Day 46 - Mercey Hot Springs, CA

I slept on a cot at the fire station which was a lot more comfortable than sleeping outside. I got some coffee and was ready to leave pretty early but as I was going to pack up I realized my front tire was completely flat. I didn't bother patching it because it went flat so quickly and there ended up being a bunch of little holes from thorns in the tube. I got to talking with the guys and before I knew it a couple of hours had gone by but that was OK because it was really cold out anyways. I got the tube changed and they loaded me up with granola bars which is always nice and then I took off for Hollister. Since I couldn't ride on 152 I had to take a bunch of back roads and at one point I was riding along side an aqueduct which was pretty strange but there was no traffic so that was cool.

After zig zaging around for a bit I was starting to get on a straighter path. I rode down about six miles of interstate which is never fun because of all the debris in the road but I saw a sign for a place called Mercey Hot Springs and they had camping and I figured I'd check it out. It was about thirteen miles after the turnoff and it was starting to get pretty hot out. A couple of miles out it turned into the desert again and it was starting to get even hotter. About 40 miles from where I started I ran into Mercey Hot Springs to check it out. When I rode by it looked like it was abandoned which wouldn't have surprised me but I stopped in anways because I figured I could at least get in the shade. Even when I got to the office I thought it was close but as I was pulling away someone showed up. He told me how much it was and that there was camping and I wasn't that interested so I turned to leave. About ten seconds after I left I realized I really didn't want to go back into the desert and remembered I'm in no hurry and figured it would be a nice place to spend the day. It ended up being really nice, I got a shower, relaxed by the pool, got in the hot baths and they even have wifi here. It's kind of a weird little oasis but it was a nice relaxing day.

Day 45 - June 30 - Los Banos, CA

I woke up and had an idea about how to fix my rear brake. I took a part from my front brake and put it on the rear and it was enough so I felt comfortable riding the next 30 miles into Merced. I got into Merced and got the brakes fixed up so I feel a lot safer now. I wandered around town for a bit and found a visitor's center. That was probably a good idea because I was going to take highway 152 over to Hollister but I was told that would be too dangerous and I was given an alternate route. However, that ruined my plans for the night because there was a park on that highway I was going to camp at. The lady at the visitor's center called around and there were no good options in Merced to sleep for the night so I continued on to Los Banos to see what I could find around there. I got into the town and it didn't look very promising, it was bigger than I thought and there were no signs of a campground or RV park. I wandered around for a bit and found a fire station and went inside to ask if there was anything nearby. There were a lot of really nice people there and I got directions to a campground about seven miles from town. No one really knew if they had showers there so they let me take a shower at the station. We talked for a bit and I ended up just sleeping at the station for the night. It ended up being an awesome night, I really needed a shower and everyone at the station was really cool. I talked to a lot of the guys and talked about my trip. It was nice to spend some time relaxing in the air conditioning and I got a lot of good advice and directions.

Day 44 - June 29 - Cathey's Valley, CA

I headed out of Yosemite pretty early after getting some food at the Yosemite Village. After getting out of the Yosemite Valley it was pretty much downhill for the next thirty or so miles. It would definitely not have been fun going up that way, a lot of 8% grades and gradual climbs. Eventually I hit the bottom of the hill at 1,300 ft. elevation, the lowest I've been in a long time. At the bottom I heard some very familiar words. "There's a summit up there, but after that it's all down hill, you can probably just coast the next 30 miles." I've heard the phrase "it's all downhill from there" several times since Colorado, and not once has it been true. I made it up to the 3,000 ft. summit pretty easily because I'm pretty used to climbing by now, but it wasn't the end of the climbing for the day. At the bottom of the summit I went to put on my brakes and my front brake went out. My rear break has been pretty weak for a while but it hasn't been much of an issue because the front one was working well. I spent some time trying to fix it but the housing for the brake was messed up and I didn't have the parts to fix it. There were a few more hills going into Mariposa and during that time my rear brake completely stopped working. So, I had no brakes and Mariposa is on a hill at a downward slant so I rolled into town with no brakes and hoped to find a bike shop but there wasn't one. The next bike shop was in Merced, about 40 miles away.

So, I figured I'd make my way to Merced and see where I'd end up. Leaving Mariposa was a fairly steep grade downhill. I didn't really need my brakes really because I wasn't stopping. However, when I was getting into the town of Cathey's Valley, I stopped to ask some people if there was a campground near by and I almost crashed a few times trying to stop my bike by hand by grabbing the front brakes and pulling up. I didn't feel like going much further with no brakes so I set up camp in the town's park and tried to figure out what to do for the next day.

Day 43 - June 28 - North Pines, Yosemite Park, CA

There were only a few more miles to get out of the park but of course it was pretty hilly. I was feeling pretty good because of the short day before. Fortunately, there wasn’t much climbing for the day and it was mostly downhill. After about 25 miles we stopped at a gas station and they went out highway 120 to San Fran and I went into the Yosemite valley to spend the night. It was downhill all the way into the valley so I got there pretty early. Yosemite valley is pretty confusing and pretty disorganized. I wandered around for a while and found out that all of the campgrounds were full. However, there is a backpackers campground that I could stay at because I was on a bike. I set up camp and it was a pretty cool campground and probably the least crowded in the park. I didn’t feel like doing much so I just biked around and took pictures. Then, I spent a few hours in a stream cooling off. I got to sleep really early for some reason, around 8pm. It was a really relaxing day and I’m so glad to be out of the desert and hopefully done with the mountains for a while.

Day 42 - June 27 - Porcupine Flats, Yosemite Park, CA

Once again, I woke up later than the other bikers and set out to climb the Tioga pass, 3000 ft. of climbing over twelve miles. It was a pretty brutal climb but I didn’t do as bad as I thought I would. It was fairly steep and I was not warmed up and my legs hurt. I was alternating walking and biking so I wouldn’t tire too quickly but didn’t really have to stop to take a break other than taking some pictures on the way up. It took me a little over two hours to get to the pass which was the entrance to the park where Chance and Kelly were waiting. They were waiting there because they could get us all in for free because we were on bikes which was cool. Since we were at the top, someone said it was about 50 miles of downhill after the pass so I was pretty excited to just relax the rest of the day.

We stopped at a small café for lunch/breakfast and planned out where we would stop for the night and camp. After leaving, we realized pretty quick that it was not downhill from there. There were some decent sized rolling hills until we got to a lake and looked around. Then in the distance we saw this hill going up. It was not a small hill and I really didn’t want to do that big of a climb. We went a few miles up and I thought that’d be it for the day. Then, we went down for a few miles and right back up. We had only gone about thirty miles for the day and I was ready to be done. There was a campground about half way in to the park that wasn’t too far off the road and didn’t require a reservation so that’s where we headed. We ended the day at about 37 miles and relaxed by the stream. There was a bunch of cool people by our campsite and just hung out and talked to people all night.

Day 41 - June 26 - Lee Vining, CA

Once again I didn’t sleep well because I was set up on sand and still had no sleeping mat. I got up late and Chance and Kelly set out pretty early. All night there were sirens going off and other noises. Then in the morning, before the sun came up a rooster was making a ton of noise which made a bunch of dogs sound barking then about 20 more animals started making sounds that I didn’t know existed so I had to get up pretty early too. I set out about a half hour after the other 2 and the first few miles were brutal.

It was about a 50 mile ride that I had planned out for the day. I was going to the base of the Tioga pass and planning to go over it the next day. I didn’t know what the terrain would be like for the day and it ended up being horrible. The first seven miles were brutal and I felt like crap from the day before. I walked part of the seven percent grade and though the climbing would be done for a while. After I got over it was just hill after hill. There were a few miles of rolling hills followed by a few miles of “dips” where it looked like California was too lazy to just dig a hole through the terrain to make a flat road. I caught up with the other two cyclists about twenty miles down the road and started biking together. It was pretty brutal so we were taking it slow. My map didn’t show it, but we were coming to an 8,000 ft. summit that I didn’t know was there. We made it through some more brutal hills and got to the summit about ten miles later. When we got to the top, there were some people who were setting up an RV that was signaling the end of a bicycle race. We talked for a few minutes then went to go down the hill when they shouted over to us asking us to come back and have some soda and food. We ended up staying for a few hours and I ate a shit load of food. They were all pretty cool and when we started to leave they all started cheering, it was cool but kind of weird. The ride down was really nice, for the first time since Colorado I finally started to see some trees. There was a lot of cool scenery and I got some cool pictures. In the distance was the mountain we’d have to climb over the next day. There were a few more hills that I could barely make it over because of all the climbing earlier in the day. Eventually we made it to Lee Vining and found an overpriced RV park to camp at.

We spent the rest of the day going around town and chilling out. I got a crappy little mat to use for the rest of the trip but hopefully it would be enough. There was wifi at the RV park but it was 6 bucks to use and I didn’t want to give them any more money. I got some decent sleep because there was actually some grass there and I was able to take a shower.

Day 40 - June 25 - Benton, CA

I got to bed around 9pm the night before and woke up around 8am. I took it slow in the morning, got some breakfast and packed up to head off for California. I had an 85 mile day ahead of men and wanted to be done with Nevada. Riding out of Tonopah was nice, I didn’t have to pedal for the first 13 miles to the first rest stop. It was going to be a good day, there was even a town half way to Benton, CA where I could get fill up on water. I got riding and it was still fairly cool, clouds were starting to form but there was no rain. It was slightly downhill after that so I was making good time. I got to the town 43 miles after Tonopah and there was nothing there, it was a ghost town. I wasn’t surprised, but I hadn’t used up that much water getting there so I wasn’t too worried. There was a decent summit right before California and figured I would be fine. Once I got to the base of the summit I realized how shitty I felt. I was sore and definitely not ready to be climbing again. The clouds had left me and it got hot quickly and I was making slow time climbing the summit. Once again I was running out of water in the Nevada desert and climbing up a summit. I got to the top and there was a trucker who was broke down and he gave me some Gatorade. After that I was pretty happy, it was downhill into California and even more importantly, I was going to be out of Nevada.

I made it through Nevada so quickly that I hadn’t even looked at my California maps. I got into the first town of Benton and got some dinner at the café in town. There really wasn’t much there so I was nervous about finding a place to camp for the night. They told me there was a campground a few miles away but it was closed for the day. I started wandering around town and passed by a church with a few people that had tents set up. Then I realized they were bike tourists so I stopped and started talking. The two other tourists, Chance and Kelly were headed the same way I was and had started in New York. We talked about our experiences then went to sleep.

Day 38,39 - June 23,24 - Tonopah, NV

I slept in because my plan was to leave for Tonopah late in the day and ride through the night. I got some lunch at the café and it started to rain again. I looked to the west and there were rain clouds over the first summit I would have to climb for the day. There were 4 summits I would have to climb over and then end on top of a 5th summit at Tonopah. Around noon, it was cool out and there were storm clouds everywhere. The waitress at the café told me it was the beginning of the monsoon season. I decided to head out while it was cool out. That way I could travel on the Extraterrestrial highway during the day which was a small highway which had cows and snakes in the road and make it to highway 6 by night time and ride that, hopefully without any trouble.

I left a quarter to one in the afternoon and made my way up the first summit. Since it was early in the day for me, I took it really slow and walked part of it so I wouldn’t wear out too quickly. By the time I got to the top, it was clear skies above me with storm clouds kind of scattered throughout the sky. There was a flat ride after the summit to the ghost town of Warm Springs, about half way, 50 miles from Tonopah. It was an interesting ride on my way to Warm Springs, I had had winds for the first part of the ride and noticed about 10 miles after the summit that there was a big storm cloud following me from on top of the summit. About 25 miles from Warm Springs I got tail winds and noticed the storm was right behind me. I started to haul ass to try to get to Warm Springs and find some sort of shelter. I got about 10 miles away when the storm caught up with me and I heard some major thunder and I got in the ditch to wait for the storm to pass and try to avoid getting struck by lightning. I was in the ditch for about an hour before the rain stopped and the thunder and lightning calmed down. For the second day in a row I saw a rainbow appear in the middle of Nevada, weird. The rest of my ride to Warm Springs involved being circled by jets that were flying low and dropping chaffs and flairs. I finally made it to warm springs after 60 miles and just around dusk.

I rested up for a bit and attached my lights to my bike. I thought the storm had passed but they were starting to appear again. Immediately after Warm Springs was another summit. As I was riding up it was getting darker and darker. Rain started to come back and there was a lot of lightning in the distance. I made it to the top just as it got pitch black. There were no stars because of all the clouds and the lightning looked even more menacing in the night. I couldn’t tell how far away it was because of the open landscape but I didn’t feel like getting in the ditch in the middle of the night in the desert. It cooled down fast and it started to rain more and more. This was the longest ride I attempted in the night. My light wasn’t very bright but I pretty much had the entire road to myself. There was a rest area about 25 miles from Tonopah which I was shooting for to take a break from the rain. It was just over the next summit. I normally look at my miles constantly to check my progress and see what time it is. I couldn’t in the dark so I was just riding and riding. It’s weird riding in the dark on a bike, I couldn’t see anything other than the road 5 feet in front of me. I was started to feel really cold and miserable. My shoes and gloves were soaked so my hands and feet were really cold. My glasses and lights were wet so I couldn’t see very well. I was really tired but just kept pedaling, hoping to get to the rest stop soon. I started up the summit and it seemed like it took forever. I couldn’t see so I didn’t have any idea what it was going to be over. When I finally started down the hill I got really excited. I was hoping to dry off in the rest area and warm up. When I got to the rest area I was really disappointed. There was just an outhouse and some gravel. I was too tired to be pissed so I set up my tent in the rain on the rocks and got inside to warm up. I stayed inside until I was warm and the rain stopped. Then I took a nap.

I set out a few hours later. It sucks unpacking everything in the dark, it sucks even more packing it back up in the dark. Oh yeah, and since I lost my mat I was just sleeping on a pile of rocks, which was not comfortable. Most of my clothes were wet so I did the last 25 miles in a wet jersey, khaki shorts and flip flops. I was tired from not getting much sleep and sore from riding for so long. The next summit was just about 5 miles of climbing but it seemed much worse, I was ready to be done for the day as soon as I started. Even after the summit, riding on flat land seemed horrible. The sun started to come up and it got hot quick. Riding in flip flops and regular shorts is horrible. I got to the bottom of the summit up to Tonopah and I could barely even walk up it. My feet hurt from the flip flops and hurt even worse when I had to walk up the hill with my bike. I finally got to Tonopah and got to McDonalds to consume an unhealthy amount of calories and fat.

After that I decided to take the rest of that day off and got a hotel room and sat around watching HBO and eating nonstop.

Day 37 - June 22 - Rachel, NV

From Caliente, there was 45 miles to a rest area and then 40 miles to Rachel. I didn’t really know how big the town was or what was there. I figured I would fill up on water at the rest are and be good to go. As soon as I left Caliente there was a summit to climb. So for the first 12 miles I was climbing then went down into this dry lake bed. There was another small summit but it wasn’t very noticeable coming from the east. After that it went down to the intersection for the Extraterrestrial highway leading to Rachel. That is where the rest area was. I was expecting at least something to be there. There was nothing but a few park benches and no water. I was already pretty low on water, only 2 liters left of the 6 I had left with and it was already 1pm. I sat in the shade and was starting to worry about being able to make the next 40 miles in the heat, especially since there were two more fairly large summits to climb. I rested up in the shade and just decided to head out before I ran out of water just sitting around.

There was about a 10 mile gradual climb to the top of the first summit and I was already pretty tired and drank most of the water I had on the way up. It took a while to get up because I was trying to take it slow and not overheat. In Nevada I could see pretty far because there’s nothing around so as soon as I was on top of the summit I could see the next summit I would have to go over about 20 miles down the road. That just sucks. I continued on, slowly approaching the next summit. I was out of water and it was clear skies in the Nevada desert. I was feeling pretty miserable and finally flagged down a truck 20 miles from Rachel to ask for water. They gave me some sodas and offered me a ride so I took it. They strapped down my bike on a trailer they were carrying behind the truck. As soon as we headed out to Rachel I had a bad feeling about taking the ride. They sped up to 90 mph and hitting pot holes like crazy. I was just picturing my bike flying off of the back. We finally got to Rachel and went to get the bike down and it had tipped over and most of my stuff was scattered on the trailer. Everything was there but my sleeping mat which someone who was riding behind us said flew off about 4 miles back. I guess I got pretty lucky that my mat was the only thing I lost or broke.

The town of Rachel was just a few trailers and the motel/café called the Little A’le’inn. There was really no where to camp and I had to ride 110 miles the next day so I just decided to get a room at the motel which was just a room in a trailer. I thought it was weird that I had a big TV in the room with no cable, just an antenna that got no channels because it’s in the middle of nowhere. I got everything unpacked and went back to the café and talked to a few people about my trip. Someone offered to help me go and look for my mat so we drove off to look for it. We drove 10 miles back but didn’t find it. He worked for the government and told me that the air force was doing some flight simulation that night so there would be a lot of noise, jets flying low and dropping bombs and such.

I went back to my room and rested up and set out later that night when it was cool to look for my mat again. I biked back 10 miles and was looking in the ditches and everything but once again no luck. On my way back it started to rain and since I was looking off the road I almost ran over a snake that hissed at me so I just gave up and went back. Later that night I could hear a lot of jets flying overhead and there was an explosion that shook my trailer around midnight.

Day 36 - June 21 - Caliente, NV

I left from Beryl Junction in the morning and headed towards Nevada. It was about 60 miles to Caliente with one summit right as I entered Nevada. For some reason I was eager to get in to Nevada, that or I was eager to get out of Utah. I got in and made the climb up and rolled down into Panaca. There wasn’t really anything there. I stopped at the public library to see if they had wifi, but it was also the elementary school so I couldn’t go in. I just left for Caliente. There wasn’t a whole lot in Caliente either. I got some groceries and did laundry at the RV park where I camped. There were a bunch of firemen camped out in the tent area so they stuck me in their back yard. It was really hot and there wasn’t much to do so I got to bed early to made the 85 mile ride to Rachel early in the morning.

Day 35 - June 20 - Beryl Junction, UT

Last night in Parowan ended up being pretty chill. I went for a walk around town to see what the town was like. When I was walking along the side of the street, some kids came up in their truck next to me and honked then yelled at me. They startled me and I though, ah, ya got me you crazy kids. Then as they were speeding away, one yelled out to me, "use the sidewalk!" Now I remember having a lot of things to be angsty about as a teenager, but proper sidewalk usage was not one of them. Anyways, pedestrial skylarking aside, storm clouds were forming and it got pretty comfortable outside. It rained a little bit but it was nice and cool and I just sat and me tent and read and relaxed.

I got out and headed for Cedar City, I needed to hit up the bike shop to get my rear wheel fixed. He had to cut out 3 spokes that I messed up but he got it working again. I made it out of town in good time and headed to Beryl Junction which is barely a town. There's a few houses around but not much else. There was a small park that I set up tent in. Since it wasn't a campsite and it's Utah, there wasn't much around to set up on. The best I could do was set up on top of a pile of pine needles next to a bush. Later that night it got extremely windy and started raining. My tent was blowing all over the place and the rain cover blew off a few times even though it was staked into the ground. The wind actually blew the tent out of its stakes smashed it inwards. A few hours later it finally stopped. The weather combined with the barking dogs and loud people across the street meant I didn't sleep well. I guess I can't complain too much when it's free.

Day 34 - Parowan, UT

There was another small summit to pass today but at least I had about 20 miles of flat land to warm up on. Even though the ride up to the summit was 8% grade, I made it up fairly quickly and didn’t feel too worn out once I got to the top. Since it was a 55 mile ride from my starting point to the next town I had my 4 liter water bladder filled and the extra weight was noticeable. After the summit, it was an easy ride to the interstate. By the time I got to the interstate I had gone 40 miles and wasn’t all that tired. However, I started heading south and the wind was blowing strong right against me and I started to wear out quickly. It was only 16 miles to Parowan and it was either flat or slightly downhill so it should have been an easy ride. By the time I got there, I was ready to quit for the day. Once again, I’m stuck camping in an overpriced dumpy little RV park but there’s really nothing else around. At least tomorrow I can hit up a bike shop in Cedar City and by Tuesday I’ll be in Nevada.

Day 33 - July 18 - Circleville, UT

It was pretty chilly in the morning which is not fun to wake up to, but nice once I’m on the road. There were some decent hills for the first few miles, leading up to a summit of 8300 ft. I felt better than I did yesterday, so it was good that I didn’t do too many miles. My back wheel is still a little wobbly because of the few stripped spokes but it’s at least I’m able to ride it. It ended up getting fairly hot early on and there weren’t really any towns to stop at. It was another day of riding for 6 hours straight until I got to my destination of Circleville. It wasn’t really a bad ride after I got past the summit except that near the end there was a lot of wind and it was starting to rain a little bit. I got to a campsite pretty early in the day and it was pretty cool out because of the storm clouds and the rain stopped so it was a pretty nice day to relax.

Day 32 - July 17 - Loa, UT

I headed south towards Boulder and it wasn’t looking good from the start. As I left Torrey, I dropped down to a sign that said 6800 elevation and kept going downhill to what I’m guessing was 6500 ft. meaning I’d have to climb close to 3000 ft. instead of 2500. I climbed up a few major hills and was about 5 miles out when I heard the familiar sound of loose spokes clicking in my back tire. It really wasn’t that big of a deal but when I’m on a bike for 6 to 7 hours a day in silence, a continuous clicking sound on the bike drives me crazy. I got off to see which spoke was loose and it seemed like there were a few loose so I used what little knowledge of spokes I had to try and get all the spokes tightened. I ended up screwing up the wheel terribly and the wheel was extremely wobbly. I tried to get the wheel back to normal but in doing so I ended up tightening some too much and stripped the spokes trying to loosen them.

An hour later I admitted defeat and started walking the bike to the next town of Grover. I flagged a few people down to ask if there was a bike shop around but the only people that stopped didn’t speak English. There are a lot of tourists in Utah. I walked my bike to a house and asked if I could leave my bike there while I walked my wheel back to Torrey to see if I could find a bike shop. I had hoped there was a bike shop in Grover but the town only consisted of a few houses. Someone at the house, Dan, offered to drive me to Torrey. We got to Torrey and there was a shop that sold outdoor equipment and had bike parts so I was hopeful. There was someone there that had some knowledge of bikes and a truing stand but didn’t want to mess with my bike. They referred me to a dentist in the next town who was also the local bike mechanic. I called him and he was running a bike race in a different town, 5 miles west and said if I met him over there he could fix it. Long story short, we drove over there with the wheel, had to drive back to Grover to get my bike and all my stuff. Then, drove back and got dropped off and waited 2 hours until he had time to fix the wheel. By the time I got my bike fixed it was 3pm and my leg had been hurting me and I was now 5 miles behind where I started at 8 in the morning.

Since I was already west and didn’t feel like backtracking and climbing 3000 feet, I just continued west to the town of Loa. I met some really nice people who offered to let me set up my tent in their yard. There was a grocery store close by so I was finally able to stock up on food. The people I was staying with were artists and the guy, Arthur, did a lot of biking in central America. We sat around and talked about art and music for a few hours which was cool. It ended up being a long day, but thanks to the help of a few people, it ended up being a nice day.

Day 31 - Torrey, UT

I got up fairly early today so I could get out while it was cool. I was aiming for Loa UT today but ended up in Torrey. It was probably better that way though, it was a really beautiful ride but very hilly and tiring. Once again I'm changing route and going south through Boulder which is supposed to be a really nice ride. However, I got over 9,500 ft elevation and I'm at 7,000 ft elevation now so I will have some more climbing to do tomorrow. I keep running low on food and there's really nowhere to stock up. There was really nothing between Hanksville and Torrey today, even though it showed a few towns on my map. I bought some overpriced items from a small general store here and hopefully that will last me a while. Riding constantly is really hard, I'm used to taking a few breaks throughout the day but there's just nowhere to stop around here. Even stopping under a tree is concerning because I will continue to drink water while I rest so it's better to just keep going.

Day 30 - Hanksville, UT

I was originally going go try for 110 miles today and go straight on I-70 to Salina, but I found out there are a lot of hills and I didn't feel like I could make it, so I went south and hit a town about 60 miles away called Hanksville. Riding 60 miles straight in the desert is pretty brutal, thankfully about 40 miles in there were a few people by the side of the road that gave me a sandwich and some cold drinks which was awesome. It was nice to take a break and the guy's name was Joel too, confirming that everyone named Joel is pretty awesome. I went uphill a lot today, but no major climbs. It's getting pretty lonely out here, empty campgrounds and towns with nothing in it. I'm enjoying the scenery but am looking forward to seeing more populated areas.

I'm 1 month in which is awesome. I've started losing track of time. Sometimes so much will happen in a few days that it seemed like a week has gone by. Other times a week will go by without me noticing. I think the whole trip is becoming routine now. I was really worried about how to plan my route at the beginning, but now it seems like I change my mind every day and end up somewhere unexpected. So, I don't really know where I'm going tomorrow, but I heard there might be some storms and there are some hills to climb.

Day 29 - July 14 - Green River, UT

I'm in the desert now and it is a lot different. I rode 57 miles from Moab to Green River in one straight shot. The only thing along the way was a gas station which I didn't bother stopping at. I'm used to riding throughout the day and getting to my campsite pretty late and just wasting time and going to bed. Since I rode straight through, I got to Green River at 2pm so I had the entire day to waste. There wasn't much to do in town, it was a town of about 800 people so I just got some food at a cafe, then got some beers and chilled out. I got to bed really early, mostly out of boredom, around 8pm. There's a lot of cool things to see out here, just not a lot of places to stop.

Day 28 - Moab, UT

I left really early, around 6:30 and headed towards Moab. I'm really tired so I'm taking a half day again and only doing 40 miles. It was mostly downhill on the way to Moab which was nice and there's a hostel in town that I'll probably be staying at tonight. I picked up a 4 liter bladder to take for the longer stretches around Utah and Nevada where there won't be as many stops for water. So now I have 6.5 liters which should last me a good 60-80 miles. Colorado really drained a lot of money and hopefully Utah and Nevada are a lot cheaper. I'm sold there are a lot of places in California that will let cyclists stay for free along the coast from San Fran to LA so I'll try and take advantage of that. I am still close to being within my budget and should be fine if I can continue to find cheap places to sleep.

Day 27 - July 12 - Old La Sal, UT

Leaving Norwood was really nice, there was a lot of downhill riding and it was fairly cool outside. However, around 1 in the afternoon, when it started to get real hot, the hills started. There's no short hills out here. They're all a few miles and really steep. The first hill I came to was about 5 miles long and fairly steep. However, I was still feeling good from beging rested up. I was having to rest, but not for long periods of time and when I got back on the bike I felt good. Fifty miles into the day, after being pretty worn out, I hit a really steep hill that was just covered in loose gravel. It was about 5 miles long as well and I barely made it up. I was taking longer breaks and feeling aweful after getting back on the bike. I had to stop 64 miles into the day and stopped at a farm to ask if there was a campground around. I ended up just staying there but I kind of wish I didn't. They had a ton of animals that made noise all through the night. They had an injured dog that wandered into their yard that they were taking care of until they could bring it to the vet. In the middle of the night it dissapeared and they couldn't find it in the morning. As I was tearing down my tent I found a dog sized skull next to my tent and I just got out of there as quick as possible. It was a strange day.

Day 26 - Norwood, CO

I slept in a little bit and headed out around 9. I needed the rest because I had to go over the Dallas divide today and that's about 9000 ft. elevation and a fairly decent climb. I went to Ridgeway first because I needed to get my bike repaired. The rear derailleur was off and that's what threw the chain off and busted the spoke guard the other day. I got that fixed and headed off for the divide. It wasn't that bad of a climb and since I was rested up I was making good time. However, it stormed the entire way up. A ten mile climb in the cold rain isn't much fun but I made it up. After that it stopped raining and it was a 15 mile descent to an intersection that was supposed to have a town but there was nothing there. I ended up just continuing on and the next 13 miles were also downhill most of the way, however it started raining again. I made it to the town of Norwood and got some food. It started sprinkling and there were storm clouds everywhere but I decided to head out anyways. On my way out of town I passed a house with a sign that said "Bicycle Route" with an arrow pointing to the driveway and I figured they'd be cool and tell me if there was a campground anywhere near there. As soon as I pulled up a woman greeted me and said I could just sleep there, they are on a website I've heard of that takes in cycling tourists. So that's where I am for the night. I need to charge up everything I have and have some help planning the next few days of traveling.

Day 25 - July 10 - Ridgway SP, CO

I was pretty tired from climbing over the Monarch pass and the Cerro summit and I needed a break so I just did a short day. I rode 25 miles south to a state park which ended up being a really good idea. There was a lake with a beach which I spent most of the day resting at. There was also a really nice view just a few feet away from my campsite which is shown in the picture. I went to Wal-Mart early in the morning to get my glasses fixed because I broke them a few days ago and they've been held together with electrical tape. They didn't have the same pair but there was a similar pair for $84, but I couldn't really afford that. The lady went to look in the back and a half hour later came out and found the part I needed and fixed it for free. So, it's been a pretty good day and I really needed a day off.

Day 24 - Montrose, CO

I thought today would be pretty easy, but I ended up riding up a lot more hills. The first few miles weren't bad, there was no wind and there was a lot of beautiful scenery. There was a lot of beautiful scenery the whole day actually. After the first 20 miles there started to be a lot of hills. I figured it would just be a few small hills but there ended up being hills that went up for miles. By that time the wind started kicking in too and that made it even harder. To make matters worse, my back wheel started acting up. I didn't know what exactly was wrong with it so I just took apart the whole tire. It ended up being fairly easy to repair but it took me over an hour to get it apart and fix. Shortly after there was a stretch of a few miles where I was going downhill and all was well. However that was short lived because there was another giant hill coming up. This one was fairly steep and lasted for 6 miles. I barely made it over and rode 15 miles downhill to Montrose where I am now. I could have gone a little further but I need to visit the bike shop here in town tomorrow. I'm camped out next to a few bikers who are going the opposite direction. They are doing about 120 miles a day but they have a van that carries all of their stuff with them. I don't really see the point in that but oh well. I wasn't expecting a lot of hills today and I managed to get through them and do 60 miles so I'm happy. Tomorrow should be fairly easy and I'm back down where there's oxygen, yey!

Day 23 - Ginnison, CO

Today was by far the worst day yet. There was 12 miles of going straight up with strong head winds. I was hoping to avoid winds by getting out early but they still got me. It took a very long time to get to the top but I finally did. I don't feel too bad about how long I took to get to the top. With the lack of oxygen and constant inclines, I don't think there's much I could have done to prepare for that. The ride down was pretty fun. I didn't go as fast as I could have due to the head winds but I maxed at 38 and was averaging about 33 mph for 12 miles. After that I thought it would be easy but with the winds, even going downhill was tough. I saw a few cyclists going east which must have been nice. I barely made it to Gunnison, which was 45 miles from the top of the pass. That didn't seem like much at the time but I was exhausted from the climb and with the strong winds I was going very slow. I had to get there though because there's nothing else until Gunnison. I need to get groceries and find a place to sleep now, peace.

Day 22 - Salida, CO

It's suprisingly comfortable camping here, for some reason I figured it would be muggy and uncomfortable. Last night was the first night on this trip that I was able to start a fire and that was nice. I was right by the Arkansas river too which was awesome. It either rained or there was a lot of dew last night because everything was wet when I woke up. If it did rain it must not have been enough to wake me up. I slept straight through the night which is also a first. In the morning there were paw prints around my campsite but I didn't get mauled by whatever it was so it's all good.

Today's ride has been fairly difficult, but not impossible. I started out at 7 am and got to a small town and had breakfast which was aweful and I had a hair in my eggs, blah. At least they had wifi. I got to Salida around noon which was 30 miles from where I started. I did laundry and stopped off at the bike shop and just in time. Two blocks later my front tire got a flat. I looked and there was a wire and a thorn stuck in it, bah! At least I have 2 new tubes in and 2 extra so I should be good for a while. I got out of Salida around 3 and headed towards a campground about 10 miles out, 12 miles from the Monarch Pass. The grade wasn't bad, not too steep. However, the wind was horrible. I don't know what the wind speed was, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was really fucking fast. Oh well, I made it to the campsite, The Heart of the Rockies which is pretty cool and there's a real nice view. It's surprising how many places have wifi, it seems to be a standard in the campgrounds out here. Anyways, I need to rest up for the night, and hopefully tomorrow won't kill me.

Day 21 - Cotopaxi, CO

Today was a pretty rough day. The bike shop was closed when I got into Canon City and there were some really strong head winds. After Canon City, there was about 7 miles of climbing which was pretty exhausting. After I got up, I took the back road to the Royal Gorge because it looked like something worth visiting. Since it was not the highway, they did not care what the grades were on the hills. They were extremely steep and there was no shoulder. I had to stop to catch my breath about every half mile. I finally made it to the top and it was pretty cool. I took a lot of pictures and headed out. A few miles after leaving the park, there was about 5 miles of going down hill at about 35 miles an hour with my brakes on. Sounds fun, but it was a little scary because the road was really bad. After meeting back up with highway 50, I saw storm clouds in the distance. It stormed for about an hour so I got under this tent which wasn't actually rain proof. So I just sat there and got wet for an hour. I headed back out and the view was really cool. The road follows the Arkansas river and it winds around and there's a lot to see. I'm camped out right now about 5 miles east of Cotopaxi, about 30 miles short of my destination. I still got 50 miles in though, despite all the steep hills.

Stats so far

Day: 1
Miles: 10.7
Riding time: 0:57

Day: 2
Miles: 57.3
Riding time: 4:50

Day: 3
Miles: 30.3
Riding time: 2:50

Day: 4 - off

Day: 5
Miles: 85.9
Riding time: 7:36

Day: 6
Miles: 38.8
Riding time: 3:57

Day: 7
Miles: 42.2
Riding time: 4:20

Day:8
Miles: 62.6
Riding time: 6:30

Day: 9
Miles: 55.1
Riding time: 5:25

Day: 10
Miles: 69.0
Riding time: 7:32

Day: 11
Miles: 55.6
Riding time: 5:31

Day: 12
Miles: 64.5
Riding time: 6:37

Day: 13
Miles: 81.2
Riding time: 7:10

Day: 14
Miles: 56.0
Riding time: 5:55

Day: 15
Miles: 86.8
Riding time: 8:19

Day: 16
Miles: 63.4
Riding time: 4:55

Day: 17
Miles: 87.8
Riding time: 7:40

Day: 18
Miles: 82.5
Riding time: 7:44

Day: 19
Miles: 57.4
Riding time: 4;35

Day: 20
Miles: 38.5
Riding time: 2:57

Day 20 - Florence, CO

I got started rather late today. I bought some patch kits from wal-mart because they didn't have the tubes I needed. When I was packing up in the morning I saw that both the patch kits I bought were missing something so I had to go back and return them. I got out of Pueblo around 10:30 am. I made pretty good time going towards Canon City even with some fairly decent hills. Half way to Canon City it started sprinkling and I saw lightning in the distance. I took cover for a couple minutes thinking it might pour but it stopped shortly after. I saw in the distance that it was storming so I hauled ass to find a hotel for the night. Around here it's about $30 to camp out and I didn't want to pay that to sit in a tent during a storm. I got to a small town a few miles outside of Canon City and got a cheap hotel room shortly after it started raining. The rain has stopped for now but it is still storming in the distance and I didn't want to make the climb in this weather, especially since it will be clear the next few days. I have time to rest now and will also be able to pick up some tubes at the bike shop in Canon City.

Day 19 - Pueblo, CO

I barely found a place to stay last night before the sun went down. I was aiming for La Junta but since I spent time avoiding the storm I was barely going to get there in time. On the way, I ended getting a staple in my back tire. The sun was going down and I was 7 miles from La Junta. I'm getting better at putting in new tubes but it's still frustrating. This new tire is harder to put on and when I was using a screwdriver to get the tire on the wheel, I nicked the tube without knowing. I made it 15 miles past La Junta to Swink and found a place to stay just a few minutes before it got dark. I was asking for directions to the park where I was planning on sleeping and someone offered to let me camp in their back yard. I ended up sleeping in their camper because it got dark and it was late.

I got out early and just 9 miles down the road my tire went flat again and I realized what had happened. I used my last spare tube and I think this one will work. I rode it about 50 miles and it's still full on air so hopefully I didn't do anything wrong. I'm going to pick up some more tubes tomorrow. I'm in Pueblo for the night, meeting some friends for the 4th. I'm going to get some rest, get some supplies and start the trek up the mountains tomorrow.

Day 18 - Swink, CO

It ended up being clear skies for me last night. I also picked up some tail winds heading out of Syracuse. I was going to stop near Holly, just a few miles into Colorado but I was making such good times I decided to keep going. I was a little worried because it was getting dark quick and I didn't know if I would make it to the next town by the time the sun went behind the clouds, but I made it just in time. It ended up storming to the north of us but it was nice and cool where I was in Granada.

Right now I'm in a coffee shop in Las Animas, about 20 miles from where I plan on stopping for the day. There's storm clouds to the southwest and that's exactly where I'm heading. It's only 3pm so I have plenty of time to chill out here and relax and wait for the clouds to pass, which I hope they do. It seems like the wind has been blowing east in the morning and by night it starts blowing west, allowing me to make good time. However I feel better about getting out early and making most of the miles during the day even with head winds. The elevation is slowly starting to rise, although it's still fairly flat. Tomorrow I should be in Pueblo in the afternoon, just in time to celebrate the 4th with some friends. I'm starting to see more hills and I'm excited to get to the mountains. If I find a camp I like, I might just stay for a few days, I don't know yet. As far as the trip goes, I'm ahead of schedule. I'm feeling more and more in shape and I feel confident about getting over the mountain pass.

There's supposed to be storms the next few days but hpefully I avoid them. At least it's supposed to be a little cooler. I just checked the weather in La Junta, where I plan on camping tonight and it's raining. If it starts to storm badly, I'll get a hotel if not, I'll just find a place to camp.

Day 17 - Granada, CO

I'm in Syracuse, KS. I've changed time zones so I've gained an hour and will have no trouble getting to Colorado today. I'm going to try and end up in Peublo on the 4th of July. I've decided to take the Monarch pass through the mountains and will probably be there by the 7th. I don't know what to expect, but it doesn't get too steep. I'm worried about how much weight I'm carrying though and what the weather will be like near the top. It's 16 miles to Colorado so I'll probably head out soon so I can find a place to camp early because it might storm tonight.

Day 16 - July 1 - Garden City, KS

I got up pretty early to get out of this park. Last night was the coldest it has been since I’ve been out. When I left around 7:30 it was about 65 degrees. The sun was behind a thick blanket of clouds that lasted until 10am, keeping it in the lower 70s. I passed a group of about 10 cyclists going east on 50 as I was getting to dodge city. I don’t know if they were going across country or not, they didn’t have any equipment on them so they might have just been exercising. It’s the first group of cyclists I’ve seen since I left and I hope I meet some touring cyclists soon. I made my 26 miles to a small town called Cimarron. I got a couple donuts and some coffee and sat down. I never know what people are going to say when they see me and I don’t think people know what they’re going to say either. She started off by telling me I was going the wrong way. I told her I was going to California, so I was going west. Then she told me every other cyclist goes east through Kansas. I explained to her that in order to get to California I had to go west, it was a bit of an awkward conversation and I don’t know why people start conversations sometimes. I made really good time going to Garden City, 35 miles in 2.5 hours. 60 miles before 1:30pm is a pretty good day, and puts me at 850 miles so far for my trip. I’m resting right now with relatives and hope to be in Colorado tomorrow. I still don’t know what route I will be taking through the mountains. I have 2 routes planned out in my head. When I get to the point where the road splits, I will decide.

Day 15 - June 30 - Wright, KS

After not getting much accomplished yesterday, I wanted to make some good progress today. Since I was going to be in Garden City in 2 days, the more miles I did today, the less I have to do tomorrow. I got out around 8 in the morning and it was fairly cool so I did 26 miles in one straight shot without having to stop to fill up water. It’s weird how patterns start to emerge, it seems like I always do 26 miles as my warm up. No matter where I start out, when I get to 26 miles, there’s a town and I have to stop to take a break. Anyways, there was no wind so far and I knew I would make it pretty far. Normally I stop in small towns and go to a café or restaurant and get food and it’s a good way to waste time and get some air conditioning. However, in Kansas there is nothing. The only stops I was able to make were at gas stations and places like that. I did find a restaurant but I got there 5 minutes to close and rushed my way through my meal. Since I left so early and wasn’t able to waste time, I ended up doing more miles than I had planned on. I ended the day in Wright, just outside of Dodge City after doing 87 miles. This town, like many on highway 50 around this area, was just a giant grain bin with a few houses around. I asked around town and everyone directed me to a small park by a church to camp out in. I felt weird just camping in a park in the open so I went around to houses asking if they thought anyone would mind.

I felt very paranoid for some reason, I had no reason to be. There was a middle aged man that I thought was spying on me because he was just awkwardly going back in forth in this parking lot. I went to talk to him and it ended up he was just playing around with some weird scooter thing. We talked a little bit and he said if I wrote a book to tell people that there are in fact good people out there. I thought about that for a while, it’s true that there are good people out there. I think a lot of people don’t know this, including me. Even in these small towns where everyone is really nice, people still seem afraid. Even when they own a giant house filled with guns and people all around them, they get scared by a guy on a bicycle approaching them and asking to put a tent down for the night. The people who aren’t scared seem to be the people who have traveled the world and experienced a lot of things. I want to be someone like that, I don’t want to be someone who lives in a small town and is afraid for no reason. I am rambling a little, but that is what I was like and is why I wanted to do this trip, to experience the world. Someone who I stayed with a few days ago had traveled all over the world as part of his job and on many vacations. He said no matter where you go, everyone is the same, everyone just wants to have a good time. I thought that was a pretty cool way of looking at the world.

Day 14 - June 29 - Zenith, KS

I left fairly early, hoping to reach Garden City in

2 days, doing about 100 or more each day. I got 4 miles out and my back tire went flat again, after putting my second replacement tube in a few days ago. I took the tire off again and found a small metal wire which I assume came from a tire like the one in the picture. I ran over a lot of broken glass, tires and metal so it doesn't surprise me. However, since it was so small it ruined a few of my tubes and I didn't know it was there. I found it too late and was out of tubes. I obviously wasn't going to make it to Garden City in 2 days but I was still upset. After spending a half hour putting the tube that was already punctured, but still slightly usable back into the tire, I made my way to Hutchinson. It kept going flat and I had to stop to pump it back up every couple of miles. There were really strong head winds and with the back tire being flat, I was going about 7 miles an hour which was extremely frustrating. Hutchinson ended up being 20 milse away and I was trying to find a Wal Mart to get another tube. I asked a few people and everyone gave me different directions and I was wandering around a fairly large city with a flat tire and getting upset. Finally, I was close and of course I hit a pot hole and the tube completely failed. Thankfully, a woman on a bicycle passed by and realized I needed help, I parked my bike in her garage and she gave me a ride to a bike shop in town and I got a new tire, and a few tubes.

It was late and as I was heading out of town I saw a chinese buffet and I was really hungry so I stopped in and ate. I ate way too much way too quick and got really sick. I ended up sitting in a McDonalds for 2 hours feeling like crap and didn't leave Hutchinson until 4 pm. I finally made it out and ended up making another 35 miles before finding a place to stay. I found a nice couple who let me stay in their guest room after talking to them for a while. They used to tour the country by motorcycle and had people help them along the way so they were happy to help me.

Day 13 - June 28 - Burrton, KS

I slept in since I was in a hotel. I was on highway 50 now, which apparently is used by a lot of cyclists which is nice because people along the way now seem to know what I'm doing. Up until now whenever would stop at a restaurant or someplace, I would get weird looks, but people are now asking me questions and talking about other cyclists they have seen pass through. It stormed a little the night before so it was a little humid in the morning. I ended up biking 86 miles though because there was no wind and it's so flat here. I stopped at a house in Burton and I never know what to expect when I knock on a door. When a guy answered the door he just said "we own all this up to the highway, it's all yours." He said it quickly and didn't ask any more questions which was weird. The next morning I talked to him and he said he has seen a lot of cyclists go through. He's talked to a few people about it too so he didn't ask a lot of questions.