homecoming

There was no "Welcome to Illinois" sign.  I've seen them a hundred times before. Driving to and from Wisconsin every weekend in the winter, coming home from road trips, from day trips to Indiana.  I've seen the sign more times than I can count, but thats not the point.  I've never really missed Illinois before. I've never really wanted to be welcomed back, until today that is. And today, of all days I didn't see it.

No matter.  I was greeted by the Missisipi, which for all its trash and toxic waste was actually really pretty to ride along.  I was greeted by rolling hills along the western shore of the river that I didn't know existed.  I was greeted by familiar town names, places I remembered hearing about through various soccer tournaments, state competitions in High School, or road trips I'd taken with friends. And most exciting for me, I was greeted by my family, when my dad and aunt showed up around lunch to ride with me in to Peru.

As much as I had been looking forward to this day for weeks, Illinois sure knew how to welcome me back.  Between the heat index pushing 110, the 20 mile an hour crosswind turned headwind and 4 consecutive flat tires after going the entire state of Iowa without a single flat, there were about a hundred points during today that I probably would have called it quits if I hadn't gotten to ride with my dad.

My dad is the person who got me interested in cycling, and who put up with me for hour after hour on the roads and up hills at my mind numbingly slow pace.  I've done a few rides with him in the past, but it was nice to meet up with him at this point because, while he still kicks my ass up hill, I think I can finally keep a flats pace that doesn't drive him nuts. Better than the ride, however was being able to get dinner and drinks (and reluctantly more tubes) with my family, and spend an evening catching up on the events of the past month.  Even though I'll be home tomorrow, it was a nice sneak peak, and really made my homecoming enjoyable. 

I'm still bitter about that sign though.

Of mountains and mole hills

Yesterday might have been our first day in the Rockies, but today was our first real climb. We started the day on winding, confusing bike trails that lead in and out of subdivisions, ski villages, and golf courses. It rained off and on all morning and by the time we made it to he base of the first pass we were wet, annoyed and already tired. We slowly climbed up the 11 mile Vail pass that was not quite gradual enough to be easy, but gradual enough to be possible. We made a wrong turn, did some extra climbing, and met a few people along the way.

After nearly two long hours of climbing the summit was within sight. As we rounded the lake at the top of the pass the skies, which had looked ready to dump since the base, opened up on us. Rain quickly turned to hail as we rushed toward the van parked at the summit. After the hail let up we began our descent. What is usually the best part of a climb turned out to be a miserable experience. The path was narrow and slick keeping us at around 15 mph, and the wind made the cool mountain temperatures seem freezing. Halfway down the hail started up again and we took shelter with some other riders who were on their way up. By the time we got down to the base we were drenched and freezing and looking for a bathroom. We wandered around a resort village for a while, stopped in a bar and finally met up with the rest of the group.

 After eating in a gas station we set out to finish off the last few miles on a bike path, and saw lightening in the direction we were headed. We waited it out for a bit, but it wasn't seeming to completely let up, so we called it a day and took the vans in to the town of Vail. Our hosts for the night had an awesome house in Silverthorne. They had nachos, snack bars, water, post cards and every kind of Oreo made by Nabisco waiting for us when we got there. They also directed us in to town where I hit up the Pearl Izumi outlet and picked up a pair of bike shorts for $30 and a light jacket that I am in love with. I'm not sure I'm ready for another day of climbing tomorrow.

Another one Bites the dust

We left this morning from North Platte before the sun came up, and made it a whole 15 miles before my back tire started swelling up, and the tube blew through the rubber. The couple that had put us up the night before on their lawn knew a bike shop owner in town, and I was able to back track in the van and pick up a new tire, tubes, and some insulated water bottles for an awesome discount.

I caught back up to the group at lunch and finished off the ~70 mile day into Lexington, NE, a small town that survives off of, and smells like, its meat packing plant. We stayed at a small campground outside of town (far enough out of town to avoid the smell) and had breakfast for dinner made of pancakes and eggs. Here's to hoping that I actually get a full, uninterupted day of riding in Nebraska tomorrow, and here's to hoping my new tire holds up, at least for a little while. 

The grass is greener

We left this morning from our host's house in Denver well fed on a big breakfast of eggs and chocolate cake. We spent a goood part of the morning on a bike trail next to the interstate, eventually turning on to country roads. As difficult as the Rockies were, I didn't realize rolling hills and headwinds could be worse.  We spent a good ten miles on "Inspiration road" which was anything but inspirational.  Watching the cars crest the hill in front of us, and expecting a descent only to be met by bigger, steeper hills was completely disheartening. Luckily we turned after 10 miles or so and settled in on roads that were a lot less hilly and headwind-y.  After you leave Denver, you're still in Colorado, but you might as well just call it Nebraska. Once you leave the Rockies it gets flat pretty quickly, and the scenic highways quickly become county roads through corn fields. Some people find it boring, but to me it finally feels like I'm home. Being from the Midwest riding through corn fields (and soy fields and grass fields and all sorts of other fields) is where I feel most at home riding.  We pulled up for the night at Fort Morgan, CO a surprisingly large rural town with a nice public park open to campers.  We had a dinner of left over pasta and were given the leftovers of a chocolate cake (second time today!) from a family having a birthday party at the park. Most of us called it a night under the stars and didn't bother to set up tents below the clear skies.   Unfortunately for us the forecast might have been clear, but the public park sign that let us know we could camp neglected to also post the sprinkler schedule. Although the lush green grass in the middle of a summer drought should have served as a warning, we were all unpleasantly surprised to be pelted in the face at 12:30 in the morning by the sprinkler system. In a sleepy daze we dragged our mats a hundred feet away and went back to sleep.... until an hour later when the second wave of sprinklers turned on and soaked us for a second time.  In the morning our departure was delayed by the collective need to wring out our sleeping bags and dump the standing water out of our bags. From here on out I think we will all be a bit wearier about sleeping on well manicured lawns. 

The best laid plans

Today was another rest day and it was desperately needed. This week had a lot of really difficult days and a day off the bike could not have come soon enough.  Glennwood springs was a beautiful town, but it was a very touristy town and therefore everything was very expensive.  We had a lot of plans for the day; hot springs, gondola ride to caverns, hiking, but none of it came to fruition.  We never really found the springs (although we never really looked) and it was windy and then lightening making us rethink a trip up the mountain.

In the end we just wound up hanging around the downtown area, grabbing food in a cafe, and I finished my book in a cafe waiting for people to finish spa appointments.  I also bought some much needed supplies, a notebook, a new mouthpiece for my camelbak and some snacks to punctuate the energy bars I eat all day. 

Happy birthday 'Murica

Today was finally a shorter day, though not necessarily an easier day.  The whole morning was a lot of climbing and rolling hills that seemed to require a lot of work without a lot of payoff.  After about 30 miles we finally hit the downhill, but the head wind was rough and the descent still required a good amount of work.  5 miles out of lunch Cacie's tire went the way of mine and exploded through the patch job I'd done the night before, putting her tied in first with me and Sydney for ruined tires. Unable to ride the van picked her up and I finished the ride to lunch on my own.  Not ready to be outdone I flatted out (number 10) 2 miles out of town.

The afternoon was a pleasant surprise when the 25 miles I thought we had left turned out to be closer to 10 miles.  We render vouz-ed at a gas station, then hitched a ride into the town in the vans as there was no way to get there without using the interstate.

After a long stretch of camping having a home stay tonight was nice. We had a big home cooked meal in true 4th of july style with brats and beans and fruit and ice cream.  After dinner and much needed showers, a few of us went in to town and hit up a local brewery, I got a delicious berry ale, then picked up some harder stuff for a celebration back at the house.

Fire bans and bad timing meant that we didn't see any fireworks, but being able to sleep in tomorrow will be more than worth it. 

back to back centuries

Today we kicked off from Vernal headed east on 40 towards my favorite town in the world.  25 miles in we passed over the Utah/Colorado state line and 5 miles later were in Dinosaur, Colorado.  I had definitely been there before and I took a picture with some of the dinosaurs outside a playground the I have pictures with from 2006. After passing through the town we got on to route 64, which was much nicer than 40, with far less traffic and an actual shoulder.

The morning was not bad and we stopped for lunch at a reservoir where we we stopped to swim for a while then got back on the road.  The afternoon was pretty much consistently rolling hills, which I find worse than big climbs and descents, since you can never really enjoy the down hills before you're hit with another climb.

The hills seemed to go on forever, until finally around 4 we hit the 100 mile mark which Cacie and I celebrated with a dance party on the side of the road.  It was a first for both of us; neither of us had ever done back to back centuries. The momentum of our dance party was hardly enough to push us through the last 8 miles, which proved harder than the whole 100 before them. The last few miles seemed to go on forever.  Our asses hurt, our legs hurt, and every turn just revealed another stretch without a campsite.

One mile out Cacie blew through a tire and I rolled up to the campsite alone. Tuna salad for dinner and another night sleeping out under the stars in Meeker, CO, and I'm happy to have a day under 100 miles finally tomorrow. 

Our first century

I woke up this morning freezing even though I was sleeping in the van and not in a tent. The first 20 miles of the ride today were uncomfortably cold and my legs were numb almost to lunch. There was a lot of climbing in the morning then a nice downhill through a wild cat preservation area, where we sadly didn't see any cats. The rest of the day was a lot of rolling hills, but went by fairly quickly. I got my 9th flat tire at mile 96 then at nearly exactly 100 miles Cacie got her first. The very last 10 miles in to town were rough. We kept waiting for a downhill that never seemed to come. Finally after 112 miles we rolled in to Vernal, which was way bigger than I expected. We went and got FroYo, and tried to find a bike shop to have some of our mech issues looked at. There was only one bike shop in town and it was already closed for the day, but undeterred a few members of our group knocked on the door of the house next door that th owner appeared to live at, and he came out, opened the shop to us, then et us camp out in the field behind the shop. For dinner a few of us went to Golden Corral and ate what was probably close to 6,000 calories worth of cheap food, hung out at the McDonalds in town to try and steal som WiFi, then went back and slept out in the yad behind the shop. I realized at some point in our drive around town that I had definitely been here before on a family road trip 6 years ago, and I had been in quite a few of the attractions in town including the natural history museum.