The Speed of Bike

End of the Road

2010-04-30T11:28:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

we have been quiet for a few days because on arriving in Amarillo Monday evening I realized that I was profoundly exhausted. This exhaustion was the result of inadequate nutrition and few support services along the Route 66 corridor, not to mention the battering of sun and wind over the twenty days we had been riding. In short I hit the wall.
After talking with Dave and then my doctor I decided to end the ride. we are disappointed, of course, not to have gone the whole distance, but proud to have ridden so strongly for those twenty days. We climbed over two mountain ranges going from sea level at Dog Beach to over 7300 feet in the Rockies. We crossed a desert and rode a substantial amount of the high arid plains in the Rockies before descending to Texas plains at just 3900 feet. The 1200 miles we did ride were great, although the absence of places to eat or buy food echoed the general ghost town nature of much of the 66/40 corridor.
I thank everyone for their support, and hope that the end of this trip will not mean the end of generous support for the work of the Hardisons in Africa. Truth is that the absence of nutrition we faced is mild compared to the devastation in northeast Kenya. So please be generous in supporting our work among more than 40,000 AIDs orphans and their guardians.

San Diego to Texas 1200miles

2010-04-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

Lookin' back at OB early Wednesday morning.
Headin' for the eastern shore.
I've got the pedals up front
And my gear in the back
And I haven't got a clue what for.

Taking it easy, Taking it easy
Lord I'm Pedalin' hard
But it's easy.

Don't you know, the way to go
Is ridin' through town real slow.
People come and people go,
You gotta stop and say "Hello".

Tune:Take it Easy, Jackson Browne/Eagles

Riding over East San Diego hills To Jacumba

Rollin' to Jacumba and my joints are kind of sore.
Gonna soak 'em in the mineral spring.
Then the ground starts a shakin'
And the earth starts a quakin'
But the spa keeps doin' it's thing.

Taking it easy, taking it easy
Lord I'm pedaling hard but it easy.

Riding in the Red Zone

Sheeba. Mineral Water dog. Should live forever.

Downhill racer. On the 8.

Exiting The 8 at the bottom. Photo courtesy of friends on the road.

Leaving at dawn into the Desert

Heading into the Chocolate Mountains. Don't see any bubblegum trees though.

Halfway through the desert and friends on the road greet us with an ice cold drink! It's "the real thing."

Arizona desert

Fixing a flat. Great way to meet people. Ten minutes later I had another flat, the front tire this time, on the I 10 and pulled over to flip the Bike over again. A man bicycling on the other side, going west against the wind, called over to check on me. I told him it was OK, just a flat. While I'm working the tire off I turn around and Bill is there to greet me. He sees that I'm doing OK with the flat and looks at my map to make sure I'm going to make it to our next stop which is Salome. He assures me that with the wind on my back I'll make good time and told me where we could get a good meal on the way. Bill said he'd ridden across country a few years back and was thinking of doing it again.
When my tire was back on and he saw things were OK he wished me well and was on his way and dodged back across the freeway to his bike.
Bill is 81 years old.
As I pedaled back on the shoulder again I couldn't stop being amazed that someone had run across the freeway to give a boost, not to mention that he is 81. The heck with the flats.
Bill boosted my spirits and gave me the perspective that I needed to happily keep going. Thanks Bill.

Life is good again

Everyday the days are gettin' longer
Everyday my legs are gettin' stronger.
Soon we'll be across the USA
A HEY......A HEY HEY

Everyday it's hotter than a toaster
Crankin' up the hills like an old roller coaster
Soon we'll be across the USA
A HEY.....A HEY HEY

Riding into earthquakes...O MY!
Riding through the desert...O WHY?
'Cause if you're going coast to coast it's the only wa.aay.

Everyday we're gettin' a little closer
Crankin' up hills like an old rollercoaster
Soon we'll get across the USA
A HEY.....A HEY HEY

Tune; Buddy Holly,"Everyday"

Leaving at dawn for Varnell then Prescott

Hill to Varnell

Varnell Locals

Too hot for the horses

But OK for the Burro

Click on photo to see Mike on the hill to Prescott.

Still climbing to Prescott

Near the top of 6100ft

Friendly locals greet us with ice water after the summit. "The pause that refreshes."

On to Flagstaff

Our highest point on the ride. We will go back over 7000ft three more times before Texas.

Leavin' from the corner back in Winslow Arizona
I got seven states still on my mind
Two that want to kill me, four that want to thrill me
And one that's at the end of the line.

Taking it easy, taking it easy
Lord I'm pedaling hard, but it's easy

Stranded on the shoulder and the breeze is getting colder
And my rear tire's flat as can be.
Three Navajos my Lord in a flat bed Ford come on by to rescue me.

Taking it easy, taking it easy
Lord I'm pedaling hard, but it's easy

Brad, Brian, and Gilbert Brown (Three Generations)

Taking us up the road to the nearest truck stop

We picked up Mike on the way

Gilbert Brown, just like riding a horse

My "cousins"

Back on the road again

To Infinity and Beyond

Finally

Mike Racing a Train

No problem

Eastern New Mexico

Traveling over hills with a sunburnt lip
And nothin' really on my mind.
But the breakfast I just et and the lunch I'm going to get
And the story at the end of this line.

Taking it easy, taking it easy
Lord I'm pedaling hard, but it's easy.

Getting a Kevlar lined tire in Albuquerque
No More Flats, No More Flats!

Friendly Dog

Little dog

Big dog

Really Big Dog
Maybe a Bulldog

Ride Update

Amarillo

At least we made it this far. It was a good ride. Thanks for all the support
and donations. Dave

Zooooooooooooming out of the Rockies

2010-04-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

OMG

This is a new contemporary Prayer/exclamation, but it fit today. First let me tell you about yesterday.

Yesterday, Thursday, began in Albuquerque. We needed to stop there for a bike shop, so we were about to get a late start since the shops don't open till 10 am. Great bike shop named Two Wheel Drive. They put a new tire on for Dave and we bought lots of inner tubes full of slime. Once we left the shop our view was this would be a "short day" with only a 30 mile or so ride to Moriarity, NM. Welllllllll once we left the shop we began climbing and we climbed for most of the ride, over 2200 feet with lots of grades that were quite tiring. The weather was so bleak it was depressing and then it began to rain some.

We made it into Moriarity just before the storm that had been chasing us hit the town. Huge storm and snow!!! Snow!!!! So we ate a hearty Arby's dinner and went to bed intending on getting up at the crack of dawn to go the 80 miles we needed to the next town with hotels. The forecast called for snow overnight, so we went to bed not knowing what the morning would hold.

Thankfully the skies were clear, but the temperature was about 30 f. 30!!! We bundled up and got on the road to discover at least we had a following wind. And there was, it built from about 10 mph from the west, to gusting winds of 20-40 mph following us.

The first 25 miles were spent climbing to the final 7100+ summit in the Rockies. Once we went over that at Clines Corner, the combination of downhill and wind drove us very fast. For long stretches I was cruising at 30+ mph. We roared off the Rockies, on one downhill I went 45 mph which is really fast for a loaded cyclist.

We went so fast that the whole 80 mile ride too six hours. That is with a 25 mile climb! I could feel the wind pick me up and push me up hills. It was amazing. The nice thing is that getting in so early we are getting a lot of needed rest and some bike work.

The scariest part of the day was watching a wooden orange crate pinwheel along the field parallel to me, then it turned and headed to me and despite efforts to avoid it, I hit it. Amazingly the only damage was to my front fender. No damage to the tire or spokes or anything. So I can end that episode with a TBTG.

Funniest thing was that the one open Rest Area left in NM (as best I can tell) is being maintained by a non-profit doing job training. Outside the restrooms they had the sign you can read in the picture, essentially asking people to vote on how well they liked the rest area!

Tomorrow we head off to Tucumcari, our last stop in NM. Tomorrow we should hit 1,000 miles.

Long Days Swift Sleep

2010-04-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

We have just finished three 70+ mile days. We climbed up to 7335 feet at the Continental Divide, plunged a thousand to Grants NM and climbed again toward Albuquerque where we arrived today. At the Continental Divide, yesterday, we declared boot camp over. We are officially broken in. Three 70+ days including climbs and cycling into 20 mph+ gusting winds from the SE have shown us that we can go a goodly distance.

At the end of our 15th day we believe we are now 800 miles into the trip. More than 1/4. This has not come without cost. Bleeding, cracked lips, somehow unstoppable tire punctures, and wind have bounced us around. So we get up, ride all day through gorgeous unending landscape and then fall into bed. Last night I fell asleep at 8:30 and woke at 6 am this morning! We are tired puppies, but we get up and keep going.

One confession, though, after an I-40 shoulder flat, Dave was offered a ride to the "tire place" by a truck load of Navajos heading home with a water tank. Dave made them stop and ask me if I wanted a ride too and at that point my frustration level with flat tires was through the roof so I took a ride too. It was only 13 miles, but we will deduct that from pledges.

Here's the interesting thing about the ride though that makes sacrificing 13 miles and total purity worth it (even more so than reducing the danger of a roadside tire change). The driver was Gilbert Brown a Navajo who lives right at the AZ, NM border. So as we are riding he tells us that he served as the Navajo traditions advisor for the film Windtalker. That's the Nicholas Cage movie about the Navajo code talkers who played a role in preserving the security of our transmissions in the Pacific theater but speaking them in Navajo.

So there we are with this guy, total unassuming, who happens, from time to time, to server as an interpretor between the Navajos and the Anglo world. We talked about the film, about the state of the Navajo Nation, about the Bureau of Indian affairs and other things in those 13 miles. In 13 miles we got a pretty complete update on how one significant Navajo thinker sees the state of his people. Wow!

Now Brick Landon has been worried about us being in Apache territory and Comanche territory, but I have to tell you that the First Americans with whom we have spoken have been nothing but gracious and generous of spirit. Mr. Brown, stopping with his son and grandson to pick up a fellow in distress was a kindness to strangers that speaks volumes. We could never have found such a resource even if we had weeks to search him out.

We continue to find people whose cur curiosity iousity ab0ut us and what we are doing get matched by our curiosity about them. So far we have had a charmed trip, save for the flats.

Now as you might suspect our legs are getting stronger and stronger. But somehow the flab around our middles is not quite getting the message that we expect flat abs as well as tight leg muscles by the end of the trip!

And today we spent lots of time on old Route 66. It mostly ran alongside the 40, but between Laguna and Mesitas it was preserved in its original glory. These were the most beautiful six miles of the trip so far as 66 wove around a very rugged butte as is wove its way to I=40.

Flagstaff to Holbrook, AZ

2010-04-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

Today began with a speedy 55 miles from Flagstaff to Winslow Arizona of Eagles' song fame. The second half to Holbrook, just 32 miles was a slight climb and much warmer. 87.5 miles is nothing to scoff at though. Lots of long flat vistas with the San Francisco peaks, behind us.

Here is Winslow Az and with the famous statue connoting "standing on the Corner in Winslow AZ." There is a whole mural painted there that is pretty cool. As you can see Dave and I seized the newly remodelled town center spot to park our bikes.

Tomorrow is another 90 mile day since there are no hotels between Holbrook and Gallup New Mexico. That however will put us into a new state on a Monday again, so we will see how often we can cross a state in a week. On the level we can do pretty well, so we are hoping for a good, if pushed ride tomorrow to get to Gallup.

Riding the Crest of the Rockies

2010-04-17T15:57:00.001-07:00

Today we took a light day, given the intensity of the climb yesterday and the altitude. Both of us are having some challenge at 6700+ feet. So we just took today slowly. Got up slow, left town slow and took our time coming to Flagstaff.

I think we were riding along a ridge since we had lightly rolling hills. The weather was gorgeous and we made good time. Highest spot 7335 feet! A new high for the cyclists. Then down into Flagstaff, have some lunch and get to a motel on the far side of town fairly early.

Just 37 miles, but 37 good ones.

Tomorrow on to Winslow, AZ.

Route 66

2010-04-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Mythohistoric Route 66 at 12:45 today and immediately went to the 66 cafe in Ashfork. Dave's omlette was good, my bbqued beef was awful. So it goes on Route 66. Then we climbed from 4300 feet to over 7000 feet in 16 miles. We are pretty tuckered out from our continuing ascent into the Rockies.

We are in Williams AZ tonight, the last community sidelined by I-40. It is s delightful town with a great steakhouse where we had dinner. We don't splurge a lot, but today's climb was our longest and felt slower than the climb on Wednesday which was actually steeper. Either way our climbing legs are good, but we are tired of climbing.

So tomorrow we climb some more as we move to Flagstaff. We crested over 7000 feet today, but will go up as high as 7300 feet before we finally head downhill. We are looking forward to cruising out of the Rockies, although they are lovely. The weather is perfect for us.

Both if us have noticed that the altitude is having some effect, so we are taking it slow. It is only 33 miles to Flagstaff and if the hills are not too bad it means a short day. 51 miles today and the long ascent tired these two geezers out.

Rockie Roads

2010-04-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry we have not written much since Sunday, but we have been climbing hills for three days. We left Blythe Monday morning after a 90 mile ride the day before.

Immediately upon entering Arizona we began climbing. Heidi Straub (and I apologize for not remembering her married name) told me several years ago that the Rockies were easier to climb than the Appalachians. And the truth is that the roads are pretty well graded. That does not mean that they are easy. Indeed you climb long, but mostly reasonable grades all day.

So Monday we went from Blythe to Salome AZ. This is just a spot where things have gathered, and there was a real 1930's era road house motel. Dave and I each had a room so we ended up actually spending more than unusal for less quality. But it had been a long day of climbing, so we took our rest. There were three climbs to get there and Dave was plagued with flats. So we were glad to get to even a lower quality place that had a bed.

The next day we set out for Congress. more climbs and then a flat hit me. Congress is actually in a better location and clear has pretensions to be a town. You can tell by the big green road signs. Nice little motel, the Sierra Vista, smallest in AZ with 4 rooms.

Then came yesterday. An 1800 foot climb to Yarnell AZ up a long winding road. There was really nothing else between Yarnell and Prescott and no place to stay so we pressed on to climb the second climb at the Quartz Mountains that took us to 6100 feet.

More flats and a very tough second climb left us really tuckered out when we finally got to the final final summit. There were a group of men there who asked what we were doing and offered us very cold water. Great Road Angels.

Finally zoomed down into Prescott in order to get to a bike store, we checked in and walked across the street to the store but it closed at 5:30 pm! Who closes at 5:30?

So we are having a rest half day, doing some laundry, resupplying our inner tubes and will just take a short ride. Despite conquering these two hill we were still exhausted. Both of us noted the altitude effects as well.

I am adding pictures to the site with the mapping. I will get some here too, but go to our site where the gps logs are displayed and you can see the scenery right with the ride!

The Deserts

2010-04-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today we rode 90 miles! This is the leg of the route in this part with the disclaimers saying, "No services for a long ways, pack food and water. Turns out that there was food and water at 30 and 60 miles. But in between, there was desert. There were flatland farms, then scrub desert, the sand dune desert, the chocolate mountains, then scrub desert, then more farming.

All of this took us 11 hours to ride across. Ad venture cycling suggests having a sleeping role should you not make it all the way. But we did!!!!!

So I am so tired I am going to sleep. Tomorrow into Arizona and the Rockies.

Jacumba to Brawley, Day 4

2010-04-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

This is perhaps the most anxiety producing ride in the first week. We leave the sleepy border town and head up into the mountains to meet up with the 8. The downward mostly 6% grade is scary for drivers and truckers but can be petrifying for cyclists,.

We were taking the road after some significant aftershocks had shaken the area. Poolside on Friday we watched water slosh in the fountain as the dog Sheeba fetch rocks from it. Since the mountains in this area look like precariously piled marbles, we expected to see lots of debris on the road. There was actually very little.

We got to El Centro and then on the last leg up to Brawley Dave had his first blowout on his new bike. He was in luck, because in an otherwise pretty desolate area there was one patch os lush soft green grass. Took awhile cause we kept messing up the inner tubes, the the learning experience made it quite worth while.

Boot Camp Day 3 Pine Valley to Jacumba

2010-04-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

We are sitting here by the pool in Jacumba having finished once again the mountains. We have been building our strength slowly, very slowly. So we are a day behind in our schedule, but we are having fun when not grinding up mountains. You can see it on the I trip server For those too tired to click through here is the pictorial elevation map.

You can see Pine Valley in the dip after the first peak and Jacumba in the dip before the last little rise leading to the screaming descent on the 8.

As we sat here another quake hit about 30 miles south. There have been innumerable quakes in the area. People here seem nonplussed. Octillo and Seely through which we ride tomorrow have had a ton of quakes.... so we will see.

We have met interesting people along the way. Jacumba is full of eccentrics and today the spa has a ton of cyclists. Some are here for a local race up and down to the Golden Acorn, there are four others riding to Florida with HUGE RV as their support vehicle. It would be cool to have a support vehicle and not have to carry gear, but then you have to bring along one very patient person who is happy to drive 50-80 miles a day and wait a lot. Kathleen did that for me on the Underground Railroad trail and in Quebec, we had a great time meeting for lunch and such, but it got old ofter 10 days or so. The pursuit person has to have some fun too.

After the ride today we went to the pool, Dave hit the spa too and then we played with the hotel dog sheeba who loves to fish rocks from the fountain. The pool guy tells us she is very ancient and in such good health because of this regular bathing in the mineral springs. Dave explains that geothermal power that makes the springs warm is caused by the rubbing of tectonic plates that make the earth quake!

Our schedule has become: 5:30 wake up, 6:30 on the road, stop when it makes sense. Tomorrow we will do a very reasonable 65 miles and should be in our hotel by 2 pm.

We are doing some local eating and some supermarket eating. Frankly neither of us wants a heavy dinner so light eating in the evening is better. Pictures a little later.

Pictures from Dave

2010-04-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Boot Camp

2010-04-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, folks we are in Pine Valley. We did not get as far as we wished to and here are the rationalizations: 1) The wind continued to blow from the east, making riding more work; 2) We are carrying more gear because we are going all the way across the country; 3) We climbed 2500+ feet in the course of four hours, as opposed to just 1900 feet yesterday; and 4) We pooped out.

We might could have made it, but then, although very proud and puffed up about ourselves, we would have been pretty dead meat without enough time to recover before taking on the desert. Oh, it was hot too with those East winds. Despite all the difficulties of the climb, each one makes us stronger. Tomorrow we will climb only about 1100 feet or so total before we begin the downhill to Jacumba. We'll get there early and get a good rest and then be ready to take off to Brawley on Saturday andnacross the Chocolate Mountains on Sunday..

We are both looking at our gear and asking why in the world is it so heavy? What can we get rid of and what do we really need to keep. We are both carrying minimal camping gear, in case we get caught some night with no motel nearby, but we might be able to do without it. We have lots of gizmos and some cold weather clothing to get is through the first ten days or so, but really it is hard to see what we could get rid of. I am sure it will become clearer.

The ride from Alpine to Guatay is just a bear. Long, long slow climbs at a four or 5 percent grade. Even on the 8 this morning the grades seemed steeper than last year, though there is no possibility that that is true.

Now the good side is that despite the fatigue, pushing more weight along the road has to make us stronger. More work, more muscle development.So we will come through the mountains stronger than we did last year and ready th launch out into the leveler parts of the ride. The good news is that for both of us, riding on the level, fully loaded we are able to maintain 13-16 mph. This is very good and bodes well.

Day One

2010-04-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a send off. We had family, friends from the parish, Gerry and Nancy Hardison our missioners in Africa, who are home for the month, Bodie, one of our actual parish dogs and The Rev. Canon Suzi Holding who came to bless our bikes and douse them with Pacific Ocean Water. All these fine folks came out at 7 a.m. to send us on our way and we are most grateful.

We also had the pleasure of Stuart Sale's company, who knew several shortcuts to reduce the steepness of parts of the climb. He was very gracious supporting us as we road with our bikes loaded with gear. He is actually much faster than we are. Thanks Stuart.

Our original hope had been to get to Pine Valley, but the combination of heat and the long hill into Alpine had us stop over there again. We went further up the hill to a little "apartment" hotel place with nice people. Few amenities, but a nice room and a great bathroom.

We were glad we stopped as the winds from the East picked up about an hour later and would have made the last part of the ride into Pine Valley difficult. So here we sit, writing and pondering dinner.

Lunchtime spot..... Jack in the Box. Dinner is as yet unclear.

Vagabond Priest asked what the contraptions are we are riding. They are called Recumbents and are basically bikes that do not irritate one's bottom, hands, shoulders or neck. They are the most comfortable bikes to ride... slow on uphill, but great on level ground.

Last Minute Preparations

2010-04-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

So we are less that 15 hours from launching out trip. Lots of last minute packing and loading the bicycle. As of now the bike is 90% loaded. I took it for a test ride to make sure that it was balanced, and it was ok. I just wish I could dump more weight.

Dave and I had lunch with Gerry and Nancy Hardison getting the latest news from Kenya. Our Mothers' Union Orphans project is now in 40 of the 41 parishes. It is flourishing as is the Liberty Initiatives Network, the development related projects. As is always the case some things advance and others stall.

Here we are after a good local lunch!

T minus 43 hours

2010-04-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

So the rule of all things is that when you go to do a little job it becomes bigger. In the first few days of our ride we will go up to 4,100 feet and then scream down the east side of the mountains on the 8. So I decided to install new brake pads a simple enough chore. In the process I discovered my rear brake was itself bad... a piece fell out that should not do that. So I bought and installed a new brake. When I went to reattach the cable that makes it stop, it was bunged. So first thing this morning the bike is at the bike shop getting new cables for the trip.

So I am now lining up the electronics and charging everything. Washed out my panniers and they are drying. Clothes are in a pile and will get packed. So everything is on schedule except for the trip to the bike store.

Dave and I will get together to look at maps today and then tomorrow I will have lunch with the Hardisons to bring them up to speed.

Oh, and I was working on the brakes when the ground began to move and dance about in the earthquake! What fun. Turns out one of the centers was Jacumba Hot Springs where we plan to spend our second night. Woo Hoo to an auspicious beginning.

Preparing for Crossing the Continent

2010-03-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Dave Brown and I have just eight days left until we launch our cross country ride. We will go from San Diego's Dog Beach to Virginia's Yorktown, mostly along cobbled together parts of Adventure Cycling's Southern Tier, Grand Canyon Connector and TransAm path. The most significant departure will be riding I-40 / Rte 66 from Ash Fork, AZ to Joplin MS. Should be a delightful ride as we capture all the lost glory of Rte. 66.

Welcome to Cycle Centric

2010-02-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

Greetings cyclers, I have gathered a peleton of interesting and informative cycling blogs and resources to inspire and inform. I will be keeping this blog more active as I get ready for my cross country ride. Thanks so much for stopping in, enjoy what I have gathered.

Mike

Cabrillo video

2009-10-16T12:29:00.001-07:00

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0025.MOV (3126 KB)

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from speedofbike's posterous

Welcome to Speed of Bike at Posterous

2009-10-14T14:55:00.001-07:00

Well folks I have enetered the next level of geekdom with an account on posterous.com. It allow me to update multiple sites with one entry. So I will give it a tray and see how it goes. I appreciate you being part of the experiment!

Posted via web from speedofbike's posterous

New Human Powered Vegicle

2009-09-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I test rode the prototype of a new Human Powered Vehicle (HPV). Named ElliptiGo it uses an elliptical trainer motion to drive the read wheel. So you ride in a standing position, looking much like a Segway rider while shushing your feet forward and back.

It takes a few minutes to adjust to the new set of muscles and movements, but it really does cruise along pretty well. Production models will be out shortly so I will have a chance to ride one of those too. I'll put up a picture of me on the ElliptiGo a bit later today.

I am back to posting here

2009-08-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have written here. So with a major cross country ride coming up, this is a good time to start preparing everyone for what's to come. One piece is a new website called MapMyRide.com which has its own Iphone application. So here is the map of my ride today.

iMapMyRide Aug 17, 2009 3:36 PM
Find more Bike Rides in San Diego, California

Indiana, Indiana

2006-06-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

I road 53 miles today from Madison, Indiana to New Albany, Indiana a suburb of Louisville. Unlike Madison, New Albany's down town is pretty depressed, although the community around St. Paul's Episcopal Church is nicely maintained. The ride was uneventful today.....NO LOOSE DOGS! How sweet to just ride and ride without having to stay paranoid about getting bitten.

As I rolled towards New Albany I stopped at a Huge Outdoor World Store and bought the last of my canine strategery tools: a whistle. Most of the guys in teh store suggested pepper spray or just shooting them. I allowed as how I really didn't want to hurt the dogs, just get the heck away. So we will see how the whistle works.

The dogs, however, do represent the sort of conditions under which slaved fled to freedom. My situation was mild by comparison, since I could sprint with the bike. On foot the sound of the dogs would have been more frightening.

More Canine Strategery

2006-06-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

More Kentucky, more dogs. About every mile and a half as I road through the farms and villages. But today I had strategery. I carried dog biscuits, pepper spray, and a nice flexible stick. The biscuits worked in most cases, sprinting worked the rest of the time, so no dogs were sprayed in the preparation of this blog entry.
There was only one really mean dog intent on biting me, but I was able to shake the little sucker. It was draining though to spend a good bit of the day running from dogs, so I changed my route to take a busier road where people might have planned to preserve the life of their pet from traffic. Riding with trucks was better than being chased by dogs.
I am now in Indiana, Madison Indiana to be exact. Nice little town. Tonight was the water fight among competing fire houses. Main street was converted into the battle grounds as men used hoses to demonstrate superiority. A good time was had by all.
We found a lovely little restaurant, joeyg's that had one drunk and a singer before we came. We enjoyed a nice dinner, the drunk left to smoke, but never returned (much to the pleasure of the owners) and the musician was delightful. All in all a good day.

A day at the dog races.

2006-06-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

No, I did not go to see dogs raced. I raced dogs to see whether or not I could move faster then them. In the course of the 60 miles I road today I was chased by no fewer than a dozen dogs. Big dogs, little dogs, quiet dogs, loud yapping dogs, dogs that seemed caught off guard, and dogs that were sitting waiting. In all my years of riding, I have never been chased as many times as I was today.
The ride from Maysville to Dry Ridge took me through a very depressed section of Kentucky. I ran into lots of nice people, but they seem to be struggling in towns that are emptying.
The area is one of rolling hills with some valleys and long descents to waterways. The flora is lush and green and apart from dogs and cows I saw almost no other animals. I gave an interview in Falmouth, KY when the local newspaperman saw me sitting on my lovely bike.
Back to the dogs. They helped me begin to become a sprinter! More than that to have a strategic plan especially on the hills, where I was at a distinct disadvantage. Only one dog got close enough to worry me, most others gave up at their property line or responded to a firm "NO!!!!".
Tomorrow I'll move into Indiana and pick up a new river way to follow.

Mt. Orab to Maysville

2006-06-25T19:23:00.001-07:00

I cycled out of Mt. Orab this morning to get to one of the key spots on the Underground Railroad: Ripley, Ohio and then on to Maysville, Kentucky. Ripley was only about 30 miles down the road. At 9 am on a Sunday morning it was a quiet place, so I rode down to the water to look across at where so many slaves had crossed to freedom.

Kathleen and I linked up there briefly and she headed on south to Aberdeen and them Maysville so we could check in before any rain hit. Fortunately the rain held off. Climbing out of riverside Maysville I realized that once again, whenever you get a good descent like that coming into Ripley, you have to pay for it later.

I parked the bike and cleaned up and we went to see more of the sites using the car. I confess that his is not "pure" but it is our vacation so we will do as we please! We visited some of the slave holding places in Old Washington, toured through the sites in Maysville, places where there had been holding pens for slaves who were being sent south, etc.

The back to Ripley. We found there the homes of two giants of the Underground Railroad effort. John Parker and John Rankin. Parker was himself a freedman and his house sits right along the river. That meant that he was never free of the possibility of being grabbed and carried back into slavery. He openly served as one of the conductors on the URR and held many people reach other conductors to the north. Parker created an iron foundry and was an inventor who holds on of the first patents issued to an African American. Parker was known for his daring, in-your-face forays into Kentucky to free slaves and bring them across. He lived a double life, of sorts, even as his notoriety caused wanted posters to be hung in KY.

John Rankin was a Prebyterian Minister who was encouraged to leave his home in Tennessee because of his views on slavery. He was bold enough to preach them aloud. He connections with people in Ripley and went into debt to build a house there. We visited just as Sunday hours were closing, but got to stand on the hill looking down at the river crossing. Rankin made it his life's work to help as many slaves as possible find freedom. Slaves from throughout Kentucky knew to cross the river and then climb the hill to Rankin's house (now called Liberty Hill) where he helped them disappear into the forest for the trip to Canada or to the communities of freed slaves in southwest Ohio. Rankin lived for many years with a bounty on his head.

We had a powerful day, standing where giant souls stood and worked. It felt like standing on the bank of the Jordan that place of liberation for Israel. Here, people found liberty, but at far greater risk.

Mason to Mt. Orab

2006-06-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

London to Mason

2006-06-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

It seems that my trips are doomed to begin in rain. Yesterday it was 93 degrees and I had good practice in avoiding dehydration. But as soon as I took off today a misting rain began. I zoomed through town and found the head of the trail. It is a wonderful trail, peaceful gorgeous. Local folks like to do birdwatching along it. It moves you through towns and their old railroad stations.

Hopping on the Freedom Trail

2006-06-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

We finished our work in Columbus at the General Convention and the next morning I was ready for my trip to explore the Underground Railroad route. I headed out of Columbus along Broad Street which became route 40. It is always interesting to watch an urban area morph to a suburban and then rural. Within 8 miles of downtown I began to hit fields.

The first stop was West Jefferson, a little town slightly to the southwest of Columbus. I missed a turn and continued out 40 until I was north of London, then headed south to link back in.
London is a lovely little town and was setting up for a festival that brought cyclists and cobra cars to town. London has the start point for a 120 mile converted rail right away, but that's tomorrow's story. Spent time in the library and found some great information on the URR. They moved through many of the towns that the bike path goes through.
Spent the night at the Alexandra Bed and Breakfast, which Kathleen had found. Quaint little place, but very friendly.

2006-06-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

This picture cannot adequately show the ducky do!

2006-06-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Getting Going in Columbus

2006-06-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

My longbike and I have arrived in Columbus, Ohio for the Episcopal Church's General Convention. DHL did a great job shipping my bike and I can heartily endorse the Air Caddy (www.shipbikes.com) bike shipping box. Since I could break my bike in two, it fit into the Caddy with just a little tweaking.

Columbus is mostly flat. I put my bike together today and took a nice long ride around town. First I checked out the Convention Center and the Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation booth where I am helping. They work on the Millenium Development Goals that mesh with our Kenya work.

I roll my bike out of the Exhibition Hall and into the big empty hallway leading up to where the meetings will happen. Almost instantly two people stop to talk about the bike and then a thrid drifts up. Guess what? They are all long ditance touring riders. Think on this synchronicity: empty hall in Columbus and three cyclists and NO ONE ELSE. Amazing, just like our experience riding down the cost. One woman, in her mid sixties has just finished a norther tier crossing of the US with her hubby. The second guy rides a Linear and the third guy loves to ride from South Bend to Baton Rouge. I was just amazed.

Headed out and found North Market...great deli sandwhiches Dave! Then off to check out the west side of town. I took a side ride down the river path but it was covered with duck poop> I mean a LOT of duck do. Not really fun for riding or running.

Tomorrow more riding and Convention set-up

The Next Long Ride

2006-05-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

Ok fans I know we have been a little quiet here. I have been having a hard time getting out for any exciting rides. But I am planning a post General Convention ride that will go from Columbus, Ohio to Mobile, Alabama. This is about 825 miles and readdy covers almost 80% of the North to South distance between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico!
The ride will take me along the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys through towns that we stops on the underground railroad. I am looking forward to the adventure of it.
I will be shipping my bike to Columbus rather than trying to take it on the plane. So I will have it for riding around Columbus during General Convention.
All in all I am quite excited.

The new bike meets Mt. Soledad

2006-04-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things of having a new bike is introdicing it to your favorite rides and getting its feedback. What? A bike gives feedback? Well sure, every time you turn the crank it tells you what it thinks of the road and of you. My new bike went smoothly up to the peak of Soledad, climbing confortably.

Sadly it was a moisture filled day and so the view was not totally clear. Nevertheless it was a great first time up the big hill in town.

Moving to a Longbike

2006-03-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well after lots of thought and reflection, I bought a new recumbent. It is a Slipstream, made by Longbikes in Colorado. It is another long wheelbase, underseat steering bicycle. Greg Peek the owner of the company worked with me to assemble a touring combination that matched the needs I identified on my trip down the pacific coast. In addition I had it built with S&S couples that allow me to disassemble the frame to fit into cases that airlines recognize as standard.

The bike is a beauty and rides quite sweetly. I am introducing it to the various hills in the area.

Blog Sabbatical

2006-01-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

I just realized I had not written here since the end of August! My life has been so crazy that having just barely had time to work and ride I was not getting on here to write.

So what are the highlights of the fall and winter? Well I have had good and bad weeks in terms of getting out on the bike. Twice most weeks, but plenty of weeks with no rides because of things at work or sickness.

I now try to keep at least one day auto-free and do two when I can. I am routinely climbing Mt. Soledad and the Tidal pool hill. Both give me a great ride. I have a new route to explore some more that goes east around the bay to the bike trail to Bonita and then can go all the way out to Otay Mountain. Soon I will go climb it too if there is paved road to the top.

The best result of the coastal ride is that I can run up all the hills around here now. I want to keep that strength.

I have added a seconf linear to my collection and just two weeks ago ordered a Slipstream from Longbikes. Greg Peak was out this way for another reason and brought me a bike by to sample. It was a sweet ride. Greg will set it up for the sort of touring I do.

The big question is what to do for a ride next year. There are three candidates:

England's Sustrans trails
The Underground railroad route from Columbus OH, on south
A ride in Canada, either in the northern parks or somewhere on the Alexander Mackenzie trail.

The least expensive is the Underground RR route because I will already be in OH as part of the Episcopal Church's General Convention. Add to that the costly airfare to other places and.....

I'll put up some pictures soon from my fall riding.

Two tired, too tired

2005-08-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

Not all days on the bike are glorious, even in San Diego. Some rides just end in a melt down. Yesterday was such a day.

Somewhere on the paths around Mission Bay, but most likely right along the canal by the mobile home park I had a flat. This is a narrow path with high fences on both sides, so a really useless spot for fixing a bike. I had to walk it to where the Mission bay Park picks up again.

I pulled of the back wheel, stripped out the inner tube and inspect the tire. It had been breached by one tiny tiny tiny, and I mean small, thorn! I could not believe that an organic thorn that small could get the leverage to puncture the tire, but it had.

I pulled out my replacement inner tube and my tire patching kit fell out of the bag. So I thought, lets give it a try since it was a new sort of glueless patch. I roughed up the surface and the patch seemed to adhere fine. Put it all back together, pumped up the tire and off I went. And everything was good for eight miles.

Coming in along Nimitz I decided to go over Point Loma Blvd and stop at the bike ship and get a new back tire and some inner tubes. Seemed like a smart decision.

Next sensation I have is that I am riding in melting asphalt. So I stop and check the back tire and it seems ok, then I check the front and it is flat! Two tires. Lo and behold it was another thorn! Now I did not have a 20" inner tube so I had to use the glueless patches again. It held the air ok but then........ the back tire was flat again. This time I walked into a gas station and put the replacement tube in.... no more messing with glueless patches!

I got to the bicycle shop just fine and bought a new tire and some inner tubes and when I came out the front tire was flat again. At this point I was too tired to mess with it. So I pumped the tire up and it held and rode home.

This evening I have to take them both off, replace the front tube and the back tire and make sure none of those wicked little thorns are anywhere to be seen.

How many faces does Mt. Soledad have?

2005-08-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

Before my bike trip along the Pacific Coast Mt. Soledad was the "challenge" of a local ride. I could not, in fact, make it up to the Cross at the top. To long and too steep a climb and not enough fortitude. After all, I didn't have to get over it to get home!

After the trip though, Soledad has become a regular part of my rides during the week. having built up some hill climbing capacity I am determined not to lose it. And in fact, it is now a friendly and doable ride.

But lo and behold, Soledad has more than one way up! From the top I can count at least four different routes. Two from Pacific Beach and two from LaJolla. So now I am thinking that I should be climbing all four faces and maybe even on the same day! I have done the two face from pacific Beach and today I road down one into south Lajolla (see the Mission Bay picture).

There is one more that I can see just as I leave the monument, which I think heads to what is now called LaJolla Parkway. I will do my next descent along it to see where in LaJolla it brings me out.

I have picked up a wonder long distance bicycling book called "Medal Cowboy: Tales from the Path less pedalled" It is a delight series of stories of people this rider has encountered as he has Forrest Gumped his way around the US and the world on his bicycle.

2005-08-22T15:16:00.000-07:00

Looking back along the hill to Mt. Soledad.

2005-08-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

A great, though humid view of LaJolla and Mission Bay as I descend along LaJolla Scenic Drive.

2005-08-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

One mesa viewed from another as I ride up Mt. Soledad.

Biking in London and Kenya

2005-07-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

I am just back from eight weeks spent in London and Kenya. Sadly I could not take my recumbent along with me, although I am thinking of buying one and leaving it in London for my use.
While in London I used one of the bikes that my host family had. It was the first wedgie I have ridden in ten years! Those seats still hurt. But I enjoyed riding in Wandsowrth Common and around the neighborhood, constantly reminding myself that everything is backwards in London....you ride on the left.
Eric and I tok bikes on the train out to Cheswick where his daughter was participating in a crew race. So we road along the rive path as she raced screaming encouragement and drawing not a few looks from the people just out for a Saturday stroll.
The recent bombings in London have sent a spurt in bicycle sales and in fact London is painting in bicycle lanes all over the place. The city's roads are so narrow however, that most everyone drives paying attention to the oncoming traffic and the bikes since you are constantly forced to pull over to let someone else come by in the other direction.
I spent a great afternoon in Trafalgar Square at a bike show. Tons of people and exhibits and free maps of all the best bicycling routes in London.

The off to Kenya. Most people in Kenya travel by foot or by mini busses called Matatus. But there are also tons of folks on Indian and Chinese made bikes. I thought we were loaded down on out trip until I saw these folks carrying everything from coffins to cases of coake bottles stacked six high on the back of their bikes.

Most of the bikes have just one gear, I road a fairly broken down bike from the Theological School over to Maseno University. It was tough work bumping along the rutted dirt roads on what is essentially a street bike. Buying bikes is easy, getting parts and repairs more difficult.

The toughest riders in Kenya though might well be the Boda-Boda bikers. These are folks with a padded rack on the back who offer rides to be for 10+ shillings (about 13 cents US). Originally these folks ferried people across the no-person's land between the Ugandan and Kenyan borders. So Border to Border riders became Boda-Boda and spread as informal taxis. If it is hard to ride the roads with one gear all by yourself, imagine what it is like to do it with a person on the back.

I think it would be great fun to do a Mombassa to Uganda ride, although you would have to plan your places to stay pretty carefully.

Returning the Linear

2005-05-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

Today I had to give back my loaned Linear. I took it to San Clemente to turn it over to Charles Coyne of Tandem and Recumbent Magazine. Before I turned it over to him I rode about San Clemente looking for my lost flag, but to no avail.

We met and chatted awhile about his magazine and my review of the bike and then it was time to move it from my car to his..... And so the little Linear goes off to be road tested by his writers and then on to more adventures.

Monday I will ride my bike and reacquaint myself with it. I will take it up Mt. Soledad and bring back some pictures.

Riding Mt. Soledad

2005-05-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

A few months ago when I began this blog I included a picture of Mt. Soledad with a caption noting the challenge it represented for me. Yesterday I rode right on up it as my last ride on the 2005 welded Linear I have been using for my trip.

With it all unloaded it was an easy climb up to the top in a mid gear and the payoff at the top was wonderful, a great view for about 270 degrees of the San Diego landscape. Once there I thought remembered I did not have my camera.

Mt. Soledad offers three ways to climb it, so my plan will be to make it a regular part of my riding schedule when I return from Africa. A personal goal for me is not to lose the strength I have built up over these weeks of riding along the coast.

I have already begun plotting for my next trip. The two options are to do the Northern Tier trans American Route in several month long pieces. Or to try some of the Eurovelo routes that are being developed along the lines of Adventure Cycling's.
For example, I think it would be fun to cycle the Atlantic Coast of Norway which would take me near the town where my Mother's family originated.

But there is also a route from Canterbury to Rome (or symbolically we might ride Rome to Canterbury, eh?) and one from the Netherlands to Kiev, which I think might be great fun. Of course none of these have any topographical to descriptive route content to them yet, but I am hopeful.

Tomorrow I will drop the Linear off with its next holder, the Publisher of a Tandem and Recumbent magazine. I emailed him an article this morning so we will see how he likes it. Monday I will ride again up Mt Soledad on my trusty 10 year old Linear. It will be interesting to see how I find it after seven weeks now on a new bike.

Fellowship of the Wheel Comes Full Circle

2005-05-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Dave and I finished our coastal ride with about six folks from All Souls and around the Diocese. We took off from All Soul's at about 9 a.m. and had a leisurely ride around the east side of the harbor to Imperial Beach, finishing at the end of Palm Street where it runs into the ocean.

Fr. Mike tells stories from the ride to the Brotherhood at All Souls`

Dave arrives for the final stage.

Dave, Mike, and special guest rider Teri Mathes touch down at Imperial Beach.

It was a perfect San Diego day for the ride, sunny cloud free sky and only light winds. For once the winds favored us, they were from the WSW as we left Imperial Beach and rode up the strand to Coronado, pushing us along with a nice trailing breeze. In Coronado we stopped at the Hotel Del for some well earned ice cream. I had the first root beer float I've had in years. Of course since I will not be riding 50-90 miles a day I can no longer eat "anything I please." We zoomed around to the ferry and came across the harbor for the final bit of riding back home.

I got home with just enough time to fire up the grill, shower, set out drinks and then welcome people to the party. We had a great turnout of folks from the parish and they mostly ate and drank everything in sight. This is for me the sign of a good party. We opened champagne and Dave and I toasted the end of a successful adventure.

The Linear arrives home, anxious for its next adventure.

In the end we went about 1660 miles averaging about 50 a day. Even after a week home, I am still waking up thinking about packing the bags and getting on to the next town. I find myself looking for the signs of the road that became so familiar, the sweeping descents to beaches, the headlands rising ahead of us at the end of the beach, the game of wondering how the road would cut up and through the headland, since it had to be climbed. None of those signs are there inside, so I find my eyes darting around looking. After a couple of days' rest, I am ready for the next ride. Who can say what will be the next chapter of Speed of Bike. But do stay tuned in, because reflections and local riding adventures will continue to be chronicled.

Ascension Cycling

2005-05-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

Dave and I are home. We arrived Ascension, the 40th day of Easter after 35 days on the road. On our last day we both rode centuries (100 miles) and Dave did even better than that.

Sitting in Oxnard on Tuesday, we realized that we were only 180 miles from home and that we could, if we pounded the pedals make it on Thursday, or at least be sleeping in our own beds Thursday. Sitting and visiting with Donald and Joan in their great home made this all the more desirable. Our next destination was Hermosa Beach (70 miles) where we had lodging with The Rev. Kate Lewis daughter of All Souls' parishioner Molly Bodeen. So we thought we'd go for a long day from Hermosa Beach (right next to LAX) to SD if we could.

The ride from Oxnard to Hermosa was a mixed bag. Oxnard is a town surrounding a military base surrounded by farmland. It was one of the places the Farm Workers organized in the 60's and 70's. Huge fields of fragrant celery and thousands of acres of sod. Once again there was a low pressure system dominating, forcing us to cycle through the wind.

When we finally got to the unimpeded coast south of Oxnard we had a lovely ride except for Dave's flat along Hwy 1 as we cruised by the Santa Monica mountains. I had been waiting to see Malibu, but was sorely disappointed. What a dump. It was a 27 mile dump though with no real distinguishing features. We did, however, like the Malibu Pier, where we rode to the end and chatted with many colorful people.

Leaving Malibu you cycle by miles of houses with their back doors pressed right to the 1 and their front doors to the ocean. I suppose it is cool, but never quiet.

Santa Monica offered us the beginning of a real treat: a paved bicycle trail that would essentially take us all the way around LA. It was a total delight to ride and we took some time at Venice Beach to enjoy the flavor of the culture. I had a great Venice Beach hot dog and several conversations with bikers who came by to admire our rigs. Linears always start conversations. We rolled into St Cross by the Sea Episcopal Church at 4:30 to be given the run of an apartment by Rev. Kate. The plan for the next day was to be on the road by 5:30 a.m. and ride home. The only possible impediment was the threat of rain.

We actually were on the road by 5:30 after a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs (I think we ate them all Kate). The bike path was populated by runners and cyclists and walkers. In one of our guide books they had suggested just riding the 1 at this point despite it being loaded with glass and pot holes, because the bike path went through garages and stuff. We found the path well planned and delightful, specially at 5:30 a.m. It took us to Palos Verdes and out of the main LA area.

The road climbed through the residential areas of PV which is a lovely town. Some crazy drivers were out early to bedevil us. The dramatic change is when you descend from this gorgeous Palos Verdes to the west end of Long Beach. One rides from plush rich homes right into a refinery and port. Ugh. Busy cruddy streets with pushy drivers and typical urban blight storefronts. Several miles of that took us over the LA river and into Long Beach proper, a bit nicer, but nicest as you head east towards a reworked downtown area. We stopped and had some nice pastries at a shop.

Continuing we came to Huntington Beach, riding between the 1 and the ocean once more on a beach path. Because of work on the 1 they had built this special detour including a path crossing guard who helped us carry our bikes over a two foot deep road of sand used by the construction folks to move sand to the beach from where they were working. The town proper, like Newport to follow, was another polished retail strip.

All this while, by the way, we are NOT getting rained on, but riding into wind, which was slowing us down.

After Newport came the big psychological turn, a climb to Dana Point and then a descent and entry into San Clemente. Remember the old "Turn right at the star and then on to morning" from Peter Pan? This was that sort of break. At San Clemente the Coast Highway is taken over by the 5 (booooo!) and so we got to wend our way through residential streets once more. Lots of turn and hills to climb. In residential areas they do not care about the grade of the hills as much as they do along the highways. The neighborhoods were great, with lots of adults and kids shouting encouragement. They get to see lots of cyclists since this is the way through San Clemente for everyone doing what we were doing.

San Clemente ends in a bike trail that is supposed to take us to the gate of Camp Pendleton. It actually does do that, but the maps did not really do justice to the distance you have to go to get there.

The path turns into the abandoned roadbed of the Pacific Coast Highway (PC). A wide three lane road with nothing on it except us and a few runners. It was the first sense of being in the film "On the Beach". It ends at a short path that goes to a chain link fence with a section cut out. It is clearly marked as the path, but feels a little odd. We were expecting Pendleton, but got San Onofre instead. It was dumping us onto the frontage road that runs by the power plant and state beach. We thought it would be a quick pop to Pendleton. Wrong again.

The frontage road past the nuke plant (closest I've ever been to one) leads into a park that is totally deserted at this time of the year. We road for several miles wondering if we were in the right place, or just cycling to a dead end that would force us to turn around. Several times it brings you to little booths that look like guard stations, but none were. Then the park ends and cyclists have to go around another barrier, clearly marked, and ride again on the abandoned road bed.

Finally, finally it ends. The path turns left and goes under the 5. There is a tunnel sigh warning to look out for cyclists and military vehicles while in the tunnel. There was another little path that went up to a Vista point, and we decided to see if we could get on the 5 there and skip Pendleton even though we were right there. Turns our that by sliding our bikes through a broken panel in the barrier gate we could get into the Vista Point. Then we quickly rode the 5 to Oceanside.

This was a horrendous ride. Loudest, busiest, scariest, in some ways, of all the highways we had traveled. But I found it to be the perfect contrast for the point of our ride: speed of bike and speed of auto/truck. The road is pretty clean and the cars and trucks far enough away, but I felt less safe than when I was riding the white line with logging trucks going by.

But we made it to Oceanside. Dave's desire was to sprint for SD and see if he could make it before dark, but we had also discussed going 100 miles and then finishing the ride in the next day or so after some recuperation in bed. Dave had been chomping at the bit for this all day, so I told him to go for it and I would ride to the century mark and then come back and finish the ride (treating home just like any other motel or hospitality stop. Dave will have to tell you what the end of that day was like for him, but I had Kathleen and Katie pick me up at the Century mark because 13 hours of cycling into the wind was my limit for the day. No doubt I could have made it the next 20 miles since my legs were working fine. I would have taken no pleasure in the ride and pleasure in the ride was my objective each and every day.

So we are home and safe. Well actually Dave is on a plane to Chicago to surprise his dad for his birthday. On Saturday the 14th we will have the last stage ride from All Souls to Imperial Beach and a party/open house at the Rectory.

The Speed of Bike will continue, though it will take some hiatus while I am in Africa, since I do not think I will be cycling there. But who knows.

I will see today what re-entry into the speed of car world is like............

2005-05-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

Rain threatens as we ride closer to Palos Verde.

2005-05-05T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hermosa Beach at 5:30 a.m. It is very quiet in the pre-dawn.

Tour Duh Coast Endo, Completo. Finis!

2005-05-05T03:58:00.000-07:00

9:50 pm. Home at last in Point Loma rain.

Charlie couldn't care less.

The last two days were some of the best riding from Oxnard to Hermosa Beach, then home on Cinco de Mayo. Exactly 5 weeks.

Boring bike stats.
1560 mi.
longest ride 132 mi. (last day)
On my bike:
17 spokes broken (8 were cut for damage)
rear axel snapped
rear brake busted
rear tire replaced
three flats
seat stay busted in Del Mar
One chain wheel kaput
And one sore butt.

The ride home was great. Got dark as I was climbing up Torry Pines(an easy climb for us even after 115 mi). The dark was OK since I was now in streets I knew well and I was well lit(the bike silly). It started raining at Sea World but didn't pour until I was in my own house. I finished just as I started, in the rain.

Halfway home on last day.

Venice Beach was calm, so we rode right down the boardwalk.

Lunch in Venice Beach.

Sailing on the sand in south LA.

Construction worker on hand to help us through Huntington Beach.

Malibu Pier

Dunes in Oxnard.

El Fin

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2005-05-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

Even the cheese dogs are artsy at Venice Beach.

2005-05-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

The best part of Malibu, down at the pier.

Tour Duh Coast Stage Twenty Somethings

2005-05-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race" H.G. Wells

We are almost in La so here are some pics starting from the North Coast to Monterey.

Bodega Bay. Still storybook picturesque.

Even in the fog.

The only bear encounter we had.

Cafe at Elk.

Indian Paintbrush everywhere.

And no rain thankyou.

Can you see Mike?

O.K. Time to cross this bridge into the real California and head home. I am so motivated.

Mike on a golden ride.

Tour Duh Coast Big Sur Stage

2005-05-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

The mother of all stages. The tour de France can't match this locale.

Hold On and pedal hard.

Big Sur looking north. Best experienced by bike.

Bixby Bridge, Big Sur.

Riding down from the clouds in Big Sur

Leaving Big Sur behind us. Time to go fast

Wine country in Santa Barbara County. All the hills are so green.

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2005-05-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Scads of seals at San Simeon.

2005-05-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Part of the descent towards San Simeon. Fog hugs the mountains.

2005-05-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

This in one of the hills we climbed.

2005-05-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

From Strawberry Fields to Family Reunion.

Santa Cruz to Pismo Beach

2005-05-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

Another blitzkrieg of a week. Our strength as cyclists is increasing as we zoom along and we are making great time.

After an evening in Santa Cruz we took off for Monterey. This was a 44 mile ride around the bay dipping close to and then zooming away from the water. We passed through the Strawberry capital of the world and the Artichoke capital of the world and literally saw Strawberry fields forever.

As we closed in on Monterey this mini-van slowed along the highway and people yelled at us as we rode along the bike path. It was Kate and Adam and Ella and Jane! They pulled off at the next exit so that when we reached it Ella was on her bike ready to ride with Grandpa. We tooodled and rode a bit and they packed back into the van to go to their motel and Dave and I headed to the base.

Mary arranged a room for us in the old Hotel Del Monte, now part of the Navy's postgraduate school. We had a huge suite in a hotel that rivals the Hotel Del for opulence and granduer. Dave took off to have dinner with the family and I spent the evening in the club in the basement yakking with some very nice service people.

Next morning we took off for Kate and Adam's hotel. They all went to the Dennis the Menace park and I cleaned the bike and did some work on it. In the afternoon we said goodbyes and took off for Big Sur, just 35 miles away. What a gorgeous ride. I have done it in a car, but the SpeedofBike is the way to see this too. This was a depression era WPA project so all the coves have bridges spanning them. The mountains come right to the sea. We found a nice motel and checked in. Dave had some busted spokes again and a bent chain ring, but he fixed it with a hammer! The plan was to get up early the next day and head to Cambria (70+ miles) before the bike shop closed.

Now 70 miles is one thing on the level, but this had four long high climbs in it before the mountains moved away from the shore and the road headed to San Simeon. We climbed and climbed and along one climb I broke a spoke. Then we zooomed downhill and past San Simeon, though I stopped to see the sea elephants. Dave made it to the bike shop in Cambria but they were about to close and there was no mechanic. They told us their store in San Luis Obispo was open on Sunday and we could get help there, so we made arrangments to do that.

So we thought we would grab a room and call it a day. Only there was a Car show in Morro Bay and every room in the region was booked. Fortunately one of our hospitality angels offered us a room on short notice (we try to give people 48 hours notice). Barbara and Arnold Hagiwara of Cayucus told us to come on down. So we rode another 13 miles bringing the day's total to 91, a new record for us both.

As we got ready for bed Kate called to tell us there were in San Simeon and had not seen us on the road. Dave told them we were 20 miles further along. So plans got reshuffled so that he could spend the morning with them and I could go to St. Paul's with Barbara and Arnold.

St. Paul's is a lovely little church in Cambria full of warm welcoming people. Even though I looked like something the cat dragged in, they were interested in our journeys. After returning to Cayucus, I said goodbye the Barbara and Arnold (they were off to other things)and packed up stuff.

Dave and I finally took off about 12:30. We were at the bike shop by 1:40 (Camria Outfitters) and they had both bikes fixed in under an hour for a very reasonable price. If you need a bike shop in San Luis Obispo, see these folks.

Back on the road we found our way to Pismo. A ritzy seaside resort town that you have to get south of to find a reasonable room. Every 1/4 mile the rate drops $10 so we actually are in Grover, CA.

Tomorrow who can say? We are going to try for another long day, getting past Lompoc to Gaviota. We are probably six days from home and are devising plans for the celebration ride.

We have thus ridden the last of the really remote strips of the trip and will now bend more and more into the savagery called civilization. What is most interesting to me is that my legs and knees hurt only when I am NOT riding. Some change has been made in my chemistry that allows me to peddle on and on, but then hurt when I am not. More on this later.

Tour da Coast Stage Bovine

2005-04-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

This stage is for kids and anyone else out there in cyberspace who is bored with biking and would rather see cows. We're talking bo-vine, not bo diddley, not bo jackson, not bo derek,sorry, not bo hemian, not bo jengles, not bo datious, nor bo tox, just cows. So here are a few we've seen along the road.

Curious Cow

Inquisitive cow on north coast.

Bored cow on highway 1 north coast.

Ridge Cows

Stupid cows forming a bike block on highway 1.

Plastic gnome cow in the redwoods.

Sea cows, San Simeon.

Big eared cow in Sea Ranch north coast.

Latin Cow Zone.

Boy cow.

Envious cows.

Big horned boy cows.

Canada cows.

Tired cows.

Russian cow. Vladimir. Came to reconquest Fort Ross, southernmost occupation of Russians till 1867. I offered him Oregon. But he said "Nyet, Oregon too cold and wet."

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Bodega Bay to Santa Cruz

2005-04-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

OMG are we tired.

We left Bodega Bay Monday morning refreshed and renewed by two lovely days with Bill and Beezy Latham, our own David Latham's parents. They fed us, I made french bread and we recovered from the long ride there. But when we left we were follwed by birds. Remember the great Hitchcock film? Yup that's where we were. We rode out in a deep fog, riding together to keep each other from getting hit.

Dave, riding off into the fog at Bodega Bay.

When finally we left the hollows of mystery around BB, we broke into sunshine in Marin County, but also into much nastier road surfaces. Still in all we rode 59 miles and arrived late in the day at Corte Madera to a very kind reception by Dick and Audrey Anderson and Palmer and Joyce Wilkins. They took us to a great local Italian restaurant (Capra's) and we had an evening of talking about what a mess Jim and Lanita make of the Anderson's apartment when they are there each summer. (Just kidding, they LOVE Jim and Lanita)

Tuesday morning we took off for the Golden Gate Bridge and SF. And really the GGB was the only part we were really interested in. To get to is one must ride up numerous winding hills braving local drives who are none too pleased with cyclists.

Mike's Linear at the Golden Gate Bridge.

But there were lots of cyclists out and we had a number of nice conversations in passing.... them passing us. Riding the bridge was a hoot. I had never been on it or even close to is and it was cool to breeze over it to the other side.

In the middle of the span.

The we wound our way through SF along the Presidio and Golden Gate Parks until we came to Cabrillo Street which we took to the Great Highway which becomes the Cabrillo highway. That has carried us all the way to Santa Cruz, but not before a huge long climb in Daly City and a delightful stay at a Best Western in Pacifica.

This morning we zoomed off early and had to start with a steep hill called the Devil's slide. It was the worst shouldered road we have ridden on with the lousiest drivers. Still we climbed it unperterbed and reached the summit.

Dave riding up the Devil's slide.

That took us into Montara and a day of riding up and down hills. Nothing else is new there.

We played dodge with several rain storms as they socked into the coast. But the hills were easier to climb and we made good time because we are becoming stronger as we go. There is not much civilization between Pacifica and Santa Cruz. Lots of basic coast but nooooooooooo stores, people, or even convenience stores. Even teh whales felt ignored.

We are now ensconced in Santa Cruz with Dave fixing his rear wheel and me here at the puter. Tomorrow we are off to Monterey to rendez vous with Kate, Adam, Ella, and Jane for some fun. Ella wants to ride with Grandpa, so this should be fun.

On to Bodega Bay

2005-04-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

We woke up Saturday morning stiff and sore from the previous day’s ride. The 57 miles had felt good the evening before, but this morning they were all knotted up in the muscles of my legs. Worse was when we looked out the window and saw the rain clouds overhead. They broke and we broke for the road. Betty and Gillette were concerned for us riding in the rain, but we were feeling lucky and so took to the road.

The luck lasted about six miles and then the sprinkles began. They were nice refreshing sprinkles for along time, but gradually developed towards rain. The ride was a series of climbs and descents around the coves along the coastline, nothing too strenuous, but a continuous up and down. My front derailleur was still malfunctioning, so I became very good at what is call the “heel shift”. You move the derailleur to where it should shift the chain and then knock the chain with your heel to get it to move over. I felt positively “old school” as I zoomed up hills, shifting down with my heel.

On we went towards Bodega Bay, but first we had to pass Ft. Ross the southernmost incursion of Russians and Eskimos onto the western edge of this continent. At the gate we ran into Vladimir again, who rode by chuckling that he was stopping in at little Russia. Vladimir is a Russian Geography teacher who was finishing a 3,000 mile ride through the US to study our land. He had videotaped us riding the night before, loving the look of our bikes.

After Ft. Ross came the climb up the Jenner grade. In the book it showed one climb to a peak then a long descent into Jenner. We climbed and climbed (remember I am heel shifting into the lowest gear) and came to a peak and looked over it and said “Ahhhhhh the long descent into Jenner!” Then we zoomed down. Only to find another long climb, not as high as the first one, but pretty long. Going up it we met a guy coming down from the other direction, a Canadian doing our ride from South to North. He smiled and said the peak was just ahead; we smiled and told him there was another steep climb as soon as he finished the descent. So he pulled out the same book we use and said, “Look at the map, one long climb then a descent.” So we explained that we had just learned the map was wrong. So off we all pedaled.

We finished the second long climb and Dave asked is we were at the Summit. I was afraid to speculate because we had been fooled once already. But zoom we went down this looooooooooong switched backed descent, two miles of screaming twisting road. And at the bottom? Another climb. Aaaaaargggh! Again we climbed rise after rise and then, when all seemed hopeless, we made it to Jenner.

Jenner is not a happy town as best I can tell. The little gift shop by the water does not stock local artists’ work because they are too pricey, but he carries the same set of trinkets we have seen in other shops. Dave did not want to eat in the fancy lunch place because we have been having so much luck with delis. So we went the gas station deli and noted that the owner had raised all the prices for the weekend. Dave got his sandwich, then the guy waited on several people. The made mine, and brought it to the check out counter. Only there was a local guy there complaining that the nightcrawler cups were all half dead. “See,” he exclaimed, opening the cup over my fortunately well-wrapped sandwich, “look at them!” Sure enough they were big lazy nightcrawlers. So he bought them and the shrimps bait and wandered off and I got my sandwich. There is no ambiance in Jenner.

11 miles to Bodega Bay but first: a hill! Not too bad really, especially since I had the shifting thing to a science. We made it into Bodega easily, if not a little winded and tired from the day. Dave’s dad gave us directions and we made it to their home. They have been taking excellent care of us and so today (Sunday the 25th) we took the day off from riding.

I spent the morning fixing the bike to make the low gears shift more easily. After lots of little tweaking I think I have it working. Sadly, in the original exchange that broke the chain, my cycling puter cord was torn out so know I have no sense of how fast or how far I have gone. Just one of the casualties of the ride. Like my pants. Now so covered in chain grease and such that no amount of Shout seems to get it out.

I got myself cleaned up and helped Dave’s mom with some bread questions. We made a batch of pain de campagne whipping it by hand. That provided some good upper body work. So tonight we will have fresh baguettes. It is the first time in three + weeks that I have made bread.

Tomorrow we are off to Corte Madera and then San Francisco. We have been blessed this week with great weather, compelling rides and great people giving us shelter and feeding us and going way out of their way to support us in this ride.

What a week!

2005-04-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

We are at the home of Betty and Gillete Bechtel, retired to the Sea Ranch in CA just south of Gualala from service to the Church in SD, among other places. They say hi to all their SD friends.

We have had an incredible week. When last we were able to get on line we shared that we were dealing with bike shops. This has not changed, I broke my chain this week and twisted the front derailleur out of whack. But this is minor in comparison to the treats.

On Tuesday we cruised the Avenue of the Giants, the Redwood Ents that hold peace against the Orcs of development in No Cal. If you aren't sure what Ents and Orcs are, ask anyone who has seen the Lord of the Rings. The 32 Mile ride on Tuesday was so magnificent we thought about just doing it 30 more times and skipping the rest of the ride. The trees and the quietly lined road bring one to silence again and again. We will have pictures up when we are in Wi-Fi territory once more.

Tuesday night we were in Garberville, consolidating out energy for the ride on Wednesday over Leggett mountain. While the road North to South is pretty nicely graded, we did climb almost 3500 feet on Wednesday (counting all the ups we rode) before a screaming 16 mile descent down from Leggett. The most important thing is that we two geezers RODE over the mountain. we would not want to do it South to North, but our route was fine.

I developed a hill "breath prayer" that helped me settle into the long climbs: "Hill, Legs, Bike, Spirit." I had to quit working as hard pedalling and just let my legs find the natural stroke of each hill. It was amazing to climb without effort (well almost without effort) but certainly without the exhuastion that came from trying to pound my way up the hills.

We made it to Westport and stayed at a cutle little Inn there. Thursday we rode up and down through coves to reach Fort Bragg, where I spent time getting my gears worked on. The we hopped out to Caspar to stay with Roy and Carol Ann Falk. She is in training for a June AIDS ride from SF to LA and we had a great evening and visit with them.

Today we rode about 57 miles to Sea Ranch CA, just South of Gualala. Exhausting ride up and down and up and down. Made more aggravating by my gears and derailleur still not being adjusted correctly. Plus Rt 1 here is very narrow and without shoulders. A beautiful ride, but one during which you had to be constanting on guard for cars. Both days we both noted that the hills seemed easier to climb and that we were not as winded. Leggett mountain was like crossing an equator of ability. Some hills are steep, but none are like what we have already conquered.

Tomorrow we are off to Bodega Bay, hopefully to get in before some rain settles in. We are both turning in early this evening, but wanted our avid readers to know that we have had a glorious week on the road.

Leggett Mountain

2005-04-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

We steeled ourselves and took off for Leggett. From Garberville there is a long steady climb to Leggett the town where the elevation is 1100 feet. So we went up and down 400 foot climbs three or four times as we gradually got closer to the real grade of the day. But the grades were not too bad and the breath prayer “Hill, Legs, Bike, Spirit” continued to let me not overwork my legs and just climb.

We stopped for lunch at the Peg House deli and grocery where they made hamburgers to order out on the Weber on the porch. Lovely people and a good place to stock up and take stock before hitting the hill.

Leggett came up soon enough and we left 101 for 1 and the climb. Now the book says that the climb begins at 1100 feet or so, so we are climbing out of Leggett and Dave is asking if we are there yet. It was a good three miles of steady climbing before we were close to 1100 feet and then it did begin.

Contrary to the stories told, the road was well graded and while it was a long climb it was not impossible for us geezers at all. We just kept a steady pedaling up and up, up and up some more, then more up and up. I was checking the altimeter on my GPS looking for that 1930 figure (the mountain is 2000 feet, but the road only goes to 1930). Finally we reached the crest, but the area is so heavily wooded there was no “Vista Point”. We stopped just after the summit and took some pictures and then descended.

Dave and Mike after crossing the summit at Leggett Mountain.

It was a 13 mile descent. Down and down, then down some more and after that some down and down. Occasionally the road would rise a little just to give one a break and let on warm up. After that though, there was more down and down. It felt like this grade was steeper than the one we had ascended, but I was not complaining.

I zoomed into Rockport, a not dead town and one of the few residents left asked me how I was. I told him great cause the mountain was behind me, and he cracked instantly that “The next one is ahead.” It was the 600 foot rise before Westport. So back to up and up and then up some more. It felt longer and steeper than Leggett even though I knew it wasn’t. Finally we topped it too and broke free and onto the coast again.

After a quick breather we took off for Westport. Tired and in need of a place to sleep. We cycled along and I began to despair that there would be anything at all. At the north side of town was a campground, followed by a rise and a curve, followed by the Westport Inn. Whew! And they had a room! It was a cute little place run by a very nice lady who has customers of such regularity that she just leaves the keys in the door. If a door had a key you just took the room.

Dinner was found at a neat grocery deli post office gas station across the street. Pot Roast was the supper of the evening, but since we were a little late and the garlic mashed potatoes were gone, the Pot Roast became a French Dip sandwich. It was yummy.

We had a great sleep and took off in the morning for Fort Bragg.

Tour de Coast Stage 19

2005-04-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Although the “Avenue of The Giants” sounds like an area of high elevation it is really in a valley along the south fork of the Eel River and you get to gently ride into it without much difficulty, thus making it that much easier to enjoy the majesty of an ancient forest. It has been more than 50 years since I was last touring down this road as a brat in the back seat of a two door woody Ford wagon. As I was pedaling through the tunnels of trees it was comforting to realize nothing has really changed. The trees are practically the same. The road is almost exactly the same. And once a brat…..well…that hasn’t really changed either. The only thing different is the speed. Ten miles an hour now instead of fifty. That is an improvement. Thirty miles of wooded sanctuary and nary a car to interrupt our feast. Of course no wonder of nature can be experienced with out a few Big Foot, Ripley’s believe it or not, drive through tree, one log house, Hobbit Town, and a few Mystery Spots. All in all the best stage to enjoy so far, and no mountains!

Riding through the Giants.

This Giant fell in 1991, (the one on the left that is).

Nice Home.

On the Avenue. No traffic!

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Avenue of the Giants

2005-04-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Several summers ago Kathleen and I visited the Bristle cone forest east of Big Pine. The oldest living things on earth are there, in the form of these ancient pines that twist and dip, sometimes rising to the sky, but often running along the ground. The area is not heavily forested so the grove of these trees is quite spread out. They are truly ancient wizened beings that have seen all of recorded human history (maybe a little more) and held their thoughts in their rings.

The Redwoods are astonishing in their presence. We can only imagine what their primeval grandeur was like since most of them have been logged, but those left along the Avenue of the Giants represented their kind well.

Straight, tall, thick, clustered in a forest. Dominating the road the sky and even the air. Riding through them was like being in a Cathedral as their branches met above our heads. When we were far enough from 101 and no cars were on the road the silence was deep and peaceful. I was glad there were 32 miles of them to ride through, and sorry that we did not have a week to dally and commune. These were trees you could truly hug and I did.

We worked our way through the Giants, just enjoying the quiet ride and the beauty, ending the day with a long steady climb to Garberville. There the Best Western had a wine and cheese reception so we settled in for the evening and regrouped for the Leggett ride the next day.

Tour de Coast Stage 18

2005-04-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Checking out of Arcata and Eureka we had a pleasant and fairly level ride through old California farm country, where all the cows are happy and all the farmhouses are Victorian. We had lunch in Fernbridge, named so because the town has a bridge, and then rolled into Rio Dell a town that coping with the fact that they are not on the main road anymore.

Carson Mansion, Eureka.

Eureka Old Town.

Happy California cows of Fernbridge.

Mayor of Rio Dell greets us.

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Bike Shops and Sunshine

2005-04-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

Woke up today to find the sun out, the sky blue and the pavement dry all at the same time! Woo Hoo! So we got up early to head off to the Revolutions Bike Shop in Arcata, where Sean put a new tire on my bike, replaced a kinked cable to the front brake, and trued the back wheel. The bike felt smooth and off we went through Arcata to Eureka.

We went by Samoa and Manila (who knew they were in CA) and then into Eureka, the broken glass on the ground capital. Dave's front tire picked up a shard coming in over the bridge. So we stopped and replaced the innertube. We found the historic Carson Victorian home and took some pictures, then sought out a bike store so Dave could have a back-up tire should his now be shot.

All in all we spent two hours on tires and bike repair. Then off towards the Avenue of the Giants. We had a great ride along 101 with the wind at our back, turning off at Loleta to find some lunch. Loleta had no places to eat, despite advertising a cheese making factory. We continued on the little side road to Fernbridge where we found a great little Market and Cafe. Big, airy, and filled with the aroma of freshly baked cakes and pies. We got a table and had a sumptuous lunch looking out at the Humbolt Creamery and wishing they had already finished the renovations of their ice cream plant.

We briefly thought of going into the preserved Victorian town called Ferndale (shown famously in the film "Outbreak"). But the wind was coming up so we decided to continue on the back road towards Rio Dell. It was a great ride along the Eel River, with the only real hazard being the hunks of manure that spotted the road all through the dairy farms. Remember that Creamery, we met all those cows. With ever stronger wind whipping at our back we zoomed towards Rio Dell until the last three miles when we had to climb out of the Eel River Valley and up to the town and 101 as it rose towards the Redwoods. We were glad we skipped Ferndale.

Rio Dell erupts in a fancy town sign and a boulevard (the old, pre 1970s highway)leading us to a nifty little motel called Humbolt Gables Motel. The fellow running it was thoughtful and well organized and the room is nice. A long day and very productive, almost 45 miles.

As the wind picked up and the temps cooled off we made a quick trip down the road to DJ's for a malt and some sandwiches for later....lunch was sooooooo huge we only really need a snack later.

Tomorrow we will head into the Avenue of Giants and hope to reach Garberville. The day after that is the ascent to Leggett, at 2000 feet the highest point on the pacific coast. You all need to pray hard for us on Wednesday.

Tour de Coast Stage 17

2005-04-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

We spent the morning climbing out of Crescent up a good-sized hill into the Humboldt Redwood forest, our first clue that we were in California. Sure enough after riding four miles down this hill we saw the most remarkable site: THE SUN! It was just the same as we last saw it in Washington and we began to feel what is like to be dry again. After riding in the sun and winding through some redwood groves, a nice guy with an empty moving van who had passed us coming down the hill called me over. He basically said that we were too slow and two fat to make it through the next narrow stretch of winding wooded road alive. No argument there. He was a volunteer fireman from Fortuna concerned about our survival. So then I thought, great, time for a Rosie Ruiz end run. So without much more convincing, (I was already in the truck cab when Mike was trying to decide) we safely made it through the next narrow stretch of shoulder less 101. After 25 miles to where the road was wider again, we disembarked from the Rosie Ruiz moving van about ten miles outside of Trinidad. Now we could sneak into town the last 10 miles and feel all sweaty and exhausted when we get there. Ms. Ruiz would have been proud. When we hit the sunny coast in Trinidad, had excellent burritos, saw some orange poppies and better dental work, we knew we were in California. With the Rosie Ruiz boost we were able to make it to Arcata a day ahead of schedule and with the five-day jump ahead in the wormhole, we just might make it home in time.

Finally the Redwoods south of Crescent City

Still raining but Magestic

After a cold ride down we are on the Pacific.

Looking south

Sunny Trinidad

California for sure.

Our first Poppies. California color.

"What the Heck?" Local Arcatian tries out our wierd bike.

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2005-04-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Dave at Clam Beach, cruising in the sunshine.

2005-04-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

Mike's picture of the coast south of Trinidad.

Road Angels

2005-04-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

When last we wrote, oh Velophilous, we reported that it was raining in Crescent City. But by about 9:30 a.m. the sun was out and we trusted. So we returned the land ferry, loaded up the bicycles and headed off for the Crescent City Hills. The first rises to 1200 feet and is followed by two shorter ones right after. It's reputation if ferociously nasty to cyclers and it is pretty much earned.

The sun lasted until we began the hill and then it rained. I mentioned this to God, this rain thing again, but it continued to rain. So we walked and rode up the hill. The first three miles being the steepest and having the poorest shoulders. The Redwoods were lovely, as we trudged through the rain, but we made the crest and then the two following minor crests in reasonable time. After that the deluge and the downhill. A 6% grade for two miles followed by a 7% grade for about 3. We rode with the brakes on and I noticed a little wobble in the rear wheel. Dave watched it on one strech, but the rim was not out of true. Still it felt funny.

After a long cold wet scary descent we hit some level areas and the rain became a sprinkle. So on we trudged, planning to make it to Orick after another smaller set of hills.

At the very bottom is a place called The Mystery Trees, with a HUGE statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. As I caught up with Dave he was in a discussion with a guy by the side of the road, whose truck was parked in the Trees Motel lot. Pondering this mystery I rode up. The fellow was telling Dave and now me that he is a part time volunteer fire fighter and that the road ahead was particularly narrow and dangerous with lots of tight blind curves around redwoods. He was offering to drive us past the dangerous parts.

We pondered how weird this was and how safe it might be,but finally decided to take the ride. So into the back of the moving truck went the bikes and off we went. He took us about 25 miles and some the the road was indeed pretty hairy. Orick was a complete bust as a town, we would have been stuck in a terrible room in a really really really bad motel. After the last of the bad turns we had him drop us about 10 miles outside Trinidad so we could ride the rest of the way in. The wobble was worse and I stopped and looked at the rear tire. Viola, the rips you see in the pictures.

The good news was the rim was still true, but the tire was bulging. So we slowly and carefully made our way to Arcata, after checking for a tire at K-Mart in McKinleyville.

So, the lesson for the day was this.......had pride or pig headedness kept us from taking the advice of the truck driver, we would have been sleeping in a hole in Orick, or worse, pushing a flat tired bike 25 miles to find a town with a bike shop or tire shop. Sometimes angels are just there waiting.

We appreciate Brad Glass of North Coast Moving and Storage, in Fortuna CA for looking out for us.

Tour de Coast Stage 16

2005-04-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Even though it was always raining we saw some local color.

More local color

Maybe now it will be downhill.

After a couple more stages of cold rain and windy coastline, we decided it was time for the Wizard of Oz stage.
Oregon was fun but we felt more rain would not be enlightening and we were desperate to escape this weather system and dry out. So I sloshed my Nikes together three times saying “There’s no place like home state. There’s no place like home state. There’s no place like home state.” And it was magical. We fell into a wormhole and came out 250 miles south just inside the border of California and at the southern tip of the stubborn weather system. We didn’t feel that we’d missed much, since the second half of Oregon was pretty much like the first. In fact if you ride a just a couple hundred yards in Oregon that would be a good sampling. So even though it is still raining we know the sun is over the next hill.

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Land Ferry

2005-04-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

After spending twelve of our first fifteen days in rain, including the pelting rain from Lincoln City to Newport where we arrived not only wet, but crusted in grime as well, we made a pastoral decision for the sake of Oregon. Rather than not enjoy every additional mile in the state, we decided to employ a land ferry to get us around the persistent low pressure system plaguing the coast and around the narrow windy shoulders promised for the days ahead. We were also losing days in Oregon because of the rain and because we had to wait for bicycle parts to reach us.

The Land Ferry is run by U-Haul and it allowed us to ferry the bikes and us from Newport to Crescent City. We got to actually see all the lovely coast. This bought us back five-six days of cycling that might have been lost at the end of the ride in order for us to be back in SD to catch planes to London.

Riding in the rain (and hail) and cold is a different sort of experience than riding in sun or overcast. You spend your riding time watching the road for hazards and listening for trucks and RVs. The best drivers in the road and most gracious are the loggers who make space for you and appreciate that you make space for them. The worst are the small cars who could hug the yellow line, but seem to feel a need to honk wildly at you as they come zooming up from behind. This is not helpful!

We are now hoping that if we encounter rain it will be at least warmer than it has been (often in the mid forties) and that it will not persist quite as voraciously. This will allow us to enjoy what we are seeing instead of surviving it. Enjoyment was the point of the trip, after all and we have earned our wet riding merit badge as far as we are concerned.

We have only seen four other long distance riders along the way. A couple heading to Las Vegas and two women who we passed in Florence. It is nice to know that our partuclar early spring lunacy is shared by others. The nice thing is that there is no competition for motel beds.

So we are off to breakfast here and then will decide when to take off this morning. You see, it is raining in Crescent City!

Lincoln City

2005-04-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

We left Tillamook with some sunshine and a few sprinkles and hauled ourselves along 101 towards Neskawin, which we thought would be our endpoint. It turned out that a clinic in Lincoln City could give me my last Hep B shot (for the Africa trip) so we hauled our poor bodies over an 800 foot rise (2 miles) and then zoomed into Lincoln City. It looks like a beach town with an active Casino, so there is a mixture of genre's here.

We settled in at an Ashley Inn Suites with a very nice room. The GM has done this same ride and was so enthusiastic about our effort that he let us sneak in and use the jacuzzi while the pool is being serviced. We sat for a bit at the Starbucks next door and the guy there rode his bike from Disneyland to Disney World. He invited us to stay with him, give us rides, his wife works for an Irish non-profit doing development in the third world. He was interested to hear of the parish's work in Kenya, so we had a great chat.

Well we have stalled as long as we can at the restaurant, we're going to walk over and look at the beach

Tour de Coast Stage 13

2005-04-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to be our big day. 150 miles. We were really going to hall ass. But my bike wouldn’t fit on the bus. So while I was trying to figure out what to take off my bike, the bus took off. So now we have another fifty measly miles in the cold rain up hill. At speed of bike which is a little faster than speed of slug. Every night I check for moss between my toes. My bike is now all green. But we get to see great scenery. Green trees. All the same. One after the other. Real slow. Fascinating.
Actually, we are taking a day off from riding in beautiful downtown Tillamook, the home of the famous Tillamook supermarket cheese bricks. Mike is waiting for a steering part from the Linear Factory so we are taking the opportunity to dry out and rest up at St. Alban’s , Tillamook. It’s been a great town to spend a day in the people are great and I found a café that plays 70’s blues all day and has wifi bleeding in from an Ebay store next door.

Since we’re not goin’ anywhere today, hear are a few past pics.

Must be a Club up a head.

Oh, here's the club. Raymond Wash.

People of Raymond, Wash.

Why didn't I think of that? I geuss the economy is a little tough here.

Great. Only four states to go. Oregon, California, California, and California.

Nice cabin in Cannon Beach Oregon.

Looks more like a shopping hazard.

Maybe if we wait awhile we'll get some donuts and coffee.

This is the hail that we road through yesterday.

Maybe we'll get luckey here.

Cheezy town.

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2005-04-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Dave emerges from the tunnel. Trucks like to blast their horns as they go through it. We were thankful we were both free of the tunnel when a truck went through.

2005-04-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

These are the fowl.

Drenched in Creation

2005-04-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

When I wrote the clergy up here I told them I was on a trip to drench myself in creation. So be careful what you pray for, because we have been drenched for 10 of our twelve days on the road. Yesterday we rode through heavy rain and two downfalls of hail! We think of it as a spa day, a free ice facial provided by nature.

This is the view back towards Cannon Beach. We had a short break in the rain as we left town so we grabbed a last photo of this part of the coast.
I also wanted this to be a low pressure experience. So God has provided a nice stable low pressure off the coast here that is continuing to dump rain on our route. We are sitting in Tillamook today with a forced rest day because I am waiting for a part to come into the bike store. Then we are off tomorrow for parts south. We will be staying on Route 101 although both tour books go along the coast. That road is reputed to be narrow and unsafe and we have already seen a lot of Oregon coast and will see more.

Hey All Soul's Kids, can you figure out what sort of fowl these are chasing each other? And what kind of snake are we rescuing from a nasty string noose. Was it poisonous?

I went to the 9:30 Eucharist at St. Albans and had a lovely time with the folks there. We are sleeping in their small meeting room. It is a small but lovely parish.

Tour de Coast Stage 12

2005-04-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is the stage that the riders enjoy the most. We start the day by boarding the luxury coach with an open bar and gourmet buffet. Your bikes will be stored underneath in cargo for the overnight drive to La Jolla where you get back on your bikes, after the morning massage, for a leisurly downhill coast into Point Loma to finish the tour…….Wha happened??? I’m not on a bus. I must have been dozing. And what’s this cold rain? Stage 12 is a mountain stage. What am I talking about, they’ve all been mountain stages. Cold and rainy mountains up and down, down and up. Where is Lance Armstrong? I know Lance Armstrong and I am no Lance Armstrong.

This is Lance Armstrong. He does mountains. We try.

And for those of you who told me that the ride from Canada to San Diego was all downhill take your northern centric Rand McNally beach ball and lay it on it’s side on the equator. See, that’s my perspective. Actually there are an equal amount of up and downs but I ride at 3 to 5 miles an hour up the hill and 25 to 30 miles an hour down the hill. So I hope even you knuckle heads can see that I’m riding up hill 90% of the time and it’s raining 50% of the time while your at home sitting on your barcalounger next to your fridge in your cozy casa 100% of the time. Fun. I’m having fun. At 50 miles a day I should be home by Halloween. So how are you doing?

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Tour de Coast Stage 11

2005-04-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is an episode of the tour that you can play along with the home version of the game. Just get out your kids Brio train set and have fun. You need lots of curvy track, all your bridges, a tunnel and blocks to make lots of hills for the track. Designate one side of the room Washington, put lots of mullets and pick up trucks here. And the other side call Oregon and put lots of hobbits and earth toned people in Birkenstocks. Put tunnels and hills on both side of the room and in the middle put three different bridges together. Use lots of track to make it real long. This will be the Columbia River. If you build this out side turn the sprinkler on every 15 minutes for about 10 minutes and soak everything. Don’t ever let it get dry. Now designate two cars as bikes stating them on the Washington side. Move them very slowly. Behind them put about a dozen truck cars. Call them logging trucks. Move them very fast. Obviously they will catch up to the bikes. When they do, knock the bikes off the road to let the logging trucks pass. See if you can get the bike through the tunnel. Hard huh? When you build the bridge put three bridges together, a draw bridge, flat bridge, and suspension bridge to make one long bridge. Try too get the bikes across the bridge without the logging trucks forcing them into the water. Don’t forget the sprinkler! Every 15 min. On the Oregon side make the tunnel very long and go up hill. This will cause the bikes to go real slow . Having fun? We are.

Logging truck. Not much shoulder.I can get a nice smell of the fresh bark when it passes.

Entering the tunnel in Washington.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in Washington

The Columbia River. Bridge is 4 miles long.

First Part of Bridge

Second section of Bridge

Third section of Bridge

Coming out of the tunnel alive in Oregon!

Don't get too close to the edge.
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Nature Talk

2005-04-10T18:56:00.001-07:00

Here we are on the beach in south west Washington where I observed a skinny whale. Actually it was so skinny it was just bones. I figured it was probably dead because I kicked it and nothing happened.

Karen the Whale on Long Beach, Wash.

This is what probably happened. The whale was swimming along happily living on the Atkins diet, all the krill and fried calamari it could eat, when it came across a book that someone had tossed called The South Beach Diet. Most likely someone on a cruise ship who was confronted with all the buffets and nothing to do but eat and said “Throw out that book honey, you look fine fat, it’s time to eat again.”. Now we know whales aren’t very smart because they don’t hang out in schools the way fish do. They hang out in pods which are probably like gangs. So this stupid whale sees this book and thinks “Cool, I can be cool”. Now any fish would know that any beach diet is fatal, but this poor whale that we’ll call Karen didn’t realize until it was too late. So now Karen the whale is residing permanently on the beach looking cool and skinny. So please don’t throw your beach diet books in trash that ends up in the ocean, because every year you read about some group of teenage whales that winds up on the beach for no apparent reason and starves to death. They usually try to blame it on the Navy’s Radio broadcast, but the radio has been around for years with no problem. It’s only since we’ve had this proliferation of beach diet books that whales have been coming ashore. This has been another episode of Nature Mysteries solved by Dave.
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Bremerton to South Bend

2005-04-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

We had one day of all rain but the others were sun with some showers. All the rides have been great and the people have been very friendly. Here are some shots.

Had a nice stay here in Bremerton

Carrier graveyard, Bremerton 61,62,64

Hey Ed, look at those wierd bikes!

Sorry I got both hands on the wheel.

Hands across America

Mmmmm. escargot for lunch

Logging trucks have right of way

Hold On!

Pacific County Courthouse, South Bend, "Oyster Capital of the World"

Inside dome of 1910 court house in South Bend.

Guess we're getting near the coast.

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2005-04-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

Steamed Crab and fresh Oysters. A perfect end to a great day of cycling.

A long and Wet/Windy Road

2005-04-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

There are no pictures with this post because it rained on us from 8:30 a.m. when we began the ride in Shelton until 3:30 p.m. when we arrived in Aberdeen. We discovered many things on this leg of the trip.

One was the ongoing debate between highway and byway riding. Highway riding is noisy with lots of traffic whizzing by, but the shoulders are wide and generous. Byway riding is mostly quieter, but it there are lousy narrow shoulders and trucks and cars go whizzing by even though less frequently. Dave and I have been debating this back and forth.

Despite that we road on highway 101, 108, 8 and 12 in the course of the day for a 48 mile total. We arrived soaked in Aberdeen and found a really great hotel with a hot tub and a spacious room and, best of all, within walking distance of a Wal-Mart. Yes I said Wal-Mart. We have become fans because they have everything you could possibly need for the things we are doing.

Another debate between Dave and I about hills. I appreciate them, just a less frequently than he does. With all the gear we have discovered that hills are way more a challenge than we would have thought. Many have required us to push the bikes up them. Dave likes walking with the bike cause it exercises different muscles. I will ride a bit, catch my breath, ride some more, etc. But we make it.

Aberdeen is a Lumber and Fishing town, a very gritty crossroads. Nevertheless the people were great, including the people at the Ky Fry Chi who invited us to spend the night at the mission with them. It has clean beds. We politely declined, but enjoyed the fellowship of the road with them

Fearsome Road Crocodile

2005-04-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

This is the feared NW road crocodile. It did not get us, but we were more afeared of the dogs in the house and across the street as we cruised through this town a few days ago in Washington.

Beers and WiFi in Shelton

2005-04-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

They had just installed WiFi at the A&W in the small town of Shelton, so I sat down for some internet and beers to update the blog. The beers were a little sweet but the WiFi worked fine and I got to listen to the country western tunes for a few hours.

I want three burgers with fries please
a chocolate malt and supersize it.

The top songs for the night were:

Thank God And Greyhound She's Gone.
My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend, And I Sure Do Miss Him.
My Every Day Silver Is Plastic.
I Still Miss You, Baby, But My Aim's Gettin' Better.
I Bought the Shoes that Just Walked Out on Me.
Her Teeth Was Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure.
Am I Double Parked by the Curbstone of Your Heart?
Are You Drinkin With Me Jesus?
She Got The Gold Mine And I Got The Shaft.
My Phone Ain't Been Ringing, so I Guess it Wasn't You.
Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well.
And that old favorite:
I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Like Having You Here.

I love country music. It's so philosophical and so ... up beat. Yea......up beat.

It's amazing how well they sing without all their teeth.
If your a logging trucker I'm just kidding, really.

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Beautiful Farm Country Between Stops.

2005-04-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Meeting friends on the way.

Everyone is so friendly.

Riding through the country

Crosssing the Hood Canal floating bridge.

The nice thing about all this exercise is that we can eat whatever we want.Well almost.

Oh Boy! Looks like opossum stew again tonight
thanks to Wheels on Meals.

Hang on

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Port Townsend Wash.

2005-04-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

Took small Ferry to mainland after riding from Oak Harbor.

Arrive at St Paul's in Port Townsend. A nice Victorian Village that once thought it would be the Seattle of Wash. One of the locals tells me the unofficial motto of the town is:

"We're all here because We aren't all there"

We stayed here

Mike and Joan when we leave in the morning.

At the PortTownsend P.O.

Lightening the load at P.O.

Leaving Port Townsend

Off To Poulsbo.

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Day 4: Port Townsend to Poulsbo

2005-04-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

This was another sporadically wet day through the rolling hills descending from the Olympic Mountains. We road along the Hood Canal, crossing the floating bridge you can see in one of the collages. We rode and rode over hills watching the canal off to the side. Until we reached Poulsbo.

We had been well drenched once again and pulled into a Goodyear Store with a U Haul desk. We spoke to the young man at the desk, asking for a local hotel and he sent us to the one his Mom runs, the Poulsbo Inn. The young ladies at the desk were wonderful. They gave us a nice rate, told us of their magnificent breakfast (biscuits with gravy, waffles!!!!!) So we settled in and then headed back down into town for dinner.

We had another great dinner along the canal and went back to our room to do laundry.

As we walked to the motel we passed a B&B The Murphy House B&B. Dave stopped and asked for their rates and despite the absence of people and the VACANCY sign the guy told Dave there were no rooms. When we returned from dinner we noted that most were empty and the VACANCY sign was still there. Sooooooo when in Poulsbo, stay in the Poulsbo Inn and avoid that B&B.

Poulsbo's other feature is that it called little Norway. As we walked into town for dinner they were closing all the stores, so we asked which restaurant had authentic Norwegian food. Her reply: "Are you kidding? No one wants that anymore!"

The next morning as we left we stopped in at the Nordic Maid and sent some stuff home. This is a lovely little town and a great place to go. We were wet and they got us dry and fed.

Back In The USA

2005-04-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

After clearing customs, we head for Whidbey.

Arriving at Deception Pass that takes us to Whidbey Island.

Going across the bridge. Mike rode across but remembering what Ella said, I walked slowly.

Nice coast. Looking towards the Straights I Wanna Puka.

Finally get to rest at the windmill in Oak Harbor after a long ride in the rain.
Tomorrow to Port Townsend.

2005-04-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

From St. Paul's to the Hood Canal Floating bridge on the way to Poulsbo.

Day 3: Oak Harbor to Port Townsend

2005-04-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

Woke to another blustery day. The lady at the front desk encouraged us to stay another day, but we decided to press on to Port Townsend. First stop though was the Wal-Mart. I bought a $14 pair of shoes to replace both my other pairs. The $14 shoes did just great. The day was a short one, with more hills and cold wind. But we made it to the ferry and took the 30 minute ride to Port Townsend. I was glad to leave ferries behind, they mostly sapped the day because you have to ride to their schedule. There is even an organic supermarket with a `tude!

Port Townsend was spectacular. Town motto: "We're all here because we're not all there." Think of Ocean Beach with no pressure to gentrify cause you can only get anywhere useful by ferry. We stayed at St. Paul's Church in the office of the Priest in Charge, Joan Anthony who is a classmate of ours.

My new friend Nigel Tabor-Hamilton took the ferry over to have dinner with us and we ate at a splendid Thai restaurant. I pondered how, if PT could have good Asian food, SD couldn't? We chatted for awhile and Nigel headed back.

The community choir was practicing in the room where our bikes were parked and so at the end of the rehearsal we went in to get stuff for sleeping and discovered...... more recumbent cyclists!!!! We're everywhere.

Day 2: Ferry Ferry frustrating

2005-04-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, Day One was about hospitality and the formation of the Fellowship of teh Wheel with the fine Anglican Cyclists of Prayer in Vancouver. We got to a motel in Sidney on Vancouver Island after a lovely ferry ride and then a quick hard drenching. We were pleased and amazed that there was no problem at all with taking our bikes to our room.

We took a bus into Victoria realizing that we had to get on a buss back after only an hour is we were going to get a good night's sleep. We went to the Chinatown area, but ate in Vic's English Fish and Chips hous, owned and run by a very nice chinese couple.

Then we hopped on the bus to return. Amazingly there was a couple there who had been on the bus into town with us. So we got talking and lo and behold they too were touring cyclists. So was the driver! So we had a rowdy good time hearing about all their tribulations. They were a few years older than us, and had put in one 140 day once. We were humbled.

Then to bed so that we could get up in the morning and hit the road. Problem was there is only one ferry at 11:30 which would get to Anacortes at 3. This meant a short cycling day. And while the BC ferry had been sumptuous with places to eat, the Anacortes ferry had no food stuff at all. So we ate crackers and other less that auspicious things on the 3 hour ride.

When we arrived at Anacortes the Customs guy almost impounded Dave's turkey bacon (it had the color apparently of hard packed heroin) and then the lesson in frustration and humility as we had to deal with serious steep hills leading away from the ferry and throughout the community as we headed towards Oak Harbor.

We made it, but only by sheer determination. There had been no food on the ferry and none along the route. So we pulled into Oak Harbor after a driving rain wet, tired and well rumpled.

The lady at the motel was great, got us into a room and gave us a discount at the eatery next door. We had a great, if expensive dinner and then went to bed.

Local Customs

2005-04-02T19:10:00.000-08:00

We left Vancouver Island by Ferry and had to go through Canadian and U.S. customs on our bikes.

They happily let us leave.

Bikes on the Ferry with chocks.

Anything to Declare?

What's this brown stuff in a zip-lock bag?

I got busted for an undeclared Banana. Mae West would have been proud. By the way that was just turkey bacon in the zip-lock bag. Sorry.

Canadian Ferryland

2005-04-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Vancouver Island on Fri. afternoon and after a night in Victoria talking to other bikers, headed to the U.S. on another ferry. They were just starting the internional curling championships in Victoria and every one was very excited. I guess they take their hair very seriously, eh? I guess that's why all the mullets.

The Crew Welcome Us.

Parking our bikes with the Busses.

The Canadian Gulf Islands

Heading to Victoria

Day 2: Ferry Ferry frustrating

2005-04-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, Day One was about hospitality and the formation of the Fellowship of teh Wheel with the fine Anglican Cyclists of Prayer in Vancouver. We got to a motel in Sidney on Vancouver Island after a lovely ferry ride and then a quick hard drenching. We were pleased and amazed that there was no problem at all with taking our bikes to our room.

We took a bus into Victoria realizing that we had to get on a buss back after only an hour is we were going to get a good night's sleep. We went to the Chinatown area, but ate in Vic's English Fish and Chips hous, owned and run by a very nice chinese couple.

Then we hopped on the bus to return. Amazingly there was a couple there who had been on the bus into town with us. So we got talking and lo and behold they too were touring cyclists. So was the driver! So we had a rowdy good time hearing about all their tribulations. They were a few years older than us, and had put in one 140 day once. We were humbled.

Then to bed so that we could get up in the morning and hit the road. Problem was there is only one ferry at 11:30 which would get to Anacortes at 3. This meant a short cycling day. And while the BC ferry had been sumptuous with places to eat, the Anacortes ferry had no food stuff at all. So we ate crackers and other less that auspicious things on the 3 hour ride.

When we arrived at Anacortes the Customs guy almost impounded Dave's turkey bacon (it had the color apparently of hard packed heroin) and then the lesson in frustration and humility began.

You see one truth is that it is always downhill to the ferry and uphill from it! And we were already past the day's prime. And the road from Anacortes to Oak Harbor was riddled with really dandy hills. Really dandy ones. The cleated shoes nearly ruined me and we spent a goodly bit of time pushing up hills. Very humbling to realize that however much shaps you thought you were in, you weren't. But we will be, eh!

So we slowly made the 24 mile ride to Oak Harbor. But we made it. To the first motel in Oak Harbor with a windmill and all. The lady gave us a great rate and a good room despite how bedraggled we looked. We walked to the restaurant next door and had a fine meal to top off a long ferry ride and a modest bicycle ride with almost no food. Lesson for me was ....always eat.

Holy Fools get Underway

2005-04-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

Emilie Smith, picture with Paul and Neale made a point of telling us that all pilgrimages involved pain and effort. That is surely true. But if the truth be told, we had the perfect send off from the wonderful clergy of New Westminster (Vancouver). Whatever might come, the warmth of the greeting we received from Paul, Neale, Emilie and Dean Elliott was truly grace filled. They took in strangers and supported us as we began this adventure.

In many ways the pilgrimage was fulfilled just in making these new friends and building a new set of relationships with cyclers and Anglicans. 1000 thank yous would be too few.

As a bonus the sun was out. We had a splendid ride from the hotel to the Cathedral. Neale and Emilie are urban cycling advocates (Critical Mass type folks) They live on their bikes in the city. Paul commutes every day but is not quite so ummmm energetic in his advocacy. They carried us through all the back routes to the cathedral where we got a blessing inside by Dean Elliott.

We will scan in the liturgy, suffice it to say here that it involved anointing us with sunscreen and the bikes with chain oil, not to mention prayers after the fashion of the Celts.

The on to the ferry..... again we saw the back ways through Vancouver and come huge lovely homes. Finally we reached the ferry and said our goodbyes for now.

2005-04-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

God's Glory Revealed on the Way to Vancouver Island

2005-04-01T13:28:00.000-08:00

Paul, Neale and Emilie, who got us on our way.

2005-04-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

Blessing the bikes and riders.....