22 Lunatics

 Since I haven’t posted in a couple of days I’m including a few notes and photos from both yesterday and today. Monday’s ride was the highest mileage day of the entire trip at a whopping 127 miles.  The elevation gain of 4,700’ was not overwhelming but made harder by the hot weather.  My group, being made up of the faster riders is asked to leave the hotel 45 minutes later than the slower riders so we don’t miss any refueling stops provided by the Trek team.  Our overall travel time was nearly 8 hours with 7-1/2 hours of actual pedaling time.  That’s a pretty good pace but we did it with 3 riders working together to “pull” one another along by drafting.  That’s a paceline…albeit a small one, it’s still a great way to conserve energy and work together.  More on that later.   The reason for the lengthy summary is actually to highlight the achievements of Ron, another rider on the trip.  Ron is 72 years old and the oldest member of the trip.  His pace is much slower than ours not just bec

 After 117 miles and 4,000’ of climbing we arrived in Helena, MT this afternoon.  But first, a few pic’s of how I spent my off day yesterday.    Nothing says vacation like going to the laundromat.  There’s actually a rider on the trip that starts early, only stops at rest stops for mere seconds and pushes as hard as he can just to be the first one to the night’s hotel washer/dryer.  If I’m not going to race to the basement at home to do laundry, I’m sure not going to do that on vacation.       Kettlehouse brewery had a beer called Lil Buddy Beer.  I imagine it was named for my little buddy, Hazel . . . . RIP little buddy.  They also had a beer called Bong Water which I decided to forgo….just in case Trek Travel drug tests me when I hit the washer/dryer first tomorrow.  The other picture is of a sticker on the brewery’s cooler door.  Not sure if was a menu item or not but I went with the lasagna instead (even if that is ground beef in the picture) It’s important to be safe when riding

 Holy crap!  Mother Nature nailed it on this one. Today’s ride from Kamiah, ID to Lolo Hot Springs, MT was through 115 miles of what a dyslexic atheist would call Dog’s Country.  A gentle gradient along the Clearwater River on a smooth highway with only the asphalt highway in weak competition with nature’s beauty. . .  yet completely outmatched.  102 miles into the ride the road pitched up for 6 miles of climbing with great views of the river below and the cliffside above to help you keep pedaling to the summit of Lolo Pass, the border between Idaho and Montana.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s the pics.       Did it in ‘18, equally epic in ‘22.  Riding with this year’s group is an absolute blast.           Above are a few shots taken by other riders along the way.  The Clearwater River.  Pat, Bruce and I mugging.  Our accommodations for the night.  Ian (he’s English but still an okay guy despite being a bit hard to understand) and finally a shot of Mark doing his best Meriwether pose—he’s f

 Today’s ride from Walla Walla into Lewiston, ID started with some amazing, quiet, winding roads with little traffic.  Below is a picture of what we rode for about 10 miles, and I think we were only passed by a dozen cars or so. Bruce, Pat and Rae, one of the guides, heading up our first hill out of Walla Walla. A clearly very old sign in Pomeroy, WA.  Perhaps some modernizing needs to be done?? Not the most impressive summit but it was our high point (geographically) for the day.  That’s Trek guide Blake topping off our water bottles in 90-plus degree heat at mile 65. A stateline sign Heather requested. Here’s the thing about horns.  This is probably not earth-shattering, life changing knowledge I’m sharing with cyclists but at the risk of bragging, I think it’s pretty darn accurate and insightful:  As a car approached from behind this morning the driver gave his (or her) horn 2 quick beeps.  Here’s what this amateur psychologist thinks that says about the driver and The Thing About H

  Today is day 6 of 2022 P2P but there hasn’t been as much blog fodder as I had hoped.  Having done this before I’m trying to avoid being repetitive but a couple of the other riders mentioned a cartoon I included in’18 as being particularly funny so here it is again: I Am A Cyclist - YouTube The last 4 days rides have all ended in temperatures between 90-100 degrees so stopping to take pictures is just more time in the sun…..and I just don’t find wheat fields that interesting so here’s a few random pic’s: Above is what we see every morning before we head out.  Van stops are critical in the heat so we can refill water bottles, hammer a coke and eat peanut M&M’s.  Nothing says fitness like candy and pop right? Saw this with about 10 miles to go today.  State #2 of 15.  Baby steps. That’s fellow rider Doyle on a life size replica of  Mark Hummel’s childhood pet. Inspiration for today’s ear worm.  Enjoyed it so much I had to listen to it after the ride. Obligatory brewery visit photo.

   Today’s post will go in reverse chronological order of how my day went. As I returned from dinner, I found a package sitting on the table in my hotel room that had been placed there by an intruder who was working with my wife to terrorize me.  When I opened the box, I was attacked by 8 plastic, spring loaded butterflies with wing spans of approximately 8’ (they look smaller in the picture).  It actually turned out to be an anniversary gift from my wife celebrating 65 years of matrimony, boy does time fly. But so do satanic butterflies I guess. Nothing says love like startling the shit (almost) out of your spouse.  It’s actually only been 29 years and I’m lucky she’s kept me around that long.  Love you, H. “Dinner” was at Pfriem Brewing here in Hood River, Oregon.  I forgot to take a picture of the bacon mac-and-cheese, but it was delicious  I had some spare time in the room this morning, so I did a quick, bike themed mural.  Hope they like it. Quote of the day:  About halfway throug

 A few random pictures, observations and thoughts from days one and two of 2022 P2P. Day one started poorly when one rider, Carlin, went down and hit a post.  His helmet strap nearly removed his ear.  The badass finished the days ride before going in for 20 stitches.  Irony?  Yep, he’s a doctor.   After that, we all went for a day at the beach and probably, no, definitely looked like nerds carrying our bikes over sand dunes for the obligatory “wheel dip” picture that starts the trek.                                                                        Day 1 ended much like it did when I did the trip in 2018……..and how a lot of the days end, like day 2        As you can see above, I did have some dark thoughts today.  I also met a new friend today outside Baerlic Brewery and Taproom where fellow beer geek Rick and I squeezed in a visit before dinner This is Atlas.  Without Hazel, every dog gets a scratch behind the ears.  That’s something I can’t do to Carlin.  Not just because it wou

  The key to a cross country bicycle trip is all about training.  Unless of course, you crash your bike 3 months after your training starts in earnest.   Then it becomes about training, recovery, then training again. Training:   I was three months into my training schedule when the unfortunate event happened.  I was pretty much on track in my plan to mimic my training from my 2018 trip.  Same weekly mileage and climbing.  Some indoor rides when limited on time, weather or daylight and outdoor rides whenever possible.  Recovery :  After April 2nd training became recovery.  If you’ve ever fractured ribs (I don’t recommend it) you realize pretty quickly that the rib cage is involved in pretty much every move you make.  An acquaintance who heard about my crash and had fractured ribs as a young man joked that even blinking involved the rib cage.  Whatever you do, don't cough and don't sneeze, blinking is okay. The injury was on my right side so the night of the accident I figured I&