groups for people who undergo the same thing. Bob's overall message was "If you're passionate about something, you can do anything even if you have an obstacle standing in your way". This is an example of the extraordinary and inspirational people we are going to meet along the way and we can't wait to get going tomorrow!

-Brittany Marien

p.s. our farmer's tans are looking great! :)

Day 3: 68 miles


Saturday June 18

            After a long a gruesome day of climbing in the sun over the Cascade Mountains and sleeping in a very enjoyable lodge, the group had yet another day to look forward of biking.  Today we had a 60-mile ride, not as terrible as the day before however it was still a climb.  It started off as a slow relaxing flat ride, however a little too relaxed as we were not aware what was ahead of us.  For about 20 miles we rode closer and closer to the 10 mile climb that we all gradually climbed.  As we slowly ascended on the 6% incline, we separated as we ventured up the mountain.  When we start climbing up the mountain it only gets better because of the freezing rain that stings our faces and legs.  We counted down the miles as we climbed this road.  We all turned a corner, and we saw something that made us all so happy, our water cooler.  That orange water cooler in the street meant that we were done.  We saw the trailer next to the cooler with smiles on our face.  Even though it was freezing and raining we all made it and were so happy.  After about 10 minutes our thirst was quenched and our stomach were full of cliff bars and Gatorade, the best part was ahead of us.  Everyone in the group quickly went down the scary turning mountain.  Although it was very scary we were all anxious to go down and relax at the campsite.  15 miles went by and we were at the bottom of the hill, although we were far away from the camp.  As we passed the grass the looked so nice to sleep on to our campsite, we all slowly made it to Maggie’s RV Park and pottery.  We were the happiest we have ever been.  Getting out of our damp cloths and taking hot showers were the best feelings of the day.  We all relaxed and sat down to enjoy food and a movie, and that is where day 3 concludes on our journey across this nation.  And so it goes. 

-Luke Norena  

Cascades



Saturday, June 18, 2011

Day 2: 73 miles

Friday June 17
Today started with a "Good morning. It's 6 o'clock. Time to get out of bed." We had one of the hardest days before us, the Cascades... It was a 5000 ft climb over a pass with no resources for miles so the support vehicle had to stock up. We mounted our bikes in a daze of tiredness and unknowing of what was to come. The first 30 miles were great. We all worked diligently on our pace line averaging 17 mph. Then we hit the mountain: a twist of turns and steep sections with seemingly no end. Then we saw it, the snow. It was all around us first unnoticed by the burning desire to reach the top and our tunnel vision to zone out at go. As we got higher, the more and more snow there was. After many grueling hours of hurting butt, knees, shoulder, and just about every muscle in our bodies, we made it. Nothing were as big as our smiles when we reached the top except for maybe the beautiful mountains surrounding us that I didn't quite appreciate until the top. You could tell by everyone's expressions that we had done it. The mountain was conquered. All that was left was a turny downhill to the log cabins we were staying in for the night. To top off a grueling but triumphant day we had warm showers and homemade burgers by Emmy and Anne Burleigh. I am very proud of all the cyclists today for reaching the top and I'm looking forward to getting onto my saddle tomorrow.    
-Anna Richardson

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Day 1: 60 miles

Today brought us 60 miles of beautiful farms, vegetation, rivers, and mountain scenery. The locals are extremely supportive, and moral is high. On our seven hour journey, we experienced little difficulty; one flat tire, and, the more difficult challenge, the escape from an interested beagle. When boredom kicks in we enjoyed Harry Potter 20 questions, singing, and discussing how much food we are going to be able to eat by the end of the trip. It seems as though when I feel most tired a car drives by and give our group a supportive honk and thumbs up. It seems that people already know who we are, and what we are riding for. Every time someone stopped to take pictures of us or gave us a motivational honk, a smile slipped across my face. Our cause is one that easily inspires, and I feel like I'm going to be using that as inspiration to persevere through the aching pains we are going to feel the next few days.

-Aaron Weiss

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Welcome to Seattle!

The cyclists flew into Seattle last night after a long day of travel, delayed flights, and lost luggage. We were greeted with open arms by Lia who had flown in the day before. Leo Marien (Britt's dad) shuttled us to the hotel where Anne Keyser, Anne Burleigh (more commonly known as the Annes) and Emmy Burleigh were waiting. There we promptly ordered pizza and made plans for what to purchase at Costcos the next day. Today we will be leaving Seattle and heading towards a camp ground in Bay View where we will do some last minute bike tuning and logisitics for the trip. We are all getting extremely excited for our first day of riding on Thursday!

-Anna Hymanson