Also, ULTIMATE FRISBEE

As part of my 4-day mid-tour break, I visited two old friends in Boulder, and among many splendid activities (reading at the coffee shop while the Tour plays, lapping up Sherpa stew, bouldering (naturally), creek dipping..)

I caught Noah's ultimate frisbee game. It looked like SOOO MUCH FUN!!

They were like a field full of golden retrievers, just so happy to catch a flying saucer.

I had a good time, appreciating yet another way to sweat up endorphins.

US Mountain Bike National Championships

As part of my mid-tour 4-day break,

I got to go to US MTB Nats and visit my old friend and teammate Jane!

I wanted to mountain bike REAL' BAD by the end of the day and I don't even have a mountain bike! Apparently, that doesn't stop me from wanting to compete in some epic mountain bike races. I like epic and I like bikes, it seems that most blends of the two are enough to strike my fancy.


Jane at start, cool, calm and cute.

Jane up hill, first, fast and fun.

Jane on switchback.. like a CAT!

Jane at car, all done.





THEN.

The Pro Women's Race.

I was very excited to see:

Mary McConneloug

Katie Compton

Georgia Gould


Heather Irmiger, Winner's Glow.

Heather riding into the photographers at the finish.

Victory arms!

Katie Compton riding in.

I didn't take any pictures of the men. :)



Don't let your kids drink Monster.

We Like Our Bikes

This is my house, my transport, my fun.

It moves and carries.

My bed, my pants, my camera.

My hat, my water, my pee rag.

Plastic flying cats.

A feather or two.

A smooth rock.

It labors, it flies.

Rocking and spinning up the pass.

Shivering and drooling back down.

Stable but snap.

A brick and a feather.

Are we there yet?

Let's never get there.

Refreshment

On a 50-mile stretch of no towns to speak of, sometimes the refreshment finds you.

Sitting alongside the road, taking a lunch break, a truck pulled over and offered us cold sodas and watermelon.

*Aaah!

Delicious.

Our lovely rides, glorified.

I found some Photoshop-type features on my lil' camera! Of course, I've been having fun with it.

My very trusty Trek 520.

Mia's ride.

Even though we have kickstands, our bikes still fall over at least once a day. Most times, we just laugh. Most times.

The Random Collection

Totally out-of-order, random photos of bicycle touring life. I'm at the beginning of a 4-day break, so some complete thoughts will soon be coming your way!

Hangin' the laundry. We have a small clothes-pin-less clothes line that has been very handy!

After changing a flat, I liked the contrast of my dirty hands and brilliant nectarine.

Upon arriving at Yellowstone, we found a WHOLE UNOPENED BAG OF SANTITA'S TORTILA CHIPS in the middle of the road! Of course we ate them!

We have been over the Continental Divide SO MANY times, I can't even count.

Morning hair. I look ready for prom!

We did a lot of bear-boxing in Yellowstone/Wyoming.

Gummy worms are the new Gu.

TransAm This and That

Instead of writing a post with a focused concept or a conclusion (though there are some still forming in my head), here are some random favorite photographs and moments.. that's kinda how my brain feels right now, and also, that's all I can do with a 30 minute time slot on a library computer!





After descending toward Ennis, MT-- we thought it looked like the Alps. So Mia, appropriately provided the tune:




HA HA. I got her!









If the conditions are right, we can kill a package of Chips Ahoy AND Donuts in ONE day.








In Montana, I acquired a sun shirt and a COWBOY HAT! The sun shirt not only provides great UV protection, but when on a bike, it circulates air and keeps me cool! The hat (only worn OFF the bike) keeps the sun off both my face and neck. It's a nice quality hat made of palm leaves rather than straw, so it's durable, weather-resistant and Just Darn Cool.




And sometimes, when you're in Grizzley Bear Country and you're afraid of being eaten in the night, there is a really nice family at the camp site next door who will let you sleep in the cab of their truck. :) (THANK YOU!!)

And when you need to wash just about EVERY SINGLE THING YOU OWN. You slip on your swimsuit, wrap skirt you just bought for $10, flops and a hat.

And when you need to poop IMMEDIATELY in a National Forest and there is no restroom nearby, you bag it. Good thing we stocked up on dog poo bags!

And we carry chalk to leave camping tips for cyclists, or a good joke on a long stretch of road. "What's brown and sticky?"

A STICK!

Wyoming

I'm in Lander, WY. All the libraries are closed today, as it is a holiday, but the kind man at the grocery store (thanks, JEFF!) hooked us up with the computer at the Best Western after buying us fruit. It's so clean in here!

I've spent the last 10 minutes trying to figure out how to upload pictures onto this thing, but that's not going to happen. Which is too bad, because I'd really like to post video of me racing the horses in Wyoming, or Mia yodeling in Montana (if she hasn't deleted it yet), or of my new and very awesome cowboy hat that is strapped to the back of my bike.

...

I've spent a lot of time on this blog thanking the kind people that have helped me along the way-- I'd also like to thank all of YOU READERS for your comments and support. Unfortunately, I rarely have time to reply to comments, because whenever I get a chance to post, I have to write speedy-speedy fast. But please know, I read them and appreciate them!

Also, if any of you are getting ideas in your own heads to go on a grand bicycle adventure and have QUESTIONS about touring-- please ask! Some topics I'd like to cover are:

• What we're eating.
• Where we're staying.
• How much we're riding.
• What we're carrying.
• And all that jazz.

But as bicycle touring goes, there is no ONE way to do it. You can enjoy as much luxury or LACK thereof as you like. But I'd be happy to share how WE'RE doing it.

On the food front, my new favorite fuels are: gummy worms, Boston Baked Beans (the candy) and donuts.

TransAmerica Tour Update: The Advantage of Undesirable Places

When we stayed at Mare's place in Idaho [THANK YOU, MARE! we had a blast and were quite refreshed], where we

visited with Mare/soaked in salts/got massages/met the neighbors/ate sushi, fritata and rhubarb cobbler/laughed all night/were sent off with fun money(which we're still carefully deciding on how to use!) and I even got a swim suit that I needed (thank you, Katie!)

we left around 2:30pm. Ha.

...

When we stayed in a lumpy front yard of a nice old man's house where the earwigs got into EVERYTHING (including INSIDE the bread) and there really wasn't anywhere to pee

we left around 7 in the morning.

...

Seems like, if we want to get on the road real' early-- we should stay at undesirable places!

TransAmerica Tour Update: Stevensville Pickle

It was a slow day. Late start, a bit hot, and I wasn't feeling great. We didn't get anywhere near where we wanted to go, but we decided to stop in Stevensville, where we thought there would be camping. As it turned out, the camping was closed for business. Hmm.

We rolled around a recently developed suburban neighborhood. There were some enticing spots of grass. A woman passed us by in a shiny pick up truck, smiled and waved. We promptly turned around,

"do you know anything about the camping in this area?"

After learning that she had bicycle toured Europe as a young woman, and meeting her fluffy puppy, she and her husband suggested we try the common grass area just yonder. We checked it out, but it was freshly seeded grass that would've been a mud pit to camp in. Darn.

Plan C. Roam around the Super One Grocery across the street.

"do you know anything about the camping in this area?"

No, I'm not from here, sorry.

"do you know anything about the camping in this area?"

We tried the police department, to see if we could camp in the city park or behind a school. In a small town, this is usually not a problem.

I'm sorry, ladies-- but I can't let you camp in the parks.

Darn again.

A firefighter that we had recently met watched us mope out of the police department.

Have you ladies found a place to stay tonight?

"We're still working on it."

Let me call my wife, you can probably stay at our place tonight.

"!!!"

In just moments, we went from a real pickle to staying at an empty nester's house, eating fruit and showering! To top it off, they sent us off with some fun money which we promptly spent that morning on a delicious breakfast at the Internet Coffee Station in downtown Stevensville. THEN, the kind ladies at the Coffee Station even sent us off with free AMAZING cookies!


/before

after.

TransAmerica Tour Update: More Eating

Last night we ate at Fetty's Cafe in Wisdom, MT. We don't eat 'out' very often, because it's more expensive than spreading peanut butter on a Fig Newton. But anyhow, we ate at Fetty's to escape from the awful swarms of mosquitoes that thrive in the gigantic marsh land that is Big Hole Valley, MT. These skeeters swarmed us even WHILE we rode our bicycles! Dang.

So we hid in Fetty's and tossed calories down our throats and caught up on some post cards. The folks at Fetty's were so friendly and accomodating, that they even iced and packed a breakfast for us in our lil' lunchbox so that we could hit the road in the chill morning before the mosquitos woke up.

Anyhow, so we each had a cold, but satifsfying breakfast burrito and hash browns for First Breakfast.

For second breakfast, I put down two donuts, 4 or 5 Chips Ahoy cookies, a banana and a half, a cup of milk and a little bit of coffee.

The 6-pack of donuts is already gone, and if the storm we're sitting out decides to pass us anytime soon, we'll easily polish off the rest of the Chips Ahoy. They're already about 3/4 gone.

Not Overly Pampered

Before you start to think that Mia and I have been overly pampered on our tour because we got massages from Mare, or scooped out of the rain by a family in a pick up truck or because the coffee shop gave us each a free huge cookie or for getting an uphill tailwind out of Baker or any of these things..

we've also shaken hoards of earwigs from everything we own, counted over 2 dozen mosquito bites on just one of my legs, eaten questionable 69cent freezer burritos and 50% of our trip so far has been in the rain!

But it makes every real bed we get to sleep in feel like heaven.