Day 7: Lewiston to Kooskia

This planned 103 mile ride turned out to be very nice - except for the thick smoke, falling ash, and active fire which prevented us from pedaling the final 8 miles.  We left Lewiston in a smokey haze, but after a long 20 mile climb we emerged into partly sunny skys, with only a very light haze, and generally favorable winds.  A short, but intense, climb into the wind left us all fatigued as we stopped at the 56 mile mark for a roadside lunch in Nezperce.  The ride after lunch was very pleasant, especially the long 20 mile descent on Highway 162 towards the town of Kamiah.

As we neared Kamiah things started to become interesting.  Once again the air became smokey and we passed several areas adjacent to the road that had burned in the recent past.  By the time we entered Kamiah at mile 78 and turned once again on to Highway 12 (called the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway) it was apparent that the situation was deteriorating.  Even though it was early afternoon,  it became quite dark due to heavy smoke, and ash began falling like light snow.  Although I had soloed most of the day, I was riding with several others as we passed by Kooskia and headed towards our  destination at the River Dance Lodge in Syringa 16 miles up the road.  As we continued through the eye burning smoke and lightly falling ash, we suddenly came upon a group of the lead riders lounging in the ditch by the side of the road.

 Sheila, a local resident whose yard we were now sitting in, had stopped the group as she was pulling out of her driveway.  Her strong advice was to STOP because there was an active fire burning several miles up the road with lots of firefighting equipment on the road. There was even a rumor that our lodge for the night had burned down.  About this time Sheila's husband Nick, the bearded man in the center of the picture, began filling us in on the facts.  This was the beginning of our love affair with Nick.  He and Shiela were both retired hydrologists from the U.S. Forest Service but Nick was clearly the extroverted one.  Over the coming hours his very knowledgeable advice and warm hospitality were most welcomed.  According to Nick the lodge had not burned down, it was one of the safest places to be because it was a base for the fire fighters, and it was open just for us and awaiting our arrival.  But if we couldn't get there, he would figure out how to house all 30 of us for the night at he and Shiela's place. All of this, while they had their car loaded, pointing out the driveway, ready for immediate evacuation.

I found my place in the ditch and began patiently waiting for whatever came next.

 

The two Trek Travel vans were busy loading up riders further back who (wisely) choose to stop riding because of the heavy smoke and ash.  When one finally did arrive, all the bikes were loaded onto the van, we all piled in, and up the road we went.  

At the site of the fire, traffic and been reduced to one-way and after some delay we were lead in a convoy to the lodge 6 miles further up the road.  And somewhat ironically it started to rain - think of wet ash.  Although the lodge was in a Level 3 fire zone (it means be ready for immediate evacuation) there were no further problems and our stay was pleasant.  We did invite Nick and Shiela up for drinks, which Nick particularly seemed to enjoy.  I had a great conversation with Nick about fire, salmon, Lewis and Clark, and life.  Regarding the fire - Syringa (where we were staying) was on the southeast corner of the very large Woodrat fire.

Regarding salmon - it takes them a month to swim 500 miles from the coast at Astoria OR up the Columbia, Snake, and Clearwater rivers to get to this point on the MIddle Fork of the Clearwater River.  (It took us a week by bicycle.) Regarding Lewis and Clark - they spent 6 weeks here on there return while waiting for the snow to melt so they could go over LoLo Pass.  And regarding life - Nick has it figured out!

By the way, we have not had cell phone service since leaving Lewiston and will probably not have it again until we reach Missoula 2 days from now.  And, although the lodge advertised wifi, it appears that one short email by anyone of us is sufficient to exceed the available bandwidth. Don't even think about trying to upload a blog post!

Tomorrow we turn left out of the hotel onto Highway 12 and 91 miles later turn left off of Highway 12 into our hotel at LoLo Hot Springs.  It will be hard to get lost and should be a great ride!

Steve

 

Day 6: Walla Walla to Lewiston

My evening on the Whitman College campus with Deb, Tim, and Sarah was great; and it was followed today by a very nice 100 mile ride to Lewiston.  

Most of today's ride was on HIghway 12 which follows part of the route taken by Lewis and Clark on their return from the Pacific coast in 1806.  Seeing the terrain  from the seat of a bicycle gives me even more of an appreciation for what they faced during this portion of their remarkable expedition.  We had two long descents and one long, but not so steep (7% grade max), climb.  As usual I was cautious on the descents, but relative fast (for an old guy) on the climb.  We were aided all day by a tailwind and shaded from the sun by a layer of haze from the many fires in the area. As we descended from the Alpowa Summit towards Lewiston the smoke became more dense obscuring views of the surrounding mountains.  But at the botton of the descent it was really cool to suddenly have the Snake River flowing immediately adjacent to the road.  

Having never lived in the northwest, this ride is really helping me get a firsthand understanding of the geography of the area - particularly the Columbia and Snake River basins. Did you know Lewiston is the eastern most port on the west coast? 

As we crossed the Snake River from Clarkson WA into Lewiston there was a welcome sign which served as a nice background for a picture of a weary cyclist ready for a hot shower.

 Although Lewiston is located in a  scenic area at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers, the thick smoke is not going to let me see much of anything.  However,  I was able to spot one important landmark near our hotel from which I have just returned with a very tasty chocolate milkshake - after a hearty dinner and dessert at the hotel.  Trying to replace all of the calories I burnoff each day is really a nice problem to have!  

On the medical front, I continue to put up with the after affects of my earlier crash.  Amazingly I am cycling well and with out much pain even though my left arm doesn't work very well do to a messed up shoulder and my walking continues to suck do to a banged up left hip.  I suppose that cycling 100 miles a day does not help much with the recuperation.  I did try an ice bath after getting off the bike in an effort to help the healing process. I don't know if it helped - but I did give myself hypothermia to the point that I was shaking so bad I couldn't type this blog post until after dinner.  I guess there is a limit as to how long you should sit in a tub of icewater.

Tomorrow we will be riding 103 miles and climbing 6400 feet as we make our way to Kooskia ID.  It's supposed to be a scenic ride, but we have been warned that, even though there are no fires as of now directly on the route, the smoke from nearby fires may be quite heavy.  There may be some who choose to get in the van rather than inhale the smoke, but I don't expect to be one of them.

Steve

 

Day 5: Boardman to Walla Walla

Today's post will be short.  I'll be meeting Deb and Tim in a few minutes to go hear a welcoming address by the Whitman College president followed by a fried chicken dinner.  All of it is outside and informal - definitely my kind of place.  It will give me a great opportunity to see the campus and learn more about the college.  I should get to see granddaughter Sarah during the dinner and may even get a look at her dorm room. The coincidence of me arriving in Walla Wallla by bicycle the day Sarah begins her Whitman College experience is really quite amazing.

Today's 90 mile ride was the best of the trip so far.  We were on lightly traveled roads with good shoulders almost the entire way.  The area is primarily agricultural with many wheat fields and the occasional corn field.  The Walla Walla area is known for its wines (and onions) and we saw many vineyards as we pedaled into the outskirts of town.

Craig and I rode together most of the day at a moderate pace that left me with plenty of "fuel in the tank" for tomorrow's 99 mile ride to Lewiston Idaho. 

Steve

Day 4: Hood River to Boardman

Today's 104 mile ride to Boardman was again a mixed bag.  The first 25 miles on Old Highway 30 were wonderful.  The weather was perfect, there was almost no traffic, and there were many senic views of the Columbia River Gorge.  I captured one of the views in the picture below.  I soloed most of the time on this stretch and thoroughly enjoyed it.   After the tranquility of the first 25 miles, it was quite nerve shattering to suddenly have to spend 10 miles on the shoulder of I-84 where I had my second flat tire of the trip - but this was only a warmup for the afternoon.  After a pleasant 12 mile ride on Highway 206 we had a nice Trek Travel prepared lunch at a roadside pullout.  

Then the fun began - another 54 miles to Broadman on the shoulder of I-84.  According to the Trek Travel folks, this is the only route to travel up this portion of the Columbia River valley.  I rode with Craig Kipp the entire way  - it was a real grind!  At least the winds were favorable, but it was hot with temperatures in the low 90's.  As we worked our way up the valley the treeless hills became golden brown, the air hazy from the many fires in this part of the country, and the scenic views of the Columbia "wrecked" by the many wind turbines lining the hills on the far side of the river.  Excuse the editorial - but it is simply tragic that we allow wind turbines to be sited in areas of scenic beauty!

Although I look like hell with my numerous bruises and abrasions from the Day 2 crash, my physical condition continues to improve.  I rode strongly today with only a moderate level of exertion and averaged slightly over 16mph.  Overall this is a fast group - and once again I was one of the last to arrive at the hotel.  I call it my strategy for conserving energy - others might just say I'm slow. We'll see how it plays out over the course of the trip.

We arrived at the River Lodge and Grill at about 3pm and I immediately had some post-ride recovery nutrition - peanut butter on a piece of bread washed down by a cold beer.  My room looks out across a wide expanse of the Columbia. After traveling along the Columbia for the past several days I can sum up my impression of the river as follows - it is really a big damned (it has lots of dams) river!

I've really been looking forward to tomorrow - it's the day my granddaughter Sarah moves into her college dorm to begin her freshman year in college.  You might agree that's exciting, but you might ask what that has to do with my cycling blog?  Well Sarah, who grew up in Yarmouth Maine is going all the way across the country to attend Whitman College - in Walla Walla - the destination of tomorrow's 90 mile ride! My daughter Deb and her husband Tim will be there helping Sarah move in and they are staying at the Whitman Hotel - the same place where I will be staying. What a remarkable coincidence!  I don't expect to see much of Sarah, but I hope to have dinner with Deb and Tim.

Steve

Day 3: Portland to Hood River

We had a very nice 73 mile ride today to Hood River.  The weather was perfect - warm temperatures and a slight tailwind all day.  The first 16 miles heading out of Portland was all on a great network of bike paths - much much better than our ride into Portland yesterday on Highway 30.  At mile 21 we entered the town of Troutdale which has an arch at the entrance to the main street which says "Gateway to Columbia River Gorge".  For most of the next 50 miles we were on roads and bike paths which overlooked the gorge.  It was very scenic and many stops were made along the way for picture taking.  I've included a picture of the gorge and of Multnomah Falls which is one of most popular attractions in the Gorge.  We did have one tough several mile climb with grades reaching 14% made more difficult by a layer of new gravel which had recently been laid over the old asphalt - needless to say we were very careful on the steep descent. For the final 11 miles into Hood River we rode on the shoulder of Interstate 84.  It is somewhat intimidating to have a steady line of trucks going by you at 70+ miles, but the shoulder was good and at least we got a nice draft from the trucks.  During the morning I rode most of the time with Stacy, a skin cancer researcher from Phoenix.  She's a strong rider and found faster company after lunch.  Craig Kipp and I paired up after lunch and had a very pleasant ride.

Hood River is called the "Wind Surfing Capital of the World"  because the constant winds blowing through the gorge combined with the wide expanse of the river make for near perfect wind surfing conditions.  I can see numerous surfers from the window of our hotel which is located in the heart of the town near the river.  After I complete this post I am going to wander around the small downtown before dinner to get a better feel for the place.

You might be wondering about my physical condition after yesterday's accident.  Except for a "world-class" bruise on my left shoulder and chest, I'm actually in surprising good condition - I can even walk. Although I have swelling and soreness plus numerous abrasions, they did not impede my riding.  I am really fortunate and expect that I will improve everyday. 

As any good nuclear engineer does, I've done a root cause analysis of yesterday's accident with the objective of putting "procedures" in place to prevent this type of accident in the future.  The cause was clearly bad judgement on my part.  I was riding in a pace line with people I didn't know on roads that were in poor condition; and my front wheel was within a foot or two of the rear wheel of the rider in front of me.  I was completely blind to the road conditions ahead.  In this situation I should have allowed at least 5 feet of space so that I could see the road conditions for myself and react accordingly.  To follow as closely as I was doing, you need to know the riding behaviors of each member of the pace line and have complete confidence that each one will effectively comminicate upcoming road hazards - becuse you are literally putting your life in the hands of the other members of the pace line.  So effective today I've put the 5 foot rule in place whenever riding with more than one other person.   As we continue across the county I'll relax the rule if I find a small group of riders that I trust.  If I don't, I'll be doing a lot of solo riding - which I really enjoy except when there are strong headwinds.

Tomorrow we have a 106 mile ride to Boardman OR.  It looks like there is one tough climb near the beginning, but then it is fairly flat the rest of the way.  Hopefully the winds will continue to be favorable.

Steve

Day 2: Astoria to Portland.

The 99 mile ride into Portland today was a mixed bag.  The good news is that my bike fit and conditioning were both fine; and the weather was great.  The bad news is that I crashed for the first time ever.  It was early in the ride and I was in the third position in a pace line going about 18mph. Without any warning from in front, my tires were suddenly in a narrow rut in the road running parallel to my direction of travel.  On the left there was about a two inch high pavement edge and on the right was the gravel shoulder. It was clear this was not going to have a happy outcome.  So, after watching how the pros did it at the Tour de France, I decided to lay my bike down on my left side to avoid the risk of going over the bars or into the gravel on the right.  I think it was the best of a bunch of bad choices. I have some pretty significant abrasions and a lot of soreness from the left side of my neck down to my hip area - but my head is intact with only a few scrape marks on my helmet.  After a few minutes I got back on the bike and continued riding.  At the next rest stop the Trek Travel guides replaced both of my damaged wheels, gave me several Advil, and I was good to go.

The rest of the ride was uneventful although heavy truck traffic as we came into Portland on Highway 30 made the last 20 miles somewhat unpleasant.  Even with the aches and pains from the crash I rode strong and under control.  For the last 45 miles after lunch I rode in a small group with Craig Kipp, CD (73 year old surgeon from Charleston SC), Dan (from New Jersey), and MIchael (one of the guides who lives in Portland). They were pleasant company and together we accomplished my goal of conserving energy and finishing in the last group.  Actually our pace was 16-18mph so we weren't exactly dogging it.

 Tomorrow we have a 73 mile ride up the Columbia River valley to the town of Hood River.  The temperatures may be hot, but hopefully we will have a tailwind to make things easier. I'm sure I will be very sore when I get out of bed tomorrow, but I fully expect to do the ride.  Although I pretty much suck at walking right now, the injuries didn't seem to impede my cycling. So if I can make it to the bike tomorrow, I should be able to ride it.

Steve

Day 1: Astoria to Fort Stevens and Return

The first day began with a 2 hour bus ride from Portland to Astoria.  Once in Astoria we had a quick lunch while I watched one of the Trek Travel guides put my pedals and saddle on the Trek Domane bike that they are providing.  I had sent them my fit measurements ahead of time and they had the fit exactly right - no adjustments required.  Since this is the first time I've used electronic shifting, I spent a few minutes doing laps around the hotel parking lot to practice shifting.  It's really cool. I'm sure that by the end of the trip it will be difficult to go back to mechanical shifting - maybe justification for a new  bike!  

We then did a 20 mile roundtrip ride down to Fort Stevens Park where we dipped our wheels into the Pacific.  I've included a few pictures to document the event.  Craig Kipp, a friend and former co-worker at GE, is doing the trip as far as Missoula so we got a picture of us together at the beach.  The traffic was heavy and the crosswinds coming off the ocean were strong (especially going across a big bridge) so the ride was not that great.  Also, I have the distincton of getting the first flat tire of the trip - and of course it was the rear tire.  I pulled a large metal staple out of the tire, put in a new tube, put the tire back on, and was about ready to start riding when Scott, one of the guides, pulled up.  He spun the rear tire and found a 1/4 inch shard of glass in the tire ready to re-puncture the tube if I had started  riding.  Lesson learned - always check the whole tire even when you think you've identified what caused the flat.  Anyway, I make it back to the hotel safely and after waiting awhile for my room I am now composing this post as I look out at the mouth of the Columbia river.

This is my first time in Astoria and it is disappointing - very commercial, heavy traffic, and somewhat rundown.  This is probably unfair in that I am only seeing a small part of the area.  I wish there was more time to go visit the nearby Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.

There are 20 riders in the group going all the way across the country and another 7 who are stopping at Missoula. I've met many of them today and I'm trying to start putting first names and faces together. This is made difficult by my diminishing short-term memory and by the fact that meeting someone in their cycling gear and then seeing them in normal attire is like meeting two different people.  Hopefully it will get easier this evening when everyone gives a short introduction of themselves during dinner.  I do know that I am not the oldest on the trip.  A retired pediatric surgeon, who goes by CD, is 73. However, I think I'm in second place in the oldest rider contest.

Tomorrow we begin heading east with a 99 mile ride from Astoria back to Portland.  It appears the winds will be favorable and the temperatures reasonable so it should be a nice ride.  It will also be a good test of my conditioning and bike fit.  The bike fit can be adjusted, but I'm stuck with my level of conditioning.

Steve

Welcome to Part II: Portland-to-Portland

In celebration of my 70th birthday in early September, I am undertaking another cross-country cycling adventure (Trek Travel's "Portland-to-Portland" trip) starting August 23 in Astoria OR and ending 3700 miles later on October 5 at our summer home on Littlejohn Island in Yarmouth ME. So that I have a complete log of my cycling adventures in one place, I've decided to continue the same blog that I used to record my 2012 Santa Barbara to Charleston trip.  As on the previous trip, I will do my best to post each day before dinner - because after dinner it's bedtime!

The map below shows the route we will be following. A detailed itinerary can be found on the Trek Travel website at trektravel.com/trip/cross-country-usa-bike-tour/ .  Here is a brief summary: 8/23-Astoria OR; 8/24-Portland OR; 8/25-Hood River OR; 8/26-Boardman OR; 8/27-Walla Walla WA; 8/28-Lewiston ID; 8/29-Kooskia ID; 8/30-Lolo MT;8/31-Missoula MT; 9/1-Missoula rest day; 9/2-Helena MT; 9/3-Bozeman MT; 9/4-Columbus MT; 9/5-Lovell WY; 9/6-Sheridan WY; 9/7-Gillette WY; 9/8-Sundance WY; 9/9-Rapid City SD; 9/10-Rapid City rest day; 9/11-Kadoka SD; 9/12-Oacoma SD; 9/13-Mitchell SD; 9/14-Souix Falls SD; 9/15-Okoboji IA; 9/16-Clear Lake IA; 9/17-West Union IA; 9/18-Boscobel WI; 9/19-Madison WI; 9/20-Madison rest day; 9/21-Milwaukee WI; 9/22-Holland MI; 9/23-Marshall MI; 9/24-Rossford OH; 9/25-Cleveland OH; 9/26-Cleveland rest day; 9/27-Meadville PA; 9/28-Bradford PA; 9/29-Corning NY; 9/30-Cazenovia NY; 10/1-Speculator NY; 10/2-Ticonderoga NY; 10/3-Fairlee VT; 10/4-North Conway NH; 10/5-Portland ME. On 10/5 I plan to pedal the additional 13 miles to Yarmouth so that I can dip my wheel in the Atlantic from my own backyard.

My training has gone well and I am eager to get started on the journey.  My next post will be from Astoria on August 23.

Steve