Idaho, Yellowstone, Montana, Wyoming...

It has been a while since I had internet access and I only have access now due to the good graces of the hotel manager of the Western Motel in Lovell, Wyoming. Here is a short recap of the past few days:
-passed the Wasatch mountains via Logan Canyon (Route 89) and was treated to a blazing downhill (50mph) and a wonderful view of Bear Lake in Idaho. I spent the night in Montpelier, ID.
- had a tough ride from Montpelier to Jackson, WY thanks to a stiff wind in Star Valley, Wyoming. The terrain was flat but the riding was miserable due to the wind. The end of the ride, along the Snake River to Jackson was quite nice.
- next up was Jackson to Yellowstone. I had a massive tailwind for the first 20+ miles which was great as I really needed an easy day. The Grand Tetons are just outside of Jackson and are massively impressive. I rode through Teton park and then shortly after entered Yellowstone. Much of the southern section of Yellowstone is still clearly scarred by the 1988 fire, though the area is plenty green with recent growth. I had a bit of climb to Grant Village, where I was staying for the night but it was a relatively easy day.
- Thursday was a DAY OFF! It has been a while and my legs were starting to feel a bit heavy. I took a tour of Yellowstone (the Circle of Fire tour) and then had a quick, easy 20+ mile ride to Lake, where I spent the night.
- Friday was a big day of climbing as I left from Lake and ended up staying the night at 11,000' on top of the pass on the Beartooth Highway (8000' of climbing). This is a legendary highway, named by some as the "most beautiful highway in the US." I finished the climb at dusk and the view was stunning. Staying the night was chilly, though I bought some clothes in Cooke City to prepare and they kept me warm. There was still snowy sections on the mountain, to give an idea of how rugged the area is. The main problem with camping on the top of a mountain is wind. I did not sleep much as it was too noisy to sleep much.
- Saturday morning I was rewarded for my stay on top of the mountain- the rest of the ride was unbelievable. It was akin to being in a helicopter ride and having a bird's eye view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. The rest of Saturday was miserable, the worst hours I have ever spent on a bike. I ran into a 20-30mph headwind outside of Red Lodge, MT. I was relegated to a sub-10mph pace and had to use my climbing gears to make go forward. The roar was so much that I had to yell to hear my voice. It was ridiculous and it was the last thing I wanted after little sleep and a tough previous day. A headwind is the most frustrating thing on a bike as there is no big downhill or a stunning view like when climbing a mountain. And I was low on water. I was shooting for a town, Warren, to refill my water bottles. Warren is a shipping depot, nothing else. Luckily someone was in the depot and I was able to refill my bottles and had a good conversation about tomorrow's monster climb on Route 14A. By the time I got back on the road, the wind had substantially died down and soon returned to a normal level for the final 25 miles into Lovell.

The mountain in tomorrow's climb overlooks Lovell and is a bit intimidating to say the least as it rises 6000' above the town to a total of about 9500+'. Additionally, it has a number of sections steeper than 10% which is beyond my comfort zone with the gearing on my bike. This is the last big climb of the trip and I hope to survive in one piece.

Pictures

Click on the pictures to see larger versions...

Bryce Canyon:









Standard Route 12 Scenery:









A meadow in Yosemite:




The Nevada Desert, moments before the rear derailleur broke again:


The view I had when waking up on the first morning, along the CA coast:


Enormous Elephant Seals, along the CA coast:



The bike, fully loaded and ready to go, with the Utz BBQ chips:


Law school graduation and the NY Bar Exam...increasingly distant memories:

Brigham City Utah

I continue to progress northward to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, though I have one more day to go before exiting Utah. I have put in some decent mileage the past couple days (over 200 total) and have been able to take it easy as the terrain has been flat.
Most of the rest of the trip will be a letdown after experiencing the majestic Route 12, but today was particularly bland. I rode through the sprawl of Salt Lake City that runs from Lehi and tapers off just before Brigham City, where I am staying. The day was filled with traffic lights, a couple oil refineries, strip malls, and car dealerships. Additionally, I had a particularly vexing flat tire that took about an hour to fix in the 100 degree heat. Baking in the sun was frustrating and tiring as I monkeyed around patching and repatching the inner tube after discovering there were two punctures. This was my third flat of the past two days which added to the frustration. I have always experienced flats in bunches so this recent cluster was not surprising.
There were a number of bright spots today, in the form of humans. First, a few miles into the ride I encountered the first cyclist of the entire trip who was traveling in the same direction as me. It was a great way to start the day since interaction with fellow cyclists has been nearly non-existent. Next, while attempting the fix my flat (and down to the last patch in my patch kit), an incredibly helpful cyclist name Michael lent me his spare tube and patch kit and took me to a novel vending machine filled with bike parts. Michael was a godsend and I was able to quickly get back on the road. Finally, while doing my evening grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, I met a fellow cyclist while checking out the disappointing inventory of bicycle inner tubes. Realizing that I needed some inner tubes, he brought three tubes from his own personal stash to my motel room and gave me some tips for tomorrow's route. It was an extremely generous gesture and I could not have asked for anything more.
Another positive about today's ride is that it was the first ride since this trip started where I didn't have any pain while riding. During the past few days I have had some lingering, though brief, twinges of pain when climbing. I have been working to get back to my original pedal stroke, being sure to undo the compensations I used over the past weeks to deal with various injuries. I think I have finally undone all the compensations, and the compensations for the compensations, so that I am back to my original pedal stroke. However, today's ride was particularly easy and I may feel something on tomorrow's climb, but cycling pain free was a welcome change.

Tomorrow should be a good, though tough ride as I cut across the Wasatch Mountains and eventually end up in Idaho.

A Sad Farewell to Highway 12, from Salina, Utah

The past few days have been absolutely incredible. The riding through Route 12 has been spectacular, though very tough at times. Some of the climbs have been comically steep (14% at points), while other climbs are just plain big (3000' climb to a 9600ft pass). However, it was all worth it as the views were stunning. Route 12 winds through seemingly endless canyons, most of which are various hues of red or brownish red. I will post pics as soon as possible.

As always, I will post a more complete update later as I am borrowing Sam's computer at the Friendship Inn in Salina.

Yosemite to Tonopah to Vegas to Orderville

The last few days have been a whirlwind. I only have time for a brief update: I biked through Yosemite thanks to the yeoman welding efforts of Randy Kuenkle, in Mariposa, who repaired my rear derailleur hanger. I made it partially through Nevada when the mended hanger broke (Randy- I had to grind down some of the meat and had to bend it a little as well) leaving me literally stranded in the desert.
A kind soul took me Tonopah, NV where I shacked up for the night, planning to wait there until the replacement hangers arrived. Another incredible helpful local at High Desert Cycles went all-out to help me try to find a replacement hanger and we even found a welder in Tonopah but we were unable to recreate Randy's welding magic on the aluminum derailleur hanger.
Instead of waiting days for the replacement hangers to be shipped in, I hitchhiked to Las Vegas, home of th nearest bikeshop (210 miles away!). Howard, from New York, kindly gave me a ride and dropped me near Las Vegas Cyclery, a great great bike shop. Howard embodied a wealth of knowledge about things to see and do in the West, particularly national parks as he worked planting trees in national parks. Howard has created a poem in the form of a map of Manhattan that was featured in the New York Times- you can see it and buy it at http://www.wordmaps.net/
Las Vegas Cyclery was a godsend. They had a compatible hanger and were able to fix my rear wheel, which sustained a broken spoke in Yosemite. I went into the shop in shambles and left with a fully functional bike, ready to hit the road the next day.
The "next day" is today- I took a shuttle to St. George, Utah (Nevada is not suitable for cycling without a support vehicle!) and today I went through Zion National Park.
The ride was great and I am somewhere near 100% on my health, for the first time since day 1. I will be taking it easy for the next couple days and then hope to consistently increase the mileage and start making up for lost time.

Next up will be Bryce Canyon and Grand Staircase-Escalante, as suggested by Howard. Visiting these parks will be a bit of detour, but I will just bus a less exciting part of the trip (likely in the Midwest).

So, all is well! Woo hoo!

Questions and Answers

Why are you so injured?

Bad luck and some idiocy on my part. The right knee injury was bizarre. The overuse injuries to my left leg were due to being eager to put in a bunch of miles. I didn't feel like I was damaging myself while pedaling with one leg and giving my right leg a rest, but the effects compound after so much use. The only cycling injury I had before this trip was due to my seat height being too high, so all of these injuries were something new. I have learned to listen a bit closer to my legs and adjust my efforts accordingly.

How are you ever going to make it with all these days off?

If I don't make it to Philadelphia, no big deal. I am going to slowly ramp up for the next week and then start putting in some bigger and bigger days, depending on how I feel. Additionally, once I get to Montana, the climbing is largely over and the cycling will be relatively flat. I should be able to consistently put in daily mileage well into the triple digits. Finally, I may be taking a bus for part of the midwest and part of the northeast.

What is it like riding 100 miles in a day?

It is mostly pretty enjoyable. I stop every hour or hour and a half to walk around, go the bathroom, refill the water bottles, get some food, check the maps, plan what I am going to do that night, etc. When on the bike, I regularly change positions to keep from getting sore.
Mostly I check out the scenery and enjoy whatever music I have playing. I have perfected the art of taking pictures while pedaling which has come in handy since the ride has been wonderfully scenic so far.
I don't pedal particularly hard - only a fraction of what I trained at. This is partially due to injury and partially due to the nature of the trip- it is not a race and it is a long trip. So, the riding is pretty easy but over 7 hours or so it adds up, and it adds up even more when you do that for a few days in a row.


Don't you get hot on the bike?

The heat is really not that bad. It is a little worse since I ditched my rack and pannier (saddle bag) setup and went with a backpack, but it is still not a problem. When I pedaled into Mariposa the temperature was above 100 degrees, though on the bike it was not so bad. It is incredibly dry, so I was drinking a lot of water to deal with that. But, I generally get a 15mph-20mph breeze while on the bike while not working very hard. Sweat evaporation is pretty efficient in this situation and it works well, as long as I have a good supply of water. Even going up steep hills, I get an 8-10mph breeze, in addition to the ambient breeze and the breeze from the passing cars/trucks.

Idling in Mariposa

I am still in Mariposa, CA waiting on parts to arrive and more importantly, fully recovering from my various physical maladies. These tendon issues certainly take a bit more time to heal than sore muscles. I did visit Yosemite yesterday for a quick, though incredible tour. Thankfully, there is public transportation (YART) in the area that runs from Mariposa (and other areas) to Yosemite.
The one striking feature about the park is that everything is huge- the elevation of the rock features, the rock faces, the rocks by the side of the road, the waterfalls, the giant sequoias, etc. It is all pretty unreal and some of the views (like Tunnel View) simply look fake, like a movie set background. Additionally, the grand scale of the rock features distorted my sense of distance and they seem closer and smaller than they actually are. I look forward to cycling through the park and also getting into the higher areas on Tioga Pass Road (Route 120 West).

Ride Files

Below are almost all the gps files of my ride. One file (from Monterey to Dos Planos) was corrupted. Instructions for viewing these can be found HERE. Note that these are in .kml format. Google Earth should more directly recognize this format as .kml is Google Earth's native format.

File 1
File 2
File 3
File 4
File 5
File 6

Alive and Healing

I have moved from the coast of California to the "valley floor" of Yosemite, specifically Mariposa, CA. I spent two and a half days in Monterey, CA letting my various maladies heal. Unfortunately I was not back to 100% health or even 75%, but I was good enough to put in some easy miles and avoid putting up another zero mile day. Monday was an easy 100 mile day, and yesterday was a tougher 65 mile day. It was tough enough for my troubled tendons to make themselves known, but I listened to them carefully and ended the day early in Mariposa after some modest climbs.

Then disaster struck. While barely pedaling home from dinner in Mariposa, I experienced a disastrous collision between my rear derailleur, the chain, and the rear wheel spokes. The derailleur and the derailleur hanger broke, though the spokes are fine. I have a replacement derailleur on the way, hopefully the hanger is on the way, and I should be able to head out to El Portal (entrance of Yosemite) on Friday afternoon sometime.

Given that I am still nursing some sore tendons (right knee, below the outside of the left knee, left achilles), I am viewing this mechanical issue as a blessing in disguise as it will force me to take another couple days off the bike and get closer to 100%. Riding to and through Yosemite will be challenging as the peak elevation in Yosemite is 9500ft, over 7500ft higher than Mariposa's elevation.

The past couple days of riding have been a big shift from the hilly, windy Route 1. I ran into the California jetstream that runs in a southerly direction. Winds were probably in the 30mph range and were particularly demoralizing as I was a bit banged up physically and struggling to keep the speed in the double digits as I was getting pummelled by the constant wind. After fighting the wind for a bit, I then ran into the Route 1 hill. The hills would have been enjoyable, but again I was distracted with some sore tendons. The views were striking as much of the road is carved into the side of either steep hills or a cliff. The road is either straight up (6-10% grade) or straight down. On a bike this translates into constant climbing as the downhills barely last for a couple of minutes, if that.
There is scarcely any room for a shoulder to the road, let alone a bike lane, so I was sharing the road with cars and trucks though all went well. Rest stops and lodging are scarce as there is not much real estate for either. I camped on a cliff overlooking a sandy beach and a clear sky, complete with shooting stars.
The next day (Thursday) I struggled with more hills and limped into Carmel-by-the-Sea and got in some much needed rest for my legs. I then took three days (Fri/Sat/Sun) off in Monterey, spending a bit of time icing my legs and watching the Olympics.
Monday I headed out across the hot plains, taking advantage of the flat terrain and favorable winds to put in 100 miles with barely any effort. There was a single climb during the day which was rewarded heavily with a long, fast (50+mph) downhill overlooking the San Luis Reservoir.

The Ride has Begun

Well, after a couple months of planning this odyssey, it is finally underway.
I am currently in Morro Bay, a small town on the coast of California.
I did about 40 miles the first day, due to a later start and some mechanical issues, and darkness. I suffered a freak injury to a tendon in my knee on the first day - I have no idea what I did, but I have been largely pedaling with one leg. This is not so bad on the flat sections, but it was relatively hellish on a 7 mile, 7% (steep) climb late Monday afternoon. Monday ended well, as I finished my first century (100 miles) every. On Tuesday, the right knee did not get any worse, though various parts of the left leg have started protesting its increased workload.
In any case, I put in about 100 miles per day the last couple days.

I have ridden mainly on the California coast, and a little bit of the interior as well. The scenery is unreal and California loves bicyclists as they mark the coastal route and most of the route is served by some sort of a bike lane. The people have also been very welcoming and helpful.

Unfortunately I have no ride files or pictures to upload as I am on a borrowed computer - I will post them when I get a chance. Most of towns I go through are small and business ends before 6pm, making computer access difficult. The next few stopping points are small towns (Big Sur, and then into the mountainous interior no-man's land) so access will likely not improve.

All in all, things are going well. I am happy to have put in a couple hundred miles so far, despite my various maladies which would have deserved some days off if I were training at home. So far the mind gets what it wants, regardless of what excuses the body has come up with.

The Route

Here is a picture of the route. Click on the picture for a bigger version. Specific route plans will be posted nearer to the time when I will be riding each route.

The route distance to Philadelphia is 4832 miles.

If you have Google Earth (which can accept the .gpx format) or a mapping program, here are some route files:

Route Map (.gpx format)

Route Map (.mps format)

Route Map (.gdb format)