xcxbike!

Yorktown, VA!!!!

2008-08-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

4000+ miles, 65 days, San Fran to Yorktown!

Almost there!

2008-08-07T19:15:00.001-07:00

We left Charlottesville thismorning and completed our last long day!
115 miles! Leaving us with a nice 60 miles to complete tomorrow. So,
this is our last night on the road! We're at a church that let's
cyclists stay. Churchs have been the nicest places we stay- stocked
with food and often several desserts, coffee, air conditioning...and
all for free! Though sleeping with a Jesus picture staring down on you
takes some getting used to.
Any way, tomorrow we are getting into Yorktown and having our last
night celebrating...then parting ways on Sat.

Star bikey!

2008-08-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Charlottesville, VA

2008-08-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

We got to visit with Tom, Jana, Marilla, and Lilly for the first time
in several years! We stayed the night with them (even though we were
pretty last minute on calling!). It was soooo great to visit and see
you all! Thanks!

Outer space

2008-08-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

Spacey look!....it was a tough day!

The cookie lady!

2008-08-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

So, we have heard about the cookie lady since Utah. We stopped by and
got to see her bike house. Of is a house completely for bikers since
the route was started in 76. It is covered in memorabilia from bikers
that have stopped by through out the years. She was named the cookie
lady got her name because in her younger days (she is now 80) she
would run out and greet the cyclists with freshly baked cookies.

Just 4 fun :)

2008-08-04T10:01:00.001-07:00

End of the day

2008-08-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

This is what a typical end of the day looks like.

Natural Bridge, VA

2008-08-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Our trip is quickly approaching an end. It is very strange to think we
will be done before Friday. Tomorrow Blair, Gary, and I meet back up
with John and Mark to go to Vesuvius. We will be done with the hills
in a day and a half!!! Then it really will be down hill from there!
(Since Colorado we have been hearing "it's all down hill from here").
We will be parting ways with Gary at the top of the parkway, where he
is going to north VA, and we will go south to Yorktown. We have really
enjoyed the time we spent riding with him, about 3 weeks now!

Roanoke, VA

2008-08-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

After the night at Gary's moms we headed to Roanoke, where he used to
live. He had friends there, Colleen and Bill, when hosted us for the
night. We again got our own bed! They cooked an amazing dinner and
desert, let us usetheit computer and phone and were great to talk
to! We had a hard time getting up and out in the morning and
seriously contemplated a rest day.

Roanoke bike shop!

2008-08-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

I had my first bike troubles yesterday. It was near the end of the day
(430) and we had just gotten to the top of the last big hill of the
day when snap...my rear shifter cable broke..leaving me in my hardest
gear. We called the closest bike shop (15 miles off) which closed at 5
but was willing to wait for me. I cranked barely making some of the
little hills, to the shop. I was soooo happy to see it was a "real"
bike shop...we have had some sketchy encounters as far as bike shops.
They changed out my cable and were a great bunch!!

Wythville, VA

2008-08-03T14:41:00.001-07:00

Now that we are in VA we are on Gary's turf. We stayed the night at
his mom's house where we went out for dinner, had beds...and even our
own rooms, shower and coffee and breakfast in the am! It was
wonderful! It was great to meet Clara and her cute little dog, Ponder.

Bed and Breakfast

2008-08-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

David ran the B& B, the garden club, and the historical society in
Hindman . Great hospitality, great cats, great ice cream! David has so
much energy he hardly sat down the whole time we were there & he
washed every article of clothing for 5 bikers.

Coffee

2008-08-01T16:07:00.001-07:00

After dinner coffee. Mark and John have uped our coffee consumption
considerably.

Dinner at Bonanza!

2008-08-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

Gary's wife Lisa came to visit for the evening and we all went to
dinner treat of the Hicklins. The foodbar was insane!!! I ate 3 kinds
of dessert after 4 entres. Carb power for the mountains :)

Go speed racer go!

2008-07-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

I think she was pretty excited about Virginia...or just that she was
in a gravity well instead of cranking up hill (we did a lot of
climbing today).

Virginia!!!!

2008-07-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

We made it! Just one last state to make it through!! It was a really
tough long day, but being able to cross into VA made it well worth it.
I think today may have been close to the toughest yet. One of the
hills in the middle of the day kicked my ass and def was the toughest
hill I have ever ridden. I was the first hill I stopped for a rest on
the was up...def a toughy. But time for sleepy! I'm whooped!

Cats cont..

2008-07-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

Cats!!!

2008-07-30T05:10:00.001-07:00

Hillllll!

2008-07-29T16:19:00.001-07:00

Today was our first real day in the Appalachian Mts. We did a short 60
mile day. The first half was beautiful, shady, practically no
traffic...the second part of the day- ugh! High traffic, no shade,
debree in the shoulder, rumble strips, and coal trucks...rough.
Any way, we are staying at a bicyclists bed and breakfast tonight. To
get to the b+b you have to climb this realllllly steep hill. Mark and
I both attempt it but don't make it. We could barely walk our bikes
up. When we get to the top the owner tells us only 22 out of 119
cyclists have made it up. Mark and I rode back down to try it again.
He made it on his 3rd try....I made it on the 5th. Everyone else of
course thought we were nuts.

Oh and the picture really doesn't do it justice...well over 20% grade.

Terriential down pour and a flat

2008-07-28T18:34:00.001-07:00

We were riding along a beautiful road, sun shining, beautiful plants,
birds chirping.... Then we get to the top of a longish hill and it
starts pouring, like sheets of rain and cracks of thunder and
lightning. At this point we're going down the hill, can barely see,
breaks aren't working so great because it's so wet,
hydroplaning...then I hear a pfssssss. Flat tire!!!!! In the
terriential down pour in the middle of no where. My rear tire had
worn through (without warning).
At least it was a short day! And it was very nice, when we finally got
into town we were greeted by hot tea and zero bar from Mark and John :-)

Gas station slurpie

2008-07-27T07:08:00.001-07:00

Orange dream machine is better shared

Action!

2008-07-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

We had a great day! And the padres did a wonderful 72 miles on the
tandem pulling their bob!

The rents ride

2008-07-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Pete has only been on the road with us 4 half a day and already he is
operating as the resident mechanic.

Utica, Kentucky

2008-07-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

We made it! It really wasn't a bad day, I was just so tired today! It
was actually a relatively easy 75 miles compared to the past few.
In defense of this photo I would say the heat was getting to me, but
it wasn't even hot!

Kentucky

2008-07-24T04:34:00.000-07:00

7 down 2 to go

Cap-ertillar :)

2008-07-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

I saved him from being run over by a two ton monster truck. He is
obviously greatful.

Loitering

2008-07-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

We have become pro loiterers

Illinois

2008-07-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

It isen't all pedaling

2008-07-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

Pulled into circle B campground after 80 some miles and took a
glorious float down the river. It was sweeeeeet. Then we ate dinner
with a family of 28 or so. Free hamburgers. Yes!

Bike troubles

2008-07-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

So, we have been having some bike troubles the past few days. First
was Blair's wheel...lots of issues there, we just ended up replacing
it. Then Gary, and John have been having shifting difficulties. Mark's
chain broke yesterday...and again today.
I am feeling pretty lucky because the only problems I have had are
some easily fixable flats. (knock on wood)
Though we do finally hit a decent bike shop in a day and a half in
Carbondale Illinois.
So its been a rough, steep, hot, humid past few days...still, I am
having fun and wiu prefer to be here than UPS!

Hartville, MO

2008-07-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

We are serious about our food! We have been hitting up a lot of little
mom and pop diners that have some mighty fast food!
In the west we lost weight...now I'm sure we must be gaining, we're
eating so much! But it sure is tasty!

Peanut butter time!

2008-07-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Every biker should carry thier own quick energy source. Peanut butter
happens to be the quickest cheapest source. We all have our preferred
brand.

Missouri!

2008-07-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

We made it across Kansas!! Kansas was the state of giving people. We
had several occasions where people bought us food (ice cream, paid for
our breakfast at the chatter box cafe, cooler filled with fruit given
to us by the gas station lady..). Everyone was so kind and the cars,
trucks,and large farm machinery always moved way over for us on the
road. People were kind, just be sure not to talk politics with them.
Now for some misconceptions about Kansas:
Kansas is not flat. The western part is, you can see from one town to
the next, but a couple days in and it is more rolling than flat.
Prevailing wind most definitely did not seem to be coming from the
west...more of a southeast..
And lastly, people told us "there is nothing in Kansas!" they
apparently have not been to Nevada.

Kansas bike shop...

2008-07-18T05:37:00.000-07:00

All the way through Kansas, this was the only bike shop...and it was
pretty much on the ks/mo border. But any way sketchy little place. I
asked them to check our chains to see where they were at. He looks at
the chain for a moment then says, looks good! I asked if he had a
chain checker and he told me "Naa, don't need one of those!"
So, I was a bit skeptical of the place but no one else seemed to mind
it.

Giant furry spider!

2008-07-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

We were spending the night at a church hostel in KS and this lovely
little thing was in the bathroom! It is the hugest spider I have ever
seen outside of a zoo! And it was all furry..the paperclip is for
scale (its one of the large paperclips!)

Nickerson, KS

2008-07-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

Lunch break on our 110 mile day! This is the first day we started
riding with a few other guys we met on the way...today is our 4th day
riding together. It's nice having others to ride with.

Chickens @ the gas station

2008-07-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

Check out the feathers on thoose feet!

Children of the corn :)

2008-07-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

108 miles and a double scoop ice cream cone!

2008-07-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

Ft Larned

2008-07-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

We were fighting a head wind (yes, again) and decided to take a long
stop at ft larned. Blair was very excited...

Gas station breakfat...yum?

2008-07-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Becca and Andy ate something called a "tornado" and I chowd on a
prepackaged egg salad sandwich. Fine dining indeed.

Becca & Blair Biker Babes Bond

2008-07-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

I met my lovely friend Becca in Rush Center Kansas for some gas
station breakfast. So good to see a familiar face on the road!

Bikers galore in Kansas

2008-07-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

John and Mark shared some bike stories and some tacos with us. More
good times had in Kansas.

Kansas at its best

2008-07-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

These Kansas boys were very friendly... Although they aren't Obama
fans...

Sweet motley crew

2008-07-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

This group is heading west or I would have joined them. Good times
good peeps!

We met other biker girls!

2008-07-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

Becca and Tallulah are sexy sweet awsome biker chicks :)

K 4 kansas

2008-07-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

I created this beautiful K formation and Asta posts the one where I
look like a wilting flower. Typical snoogley

Another time zone!

2008-07-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

I am now 2 hrs off my home time and Blair is one hr closer to hers!

Kansas!

2008-07-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

And hello to the plains!
We thought Kansas would be great...but for all three days we have been
on the plains it has been headwinds, which apparently just switched
direction the day we started!
We started at 1am thismorning to try and get some milage in before the
winds got strong...brings me back to my UPS days!

Adiós!

2008-07-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

Saying goodbye to the Rockies!!

Monarch crest

2008-07-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Sent that last pic before I wrote anything...the highest elevation of
our trip. Obviously the photographer was not a cyclist because he cut
off the elevation...it was 11,312 ft. It was soo cold up there and it
was around 730 pm when we got up there. I was pretty bummed b/c the
little shop was closed where I wanted to get a monarch crest sticker
that had the elevation on it (a lot of cyclists we met had them).

2008-07-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

The 4th!

2008-07-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Heidi and Terry introduced us to some of their friends in Ourey CO
where we stayed for a wonderful dinner and fireworks! Thanks!

4 flats 2 day

2008-07-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Pueblo

2008-07-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

Held up by a marching band on our route through Pueblo. Comical

Our guest house

2008-07-05T12:36:00.001-07:00

The fourth

2008-07-05T12:34:00.001-07:00

Fireworks look the same in Colorado

Mining gold!

2008-07-05T12:33:00.001-07:00

A rock shop in Ouray.

The fouth

2008-07-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

The town of Ouray has water fights on the fourth. The firefighters try
to knock each other over with the water hoses! Wow

Artwork in Heidi's kitchen

2008-07-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Heidi is an artist so there were great paintings everywhere . I really
liked this one.

The honeymoon suite

2008-07-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

Terry use to ride around America in this baby. You should have seen
the inside! I'd give up my Jamis for one of these babies...well maybe :)

Heidi & Terry

2008-07-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

Wow what can I say about these two wonderful people?!! We stayed with
Hidie and Terry for the court of July. They treated us to the
hotsprings of Colorado, Mexican food, Fireworks, great stories/life
philosophies, amazing hospitality and so much more. Thank you!

Green House

2008-07-05T12:14:00.001-07:00

Hidie & Terry's amazing home

Erlend & Jules

2008-07-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

Erlend let us camp out in his guest room and made some of the best 15
grain cereal I have ever had! He was also a wellspring of knowledge on
the land in the West. I'm really starting to like the Germans!

Colorado!!!

2008-07-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

Rafting!

2008-07-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, we had planned on leaving this morning but Jana's parents offered
to take us rafting...and well we couldn't pass that up!! We both had
so much fun! It was great to spend the day with them and get to try
the sit on top as well!
Back to riding in the morning...

Coffee!

2008-06-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

Much to our delight, Jana and Dave are pretty serious about their
coffee. In their words "If you're going to have something bad for you,
it might as well taste good!" We've been working on our Portland and
NYC coffee addictions but decided rest days don't count (-;

...into there!!!

2008-06-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Mill creek

I jumped from here...

2008-06-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Mill creek

Jana and Liam at the birthday party!

2008-06-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

Naked Man in the desert!

2008-06-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

This post most unfortunately has no picture.

This was back before we reached Moab.

75 miles with no water to speak of and Asta and I run out. Somewhere between the heat and the hills we drank more than ever before and underestimated our needs. So Asta spotting an RV off road in the shrubs sugggests we gather our courage and beg for some agua. So we rather sheepishly round the Rv and creep to the front door where I wince and give a hearty knock and the sweetest "helloooow!" I can muster. Much to my relief a friendly masculine voice greets us with a "Why hello girls!" We can't see the man though he can obviously see us. "Just one minute" he chirps". Asta and I exchange looks of relief. We have hit a little oaisis in the desert. Thank goodness....or so I thought until just then the front door of our little oaisis swings open and there stands the nakedest tanest man I have ever seen in my life. I think he asked how he could help and I think I mumbled something about water... at which point he disapeared back into the RV (all the while I can hear Asta repeating.."dear lord...dear lord!" umder her breath) and reapeared with cold bottled water. I thanked him and tried to make social chit chat about nice taning weater ( What do you say to a naked man?!?!??!) He invited us to join him but we both asserted that we had to be moving on and then peddled up the mountain faster than we have peddeled yet!

Liven the good life cont...

2008-06-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Moterin :)

2008-06-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

I dumped this poor baby in the lake at some point. He did not cry
once... just said "woa...woa...woa" on repeat after surfacing. Cutest
thing ever. And to thier credit Dave and Jana still let me near him :0!

Ken Lake cont...

2008-06-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Naked baby butt!

Picnic at Ken Lake Utah! Yehaw!

2008-06-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

Leom & Asta

2008-06-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Groceries...yum!

2008-06-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Molly and Dave

Molly in Moab!

2008-06-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

What beautiful cousins we have and they share our affinity for root
beer floats! Life in Moab is the good life. At this rate I may never
see Colorado.

Tempting Terry

2008-06-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

We met Terry in the town of Torry. He offered (rather persistently) to
let us stay at his campsite/home up on the hill where he had a
"portable shower and heaps of avacados". Tempting as avacados are we
decided it might just be better to push on for the day :)

Hanksville!

2008-06-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

We did it! 98 miles, 4000ft, 9hrs on the bike, and 14hrs later we are
here! Our longest day yet, and my personal favorite. There was some
great climbing, awesome views (capitol reef is beautiful), and
interesting/cool people we have met today.

Hogback

2008-06-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

This was a sectioon of the mt we just climbed that had steep drop offs
on each side, was curvy, and had sections that were a grade of 14%
Now it is several hours, 50 miles, and 3000 ft later...we are taking a
small break near Torrey, Utah then are headed on towards our goal of
Hanksville (96 miles).

Blair at Bryce

2008-06-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Biker friends!

2008-06-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

We met Ron and Barbra on there way to a 130 mile ride in montana.
Whew! Ron looked up some elevations and electric availability for us.
Ah the wonders of fellow bikers! Thanks guys.

The Germans!

2008-06-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

We met a group of wonderful Germans on our way to calf creek who
happened tone camping there as well. They invited us over for an
excelent dinner feast! Thanks!!

Stealth camping...

2008-06-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

...in our orange mansion. Guess I didn't really think about stealth
when I was buying the tent. About the only place we would blend in is
if we camped down in Bryce Canyon!

Asta at Bryce

2008-06-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Bryce Canyon!

2008-06-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

Bryce Canyon from sunset point. We got up early and into Bryce by 7am
to get some hiking in. I ended up taking a "rest" day to hike around,
but there's so much to see I could stay a week just hiking!

Racin' lady!

2008-06-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

Our friends from cedar city!...who have inspired me to possibly start
racing when I get back to Portland!

6/23 on our way to Bryce!

2008-06-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is along red canyon bike trail about 15 miles from Bryce Canyons.

Cedar Breaks!

2008-06-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

Elevation 10,350ft. We rode 22 miles yesterday and climbed over 4,000ft.

Half way!

2008-06-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

A little over half way up, Zion in the back.

The start

2008-06-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

This was at the start of our climb up to cedar breaks

Lins grocery, Cedar city

2008-06-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

We slept in sat, did laundry and then finally headed out around 3pm.
We stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. Outside was a
booth set up selling freeze dried food. We were talking to the
guy,telling him about our trip. He then gave us pretty much all of his
sample food for free. We stuffed our bags as full as we could and now
have lots of food!

2008-06-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

We've been getting a little behind on the blog so I will do a quick
update.

Thursday we arrived in Milford after our very long 83 mile day. We
camped at the city park(which allows camping for free) and met a
couple, Doug and Sherry Cook, that were stating as well. They were
really kind. We were tired, sticky from sweat and sunscreen, and
hadn't gotten to shower in a couple days. They offered to let us
shower in their RV. It was soo nice to be fresh and clean crawling
into bed that night. Luckily Chris and Mike had told us about getting
woken at 3am by the park sprinklers, so we stayed under the pavillion
and slept through the night.

Friday, we bike 56 miles to Cedar City. It was really hot, nearly 100,
and I thought it was a more brutal ride than the previous day. We
arrived in Cedar City and were dissapointed to have to shell out $30
to spent the night at the KOA because it was the only one. Blair went
to see Shakespear festival in the evening. We met some cool people at
the campground who did racing!

Green, shade, water, melon!

2008-06-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

In the middle of the desert, 40 miles from anything, we see a green
lucious tree thriving. Thanks to a tip from Chris and Mike (the guys
we met at lectrolux the previous evening) we stopped to check the
place out. It's this cool little abandoned house with furniture and
such in it. Outside were the trees and a coming out of the ground
watering them (where the water was coming from we could only
speculate). This was our lunch break.
After relaxing here a bit, a vehicle (of which we only saw 30 in 80
miles- really the middle of the desert) stopped. Two kids and their
dad hoped out to chat. The dad was telling us how he used to tour as
well. Then proceded to pull out some melon, slice it up and offer us
some. They were from Colorado and told us to come by and stay the
night there when we make it that far. It was really a quite nice lunch
break before our 1500ft climb.

Change of state and time

2008-06-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

Finally, we are out of Nevada! This was about 6 miles into our 83 mile
day.

Baker, Nevada

2008-06-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

We met a couple cool bikers, also camping out behind lectrolux cafe.
It was great to talk to some other bikers..and our age! They are
headed west to San Francisco

On the road

2008-06-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

Desert war paint

2008-06-18T11:11:00.000-07:00