Lots of photos

Pictures from the trip!

Santa Fe

Making arrangements and enjoying Santa Fe before flying out on Monday. Photos and such:

Nachos with pork belly. Because America. And the divide.

Naked bikes! Weird!

In the box. Much easier than last time.

Jennie putting the finishing touches on her bike.

That's it. Bikeless in Santa Fe. They're being shipped.

To celebrate. Nice tequila. When in Rome.. (Or close to Rome)

The final push

Stayed in Chama last night. Weird campground.

We rode the 60 miles to Abiquiu before noon and didn't feel like stopping so we kept going. (No rain!!)

110 miles in the desert heat and now we're in Santa Fe! A fitting end to this trip.

This motel is terrible but looking forward to some rest, food, and beers.

Us. Bright sun. Tired. Relieved.

Camel rock?

Echo amphitheater.

Off route in New Mexico

From Del Norte we rode 12 or so miles up the road between thunderstorms to get to a cabin available for cyclists. It was not what we expected! I have a lot more pictures but this is the only one on my phone. It was an amazing place with everything homemade and a lot of metal work.

From there it was up Indiana pass to the highest elevation on the route! 11910! It was a high point literally and figuratively for the day. Shortly after we got caught in yet another storm. Fortunately we rolled up to a cabin full of atv'ers and they let us take shelter and fed us! We got rained on more on the way down to Platoro and were so cold that we just stopped riding there. Oh and we hit more mud that rendered our drive trains inoperable. Had to wash them in a stream best we could before continuing.

We decided after this ride, one of several in succession, that we were done. We were going to ride the route to Abiquiui or Cuba but the map warns of bad mud in rain and our nerves are shot from all the thunderstorms. We've been riding early to avoid them but they've been hitting before noon the past few days. We've been starting our days not looking forward to riding but dreading when the storms would hit and how vulnerable we'd be.

So we're riding roads to Santa Fe from here. We'll get there a bit early so we're hoping to ride some single track somewhere nearby once we get there.

Riding up out of the valley (Conejos canyon) we rode down from Platoro. Pretty but one of the worst roads we've been on.

Made it to NM today also. Rode the great divide route all the way through CO except for the last few miles where we diverted to the road.

Del Norte, CO

Saw a rattlesnake this morning. It rattled at me. A first!

Also saw big horn sheep!

Also saw rocks and sand! 

It was a very pretty ride. Sitting in Three Barrels brewery in Del Norte waiting for a hailstorm to pass before setting off another 10 miles up the road.

Beer rest day. Salida, CO

A rest day focused on beer, not a rest day from beer.

We rolled into Salida around mid day Friday and went straight to the bike shop. Despite a previous diagnosis and "repair" that didn't work, the bike mechanic at sub culture bike shop found my headset to be quite the train wreck. He was super nice and got us out of there in a few hours and with way less monetary damage than he rightfully could of. Feels nice now.

While the bike was being serviced we ate pizza and had beer at moonlight pizza. Their white ipa was tasty and a saison mixed with hard apple cider was surprisingly nice!

Then it was off to Amica brewing where I had another saison that was great. Best in a while. 

While picking up the bike, Murph arrived. We guided on the Lehigh river about 8 years ago and I hadn't seen him since. Murph was always one of my favorite people so it was great that his plans for going to the salida beer festival coincided with our trip!! We had a great time catching up.

The festival was Saturday and was fantastic. Lots of solid saisons, session pales, a few notable sours, and one or two stand out IPAs. Best beer festival I've been too hands down, and I was introduced to the pretzel necklace, which I'm sure will now be standard equipment.

Murph was also at the festival with a dozen or more friends from CO. It was great to meet them all!

Short ride today due to logistics. Up and over Marshall pass, just under 11k. At the top we got caught in a gnarly thunderstorm with a bunch of other people and all crowded into an outhouse. That makes two outhouse shelters for this trip. 

Nice descent to Sargents where we ate and watched pea size hail fall. Sleeping here tonight and then off to who knows where tomorrow. 7 days of riding left.

Notable animal sightings recently: coyote and porcupine. 

Hartsel ranch and moonlight.

Not sure I've seen a cactus blooming before. From our campsite for two nights in salida.

Me, Murph, pretzel necklaces.

Hartsel

In Hartsel, CO today after about 70 miles. It was a nice bike path cruise from Silverthorne to Breckenridge and then a nicely graded, very scenic climb up to Boreas pass, 11,482 ft! 

Got poured on on the way down but then it was pretty cool for the rest of the ride to Hartsel. On pace for beer in Salida tomorrow!

On the road out of Breckenridge

Pass beer (a la summit beer) felt surprisingly good climbing up there.

2 lunches, 1 dinner, 2 days of snacks 

Silverthorne, CO

Climbs!

First we climbed up away from the Colorado river through the mouth of gore canyon.

Then we climbed through ute pass.

Now we are in silverthorne. Threaded the needle between some thunderstorms! 

Tough 65 miles today. Very tired.

The descent from Ute pass.

Look at that shiny new red pannier!

Bears on bears on bears

Well after bearing in mind the risk of not securing our food from creatures the whole trip we finally had an encounter.

We were camping in Steamboat Springs, CO. One of those busy commercial joints. We asked if they had somewhere we could put our food or if we should just bear bag it (hang from tree). The employee laughed and said that isn't a problem here but thanks for asking.

In the middle of the night we heard a bike fall over. We where very tired and it was very windy. So no investigation.

In the morning we found the damage. The bear had ripped into our dry bag/pannier and eaten nearly all of our food and our bug spray. It also shredded Jennie's front dry bag and cracked her helmet. 

Fortunately upon explaining what happened to the campground, the owner cut us a check to cover some of our costs. It was very generous and made the damage easier to bear.

We rounded up a new pannier, dry bag, helmet, and cache of food in steamboat. It was lucky we were in a town that had everything! We were riding by noon and by 8 or so had done all the miles we had planned to do.

Where we are camped is lousy with Mosquitos so it is probably best we got here late anyway. We are our dinner while briskly walking around the campsite to avoid the mosquitos.

Some really great riding today. Lots of climbing and a really cool descent! We are camped along the Colorado river! Lack of pictures due to time crunch.

60 miles today, Silverthorne tomorrow. Bear damages below.

Mixed emotions and Colorado

Well, we skipped a big chunk of trail. From Pinedale it looked like rain and thunderstorms were forecasted for the great divide basin. A long wide open section with no cover and sections that are impassable when wet. We didn't want to lose more time because of weather and were terrified of the notion of thunderstorms in the open so we got a ride to Rawlins.

We don't feel great about skipping. But since we aren't going to finish it seems like less of an issue to focus on riding as much as possible and enjoying ourselves.

Rode 15 miles out of Rawlins to a desert camp. Heard coyotes a lot, lots of wind. Very pretty.

Rode 70 or so to brush mountain lodge yesterday where we had lots of food and beer and had a great time talking with some local folks. That is an amazing place. If you ride the divide you must go to there.

Today we rode to steamboat springs. Waiting for the brewery to open. The ride was great! Big steep climb early then lots of descending and nice rolling riding. The first part of the descent may have been incredibly rocky.

Staying here tonight. Trying to get to Salida this weekend for a beer festival and to see an old friend.

Pinedale

Had a couple of great riding days recently. Unfortunately more storms yesterday. We hitched a ride for the last bit of yesterday to avoid thunderstorms and to get to pinedale before the bike shop closed (and closed for the 4th). It was a bunch of flat pavement so we don't feel bad :p. Good news is my headset is okay for now and the play in my front hub was a figment of my imagination or just not bad enough to worry about.

Taking a rest day here in Pinedale for our heads as much as legs. Our bad luck with the weather has us dreading the great divide basin section. It is a long way with very little shelter from bad weather. 

Forecast is pretty good though, so we'll see.

Didn't take any phone pics yesterday but this beer was good.

Halfway to somewhere: day 20

Camped with some fun guys from Knoxville last night. Some good southeastern camaraderie! 

Short day today on the count of limited sleeping options..50 miles or so. Hoping for pinedale tomorrow. That'd be a big day and hopefully a fixed headset.

Today a climb up to 9500 ft! It was great! Long climbs over rolling terrain any day.

A scene from the notch and the top of the climb.

Oh them Tetons is big now

Shortish 60 miles today through sweet terrain near Yellowstone. Then some highway to wherever we are now.

It is a campground on Jackson Lake.

It is FULL of people and we feel a little overwhelmed. Cyclist camping is secluded and nice.

There are gorgeous views of te Tetons everywhere and there is beer.

Climby on the morrow.

His and hers. Rode to the lake without our stuff. Our bikes were FAST!

Kid in the back is mad impressed by Jennie's glove tan.

Day 18: somewhere in Idaho

RV camping place let us pitch a tent in their yard last night. Got to smell lots of grilling while we ate our pasta sides.

Back and forth today with two other groups of riders. 

Pretty and mellow riding. Along with our first glimpses of some random big mountains in the distance.

Wyoming tomorrow. 

They look oh so GRAND.

Awesome descent along the Warm River.

Idaho!

No thunderstorms!!!!! 

More large expanses of Montana to start the day.

Mostly easy miles other than a remarkably continuously bumpy road that got to be a bit frustrating.

Finally a continental divide crossing with a sign! A divide crossing and finally done with Montana. Here's hoping we left her weather with her.

We ran into a crew filming some sort of documentary as well.

And had a stand off with a bull. He was big and staring at us and very close. Finally we got up the nerve to ride by him. He didn't care.

Russ bus

Sometimes you are having a kind of boring rest day after deciding you won't hit your goal. Then sometimes a friend drives a long way with fresh beer and it doesn't matter any more. Cheers Russ Bus!

Also we cooked our own steaks on a grill outside a bar. Because Montana.

Lima, MT: maybe time for some rest.

Yesterday was a rough one.

We started off from the hostel (bunks in a tackle shop) at high country lodge, where we had a nice stay. 

Yet again we were plagued by thunderstorms from the start. We got slammed by one at around 10 am and while cold, it only lasted 15-30 minutes.

Then sometime after lunch my energy level plummeted. I could barely spin in the granny gear up short hills. Another storm was bearing down so we threw up the tent quickly and I immediately passed out for 1-1.5 hours. Afterwards I felt normal.

We met up with a British guy who lives in Qatar and was racing (we've been meeting some of the back of the pack racers in recent days). 

We crested the top of the one climb of the day and were immediately in a big tstorm. No sweat, we were descending. 

Maybe a half mile into the descent I lost control of my bike and was sliding wildly all over the trail. When I stopped and got back on the bike my wheels wouldn't move. The mud was so thick it had built up and stopped my wheels. The same happened to Jennie and the Qatar guy. We were pretty freaked out as the lightening strikes were very close and we were in the open at 7500 ft or so. 

We then pushed the bikes 2-3 miles through the sage brush off the road. Even pushing the bike across the road would pick up so much mud it would lock up the tires. About a half mile after we were able to ride on the road again we found a spot to camp and stayed the night. 65+ miles, 12 hours.

This morning we rode the 40 or so miles to Lima. Storms around but none hit us. The ride started with more wide open Montana (pic below) and then we weaved down through some really cool dry canyons with lots of steep rock. It was a great ride. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics with my phone.

Anyway, the long diatribe is to describe the conditions that have really beat us down over the past two weeks. Physically we are doing well but we are failing to put in the requisite big miles in crappy weather. And our nerves are fried from the thunderstorm encounters. The weather is supposed to change after tomorrow so we may wait here and then start riding again. Either way we are most certainly not going to finish. So soon we will pick a new destination for an end point. Probably somewhere where getting to an airport won't be a problem and the daily mileage to get there is manageable enough for us to take our time, enjoy, and maybe even explore a little. Southern Colorado? Northern New Mexico? Ideas welcome.

Polaris, new map tomorrow

Butte to Polaris today. 85 miles or so.

Couple of firsts: highest I've been on a bike ~7800 ft (soon to be surpassed) and longest climb at ~30 miles.

We got an early start and dodged tstorms all day but didn't get rained on!!! 

Saw some fun new terrain today too. Here is a picture of me standing by my bike with some of it. Oh and we saw a funny looking bird.. Big w long legs.. Need to check on that one.

Butte, live from Quarry brewery

We're in Butte. It is raining again. 

Going to try for Polaris tomorrow.

After the storm we got caught in before Helena we needed repairs badly. Those weren't done until 2 and then we got caught in another tstorm high up after starting to ride. Made it 20 miles. Cooked dinner in the awning of a pit toilet. It was nice and safe feeling even when the booms were close.

Basically another lost day. Finishing at this point has been downgraded to "everything has to go perfect" from "not too much can go wrong" we'll keep in mind the mileage necessary for us to finish bit I think it is going to become even less of a focus.

Anyway, the riding today was mostly glorious. A bunch of technical rocky stuff over 7000 ft and a really cool canyon. Then a tailwind to Butte with a brief stop over in a tunnel to figure out what the thunderstorms were doing.

Beers now, bigger miles tomorrow.

Yea yea. Super fun on a loaded bike!

T-storm tunnel.

Helena

Clear cuts is the phrase of the day. Started off the day not being able to find shade in oppressive heat because of clear cuts and then ran like hell from lightening through clear cut after clear cut with no shelter.

Big day today, Nelson campground to Helena .. 90 miles on the trip computer. 80 yesterday and 70 the day before. Starting to feel like we're finding our stride. 

Today we rode 4 passes (3 big climbs) and crossed the divide 3 times.

After today though we may be back on the struggle bus. Our bikes are in rough shape after we got caught in a storm at the end of today. A day that started off hot ended cold and wet. I'm getting chain suck again and some brake pads are in order. So we need a bike shop tomorrow am before rolling...

Jennie at the first divide crossing of the day, nearly 7000 ft!

First divide crossing.

Starting descent of second climb.

Another muddy rainy mess, another motel stay. 

Seeley Lake

In Seeley Lake. Gorgeous riding yesterday and today! Stayed at Holland lake last night. Headed past Ovando hopefully today.

I rolled up fast on a bull moose this morning. It had just heard my whistle (blowing whistle around blind turns) and was running across the road. Impressive beast!

Half mayo half sweet and sour. Canned chicken. Add it to the recipe book.

Jennie's sweet real tree crocks were lost to the universe on a rocky downhill somewhere in Canada. These were procured in whitefish and will suffice.

I have lots more photos but they'll have to wait as most are on my camera.