Author: greg

• Woke up early and chowed down on some yogurt and granola. Unfortunately, my attempt to repair my sleeping pad made it worse! Didn’t sleep great because I was on the ground every 45 minutes
• Had a pretty easy ride into Fallon, where we chowed down at a brewpub
• Loaded up on groceries as this is the last town of more than 1k people for 250 miles
• Stopped to see some cool petroglyphs from 7000 years ago while fighter jets performed high-speed maneuvers above our heads
• Had a looong ride to reach middlegate station – but the views have been amazing!
• We got drizzled on a bit, which was refreshing. So far the temperatures have been pretty great.. Highs in the upper 70s to low 80s
• Middlegate station is amazing! An old pony express stop way out in the middle of nowhere, it’s now a bar/restaurant/store/motel/campground. The food is amazing, and the folks here are super friendly
• A local said that this is the greenest she’s seen the desert in 10 years – my reason for doing this route this year is panning out!
• We met a west-bounder today riding from salt lake city to sf. Recon is that our road is about to get a much better shoulder.. It hasn’t been bad though, there’s only like 1 car every 5-10 minutes
• Today we are climbing into some mountains over Carroll summit

Friday

• Had a great breakfast at middlegate station – met a west-bound cyclist who started in salt lake city
• We took a detour off US-50 and it was amazing! A long steady climb though canyons with creeks and wildflowers, and in the 50+ miles we were on it, I bet we saw fewer than 2 dozen cars. Definitely one of the best roads I’ve ridden
• We had a tough climb at the end of the day to make it into Austin… The whole town is built along a steep hill. But we had a great dinner at Grandma’s, and we came on the right night because they were having guitar karaoke. I embarrassed myself belting out a few shaky numbers
• Slept in the park. 9/10. Great log balance beams

Saturday

• Rode back down the hill into town for breakfast only to find everything closed
• Long, 70 mile day into Eureka, with a fair amount of climbing
• Spent most of the day nimbly dodging rain storms, but they finally caught up to us
• We tried to get a hotel in town – our last four days have been 72, 80, 64, and 71 miles, so we’re pretty beat – but all 4 hotels in town were fully booked, so it was back to the park for a rainy night (augmented by sprinklers)
• Now we’re getting some tasty breakfast and opting to take 2 short days vs riding the full 77 miles (and 4200 feet of climbing) into the next town

Sunday

• Another great day of riding across the desert with no pesky towns or services to distract us
• Almost got nailed by one of the ominous rainstorms we’ve been seeing, but we popped up a tent on the side of the road and had an impromptu jam session to wait out the deluge
• Thought we had made it home-free when we turned onto the dirt road leading to a BLM campground, but it turns out the dirt was actually thick, clay-like mud. It stuck to our bikes to the point that both my wheels stopped turning, and I had to drag my bike into the campground. Luckily, there was a lake there, so we gave our bikes a good long bath.
• We found some friendly camp neighbors – Greg and Rachel from Mount Vernon, WA – who agreed to give us and our bikes a lift back to the pavement the next morning
• It got cold! My tent door was frozen when I woke up in the middle of the night

Monday

• The ride to the road went off without a hitch. We dusted off our bikes as best we could and rolled down the hill into Ely, the biggest town in 250 miles
• We hit up the all you can eat pizza buffet, then booked a hotel for our first shower in 5 days. Laundry was done, hot tubs were soaked in, beers were drunk. Good times

Tuesday

• We got a slow start to the day, but we finally caught a tailwind. Despite two big climbs for over 3100 feet of climbing, we made quick work of the 64 miles to get us into Baker – the last town in Nevada!
• Baker is the gateway to Great Basin National Park, and so, despite it being tiny, it had quite a few services. We met two west-bounders – Ben from Michigan, and Hugo from Paris – and had a great dinner here!

Wednesday

• Said adieu to Hugo and goodbye to Ben. Had a long conversation with the owner of the small store about the various habits of bike tourists
• Headed back out into the lonely desert – 83 miles to the next town!
• Crossed into Utah! 2 states down, 3 to go
• The landscape changed to become more deserty – saw our first cactus!
• Found a great little place to camp at the top of a pass. Andrew cooked up some gourmet tortellini

Thursday

• Bombed down the hill, and back up over the next pass to reach the next town, Milford. Grubbed down at a diner – excellent milkshake.
• Continued on into a headwind through farm country to Minersville. Stocked up at the little grocery store
• Camped at the county park on a lake. Too windy and chilly to swim though. The skies cleared up just at dusk for a gorgeous sunset. Went to sleep to the sounds of a girls youth group singing Mormon campfire songs

Friday

• Headed back into Minersville for fresh donuts at the store, then climbed another long pass heading out of town
• Even longer descent on the other side.. The miles flew by
• As we approached Cedar city (in the rain) we were suddenly thrust back into land of race car ya-yas. The route into town was a stroad packed to the gills with diesel trucks hitting us with every puddle.
• Had Indian food for lunch – a nice change from the burgers and pizza we’ve been having – and then checked into a hotel for a nice long rest day while we waited for Alice and Anton to arrive
• Went to a fancy woodfired pizza place with good draft beers for dinner, then got gourmet brownies and ice cream for dessert. Back to the hotel where we slept in until checkout – glorious!

Saturday

• Ate the motel breakfast, then spent the morning on a wild goose chase visiting every sporting goods store to find a new sleeping pad (my many attempts to patch mine have been unsuccessful). Unfortunately, none of the shops had good options
• Checked out the Cedar City farmers market – had prickly pear lemonade
• Met Alice and Anton at the car rental shop – now we are four bums!
• While shopping for provisions, got a call back from a gear shop and was able to get a new sleeping pad! Gear Fool in Cedar City is a great little shop – they opened up just for me to swing by… Even offered to ship my old pad to my house!
• We then headed out on the long, 20 mile, 4000+ foot climb up to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Found a great little campground 12 miles up the road, and ended the day with curry and beers

More to come….!

Sunday

• Up and at ’em to continue climbing the big hill..started to see some amazing views
• I forgot to mention how quickly we transitioned out of the desert into the forest… In just a few miles ascending the canyon out of cedar city we were in a completely different environment
• The grade finally tapered off around 9900 feet and we were merrily rolling through alpine meadows
• We stopped for lunch at the cliff’s edge for amazing views of the cedar breaks… But a gust of wind blew my helmet over the edge! Gone forever!
• Met a very nice couple at the next overlook who felt sorry for my sob story and sold me one of their helmets – crisis averted!
• An amazing rocket ride down the mountain to a campground… But somehow when I inflated my brand new air mattress,I popped a hole in it! Whyyyyyy?

Monday

• 18 miles to breakfast, but it was mostly downhill with a tailwind…topped out at 51 mph screaming into Panguich
• Very tasty breakfast in Panguich with some killer cobbler to top it off – very glad Anton is riding with us to share my quest for tasty desserts
• Tailwind turned into a nasty headwind heading out of town, but wasn’t too bad once we turned east
• Picked up a great bike path through Red Canyon that took us all the way into Bryce Canyon
• I hit 40,000 miles of lifetime bike touring! Looking forward to the next 40k!
• Just outside the park we met an amazing woman from Serbia who has been bike touring around the world for 12 years! Check out Snezana’s books here: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=snezana+radojicic&crid=2M4STBQK6CZAZ&sprefix=snezana+radojici%2Caps%2C242&ref=nb_sb_noss
• Snezana came to our campsite for dinner and shared many great stories
• We went on a night hike along the canyon rim for some stargazing. I definitely did not almost walk off the edge into the abyss

Tuesday

• Breakfast at the lodge, and then a long hike though Bryce Canyon. We ended up doing 8.5 miles and over 3000 feet elevation! It was all absolutely stunning
• On the hike we met a woman who volunteers to do “preventative search and rescue”, which means she hikes the trails all day to make sure folks have enough water, does basic first aid, etc. She said she has to assist folks every single day. She gets to live in the park for free though, so not a bad way to spend retirement!
• Had another delicious camp meal, then attended a very strange ranger talk about navigation. The best part was the Q and A at the end when someone asked if the ranger thought there will be national parks on Mars (she replied, without skipping a beat, “yes, because that’s job security”)

Wednesday

• Another breakfast buffet at the Bryce canyon lodge, then back on the road!
• Did a short hike to mossy cave – the cave was meh, but there was a gorgeous waterfall
• Beautiful riding through small towns, then lunch on a river
• Had a good 12% grade to climb – slow and steady!
• Amazing looong descent into Escalante.. Saw a bear!
• Had dinner and camped at the bicycle touring Shangri-La, Escalante Outfitters: great food, draft beer, a gear shop, and (cheap) camping with showers and laundry! This place is amazing!
• Good conversation and music by the fire with some fellow travelers
• Attempts to repair my brand new air mattress have only made it worse… Did not sleep well

Thursday

• Great breakfast at Magnolia’s – their carmelitas are delicious!
• Headed out of town, but progress was delayed when Anton got a flat that resulted in five repair attempts using three tubes… Frustrating, but always a part of the journey
• Bombed down a gorgeous set of switchbacks into the Escalante River canyon. Took a dip in the river and then began another series of 10+% grade climbs
• Andrew broke a spoke – I road-trued it the best I could
• Arrived in Boulder, and decided to once again skip the Burr Trail (a cool back road through a slot canyon) because we were getting tight on time.
• Camped next to a creek outside of town – more delicious camp curry for dinner with fresh turnips
• Finally fixed my air mattress – so good to get a full night’s sleep!

Another journey begins! Nick and I made the drive from Oakland to Florence without incident. It turns out that the wages of 10 weeks on a bicycle is 9 hours on I-5 in an oversized SUV.
I’m now on a bus heading back to Florence after dropping off our car in Eugene. Almost finished with the logistical acrobatics so that we can finally start riding bikes!

• Yesterday, I pushed my bike over a sand dune to do the requisite ‘wheel dip’ in the Pacific Ocean
• Had a lovely ride out of Florence with a pretty nice tail wind most of the day
• The campground we were aiming for was closed, but we ended up finding a decent spot tucked in behind the volunteer fire department at triangle lake.
• This morning, we hit up the father’s day pancake breakfast at the local Grange – 5 stars, would eat again
• Pretty gentle ride to Eugene to meet up with Michael
• Decided to stay in Eugene whilst Nick reconsidered his relationship with his knee

• Last night was pretty chilly – probably lower 40s/upper 30s – but we all had the gear for it
• We got a good start this morning, but got a bit waylaid at the weird boutique general store/restaurant in McKenzie Bridge
• We began our ascent of McKenzie Pass – we know the eastern side was closed due to repaving, but a cyclist we met yesterday assured us we could just wait until after the crews had finished to descend. The prospect of a no/low traffic ride over the pass seemed worth it, plus the alternative was 20 miles longer and not as scenic (it’s pretty common that when a gate on a road goes up, the cyclists come out to play)
• We made decent time riding up the pass, and to our joy there was very little traffic since there was no through route for cars. And wow was it gorgeous! It was a nice, sunny day but the thick foliage provided plenty of shade
• We were about halfway up when we stopped for lunch – we cooked up some fancy veggie burgers with onions, tomatoes, and jalapenos. Pretty lux.
• Unfortunately, while we were cleaning up from lunch, a couple of cyclists heading down informed us that there was a guard posted at the top of the pass that wasn’t letting anyone through, and that guards were posted 24 hours. We had been led astray
• We didn’t have much of a choice to turn around and descend back down the near-2000 feet we had climbed, and then take the alternate route over santiam pass. I wouldn’t say it was worth it, but the blazing descent was really fun
• The main road wasn’t awful, but it was a let down after what we had just done – more traffic and less shade
• We knew we were too cooked to make it over the pass – we did probably around 5k of climbing today – so we aimed for a campsite near the top, only to find it was full!
• No worries – the ever-adaptive bike bums found a cozy spot to pitch off a forest road. After a tasty quesadilla dinner, we’re now snug in our tents
• Tomorrow: santiam pass, Sisters, and a hang with some Pandora nerds