5/26 42 74mi 6:20 scott city,KS

woke up to rain. Made some oatmeal on the stovetop and headed out. About 12 miles into the day I crossed into Kansas. Ate lunch in a diner and had 2 doublecheeseburgers. Kept riding and stopped at a gas station to let my hands warm up. Bought a hot chocolate and talked to some old tymers sitting there about my trip. It was cold,windy and raining all day. It was fine though, just felt like another long training ride back home except there weren't any hills. Made it to scott city around 6pm and found the athleticlub. It is a pool/gymastics/weight training facility where they let me sleep in there lounge and get a shower for $10. Put my wet clothes in the laundry and went to the grocery store in town. Called a couple people and read for a bit. Trying to finish 'dreams of my russian summers' so I can start on one of my other books. Today was the first day I got rained on all day and I can't complain. halfway through the trip and only one full day of rain, thats easy.

5/25 41 84mi 7:20 sheridan lake,CO

woke up and took a shower and headed over to that pancake breakfast. $5 got me sausage,eggs and pancakes. I filled up and got on my way. Saw a lot of emty railcars sitting on the tracks. Have been paralelling a railroad all day. Ate lunch at a city park and saw a couple of snakes on the shoulder that I avoided didn't know if they were dead or alive. Had a crosswind from the north again today. Met a german named 'claus' who was riding from 'chicago to the middle mountains of the usa and then to oregon.' Got rained on about the last hour of riding. pulled into the gas station at sheridan lake and saw a sign that said cyclists are welcome to use the basement of our church. I asked a kid shooting hoops where the basement was and he showed it to me. Took him over to my bike and showed him all the stuff I was carrying. Set up in the basement and read for a bit then fell asleep. Had some right quad pain but my tendons on my left knee felt better.

5/24 day40 27mi 2:20 sugar city,CO

got up and had breakfast downstairs in the lobby. Ate a lot. Updated my blog in the computer room. Saw larry adn joni before they left for the spanish peaks and had a little bit more to eat. Got on the road and got rained on for about 5 minutes and then it was sunny except for a crosswind from the north. Backtracked and got back onto the adventure cycling route and just really, really didn't feel like riding. Stopped at sugar city and went into a bar called smitty's. Talked to the bartender/owner shari for a bit and showed her some pictures of my trip. A little while later 2 guys named golbert and mel showed up. They were 2 brothers who had retired from the railroad. I talked with them for a whle and then headed across the street to eat a a little cafe. Had a burger there and then came back to smitty's. A little while later another brother named billy came in and he was married to shari. I sat around and talked to them for hours and shari was nice enough to find me a place to sleep so I didn't have to sleep in the park. I slept on the couch of her mom's house while her and billy slept in another room. I was very glad that I stopped in and met all of them. It wasnice to relax and not think about riding or anything and just chat with people for a bit. I need to try and do more of that. Found out about a pancake breakfast tomorrow morning from the lady who runs the cafe and will definitely hit that up.

5/23 day39 93mi 6:58 la junta,CO

woke up and got an early start. started off wearing knickers and ls jersey. Got into pueblo after a couple of hours and changed into shorts and a shortsdleeve jersey. Rode through a city park with a zoo in it and it was nice. Rode through some quiet residential neighborhoods and it was nice to be off highways for a couple of miles. Called larry and left a message that I would be there around 3-4. Got out of pueblo and a sign said 60 miles to la junta. I thought great I am going to get there at like 6-7 at night. An hour or so later I got rained on for an hour and stopped to put on booties,arm warmers,leg warmers and gloves. Then after it stopped I took them all off. I was taking my clothes on and off so much I felt like a stripper. had a head/tail/crosswind for the last couple of hours and actually made really good time and got to the hotel around 4. Tooka quick shower and then met larry and joni in the lobby. We talked for a bit and then I showed larry some pictures and some of my gear in my room. Later on we went and and ate dinner at a place called 'a taste of tuscany' and it was very good. dropped about 2000ft elevation total and had a lot of slow rolling hills today. Met 2 guys who were riding from missouri to san fran. My right inside quad had a knot in it but after the rainshower it loosened up and felt fine. Some tendons on my right leg by my knee running up into my hamstring/quad are kind of achy. Not sure where I'll go tomorrow, but its about 25 miles to get back on my route and then I'll just head east. I'm going to try and take it easy.

5/22 day38 73mi 6:50 wetmore,Co

Stayed up late last night talking to mellisa who came into the hostel late. Split a 6 pack with her and got to bed around midnight 1 a.m. Woke up early and made chocolate chip/banana waffles which turned out better than I thought considering I haven't made waffles in years and have never added anything to them. Chris and Mellisa ate the leftovers becaus eI had made way too many. Walked around the city of salida with Mellisa and they had an amphitheatre which was pretty neat. Bought a book for $5 at a used bookstore. The problem with bookstores is that I see 4-5 books tht look good, so I pick the cheapest one and then write down the others to hopefully find later. Swapped my front and rear tires and lubed my chain. checked my e-mail and uncle larry is going to be in la junta, CO around saterday afternoon. I gave hima call and left about noon so that I could get over the last of the climbs of colorado. My front tire wasn't seated properly and I had to let the air out and reinflate it as I left town. Started raining just past cotopaxi and the road A1 was a bunch of cracked red pavement. Rained pretty much the rest of the day. Got over the summit at around 9,000 ft and then started the descent. Got hailed on for about 10 minutes. It seems like the more miserable the conditions the more I like it and I get some wierd satisfaction riding in them. It would have been a fun descent if it was dry, but wet it was petty treacherous. Took a bad line through one corner and went into the oncoming lane witha car coming. Tried to motion sorry my fault to the driver, but I don't know if he understood my arm movements. Got really cold coming off the descent. Got shivering/shaking cold. got my lower jar is jackhammering my teeth cold. Saw patches of snow on the ground as I was trying to make it to wetmore. finally made it and pulled up to a steakhouse/general store. A girl wa standing outside and asked if I was eating. I mumbled yes and then stripped off all my layers and put on a dry longsleeve shirt. Went inside and just sat down and tried not to spill some hot chocolate that I got. It took me about 30 minutes to warm up. The owner saw how cold I was and gave me a blanket to wrap myself in. She also threw my clothes in her dryer at her house to dry them out a little and called to see if I could camp by the community/library building just up the road. The hospitality and kindness just blew me away. I ended up camping on top of a picnic table with a little roof overhead and just laid out my sleeping bag. Had to walk around in the dark for a bit trying to find a guy named alvin and there was this dog that was barking its head off and you could hear its cahin scraping against things as it ran back and forth. It was kind of unnerving. ended up sleeping o.k. after the dog finally shutup.

day37 72mi 6:40 salida,CO

Woke up early at 6a.m. to overcast skies and it was cold. Put some embrocation on my legs and headed out. Got into gunnison and had some tea at a coffee shop becasue My fingers weren't working to good becaus eI was too lazy to put on my full fingered gloves. Changed into knickers and put on my gloves and headed out. made decent time to the the start of the climb and got rained on for about an hour. Reminded me of washington and I was wondering when I would run into some bad weather. This was the biggest and pretty much last pass that I had to go over. Monarch pass is over 11,300 feet high and marks the continental divide for my trip. I am also about halfway done with my trip, around 2200 more miles to go. I met a biker who was from belgium who was touring and he was warming up after the descent by the side of the road. We talked for awhile and he told me it was raining at the top and the road was good pavement but steep. Saw a sign that read 7 miles to the summit and started to climb. It started raining and I put my raincoat back on, knee warmers under my knickers and booties with another pair of wool socks. I love smartwool socks, they are awesome. Climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed some more. A red jeep passed and started honking and yelled and gave me a fist pump out the window and that cheered me up for about 20 yards. I never went above 6m.p.h. the whole climb. It took me 2 hours of contiuous climbing to get to the top. That is like a 3.5 mile an hour average. That climb was brutal and cold and windy and raining. I stopped at the top and got a picture of the sign for the continental divide and then went inside to warm up and who was in there but shawne. I couldn't believe it. He was sick for a couple of days and I caught up to him. We sat around and talked for a bit and decided to descend the nountain together. He was going to push on about 50 more miles and I was going to try ands tay ina hostel in salida because nicky said it was cool and I have been wanting to stay in 1 since I started the trip. 2 hrs to climb it and 20 minutes to descend it. We rolled into salida 23 miles away in 40 minutes. I asked around an found the hostel and shwne continued on. Got a hot shower and am going to do some laundry. Went to a laundromat and stopped at a bar to wait for it to get done washing. Met a girl named jackie there and she was very supportive of the trip and encouraging. Got to talk to miles and pat and steve as I was folding my laundry/walking home and I really feel happy and good about what I've accomplished. Somehow going over the continental divide boosted my spirits. I'm about halfway done and I fell really good about today. Went through some nasty weather, met some cool people, got a shower, had a beer, met up with shawne. Today was a good day. I'm very content right now. That also might b the 3 beers talking. I don't know.

I am 2 days away from pueblo,Co. If the boulder girls want me to come up and hang out I will, but I really don't want to backtrack once I'm past pueblo, so shoot me an e-mail leftd@usa.com and I will ride up there, otherwise maybe I'll see you around.

day36 85mi 7:20 5mi E of gunnison,CO

Woke up and made some oatmeal in the house. Got a late start around 8:30. Made really good time into montrose 27 miles in 1:47 about 16m.p.h. average. It was slightly downhill though. Loaded up on groceries at walmart which was really cheap and bought 'in defense of food' which they had on sale and I had been wanting to read. Ate at areally good chinese buffet and gorged myself. Ate way too much and felt sluggish on the rollout of town. rode a couple miles and then started a 4 mile climb. got over it and then an hour or so down the road started aother 4 mile climb. Got over that one and then rode along a river/resevior awhich was really pretty. Most of the roads I have been taking are right along rivers or cliffs which is really cool. The grades are pretty gradual and everywehre you look are mountains. In ridgway I was surrounded on all sides by mountains. At night you can see so many stars, I remember loking out my tent one night and staring right at the big dipper. Stopped at the elk creek visitor center and ate 6 bratwurst warapped with pita bread. Actually only 2 of them were wrapped in pita bread, the rest Ate ate as they were. Called some people and as I was leaving met a runner named john? He was training to try and Qualify for boston which is 3:15. I ran a 1:36 for seattle and I can't imagine holding that 7:20 pace for 26 miles. Go out and run a mile as fast as you can and see if you get anywhere near 7:20. Then imagine running that fast for over 3 hours! I was riding on the right side of the road and he was running on the left side of the road just like you are supposed to. We had to shout across the traffic to hear each other. It was kind of funny. Camping out at a park and sleeping on a picnic table. Go over the continental divide tomorrow and I heard its a beast.

day35 64mi 5:50 ridgway,Co

Had a really weird time getting going this morning. I don't know what it was. Just didn't want to ride my bike. Made some oatmeal, which I bought in northern California and hopped on the ol saddle. Decided to try and make it over 2 passes today, lizard head and devils gate. The first pass was very gradual and I met a guy named nicky (sp) who was riding from chicago to phoenix. Talked to him for a while and continued on. 4 miles from the summit of lizard head it started to rain, 2.5 miles and it started to snow/sleet. Summited and then went down the wet descent. Rain really hurts when you are going 40+. There were a couple more uphills before the final descent started and by the time I got to the bottom I was soaked and my hands weren't working very well. Stopped at a gas station and ate a baked potato and warmed up with some hot chocolate. Climbed over devils gate which was very gradual and got rained on that descent too. Hit a new top speed today.58m.p.h. in the rain and wind. I was hoping to touch 60 but it wasn't to be. If you honestly think about it, I am in more danger riding in a paceline going 25m.p.h. than alone on a descent. Unless something catastrophic happens I'm in not much danger at all. Stopped in at a bike shop in ridgway and then warmed up with some chai tea at a place called cups. Met a guy there named Aria who offered to let me use his shower and sleep in his backyard instead of paying for camping. This sounded great since I was soaked and was covered in road grime. He is gay and lived with his partner bailey. Aria made some homemade tortillas and we had fajitas for dinner then sat around and talked. He rode from astoria to san fransisco when he was 17 with a bunch of other kids his age. Talked about books and life for abit before I headed off to bed.

day34 72mi 6:00 stoner,Co

Got into Colorado fairly quickly and and stopped at dove creek to mail some cold weather gear, books and gifts home. updated my last blogs at an elementary school library. It was kind of wierd sitting there with some kids who were doing some type of science project paper. The landscapes of Nevada are green and rolling and it was very hot today. A ladybug crawled onto my helmet when I stopped to fill up my water bottles and it crawled around for a bit before I tried to gently remove him. Bought some multivitamins and sports drink in dolores. I don't feel bad, but it can't hurt to take them once in a while. Bought some more peanut butter because I finished off the last can. Camped on the side of the road and cooked dinner, which I don't normally do when i campout. Tried not to set the grass on fire because the ground was uneven and my stove isn't very stable.

day33 90mi 9:09 6mi E of monticello,UT

Woke up really early and ate some nuts and chocolate chips since I didn't pick up anything for breakfast that didn't use water. Got on the road and it was mostly rollers. Stopped about 3 and a half hours in and ate some peatut butter slathered on granola bars. Decided to wait until 20 miles to town before the mike and ikes and 10 miles to go before the can of pepsi. Didn't really start to get hot until 4 hrs into the ride. About 17 miles into the ride I realized that I would have enough water and left one of my 51oz bottles on the side of the road for someone who needed it more than me. 10 miles before blanding the road turned into a wall. The road was about 5-12% for about 3/4 of a mile. I was having difficulty turning over the pedals and I was sweating lke crazy. I could feel the dull ache creeping into my legs and just tried to relax as much as possible. Sweat running down your glasses leaving streaks. Breathing like your hyperventilating. Trying to relax everything as much as possible, so much that your lower lips quivers when you hit a bump in the road. Nothing matters except the summit and just deal with it. Its only pain.
It will end....eventually. All over the bike, clawing your way up the mountain. Your mind is forcing your body to continue. No other thought except to keep pumping your legs. Finally at last the summit. Now you find that little bit extra click up 2 gears and stand as you punch over the top. I don't know why I like climbing so much. Maybe its the views, the suffering, the exhilerating descents, watching others blew up behind you, because its there, i'm not sure. Got into blanding and ate a salad and burrito at a restaurant. The library was closed and after waiting around for the heat to die down I continued on and pulled off to the side of the road as it was getting dark. Longest day in the saddle yet. I will be in Colorado tomorrow and crawl over 11,000ft lizard head pass the day after.

day32 113mi 8:20 17mi E of hite rec. area

Got an early start and stopped at the capitol reef visitor center. looked at a map of Colorado and boulder is only 150 miles from pueblo. Think I'll visit those girls in Boulder it the offer is still open. Stopped just before hanksville and gave a hitchhiker who was going to mexico some water and chatted with him for a bit. Made good time into hanksville and loaded up on water and set off for the hite recreation area. Its was 50 miles away and mostley flat to downhill with a few little wrinkles. The first 85 miles of the day were flat/downhill and I was flying. I felt good and just enjoyed the riding.Saw 2 touring cyclists heading west. Made it to hite, but the store closed at 4 and it was 4:30. I asked a guy in a truck there if there was anything else open and he said no, but his wife was closing up and would ask if she could let me get some stuff. His wife said yes and I got a gatorade, fruit cocktail, candy and ice cream bar. I went over to the visitor center which waas also closed and cooked up some dinner. Then I laid down for about an hour ant rested. I filled up my bottles and wrung out my shirt in the sink to give me some cooling when I started. Every mile that I did that evening was one less that I had to do tomorrow in the heat of the day. It was 75 miles until blanding and there was about 5000 ft of climbing. All the downhill that I had today I have to climb up tomorrow. Pulled off to the side of the road and set up my tent and tried to sleep.

day31 71mi 6:50 torrey,UT

Had breakfast at the couple that runs the place's house and had swedish pancakes, fruit, granola,toast,yogurt. I loaded up on food. The 3 guys passed me going to a waterfall and slowed down to chat for a little. THe waterfall looked cool, but my legs don't have the energy for that and it was 6 miles roundtrip in sandals, not good. Came down into a canyon and had some vicious rollers 10-14% and then back down again thenup again. That really took the starch out of my legs. There were big red rock cliffs that rose up on both sides fo you. Stopped at an Anasazi museum which was pretty interesting. The 'kokopelli' figure was actually a flute player who would entrance the villages with his music and then ferform lewd acts with members of the opposite sex. Kind of funny that you see that symbol everywhere now. Met a guy who had just finished an outdoor survival school in boulder and talked to him while I ate lunch. The 3 guys passed me again about 3 and a half hours into the ride to tell me the big climb was just ahead. they asked how my legs were and I told them they were dead. It was about 9 miles of climbing with a couple of false summits at the top. I suffered like a dog up that climb. I got some shade with about 4 miles left to climb which was a relief. I stopped to take a picture at an overlook and felt a couple of drops of rain. I put on my vest and started agian right away. Made it to the summit and put on armwarmers for the descent. Almost caught backup to a group of bikers after putting on my vest. That would have been cool. ! of my 51oz bottles of water slipped off of my front left pannier and exploded behind me. Lucky it didn't roll under my wheel as I was going about 30m.p.h. at the time. Camping just past torrey on the side of the road with a bunch of other people.

day30 65mi 4:52 escalante,UT

Took a shower this morning because I felt like it and was waiting for the grocery store to open. Bought some food and rolled out. Entered bryce national park and saw a bunch of french bikers touring the U.S. One of them was wearing a stars and stripes bandana which I thought was ironic. Thought he would be rocking the red,white and blue french stripes. The scenery was amazing. There is a bike/pedestrian path along the road for about 4-6 miles and I met a mountain biker named heather from Canada. Took a lot of photos because the scenery is so pretty. Today was hot. I was baking. Crested a summit and took a corner going 50m.p.h. in a tuck. The climb before escalante seemed to take forever. I got some encouragement from a group of bikers thumbs up, waves and one actually started clapping. Lots of people have been doing tha, but that was the first group of bikers who all did something and I have never gotten anyone to clap for me. The final push before the summit was like 12% for a couple of hundred yards. I was crawling going 3m.p.h. and had spittle dangling off my chin. It was hard toswallow my throat was so dry and I was scared to take a drink for fear of falling over. I stopped at the summit and sat down by a restroom in some shade and drank water and made myself a snack. I got up to leave after about 5 minutes and 3 guys were there. One of them started talking to me and it turns out they were staying at a B&B and had one of their buddies cancel. They invited me to stay the night and gave me directions. I tooka wrong turn and crossed a stream and pushed my bike up a sandy hill before I realized my mistake and turned around. Found the B&B and got a nice hot shower. We went into town and me and another guy split a pizza. Got back and had trouble falling asleep for some reason, It might have been the 2 cokes at dinner.

day29 57mi 5:46 panguitch,UT

Grabbed a cup of o.j. and 2 small danishs from the continental breakfast and then ate breakfast at a cafe around the corner. Got on the road and there was about 3 miles of slightly rising roller and then the climb started right away. Met an english guy named chris from essex,U.K. and we rode together for about 40 minutes. IT was difficult to talk and climb at the same time. I was gasping for breath. Anything above around 8,000ft and I can't get a full breath. Chris pulled off and I followed him, we ate alittle and thenIwas getting chilly so I started up again. Route 148 was closed and I decided to go for it because I could always turn around and come back down if it was too bad. The road was dry and I went around the sign and started climbing. I had already passed a sign for 9900ft and I knew I only had about 600ft of climbing left. 3 park vehicles came down the road and I flagged the last one down and he said that it was clear except for a couple of patches of snow. THe road wound around these high alpine meadows and it was wonderful not having to worry about cars. I saw some fantastic panorama views and got some pictures. I didn't see a summit sign which was a little disappointing. I came to the end and went around the closed sign and sat down for lunch. Score another one for the cyclists which makes 2, but the cars are still winning. I iced my achilles in a snowbank as I ate some peanut butter/banana crackers. A guy on a time trial bike saw me and came over to talk. He was doing about 15,000 ft/climbing that day. The first nine miles of the descent were fun except for the cracks in the road. My butt did not like those at all. I camped at a koa and should have kept going because it was only 4:30. I['m getting kind of sick paying $20 just to sleep on some grass and get a shower, maybe. Walked to the store to get some groceries and saw a handcycle on a trailer. I aksed a man I saw if it was his and he said 'yes.' I talked with him for a bit and he said that he rides up 6-7 miles up the road and then turns around and comes back down. That road is uphill and steep. I hit 40+ coming into town. It was very humbling and grounding to talk to him. It kind of slapped me across the face and made me realize that I'm not doing anything compared to him. I ate dinner and was laying in my tent and decided to eat another dinner in town. I had some brisket whichI've never had before and it was good even though it was expensive. I came out to my bike and someone had tried to cut my bike lock. I left all my bags at camp, but I was still a little disappointed. I guess you just have to be carefull wherever you are. Went back to my tent and fell asleep.

day28 24mi 2:14 ceder city,UT

Rolled into ceder city just after 9a.m. Did some laundry at a koa and met a guy who did the laundry for the koa for a fee. He was in the navy for 28yrs and now he works here. picked up some groceries and ate in a park. 2 older guys were there who talked to me about riding and they both lived up in the hills and were kind of bitter and everybody was out to screw them blah,blah,blah. I really just watned to eat my lunch in silence, but I was nice enough. They kept telling me to wear a hunting/fishing vest and I could carry a lot more on it than my bike jersey. I wanted to try and catch a movie, but they started showings at 4:30 and I didn't want to wait that long. I scheduled a massage for the earliest time at 5'o clock. Got a hotel and just put my feet up. Today was an active recovery day. Stopped by a bike shop and picked up an extra spoke. Got a massage froma girl named bridgette and she tried to work the knot out of my quad. Not as great as stephanie back home, but good. Stopped at a braun books and picked up 'the road' that mielko had read and said was good. Got a bloody nose before I fell asleep and wasn't looking forward to the 10,000 foot pass tomorrow.

day27 91mi 8:14 12mi N of ceder city,UT

Would love to come visit you girls in boulder, its only about 300 miles out of the way. Shoot me an e-mail leftd@usa.com

Woke up and got started around 8:30. I couple of climbs to start the day and I got into milford around lunch and ate at penny's cafe. Had a triple decker sandwich and iot was pretty gtood. I had a head/crosswind for about 15 miles, but it wasn't that bad and I got to see how I would do if the wind shifted into my face instead of at my back. I rode up a neverending summit and decided to camp after the descent.I reached the descent and I saw a town just a little down the road. It was actually about 20 miles away and my sense of distance was thrown off by the lights. I decided stupidly to try and make it into town. It was getting dark and I put on my reflective vest but couldn't find my red light. I think I forgot it in my tent and when I shook the dust out in the morning it fell out. I eventually came to my senses after it got completely dark and stopped by a low stone wall and camped on the side of the road.

day26 97mi 7:35 30mi se of gunnison,UT

Agony & Ecstacy
Today was agony and ecstacy. Woke up and left early. I'm kind of getting sick of eating oatmeal for breakfast. It was cold so I had arma nd knee warmers on. It got cold last night, Once I got out of my tent to pee and was shaking by the time I came back from the restrooms 20yds away. My left inside quad decided it didn't want to play fairly early and that made the uphills pretty miserable. My achilles felt relatively fine and I ended up taking out my insole before lunch. The first pass felt kind of long and I ended up stopping on the descent at majors junction to refill my bottles and grab a bag of cheetos. The old owner of the bar was talking about pot plants wich was kind of odd to me, but to each his own. The sacramento pass climb seemed to go on forever and I kept hoping,wishing, praying for the summit sign around every corner. Eventually I summitted but I had to stop a 4-5 times for my left quad because I would get a sharp pain every once in a while. Just after getting into baker I saw another cyclist and we rolled over to a restaurant he said was good. They opened at 3:30, so I bought a cream soda and we talked for a bit. His name was jeremy and he was a hippie/stoner from austin going to san fransisco. I waited around for a while, bought another cream soda and eventually ate across the road because it was almost 5 and the restaurant still hadn't opened. Jeremy left before I ate and told me he rode the milford to baker stretch at night and no cares ast him. He said there was a full moon and enough moonlight to see by. I ate a pizza and then decided to roll out. I stretched in town and massaged my quads. I filled up my bottles and rolled out. I passed into utah and the pavement once you hit utah was red for acouple of miles. It was a nice break from the varying shades of gray I have been seeing. I passed through gunnison and 2 dogs came out and started barking. 1 of them had broken its chain and it was dragging about 15 feet behind him. They just ran alongside and barked, but it was still unnerving. I came to one of those fake cattle gaurds across the road and one of them stopped for a second and then they kept on going. About 30 yds after that they both stopped and turned around. I was thinking about getting my pepper spray out, but it was in my handlebar bag and I needed the manueverability of both my hands and neeeded to keep an eye on what they were doing. I passed through a herd of cattle and the young ones were alitle skittish and would run along the side of the road. The others just stood there in the road loking at you with a bored expression on thier faces. I passed through another little herd of cattle and just down the road a car coming my way stopped and rolled down thier windows. It was 3 college girls from boulder on a roadtrip. They couldn't believe I was riding my bike across the country. We chatted for a while with their care sitting in the middle of the road. Eventually another car came by and the girls pulled over to the side of the road. I got some water from them and gave them directions to great basin national park which is where they were planning on camping. They drove off after wishin me good luck and I pedaled on. I kept riding and since I started in garrison only 5 cars had passed me in anhour and a half. It was absolutly perfect. I was having one of those zen days that holly talks about when everything is just 'right'. I think that I finally just relaxed and didn't worry about mileage, food,camping, friends, speed, terrain, anything. I kept riding glancing behind me every once in a while to check out the sunset. I didn't need to check behind me for traffic since you would hear the cars miles before they passed you. After a while some stars came out and I stopped to put on arm and knee warmers. I started up some ascent and it was amazing. It was like you weren't even moving or that you were in space. There was enough light to see about 10-20 feet in front of you and that was enough. It was so cool just to roll along and be content. I got a picture of whatever summit I reached and started down the backside. I sat up and just kept to the left of the white line. After I started to get chilly and not being able to warmup by pedaling I turned on a little side road for about 50 ft and set up my tent for the night. A total of 7 vehicles passed me after leaving gunnison 30 miles ago. Talk about desolate. I wke up to the full moon shining at me sometime in the night. It was so bright that I thought it was a car! There is no light pollution out her and you can see so many stars its incredible. It was an amazing day. The first half was agony with my quad and those never ending climbs that dragged on. The second half of the day was ecstacy with not acare in the world and being able to experience something that very few people get too. My quad didn't even bother me at al and my achilles felt pretty good.
How is the giro de talia and the maglia rosa going?

day25 82mi 6:21 ely,NV

Woke up and had breakfast with leeann and collin at 7:30. She made homemade biscuits and some egg,potato, sausage goulash. I filled up and had a couple of glasses of water for the day ahead. I hepled them load a 4wheeler onto a trailer and slipped on the loading ramp. I was o.k. and we got it on there without any trouble. I started out and immediately thought that something was wrong with my legs, but I was going up a false flat. Most of the terrain here is gradual climbing and descending with a valley in between. The terrain was gradual 6-10mph on the uphills and 15-30 on the downhills. I ate an apple and banana a couple of hours into my ride at the top of a summit and planted the apple core and poured a little bit of water on it to help it grow. Hopefully it will grow, but I'm not holding my breath. It has been a little greener today thatn the other days though. There has been little tufts of grass on the side f the road. not a lot, but some. Saw a deer or baby elk? on the opposite side of the road from me and it stayed about 100-150yds ahead of me trying to find a gap in the fence. After about 10 minutes of pedaling it finally found one, slipped through and bounded away from me. You don't see that in car. That is what is so neat about riding is that you see things that you normally wouldn't notice or find. Same thing with hiking. Anyway, I left a full 32oz bottle of water on the side of the road 30 miles before ely because I had enough to make it to and hopefully someone else could use it if they ran into trouble. I was peeing a lot more today and actually went while riding twice because I didn't want to stop. You just get going on a downhill, check the wind direction lean over to the left, check for traffic and go for it. Be quiet, its not that gross pros do it all the time and usually a teammate pushes them, opposite side of course. I rolled into ely and was excited to stay in a hostel, but no one knew what or where a hostel was so I camped at a koa down the road. Chatted with a girl who worked at the koa about my trip and about the navy since she contepplating maybe going in as a d.c.man or woman to be pc. Ate my last can of expired mixed veggies mar31 with some tuna and couscous. Had some fruit cocktail for desert. A biker (biker=motorcycle) stopped by and inquired about my trip and the gear I was using. Another of the koa employees stopped by and chatted with me for a while because he used to go cycling when he lived in massachusetts. Took a shower and noticed a lump on my right underarm, looks like an insect bite and I wil keep my eye on it. The 80 miles today didn't feel nearly as bad as going to eureka. I was better hydrated and left earlier in the day. I had to stop a couple of times for the pain in my right inside quad, but it would come and go.

day24 0 miles eureka,NV

Woke up early in my hotel room and couldn't fall asleep again. Shawne dropped by before he rolled out to ely. Laid around in bed all morning watching t.v. and made some couscous which I ended up throwing away because it tasted like crap. I think I should have used boiling water instead of hot water. Did some laundry and undated my ournal for the last couple days. bought some groceries and mailed home some more clothes and a couple of books that I finished. Took off my underside of the downtube bottle holder and sent it home because no bottles will fit without rubbing the tire. I think it is meant for those smaller euro bottles that are thinner and not as tall.Stopped by an antique museum and chatted with the lady there for awhile. Leeann (sp?) was nice enough to lend me her phone so I could call home. thanks again. I stopped in later after updating my blog at the library and she invited me to breakfast with her and her husband, rollin (sp?), the next morning. It was very refreshing to talk to her and chat with someone who shares a lot of the same views as I have. I accepted her gracious offer of a free breakfast and wandered off to eat lunch. Had another steak for lunch to try and get some iron in me. Shaved my face today because its so hot out and it is very wierd to be clean shaven after almost 3 months of scruff. Thought about shaving my legs because they are getting fuzzy and decided against it. I bougth some blackberries and ate them and they tasted like gross. They didn't taste like blackberries at all. It was pretty wierd. Watched a couple of basketball games and fell asleep.Thanks for the advice chris. I know what I should be doing, but sometimes I don't follow the advice. It is very hard to bring enough water for these huges tretches between towns and the water gets warm which makes it that much tougher to want to drink.

day23 102mi 7:44 eureka,nv

Woke up before the sun came over the tops of the mountains and drifted in and out until it finally punched over the top of them. Packed up and got on the road. Austin is located on a hillside and it is steep, about 8%. Made it into austin fairly early for lunch and had a sandwich and piece of pie. Talked with a couple of bikers, motorcyclists, who were on a weeklong vacation and one of them had done stp some years ago in a day and a half. There were 2 guys, dave and sam, sitting down to lunch also and they struck up a conversation with me about my trip and sam is doing the aids ride down in socal in the summer. He was nice enough to pick up my tab and gave me some granola bars before I took off. I bought some more water because the next town or anything was 70 miles away! I decided to try and make it there get a hotel and rest the next day. I set off and immediately hit 3-4 long switchbacks. There were a couple of lower passes that weren't that bad ,around 6500, and then a long relatively flat stretch for like 20-30 miles. Your sense of depth out here is really distorted. The road doesn't look that long before it turns, but it goes on for miles. Highway 50 is called the loneliest road in america. There is nothing out here. There is absolutely NOTHING out here. All you have to amuse yourself with are your thoughts. A lot of people would wave at me or give me a thumbs up as they drove by which boosted my spirits a bit. I took a little nature break at a rest stop that only had some trash cans and 2 picnic tables with an awning over them. A man in a pickup told me that there were 3 cyclists ahead of me and one guy on a recumbent heading west. I knew one of them was shawne but had no idea who the other 2 cyclists were. I was getting pretty tired and trying to make good time with the tailwind. I was eating a granola bar every hour and drinking nuun and taking endurolytes, but I still wasn't peeing that much. I was going through a lot of liquid. I didn't eat dinner last night and breakfast was nutella on some crackers. I haven't been very good about eating on the bike. I usually have a bottle and a half of nuun an hour and take a shot block about every hour, unless I forget. I think my main meals might be too big and that is why I feel sluggish after eating. It could also be the heat combined with the altitude. I don't really actually know whats going on, I just like to ride my bike and when I reach the atlantic ocean I have to stop because you can't ride your bike in the ocean silly. Maybe I've been out here by myself to long? The last 5 miles into eureka dragged on so long. I was crawling, going like 8 m.p.h. At this point you just play silly little mind games to keep yourself turning over the pedals. I was absolutely shot when I rolled into town. I asked around for the cheapest motel and just after I finished paying for the room shawne burst in the door and said whats up. He had gotten here around 3pm and was just bumming around town. He had already gotten a room for the night and I wish that we could have split one, but oh well. Unloaded all of my gear in my room and had my first shower in 2 days. I ate a good steak at the owl club casino and had 2 beers because well, I deserved them and tomorrow was a rest day. Shawne joined me for dinner and we sat around for a bit. He is leaving tomorrow for elle and said he would stop by in the morning before he took off. He rode 300 miles in 3 days. He is an ANIMAL. These aren't super flat either and there were stretches of 30,60 and 70 miles where there was nothing between you and the next town. Its 80 miles before you hit elle and there are some passes to climb. After dinner walked to chevron and bought a bunch of junk food. Streched for alittle bit, massaged my legs and tried to get tis huge knot out of my right quad. I drank about 50 ounces of water,no joke, and watched t.v. because I couldn't fall asleep. They have no pay phones in this town! and my cell doesn't get service. Sorry mom.

day22 127mi 7:32 16 mi N of cold spr. station

Woke up early in dayton and had a huge tailwind. I was flying. I had the wind at my back and ripped off 50 miles before 11:00. I saw frank on the side of the road and he was changing a flat. He said that shawne made it to fallon the day before. I don't know if I talked about these guys yet but frank is 60+ and shawne is 41. Shawne is doing the ride for the american lung association and is raising money because he has had one of his lungs spontaneously deflate. He is a baller.
I stopped and ate at roundtable pizza and ate pizza and breadsticks for lunch. I was kind of running out of water because there is nothing for 30 miles where I stopped for lunch. I saw a windmill with a cistern below it that a pipe was pouring water into and I pulled over took a picture and climbed up on top of it to fillup a couple of bottles. A little later on I stopped in middlegate and had a burger and fries that I couldn't finish and a beer. All the patrons in there were watching trivial pursuit on t.v. and I talked to some old guy who used to ride out by the grand canyon on a 15 speed a long time ago. Bought some more water there and then headed off for cold creek springs. I rooled up to cold spring station which according to the map had camping, showers and restrooms. I turned in and didn't see much. A jeep pulled up and the driver said the owner was his brother and to knock on his door. I rolled my bike over to a fence and leaned it against it and knocked on the door. A man answered and told me that the restaurant/showers/restrooms had burned down. I told him that was fine and I just needed someplace to camp. He said to find any grassy spot and refused to take any money for it. His brother , from the jeep, came over and talked to me about my trip for a couple minutes and then headed off to get some dinner or something.I hadn't eat dinner yet because I was still full from the food I had eaten earlier and wasn't very hungry. I was sitting down and just about to write in my journal when My stomach started rumbling. Iwalked back to the house and asked the guy if I could use his restroom very politely. He blew up, screamed no a bunch of times and told me to camp somewhere else. I stood there shocked for a second and then hurriedly packed up my stuff. I was kind of mad. I packed up and decided to just ride as far as the light would let me because it was cooler now and the next place to get anything was 45 miles away in austin. I Put my flashing red light in my pocket and turned around every so often to scan for traffic behind me. I rode with some water in my mouth and just breathed through my nose, so I wouldn't be taking sips all the time to relieve my dry throat. I rode hard and finally saw a chain installation pulloff at the side of the road as it was getting dark. I rode 16 miles in 55 minutes with that wonderful tailwind. What a long day in the saddle. I pulled off the blacktop about 20 yards and set up my tent. A semi pulled in as I was reading, i am the messenger which I finished, but didn't bother me at all.

day21 66 miles dayton,nv

Sorry about that last post I was hurrying to finish up before they kicked me off the computer. I should have elaborated on the thoughts I had while climbing. I also misspelled a lot of words at the end. I won't let time constraints sacrifice the quality of my writing in the future.

Woke up and I replaced my broken spoke. It was on the nondrive side. I had to take off amy cassette to get to it. I have no idea how tight its supposed to be. I just tightened it until it 'felt' about as tight as the other spokes on that side. The only thing I know is that drive side spokes are tighter than non drive side. Tht exhausts my knowledge of wheel trueing. We all rolled out at 9 am all bundled up and I was wearing my bandana for the descent. Still had about 500 feet of climbing before we hit the top of carson pass, 8500 ft. Shawne and I had dropped frank just after starting and stopped to wait for him. A little while after frank caught up with us a highway patrolman stopped and told us 'You can't sit here in the road, you will get hit by a car ' and drove off. Nice to see you too. We decided to get to the top all together and I wound up in front doing a nice slow tempo. I didn't want to drop anybody because this moment was to important for all of us. At this altitude its ahrd to get a full breathe. It feels llike you can't get a nnice deep breath. Its because there is less air pressure and you can't get as much oxygen into your lungs. We finally crested the last little bit and high fived as we saw the carson pass signpost. Melody had driven up behind us and we took a bunch of pictures. This is the highest I have ever been and I only used my legs to get me here. Amazing. Shawne had a camera that he mounted to his handlebar/stem and was going to tape the descent. The pavement was good and I led off down the mountain. Shawne said he hit 54m.p.h and I was pulling away from him. I was in a pretty good tuck and just tried to not let the wind push me around to much. The trick with descending is that you just turn your brain off. The last thing you think about is falling off. You go down at these speeds and they are going to scrape you off the pavement anyway, so don't think about it and be loose and relaxed. I probably hit the high fifties and might have flirted with 60m.p.h. The first 15 miles or so I pretty much soft pedalled except for that climb to the top of carson pass. The border into nevada was lame. It was just a signpost with nevada on one side and california on the other with a white stripe across the road. I stopped in Genoa to change and had a blueberry ice cream cone. Stopped in carson city to get some money and found a bike shop where I got an extra spoke, 2 water bottles, nuun and some clif blocks. The guy at the shop was nice enough to fiddle around with my bike computer and got it working again. Stopped in the library and updated my blog. Camped at dayton state park and met a guy who wrote a little article about highway 50 that was published about 12 years ago. He gave me some tips on some places to stop along the way. I won't be leaving 50 for a looong time. I broke another spoke today sometime and changed it out after dinner. I was looking at my maps and didn't realize tht Colorado is like 900 miles away. Had a strong tailwind for most of the day.

day20 57miles ? 11,000ft/climing kirkwood,ca

Ended up paying $28 DOLLARS for that crappy campsite last night. I should have just kept on riding down the road and slept somewhere else. Stopped at somerset and had a croissant and some chai tea. Talked to the waitress a bit about my trip and then rode off. Had dido running through my head for some reason as I was climbing all morning. I think its because that is always what I listen to before hiking and it reminded me of driving up for a hike. Had lunch about 1/4 mile before the junction to 88. Stopped at cooks station and had a twix and a sierra nevada. I just sat there zoned out and I kind of wanted to just curl up and go to sleep and not face the rest of the climbing I had to do today. I was climbing around 1000ft/hr according to the elevation markers 4000ft, 5000ft, 6000ft, I should get to my campsite real soon. man, this long. I'm so sick of climbing. Why did I bring so much stuff? 7000ft my hand s are getting really cold. I stopped and sat in a snowbank and drank 1 of the sodas I had saved from john. I put on some gloves and figured that I would climb and then descend into kirkwood and get a hotel because my feet were going numb and my fingers were getting really cold. The last 3 miles to kirkwood felt like 10. I finally get to kirkwood about 7ish. I don't know what time it is because my watch broke a while ago and my bike computer decided to stop working this morning. Finally got to kirkwood and turned into the all season resort and it was deserted. No cars and no lights, so I just kept going down that main road and an suv that had passed me a bunch of times earlier in the day started honking at me. They had a bike rack on the back so I knew they were good people. I roll up to the driver side window and they tell me to follow them. They got a room and nothing is open. The whole resort closes may 1. I follow them dump my bike in their room and then I take a shower while they make reservations for dinner 15 miles down the road. There was another guy named shawne that the couple, frank and melody, met at a bed and breakfast the night before. We ate at a place in woodfords and we demolished some huge plates of pasta. We even had dessert too. It started raining while we were eating and we were all so glad that we weren't huddled in our sleeping bags trying to stay out of the wind and rain. We drove through snow to get back to our room and me and shawne sat around and talked for a bit. He had called his girlfriend earlier and gotten the weather for tomorrow. gusts up to 50m.p.h. 36' in the morning and a coule of inches of snow! Linda called a number left on a door and reached a lady who was leaving for carson city in a couple of minutes. She eneded up giving us a room and they saw me rolling by as they were looking for someplace to eat. The timing of all of that was amazing. We have anice fire going right now and I broke a spoke today climbing somewhere. I will repalce it tomorrow. We only have about 500ft before the summit of carson pass. This is the highest I have ever been on my bike and I still have 500ft to go. My legs are stiffening up and they feel soo tired. My achilles felt o.k. today and I will get into Nevada tomorrow.

day19 112km ? somerset,ca

Woke up and it was raining on and off.ls jersey, raincoat, booties, knickers, no gloves. Started to rain kind of hard when I rode through sac st. to the american river bike trail. It was wierd because I ran in the american river half-marathon a year ago and I remember water stops and certain points along the course. They must have had it on saturday because there were still some barriers and a bunch of porta-potties by the start/finish line. Saw a lot of cyclists and runners. It was raining on and off, but it wasn't cold. It felt like june to me. The trail is nice, but there were some big puddles that covered the whole trail. It took you all the way into fulsom and was probably 25-30 miles long. I passed some type of collegiate crew competition they were having on a lake or something. I climbed about 1000ft total to get to placerville and then sort of stair-stepped after that. My right rear pannier bolt came out agian and I had tostop and replace it. Chucked my rear fender. They have been nothing but problems. My front fender I threw in the trash in san fransisco. A policeman stopped his suv and asked if I was o.k. while I was replacing the bolt. Decided to camp at sly campground which was 6 miles out of the way and I regret it. 6 miles of climbing!!! I was climbing for 50 minutes. I finally get to the campsite and there are pit toilets and no showers. A guy, john, and his dog were there and when he went to start up his truck it wouldn't start. He used my phone and made a couple of phone calls to try and get a jump. A van was passing by a while later which he flagged down and got a jump from. A couple was driving the vand and the husband, ed, had done some touring along the coast of oregon last year. He was great and offered to help me out If I ran into trouble over carson pass. John was awesome too. He gave me 2 sodas and some leftover chow mein he wasn't going to eat. A truck stopped by sometime after dark and drove around before asking me where the guy was who needed the jump. I told him that he had gotten a jump earlier and he left.

day18 0 km sacramento,ca

Woke up to rain today and I really, really didn't feel like getting on the bike. I know, I know. I'm losing my hardman, i'll ride in anything status. But it gives me another day to rest and ice my achilles and hang out withthe wonderful funny family that is the thorne's. Tara, Miles and I wnet to IKEA around noon and then stopped by his new condo that he bought. Rode to the bike shop and bought a rear light for carson pass. It was Art's birthday today and we had some good food and great wine to celebrate. I have definitely got my fill of antioxidants while staying here. I bought some optygen at r.e.i. so will see how that goes. Art used to ride a long time ago before everything started getting developed and we talked about riding for a bit.

day17 0 km sacramento,ca

Tara had an interview this morning. Miles and I went to r.e.i. to pick up some stuff and then swung back and picked up Tara after she was done. The bike shop called and said my bike was done, so I had Miles drop me off at the shop. I had broken a driveside spoke and they replaced it. They also gave me some extras and showed me how to replace them. Rode it back to the house and started reading 'the rider' which I picked up at r.e.i and iced my achilles.

day16 85km 4:14

got an early start today (7:30) and it turns out I was 12 miles away from the campsite. No way I would have made it with the light I had left. There was a bike path going into davis,ca and I got turned around and rode through the campus. There were bikes everywhere. I mean everywhere. Everyone was riding. Stopped and ate at crepeville, it was yummy. Got back on the bike and took some flat farm roads and then the yolo causeway, which paralells 50 going into sacramento. I was tryiing to find the biekt rail again after crossing over the river in sac and a policeman on a bike told me 'you have to walk it through the tunnel.' I said I was from out of town and just trying to find a friends house and he gave me some good directions to miles parents place. I showed up to their house at about noon and rang the doorbell, nothing. So I called thier phone and just after his mom, debbie, picked up my phone died. I tried the doorbell again to no answer and was rolling my bike out to ride off to a pay phone when she called out from thier side gate area. I quickly went over and explained who I was so she wouldn't be alarmed. She told me of a bike shop down the street and I rode down to get my bike a new chain put on. I walked back to the house and took a nice hot shower. She left to pick up miles and tara from the airport and I iced my achilles for a while and read. We had an awesome pasta salad for dinner that was suprisingly simple but delicious. Slept on a futon and not in my sleeping bag:)