Year: 2011

dear gum chewers, please remember to use a trash can that is not the sidewalk. yours truly, clipless pedals

lunch

we rolled into tahoe today after over two weeks of daily major climbs. yesterday was one of the most gorgeous days so far. we rode from bridgeport up to markleeville and had an awesome tail wind just until we turned the corner to start a 3000 foot climb. it then turned into a not so awesome cross wind. we powered it up the hill to try and avoid some nasty looking clouds. the weather held out until after we were snug in the tent. we did, though, get drenched this morning and even got pelted with hail. i’ll take this over 105 degree heat any day! i was excited to test out my new water resistant shoes, but quickly realized that my socks are the weak link. it’s going to get down to 37 tonight. this route is not without variation.
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muddy shoes

we made it to yosemite okay. Our meetup with sarah, skye, molly, and andrea was slightly delayed as they decided to make a sweep of the foothills in search of El Dorado. Yosemite was the zoo I had feared…absolutely packed – I was in line for a campsite at Camp 4 at 4:50 am and was still #39. Yesterday I did something bordering insanity. Although the tioga pass road is open, all of the campgrounds and services up there are still under snow, so you pretty much have to to the ride from the valley to lee vining in one shot: 75 miles and over 6000 feet of climbing. Luckily there is also a shuttle, which Megan took (because she is smarter than me). Lucklily, she also took the bulk of my gear, or else I wouldn’t have made it. I left around 6:30 am and rolled into Lee Vining at around 6:15pm, 8 hours of which was riding and the rest was napping or gasping for breath at the side of the road. But I made it, and it was awesome. The rocket ride down Lee Vining canyon was particularly spectactular. Now we’re eating breakfast burritos overlooking Mono lake. Next stop: travertine hot springs!

we woke up this morning in 50 degree weather with patches of snow ’round our tent and ended our ride in the foothills where it is 104 degrees. Luckily, while we were re-upping our gatorade fix in a gas station, we were invited to stay in someone’s 5th wheel behind their house. So here we are in Mitch and Debbie’s RV trailer complete with A/C, queen bed and a living room bigger than Megan’s old NYC apartment. We were really lucky to run into them – they’ve been awesome hosts. Other highlights since our last post include

Wow, okay, it’s been a bit. The last week has definitely been the toughest week of bike touring I’ve ever done. We’ve been climbing between 5000 and 6000 feet nearly every day. Add to that the heat and general unfriendliness of SoCal and it makes for rough riding. Despite it all, we our ride through the angeles crest. Rim of the world highway is spectacular, but don’t do it on a weekend. We also survived our jaunt across the mojave desert. However, Nick was enamored by the seedy nightlife of Lancaster and stayed behind to open his own bike saddle accessory emporium, so now it’s just Megan and I. It’s too bad nick took off, because after we crossed the tehachapi range, everything changed. The joshua trees were replaced by wild oak, and the scorching desert flatlands gave way to the golden foothills of the sierras. Additionally, it seemed that folks got friendlier as soon as we left LA county. I just finished a refreshing, much-needed swim in Lake Isabella, and tomorrow we ride up the Kern river canyon. There’s so much more to tell, but I must go to sleep…g’night everyone!

That brutal orb of death has been trying to thwart us but we’re going to keep climbing hill after hill. We climbed a vertical mile two days ago.

well, we’re back on the route. We caught a train out of LA last night to San Bernardino just in time to catch a foul pop-up as we rode past the sixty-sixers game. Unfortunately, someone decided to build a wall between san bernardino and big bear, and the elevator up to 6000 feet was busted. That combined with the heat, sun, and a major rookie mistake of not bringing enough H2O put the bums in a bad spot. Luckily, the magical oasis of the Oaks restaurant appeared just before we had to drink beaver pee. if you don’t here from us for a week or so, you can assume it’s because we’ve permanently moved into booth #4.