The hard road to defeat

Well it was a grand idea. The John Wayne Pioneer Trail is going to have to wait for better weather though.
I pedaled  through three towns today each smaller than the last. i think in order to qualify as a town you should have to at least have a diner, or a convenience store. Anyway its been 4 days out here and i haven't slept much because of the cold and the animal noises around my tent at night. So, after talking it over all day with my self I'm going to call it quits on the trail and head for Seattle via auto. It was a tough decision but it ultimately came down to the fact that it wasn't enough fun any more so look forward to my next post from Colonnade!!!

The beautiful west!

The morning started fast at first light. Mostly because, I had been in my sleeping bag not sleeping for about 14 hours. I packed up camp got on my bike and headed for Rock Lake.

So, the trail around rock lake if fraught with peril. trestle bridges tunnels abound. However there are some of the most beautiful views I have seen and I'm kinda bummed because my camera doesn't do them justice.

I found a railroad car off the tracks and then i entered a tunnel where no sunlight has reached in since the dawn of TIME!

Watch out though if you ever ride this part of the trail 80foot wall of loose basalt to your left 100 something foot drop to the right.

Campin' at the end of the lake tonight hoping Ewan has a breakfast joint.

The day of my last shower or Finding the trail

Today began at 8:30 with pancake breakfast!!!  And, a big thanks to papa and grandma for the bed, shower, food and support.

I road south from valley ford and picked up part of the Midnight Century course, as i made my way to Spangle, WA. The spangle creek road climb, while fully loaded, proved almost more than i had gears for, and i had to stop multiple times to rest.

IOnce in spangle, I stopped, filled my bottles and had bar food lunch and a beer.
And took off once more with hopes of reaching the John Wayne Poineer Trail before nightfall.

No camping! yeah right. i had made it to the trail and it was only about 3:30pm
So I headed west. The trail is bassalt rock from Rosalia to Rock Lake.
It's kind of like a gravel road but the gravle pieces are about the size of golf balls.
Bummpy.

4:45 and it starts to drizzle, so i set up camp where I'm not likley to be seen.

It rains, and mabey snows a little, all night. I got into my sleeping bag at about 6pm because the wood is to wet to have a big fire without drawing attention to my illegal camping with a lot of smoke.  Its to cold to be out side of my bag. I can't even read because my hands go numb holding the book. But, I listen to my radio and drift off.

And he's off!

The bike weighs in at about 125lbs. I think i overpacked, but oh well. Better safe then sorry, right?

Today was an easy day. I road out to Valleyford, to my grandparents house, for a good home cooked meal and good nights sleep. If your going out of town to the south what better way to go then to ride the bluffs?!

If your going to ride the bluffs with a 90lbs of gear on your bike bring your granny gear.

From 57th I hopped on the Pulouse highway and it was a quick pedal out to Valleyford.

"Feast yo peeps on my new whip!" or "A declaration of purpose"

I'm joining the endless ranks of internet bloggers today. My intents are 2 fold:
1. I want you the reader to be able to share in the adventure of BIKE TOUR!
2. fame, fortune, and glory. Duh.

You may know already, or you may have guessed, this blog is a retelling of my soon to be exploits.
Follow along as I traverse the back roads and highways of Washington, Oregon and beyond. All by bicycle.

Presenting my chosen mode of transport.
The surly Karate Monkey, 18", battleship grey!