The Finishing Post: Oregon and Washington

It was bitter-sweet finishing the TransAm which we did in Astoria on 17 August. The TransAm tradition is to put dip your rear wheel in the ocean you start and the front wheel in the ocean you finish.

Astoria, on the Northwest coast of Oregon, is a beautiful place and it would have been great to keep riding down the coast or explore the area more, instead of having to keep moving to get to the Solar Eclipse. Astoria is a fitting place to start or finish the TransAm route as, like Yorktown at the other end, it has a commemorative column (this one to explorers Lewis and Clark) overlooking the water. We rode up a pretty hard hill to watch the sunset to be rewarded with some great views.

We had joined the Lewis and Clark bicycle route from Missoula which led us down the enormous Columbia River which borders Washington and Oregon. The Columbia starts in remote desert country, moving through fertile wheat belts eventually becoming the west coast rainforest. It was 38 degrees C each day (which seemed bizarre for Washington) with renowned headwinds holding us back on some days to stopping and setting up camp at lunchtime for the day. Trees and rainforest start to appear from Hood River, about a day out of Portland. Hood River was a wonderful place for a rest day with cafes and breweries overlooking the River. While the Columbia winds are the enemy of the westward bound cyclists, it is the capital of windsurfing and kitesurfing. We spent a long time just gazing out over what seemed like hundreds of kitesurfers. We skirted around Portland to continue along the waterfront until meeting the Pacific at Astoria.

For the eclipse we travelled to the town of  Independence by bus, train and bike. Our Warm Showers host lived at an air park where everyone has a hangar in the back yard, connected by a road for their planes, to the runway. Many arrived in private planes to stay with the locals, including our hosts, to watch the eclipse together. For viewing the eclipse, we rode a bit south out of town to a bridge with a nice high view.

Eclipses are surprisingly beautiful. I don’t have any photos of the eclipse as I don’t have that type of camera equipment. A young photographer friend Thornton Drury who was for a time riding the TransAm along side us, took this image which captures some of the luminescence of the eclipse. There are also some new infra-red images from NASA.

I did remember some things from previous eclipses and learn some new things. It gets cold as the eclipse approaches. The shadows become extra sharp and there is a wonderful eerie feeling as the light gets low. I was hoping for complete darkness but as with previous eclipses there was peripheral light from the edge of the eclipse. Planes and jets were flying around everywhere. There was a hot air balloon suspended high in the eclipse path - a  thought as to how I might enjoy to view a total eclipse in the future. A couple of jets were flying along the eclipse path presumably in order to increase time under the shadow of the eclipse as it rapidly moved across the country.

Watching the eclipse was a fitting end to a wonderful trip. Once it was over we had our last day of riding back to Portland where we packed up the bikes for our exit from the country via New York.

Transam bike touring details

A friend of ours Rachel wrote with these questions, replied to below. 

I'm intrigued to know how hot the temperatures have been, what your average hours per day in the saddle is, have you been self catering or eating out all the time, how often have you camped or slept in a real bed, how have you found the traffic overall, have you stopped and had time to see things in more detail or has the time been ticking and kept you riding past? 

 Temperatures. Mostly it has been hot and dry. In Kansas it was in the high 30s. As we have moved across the Rockies it has been more in the high 20s with it getting cold in the middle of the night. Back into Idaho and Washington it has gotten hot again as we are down low. 36-38 for several days so we had to ride in the early mornings and try to finish around the middle of the day, especially as the winds are lighter in the morning as well. You wouldn't think it could be that hot in Washington State but there is a large area of dessert here with a lot of wheat farms. There has been a drought too with no rain in Portland for 57 days. We are now in Hood River, just out of the dessert area and close enough to the sea that a change of wind brought some rain yesterday and has cooled everything down. 21 degrees is a lovely change. And we have had smoke haze since Yellowstone from wildfires near Lolo which has finally blown away. 

Hours per day. So we start anywhere from 6am to 7.30.  We try  to ride 60-70 miles per day which usually means arriving at our destination about 3pm. However this varies a lot due to hills, wind and the route. Sometimes we do a long ride to get to a particular location to create a rest day or catch up. this could be 90 to 100 miles and so we might ride into the early evening. 13 hours was probably the longest day last week but we were on a wonderful stretch with lots of great downhill, good winds, friends, views and a good destination. we all arrived happy. 

Self catering or eating out. Eating out is hard to avoid when hungry and can only carry so much. Often we have an early breakfast of Museli and yoghurt, second breakfast on the road, at a diner or gas station - usually something with eggs like an egg and cheese biscuit - which is more like a scone. We carry food for lunch, flat bread or bagel with cream cheese or nut butter, but if there I a town with a good pub or diner we will stop for a hamburger or egg burger. Usually with a side and a slice of pie if it is home made.  We also eat energy bars and have Hydration stuff in our drinks. we are more likely to self cater dinner, sometimes with a dehydrated meal. If there is a grocery store nearby we make what we call a transam salad, consisting of salad greens, beans, bits of cheese and a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil. having made friends on the road we have been eating out more in the evening and trying the beer. This has been a bit expensive but there are compensations in the accomodation. 

Camping vs real bed. This has been a combination that varies across the country. in the East and Midwest there are lots of churches that let you stay for free or a small donation. Always very generous and a great experience. We stay in $50.00 hotels sometimes if we can find them, sometimes we pay more. Hotels are good at the end of a big day or on rest days. We camp mostly in city parks, again more generous in the Midwest and east, where towns are happy for bikers to stay. They even let us use the municipal pool and showers, often for free.  Occasionally we have stayed at RV parks. Warm showers is a website where touring bikers wanting to offer their home to bikers, can do so on the understanding that if you use it you will also offer your home at a later stage. This has been very variable and always interesting. Sometimes they are kooky, sometimes lonely and wanting company. Sometimes they are such bike nuts that they just want people around to talk bikes and touring. We might be in the tent in the backyard or if lucky we might get a bed. The last 2 have been superb luxury homes with wonderful people that have really made warm showers worthwhile. 

Traffic varies widely. The American Adventure Cycling Association creates routes and maps that aim to provide good riding and advice when it is unsafe. There have been times when there is no shoulder and we have to get off the road when trucks or RVs come. There are many delightful quiet back roads with few cars. Sometimes we go on a highway for short stretches which usually have wide shoulders. 

Stopping to see things. This is often a tough one as there is always so much to see, yet we have a tight schedule. we have stopped for Jefferson's House, the Hutchinson space Museum, a short hike in Breckenridge, a few short walks for natural sights, Sights at Yellowstone such as Old Faithful and the grand prismatic pond. Often we stop to take photos or look at animals. And we have had rest days in lovely places like Breckenridge, Missoula, West Yellowstone and North Hood. I would like to have spent more time in Yellowstone Park and possibly a wildlife tour in north Colorado. 

Idaho Descents

Going downhill is what we have been dreaming about through all the mountains we have been traversing over recent weeks. Idaho has provided 3 days of the best descents of the trip, although I have a tendency each day to say to myself, that was the best day or best descent of the trip, which is really just how amazing the TransAm is.

The first was 100 miles of winding downhill road from Lolo Pass through the densely rainforested Clearwater National Park. The first section was dramatically steep and winding, the second a steady 60 miles down alongside the Lochsa River. the summer weather has been amazing and we even had a slight tailwind.

Then yesterday we had to climb over 4000 feet again to remote high Prairie farmlands reminiscent of the Ozarks. The descent from Winchester was both spectacular with views and big hairpin bends that were a delight to ride. In the end we spent about 12 hours on the bike arriving into our Warm Showers host, just over the border in Clarkston Washington at sunset.

With two 80 mile days we are taking it a bit easier having found the best chef of the trip so far in the Pomeroy hotel for lunch. 

Change of Direction: Lewis and Clark

We have just been in Missoula, Montana, which, apart from being a cool small city with great cafes, bars and bike shops, a bit like a mini Portland, is also home to the American Adventure Cycling Association. Here we had a tour of the facilities and made our decision to finish our tour across America via a different route, the Louis and Clark. This gets us to the Pacific coast quicker than the TransAm as well as providing more spectacular scenery as it takes us down the Columbia River, into Portland, and on to Astoria where we will finish. This will hopefully allow us more time to get to a place to see the 21 August total eclipse as well as some rest near Hood River which we are told is spectacular. Below are some images from around Missoula. 

Catching Up

We are now well past halfway, just into Montana having a rest day in West Yellowstone, after a wonderful day yesterday riding through the national park. It is an interesting transition point at half way around the city of Pueblo. We move from flat, hot, desert riding, back to mountains. The Rockies, while much higher than the Appalachians and Ozark Ranges in the east, have much more gradual gradients.

We are really glad to be going east to west for a number of reasons. A lot of the uphill gradients seem easier going west. As well the scenery is so spectacular in the Rockies. There have been many days on both sides of the continent when I have said to myself this is the best day riding I have ever had - it keeps getting better. And the prevailing westerlies have not been overly prevailing. Wind directions change across the day and we have been rising early to beat the headwinds that pick up around the middle of the day.

One unexpected joy is making friends with other westerly riders that we frequently ride with, and sometimes leapfrog over days. There is an informal group of us from the US, UK and Australia that have bonded as we ride along sharing the joys, stories, meals, drinks and the love of bikes. Tonight they have headed on to Ennis where there is apparently a distillery that puts cyclers up. it should be quite a party. we are hoping we will stay there tomorrow night and catch our friends by Missoula, about 5 days away.

Missoula is home to the American Adventure Cycling Association that organise the wonderful TransAm route maps, as well as many other bike touring routes across the US. We are told their headquarters is a Mecca for bike tourers and bike lovers in general. 

Kentucky Charm

 

Kentucky geographically and geologically can be divided into east and west, the east still being the mountainous Appalachians, the West more open farmland with mainly corn. Now we know where all the corn syrup comes from. 

When riding over the border to Kentucky from Virginia it became clear that Kentucky has some of the poorest areas in the USA. There are also many loose dogs making it a hazard for cyclists - although I had more trouble with hornets. Every cyclist we met carries pepper spray and there were a couple of times we had to use it. Mostly we had success dispersing dogs with a marine/sport Horn. Often they were just bored. We did see an old border Collie teaching a younger one not to chase us bikes, presumably due to having learned by experience about pepper spray. 

We were warned about the kindness of people in Kentucky and this has certainly been true. It is typified by Michelle above,  who ran the coffee/gun/petrol store in remote Boxville,  who cooked us breakfast and refused to accept payment. We have also noticed that gas stations are also social centres in small towns, along with the churches. Michelle is also looking forward to the August 2 total eclipse as it will bring together all her grandchildren for the first time in many years when they all come to watch.

There was also a lovely dog experience when a beautiful Australian Blue Healer followed us to the top of a mountain and sat quietly with us while we had lunch. He must have heard our accents as we rode past.

  

Progress so far

A couple of days a go we met Ted and Rene from the Netherlands. As well as having their own smart outfits and lightweight gear, Ted runs Follow My Challenge, designing individualised tracking software for specialist adventurers doing extreme travels. You can check out their adventure here.

Today we have reached Carbondale and have got closer to our schedule thanks to a shortcut from Sebree. I have been using Geo-tracker to create a map, Victoria has been using Track my tour, an iPhone only app that allows for her to embed a photo in each location. 

Transam Hospitality

More advice from our Transam mentors Jack and Lauren: stay in every church you can. We now understand why. In Yorktown we had a lovely old home in the Grace Episcopal church grounds to ourselves, with the best view in Yorktown. In Glendale we stayed in the Willis Methodist church hall, again by ourselves, with a fully equipped kitchen. And there have been more churches, convenience store yards and parks where we have been allowed to stay free. These places are set aside specifically for cyclists and are especially helpful when there are no nearby hotels or camping options. 

One of the churches had a prayer bowl where you can ask the congregation to pray for you or someone else needing help. Knowing the research into prayer and healing I asked for some help with my knee.

Watching the TransAm Race

The 2017 TransAm bike race is currently underway. We are watching progress on the website map. Most are racing East to West so we can expect they will pass us by from the other direction soon, although most will probably go by at all hours while we are resting or sleeping. 

There will be Pain

Again quoting Jack and Lauren who advised us about doing the TransAm - everything will wear out we were told; but I didn’t expect that this would include my knee. Everything hurt on the first day. And while we are experienced riders the added weight and stress of being in a new country with a new huge task has taken its toll. So we are on a reduced schedule while I recover. The doctor has allowed me to keep going with a reduced load each day. And some medications I would prefer not to admit to taking. 

Dipping the Wheels

At dawn on Wednesday 7 June we started the TransAm bicycle route by dipping our back wheels in the Atlantic at Yorktown, Virginia. The day before we had ridden from Richmond, mostly along the wonderfully smooth Capital Cycle Path.

The TransAm is a route that has been popular amongst cyclists for over 40 years. It is maintained by the American Adventure Cycling Association LINK who provide maps and signpost this and many other routes. 

Our Inspiration

Before leaving we were able to fit a final catch up with our inspiration for the trip, Jack and Lauren Dunstan who rode the TransAm West to East in 2010. Final advice from Jack. "There will be times when it is really beautiful and you will just want to keep riding. Make sure to stop and take a picture". It was then that I took this photo.

#The2Allegros

First stop is to our friend Richard Ayling co-owner of Digari distributors and the designer of our wonderful Allegro Tour bikes. Richard also distributes a range of gear to Australian bicycle and adventure retailers including some Ortlieb pannias and Tubus racks, with Victoria's bike.