Another quick post - just got back from the river trip earlier today! Had a really good time - we had four guests, who were pretty cool and very helpful. Neat scenery, fun conversation, exciting rafting, good weather, and getting to hang out with my friend Clair - all around fun! Would post more, but it's time to get food!
Ended up pushing out a long day yesterday and made it to New Meadows last night, the closest town to McCall on the transamerica route. Called up my friend Clair and got a ride over to McCall just as it got dark out! Beautiful ride yesterday, decent climb first thing, a fun downhill on a very quiet old windy road, then the rest of the day was cruising along the Salmon river.
Lazy day today, taking care of random errands around town and eating food. Tomorrow, we'll be getting ready for the trip and leaving McCall, then actual river time begins the morning after that! Might get some pictures from the last few days posted on here sometime in the next few days, but forgot to bring my camera into town, so that's not going to happen right now.
So, been riding my bike some more. Got a late start out of Missoula, left around noon, but made it up and over Lolo Pass before camping. Naturally, the pass was over-hyped, and wasn't that big of a deal. Nice ride up and over! The route parallels a river most of the way up, so there's neat scenery and the grade is very gentile. Saw a helicopter picking up loads of water to dump on a nearby forest fire, but couldn't see the fire from the road. I think I want to give the smoke jumper thing a try at some point :). Took a nice break at the top of the pass, then went for a very nice coast down the other side! The terrain is noticably different on the Idaho side of the pass - much like I had imagined the Pacific Northwest would look like. Not sure if I'm technically in the Pacific Northwest or not, but the scenery sure is nice! Waited out a thunderstorm with some spectacular lightening, but not much rain, at a little lodge type place, then rolled down the road to camp. Found what appeared to be a staging area for fighting fires - noticed it through some trees from the road.
Hit the road earlier than usual this morning, nice riding for the most part along a river all day long. I'm in Kooskia right now, but thinking I might go visit the laundromat, then head on a little down the road to camp at a place with free camping rather than staying here in town. We'll see what happens!
I should be getting to McCall this Friday, then heading off on a raft trip, so this might be the last post for a few days.
Bought my plane ticket home - should be getting back to Boulder on the evening of August 8th!
So, after that last post from Dillon...
Left the library and made some phone calls - talked with the family and left a message on Clair's machine about raft trip logistics. Took care of some errands, then shortly after I started rolling out of town, I got a return call from Clair. Turned out I was right beside a park, so pulled into it to sit and talk logistics. At some point in the conversation, Clair mentioned something about my stupid bike, and I'm pretty sure it heard...
Anyways, got plans figured out for this rafting thing - I'll have to pay a little bit for food (about the same as what I've been spending on the road for food anyways,) but will otherwise basically be a guest on a rafting trip next weekend on the Salmon River. So, that's pretty cool! Ended up calling the town police to see if I could just sleep in the park that I had pulled off into, they eventually decided that it would be OK, so I setup my bivy and went to bed.
Woke up a couple hours after dark to a bright flash of lightning directly overhead, and soon was in a nice, windy, thunderstorm. Discovered that my trusty old bivy isn't really waterproof anymore, but didn't get too wet. Anyways, the storm quickly rolled through, I opened the solid door (generally sleep with just the bug door shut to get some ventilation) and went back to sleep. Sometime around 1am, I was rudely awakened by a jet of water spraying my feet, then my legs, then after a brief moment of realization, right in the face. Turned out there were some sprinklers in this park! Quickly pulled the solid door shut, waited until the sprinkler made another pass, then jumped out of bed, grabbed the bivy, got nailed by another sprinkler, then ran James Bond style, dodging sprinklers, across the park in my boxers and dragging the bivy to get to a patch of grass that wasn't being sprayed. It was quite rediculous, and a little frustrating, but in hindsight pretty funny. Anyways, dropped off the bivy, then made another pass to get the bike out of the spray. Went back to sleep for another hour or so, then had another T-Storm roll through. Not as bad as the last one, but it packed a fair bit of lightning and did add to the moisture content of my environment a bit. Was getting a little frustrated at this point, but managed to get back to sleep shortly after battening down. Then, sometime after 3, another salvo of sprinklers went off - turns out that there were actually several different systems running in that park - surely designed by some sort of evil genius! Got a little more damp this time than the last one (as all the grass that I had to run through, James Bond style, had been wetted thoroughly by the first sprinklers and the following thunderstorm.) Found a better spot, and slept until the sun came up.
Decided to go to a diner for breakfast - needed some coffee and felt like poptarts weren't the proper way to start the day after such a frustrating night! Found a diner easily enough, then managed to spill my cup of coffee within maybe 25 seconds of getting it. Stupid stupid Ian. Had a nice breakfast burrito, managed to drink a cup of coffee, and got out of dodge!
The ride later in the day ended up being pretty nice for the most part, generally nice quiet roads with a couple decent climbs to keep things interesting. Hit my new speed record for the trip coming down from Big Hole Pass, had nice smooth pavement, a little bit of a tailwind, and a long grade down. Made it up to 54mph. Then, just a little bit past there, I started pedaling again and the chain hopped off the cassette (the cluster of sprockets on the back wheel) and jammed. Not cool. Couldn't figure out what exactly was going on until I pulled the wheel off and discovered that the little lock nut thing that holds the cassette onto the hub had somehow unscrewed itself. Not cool.
*flashback to installation of new cassette last year*
So, this new cassette that I put on the bike is exactly the same model/style as the one I replaced, but for some reason is just a teeny bit narrower than the old one. Not abnormal apparently, when you're replacing parts on an old bike. Found a shim to take up the extra space, but it was a little bigger than ideal, so the lock nut nut thing couldn't catch more than a couple threads. But, that seems stable enough, and it doesn't have to hold back any force, why not?
*return from flashback - hot sun beside rt 298, cussing at bike*
Managed to use my little multi-tool to put the wheel back together, without the too-fat shim, and get back on the road. The bike works without the shim, but the fact that the cassette is loose make shifting pretty nasty. At any rate, I made it to Wisdom, MT without further incident.
The ride from there on to Missoula over the last couple days was pretty uneventful. Did see a forest fire yesterday, watched that and took some pictures for a bit. Had a bunch of traffic coming into Missoula, but it was to be expected - usually happens around bigger towns, and the map had warnings specifically about this one.
Anyways, back in Missoula...
Had a nice afternoon hanging out with Matt (Rubberbandman) and Annie (Haiku) here in Missoula. T took my bike over to a bike shop and got the wheel issue straightened out with a smaller shim. Also got to stop by the Adventure Cycling office and had a quick tour, used their computer to make the last post on here. Matt and I went on a hike up to the top of a hill near town, it was a nice little hike and had some good views from the top. Cooked pizza for dinner back at the house - or rather sat back and watched Matt cook pizza for dinner :) Went over to a neat little ice cream shop here in town for ice cream and a game of Cribbage, then back to the house for some hanging out, more Cribbage, and eventually some computer time!
I'm guessing that this blog isn't going to get updated again for at least a week. Between here and McCall, the route sounds pretty rural, then once I get there it's going to be an evening of prep stuff then river time for a few days!
Will likely be posting more later, but while I've got internet access... Made it to Missoula! Pretty sure this is the farthest north I'll end up on the trip, should be in Idaho tomorrow and hopefully rafting by Saturday. Things have been going alright, although it's been quite hot (mid 90s - low 100s) and I've had a slight mechanical issue. More on that later as it ties in with my sprinkler/thunderstorm misadventure and Clair's jinxing of the bike (cause of mechanical issue) that happened after my last post here. Off to find ice cream!
It's kindof funny - just had to look at my map to remember what town I'm in to put a subject on this post :).
Nice ride today, although quite hot. Moderate traffic, but generally nice roads, not too many climbs except for one nice long one this morning. Had a couple packs of poptarts for breakfast this morning, then stopped in a little restored old town called Nevada City for an awesome breakfast burrito. As I was chatting with the wait staff and waiting for food, my TA from Calc 2 last semester, McCall, walked in for breakfast. Turns out she works up there during summers waiting tables and fly fishing. Small world!
Not too much else to report really. Still on track to get to Missoula on Monday and on track to go on the rafting trip in a week or so! Looking forward to both of those things.
It's nice to have goals within reach. I'm within days of friends and a big change of scenery (or at least mode of transport ;) .) Definitely something to look forward to rather than just riding to get to another random small town. I've also been looking forward to getting done with the trip and back to Boulder. Things out here are definitely enjoyable, but I do sometimes miss the comforts of home, seeing friends, having a real kitchen, all that good stuff. Looking forward to getting back into the grind of school too. Not so much because it's fun, but more because I want to get it done. That said, this next semester has the potential to be pretty interesting - am lined up to take some neat classes that should be fairly challenging as well.
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