Day 11: Missoula to Helena

Back on the bikes today as we headed to Helena, the capital of Montana state.  125 miles today but still completed without too much suffering.  Even though the miles we are covering are way more than I normally do when out training I am finding the rides go by really quite quickly.  I think it is the combination of riding with others and mentally breaking the day into sections divided by the van stops and lunch that account for this.

The day started quite cool and dark, we are on the western edge of the time zone here so the sun rises later than it did when we were on Pacific time.  When the sun did rise we didn't see much of it as Montana's Big Sky Country was pretty much full of cloud all day.  This made for more pleasant riding conditions and probably got though a mere 6-8 bottles of water rather than the 10-12 I have been on the hotter days.  The tail wind in the afternoon was also very welcome.

Towards the end of the ride we crossed the continental divide, the line through the Americas that separates the drainage of water into the Atlantic or Pacific.  At the top I considered whether a comfort break in this location would result in the observation a flow of liquid vertically downwards followed by 2 diverging flows immediately after hitting the ground, but I didn't do this.

One of the members of the group has kindly sent me the files from his garmin to replace the ones I lost.  They are obviously of his ride, but we finished around the same time and at least I can log my miles.  I have uploaded these and will link to them from the previous posts.  Thanks Kerry!

Ride Details

Clouds over Montana's big sky

Waiting for a flat to be fixed down the road

At the top of the continental divide

Day 10: Rest Day in Missoula

Very lazy day spent in Missoula today.  Lie in, followed by a late breakfast.  I went up to a small retail park to buy a cheap laptop, the iPad I brought isn't great for writing blog posts and can't get it to communicate with the Garmin.  Apart from that, picking up my laundry and going out for food I didn't really leave the hotel room.  I considered walking to the 'M' written on the hillside opposite the hotel, it is visible in the photo from the previous post and stands for the University of Montana which is based here.  I opted for laying on the bed reading instead, I think I made the right choice, the view would have been diminished by the poor visibility in the town today, there is a controlled burn in the forest of next door Idaho apparently and the smoke tends to seep over and stick in the valley here (so the taxi driver tells me).  Besides, my legs have done enough recently and deserve a rest.

Reflecting back over the previous days, it has been a bit of a whirlwind, Portland and Astoria already seem like months ago.  We have covered 756 miles and climbed 36, 675 feet.  There is still a long way to go though and tomorrow is a quite a biggy.

Me last night with Scott and Michael (two of the guides)

Day 9: Lolo to Missoula

A bit of a nip in the air when I opened the door to the outside today so the knee warmers were on for the first time.  Today's ride was a rolling recovery day as we coasted into Missoula.  The scenery was amazing as we cycled the first half mainly downhill. For those that are familiar with it the surroundings reminded me of the Derwent valley in Derbyshire multiplied by 5. It was also nice to ride pretty much as a group for the majority of the ride.  On the longer days the varying abilities and preferences for break durations mean that it gets very fragmented.

Now in Missoula in a nice hotel and looking forward to a day and a half off the bike.  Have already dropped off my suitcase full of dirty lycra at the laundrette and caught up on the blog posts following the lack of internet the past couple of days so ready for some quality R&R.  Unfortunately in an attempt to fix my issues I've had trying to upload my rides I've deleted everything from my garmin so the last 4 are gone forever, you'll just have to trust me. [have now uploaded another member of the group's ride files to replace these].

Ride Details

A crisp morning start in Lolo

Peleton in full flight down to Missoula

View from the hotel balcony

Day 8: Kooskia to Lolo

Today's route directions were fairly easy to follow, turn left out of the hotel, cycle 91 miles along the road, turn left into the next hotel.  The route was far from monotonous though as we followed the river up the Lolo pass, great weather and scenery once more. A four mile climb towards the end took us into Montana and into the mountain time zone (GMT -7).  Another first for me, crossing a time zone on land.  We are in more log cabins tonight, although one each this time and better fitted.

Ride Details

Cycling up the Lolo pass

Me and Charlene entering state number four

Tonight's accommodation

Day 7: Lewiston to Kooskia

The legs felt good today after last night's massage. The first half was a long climb but we had welcome shelter from the wind and sun.  The second half included some good descents and a long, hot last 20 miles to tonight's accommodation.  Tonight was are sharing log cabins with 3 of us in each.

Ride Details

A bit of shelter from the elements up the long, gradual climb

Things hotting up along the river to the hotel

Tonight's accommodation

Nice sky above our cabin

Day 6: Walla Walla to Lewiston

Writing this and the next couple of posts retrospectively because of no internet service.  A result of a hotel wifi issue in Lewiston and none available in the remote locations of the following two hotels, so apologies for lack of detail.

More high desert today through long exposed roads, the wind was a little lighter which made things easier.  We entered the third state of the trip today as we entered Lewiston in Idaho.  Had a massage at the hotel, which was fairly painful but did work wonders, it hit exactly the muscles used when cycling and the legs felt lighter straight afterwards.

Ride Details

A couple of riders head up the road after a pit stop

Into Idaho

View from the hotel room

Day 5: Prosser to Walla Walla

Today's 100 miles seemed like a walk in the park compared to yesterday's slog. We started with a climb out of Prosser then the rest of the day was mainly rolling hills which I really like. The terrain was more high desert and today we saw tumbleweed and a couple of dust devils. Unfortunately, being so ephemeral I was unable to get a shot of a dust devil, I also would have liked to time a badly received joke with a tumbleweed flying across the road but failed in that too.

Feeling surprisingly ok given the volume of miles we are starting to put in. I am taking the rides fairly easy and trying to be disciplined using my foam roller that I brought along to self massage the legs in the evening. That said, the first rolling recovery day on Monday (37 miles mainly downhill) followed by a full rest day on Tuesday are beginning to look increasingly inviting.

Managed to sort strava issues so here's today's Ride Details

Goodnight from America's most Australian sounding town.

Me at Cable Bridge, first cable stayed bridge in US

The peleton looking a bit ragged after yesterday's exertion

Day 4: Hood River to Prosser

Biggest day of the trip in the bag and the longest ride I've ever done, 134 miles with around 7500 feet ascent.  Started at 7 am and got to hotel at 6 pm, even though it was a long day I felt fine really, we had heat and headwinds to contend with as well but I took it steady and ate and drank plenty. The start of the ride was great with more amazing scenery, smooth clear roads and perfect weather. Later we crossed from Oregon to Washington and there was a gradual change in the terrain as we ascended from fertile forest to high desert.

Calories burned today: 5542, that's the equivalent of two days recommended intake for a man or one medium sized American breakfast.

Ride Details

State number 2

Good vista

More nice scenery with a mountain visible in the background

Tara, the masseuse and support guide at a snack stop

Day 3: Portland to Hood River

Great day cycling today, starting with a leisurely 20 mile traverse of Portland's bike paths where the group was outnumbered by cyclists on their morning commute to work. Looked a much more pleasant journey than the one I would face in London.  After that we stopped at a viewing point to take some pictures of the spectacular Columbia River Gorge before for following the historic columbia river highway to tonight's destination at Hood River. Unsurprisingly the road runs parallel to the Columbia river which also marks the state line between Oregon and Washington.  The weather great, so too the scenery and roads, I like Oregon a lot.  Off to an Italian in a bit where I intend to eat my body weight in pasta.  Big day tomorrow.

Ride Details

Waiting to hit the road

Columbia River Gorge

Me at the same spot

One of the waterfalls opposite the river

View from the hotel window

Day 2: Astoria to Portland

First day of proper cycling today as we cycled back to Portland. Conditions were pretty good with temperature between about 12 to 22 C (I am getting better at translating the Fahrenheit scale in the weather reports here to Celsius).  The roads were nice and smooth and traffic pretty courteous although the occasional massive logging truck roaring passed were a bit scary.  The lunch spread was very nice and we were well looked after en route with drinks and snacks.  The masseuse was amused by my pronunciation of the word massage, I joked that by the end of the trip I'd be talking like everyone else here, but that ain't never gonna happen, no siree.

Not many photos today because I was riding, will try and make the effort to take a few more.

Ride Details

Lunch in 'Big Eddy Park'

Day 1: Astoria to Fort Stevens Return

Met the group today, 13 of us doing the full cross country trip and another 5 joining us for the first ten days before leaving at Missoula. Everyone is from US or Canada apart from myself and one other chap who is from Yorkshire but now lives in the States.  Three guides and a massuese also accompanying us.  I would say I am one of the youngest 3 or 4 of the group, being such a long trip there are a lot of retirees who don't have to worry about the time off work.

We took a bus from Portland to Astoria before a bite at the hotel then a spin out to the Pacific on the bikes. The change in weather was marked as we travelled towards the cost, probably around 15 - 20 C lower than Portland over the past couple of days.  Today was really about getting the legs moving and ensuring that the bike set up is ok. Tomorrow is the first day of proper riding, back to Portland!

Some lunch before heading off

Me at t'Pacific

The rest of the group

View from the balcony of my hotel room. Hotel v nice

Not something you see in every hotel room book

 Ride Details

More Free Time in Portland

Been taking it easy for the past couple of days. Exploring the city and trying to keep cool.

I queued for half an hour at the popular Voodoo Donuts. Got a maple and bacon one.

Had a walk around the Japanese Gardens too.

Looking forward to meeting up with the group and heading off to the Pacific tomorrow.

Acclimatising in Portland

First full day in Portland today and it was a scorcher. There is a mini heatwave in this part of the north west over the next few days with temperatures touching 40 C. (Erol - I have added death by heatstroke to the list of trip hazards). Fortunately it looks like subsiding a bit before we start cycling on Sunday. I took a bike tour of of the city in the morning to get a feel of the place before the heat got too oppressive in the afternoon.

Here's the tour guide with the downtown area in the background, not a cloud in the sky.

Here's me from the same spot. My tee shirt got several complements today in the place that is the supposed cycling capital of the US.

A shot near the University, there are lots of nice little parks around.

The rest of the group outside one of the uni buildings.

Shortly after we left this final stop I launched a devastating attack to break free of the peloton and arrive back at the bike hire shop to take the yellow jersey.