Tuesday 30 June 2009

Day Sixty - Exhausted.

I set my alarm for 5:45 today, in an effort to try and beat the heat that I knew was coming. I got on the road eventually at 8:30, after an ordeal at a petrol station trying to get some cash back from one of my two cards since the ATM was empty. Neither of them worked (the guy must not have known what he was doing because one of the two always works), so I was forced to leave with only pocket change.

The first 25 miles were mostly uphill, with a few deceptive downhills that made me think I was further than I was. Eventually the downhill did come, just in time for the rain. Rain again in Utah!! Luckily it was only really at the top, so having put all my rain stuff on, I was peeling it off 10 minutes later,

The downhill went way too fast for my liking, and I was in 'Boulder Town' before I knew it. I pulled into a place that was a museum type building, and got talking to four young-ish people. It turned out (though they may well have been lying, it seems kind of weird) that two of them were on their honeymoon, and the other two were tagging along. They were doing backpacking, so perhaps it was to make up numbers. They fed me a small assortment of weird foods such as Wasabi peas and peanut butter filled pretzls. (they were from Oregon, apparently they're all quirky up there..). They drove off, and I went inside to ask if there was an ATM around so I could get money out. The woman snapped 'no.' quickly back at me, so I left. It was only 20something miles from here to Escalante, so I thought I'd just go for it.

My map told me that it was almost all downhill into Escalante with the exception if a short uphill. It turned out that this short uphill hadn't been drawn to scale, as I must have spent the best part of 45 minutes getting up it. It felt like it was vertical (which it almost was, as steep as any hill in the Appalacians). Once at the peak of that, it was downhill to the finish, but luckily for me my old friend the headwind was back, meaning I had to pedal downhill to maintain a mere 11mph.

I eventually made it, and stopped in the first place I saw, which luckily had a subway. Of course, I couldn't buy anything until I withdrew money, which meant going back to a petrol station I'd passed. I decided not to pedal back uphill, making my walk seem like hours. To cut a long story short, I eventually ate, but I was already beyond lethargic. I eventually persuaded myself to leave the unlimited drink machine in peace, and went up to put my tent up in the RV park. The earth here is as good as concrete, so I've had to do another bench tye-up to hold my tent up.

So tomorrow I've got a 67 mile ride to Panguitch, involving an up and over of two 'hills' (though at 7400ft and 7900ft or so, they have the potential to be killers). After Panguich, I have a steep 33 miles uphill from 6650ft or so up to 10500ft, and then an equally steep decent into Cedar City, for a much needed rest day. I also need to have a look at front racks there, because my right one has snapped in the same way as the left one has. I wasn't so bad when it was just one, because I moved all the essential items into the working bag, but now they're both out, they're both out of action. Either that, or I'll need to have a major reshuffle and prioritisation of stuff.

Monday 29 June 2009

Day Fifty-Nine - Bitten.

After a fairly restless night, I was up by 6:25 and on the road by 8:30.

To be honest, today was mostly uneventful. My route today was straight along the same road for 50 miles to a place called Torrey, with the incline being progressively uphill the whole way. The first part was fairly flat, and I was able to average around 14mph, but towards the end it got a lot steeper. It also was very hot today, though this could have been because I wasn't moving very fast. I got bitten a fair amount by Mosquitos, the only creatures that seem to survive in the desert. Perhaps it was me smelling, or my legs, or that my panniers are flourescent yellow. I need to pick up some repellent at some point, they are a nightmare.

I arrived in Torrey at around 1:30, and decided that I wanted to stay in a hotel to get out the heat. I opted for the Sandstone Inn, which is $74 per night. I didn't mind that too much though, I've earnt a surplus from camping the past couple of days.

Tomorrow I'm heading to a place called Escalante, an even 60 or so, including the peak I've been working towards today. This is my third-to-last major peak (over 8000ft), with the next one the day after tomorrow and the last being before I swoop down to sea level. I've worked out that I have 14 more cycling days to go, throw in a rest day and that means I'll be arriving in San Francisco on the 13th July. Exciting Stuff!

Sunday 28 June 2009

Day Fifty-Eight - Day in the Desert II.

I set my alarm for the same time as yesterday, but that was obviously optimistic because after my fourth 'snooze' I set a new alar
for 6:30. I managed to haul myself up, and after a breakfast of protein-type cereal bars, I set off at 8:00 on the dot.

My riding was progressively up for the first half, and progressively down for the second half. It was more of the same scenery while I was going up, moving between the shade of the massive canyons either side of me and the hot sun that was still low in the sky. I could have taken pictures all day, but it was again kind of important to reach my destination before I got grilled, There was no danger of rain today.

The last 10 miles or so were in more what I would call 'desert', with wide open views and scrub bushes scattered about. I'm looking forward to my first piece of tumbleweed, but today wasn't the day.

I arrived into Hanksville at.. I don't know what time. Lunchtime. I pulled up at a service station, that was relatively heaving. I was surprised to see so many people there, I guess it was because it's the last stop before the desert. One thing that surprised me was that there were a huge amount of water-going vessels. Powerboats, Jetskis, Canoes, the lot. I couldn't help thinking that they were a couple of hundred million years too late, but I guess there must be something here for them.

I went to the only campsite I could find, which was conveniently not far away. It has wifi too, which was great. The only problem I found was that it was hotting up now I didn't have my self-generated breeze in my face. I chatted to people on Facebook for a little while, before deciding enough was enough, and I didn't want to be hot anymore. I went for a shower and then as fast as I could went back to where I had lunch, where I promptly froze. This must seem like a completely irrelevant problem to peoples everyday stresses back home, but for me this is about the size of it. I left there after taking full advantage of the unlimited refill policy, and went to the restaurant conjoined to my campsite, getting some much needed vegetables, which brings me to now, where I've been typing up yesterday and todays blogs which has taken me hours. I rather short sightedly put my yet under a fruit tree, thinking it'd offer me shade. It didn't, but it does have a whole load of flies that enjoy eating the fallen fruit on the floor.

I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow, but I know it's almost all uphill. I'm not sure what your preconceptions of Utah are, but it is a lot hillier than I thought. It is by no means flat open plains that I was expecting, making this quite a tough place for riding.

Day Fifty-Seven - Day in the Desert I.

This post refers to Friday 26th June.

I set my alarm early this morning (5:25) so I could get on the road as soon as possible. I wanted to make it to my stopping destination at a tiny place called Hite by the time their shop shut at 4pm so I could stock up on snacks and fluids.

As it turned out, the place I went to breakfast (I found out that the my hotel in fact only serves morning coffee) were leisurely in service and large in portions, meaning 8:30 was the best I could manage. By then, it had already rained twice, which was bizzarre because I thought it didn't rain in the desert? Anyway, my first 20-30 miles were mostly uphill, and took me quite a while to complete. It was getting hot by this point, but nowhere near what I thought. To be honest it was like any other hot day I've had. After these 30 miles, the rest was progressively downhill, very much appreciated. It meant I could get some miles in a lot faster.

During the latter part of the ride, I noticed black clouds and darkness following me (made to look pretty appcalyptic through my sunglasses), so I had a new challenge - beat the rain.

As it happened, I arrived at my stop place with two hours to spare, partly because the shop was open an hour later than I expected it to be. Hite was quite an interesting place as it turned out, it has only existed in it's current form for about 40 or 50 years because old Hite is now underwater from a dam that's been built. It's got the population of something ridiculous like 20, and is a settlement that only came about due to a gold rush a while back. They have a communal telephone (there I was thinking I might get wifi...), a grocery store/petrol station, helipad/runway, and that's about it.

I went inside the grocery store to buy some drinks and spoke to someone who had a badge that looked like one of those old sherrif badges, so I assume he was either a sherrif or a park ranger. He showed me a nice spot on the porch of a building next to the helipad I could camp on. It as concrete again, but at least it wasn't shingle. To be honest, I had more facilities than I was expecting, I had a public toilet all to my myself and some picnic benches under the porch to tie my tent up to. While I was doing that, two bikers pulled up, asking about the route I'd come. It turned out they'd been there for two days, waiting the right conditions to head out to blanding. They eventually did at 4pm, meaning they wouldn't arrive until pretty late tonight. Very late in fact. Almost right as they left, it started to rain, prompting two motorcyclists to pull up, one who lipped for half an hour and the other who I spoke to. It turned out they had rode from Telluride today, making my days seem ridiculously short compared to theirs. They left when it stopped raining, and I ate snacks and read the cycling magazine I bought at Heathrow for the rest of the evening. I found that magazine painfully boring, but for some reason it's become interesting. Perhaps I've become a bike geek.

Tomorrow I'll be off to a town called Hanksville, which is only 50 or so miles, but as I mentioned before I'm dictacted by where towns are slightly. I'm hoping to get some Internet / some sort of signal, I feel quite disconnected at the moment.

Friday 26 June 2009

Day Fifty-Six - Preparation.

Today was a part rest day, having only furthered myself 20 miles.

Last night was uncomfortable at best, and my optimism of last night was... optimistic. It didn't matter too much though, because I wasn't going far. I packed up, went to the restaurant next door for an omlette, and was on the road by 8:30. To be honest, the riding was mostly uneventful, but I could definitely tell I was moving into desert, with the ground gradually turning into red dust.

I arrived in Blanding at about 10:30, and realised that I didn't really have anywhere to go. At 11 I went down to the Super8, where they luckily had a room available for me. After getting in, I chatted to home for a bit, went out to eat and bu stuff for tomorrow / the next day, and currently my laundry is tumble drying.

Tomorrow I am heading out into the desert overnight, and am camping at a place called Hite Recreation Park. There is a campsite and grocery there, so It's not as if there will be NOTHING. The following day I'll be heading to a place called Hanksville. I've found with Utah that in a similar way to Kansas, you are fairly dictated to how far you go each day by how the towns are laid out, so some days will be longer than others.

Thursday 25 June 2009

Day Fifty- Five - Utah.

I've invented a new alarm on my phone called 'lie in', that goes off at 06:45. Today was the first time I tried it, and it worked wonderfully. After much faffing about and talking on IM to home (seems to be the only way at the moment), I was ready to go by about 9:45. After yesterdays shennnigans, I concluded that my inner tubes that I'd spent were beyond repair, as in each case the valve was damaged. I rolled up to the bike shop to find that it opened at 10. No big deal, I thought. 10:20 came and went, without any sign of it opening. I did speak to a guy who was at the shop on behalf of his family, buying tyres. Apparently there were four of them who had come from San Francisco and were going to somewhere up in Canada. I asked how long ago they left, to which he replied 3 and a half weeks. Fair enough, but he then went on to tell me that they were only doing 20-30 miles per day. There must have been a breakdown in communication somewhere...

Anyway, the shop eventually opened, and I got 2 tubes for $10. bargain. Time was pressing on, and so I said my goodbyes and left. I was quite pleased to find that my corridor between mountains opened out into rolling countryside, much like that of western Kansas. I had fairly simple navigation too, 10 miles on one road, 50something on another. Just as I was coming down a hill and preparing to make the transition from one to the other, I felt a searing pain on my stomach, so much so that I had to pull over to see what it was. It turned out I'd either had a bee back into me at 30mph, or I'd caught it up, and it was hanging off me by it's sting. I quickly discarded it, and went for some bite cream, witch on opening wouldn't stop coming out, must be the pressure or something.. anyway. I tended to that, and was back on my way.

The riding for today was mostly uneventful. The roads were back to being straight, but there were a lot of undulations. The Ozarks of the West would be the best way to describe it, only they were slightly more drawn out than the real thing. They were plenty tiring enough though, and by the time the state border came with 18 miles to go, I'd had enough for today. I plodded on into the headwind (that's what you get for hanging about in the morning), and eventually reached Montecello (the second one I've been to since being here, I can't remember where the other was, all I can remember is Bert the Dutch guy saying it in his accent, so it must be Virginia). I had the option to go on 20 miles to Blanding, but I opted against, having been told there is a big hill between here and there.

I found my RV park of choice, which was absolutely deserted. I was prompted to pay at an ATM machine thing for the site ($15), and I could have wherever I wanted. While I was deciding where, it began to pour, so I made for a sheltered driveway area and decided that would be it. It is on gravel, but I've slept on concrete before since being here (Telluride was rock solid too), so I prioritized staying dry with comfort. I put my tent up spectacularly (I have a photo that I'll eventually get round to putting on here), without the use of any tent pegs. My tent isn't free-standing either, which makes it even better. It is a bit of a death trap getting in and out of, but ducking under ropes and over a strategically placed bike is a minor inconvenence I'm willing to put up with.

I'm now writing this in an ice cream parlour, having had an Oreo Malt. I didn't spot my usual hot fudge until after I sat down, it was on special offer today at $1.99. Dang.

Anyway, I'm off to Blanding tomorrow, the grand total of 21 or so miles away. The reason for doing this are as follows - It's cheaper than getting a room for two nights, I don't need to spend a day going 0 miles, and there is nothing for 74 miles west of there, so I kind of have to go there. It will give me a chance to do some laundry and all that kind of stuff too.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Day Fifty-Four - Punctures.

My alarm went off at 5:50am this morning, in the hope that I'd get up earlier. It didn't work, and I just hit snooze a couple more times. I went up to the bakery that I ate at last night, and ended up having an apple fritter pastry thing, and a chocolate brownie. Traditional breakfast items were way overpriced compared to cakes, so I beat the system on that one.

I hit the road at 8:30, and started the long uphill to Lizard Head Pass. at 10,000ft, thi was the second highest pass I've done. It was a 16 mile uphill, and it took just over two hours to complete. The weather was good at this point, so it wasn't anywhere near as cold as it was over monument pass. The rest of the day was to be downhill, which I was very much looking forward to.

13 miles later, and I stopped at a place called Rico for lunch / a break. Here, my luck changed for the worse. Just as I arrived, a rain / hailstorm did too, and I was forced to wait for about an hour for it to blow over. Luckily, it did, and I didn't get wet. I set off again, but after no more than 6 or 7 miles, my brand new supposed 'super tough flat tyre resistant' tyre failed me, and I got a flat. Great, I thought. I quickly fixed that, and got on my way. Little did I know that a tiny stone had gotten between the valve and the rim when I changed the inner tube, so after a further 100m it was flat again. I must mention that I keep my inner tubes in the pannier I have to tie to the rack, so it's a pain to have to go into the bag. It was for that reason that I attempted to tape up the hole to see if that worked, which of course it didn't. I therefore decided another new tube was needed, so I undid all the rope, and fitted a new tube, this time with a Presta valve. Just as I was packed up and ready to go, it was flat. AGAIN. I realised it was because the inner part of the valve was bent, making the air come straight back out. I was spitting blood at this point with frustration, and went back into the bag for my last schrader valve tube. After fitting this and snapping both my tyre levers in the process (they were cheap and plastic anyway, I have others), I finally got going. I was absolutely paranoid about getting another puncture, knowing that I wouldn't be able to fix it without digging out the puncture repair kit.

The rest of the ride was largely uneventful, though paranoia was on my mind the whole time, and I stopped probably twice to put more air in unnecessarily. As far as I'm aware it's okay now, but I need to get a couple of tubes tomorrow, the ones I used today are beyond repair.

I'm staying in a motel tonight, overpriced but necessary because the weather is closing in. I also feel in need of a good nights sleep. Tomorrow I'm heading to Monticello, Utah, and the day after that is a really short day to a place called Blanding, the reason being I have a 74 mile stretch without anything, and then a tiny campsite place called Hite Recreation Area where I think I'll stay, and then a 54 mile stretch of nothing before the next place. Some do the 124 miles in one day, but I honestly don't think I can do that.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Day Fifty-Three - To Hell You Ride.

This morning was an early start, as a always the way when you're camping. My first thought of the day was how ridiculously cold it was, which it was. By 7:30 I'd completely packed up, and headed down to Sonic again, who's breakfasts are comparably cheap compared to similar places. I opted for the breakfast burrito with tater tots, like little hash brown nuggets. I've decided 'tater tots' should only ever be ordered by an American, saying those two words in my english accent just makes me sound ridiculous.

I was off by 8:30, and onwards and upwards, literally. Out of the 67 scheduled miles for today, 54 of them were uphill, with only a 13 mile downhill from a mountain pass as compensation for my hard work. It wasn't as steep as I'd thought it would be, and for a lot of the time I maintained a speed around 11/12mph. There were about 7 or 8 miles that I'd class as steep, miles where I was pinned in my lowest gear and plodding upwards only just faster than walking pace.

I stopped at a little shop at a place called placerville, 13 miles from Telluride, at the bottom of my 13 mile downhill. I spoke to two cyclists here who had come down from Telluride, and were quick to tell me how steep the uphill was. They also told me that they had been at a bluegrass festival there all weekend, and so camping in the park would be fine. Great, I thought. It was while I was stopped here that I noticed my back tire. It was completely bald, and my inner tube was punctured. Quite frankly I was gutted, I had come this far without a puncture, and getting one now was a kick in the teeth. I was more worried about my tire though, Having spent this entire trip going past shredded car tires at the side of the road, I didn't want that to be me in the middle of the desert. I pumped it up as best I could, and started my final ascent of the day. It was nowhere near as steep as I was told, except for maybe the last couple of miles. It did take a while though,
I had to keep stopping to pump up the problematic tire.

Eventually I arrived in Telluride, a place that I was quickly told is not named after hell, but after Tellinium (something like that) that was mined here. Whatever, my map says it got my nickname because in it's hayday it had something like 24 saloons and brothels in a tiny area. Another urban myth is that skiing was invented here by scandinavians (apparently) who wanted to get down the mountain faster than the others on payday. A famous bank robbery also took place here, were someone just waltzed in and took $10,000 (in the 19th century) unchallenged.

Enough trivia. It became obvious that this place was indeed the Monaco of the ski world, for the high rollers and celebrities as it had been described to me. There is a weird right of way system that is the exact opposite to normal, pedestrians priporitise over bikes (of which there are a LOT), who prioritize over cars. There are lots of expensive restaurants, and even more expensive hotels. Camping it was then.

When in Rome, I managed to spend $95 in about 10 minutes. $65 on a tire (which is extortionate, but it's meant to be the American Schwalbe Marathon, so fingers crossed), and $30 on a BUFF!!! I managed to find a shop that sells them!! (Again, for an extortionate price, but I wasn't in a position to argue It's a bit smaller than I remember them, but then again I have grown considerably since I last had one).

I went to my campsite, paid my $15 for my spot, had a cold shower ($3 for 5 mind of hot water? I don't think so), and went out to find food. I ended up in a little bakery place, where I had a Calzone pizza. I've decided that olives should be left out by default, and if you want them then they can put them in. Nobody likes olives...

Anyway, I must go, as it's getting dark, and I fear I'm outstaying my welcome with my phone charger in the wall. Tomorrow I'm going to Dolores, the end point on this map, perhaps further if there is a better place further up. Watch this space.

Monday 22 June 2009

Day Fifty-Two - Downhill.

Another early start saw me on the road at around 9am, having fitted in a phonecall home during that time. I went to Sonic for breakfast, a fast food place that you usually have to drive in, but this one had an indoors. You still have to talk into a microphone though.

My route for today was simple - Highway 50 all the way. It was also a lot of downhill. This meant that I'd done the first 25 miles in around an hour and a half. I then had an uphill of about 5 or 6 miles, more downhill, uphill of anoter 5 miles and then a 14 mile downhill to the finish. I actually spent around a third of my riding time on the uphill even though they took up a much smaller portion of the distance.

You would think that this would have been a dream day, and you would nearly be right. The weather was nearly perfect, but the morning became fairly overcast and thus making it quite cool. The traffic was also a bit of a problem, in that there was a lot of it. Historically, Sundays have been good for riding because they have meant for quiet roads, but not today, in fact the opposite. This meant that although there weren't many commercial vehicles, there were a lot of massive RV's and Pickups towing trailers and caravans. I can't complain too much, there were some sections that had hard shoulders larger than the road itself, complete with rumble strips that could rattle my eyeballs out my head if I go over them, but enough to deter cars and the like.

I arrived in Montrose at around 3pm in glorious sunshine, and went to the campsite I'd chosen to stay at. $27.14. I thought camping was meant to be cheap!! Anyway, I paid and got my tent set up. The sun was shining and there was the unmistakable smell of barbeque in the air, so I was content. Montrose is in a massive valley, between the continental divide I've just rode over and a long, steady uphill slope in front of me. I feel tomorrow will be serious payback for all the downhill of today.

So I had a shower, and went back to my tent to wait until a good time to eat. I hadn't really thought that through though, and within minutes I was sweltering. By the time 6pm came, I could wait no longer and headed out. I ended up at a Thai restaurant, I couldn't resist as it's been the first I'd seen. I opted for a green curry, a good benchmark. I'm not sure if it's my tastebuds not being used to spicy food, but medium spiced had my nose running and gasping for water. It was very tasty though.

I'm now sitting outside at another Sonic, satisfying my craving for malts that has come on over the last few days. I'll miss this when I go home..

Sunday 21 June 2009

Day Fifty-One - Saturation.

Having gone to bed by 8:30 last night, I felt relatively rested by the time 6:15 came around. I was pretty much ready to go by 7:00, but breakfast was offered to me which I couldn't refuse. I got on the road by 8:30, and began my ascent to Monument Pass, topping out at 11,312 feet. The climb was about 24 miles from Salida to the peak.

The going was good up until about 14 miles in, when it got a lot steeper, and 6mph was about the best I could manage. As you can imagine, it took a while to get to the top, especially seeing as I needed to stop every mile or so to catch my breath in the last few. I was also surprised at how cold it got as I got higher, cold enough that there was snow at the side of the road and being able to see your breath. I thought I would be able to just scoot over the top and come back down without needing to put on layers, but each time I had to stop I ended up putting a layer on. It was with around three miles to go that the rain started. It had been an overcast day up until then, but I wasn't expecting it until much later. This meant that by the time I had reached the top I was cold and very wet. There was a cafe/ gift shop at the top that I went into and contemplated stopping there for lunch.

I decided that the cafe was too much for too little, and i'd brave the 10 miles downhill to 'Sargents' and eat there. I'd already experienced downhill in the wet in the Appalacians, and it was freezing cold at only 3,000ft. I tried to prepare myself for the cold by putting socks on my hands to fight the wind chill on my wet hands (I do have gloves, but they were at the bottom of the bag that I now tie on my front rack, so were as good as unaccessable). The result of this was having to stop every half mile or so to try to warm my saturated hands and relieve the cramp in my hands from squeezing the brakes. After about two miles of downhill I gave up, and put on a ridiculous number of layers and put on real gloves, which did the trick down the rest of the mountain.

I stopped for lunch at a restaurant that was probably more expensive than the previous place, but it was better food. I was caught at a moment of weakness and ordered a slice of premium pie, at $4.50 a slice. Ouch. It hit the spot though, and I was just about thawed out from the decent after finishing. You can imagine my disappointment when I stepped outside to find that the rain that I'd beaten down the hill caught me up, and it was hammering off the road. I was offered a ride to Gunnison (my stopping point by two different people, and had to explain to them both that as much as I'd love a ride, it'd confound my entire trip and I'd never be able to live with myself if I had. So off I went into the rain.

The rest of the day was largely uneventful, 30something long miles in rain/hail to Gunnison. By the time I arrived, I was desperate to find a room to dry myself and my clothes out in. After a very similar routine to that in biblical times, all of the motels/hotels were full on the east side of town. Apparently there is a softball tournament in town, and it's a weekend night so people go away anyway. I eventually found a cheap-looking place called the ABC Motel, that I ended up paying $69 for a room that isn't worth a penny above $45.

So that's the story of today, tomorrow I have an easier day to a town called Montrose. Tomorrow night there is a 0% chance of rain, which are odds I very much like as far as camping is concerned.

Saturday 20 June 2009

Day Fifty - Half Century.

Today was an energetic start, but I managed to stall over breakfast and ended up leaving at 9:30. I went for breakfast at the place I ate at last night, where I had an unexpected ridiculously large breakfast. It came with a pancake that was about 9" diameter, and about 1" thick. (Amercan Imperial measurements seemed to have rubbed off on me...)

The first part of my day was easy going, I was continuing down the same downhill I finished on last night. It gave me time to take a good look around at the scenery, which was a lot clearer in the bright morning sun. It was along here that I spoke to two guys called Mitch and Stephen, who were headed to Pueblo today. They were the first riders I'd come accross on this part of the route, and painted a better picture than how others had described it. They were heading home to Indiana, and today was their 20th day on the road. That sounds quite ambitious to me, but it's still in the not-too-distant future. They also told me about a festival thing that was happening this weekend in Salida, and reccomended I stayed there.

Onwards I headed onto Highway 50, a road that I'll be seeing a lot of in the coming days/weeks. Further up it is famously known as the 'lonliest road in America'. That definitely wasn't the case here, and I was being overtaken by cars, HGV's and RV's at ridiculous speeds. It became apparent that drivers assume it's safe to overtake unless they see otherwise, rather than vice versa, leading to some near misses for the cars and me being forced into the verge.

I arrived in Salida at around 2pm, and decided that this was where I was going to stop. It wasn't immediately obvious where 'downtown' was, as all the globalised places had set up camp along the highway. I found my way, and all of the fesival things that were going on. I stopped in two shops in search of a buff (as is the norm nowadays), and in both I had people asking if I needed somewhere to stay. The choices were camping in someones yard, or staying indoors. I opted for the second, and was told I had to wait an hour to see if it was okay. It was, but in the meantime I sat and watched some people playing in the white water in kayaks. I was approached by a couple who were interested in what I was doing, and after a chat, they gave me $10! It was soon time to go over to where I was staying, in a terraced house that looked a little greek from the outside. My tenants names are Jack and Patty, and are very hospitable. They live up in Minnesota, with this as their retirement holiday home.

I went in and chatted to them for a bit, before showering and heading out to Taco Bell for food and WiFi. I'm not sure why I hadn't been to one of these before, I'd never really fancied it. It was good, but not filling enough. I think I'll head over the road for a mcflurry, and then to bed for an early night. I've got Monarch pass to do in the morning, which is roughly 20 degrees farenheit cooler than where I am now at over 11,000ft high. I can't remember what Jack said, I think he said it was three miles above sea level.. but after that it's plain cruising to Gunnison I think it's called, 65 miles away.

Friday 19 June 2009

Day Forty-Nine - First Mountain.

Today was a slow start like a Monday morning, a headache didn't help matters. It didn't help that I had a heavy-footed, 5am rising door slammer upstairs from me. I eventuallu got going at around 9:30.

It took me ages to get through and out of Pueblo, the town is full of one way roads. After a few detours including dodging a marching band, I was out into the wilderness. The first part of my riding today was through scenery that was a lot more interesting than that from the east of Pueblo. It was very desert-like, with open rock faces and Mountains as a backdrop. It was along here that I noticed that part of my front rack has snapped, meaning my front left pannier was clinging on by one hook. I taped that up as best I could (so not very well) and continued on.

It wasn't long before the tape came back out again, my right Achilles gradually bacame painful the more the incline of the road increased. I taped my ancle up, which seemed to do the trick. I had a long climb in the afternoon, so I stopped for a break at a store in a small village for a bit. It wasn't particularly steep (steep enough to need to be in my lowest gear), but at around 15-16 miles long it took ages to climb to the top. The highest point was about 9200ft, over twice the height of Ben Nevis, and you could definitely tell that the air was thinner. It's quite a weird feeling, breathing in was somehow less satisfying than before, making you need to stop to catch your breath frequently.

I arrived at the top, looking forward to my nice long downhill to Westcliffe. The wind had other plans, and gave me a strong headwind that stopped me going downhill faster than 15mph. Eventually I arrived to a very windy Main St. and went to look for the campsite. I discovered that it was 1.5 miles out of town, which is fairly inconvenient when you don't have a stove. After much umming and ahhing, I reluctantly decided to get a room, based upon the howling winds and black clouds coming over the mountains.

Tomorrow I'm heading to one of three places - Salida, Poncha Springs or Maysville. Salida is meant to be a nice place to stay, but the campsite is 3 miles out, Maysville has only a grocery store for food and Poncha Springs has only a Motel. I'll decide closer to the time, but Salida is probably the best choice. They also have two bike shops there, I might have a look at front racks. I found a long piece of rope at the side of the road, so perhaps that'll do. Any advice?

Thursday 18 June 2009

Day Forty-Eight - Rest Day IV.

Nothing really to report about today, I did precious little other than ride into town for a tour of shops looking for a buff, with no luck. I did manage to pick up sunburn on my hands though, forgetting that they are still as white as when I left (because of my mitts).

I'm off to a town called Westcliffe tomorrow, about 57 miles away. I do have a nice climb from 4900ft to over 9000ft, but it's over a distance of about 40 miles so I hope it won't be too bad.

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Day Forty-Seven - End of an Era.

So, I find myself writing this in Pueblo, where I now head west to San Francisco, rather than going up North to Oregon. It's a fairly big milestone for me, I definitely feel like i'm on the home straight (a long one mind you).

I didn't set my alarm this morning, mostly because I knew I wasn't going far today. I went for breakfast at the local restaurant that was now open (I forgot to mention that I had trouble finding somewhere to eat last night, what restaurant is only open 6-2?!) I headed back up to the 96, and went up the 36 or so miles to Pueblo. The Rockies are now firmly in sight, a couple of mountains of which have snow peaks.

I arrived in town at about 11:30, but it wasn't until about 2:30 until I got into a room. I've decided that cycling here is a NIGHTMARE, the roads are uneven and cars aren't too cycle-friendly. Since then, I spoke to home, and went back out in search of bank that doesn't charge you $2.50 to get at your money.

I'm having a rest day tomorrow, where I am going to the ski, hike and bike (or something like that) shop to hopefullly finally buy a buff once and for all. That, and I'm going to take advantage of the laundry room here, I'm surprised my socks havnt walked off on their own yet!

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Day Forty-Six - Crawling.

Another early start saw me back on the road at 8:30 this morning. The weather was surprisingly good, with only a slight headwind.

The first part of the day was to a place called Sugar City, where I'd initially thought about stopping tonight. This stretch took me through landscape that seemed even more wide open than before. I think it was because when you look north or south, it was only the curvature of the earth that stopped you from seeing any further.

I stopped in a cafe for lunch having reached Sugar City in good time, where I decided to aim for a town called Fowler, a further 24 miles up the road. I spoke to a guy in this cafe who wanted to show me the 100 year old garage and house outside, which I saw before leaving. The following miles were also fairly uneventful, it had become apparent though that I was entering desert scrubland, the ground at side of the road has now become very dry and sandy.

Ive had to get a room again tonight, there is a storm coming over in the night sometime that I don't fancy being in a tent in. I'll be in Pueblo for the next two nights too, but after that, camping it is.

A brief post today, not a lot has happened today to be honest. I promise some exciting stories west of Pueblo, that's when the fun starts in the Rockies.

Edit - I completely forgot to mention why I called this post 'crawling'. It was in reference to the number of flies/critters that decided to tag along with me by sticking to my legs and clothes as I went past. You'd think I'd have learnt to cycle with my mouth shut by now wouldn't you..

Monday 15 June 2009

Day Forty-Five - Colorado.

As has been the story of much of the last week, today has been a day like any other on the flats.

I very much enjoyed my lie-in this morning until what felt like 7:30, even though it was 6:30. However, it meant that I set out an hour later than I would have usually, which may have had something to do with how the wind had picked up. This put me in a bad mood and I made
relatively slow progress to a place called Seridan Lake. I'd looked forward to stopping for a drink here, but apparently they're shut on Sunday. I stopped for a bit outside anyway, before continuing on.

I met two cyclists going in the opposite direction who looked very keen. They were doing my route in reverse, and were glad to tell me about how hard the Rockies are. I've decided that eastbound cyclists have conspired to say such things to westbounders, and I feel I should do the same if they ask about the Appalacians or Ozarks. I looked at my maps this evening, and to be honest, the Appalacians look worse on paper. Perhaps it's because the mountains are on such a large scale, but they don't look as steep or as tiring. I think they are just sour because it's their first mountain range and they are relatively new in starting out. Famous last words...

I've had a truly awful day as far as foods concerned, because it seems petrol stations are the only places open around here on a sunday. I've therefore eaten a wide range of microwaved food. Perhaps tomrrow I'll be able to get some REAL fast food. haha

Tomorrow I have a choice of places to stay, and where that is depends on the weather, and to whether I camp or not. Today was the eigth day of severe weather warnings in Colorado, but apparently it's getting better. I can only hope..

Sunday 14 June 2009

Day Forty-Four - Mountain Time.

I'd love to write something super interesting about today, but it was probably about as routine as my days get.

- I woke up at 6:30 again.
- Got on the road at 8:30.
- Cycled down the '96', a road that I today realised I've been on since the beginning of this map, and will be until I reach Pueblo, possibly even further.
- Arrived in Tribune at 10:30 local time, having crossed the time zone line about 20 miles prior.

That's pretty much it. My actual riding time was really short because I caught a slight tailwind, luckily which blew until I arrived. The place I am staying at luckily has an 'honour system', where you can take a room key, and then pay later on.

So that's my day. I've also decided that I'm going to camp more, just because today I entertained the idea of having money when I come home, rather than spending it all here. However, weather is playing an important factor at the moment, with frequent storms at night, tonight being no exception. After that, camping.

Saturday 13 June 2009

Day Forty-Three - Time Trials.

This morning was another grim start, but like yesterday, procrastination prevailed and by 9:15 or so the sun was shining. I stopped by a petrol station for an energy drink perk-me-up. I'm not too sure why or how, but I cycled super fast today. Perhaps I had a slight tailwind, and the fact that it was fairly flat. Without exaggerating, my average speed was about 21mph.

After an hour and forty minutes or so, I was 30something miles down, and I stopped for a short break. In this time, things changed. It was a combination of the wind changing direction, me becoming complacent in my days progress, and that my legs were crying out at me for going so fast. The second part of the day as a result was slower, but Ibwas still going 17-18mph. A further hour and twenty, and I'd arrived at Scott City, my end point for today. I could have gone further, but I am finishing at the same place tomorrow regardless, so it didn't matter too much.

I found where I was staying, so I went to eat and kill some time. An hour and a half later, still not ready. It wasn't until 5:15 before I got into my room. A bit of a waste of a day, but nevermind. Not a lot else to today other than meeting two cyclists who were going from Pueblo, Colorado to the East coast.

I'm not 100% sure where I'm going tomorrow, but it's in GMT-7 = mountain time! I'm going to try to stay on central time though, so I can get up an hour earlier in the morning without much effort. I'm not sure though, I do fancy a lie in!

Friday 12 June 2009

Day Forty-Two - Trans-Am Home Straight.

I woke up early again today, with the intention of setting out early. However, it was bucketing down with rain and I didn't much feel like getting wet. I sat around and had a leisurely breakfast, while chatting to the first cyclists I'd see today. They were doing my trip in reverse, only they were doing it supported. They told me stories about what to expect of the Rockies, and quite frankly didn't make me feel great about them. Apparently I need to be really clues up on the weather, as it can change in 20 minutes for the worse.

I got on my way at around 9:30, and did the first 10 without much trouble. The next 20 were into the wind, which was not a lot of fun at all. I was on the bottom of my handlebars for most of the time, which is good for aerodynamics but not for my not-yet-strong-enough neck. I stopped at a place called Rush Centre for a much needed lunch. The place I went to had a menu with four choices - 1/4lb burger, 1/4lb cheeseburger, 1/2lb burger, 1/2lb cheeseburger, all with fries. I went for option 4, and even with two drinks the bill came to $6.

On the next stretch, I met three more cyclists, one who was riding on his own, and two other guys that was desperately trying to catch the first guy up. The rest of the day was uneventful other than me changing onto my last transam map, before I move onto the Western Express. I cruised at 20mph to Ness City, and am now at the Derrick Inn. This place looks a bit dodgy from the outside, it doesn't look like a normal hotel. I now realise this is because the building is inside out, and all of the doors are inside. Imagine a shopping mall, with bedrooms instead of shops. There is also a pool in the middle, but I didn't fancy using it because it's like being on stage, everyone can look out their windows at you.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Scott City, the last night I will spend in Central Time, before moving to Mountain Time, GMT-7. The day after that, I'll cross into Colorado and start warming up for the Rockies.

On a side note, there is a hiking/skiing shop in Pueblo, CO. Will my quest for a buff finally come to an end?!

Thursday 11 June 2009

Day Forty-One - 70 Mile Sprint.

After writing my last blog post, I got turfed out of the library before my photos had finished uploading, and I found out that unless you upload them all, none of them went, so I've got that all to do again. I left the library, and went for a slow ride round town to explore. I pretty much stumbled upon a space museum down the far end of the road I was staying on. Apparently it's the second largest collection of space stuff other than the Smithsonian. I have no idea what that means, but the fact they had a massive rocket outside and a jet fighter hanging inside the lobby justified the $9 entry. It was a pretty impressive place, the highlight being the actual Apollo XIII at the end. That was amazing.

After all this excitement, I went back to the church where I was staying and got an earlyish night.

This morning was an early start, and I got on the road by 8:30, after another tour of town finding somewhere that was open. The weather was miserable, there was a really fine rain that wasn't cold, but soaks you. The first 10 miles or so were out to Nickerson, the last civilisation before my end point. After a further 8 or so, I reached 95th Avenue, which was the road that went straight to Larned, where I am now. It was divided into three sections of 15, 15 and 20 miles (in my head, I found it easier to divide it up.) There isn't a lot to tell about this, since the road was dead straight and it was fields the whole way on either side. A school bus driver did stop and give me two mini chocolate bars when I was stopped at an intersection before starting the 20 mile stretch, which was very welcome.

Oh I did pass 2000 miles on my computer today too. woohoo!

With about 2 miles to go to Larned, it started raining again, just enough to get me wet before arriving. It was about 1:45 at this point. I basically sat and relaxed in my
room until early evening, where I went out to search for the Chinese restaurant, involving walking half a mile in the wrong direction before realising.

So tomorrow I'm heading to Ness City, which is on my next and last map on the Trans-America trail, before heading onto the Western Express. There is no elevation profile on this map either, but they do openly admit that there are hills in parts. I don't understand why they they don't just put it on...

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Day Forty - Part Rest Day.

As I write this, I am in a public library uploading photos. They amount to just less than 1GB so far, and it says I've got 4 hours or so remaining. I wonder if it'll be faster once all these people clear off.

I deliberately didn't set my alarm for this morning, mostly because I knew I wasn't going to be going that far and it wouldn't be taking me that long. I also had a ridiculously wide bed, making it even harder to persuade my legs for me to get up. I did at around 8, and got going around 10, which felt weird knowing that I'd been getting up at that time before.

I was expecting to go about 30something miles today, but it turned into about 46 by the time I'd found where I was staying.

The main part of the riding today was along the same road for 22 miles, with about 14 miles from my hotel up through Newton and further north to said road. I couldn't decide which was the wind was blowing, it seemed to be breezy from every direction. It didn't stop me from pretty much blitzing the miles, and I arrived at the turn off towards Hutchinson after not much more than hour. The only hold ups I had down this stretch was a car accident (where I think someone had missed the bridge all together) and the road surface. I'm no expert in road works, but I think if they're planning on relaying it, they score the previous layer all up. They'd done all this to long sections of the road, so my bike was vibrating fairly violently at times.

I briefly spoke to a cyclist who was doing some supported ride across the State, I wasn't sure if he was racing or he just didn't want to hang around for very long. I turned onto the road into Newton, which was fairly busy with very little shoulder. I don't mind cars so much, it's the juggernauts that refuse to slow down because it'll take so long to re-accelerate the other side of me. I was only on this stretch for 6 miles, before turning onto 17th Avenue and the same sort of business district that I've gotten used to. There were plenty of places to stay up there, but instead I ploughed onwards for what seemed like ages (Hutchinson is a big place) to Main Street. After going the wrong way down it, I eventually found the bike shop, where I bought a bike lock, a new Livestrong band to wear while I find some way to sterilise the festering one I've worn this far, and got the key for the cyclist hotel at a local church.

The young guy in the shop gave me some really ropey directions, and just as I thought I was lost, he'd pedaled the route I'd come and caught up to show me where it was. I let myself in, and went for a shower. I was expecting this place to be a bit like an apartment in the back of a church, instead it's like a village hall with a bed on the stage, and a kitchen and bathroom out in a different room. I think they're airbeds too, they're ridiculously bouncy.

I didn't see any point in hanging around at there, I didn't get any WiFi and the TV only tunes to one channel. I got back on my bike (something that I found quite tricky without any bags on it, it's wobbly) and went in search of food. After that, I came straight to the library to try and put some photos online, but it's taking so long that I'm not sure I'll be able to do them all at once. I'll eventually get round to putting some photos into my blog posts, one day.

As for tonight, I'll probably go to choose from the vast selection of fast food restaurants I have nearly on my doorstep, though I think I'll have to ride to them because they aren't THAT close. Remember I said before about some places that were built AFTER the invention of the car? the outskirts of this place definitely falls into that category.

Day Thirty-Nine - Halfway.

Today marks the halfway mark in my trip, I passed the 1892 mile mark.

I wound my alarm back to 6:25 this morning, meaning I was on the road at 8:10. I think it was just coiciedence that this was 10 minutes before I left yesterday.

Overnight, a thunderstorm had gone through, resulting in the wind switching from south to north. It wasn't THAT bad for the first 18 miles west, but the following 17 straight into the wind was killer. I met two more cyclists right before I started this leg, Anne-Marie and John I think their names were. I chatted to them for a bit, and found out that they had just graduated from 'college', and were cycling from St. Louis to Seatle.

I left them in my wake and headed off into the wind. After 17 long miles, I arrived in Cassoday. I stopped at a service station where I planned to get a snack and a drink. Instead I opted for the three course all you can eat buffet, of which the main course was... pizza. For $7 I couldn't really complain, and got a good helping of salad.

Just as I was thinking of leaving, the two cyclists I'd met earlier came in and sat down with me. It'd have been rude to leave straight away, so I sat with them for a bit before I went. The next leg of the day was a 38 mile slog, with nothing in between. I didn't mind that too much, the fact that you just have to keep going forwards and there wasn't a lot around stopped me from getting distracted and stopping. The wind had died down considerably too which helped.

So now I'm in a town called Newton. Tomorrow, I'm planning on going only about 30 something miles to Hutchinson, where I'm going to replace my bike lock and stay in my first Church Hostel of the trip. The day after that I've got a 58 mile stretch with very little, so I'll have to stock up on supplies.

Monday 8 June 2009

Day Thirty-Eight - Eureka.

Today I am in the small town of Eureka.

I set my alarm for 6:35 this morning, ambitious I know. I did get up then though, and managed to get on the road by 8:20. I was disappointed that the diner over the road wasn't open, and I had to go to McDonalds for breakfast. There are funny types at McDonalds early in the morning, they remind me of the guys that go to the pub at 9 in the morning. From what I heard, the only conversation topic was trying to describe to the other person where abouts they lived.

I quite liked being on the road at that time, the roads were especially quiet as it was a Sunday. I managed to hammer through the first few miles fairly fast, there was definitely a wind, but it wasn't very strong. I found myself going north quite a bit today too, again enabling me to have a relatively easy ride.

I didn't go past a huge amount other than fields today, there were a couple of towns though. The first was a town called Coyville, which had very little there. There was a sign with a little synopsis about the town, and how it was the first town in the county. Fair enough, I thought. The sign then proceded to list a massive list of other things that they were first to do, things that would happen all the time in any town if it were there. Things like 'the first marriage in the county', 'first hanging in the county', 'first school in the county', you get the idea. It seems a little unnecessary to me.

I proceded up to Toronto, where I planned on stopping in a cafe for a drink. The waitress reeled off a special they had going, and before I knew it I was eating a roast dinner. I'd got talking to a table just over from me about my trip, a group of four who arrived on two motorcycles. They weren't the biker type that you often see with long beards and black clothes, they were just people on bikes. Anyway, they took a massive interest in everything I was doing on my trip and in life. My bill came while I was playing on my phone (I've bought a game called Flight Control for 59p which is HIDEOUSLY addictive), so I didn't pay it straight away. About 7 or 8 minutes later, a waitress came over and took my bill away, telling me that the table I was talking to had paid for it for me. I was shocked, and wasn't really sure what to do other than say thankyou a lot. They told me that they'd probably see me when I was on the road as we were going the same way.

20 minutes passed, and the group caught up with me right outside the cafe. My bike lock had completely siezed up, and I couldn't do a thing to pull it apart. After I tried lubricating it all, a guy walked past who asked if I was having trouble, and I explained the situation. To cut a story short, he went into a house to find a guy who had some wire cutters, and cut my bike free.

After all this, I got on my way and polished off the last 19 miles in not too much time. The southerly wind had picked up by this point, and was blowing fairly hard. It wasn't so bad going directly west, but I travelled roughly west south west for a bit which was straight into the wind.

I arrived in Eureka at about 2:45, and after looking at what very little Main Street had to offer, booked into a motel. They've been quite cheap since being in Kansas. I didn't do very much else today, other than clean my salty clothes and go out to get pizza. I hate having the same thing twice in a row, but I got a truckload of coupons yesterday that were burning a hole in my pocket.

I'm heading to Newton tomorrow, a route that involves 17 miles of riding north, a 38 mile stint of not a lot, and I should pass my halfway mileage right at the end of the day. It won't be my actual halfway because of all extra miles I've done going off route and round towns, but it's as best as I can do. My actual halfway will be sometime the day after (or even the day after, I'm having a short day the day after tomorrow).

oh ps. my ahilles is better today having adjusted my saddle, let's hope it stays that way.

Sunday 7 June 2009

Day Thirty-Seven - First Month II.

Today marks one month of me leaving the comfort of Yorktown, VA, and hitting the road. It seems like YEARS ago.

I tried a new strategy this morning, set my alarm backwards. It worked, in that I woke up earlier than I have been before. I just need to learn to not press 'snooze' now... I got all my stuff together, and went down for breakfast at 8am. When I saw how the lobby was absolutely heaving, I remembered how the person at the front desk mentioned a baseball thing going on. The result of this was that there was very little food left. I managed to salvage a couple of English muffins and went back to my room. I eventually got on the road at around 9:30, I had to go to Walmart to get a couple of things.

The first 15 miles were to the edge of the map, which were pretty simple. There was a wind coming up from the south (I think that makes it a southernly wind..?) which made riding along fairly turbulent at times. Because I'm heading further west, almost all of the roads were built after the invention of the car, which makes the road network like a massive grid. I found myself travelling north for a little bit, which felt completely bizarre (not because of the direction, because of the wind). It was like cycling in a vaccume, no matter how much you pedalled you wouldn't feel any wind on your face. I got up to 30mph on flat ground with the wind behind me, before deciding that was foolish and slowed down.

The most part of my day was spent heading west though, which ended up being not too bad considering. As I said, there was a sidewind from the south, blowing you from side to side, but not affecting your forward progress too much. There were times that it shifted to slightly more of a headwind, but that wasn't too often. ALSO, Kansas isn't as flat as they'd have you believe, I was definitely going gradually uphill at times. They may not have put an elevation profile on this map, but they aren't fooling anyone. I know a hill when I see one. My right achilles was painful again earlier, I think it was because my saddle may be too high. I dropped it down a bit, and I think that's done the trick.

I'm currently in a town called Chanute, a smallish 'main street' town with all the usual. I went for a walk earlier up to a lake over the road, but despite suncream I was beginning to burn, and so came back to my room, leaving again only for pizza.

Tomorrow I'm heading to either Eureka or Cassoday, though probably not Cassoday because it'll throw me out of sync with towns, in that i'll need a short day to compensate.

Saturday 6 June 2009

Day Thirty-Six - Rest Day Three.

Today was to be the third rest day of my trip. I got up fairly early this morning, partly because I'd had a restless nights sleep, partly because I wanted to get into the routine of getting up early, and partly because they only offer breakfast between 6-9 here.

I woke up with a headahe this morning, which made me feel uninclined to do very much. At 12 or so, I went out on my courtesy bike in search of the other bike shop in Pittsburg. I found it, but it looked pretty shut up, and when I went to open the door, a dog
came bounding out and up at the door. I decided that this shop wasn't going to stock buffs, and so I left. I then cycled down to the shopping 'mall', again with no luck. It was about 1:25 at this point, and I happened to walk past a cinema, and 'The Hangover' was showing at 1:30. In a moment of spontinaity, I thought 'why not?', and paid my $5. Good film, I recommend you see it whenever it comes out in the UK.

After that, I went back to the bike shop to wait for over an hour while my bike was being finished. I then realised after waiting that I didn't have my credit card, and had to go back to my hotel get it. I eventually got my bike back, and went back to the hotel for a bit. By the way, the chain I now have cost $56. I should check to see if it's gold plated, because that seems extortionate..

I ate tonight at Applebees, a restaurant I'd seen advertised loads but never been to. It was very good, and I'll definitely be going back. I still havn't been to taco bell yet, I should eat there at some point in case I'm missing out on something amazing.

Not sure where I'm going tomorrow, I havn't do much as looked at my map. The guy in the bike shop spoke of a town about 55 miles away, which sounds perfect.

Friday 5 June 2009

Day Thirty-Five - Onto the Flats.

I managed to wake up BEFORE my alarm clock today, though only by a few minutes. I got my stuff together, and set off from the Hunting Lodge at around 9:30.

I had to take a detour after my first 10 miles, I had been told that a bridge is being repaired on one of the roads and so is out of use. I probably had to cycle an extra mile overall. It was on this detour that the land had nicely ironed out, though there were a few hills still. I suppose you could compare it to my ironing. Despite this, I was able to make good speed to Golden City.

On reccomendation, I stopped to eat at the Pie Shop. It wasn't immediately obvious that if was where it was. I went inside, and it was absolutely heaving. I while looking for a seat, the guy behind the counter asked if I wanted pie. Of course I wanted pie, and I opted for butterscotch, which was very nice. I didn't realise when choosing my pie that it wasn't exclusively a pie restaurant, and so ended up ordering a chicken sandwich and a baked potato afterwards. I also signed the cyclist log book, a book that contained a few tips on stuff to look out for further up.

I eventually left here, and set off to Pittsburg, my stopping point. I had to take the same road all the way there, and it was as straight as a poker. This was my first experience of really straight roads (other than my very first day, but it wasn't as long and I didn't know any different), and I have to say I quite liked it, though it might have been the novelty of flat ground. It was kind of surreal in a way, everything you go past is spaced out, it was like cycling in slow motion.

I finished the 30 miles to Pittsburg in not much more than 2 hours. I found my hotel, and went to book my bike in for a service. At first, I thought that the service wasn't really necessary, and my bike was running fine. The guys in the bike shop had difference in opinion. My rear brake blocks were shot to pieces, my chain is worn out, which in turn has worn out my cassette and my front wheel needs truing slightly. All of this, and a tune-up comes to the grand total of $195. It seems like an awful lot, I'll look at the recipt when I go back tomorrow. I do have a bike to use while all this is happening, but I can barely ride it. To be honest, I could barely ride my bike without my kit on it, it was VERY twitchy and wobbly. The bike I have now is like a monster truck, a tiny frame and massive wheels.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm doing. My right achilles is quite sore all of a sudden, which is a bit annoying. I'll catch up on emails and the like in the morning, I'm exhausted at the moment.

Thursday 4 June 2009

Day Thirty-Four - Big Ozarks III.

Today was hopefully my last full day of hills before I get to the Rockies.

I was back to my lethargic starts today, but I managed to fit in a phonecall to home and a restaurant breakfast before 9:45. I set off into the mist, the weather today was like a hangover of the storm from last night, really poor visibility and rain like a mist.

I met a cyclist after about 17 miles who was headed eastbound. We chatted for a bit, and found out that he is pretty much the opposite to my routine, he likes to be on the road by FOUR in the morning so he can be done by 11. I couldn't imagine getting up that early to ride... I'm no stranger to having my photo taken by other cyclists for their blogs, but this time I featured in a short video interview, which caught me by surprise.

The rest of my day was largely uneventful, other than having to carry my bike over some roadworks, and spraying my first dog with my dog spray. That was HUGELY satisfying, it was as though I'd flipped a switch and it stopped. I think I need to be more trigger happy with that stuff..

I entertained the idea of going a further 20something miles to golden city further than my planned stop, but I was tiring when I rolled up to Everton and so stopped here. I'm at a hunting lodge, which is basically an out house (albeit a big one). I had the option of camping for $10, or staying inside for $20, with a stocked(ish) fridge. I have done very little this evening other than attempting to make nachos with the limited resources there are here. I'm hugely grateful for having somewhere inside to stay though.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Pittsburg, just over the state border into Kansas, and a map change. I'm not sure whether I should get my bike serviced or not. It hasn't had one since starting, but everything seems to be working find, so I don't know. Any tips appreciated.

Day Thirty-Three - Big Ozarks II.

This post refers to Tuesday 2nd June.

Today was another day spent in the Ozarks. It wasn't as up and down as yesterday, but there were definite steep hills that didn't let me forget where I was.

I woke up feeling better today, though I left the air conditioner on on full overnight, making my room about -5 by the time 7:15 came.

I set off around 9:30, where the sun wasn't too strong. Yesterday was blisteringly hot, and my now sunburnt arms made me have to revert back to long sleeves. I was somehow cooler this was, I don't know if it was actually cooler or it was the shirt.

Anyway, today was fairly similar to yesterday, only I went past more farms than anything else. My old friend the headwind was back, but it wasn't so strong that it had a major impact on my speed. Navigation was dead simple again, I followed the same road for about 55 miles. I arrived in Marshfield at about 4:15, but spent 45 minutes looking for somewhere to stay that wasn't ridiculously expensive. I'm now at the 'Plaza Motel', which sounds a lot more grand than it is, but it's adequate all the same.

I went for Mexican food tonight, and had a kind of faster platter l that was again, fairly average.

I then went to a place called 'DQ' or 'Dairy Queen', where I thought I could get WiFi, but it turned out I had to walk into the middle of the car park. I went out with my marshmallow milkshake I'd bought so I could sit in DQ, and began to check my emails. I could hear a storm in the distance, but didn't anticipate how fast it would come overhead, so I didn't get a chance to do everything I wanted. I'll be camping tomorrow, which will probably be wet. A flash flood warning just came up on tv, telling me to switch to channel 4 immediately.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Day Thirty-Two - First Month.

Today marks one month of being in the States, though not one month of riding yet, courtesy of Delta.

I made sure I got an early night last night in order to wake up early and fresh, instead I woke up late and groggy. I went for an omlette in a local diner, and going at 9:45ish, a time that needs to be improved upon. I was prepared for a hilly day, and a hilly day I got.

My day would be divided up into three sections, 27 miles, 20 miles and 23 miles. The first two parts were both on the same road, and the third part was on what the road became when it changed number. Needless to say, navigation wasn't an issue.

The first part of the day was tough, and by the time I reached the first stop I was ready to stop at the next town. However, I met a cyclist who was headed eastbound from San Francisco. He told me about how good Utah and Nevada were, about how hot it was in the daytime and about the 130 mile day you have to do at one point. I'm not really sure what to make of that, but I'm confident that 70-80 miles in the hills is comparable to a much further flatland distance. He also left a month ago tomorrow (2nd may), which is pretty good going. I learnt of how there wasn't a place to stop in Summersville (contrarary to my map), but the last stretch to Houston was relatively flat.

I stopped for a milkshake at a dairy bar (my new favourite things), and set off onto the second leg of my journey, just as hilly as the first. There wasn't a lot to say about this to be honest. The scenery was nice to look at, with trees lining both sides of the road, and the occasional river, or view over the mountains. The novelty wore off after a while though.

I stopped in Summersville, my second town, where indeed there was nowhere to stay. I wasn't too fussed about that, the town wasn't great anyway. I stopped for some more liquids, and set off for the last 23 miles. This part flew by compared to the rest of the day, mostly because I was averaging faster than 11mph. It was flatter than before, which was good. I arrived into Houston at around 5:30, quite late for me. I went up to the motel that was recommended to me. I booked in, and went out for Chinese soon after. This meal was disappointing to be honest, the food wasn't great. This didn't stop me eating my bodyweight, and I retired back to my room.

I have no idea where I'm heading tomorrow, I havn't looked at my map yet. I know I'm camping soon, I can't remember when. If it's tomorrow, I doubt I'll be able to update this until the day after.

Monday 1 June 2009

Day Thirty-One - Proper Ozarks.

I began my day with a lethargic start as always. I got all my stuff together, and was ready to go by 8:45, after I had eaten. I went to go and get my included continental breakfast. I was shocked and appalled to find that there was nothing but bread and cereal left. Thinking on my feet, I decided to head over to White Castle, where I used a coupon to eat for about $3.

I got underway, and opted for a sneaky shortcut that bypassed the town of Bismark. I'm not sure how many miles this saved me, but it's got to be in the region of 5-8 miles. Don't get me wrong, I'm not racing to finish, but I didn't think I would gain a huge amount culturally from that extra bit. It was down this bypass that a tortoise met it's match in a similar way to how the dog met it's match back in Virginia. It differed this time though, in that this tortoise started chasing after me yesterday. Everything about that ordeal was awful, you could see it happening in slow motion. A car went to overtake me and ran it over, making a really loud crunch, after which I pretty much had to swerve to dodge flying debris.

After all of this excitement, the rest of my day was fairly ordinary. The scenery made a nice change, it was all woodland for as far as I could see either side of the road. After my relatively flat start, the hills bit back and I spent the rest of my milage going over what is described as the 'self-propelled rollercoaster'.

I arrived in Ellington at around 4pm, with temperatures still above 80 degrees. After eating in a diner over the road, I retired to bed to watch some of the MTV Movie Awards and write this up. I'm going to get an early night tonight, I'm going 70 miles or so to Denver (not the big Denver). It's only 8 miles further than I went today, but by setting out early I can take my time on the bigger hills.