Blog Archives

About time

6/30/2015

Day 19 started similarly to the last few days we’ve been on our bikes. We woke up and began our usual struggle against the headwind while we waited for the heat. The 95o to 98otemperatures never arrived, however. For better or worse, most of our ride was spent surrounded by smoke that came from a wildfire in Canada. It lowered temperatures dramatically, but made it harder to breathe for everyone.
Throughout the whole day we knew that at some point the wind was likely to change; we just weren’t really sure when. After so much time fighting the headwind, I was pretty used to it and part of me believed the vengeful wind was here to stay. Thankfully I was wrong. About 70 miles into our 107 mile day the wind finally switched. I had forgotten how nice a tailwind is. It felt like we were flying. Before we had to hold a tight line and the lead had to sprint to hold 18. After we got our wind we biked out of formation and joked around, but still were easily doing 20. It felt like a miracle, and everyone was in a much better mood.
Around this time I was in such a good mood I decided it was time to take the jersey off. I think at the time I thought it would be a great way to tan and cool off. I definitely thought I looked cool too. Unfortunately, I don’t tan, it barely cooled me off, and I don’t think it’s possible to look cool in only a biking bib. In fact, I don’t tan to such an extent that I’m really regretting my decision.

I'm sure you guys will appreciate this.

Sidenote: All of the guys on the trip decided it would be a great idea to shave our legs. It was a long and disgusting process, but it happened. I think we all did a pretty good job, except for Reid. He didn’t listen to us when we told him it would take years, so he only had time to shave most of one leg. He’s going to have to do a lot more work today to fix it. Everyone’s starting to itch pretty bad, so we’ll see how that goes.

Jacob

day 17

6/28/2015

One last 90 mile push before a well earned rest day! We were up late last night taking a road trip to Malta, MT to track down the nearest Dairy Queen for a night time snack run, so we agreed on departing a little bit later than the previous day.

We left around 7:30am after eating a nutritious breakfast of fry bread and maple butter (Thanks, Dodson!) and pushed the mileage into Malta, MT in a double pace line. It felt like we were flying after yesterday's painful 13mph into the headwind. We held good pace until right before our first long rest break when the wind picked up again. Yuck! The wind stayed with us for the rest of the day AGAIN.

At our first rest stop we see our sag vehicle pulled into some random driveway on the side of the road and a table set up with our favorite fueling snacks in some farmers tractor shed! Curt Spurzem had made friends with Farmer Jerry who generously let us borrow the shade of his shed for our snack break. I never really appreciated the luxury of shade until riding hundreds of miles in Eastern Montana.

Speaking of hundreds of miles, we have been on highway 2 (known as the "high line") for the most time we have spent on one single road. In the past few days I have watched as mile marker 300, 400, AND 500 have sailed by! I do not doubt we will see mile marker 600 shortly as well.

My parents showed up this afternoon! They are on support for this week - it was great to sprint up to them on the side of the road for a short meet & greet before finishing up the ride into Glasgow, Montana for REST DAY!!!!!!

When we were about 23 miles out of Glasgow, we all were feeling a bit antsy from being in the exact same pace line for the past 300 miles or so. Reid then decided to hold a personal time trial for himself and race himself all the way into Glasgow. We gave him the challenge to do it in 1hr 10min into the headwind. As driven and competitive as Reid is, he accepted the challenge and took off listening to 2009 pop hits. Moments later, Oliver decided he was going to race Reid so he took off after him. Later we learned that Oliver drafted off of Reid, riding inches from his rear tire, for almost 45 minutes before Reid even noticed Oliver was there. Classic Wade.

Once in Glasgow for the night we were pleasantly surprised with the privilege of staying at a hotel. A real hotel with showers and beds and TV's and little coffee makers and beds and did I mention beds?

For dinner we went to the Glasgow VFW where the mayor of Glasgow graciously hosted a small sloppy joe potluck for us. We met with several veterans and exchanged introductions and stories over dinner. It has been a great experience meeting with different veterans along the way. It's a whole new level of meaningful when these people give genuine thanks to us.

Now... REST DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

blog post about today

6/27/2015

112 miles
Departure time: 6:08am
Arrival time: 5:43pm
11.5 hour day
100*F on the road
Headwind from hell (not kidding.. we could hold anything above 15mph)
Rattlesnakes everywhere

xoxo,
JT

Still smiling though

Hello, route 2

6/26/2015

Today the group woke up surprised by how cold we were compared to the boiling hot temperatures that we fell asleep to. Shortly after we had kitted up and packed the van we were treated to an amazing breakfast at the Big Sky Cafe in downtown Cut Bank (thank you to Mayor Embody for breakfast!). After we had nommed on some hearty eggs and pancakes, the team set out on Route 2 towards Rudyard in one of the fastest packs we have had to date. We were cruising at a solid 25mph for close to thirty miles before Reid had his first flat of the day. Lucky for Reid, Oliver and Jacob took care of changing his flat while Reid walked into a rattlesnake filled field to model for Jade. After Reid decided that male modeling was not his cup of tea and he was better off sticking to the bike, we continued on the road to Reid's next mishap. While flying down Route 2 Oliver and I saw a deep burnout track that we luckily managed to glide over. Unfortunately for Reid, Gabby, and Jacob, Reid fought the edge of the burnout and flipped over the handlebars taking the other two with him. Needless to say, Reid was not having very good luck today. After the three victims of Reid's crash were all wrapped up, we continued on our way. By the time lunch rolled around the team was overheated, thirsty and hungry. Thanks to our team moms for the week, Regina and Patty, we were lounging in someones back yard in no time. Back on the road, the last 30 miles were quick and we were greeted by a beautiful old Corvette on the border of Rudyard. Although hard to keep up with the fast car, we were escorted to our house for the night. Upon arriving at our hosts, the Langel’s, house, we learned that we would each be treated to a comfy bed for the night. To top it off the house was fully air conditioned which was a lifesaver after the 90 degree weather we had ridden in. Finally, to finish our day, we enjoyed dinner at the local church and chatted with some local veterans about their pasts. I think the team was reminded why we are doing this ride by seeing how excited the community was to hear what we were doing. All said and done it was a great day despite the heat and funky tires. Now it’s off to bed for our early 5 am wakeup!

peace and blessins’,
jamie

flock can fly

6/25/2015

Today’s riding from Cardston, Canada to Cutback, Montana was a different style of riding than what we’ve been used to in the Cascades and the Rockies. We’re officially out of mountainous country and into endless plains of …. of….. nothing?

I describe todays riding as different, but oh man was it fun. The flock (almost) effortlessly held a pace of 25mph and over for miles and miles and miles. This high paced riding over rolling hills in Eastern Montana gave me such a rush - the team dynamic amongst the flock was unreal. At one point Webster, my pace line buddy, looked at me and we both had giddy grins spreading from ear to ear. Moments like that remind why I love the sport of cycling so darn much. We flying across the US!!!!

Right after we crossed the border back into the United States we turned the corner to be greeted by Jamie’s favorite sign; the “hill” sign that depicts a truck going down a steep slope. We all looked at each other in confusion wondering how the heck a hill can exist in the middle of flat flat flat nowhere. Then it happened. We dove down this hill where we all gained speed very quickly… so quickly that we all maxed out our speedometers absolutely flying at an arguably uncontrollable speed. I hit a max speed of 51.6mph - a personal record!

At lunch, 3 farmers working and living in the colony we were near stopped by to check out our lunch stop, These guys were so friendly and interested in what we were doing. The interest was mutual as they had such interesting stories and information on what it’s like to live in the colony. They go to school through 8th grade and then they spend the rest of their lives working for the colony’s self sustaining lifestyle. We took a photo with them (significant for colony members as they’re typically not allowed to be photographed) and then hopped back on our bikes to finish up the days ride.

A few miles out of Cutback we were greeted with a firetruck from the early 1900’s, a few harley riders, and a herd of cop cars to escort us into Cutbank. Riding into towns with escorts is such exhilarating VIP treatment! Cutbank has been so incredibly welcoming - we’ve met so many fascinating people.

xoxo,
JT

sidenote: Regina Noch (Reid's mom) showed up to one of our rest stops in a baby blue 1964 Ford Fairline..... Spontaneous dream car purchase?!

cutbank, MT

6/25/2015

After a relatively short day of biking we were kindly escorted into town by two police vehicles, VFW riders on their Harley's and a fire truck. Our host, Mayor Embody, was in fact the one driving the old fire truck and after our escort he graciously held a barbecue for us. Also, many locals and veterans joined our meal. One veteran in particular had an amazing story to share.

Bud Olson was the navigator of a glider in World War II. On June 6th 1944, Bud was in the leading wave with his unit the 325th and before reaching Normandy their tow plane was shot down. After losing the tow plane the glider had 90 seconds to make a landing. The airplane crash landed and he was the only one to survive. In the accident Bud sustained injuries to both his back and his leg but 3 months later, having little time to recover, Bud was assigned another glider and flew a mission into Holland. Now at 93 years old Bud still feels the effects of his landing on Normandy. Although Bud suffered injuries in the war, he says that the hardest thing he has lived through, was the death of his wife two years ago. He misses her dearly.

Bud is one of the few remaining veterans of World War II and this was an incredible opportunity to be able to meet him. Most of all, we are so great full for his service and for everyone else who has served.

Thank you
Gabby

Cardston, Canada

6/24/2015

We have had a very warm welcome into Canada. Although we were a team of of 8 worn out riders rolling into Lee Creek Campground, we were quickly re-energized upon discovering the Wifi and its password. As a result, both Jade and Webby were able to post sweet pictures, and I have no doubt that the Instagram world is very grateful. After some showers (in which you had to push the button every few seconds to keep the water running), we were greeted by some very nice Canadians who were grilling burgers and hot dogs for our dinner. Mayor Maggie and Mr. Dave Smith both addressed the team. Mr. Smith provided us with a lot of interesting information on Canadian involvement in World War II and the country’s recent peace-keeping efforts. After that, we chowed down on our burgers and hot dogs. Gabby and Webby went out on a limb and tried, and enjoyed, some ketchup flavored potato chips… I also tried them and I can’t say that I enjoyed them quite as much. Mayor Maggie then gave each rider his or her own pin and water bottle with the Cardston town logo. We each also received a mini Canadian flag! Later, in a hilarious 20 minute escapade, Jamie attempted to back up the van and the trailer in a way that would allow us to drop the trailer for the night. He finally did it, but the van emerged from the adventure without a front license plate… Thankfully, front license plates are not a requirement for trips to Dairy Queen! Sorry to rush out, but seriously, I need to stop writing this and go get in a sleeping bag because I am getting eaten alive by mosquitos.

Talk to y’all soon,
Mary Elmore

Eh?

6/24/2015

After a harried border crossing, we quickly learned that Alberta has three things:

1) an appalling amount of flies - so many that when climbing hills I looked down and my arm was covered with over 30 small black flies. Gross

2) an interesting system for road maintenance…. or a lack of a system. There are so many little holes and cracks everywhere that my forearms were throbbing at the bottom of each hill. My butt wasn’t a huge fan either.

3) number 3 trumps all of the above - the views! Oh mylanta! Riding through Alberta was absolutely incredible. The sharp rigid mountains surrounding us were absolutely incredible. Trying my hardest to hold true to some great advice I received before the trip - “try to enjoy most of it in a way that’s not through a camera lense!”

After lunch, we started to leave the pretty rocky mountain area. Once it got real flat showing endless grass fields, it kind of hit me that for the next 3000(ish) miles this is reality. Here’s to 5 weeks of rolling grass fields!

Reid almost got hit by a car on the highway for probably the 100th time on this trip. Someday he’ll learn to look before veering literally all the way to the yellow line.

As we rolled into Cardston I noticed how freaking wide the roads are! My theory is that Canada is so big that it has so much extra land space so as a result the streets are literally a mile wide. I’m not complaining - it was a blast sailing through the wide streets!

xoxo
JT

Lightning round: Something you learned today
Jacob - on bigger roads it’s important to communicate even louder to get the message across & it’s important to not let my thought sink in the pooper because it’s so easy to get down out here
Jade - cows in Alberta are easy to herd with high pitch moo sounds
Webster - Canadians declared war on the Germans ten days into WWII
Oliver - downhill doesn’t mean downhill
Wade - Canada produced over half the vehicles for the allies during WWII
Mary Elmore - I like sour mike & ikes

Quality Insights from “Pre-Newb”

6/23/2015

Hi! My name is Kristin, and I am Oliver's fabulous little sister. If you were wondering why I’m named Pre-Newb, that’s because I will be attending SPS next fall and Webster says that all new third formers are newbs. As the rest day yesterday continued Jacob eventually decided I was Pre-Newb since school hasn’t started just yet. And of course, I'm not too psyched about this name but I can’t much about it.

Anyways, today we rode the Going-To-The-Sun-Road, which for me was my first ride of the year. The road signs claimed that it was a 6% gradual grade, but personally it felt like 15%. The sights were fantastic! Even though Glacier National Park is so close to Whitefish, I still forget that such massive mountains are only a 25 mile ride away from Whitefish. Everyone started riding from Whitefish and rode the back road over Blankenship Bridge and then into West Glacier but I didn’t ride this section. I met everyone in West Glacier and started the 32 mile climb around 4 in the afternoon (the road isn’t open from 11am to 4pm). The brutal climb essentially started around 5:30pm which was about halfway through the ride. As the hill got steeper, my leg muscle energy started decreasing - quickly. The road started wrapping around the edge of the mountains which gave me the creeps since we were so high up, and Oliver kept telling me to look over the edge which definitely didn’t help. On the way up we passed two people running up the Going To The Sun Road (which made me so glad I was on a bike instead of running) and we went under the weeping wall of water (and yes, Oliver tried to show off and fell over in the water). Once my legs turned to jelly, we were approximately 1 mile from the top of Logan Pass. By the time we got to the top Reid had been at the top waiting for the “flock” for almost an hour (great time riding with you Reid). The best part of the day was definitely the 19 mile downhill, except it was freezing cold (just saying I rocked Webbys one arm sleeve on my leg and I think I pulled off the look very well - thanks Webby). Once we got to the KOA, we downed about 7 entire pizzas and went straight to bed.

Today was an awesome day and made me very excited about riding across country when my time comes. Much thanks to the flock for letting me join - it was an incredible experience. Good luck with this insane adventure.

Much Love,
Pre Newb

P.S. We all know my blog post is better than Oliver’s. Please don't make him sad about this as it can’t be easy for him when his little sister beats him all the time.

Going to the sun road

6/23/2015

Check out these photos!

day 9 and 10 (double digits wooohooo!)

6/21/2015

Here’s a video of us biking up to Koocanusa Lake. The dam was even bigger than it seems on the clip. While we were biking we saw both a golden eagle and a bald eagle.

This is going to be a sort of combo blog for day 9 (the 20th) and day 10 (the 21rst), mostly because it’s turning out to be a lot harder to keep up with a daily blog than any of us thought, especially when everyone’s so tired. Thanks for following our trip, we’re updating as much as we can with the limited wifi!

Before I talk about the previous two days, I’d like to clarify something. I don’t think any of us could tell you what the date is, or even what day it is. We’ve just started calling each day by the number of days we’ve been on the trip (today is day 10). I actually had to look at a calendar to find out it was a Sunday today.

Day 9 started at the Majestic View Ministry. We were floored by their compassion and willingness to share their rooms, food, and company with us. After breakfast and a morning prayer that was a little longer than any of us were expecting, we hit the road. Montana is beautiful, I got some great footage on the GoPro and will try to see if I can attach it to this blog.

It was definitely a hot day, but the view was worth is when we approached our campground. Koocanusa lake was beautiful, and we had great weather to boot. The one issue we had is that we started to bike the wrong way around the lake, climbing up a monstrous hill on the way. Once we realized it we had to decide if we wanted to keep going to the nearest bridge and add 18 miles, or turn around and climb the same hill on the other side of the lake. We ended up turning around, and ended the day at our campground without any additional issues.

Since we were on the eastern side of the lake, and it’s surrounded by hills, we didn’t get sun for a long time in the morning. As the morning’s normally go, we all bundled up for the first few miles to deal with the cold, but as soon as the sun came out we had to shed almost all of our layers. The biking today went mostly without incident. While we were in Stryker, a town with a population of 26, a random mountain biker showed up and talked with us. We let him use our tools, and he donated $20 to us. It’s surprising how much little interactions like that can lighten the mood and make it easier to get back on the bike. We also met up with Mark Van Everen, who biked the last few miles with us to Whitefish. The only bummer was that we had to go over a half mile of construction, so we got covered in mud. Definitely going to have to clean the bikes tonight. We had dinner with the local VFW chapter, who were excited to meet and feed us. It’s always awesome to meet veterans and talk to them about both our ride and their experiences.

At the dinner we met up with Regina Noch, and Kurt and Patty Spurzem, who will all be working the sag wag for us. We’ll be saying bye to George and Sidney Marshman tomorrow - they were with us for the last week. We got back from dinner, and now everyone is settling down at Oliver’s house. We’re all pumped for the rest day tomorrow.

Thanks for following our ride!
Jacob "hole" Witt

Montanaland!!!!!!

6/19/2015

Today I reached my happy place on my bike reminding me of why I love this stuff so much. We made the big leap from Idaho to Montana today (although Montana has no signage to mark the border..) and I swear we went through a porthole from one world to the next. As soon as we were all of 3 miles into Montanaland it felt like home! When Missoula started appearing on the highway signs I had such a rush of happiness! Riding our bikes across Montana is such an amazing opportunity to really take in our surroundings and see everything the big sky state has to offer. I’m way too excited!

xoxo
JT

we made it to montana!

6/19/2015

So today was what we called an easy day. No major passes, mostly flat, and best of all only 71 miles! Now I don't know if you think that is a short distance or a long one but a year ago that would have been an insurmountable feat to me. I would never have expected to bike that far but I did and it was actually a pretty great day.
After a great breakfast with a few local veterans in Sandpoint Idaho we rode for 30 miles and stopped for our first snack. It was a "healthy" snack consisting of oatmeal raisin cookies, baked by our lovely veterans in Sandpoint, and some delicious Nutella. From there we carried on for another 20 miles and stopped for food again, but this time for lunch. Then on our final leg of the ride into Bull Lake MT we were met half way by two fire department vehicles that escorted us into town. As we rode through the town we were greeted by many locals welcoming us and wishing us well on the rest of our ride. Oh wait! I almost forgot the best part. As we were being escorted, the flock let me take the lead and bring us victoriously into camp. So like I said, all in all today was a pretty great day.

So until next time,
Gabby "G" Spurzem

first century ride

6/18/2015

We stayed the night at the Beaver Lodge and were greeted in the morning by our gracious host with breakfast. After breakfast and a picture we began to make our way to Sandpoint, Idaho. Knowing that today would be our first over 100 mile day we all were hoping for lots of flat. We were not let down. We formed a great paceline into the headwind and hauled our way onto lunch stop. At lunch we received a call from our host in Sandpoint telling us that we needed to leave the Adventure Cycling route and hop onto highway 2. That it was a far superior route and had just been certified by a cycling group as the best route. It was none of the above. It was a road that was over inhabited by 18 wheel logging trucks going 60 mph two feet to our left. To say the least, it was brutal. Somehow we survived the highway with a mere 3 flat tires and rolled into the Sandpoint Athletic Club. We unpacked all our stuff and moved into the squash courts where we were to sleep. Later that night we were graciously hosted for a spaghetti dinner where we were able to connect with many veterans and to hear their stories. After a wonderful dinner we made it back to our home sweet squash court where we all received a complimentary massage then almost immediately went to sleep. We learned a few things, 1. To always follow our maps and 2. How to quickly change a flat using CO2.

Oliver

When still in washington

6/17/2015

Today began with an up, then a magnificent down, then some hot hot weather on the flat, then another surprise up resulting in almost every single one of us bonking. The first “up” goes by the name of Sherman Pass AKA the tallest pass in Washington state. Rainy pass, Washington pass, and Loup Loup pass trained us well for Sherman pass. I felt so well-trained for climbing this pass that I actually reached a new level of boredom on my bike today. After about 10 miles of climbing at an undeniable pace of 7mph, Reid and I started singing to each other. Once that got boring I started playing around with ways I can pinpoint specific abdominal muscles depending on where I place my hands on my bars - yay anatomy.

The other side of Sherman pass was a whole new story. Jacob and I took off in a 2 man draft absolutely sailing. We absolutely nailed our drafting strategy on this descent. Switching lead every 30 seconds or so we held a solid 38-40mph for at least 5-10 miles - it was awesome. At some point we were wheelin so hard I swear I took out at least 2 monarch butterflies every odd numbered mile.

Once the descent calmed down a bit Webster, Oliver, Jacob, and I fell into the rhythm of a killer pace line. The pace line brought us to water stop 1 where we enjoyed the luxury of a clean gas station bathroom. Funny how much we’re learning to appreciate civilization and clean bathrooms.

We all learned a valuable lesson today… That being said, it was 100% my fault. I was leading the flock down a pretty rural road around Kettle Falls looking for a turn. I got like half way passed an unmarked turn and realized that was the turn I needed so without thinking I last minute took a sharp turn which resulted in the following 8 riders half wheeling each other and then 2 people on the ground. I learned a lesson, and I don’t think any of us will fail the turn communication game for the rest of the trip. Valuable lesson learned? Yepp.

After lunch we experienced 20 of the hottest miles yet. This is when Webster officially become world’s worst DJ. I swear this kid played elevator music from the 1800’s and called it “classics”. This one track dragged on for over 9 minutes. Rather than the music pumping us up to power through these final miles as it should, it literally drained the energy from me through my ears.

The surprise “up” was discovered at the final water stop where we realized it was actually 11 miles until we got the campground. We all started to bonk a bit… or a lot a bit at this point. Webster took off incessantly talking to himself, Jamie trailed off with some Steve Aoki track, and I found some freak burst of energy to push to the top.

We rolled up to Beaver Lodge just outside of Colville, WA to a beautiful lake. We all immediately dove in to the mountain water and felt so so much better. The cabins at Beaver Lodge are so homey! They gracefully agreed to host us for breakfast tomorrow morning early early before we take off for our first century ride. Whoot whoot, let’s go flock!!

xoxo,
JT

Shoutouts:

S/O to Oliver for powering up Sherman pass while hurling over 5 times and then still managing to force food down his throat to keep himself fueled
S/O to Jacob for biking through endless hills today with a bike that absolutely refused to shift from big ring to little ring on command
S/O to Reid for only falling twice today
S/O to Gabby for powering through after hitting the decks (oops my fault) and then getting multiple bee stings and continuing to push through the hot hot hot miles without a complaint
S/O to Sid & George Marshman our flock parents for the week!!!