Day 59 – Lewiston, ID to Walla Walla, WA

July 28^th:

We started off with our usual morning pack-up and breakfast, which usually looks something like this:

We headed out for our third long ride day in a row, which was scheduled to be over 100 miles.  We crossed into Washington within the first 10 miles as we passed over a bridge!  My group was Kendra, Brett, Flora, and Adam.

Immediately after the bridge, much too early in the day, Kendra got a flat.  As we were stopping to change it, Flora decided to online shop.  The first photo is Flora being excited about her purchase, and the second is her credit card getting declined.

  

We were nervous about this ride day because we’d be back on highway 12 – the same road we’d been on for multiple days, which had gotten exponentially more dangerous during the second half of yesterday’s ride day.  We expected some climbs, too, which made the thought of a road with no shoulder very scary.  This time, however, it wasn’t as bad.  I’ll say that there wasn’t as much shoulder as we’d prefer, but we had enough room to stay single file, and in some parts we could ride double wide.

It’s been slightly disappointing to me that the “evergreen state” of Washington has up to this point been anything but evergreen-covered.  In fact, it’s mostly been desert thus far.  I can appreciate the different landscape and even find some beauty in the dirt and desert shrub-covered hills, but I need real trees in my life.  I was looking forward to seeing them throughout the state of Washington, so this was a rude awakening.  I was told that once we went through the Cascades, the scenery would change to the greenery I was expecting all along.  Unfortunately, that wouldn’t happen for a few more days.

Early on in the climb, Kendra got another flat.  This was all within the first 25 miles of the day!  I hoped that this wasn’t indicative of the way the rest of the day would go.  After the first water stop, we climbed a steady incline until the top of the first summit, where many of our teammates were taking a quick break.

This time, it was Brett’s turn to get a flat.  So once again, we waited at the top of the hill for him.  I remembered a fortune from a fortune cookie that I’d opened the day before and found it in my Camelbak, reminding me not to sweat the small stuff and to remain positive.

The day continued on in the heat with no shade and a desert-like scenery.  I’ve been thinking about it, though, and even though I’m inclined to call it “desert,” it was mostly fields of wheat.  I’m not sure if that qualifies as desert, but whenever a landscape is mostly brown, I classify it as desert.

After my two biking trips I’m convinced of this: when it is over 90 degrees, it is much more comfortable to keep biking than it is to stop and sit/stand in the sun.  When you bike, at least you have the breeze to cool you off, but when you sit in the sun, it’s unbearable.  It was crucial to put up this tarp during lunch so no one fried.

It is a common occurrence for people to sleep in the van during water or lunch stops.

After a couple more climbs after lunch, we found ourselves coasting downhill into a cute little town that seemed to appear out of nowhere.  The hills/mountains tend to hide these towns, and when you’re riding through wheat fields it seems as though you are not even close to civilization.  We went to a coffee shop and even found this rickshaw type cruiser which we thought we might trade a couple of bikes in for.

After the final water stop, we were on to our last climb.  We thought we were in fields of wheat before, but we REALLY hit the golden grassland in the final part of the day.

Again, I was very unaware that any part of Washington looked like this.

Finally, we made it to the cute town of Walla Walla.  Even just saying the name is fun!  We walked around town, and Brett and I decided to get a beer to celebrate the day.  Another century day complete!

Day 58 – Wilderness Gateway Campground, ID to Lewiston, ID

July 27^th:

There were a lot of very comical things about this day, starting with our 3:00am wake-up.  We had just crossed into the Pacific Time Zone, and we were used to getting up at 4:00am.  Therefore, our leaders decided to have us wake up at 4:00am Mountain Time so we could get the show on the road faster.  This may have worked if it wasn’t so cloudy in the morning, but we were in the mountains so we should have known we’d start out with a lot of clouds and fog at that hour of the morning.  But there we were, up at a 3:00am, realizing it had rained all over anything we’d accidentally or purposefully left out of our tents that night.  We had tried SO HARD to be strategic about this morning.  We’d all put anything we needed to wear that day in our tents the night before.  Many of us slept in our bike jersey and shorts to make it an easier transition when we woke up.  Our duffles and backpacks were packed up in the van the night before so that we could skip that process.  So we were prepared for the most part, but we couldn’t help the fact that the morning was pitch black.  We did a lot of standing around and cursing our leaders for this idea that made us get out of bed an hour earlier than we needed to.  Honestly, though, any one of us could have spoken up against this idea, but we didn’t, so we are definitely to blame as well.  It was a slow morning of waiting for it to be bright enough to ride.  It rained quite a bit, too, so we waited on that as well.  The campsite had a shelter that we all sat around in until it was time to go.  Overall, camping before a 120 mile day is hard.

When it finally lightened up, it was pretty to see the clouds over the mountain tops.

We spent the morning biking along the same river that we biked alongside the day before.  I think it was the slow morning, but I had a really hard time staying awake.  Nearly falling asleep while riding a bicycle is scary stuff.

This is how I looked and felt:

After the first water stop, I was starting to feel a little more awake.  The morning continued on nicely along the river, and we even saw some wildlife… in the form of deer, BUT they were running across the wide river, so that was a cool sight I’d never seen before.

We finally made it to a town called Lowell where there was a café, and since we were the last team, others had already gotten coffee and warm breakfast and were about to head out on their way.

We met a Swedish man whose name I did not catch that was also biking across the country, but in the opposite direction.  In fact, he’d ridden across the U.S. a casual 7 times.  He claims it’s the most beautiful country in the world because there are so many different landscapes.  I trust him, too, because he has ridden all over Europe, too.  He’s planning on biking across the U.S., then heading to New Zealand by plane, then somewhere else, and then Canada to start biking to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for the summer 2016 Olympics.  To top it all off, he’s run 143 marathons.  WHO IS THIS GUY??!!?  I’d say I aspire to be like him, but in actuality, I do not.

While the morning started out pretty well, the day took a turn for the worse when we got to the town of Kamiah, and really it just all went downhill after that (and not the GOOD kind of downhill).

Suddenly, highway 12, which we’d been riding on for two days now, turned into a nightmare.  The shoulder would disappear and then return for a bit before disappearing again, and we rode along a guard rail which kept cars from tumbling down the cliff into the wide river.  There were several semi-trucks, and an increasing number of log trucks carrying huge tree trunks.  We had to remain in a straight line, and the only words we could say to one another were the usual “car back!” or “semi-truck!” or “shoulder ending!” or “hole… gravel…” etc.  We couldn’t even talk because we’d have to yell against the increasingly brutal headwinds.  We decided that Idaho was really throwing it all at us today – headwinds, terrible shoulders for riding, cars and trucks consistently passing us… it wasn’t great.  We weren’t prepared for the next thing that’d be thrown at us around mile 92.

I looked to my right while we were riding and saw a goose flying at our level right next to us.  My initial reaction was to laugh and tell my team “you guys, look at the situation to our right…”  Everyone turned and saw the goose and, like me, they all thought it was funny.  Suddenly, though, it started diving in between us, cutting us off and sending us into the road.  This wasn’t safe because, as I’ve stated, it was a somewhat busy road.  Luckily, there weren’t any cars behind us during this time.  I have learned in my 25 years that in the fight or flight moment, I’m most certainly a “flighter.”  I sprinted onward thinking I wanted to no part of this situation as the geese grew more and more aggressive.  I got pretty far ahead and when I looked back, I saw Patrick squirting water from his water bottle at the goose and yelling “GET THE F*** OUT OF HERE!!!!!!” which honestly made me crack up.  I saw the goose fly back toward the river, which we’d been riding alongside all day.  I thought this meant we were in the clear, but I was greatly mistaken.  Upon turning back again, I saw the goose swooping back and heading my way.  I sprinted harder, but it easily caught up.  It was on my left at my eye line before I knew it.  I checked back quickly for any cars that might be behind me, and when I saw that there were none, I got into the road and sprinted harder.  Even though I had laughed at Patrick’s panicked scream at the goose just moments earlier, I, too, resorted to yelling this animal… choosing the same phrase, also.  I think got brave and took a swing at it with my arm, forgetting how short my arms actually are and coming nowhere near it.  This swing caused me to wobble my handlebars, but I stayed upright.  I had seen a parking lot to the left from about a mile away where the goose started chasing us, and I got into the turning lane as the goose continued to hover right next to my head.  It was opening its mouth as a sign of aggression, and I was officially in a state of panic.  I turned into the parking lot entirely too fast, running directly into gravel which caused me to fall and slide hard.  I got up immediately, locating the goose and keeping my bike between me and it.  My saving grace was Brett, who was driving the van that day and just happened to be driving back to check on the teams who hadn’t made it to the next water stop.  I got in the van and handed Brett my bike with full permission to use it to shoo the goose away.  My heart was pounding and I couldn’t stop breathing heavily.  The rest of my team rolled in as Brett was working to get the goose up the hill next to the parking lot.  When he thought he’d successfully scared it away, he started running back down the hill.  Unfortunately, the goose was running after him.  As he got back to work on shooing the goose away, since his first attempt was unsuccessful, he asked “do I have permission from the vegetarians to kick this goose?”  He was referring to Amanda and I.  Of course, I gave him full permission to do what he had to do, and although Amanda was slightly more hesitant, she agreed that something needed to be done to really get this goose away.  So Brett became my hero as he gave the goose a solid kick to the chest.  Look – I’m not into hurting animals, but we later learned that this same bird had aggressively attacked all the other groups ahead of us.  I was the only victim, but I guess it was bound to happen to someone.

I decided to van myself for the rest of the day, despite the fact that it would have been my longest ride ever and that would have been quite the accomplishment.  My heart took a long time to stop racing and I just thought it’d be better if I didn’t ride after that.  I got to the last water stop in the van with Brett and saw a leftover hard cider.  I immediately asked Martha (who was in the other van that day) “um, can I please have that?”  She said “absolutely.”  WHAT A DAY.

Day 57 – Missoula, MT to Wilderness Gateway Campground, ID

July 26^th:

We had 96 miles to ride, so we woke up at 4:30am and headed out, bound for a campground in the middle of the state park we’d spend our day riding in.

The next three days were going to be long, and we were already nervous.  About 10 miles into our ride, we saw a sign for Lewiston, informing us that it was 209 miles away.  The thing is, we were scheduled to arrive there the following afternoon.  So we were riding about 96 miles this day followed by a 120+ mile ride the next day.  Our hearts hurt a little when we saw this particular sign.

I was riding in a lady gang of Martha, Lindsay, Sam, and Hannah.  The morning started out a little chilly and we were bundled up.  We passed by a group of Team Seattle riders going the opposite way we were going, and somehow even though we had just seen them, it was exciting to pass by and wave to them.  There’s a certain comradery that you feel when you see other 4K cyclists, and really just cyclists in general.

In the morning, the mountains were mostly covered by what looked like burned trees.  I’ve heard of controlled burns, and this could have been the end result of one of them.  It was still pretty, and the taller mountains still had some evergreens that had summer morning clouds hovering and spiraling through them.

As we continued our climb, which was the perfect grade as it was just steep enough to be climbing but it was comfortable, we began to see more and more evergreen trees!!

We saw signs like this, too!

We were on a road that curved through the mountains along a scenic river.

After the second water stop, the final bit of the climb was steeper and a little bit more challenging, but once we got to the top of the pass, we crossed over into Idaho (we’re baaaaack) and into the Pacific Time Zone!!  We saw the Montana sign in the other direction, and it just so happened that some motorcyclists were taking a break at the sign.  Martha, Hannah, and I asked if we could take a photo with their motorcycles in front of the sign.  Confession: we haven’t been cycling this whole time, actually…. we’ve just been riding these motorcycles… (just kidding)

We stopped at the visitor’s center to grab a sticker for our bikes and learn a little bit about the landscape.  All of these evergreens is what I picture when I think of the PNW region of the country.  It was so beautiful!

Lunch was at this incredible location:

Jessie looked like a mermaid taking a nap on one of the rocks along the creek.

After lunch, we were tired but we pushed on.  Even though the scenery was wonderful, it was hard to maintain focus when we’d been riding through the same landscape all day.  We stopped to take a photo of another team on a bridge, and they took a photo of our team there.  That’s an unspoken deal between two teams that stop at a scenic spot or sign or whatever.

We were riding in silence for a while before Martha said to me “AGH okay I’m falling asleep and I need to talk so I stay awake!”  So that’s what we did.  We talked about her time in Sweden studying abroad and her strange experiences working with spinal cord injury patients (she’s now a licensed physical therapist, which has been a great resource for our team).  I told her about my first experience on a road bike, which included the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Appalachian Mountains of NC, a common place for Lance Armstrong to train.  We chatted until suddenly, we had made it the last 15 miles of the day and we were at our campsite.  We bathed in the river, ate dinner, and then Hannah and I went to bed before the sun went down.  The next day was a 120 mile day, and then the next day was a 103 mile day.  This, in all of Team Portland’s opinion, was a very poor decision on the part of the 4K office, who planned our route before the summer started.  This was our first time camping, and getting ready in the morning would be a totally different process.  Packing up tents and trying to get ready in the dark was an experience we weren’t used to yet, and placing a 120 mile day following such a night was nerve-racking.  But one of our bike jerseys says “Team Portland – Find a way,” so we figured we should probably just do that.  Here’s a possibly creepy photo of Hannah sleeping inside our tent that she is unaware I snapped:

Day 49 – Ashton, ID to West Yellowstone, MT

July 18^th:

Everyone’s bodies are starting to give out.  We’ve been in our longest stretch of riding days, and it’s definitely taking its toll.  Not only have we been exhausted all the time and hurting on rides, but also we’ve been more temperamental as a team, snapping too quickly at one another for little things.  But onward we go, into a new state today!  It’s a little strange to go northeast for a while into Montana, but I’ve heard great things about this state!

I enjoyed my group SO MUCH this day!  I was with Julia, Kyle, and Kevin.

  

We were the last team to roll out of the church, and we made a pit stop at a gas station for coffee.  Jessie had drawn a full beard on Kyle’s face with a Sharpie before we left, which made for some hilarious double takes as people saw Kyle walk into the gas station.  We were slow rolling this morning, taking the time to take off layers when we needed to (it was a chilly start in the morning!) and take photos along the  road.
Kevin got a flat at about mile 10, and although this is often frustrating, we were too happy to be put down by the occurrence.  Meanwhile, I took some photos of Kyle looking into the distance while brushing back his hair like the little model he aspires to be.

  

There was a point on this ride where we could see the Tetons AGAIN in the distance after we climbed for just a little bit!  It was sad to say goodbye to them!

The day was long and windy.  More stops than usual were necessary because everyone was just exhausted.  I was so tired that I felt delirious and everything was funny.  We had a whoopy cushion at lunch which had come from Lizzy’s mom in her mail drop, and we took full advantage of the hilarity that could come from using it.  “Farts will always be funny,” a quote from my dear friend Jillian McMahon, who was indeed correct.

In the afternoon, we made it to the Montana state line!  And there was a state sign!  So exciting!

But it was cold when we got to the top, and I wasn’t happy about having to put back on my arm warmers.  IT’S JULY, PEOPLE.  WHY AM I COLD?!  

We got to the host in West Yellowstone around 4:30.  Knowing that we weren’t going to bike through the actual park, we decided to take the vans into Yellowstone that night.  We really wanted to see Old Faithful, the infamous geyser at Yellowstone, go off!  And we made it!

We spent some time perusing the gift shop in Yellowstone too, followed by a walk around the natural hot springs!

The drive through the western part of the Yellowstone Park was beautiful!  We saw some antelope, moose, and a bald eagle.  No bears, though, which honestly I’m okay with. 

Day 48 – Jackson, WY to Ashton, ID

July 17^th:

Another climb day!  This one was a short but steep climb, but of course I was ready for it!  Coffee was, again, a must this morning.  I think the fact that we’re in a longer riding stretch than usual has made us more addicted to the caffeine that propels us for the first half of the day. 
Across the street from the coffee shop was a small park in the middle of town.  The entrances to the park were formed with what appeared to be cattle horns. 

We headed out to take on the infamous Teton Pass after coffee!

My boss from my AmeriCorps year at Habitat for Humanity, Tommy, said this was one of his favorite climbs when he did Bike & Build in 2007, and I remember how excited he used to get when he talked about it at work!  We talked about B&B all the time, obviously.  It was a short climb of about 5 miles, but it was a toughie at a 10% grade!  Usually, a good, hard climb is about a 5-6% grade.  This was a STEEP one!  We learned from a local at the last minute that the road for cyclists to take was the old Teton Pass road, which was now closed to motor vehicles but open to bike and foot traffic.  One group didn’t get the memo that we were switching up the route before they started climbing, so they took on the possibly more dangerous road (more dangerous because of cars).  Although they were on the road-more-travelled, they saw a black bear run across it in front of them!  I’m glad I did not see this bear because I certainly would have panicked and probably turned around to bike back down the mountain.

I climbed by myself so that only I could hear myself breathing, AND so I could talk to myself while riding, giving myself words of encouragement or singing random lyrics of songs that pump me up, without anyone judging me for this strange behavior.  It was a long climb with many switchbacks which forced me to power through so that I would maintain momentum and not fall over on my bike.  I came close to falling several times, but never did.  I occasionally turned around to look at the view and was astounded every time!

I was the first person to make it to the top of the mountain!  Flora was in the van that day, and she was chalking words of encouragement on the final stretch of the hill.  I yelled “FLORA!” when I saw her because she initially had her back turned to me, probably not prepared to see anyone for a while.  When she saw me, she ran down to where I was and ran alongside me as I rode up.  She was yelling parts of our morning cheer to me.  It’s one of those cheers where one group shouts a phrase and the other group responds.  She said “Where are we from?!” to which I responded “BALTIMORE!” …Where are we going? PORTLAND! East is…? EAST!! West is…? PORTLAND!  We are… 4K!!  We are… 4K!!  …Until I finally made it to the top!!  I was breathing very heavily at the top, and the view continued to take my breath away!

As awesome as it was to reach the top first, I waited for 2.5 hours for everyone to get up.  Remember, was have to wait at each water stop for every assigned team to get in.  On days like this, it’s really a setback for those of us who climb fast.  It was nice, though, to have some time to stare down the mountain from where we came.

Afterward, we headed downhill.  I didn’t enjoy the downhill as much as I would have in the early morning hours of the day, because by the time we started going down in the afternoon, the road was busy with cars and you had to proceed with extreme caution since there was no shoulder.  At the bottom, we made it to the Idaho state line!  My group of Martha, Gino, Halle, and Brett decided to take a photo at both the Idaho and Wyoming state signs, since we hadn’t seen a Wyoming sign when we initially got to the state.

We biked for maybe 12 miles after lunch before getting into the next town.  We were still far ahead of most teams, despite the fact that we’d waited until everyone got to the top.  A beer sounded good, so we made a quick pit stop at a brewery!

We honestly didn’t think we’d finish the day.  It was about 2:30 when we still had over 50 miles to go, and we were supposed to be at the host by 5.  That just wasn’t going to happen, so for a while we considered shuttling.  I’m glad we didn’t though because the ride in Idaho was beautiful!  We could see the Tetons behind us all day!  The view never escaped us and never ceased to amaze me!  I turned around to look back several times during the last part of the ride, always astonished to still see the Tetons standing tall in the distance.  I wish I’d taken more photos in the afternoon.  There were mountains surrounding us on all sides, but photos didn’t capture them as well as being in their presence.

Our hosts in Ashton treated us to a potato bar, with baked potatoes and toppings for them.  It was an appropriate meal for our first day in the potato state of Idaho!  Funny enough, we were only in Idaho for a day before sort of backtracking northeast into Montana toward the town of West Yellowstone the following day.