Stage 2 first 4 days of the 9 days - Boise to Casper

This is a 9 day stage so I thought it wise to not be stupid and flog along every day. Day one we left Boise about 8am, within one hour I had taken a wrong turn and had only realised my mistake 5 kms up the wrong road. That of course means retrace your steps and continue the right way, so 10 kms added to the days total. IDIOT.  I normally only make turns after I have checked my days notes carefully. 

Here was the view on the road. HTF could I get lost  ?? 

Next day was 155 kms to Twin falls. The weather was going to be hot so we started early. 5 of us rode a pace line for the entire ride and we arrived somewhat stuffed  !! It sure did get hot though and I was glad to get to the hotel. Directly opposite the hotel was a fabulous ice cream shop so I cooled down there. Some riders didn't get in til 5.30 and were frazzled. As always they are so worried about the heat they all talk about it at every opportunity. 

Twin Falls is the 5th biggest town in Idaho. It's population is about 40,000. It looks and feels like a very modern town and is squeaky clean. It sits on the East side of the Snake river canyon and the views are fantastic. 

You enter town over an amazing bridge way up high over the Snake River. The bridge is the only one in the USA where you can BASE jump without a permit.

 There is also a golf course which looks spectacular too.  See if you can see the kayakers on the water, it gives you an idea of the height of the bridge. 

Following day was just 75 kms to a small burnt hot town called Burley. On the way we called in to see the two waterfalls after which the town is named the most spectacular is Shoshana Falls

As it was a very short day ( 70 kms) the crew arranged a scavenger hunt along the way. We were given a vague list and had to collect (with imagination) items from the roadside. Our special "Unusual Item" was a deers leg we spotted just out of town. I presented it as a kangaroo leg - of course  !!   

Items from the scavenger hunt haha cop the deer leg. 

We all know Americans have a strange sense of humour. Does anyone get the joke I saw on this billboard  ?? Perhaps "Sex gives you wind"  ?? 

Our ride to Pocatello was 140 kms. It was into  our first serious headwind too, damn it brought back some memories. Problem is that there is a very hot weather system behind us so the wind is being sucked into the patch just west of where we are. We are now in the foothills of the Rocky Mtns so I think the wind after that wont matter for a few days. 

Today while riding in our 5 person pace line one of the guys gave a shout as his crank and pedal came off and bounced into my leg. It gave me a nasty shock. We managed to bolt it back on for a while then he rode the mechanics bike for the last 50 kms. The local bike shop fixed it. 

Upcoming weather

Fancy a coffee from Stinkers  ?? 

This is an add for an Idaho beer, in my room mates rating it's a " row lightly " he rates beer in rowing parlance - Fat Tyre is apparently just average. 

End of the windy day, two of my riding companions sleeping while they wait for their rooms to be ready

5 days til rest day 

Stage 1, Oregon to Idaho

You may notice the new link which shows the whole trip so far, it has replaced the other link as it gives more options and I think does a much better job. If you are so short of a life that you want to know where I am on an hourly basis feel free to stalk me there.

First 8 days:

Kilometres: 982

Meters climbed: 12675

Hamburgers eaten: 6

Ice creams swallowed whole: 7

Piss taken out of the Dutch: huge

After 3 days of riding are done I'm was back in the routine of a tour like this. The days are as long as you want to make them, dictated by how hard you ride the bike. 

Day one from Astoria where we had dipped our wheels in the Pacific we rode to St Helens it's a small town about 10 kms from the site of the St Helen's volcano. 

Bit over the top !!

Day two we rode through Portland along the canal / river and saw lots of house boats. Some of these are 3 levels, they all have a garage door on the river side  where they store their boat. We saw a whole suburb of them on one part of the river.  8 houses wide by 4 deep just like streets. 

We rode to Welches which is about half way up Mt Hood so the day finished with a bit of a climb. Every day we have been told that it would be wet BUT still no rain yeeha. The radar had us in a huge storm yesterday evening but it cleared up over night and was fine the next morning.

 

Early start to day 3 as we had to ride down the road for a kilometre for breakfast. I'm still adjusting to eating plastic food for breakfast. Plastic plates, knives, spoons straws and the food is kind of plastic in the mornings as well. There is lots of it though so I'm not complaining. 

We climbed for the first 19 kms and at the top it was 4c and a wet cold wind. The view of Mt Hood is incredible - so I'm told, but it was covered in mist and cloud so I never actually sighted it. The descent on the back was brilliant, the road was so smooth and we had a tail / crosswind  - beautiful. We rode 112kms in total with about 1800m of climbing and ended in a resort in a town called Warm Springs. It's on an Indian reservation called Kah-nee-ta the tribe is called The Warm Springs Tribe, yeah really. The difference in terrain in one days riding is amazing. This morning we rode through huge green forests and it now looks like we are in cowboy country. 

Day four was just 98 kms and I rode with a Dutchman who is very strong, he does not call out the crap on the road when he is doing a turn. I asked him ton call it and he replied " No I don't do that stuff" WTF  ??  Is was a drag across a dry empty bit of country so we flogged along. Everyone else had an active rest day as the following day was 186 kms amd you know how yanks like to talk up their "Century" rides. We overnighted in Prineville, a tiny town which I bet you have never heard of. It's the town where Facebook and Apple run their data servers. 

In Prineville I came across this store.

WTF is a Growler fill Station anyway ??

Day Five was a 186 kms F'ing shocker I woke with very low sugar levels. My room mate later spoke of my " 1000 mile vacant stare" ( MH you know what he means  !! ) it was just raining as we left and I was well prepared with a light gillet NOT.  It rained for the first 50 kms and we got to the top of the first climb. It was freezing and it was zero degrees.  !! . I was so cold I had to stop on the way down as I was shaking so much, I thought I was going to crash for sure. The second climb warmed me up a bit and I was disappointed when I got to the top. (Most unlike me. ) it continued raining every F'ing inch of the ride to the town of John Day. If you look at the trip so far link you will also notice I also seemed to go very straight. It appears the Spot device I use to track the ride ran out of battery and also on that day my Garmin shut down. Normally a disaster as you need to know your distances to navigate your way and make the route., but that day it did not matter as the directions were:

1 Turn left out of the Best Western Hotel..

2. Turn left into the next Best Western Hotel. 

If you get lost on that day you are plain dumb. 

Next Six was 133 kms to Baker City. As spectacular day as you could ask for. Clear skies light head wind but not an issue. Beautiful climbs and a long steady descent to town. 

Day 7 we rode down hill to Ontario Oregon. It was brilliant fun, 100 kms down hill then 33 kms flat. Sun shining and a high speed pace line for the last 30. 

Day Eight was 102 kms to Boise and into the state of Idaho.

The headwind was quite strong in the morning but eased by about 10am. We arrived in town and stopped in a great bar/restaurant, we had all been asked to all wear our America by Bicycle riding tops so made quite a sight in the restaurant. 

Last night one of the Canadians was telling a story in a normal voice. One of the Americans said in a loud voice "Speak louder" he replied "No I'm not an American you listen up when I talk" - had a quiet giggle to myself. 

Speaking my language here.

Bike boxes US style. Great idea too as they are very strong. 

Don't see this sign too often on my rides back home.

Beautiful road and views, top of a climb it looks a bit like Switzerland.

Only coffee available in this town

Cleanliness Phobic America,

I have seen notices in the hotels saying the room is Ultra cleaned, super ultra cleaned, and super ultra clean and totally sanitised. 

Finally, check out the description of the fillings of this burger 

Stage two starts tomorrow, we have 5 new riders and we have dropped off 3. Have to start learning names again. 

Day one Tomorrow

Great flight over to the USA on the A380, we arrived half an hour late so of course missed my connection to Portland. I then had to check in and book the case and bike onto the Air Alaska flight, this took over an hour and then a further half hour to get through security. Take off your shoes, body scan, pat down, explain insulin pump, have same pump tested for explosives WTF  ?? Airports are slow moving places here but the staff are polite and the big surprise is that everyone just accepts it. 
I had 3 days in Portland. (Voted the best biking city in the USA) it rained solid for all 3 days so I didn't even get out on the bike. There are bikes everywhere securely locked up  on bike racks on the streets. Out on the streets there are whole lanes dedicated to bike traffic only too.

Caught the Greyhound bus west to Astoria. 

If you want to see where the homeless live go to a Greyhound terminal. Weird thing about the weird people in the Greyhound terminal is they are all deaf, well they must be, why else would they all shout at each other when just talking.

 

The ride across America starts tomorrow in Astoria, Oregon. We all met up there today and had long safety talks and talks about motivation and the days ahead. There are 38 riders on this trip we look like a group of seniors on holiday, many of the riders wearing dayglo yellow of course. 

We were all given a name badge to wear

Then we all made our way to the seaside to dip our wheels in the Pacific ocean - it is a coast to coast ride  !! 

On the way to the beach I saw this amazing sign

Not sure if this is one facility or two  ?? 

Tomorrow is Day One, we were given the days route and then I realise that of course we are working in miles not kilometres and feet not meters - have to get my head around that.

On the road again  !! 

One week to go

My real goal is to ride around the world. It is not a non stop trip, I am doing it in chunks.

This chunk is an exciting part of the big plan, I'm expecting most of the USA section to be sort of civilised. Unlike some of my previous journeys I am hoping we don't get shot at or caught in a civil war.

I have a very small pile of clothes on the dining room table most of it is cycling related and that is all I propose taking on this trip.

I have been talking about doing this ride since I arrived back from Tajikistan last year, and am getting both excited and bit nervous about the ride. Excited ? sure why wouldn't you be its 6500kms across the USA and who knows what the road has in store. Nervous ? sure why wouldn't you be, its 6500kms across the USA and again who knows what the road has in store !!.

The good things about this ride:
1) I am sure I can eat almost anything served up to me. - Different to China
2) I speak the same language as most of the people I will ride by - Yes we Australians speak English all be it with a strange accent
3) It's Motels NOT Camping - Yeeha  - way different to Russia and China
4) I think the roads will be in reasonable condition. - Different to almost everywhere.
     and last but by no means least -
5) I can use a knife and fork and not be stared at  !!

Ahhh - behold a thing of "Beauty"

 

This section I have brought back from retirement the "Salsa Casseroll" the steel bike I used on the ride from St Petersberg to Venice. It's a beautiful bike to ride but PIG UGLY to look at. The gold colour is disgusting, lucky that I shall be astride the machine so spectators will be marvelling at the rider rather than the bike  !! 

IMPORTANT INFO

As on the China ride on the top right of the blog is a link to wherever I am on whatever day you choose to check out the ride. Have a look you can see me whizzing across the USA, hour by hour day by day, you can live my life from far away. ( this is not compulsory )

If you have any comments or questions just post them in the comments section at the foot of the page and I will try to answer you next time I log on. Please don't expect to many serious answers I don't take life or myself too seriously as most of you should know. 

Janette is being been great about her absentee husband again and I love her dearly for giving me the chance to live out my dream. Or perhaps she really enjoys life with me on the road and far away  ??  As both the boys are now living away from home, Janette only has the fish at home to keep her company.
I asked her if she tracked me across China, she just gave me that knowing look. I guess that's a NO.!!