Vancouver, BC

I'm here, in a coffee shop on Julia's laptop, and I just told the man next to me I biked from the Atlantic to the Pacific in the past 10 weeks. He says, "Wow, well have a good day in Vancouver." and walks away. When you say it, it just doesn't seem as cool as when you live it.

It's impossible to describe the last 30 miles riding as a huge group through the city yesterday, and even harder--getting wet with Pacific ocean, dipping my front tire, staring out to sea, there. Quite the bike. We went out to dinner as a group to a brew pub and now, a day later, 4 people are already gone. It'll still take a little while to sink in, here I am, Canada, the destination, all those miles, hills, diners, headwinds, conversations, friendships--call it family even, and it's over. Back to real life. Thanks for reading along the whole way, and all the comments. I'll have lots of pictures up September 6, and maybe some more words about Vancouver if I can articulate them. Surreal. Good times.


Love from Vancouver, BC, CANADA!

Nick

Grand Finale Pass

Washington Pass, WA. 79 mile ride. The last mountain pass in Washington--and the tallest, over 5,500 ft--to end something like 5 days of mountains. Woke up cold in the tent, excited. Everyone was anxious--the past two years it has been rainy and snowy at the top of the pass so we packed all the clothes we had. The ride started like many others, Wade, Jeremy, and I rollin into an 18 mile descent. We got talking about all kinds of things--family, religion, marriage, carreers--lost in conversation going in every direction. Halfway up the pass there's a group of people 'fixing a flat.' As we approach they turn around and we're pelted with snow balls! There was a huge melting snow patch stuck down mountain--although it was probably high 60's. We continued the climb and in under 2 hours we hit the summit, confused. Confused because we felt awesome! Legs weren't sore, no sweat, not even hard breathing. I kept expecting an intense end climb, then we were at the top, and the views couldn't have been better. Wow! 40 miles of descent! Wow Wow! The best part came after lunch. We came curving around and lake Diablo came into view--the craziest teal blue you'd ever see, something about the glacier minerals. Compounding the beauty, the road broke into the best steep curves of the trip, zooming round and round in the 40's mph. It was straight unreal. Quite the grand finale. Picked up an ostrich burger before the ride was over. Only 130 miles left. All flat. Crazy.

Washington Mountains

The days in Washington thus far revolve around a mountain climb. The first day into Chewelah was 74 miles with the climb starting around mile 40. Wade, Theo, Jay, Alli and I made a quick morning and beat the trailer to lunch. Jay talked to a local who recommended an off cue sheet reroute to a diner. We were up for the adventure, that may have even cut off a mile, and enjoyed a great burger 'drowned' in chili. We told the manager what we were doing and she gave us our meal for free. Inconveniently enough, somewhere while we were not paying, I took out my credit card and haven't seen it since. No big deal though, it's all worked out now. The climb was long up flowery trail road but Jay and I took it well and joined Cydney for a long curvy descent. I remember one turn in particular that must have been more than 270 degrees of rotation going in the 30s mph. It was awesome. Hosts provided another great pot luck, I've never eaten a bad pot luck.
The next day I took over sweep for Jon, who's had some saddle sore issues, with Wade for an epic '74 mile' day over Sherman's pass--the biggest mountain pass in the state according to some other bikers. We were having a good ride at the end of the pack in the morning following signs for WA 20 as the cue sheet told us. Lunch should have been at mile 35, so when we hit 38 and still hadn't seen anyone we flagged down a pick-up truck. Turns out we were rolling WA 20 East--not West--for the past 18 miles. We headed for the nearest house and a nice man named Roy let us use his phone--we didn't have service on our cells. I told Nate not to wait for us at lunch, Wade and I were a little off track and would go self supported. Roy left us with a banana and an awesome pice of granola huckleberry bread. Wade and I never discussed if we could do it, only if there would be enough day light. Inconveniently enough I run a flat 3 miles later, and with no extras patch the tube with a self adhesive patch. Flat again within 2 miles--aparently the self adhesive patches are bad for hot weather. Another patch was all we could do, this time the glued kind from Wade--it worked. We got a sub at the grocery store in town and stocked up some granola and water. The climb was intense. Took us about 3 hours to climb the 20 miles in the hottest part of the day--hitting 90's. Of course the descent was worth it--long and awesome, got a video to prove it. We rolled in to Republic about 7:30, just in time for dinner, with 107 miles on the day.
Today started with a climb, not as bad as the past two and led into a descent twice as long as the ascent. Another cafe delayed our day. Then something funny happened. Washington turned desert. Temperatures in the 90s. Didn't know Washington did like this. The last flat 25 miles of the 65 mile day turned out to be quite the unexpected energy drain. Quick shower, nap, and dinner and we're good to go. Kristian's back to finish the ride with us--one of the head B&B guys, organizes all the routes and starts and finishes with us. Good deal.
Another big climb tomorrow. Going into 2 days of camping then only a few more.

Idaho

Last scheduled 90+ mile day into Idaho. Early stop for a mile hike into the woods to a picture perfect early morning waterfall. Around mile 25 we stopped for a love/hate good bye to Route 2--which we've been following since MN. I noticed a bad wobble in my front tire so at lunch I inspected and a spoke just popped off. I pulled the tire off, found the spoke end under the tape, replaced the spoke, and trued the wheel in about 20. Something I'd never done before, but with the knowledge I've been picking up along the way, any basic bike maintenance is feasible. Arrived in Sandpoint--a descent sized town around 6800 population I believe--for a nice evening and a day off in Idaho.
That night we enjoyed free tickets to the city fair where a symphony played followed by fireworks. Perfect weather for a relaxing day off. 10:00am wake up was a great treat next to our usual 6. Stopped at a crepes and coffee shop on our way to the beach. The lake was beautiful. Sand volleyball and cool water with nothing but mountains in the background. No potatoes, but Idaho left a good taste in my mouth.

Western Montana

Habitat for Humanity build day in Kalispell--right outside White Fish. Good day doing siding prep work with Alan--a Canadian caravaner. At the church Pastor Dan gave a touching talk to our group before the dinner presentation and ended it by blessing our bikes. He was the most down to earth friendly Pastor I've met this summer and I wish I could stay to hear a service. The day out of White Fish shaped into another great one, almost epic even. It started out with sourdough pancakes cooked by Dr. John Forsberg. I got to talking to him in the kitchen, and ended asking him if I could take some of his sourdough starter along with me. He was happy to share it and wrote down the recipe. This was the coolest souvenier I could imagine! He's been using this starter--yeast culture good for making pancakes, waffles, bread, beer--for 50 years. It was passed to him by a lady in Oregon, who got it from her grandmother from the Yukon gold rush of 1882--this same starter! So now I've just got to keep it cold back to Ohio and I'll experiment and it'll continue to nourish. We only had 50 miles that day, so I hung out in White Fish with Eileen, Jason, and Angel. We drank lots of coffee at a cool little shop, wandered to the bike shop, and checked out boots at a western store. We met two New Zealanders biking the continental divide from Canada to Mexico and a girl who offered Jason places to stay all down the Pacific coast if he decides to continue his ride. It started raining while we headed to White Fish lake. We couldn't help but take a cold refreshing swim in the 55 degree weather. We started our ride at noon and kept a fast pace. Jason spotted a Ponderosa pine which we stopped to admire. Biggest tree I've ever seen--probably 5 of me around--and smelled sweet like butterscotch. We hit Eureka by 4 and Jason and I split what Good Morning America voted the best burger in the country. Pretty good. I enjoyed the potluck provided by the church that night much more.

The Rockies

Glacier National Park! I started the 66 mile day into St. Mary's taking over sweep with Jason. The first 30 miles were windy and slow, but the mountains grew on the horizon and nothing could get me in a bad mood. I found a Montana License plate and strapped it under my seat. During the second half of the ride a wonderful thing happened. Trees blocked the wind and we could ride again. Matt, Jason and I enjoyed the gradual ascent with a few switchbacks. We stopped to rub aspen bark sun screen on our faces and chew the bark for the drug in Asprin. We ended with the most satisfying 8 mile descent into St. Mary's to camp. The three of us picked up Eileen and went to St. Mary's lake for a refreshingly freezing swim to the most amazing view. I just kept saying, "It's the Rockies!" Camping out, Angel and I looked up at the most stars I've ever seen in Big Sky Country--Montana. Of course there was a meteor shower that night and we saw a dozen shooting stars! Can't get better than that.

Ride through Glacier was Epic. 18 mile ascent, 30 mile descent. The ride up was great. Long gradual incline with switchbacks and so many views to stop and take in. Saw the last of a glacier and the most beautiful array of wildflowers of anywhere. The last 5 miles was where it got fun--rain. By the time we reached the top it was low 40's and raining hard. Our descent was down Logan's pass with construction in 3 places and delays. We stood in the lodge for a few minutes, but there was no question we were doing it. Cydney, Angel, Jeremy, Wade and I started out our insane adventure over Logan's Pass and the continental divide with a rain dance. Two miles in we hit traffic waiting on construction. The rain and wind were cutting through us and we couldn't stop, so we walked the narrow edge past the cars and rode through the construction. Coldest I've ever been?! 2/3 construction traffic. Quick thoughts of waiting on a shuttle. No way. Few more miles. Stop and cydney's worrying a bit but we resolve it with a crazy warm up rain dance. Bike. 3/3 construction, keeping on. Back break pads wore to nothing and the front ones are scraping metal, but doable. The 5 of us crammed into a portabathroom for 5 minutes of warmth. More crazy rain dancing and off again. Stopped and had a little scare when Angel didn't show up for 10 minutes and a car said he hadn't seen him, but he rolled down and we rolled on. After an intense 18 miles, the hill got less steep and we could pedal which helped bring some feeling back. Finally hit Logan Lake Lodge and barrelled into a pizza restaurante with a buffet. Took us an hour in the bathroom to get Angel to stop shaking, but we survived. In the end, half the group understandably took shuttles down, and we ate a dozen slices of pizza each. The crazy part was getting ourselves back on our bikes for 40 more miles. After that initial push, the last stretch turned out to be great. Rolling hills that reminded us of the Adirondacks but with the view of the Rockies in the background. We ended in White Fish, where we were spoiled with showers, a hot tub, a steam room, and a dry sauna at the local fitness center--taking advantage of each. We had just finished 11 straight ride days. Epic.

Eastern Montana

Eastern Montana turned out to be a lot like Eastern North Dakota. Small spaced out towns, windy, flat. One difference is MTis mainly cattle ranches and hay fields, where ND had more crops--corn, soy, and wheat mainly. Also, in MT the wind can change directions! We had a few days in a row that the weather reports were calling for storms. This actually turned out in our favor. We never got wet for one. And we had one day where the winds came from the east. That was the day that we realized how easy it would be to ride West to East. Wade and I got going and took only one 30 second pee break stop for 50 miles. We made it in 2 hours and 2 minutes--average speed 23.9mph! East to West is definitly more rewarding--fighting the wind to make to West, through the Rockies, to Vancouver. But if I were on my own fully loaded, the other direction would be no big deal. From there to Glacier we stumbled on something exciting every day. Had 7 flat tires as a small group in 70 miles one day, but stopped at an indoor hot spring along the way and enjoyed a soak. Three young girls waved us over day and let us ride their horses. Having no experience, they tell me to jump on the horse with no saddle, just a small pad, and give her a kick. I go galloping across the field not knowing how to stop or turn or hold on but enjoyed every second. One of the girls caught me and showed me how to ride a horse in Montana. Wade, Jason and I found an Rod's Drive In--an old-school drive in some cyclists told us about--and the woman who took our order paid for our meal after talking for a while. Delicious burger and fries. Fought constant 25mph crosswinds with 45+mph gusts for 35 miles. A huge wind farm mocked us as we rode into the coldest city in the country, including Alaska--Cut Bank, MT. Once there, enjoyed another free meal from a nice manager--Tammy--at Taco John's. Just keeps getting better.