Cacti and tarantulas

Wickenberg to salome 56. After my big day yesterday I decided to kinda take it easy to day. It was an easy but hot 56 mi. I'm really in the desert. There are cacti all over the place. I even saw a tarantula the size of my fist on the road. I got in early and set up my tent at an rv park. I then went out in search of a map. In the next few days I have to deviate from the maps/ route iv been following. The route heads south towards SD but I need to go towards Irvine. While in town I bumped in to another guy on tour. It turns out he works for adventure cycling association the company that makes the maps I use. He leads trips for them. He had just finished leading a trip down the Pacific coast. Joe that's his name,  headed out solo after he was done leading the trip. We had dinner together and talked biking. He had led the northern tier last summer, which I did a large portion on my first tour so we talked about that. It was fun to have some one to hang out with. Riding solo has is advantage social interaction is not one of them. After looking at the maps i have some big days coming up so I'm gonna head to bed.
-NEO

Big day

Ash fork to wickenburg Az 115. Woke up early road hard all day. Put up 115 I'm exhausted. Had my best cheeseburger of the trip at the Adirondack cafe in Prescott az.

Chain problems

Tusayan to ash fork Az 75. Today was the first time in a while where I didn't have any major climbs. Last night I decided it would be a good day to go for another century. I headed out after doing the double breakfast. First I made oatmeal then went to MacDonald for a breakfast sandwich. I was feeling good and making good time. Then about 20 mi in the trouble started. I was pedaling up a small hill and then out of know where no tension and my legs were spinning like crazy. I look back and my chain is laying on the road ten feat back. I ran to get it and then sat on the side of the road and fixed it. After taking out the bad link I rethreaded chain and put it back together. When I reconnected it I bent a piece of the link. U wasn't about to take that link off so I said hell with it and started riding hoping  it would hold. Once I started riding it was very apparent that something was wrong there was a loud rubbing noise. I figured it was just the bent link rubbing on something. I eventually realized that the noise wasn't the bent link it was because I had messed up threading the chain. The way I had threaded it, it was causing the chain to rub. I had to unconnect the chain and rethread it. This chain was pissing  me off and I was praying that they would have a replacement at the bike store  40 mi away. I was also hoping the cain would make it that far. It made it 35. So there I was again sitting on the side of the road taking another link out. I road the last five miles to the bike store not doing much shifting not wanting to stress chain. The bike store want really a bike store. It was a Coffey store with bike repairs in the back. I was really hoping they would have what I needed. They had 3 chains and luckily one would work for me. My rear cog was also warn out and some how this guy had all those parts that would work as well. I got really lucky. With all of these delays there was no way the century was going to happen. After the bike store it was 17 mi to the next town and most of it was down hill. I banged out these last miles and called it a day. My bike is running the best it has all trip. The guy who helped me is pictured below.
-NEO

Grand canyon

63 marble canyon to tusayan az. Like I've said, before leaving on this trip I didn't really look at my route. Even now that I'm riding I only look a few days ahead. The map I'm on now is called grand canyon connector. I think because the name of the map I was under the impression I would be riding along the grand canyon for a while. As it turns out this is not the case, today was my only day on the grand canyon. To be honest I wasn't that impressed. I mean it was cool butt I don't know I expected more.  I was seeing it from the south rim the the North rim is said to be better. Hard ride today up hill all morning then saw tooth all afternoon. It was cold all day. When I finished my ride I was freezing. The thought of freezing my balls off in my tent ( going to be in low 20s) was not very appealing. So I bit the bullet and got a motel. The problem is in I'm so close to the grand canyon all the prices are jacked up. Laying in my nice warm bed right now it was worth every penny. When I write these short shity blogs its cuz of fatigue induced laziness.

- NEO

To ride or not to ride that was the question

Lets start with the stupid decision I made last night, not putting on my rain fly. I should have known that there is know better way to guaranty rain than not putting on the rain fly. Around 3 I was woken up by the wind giving its best effort to blow my tent down. As annoying as this was it was good it happened because I was awake when the first rain drops feel.as soon as I felt them I jumped up and hurriedly put the rain fly on. Seconds after I got back in my tent it started poring. I some how feel back asleep but was woken up early by the wind. When there was a break in the rain I quickly broke down and packed up. As I was riding to the one restaurant in this sad excuse for a town it started poring again. During breakfast I was really questioning if I was going to ride. I'm not scared to ride in the rain but the problem was the next town was 75 mi away. Its hard to commit to 75 mi in the rain when is cold and windy and there is no bale out spot. I kept going back and fourth. I talked to my mom and mary and they both told me to check in too the hotel and chill. Looking out side that option was sounding pretty good. I finally decide I'd give it 45 min and if it let up I'd go and if it didn't I'd stay. It ended of letting up so I begrudgingly packed up and left. Throughout the day I must have stopped 20 times to take off or put on clothes. One second out was sunny and warm the next it was cold and rainy. One thing stayed consistent with the weather the wind and it saved me. I had a strong tall wind all day!!!! Tail winds are one of life's great gifts. Although the weather sucked the miles were flying by. Another thing that was tough about to day was a very small shoulder and the road was pretty busy. For many miles the shoulder was about as big as the white line that separated it from the road. This situation is always scary. I eventually made it to Cameron Az. If any one was planning on visiting Cameron don't it sucks. One gas station, one restaurant on motel all depressing. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and I go in to grand canyon national park so things are looking up.
Marble canyon to Cameron 75.
-NEO

Up a hill and down a hill and then we will be there

Fradonia to marble canyon 75. This morning I was staring down the barrel of another 30 mi hill. It seems like this has been happening a lot.
this one wasn't that bad. It was gradual steep gradual. When I got to the top I smelled the unmistakable smell of cheese burgers. I was drawn like a moth to a light there was mi resisting.I polished of a big burger and an extra thick strawberry milkshake. Man was it good. One of the problems of being on tour is you are never really sure of how good the food really is because it all taste great. The good news after lunch was that the test of the day was down hill or flat. The even better news was I had a killer tail wind. I went about 45 mi in a little under  2 hrs. Nothing makes you feel like a hero like a good tail wind. I was going to go to a campground that was 5 miles off my path but a guy at a gas station told me "just go up the road and pitch your tent on the left side of the road. That's the res and no one will bother you there." So after dinner I crossed the Colorado river and went where he told me. So it not the res like people living here just res land. Its so pleasant and clear out I didn't even put the rain fly on the tent. I would have just slept with no tent but people have told me there are a bunch of scorpions in this area. Hills all day tomorrow, what a surprise. I hit my first rain of the trip today. When going up the hill in the morning it sprinkled for about a minute and a half. Now I'm going to look at the stars and let passing cars lull me to sleep.
- NEO

Arizona!!!!!

Zion to fradonia Az 49. Woke up and hit the road. So its official I definitely over did it hiking. I can barely walk im so sore. Also the cuts on my hands make it hard to hold the handle bars. As a result of the soreness I took my first  Advil of the trip. My last tour I was living on the stuff. I suffered through the ride and made it to Arizona. Az doesn't do daylight savings so they are an hr behind. When coming back from Costa Rica Mary and found this out. We thought we had missed our flight but they haven't even stated boarding. I got a motel for the night cuz it was only 35 bucks. I'm tired and am going to bed.
- neo

Vacation day 3 # epic hikes

Woke up early so I could catch the first shuttle to the trail head. The first hike I did was angels landing. The trail was pretty cool ton of switch backs. The views were great. So it turns out riding your bike every day for two weeks gets you in really good shape. I sustained a light jog the whole way up and a full on run on the way down. I was wearing crocks not the best footwear for trail running. About a quarter mile from the bottom I ate it hard coming around a switch back, just slid out on some sand. i scraped one knee an cut up both my hands. It hurt in fact it is still hurting right now. I made it to the bottom and hopped back on the shuttle to go to the next trail head. The next hike is was  called the narrows, it was unlike any hike iv ever done. You hike in this narrow canyon with really high walls. O ya and there is a river  running through it. 70% of the hike you are walking in the river. You wear these special river shoes and a wet suit. This was one of the coolest hikes iv ever done. My pics don't do it justice Google it ( or Bing if your from the Pete Spiro family).  I did an out and back but at some point in coming back to do the whole 16 mi. I had to turn back a little earlier then I would have liked  because of a chafing issue. I highly recommend this hike to every one. I ran most of this one too. I think I may have over done it with the running in l I'm exhausted and quite soar. I just couldn't resist it was like taking a sports car for a test drive you can't help but give it all she's got. My modesty must be overwhelming. Anyways I'm going to bed. Back on the bike tomorrow.

- NEO

Vacation day 2

Hurricane to Zion national park 25. Since I was in a bed and didn't have far to ride I decided to sleep in. With the sleep schedule I'm on the latest I could manage was about 830. I lounged around for while then headed out to find a breakfast spot. I went to a place right across the street and what do you know a breakfast buffet. I ate two heaping plates of food. Pancakes, biscuits and gravy, chicken fried stake, bacon, sausage, and a few doughnuts. I was stuffed. I had to go back and lay down before I started riding. The 25 miles didn't take long but it was in the hot noon Sun so I was sweating buckets. When I got to Zion the first thing I did was go talk to the people at the two gear shops about what hike I should do. I decide on two angels landing and the narrows. These are zions two classic
Hikes. Angels landing is 5 mi round trip but 1600 elevation gain. the narrows is a hike up a river in a huge canyon. For this one you need a wet suit and river shoes. After setting up my tent I went to grab a quick biteand then go rent all that stuff. So my plan is to crush out the angels landing hike then go do an out and back in the narrows. I'm now just laying by my tent enjoying the view and waiting to get hungry again. I'm gonna go grab dinner then call it an early night so I am well rested for my last day of bike tour vacation. 

Bike Tour Vacation

Cedar city to herrcane ut 44. So I decided to go on bike tour vacation.  This entails 2 short days of riding, one off day, laundry, a motel and a movie. Stage one of bike Tour vacation started today. Since I was in a "city" (population 20,000)  I got some things done before I stayed riding for the day. Number one on the list was go to a bike store and see what I could do about this flat problem iv been having. There were two bike stores in town the first one was closed but luckily the other one was open. I ended up getting a new tire and and this tire liner that goes in between the tier and the tube. We'll see how it works. The guy at the shop has done the lotoja (a 206 mi 1 day bike race from Logan  ut to Jackson wy) ten times. He's a bad ass. My next stop was staples for a new iPod charger. Then I headed out to knock off a quick 40. It was hot high 70s but the ride went pretty quick. I pulled in to herricane around 245. I did a quick ride around the town to see what I was working with. It's not that nice of a town pretty much one  big strip mall but it would have to do. I hit up bk  for a quick double che burger then headed for the laundromat. While washing my clothes for the first time on the trip I was trying to decide where to sleep.I had two options, stealth camp in a park or get a motel. The deciding factor was I didn't want to put on my nice clean clothes all sweaty, so I want for the motel. Hell I'm on vacation right. The Roadway inn is no four seasons but it did have a pool so I took a dip before my shower. It was really shaping up to be a relaxing yet productive day. I figured the perfect way to top it off would be a Chinese buffet then a movie. Buffets are great when your on tour cuz you can really put down a lot of food. This one was no exception,I did have one problem though. Preparing for my first bite I was cutting some sweet and sour chicken when it popped of my plate and right on to my freshly cleaned white shirt. This was my only non riding t-shirt. It wasn't  a small spill either see bellow. Other than that great dinner. Next on the docket was a 730 showing of money ball. Good movie but not as good as the book, they never are. Now I'm back in my nice comfy bed. Tomorrow the vaca continues. 20 mi of riding to Zion national park then plan an activity for my off day. Man I'm really living it up. Clean clothes and a bed what more can one ask for?
-NEO

Big uphill big downhill

69 panguitch to cedar city. Today stated with the hill that would never end. Some local guy told me the hill was 18 mi but it ended up being 30. So pretty much every thing after 18 I was expecting it to end around every bend. Talk about a mental struggle. When I was climbing some ignoramus in an oncoming car threw something at me. I'm not sure what it was but it made me see red. I was just minding my own business riding up this beast of a hill and this stupid Fucking moron tries to hit me with something. I wish I could have done something but the car was out of site so quickly. Once I finally got to the top of the hill I was rewarded with 10 mi of 13%. This decent was scary big. Usually try not to use brakes on down hills but I was laying on them on this beast. I had to take a different route as the result of a road being closed because of a land slide. This added 10 mi to my day 5 of which were on a dirt road. No flats if you can believe that. That up hill took it out of me in tired and going to bed. I'm in my tent at a koa, bastards charged me $30 to pitch a tent.
-NEO

Jumping girls and Creamsicle drip castles

68. Today's ride was like an M. Up down up down. I woke up at 530 and couldn't fall back asleep so at six figured I would just get up and get on the road. Of course I had to fix a FLAT fist. I was on the road a good hr earlier then normal which was great, but that first hr was freezing. I was having trouble getting in a rhythm. Once it warmed up I got going. The first up hill was very gradual for 18 mi. I hated gradual hills I always feel I'm going slow for no reasons. I was getting really hungry and decided I would eat my 3 leftover pieces of pizza at the rest area at the top of the hill.as I neared the top I noticed something blue appear and then disappear. A minute later it happened again. I saw it four times at about one minute intervals. When I got to the top I realized it was two girls and one had a blue shirt. Right as I got off my bike they both jumped and then a camera on a rock clicked. The blue i had been seeing was the girls trying to task a picture of themselves jumping using a auto timer on the camera. Having experience in taking picture of girls jumping I offered to help. They would have been there all day using the timer. even with me taking the pic it to 3 more tries till we got a good one. The two girls were from Switzerland. One had quit her job to travel and one was between Jobs. We chatted for a while and they filled  up my water for me. Iv found that when bike touring the majority of the people you interact with are over 45. So it was nice to chill with people my own age. After leaving this rest spot I got a nice long  down hill. At a stop I took in Henrieville I saw a older guy getting out of a van in biking attire so I chatted him up. He and eight other people were doing a 9 day fully supported tour. He was pretty impressed with himself, his 16 pound bike, the 80 mi they did the first day and his second home in Utah. Being my father's son I had to slip in that the day before I did 102 mi. There was so much I wanted to say to this jamoke but kept by mouth shut. Like for starters why was he in his bike clothes eating power bars off if it was his turn to drive all day. Anyways the next part of the day was a really steep uphill that went though Brice canyon national park. To be honest I didn't really do much planning or research for this trip so I keep hitting things I had no clue I was gonna see brice was one of these. I am so glad I did see it because it was amazing. It is full of these incredible orange and white rock structures that look like drip castles made by giants really cool. I eventually made it to panguitch and got a camp site. There was another biker there who was just finishing a 10 day tour and was meeting his wife that night then they were going to zion. I was chilling with them around a camp fire they had made. When you are touring you spend a lot of time on your bike seat and this can really do a numbered on your ass. Im talking soreness and bad chafing. The dude and I were discussing this. I was telling him about this chafing lubricant, chamois butter that I use. He was telling me for him it was all about finding the sweet spot on the seat. Out of no where the guys wife starts cracking up. Through her laughter she says " I never thought I would be sitting around a camp fire listening to two grown men discussing ass cream and finding the sweet spot." We all got a good chuckle. Then sleep.
-NEO

Hog back

Hell of a ride today. I rode on the the coolest road I have ever ridden on. Woooooooohooooooo let me tell you this road will get your heart pumping. I'm getting ahead of my self though let me start at the beginning. After a pretty cold night I woke up and went for pancakes. I had a hard day ahead of me so I needed a good breakfast. My first 25 mi were all up hill. With a belly full of pancakes I headed out to take on this bear of a climb. It was pretty much what is to be expected from a 25 mi climb, hard. There were a bunch of false peaks which was a pain in the ass. Being the persistent bastard I am I got the better of that hill, really showed it who was boss. I seem to have my legs back and am crushing climbs like I used to crush the prancing pumas back at Moody. Poor little confused boys. ( inside joke sorry to the out siders couldn't resist). I digress, after the up hill I got a nice 14 mi downhill. I rolled in to bolder ut hungry as hell. I stopped at cafe and had a bacon cheeseburger. I would say I average at least one cheeseburger a day. The highlight of the afternoon was a section of the road called hog back it was so awesome. It was 12 miles long all down hill and 4 mi was 14% grade. This road was crazy, it was on a ridge that dropped of on both sides with lots of hairpin turns. It was definitely a no fall zone. You are on this road above every thing and on either side of you an endless expanse of breath taking scenery. Truly inspiring. Actually it inspired me to go balls to the wall and charge down it. There was very little traffic so I could pretty much ride in the middle of the road. It was instance. I hit my top speed of the trip 45 mph!!! ( top speed ever 52) I was hooting and hollering the whole way. When you are going at these speeds you can get speed  wobbles. To avoid this you clench your seat with your legs and push your handlebars forward keeping the bike in a rigid line. I was doing this the whole way. I'm going to go ahead and say coolest stretch of road out ever been on. After this out was back to climbing 10 more  mi of up hill 4 of which were 8% grade. I made it to Escalnte around 430 set up my tent at a campground and took a much needed shower. Then I want to go get Pete Spiro's favorite pizza and beer. It was great. at dinner I sat next to these 3 nice lady's who were very interested in what I was doing. We chatted the whole dinner. They are pictured bellow. Had a great day looks like more climbing tomorrow so I better get to bed.

NEO signing off

Blaaaaaa

That's how I felt all day. I woke up before my 715 alarm cuz the wind was billowing so hard. It was to the point I thought my tent was gonna blow away with me in it. So I just got up and did the morning routine. Before I could head out I of course had to change the flat I left from last night. As soon as I got on the road it was apparent that I would be battling the same wind that woke me up. Head wind are the worst but head winds when your legs aren't feeling it are the double worst. My legs weren't feeling it. I think it had something to do with the ride I did yesterday. My goal was Torry 50 mi away. If there was a place to stop sooner believe me I would have. I was feeling lazy and the wind was pissing me off. Like clock work 3 mi in to the day flat tire. This is getting out of hand I need better tiers. The ride was uneventful pretty much just slogging a long. I take that back one funny thing happened. A bus of tourists whizzed past me and then stopped  up in front of me about 15 old geezers got out. They lined the road and stated takin pictures of something behind me. I turned around to see what they were talking pics of, there was nothing then I realized it was me. These wangsters had stopped their bus to take pics of me riding my bike. After I realized I put on a good show like I had just won the tour de  France. I got a kick out of the whole thing. Anyway I made it to Torry got a camp site then went for a burger. The burger joint has WiFi so i'm just chilling here. Right across from my camp site there is this fancy restaurant cafe Diablo. The chef is some big deal so I figure I owe it to my self to go at least have some apps and wine. If you didn't know fine dining is one of my passions. I am on a budget so i can't really ball out like I would like to, o well such is life. I didn't have service for the last few days so that's why there are 3 new blogs today. I'm very sorry to have kept my loyal followers waiting. Hahaha
peace
-NEO

Century!!!!!!

102.77. For those of you who aren't up on your biking lingo a century is when you ride 100 mi. I started at natural bridges and ended in hanksville ut. This was not my original plan. My original intentions were to go 50 mi to lake Powell where there was a camp site and water. In true savage form(<--jbo) I crushed the 50 miles by 12. I wasn't  really digging the camp site and really didn't want to cook dinner so I said fuck it lets go for the century. So i decide to push on to hanksville. Disclaimer: the first fifty were mainly down hill and I had a light tail wind. It was in the mid 80 which is freaking hot when you're on blacktop all day and there is no shade. With all the flats iv been getting i've developed this thing where I always think I'm getting a flat. So all day I was checking my tires. With only 20 miles left till hanksville the I pretty much thought I had the century in the bag. I was just hoping I wouldn't get a flat. Then something much worse happened... my expletive expletive expletive chain snapped. Talk about a pain in the ass.I pretty much thought my day was over and I wasn't gonna get the century. I do have a chain tool and I was determined to finish. So I sat on the side of the rode and got to work. I had to take the busted link out and the reconnect the chain. Taking the link out was a breeze. Reconnecting
the chain was a different story. This can be a pain in the ass on a bike stand let alone in the heat on the side of the road. I ended up getting it but it took a while and by the end I looked like Bert from May Poppins (for those of you who didn't have a childhood I looked like a chimney sweep) I lost a lot of time but I ended up making it!! I was tied and really hungry. I got a tent site and then set up and took a much needed shower. I approached dinner with the tenacity that I did with my ride today. I ate one double cheeseburger one single cheese burger fries a drink and a milk shake. O and I almost forgot when I went to get on my bike to ride to dinner you guessed it flat tie. So I just walked and left it for the morning.

Desert

I woke up with plans to just ride tillc right before the sun went down. This was because there was nothing for the next 125 mi so I was going to be sleeping off the road some where. I was looking at the map when I woke up and realized I was going right by natural bridges national monument and there was a campground there.the way I figured it I'm not in a huge rush and if im going with in 4 mi of a national monument I should go check it out. I got packed up excited about my new plan. I went to put all my stuff on my bike and of course a good damn flat tire. So yet again I changed the tire. I've Ben taking my tiers on and off so much my breakers were all out of wack so I had to fix those as well. It was good I ended up going to the bridges cuz I never would have made it to my original destination with the amount of water I had. I drank probable double what I normally drink since it was so freaking hot out.I made it to the bridges around 2. I set up camp and then chilled till 4. At 4 I got back on my bike with no gear which was great and did the nine mi loop to see the natural bridges. they were pretty cool but not as cool as there arch we can ski through in Jackson. Do you know the difference between an arch and a bridge? Well let me enlighten you. An arch is free standing where a bridge connects two major masses. Bridges are almost always Made by water corroding the rock. I made a crappy dinner then hit the hay. Put up 50 for the day.
Neo
O ya I ended up getting another flat
 

Ride all day, sleep all night, lets get it poppin, I'm in Utah bitch

Longest day thus far put up an 84. Getting closer to the the big C. Stated in Dolores co and ended in Blanding ut . Another georges day off riding. The first 40 mi of my ride were like the graph of  y= sin x. Up and down never ending. The scenery has total changed since yesterday no more huge show covered mountains just rolling hills with an occasional bute. The temp has also significantly warmed up. My Sun glasses and bike shorts tans are coming in nicely. The flat tier trend continued today only one through. The main cause appears to be little pieces of wire that come from blown tires of semis. Real pain in my ass. I met two classic old timers when I stopped at a gas station for lunch. They were just sitting at a booth shooting the shit. First they were talking politics then they started raging on each other then every only else who was there. I was literally cracking up the whole time I was there. It turns out they were brothers by the name of Sublet. There ancestors were the ones every thing in WY including the chairlift in Jackson are named after. After they told me this they went on a rant about, how there ancestors blew all their money on booze and girls and if they had been smarter they would own half the west today. Meeting people like this is one of the great things about touring. When I got to Blanding pitched my tent then went to the grocery store. I have to stock up on food cuz for the next 125 mi there is one gas station that's it no stores no restaurant no nothing. Had a big dinner now in in my tent about to go to bed. I probably won't have  service tomorrow so I doubt I'll be posting. Hope all is well for every one.
- neo

Allen to the rescue

There was a solid frost when I woke up in Telluride. Broke camp and headed to the business district for breakfast. I ended up at a Mexican place and had pancakes. Mexican place for breakfast and pancakes at a Mexican place both funny. I met a chick named Abbi who is biking across America. Here is her blog http://abbiacrossamerica.wordpress.com/
we talked touring and exchanged some contacts cuz she had come from where I was going. Then I  was of to take on lizard head pass. It was a great day and the pass was going well. About 2 mi from the top I noticed pedaling was getting a lit harder, I looked down and saw my tier was half flat. Same one that went flat 3 times yesterday. I stopped to change it. finally this time I found something, there was the tiniest little piece of wire sticking out on the inside of the tire. After lizard head the rest of the day was pretty much down hill. The scenery was spectacular. Being from New England I'm a bit of a foliage snob but I must say the asspens were amazing. It was about 4 o'clock and I was on my final push six mi to dolores my planned destination. Then BANG!!!!!! a noise like a shot gun. To me the noise was like a starting gun signalling the start of a huge pain in my ass. The noise was a hole in my actual tire and subsequently the tube exploding. the only way I could fix this was to get to a biker store. So I stuck my thumb out. Countless big trucks wizzed past with out even a second glanced. Finally a little sedan stopped. We some how squeezed my bike in the back seat. The kid was about my age and was using his GI bill in gunnison. He drove me to Dolores which was great but the nearest bike store was still ten mi away in Cortez. By this time it was 510 and I had know way to get around. The closest camp ground was two mi away. I figured my best move was to just get a room at the motel I got dropped off at and take the day off tomorrow and try to get to Cortez. As I was putting my stuff in my room there was a guy pulling out with his window down, I asked him if he was headed to Cortez he said he had juts come from that way and then drove off. About 10 min later I was still getting organised in my room with the door open. The guy who I had just talked to poked his head in " I'm in early and have some time to kill, I'll take you to Cortez now if it will help." I had just gotten of the phone with the bike store and they close at 6 it was 515 we both decided we could make it if we hurried. Allen to the rescue. Allen was an older guy from northern California. He was in Colorado for elk hunting. We made it to the bike store and picked up a tire and a bunch of other stuff since I won't be hitting a bike store for a couple hundred miles. Allen pretty much saved me a day what a guy. I thanked him and we went on our separate ways. As I was eating dinner who walks in but my buddy Allen. We sat together and chatted. He has been hunting in this area since 83. After dinner I went to enjoy my nice bed. I ended up riding 61 mi before my tier blew. That's all for now.
-NEO

This is for Wednesday the 13

Ok this is the third time I've written a blog for this day. It keeps freezing when I try to publish it. So this is gonna be the spark notes version. Montrose to Telluride 70 mi. Two significant hills. 3 freaking flat tires. Despite looking really hard couldn't figure out what was causing the flats. slept in my tent in a park. Here are some pics

Technical difficulties

Post for yesterday didn't publish ill put it up tonight

First Flat

Put up 65. Stated in gunnison rode  to Montrose. Two significant climbs but there was more down hill then up hill. The problem is all the sweat down hill I got today I have to gain back tomorrow. Tomorrow could be rough I plan to go 62 mi and around 45 of it is up hill. I ran over a staple today and got my first flat of the trip. The wired thing is seconds before it happened I was thinking I wonder how long I will go with out getting a flat. The answer was about 5 more seconds. To day was my best day yet weather wise, warm and sunny. The scenery was also great.for some reason I didn't take a single picture today. I road in to Montrose and went straight to a KOA intending to get a tent sight but the guy at the desk up sold me on a cabin for 8 dollars more. Heat electricity a bed why the hell not. Just ate a huge dinner now I'm going to enjoy my 8 dollar bed.
- NEO

Tail magic

Woke up around 745 had breakfast the headed out to wage war against the last 6 mi monarch pass. It was a good battle but it was no match for me with fresh legs. About one mile from the top a guy on a cross country motorcycle wizzed passed me and honked and waved. It was a beautiful ride sunny, blue sky, and snow covers mountains speckledwith yellow aspens. I get to the top and go check out the visitors center. It was your typical tourist gift shop. I walk around checking things out then I noticed the motorcycle bro. I went over and started shooting the shit with him. He asked all the typical questions and I told him my deal. This guy was a classic old school bro balding with a ponytail. He asked me where I was planning on stopping for the night, and I told him gunnison. "perfect I own a house there I'm not gonna b there but you can stay with my roommate, he's your age and from vt." I quickly accepted, he was stoked on it, he gave me his number, his roommate number and his address. The ice has been broken my first bit of tail magic. The rest of the ride was great. Going down monarch pass was fun 6 percent grade for 10 mi. I pulled in to gunnison around 245. There was a lot of daylight left but with a free place to stay I wasn't going anywhere.I gave Jim's roommate Jamison a call. He was at the library doing work but he told me the house was open and to make my self at home. After grabbing a hamburger I headed to the house. I wasn't sure of it was the right house, the door was wide open and a radio was blaring. I knocked and no one answered so I walked in. As I passed the fridge I noticed there were pics off Jim on it so I figured it had to be the place. Jamison had told me to make my self at home so i did just that. I unpacked all my stuff took a shower then headed to the grocery store for dinner supplies. As I was putting the finishing touches on buttered pasta with sausage sweat potato and sage. Jamison walked in. He ended up being a great guy. We enjoyed the tstay meal I whipped up and started crushing boxed wine. Having to ride the next day I was taking it easy on the wine lets just say Jamison wasn't. At around 10 I headed to bed I left Jamison music bumping rocking out hard. Good time had by all. I put up 50 for the day.
- NEO

First respectable day

Woke up at 645 in fairplay and checked the temp it was14. So I chilled till about 8 waiting for the sun to rise more and warm things up. The good news for the morning was it was almost all down hill the bad news was it was really cold and down hill. My face was so cold I had to tie a jersey around it. My top speed for the day was 42. It was getting to the point where I didn't know if take the cold much point longer then out of no where it broke.it was like walking out of Narnia though the wardrobe, one second it was winter then boom beautiful and sunny. It was great! With all the down hill crushed 45 mi by 12. My original plan was to go to poncha springs but I got there so early I decided to keep pushing to the next town 12 mi. At the time I was feeling great and the12 mi didn't sound bad even though it was up monarch pass. The first 8 were hard but doable. Then I bonked, the hill just wouldn't quit. I clearly didn't eat enough food. I couldn't stop looking at the odometer. longest 4 mi of my life but I eventually made it to Garfield  co. Iv never been more happy to see a shity little town.  Garfield is one third of the way up monarch pass. Its not even really a town just a few buildings along the road. I gave a half hearted look for a place to pitch my tent then checked in to the one motel in Garfield. It wasn't a hard sell with predicted temps in the teens. All things said and done I put up a 70 today finally putting some mikes behind me. I ate at the only restaurant twice. First time I had chicken fried streak second time pasta with meat sauce. I'm exhausted I'm going to bed. Peace
- neo

Day off

Snow, ice roads and cold temps equals no riding. Things are supposed to clear up tomorrow.

Hoosier Pass

Started In: Frisco co

Ended in: Fairplay co

Total Mileage: 31.5

Music I'm listening to: Ministry of sound: 10 Years<------straight party jams

Audio book I'm listening to: Guns, Germs and Steal by Jared Diamond<----non fiction hasn't really grabbed me yet

disclaimer: for those of you who don't know i spell about as well as a middle schooler also i am entering a lot of these on my phone so some times words will be auto corrected and wont make sense.

To day i didn't even go far but i got my ass handed to me fuck the Continental Divide. On my last tour i crossed the CD a bunch of times but it was after riding for 5 weeks so i didn't even bat an eye. Lets just say today was different. Be for we get in to biking over mtns lets talk about last night and this morning. Last night was very cold but i did get a descent amount of sleep i woke up and couldn't wait to get some oatmeal going on my Jetboil(<--made in Manchester NH!!!). I go to light the stove and realize i have no lighter or matches, what an idiot!!!!! Chalked that one up as a loss and broke down camp. my firs 3 mins of riding i was thinking to my self there is know way I'm going past Breckenridge (10 mi away). I had a ice cream headache the wind was so cold on my face and multiple times i almost bought the farm on ice. I powered through and soon enough the sun warmed up things up and it turned in to quite a nice day. Stopped in Breck for some quick biscuits and gravy and carried on. Beautiful day with snow, sun and aspens. I was in a great groove and loving riding till i hit Hoosier Pass. This wasn't even that crazy of a pass it was only 4 mi to the top but it really humbled me. just goes to show you that when you don't train the first week can be a little painful. so the whole morning and about half way up the pass i was listening to my book GGS. I was getting tired and having trouble paying attention to the history of the evolution of man so i thew on some party jams and boy did it make a difference. I was bobbing my head and fist pumping the rest of the way. At the top i met some bro whose battery had died we chilled and i ate lunch . As i was about to head down some more bike tourers crested the pass. They were middle aged and  from Switzerland. they had both (one man one woman) quit there jobs and are biking the whole CD and then all the way to Argentina!!!!!! BAD ASS. even with all my layers on biking down the other side was freezing (top speed 38 i had a head wind). made it to Fairplay in no time with all down hill. Now I'm in Coffey shop chilling. every one i have talked to says the snow is coming for real tonight (one lady told me 5-8). i think it might be a good night for a hotel. this state is really making me feel like a wimp first day only road 6 mi second day staying in a motel lame. i got to get to the warmer weather so i can start crushing. hope every one is doing well peace out for now

First day down

So it was a good thing I got a ride over the pass cuz it was a full on snow storm with a few inches on the ground. chels left me in Dillon and it was cold and snow but true snow wasn't sticking. And I was off !!!!!! Riding with a full load took a little bit of getting used to but soon enough I was back in a rhythm hammering. I created out the six mi to Frisco in about half and hr. Once in Frisco I proceeded to get lost looking for a camp site that was on the map. I never found it so went to a local brewery for za and a beer. Then I found a nice spot to set up my tent in some words behind a baseball field. Now I'm laying in my tent, not only is it cold as balls but it's dumping snow. If it keeps up like this I don't even no if I will be able to ride tomorrow. That's all for now my hands getting cold.

Haven't even stated riding and things are looking grim

I'm car with Chels driving to my stat point and we are driving in to a huge storm. I'm starting in Dillon and right now it's 30 degrees and snowing there!!!! Not the best way to start a trip but what r u gonna do.

Packing Up

my trusty steed

back on the road

A few weeks ago I found out that I was going to have not just one month of but two. With all this time off I knew it was time to start planning something fun. I logged on to http://www.adventurecycling.org/ and started looking at routes. For those of you who don't know I moved to Jackson wy via bicycle from New Hampshire this is when I found out I loved bike touring. My blog from that trip can be found at http://www.nhtowy.blogspot.com/. After some deliberation I decide would bike from Denver to San Diego [actually Irvine CA just north of sd]. This is about a 1600 mile trip I’m hoping to finish in about 30 days. We will see if this works out cuz it’s a freaking hilly ride. My plan is to update this blog daily with at least my location and miles traveled for the day. I will do longer posts when i get to computers. Right now I’m sitting in Chelsea’s Apartment in Denver my plan is to have her drive me to Dillon CO tomorrow and start peddling. Anyone familiar with CO will know Dillon is right on the other side of Loveland pass. Call me a wimp but there is no way I’m riding up Loveland pass my first day. I haven't done any training so I’m not trying to kill myself on my first day. Loveland pass starts at around 7500 ft and goes to about 12. To be honest I do feel like a wimp skipping it but in the long run I think it will be for the best. Hopefully next time you hear from me I will have some miles under my belt.