Year: 2006

We are mere miles away from conquering the Evergreen State. It has regailed us with high mountain passes, blistering heat, and nerve-wraking construction in its effort to turn us back to the sea. But we have persevered through it all, knowing that Idaho, terrified of what we’ve done to its neighbor, has less than 80 miles of fight in it.

just had 2o mile downhill! Eating breakfast. Waffles are totally cheaper than gas.

Made it up pass number three! About to

made it up pass number three! About to start final pass. Highest pass in washington. Bike bums getting tired, need pie!

We realize the last update sounded a bit cataclysmic – not to fear! The fine mechanic at the aptly-named ‘The Bike Shop’ patched up Megans ride and sent us back on our way. However, we got a late start, and it’s too late and too hot to start the next ascent to 4300 ft, so we’re dropping anchor early… We’re sleeping at an ice cream parlor!

Yesterday we climbed another 4000ft pass. Unfortunately, our screaming 20 mile descent was interrupted by construction.Our brake-clenching steep ride through loose gravel got worse when a rock in megans chain broke her bike.Then i got our 1st flat!We got into town just in time to watch the mill burn.We’re waiting for the bike shop to open

Right now we’re in the stylish town of Winthrop. And luckily it has an internet cafe. We’ve spent the past couple of days without any cell reception. Yesterday was a very rough day. We spent almost all of it going up. We climbed for 27 miles to Rainy Pass, at an elevation of 4600 feet. Then we got a mile-long respite going down, only to climb back up again to 5477 feet at Washington Pass. Then, a very fast downhill to Mazama where we splurged on a delicious dinner at a local Inn. Interestingly enough, we have not yet paid for camping. We;ve also been pretty good about not eating out. We’ve bee carrying enough food for a couple of days at a time.

It’s been super hot in Central Washington since we started biking. MOst places, it’s been hotter than it’s ever been in June. We’ve been taking lots of breaks and drinking tons of water to stay cool.

Even though yesterday was hard, we started out the trip with a couple of easy days. Most of our first day was on a bike path. We’ll be going over three more passes, probably all in the next three days. Hopefully we’ll be in shape after the climb yesterday!

We learned some trivia at a diner: More people are killed each year by champagne corks than by poisonous spiders. That’s good considering the showers (yay showers!) on the second day were full of spiders.

We’ve been meeting lots of cool people, even a couple of tourists. We’re posting some pictures along with this update. Enjoy!

Note from Greg: It should be noted that Megan is already attempting to shatter the record she set last year for most broken spokes. Other than that, our steeds have been holding up well. We’ve already been meeting lots of other bike tourists, with whom we’ve been swapping stories. This is a good sign, since it hopefully means I won’t get too lonely after I feed Megan to the bears in Montana. Ok – enough of this ‘internet’ – Bikebums….Ride On!

Rode in record heat today. We’re definitly in the mountains, but we’ve been in river valleys, so not too steep. Tomorrow we start the real climbing with the first of several passes. Saw a bald eagle. Peanut butter exploded in pannier. Did i mention it’s hot?

Short day today due to late start. Our bikes are heavier than we remember. Beautiful ride up to snohomish. Got into town just in time for swing night!

Ok – We’re here in Seattle, hangin’ out at Vann & Liz’s. Vann and Maxwell just took off to catch a World Cup game at the pub ’round the corner, leaving Megan and I to case the joint. I have to say, we’re not exactly as prepared as we ought to be….the last week has been pretty hectic. I worked 10 hours on friday trying to wrap up the project I’ve been working on – 10 hours with a killer hangover. I was up till 3am scrambling to get stuff together, and Megan didn’t go to bed much earlier. We got up late to pick up the car, making our craigslist traveler wait at BART. Anyway, we pretty much threw everything we could find in the back of the car, and took off for the 12 hour drive to Seattle – we’ll keep you posted on all the things we left behind. First on the list appears to be the bicycle map of Washington. This shouldn’t be a problem, since the first leg is pretty much a recap of last year’s journey out of Seattle, and then we hook up with the Adventure Cycling route, for which we have better maps.

Vann’s been a most gracious host – gave me a ride back from dropping off the rental, shipping our bike rack back home for me, filling my dreams with dancing sugar-plums. Unfortunately, Vann and Maxwell failed to inform me they were starting a mustache party, and i chickened out on the rad biker-stache that paul gave me. Megan wishes me to inform you all that Vann and Liz live above a vegan cafe that makes a pretty amazing blue-corn blueberry pancake – you should check it out. Allright – we’ve got to pick up a few last-minute items from the store (Dr. Bronner’s all-are-ONE!), pack up the bikes, and we’ll be off on the road!