Ain't no mountain high enough

Day 14. Idaho Falls Idaho to Jackson Wyoming. I don't even know how to describe our ride today. It was equal parts intimidating, exhausting, and flat-out scary. And by scary, I mean "white-knuckle, my hair is now entirely gray" scary.

At route rap last night, tour leader Mike told us what to expect today – two very difficult climbs and then a technical descent into Jackson that has seen previous riders risk losing control of their bike due to speed and road conditions. He wasn't trying to scare us, but it sure made me pay attention. After dinner I went over to Walmart just for the walk and then I found a Wendy's and got a Frosty Shake (different, and better than a Frosty!). I went over to the Falls and just watched them for a while, kinda to clear my head and not worry about today. It actually worked. I slept the best night yet on this trip – all the way to 4:40AM this morning (I'm not kidding about that). We had to wake up at 5AM anyway, and I did fall asleep around 10PM last night, so that's over 6 hours, which is great for me.

We had breakfast at 5:30AM and loaded the truck at 6:15. We were on the road at 6:25. What promised to be a long day got longer due to a 4 mile detour we had to take to go around a construction zone, and a nasty headwind that dogged us until the 30 mile mark. That's the first significant headwind we've seen this trip, and I hope we don't see many more like it. Not only does it sap you physically, it saps you mentally too. One note about breakfast. I ate like a lumberjack on steroids today. Yesterday I started fading around noon and I felt it was because I didn't eat enough in the morning. So today I had eggs, bacon, hash browns, a biscuit (they love their biscuits out here and each one must be 400-500 calories), two muffins, fruit, and OJ. All eaten before 6AM! It's a good thing I ate that much because we needed it today.

After leaving Idaho Falls (nice town by the way), we meandered through the last of the Idaho farmland I'm going to see for a while. Then the Tetons rose up to meet us. Spectacular scenery. Spectacular. I think this is the prettiest mountain range I've ever seen. The Duchess and I went skiing here in 1983 and while we didn't love the ski resort at Jackson Hole, we couldn't help but love the scenery. I hope this video and the attached pictures do it justice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei4npD5ylFQ

We kept pushing into the headwind and snaked our way up to the top of the first climb at Pine Creek Pass (elevation 6,764 feet). Little did I know that, as tough as it was, this was the easiest part of the day. What you have to realize is that not only is it tough going up these steep mountain roads, but what made this first climb tough was the headwind, the fact that it occurred at the 45 mile (73 km) mark of the ride, and that it topped out at 6,764 feet (only about 1,000 feet lower than the town of Aspen). It was a tough climb for sure.

However, there's no way a "route rap" can genuinely convey the nature of the next climb. Unfortunately, before we started the big climb, we had to descend about 1,000 vertical feet to the town of Victor Idaho in order to start the climb up to Teton Pass. That just sucked. As we roared down the mountain, all I kept thinking about was how hard it was going to be to go back up again. So, after crossing the state line into Wyoming (our third state), we started to climb.

Holy shit.

That's about all I can say about it. The climb itself lasted only 6.6 miles, but was at a grade that ranged from 3% (not bad, like the hill going north on Don Mills Rd. north of York Mills Rd. in Toronto) to a crushing high of 13% (on my computer at least, others showed a 15% grade). I'm trying to think of a 13% grade in Toronto but I can't think of one. It's steep. Basically I was moving at about 6-8 kms/hour, or a slow running pace. The good news was that the wind did turn around a bit in our favor, which didn't hurt. But what a climb. The altitude at the top was 8,341 feet (as a reference, that's halfway up to the top of the Two Creeks lift at Snowmass for the Lipsons and Roses). Not only that, but this climb started (started!) at the 75 mile mark of the ride (121 kms into the ride) and came on the heels of the first climb.

I have got to tell you that you learn a lot about yourself at moments like these. I learned that I get tired riding a bike up a mountain. Yeah, that's it. Tired.

I did stop by the side of the road during the climb twice for a 2 minute break each time. Others walked their bike up a bit. Still others got a ride in the ABB van for a portion of today's ride before they rode into Jackson. But everyone gave it their best shot, and there were lots of high-fives all around at the top.

But, after a struggle, I made it. The Teton Pass is marked with a sign saying that you are in Jackson (see picture "Howdy Stranger..."). It was incredibly windy at the top, so we started rolling down with a huge gusty tailwind. I'm not trying to be overly dramatic here, but I was about as scared as I've ever been in my life going down this mountain pass. Some of the other riders (at the bottom) said how much they loved it. I didn't. I actually pulled over on the side of the road going down and came to a complete stop just to curtail my momentum. It didn't work. In a couple of seconds I was flying down the hill again. I used my brakes liberally and kept under control. There was never a moment I wasn't in control, but the whole experience left me white-knuckled. It didn't help that there were major crosswind gusts and that there was significant car, truck, RV, and camper traffic on this road as well.

So, today we conquered our second state (Idaho), crossed our highest point/toughest climb (to date), and crossed the 1,000 mile mark in the trip. Not too shabby. Hey, let's go to DQ! But alas, we can't find a DQ in this upscale mountain resort.

Here's video from Jeff's handlebar camera to give you a sense of speed on the descent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB2CmwX8SSc

Anyway, we are now in the beautiful mountain resort town of Jackson Wyoming. I'm off to a pizza party at Pizza Hut and then an early to bed. We are riding up and over the Continental Divide tomorrow on the way to Dubois Wyoming (140+kms).

Now, on to today's mail:

Allan from Toronto writes (after hearing that every house in Idaho has a dog) "Macy (Allan's German Shepherd) called ahead to all her friends in Idaho and warned them that good food was approaching!!" I'm not such good food any more. Despite eating what must be a 5,000 calorie/day diet, I think I've lost weight on this trip. Tell Macy (and that idiot Friedman dog Griffin) that they better look for something better to eat.

Here are my Garmin stats for the day:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39357136

This is Joe's blog:

http://jpschroeder.blogspot.com/

Trip journal and photos by our tour leader Mike Munk:

http://www.americabybicycle.com/BAMA/BAMA/North/North.html

This link is Jeff's blog:

http://sites.google.com/site/jeffsrideacrossamerica/

This link is Baltimore Mark's blog:

http://marksrideacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

And this is Katie's blog:

http://blog-by-bike.blogspot.com/

The bully is in the playground

Day 13. Pocatello to Idaho Falls Idaho. What a beautiful day for riding. The day was sunny and crisp in the morning, yielding to warmer temperatures in the afternoon (like 23-24C). Our group of Geldings decided to take it a little easier today given our daunting day ahead tomorrow.

Before we get to today's ride, after dinner yesterday, tour leader Mike led the entire group on a final safety inspection before our ride over the Teton Pass and down into Jackson Wyoming. It promises to be a very challenging day, with over 5,000 vertical feet of climbing along with about 135kms of riding. Apparently the last 3 miles is a very steep grade (over 10% grade) which will be formidable to say the least.

Anyway, back to the safety inspection. ABB takes bike safety very seriously. So seriously in fact that they got me good and paranoid yesterday. It seems that while the ascent up to Teton Pass (over 8,000 feet elevation) is tough, the descent can be downright terrifying, especially if any part of your bike is not working properly. Some riders on previous tours have reached speeds in excess of 100 km/hour on this descent, which is remarkable. I have no intention of riding that fast, even though my bike checked out just fine. We tightened my front brakes and replaced my front tire due to a minor tear in the sidewall (better safe than sorry).

On to today's ride. At breakfast this morning I got the requisite ribbing for my appearance on the local NBC newscast last night. We loaded the truck and got moving around 8:15AM. The ride today again went through prime Idaho farmland. Is it a law out here that every home has to have 2 dogs? It's crazy but you can't pass a house here without a dog barking at you or trying to chase you. Anyway, we rolled along nicely, aided by a lovely tailwind and came across stunning vistas and some local farm life. We got into charming Idaho Falls around 12:30PM and had lunch (mmmm...pizza). Then Joe and I took some video and snapshots of the Idaho Falls.

Here's video of Idaho Falls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr3yCCh56C0

So here are the statistics to date on the ride:

982 miles (1,591km) ridden

17.1MPH (27.7km/hour) average speed

106 beats/minute average heart rate while I ride

23,260 calories burned

3 flat tires

3 Snickers

3 Blizzards

2 milk shakes

Our average speed is significantly higher than my training norm and is driven by the fact that I'm riding in a group, we're riding West to East (and have had favorable winds), and that we are riding where there are few intersections/stop lights to interrupt our flow. Plus, I think we're getting stronger each day. We're also getting more and more tired and broken down each day. Today, for the first time, I was in a bit of pain as my thumb was spasming (is spasming a word?). It's not a big deal though. I'll cope with it as we roll along.

Today's blog title is about the bully in the playground. The bully is the Teton Range, and he is picking a fight with us, starting tomorrow. We are all a little intimidated by this bully (I think). But we're going to show up tomorrow, en masse, and deal with him. I guess that's the only way to deal with a bully anyway. The only times in my life that I was confronted by a bully, I learned that you do (as the old adage goes) have to stick up for yourself. Tomorrow a whole group of us are going to stand up to this bully and, as they say in Western Canada, "give 'er".

Not much mail today:

Duchess from Toronto writes: "I wish you were home so you could write fake Facebook things on my Facebook wall." Hopefully I'll be able to do that sooner rather than later my Duchess.

Here are my Garmin stats for the day:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39231090

This is Joe's blog:

http://jpschroeder.blogspot.com/

Trip journal and photos by our tour leader Mike Munk:

http://www.americabybicycle.com/BAMA/BAMA/North/North.html

This link is Jeff's blog:

http://sites.google.com/site/jeffsrideacrossamerica/

This link is Baltimore Mark's blog:

http://marksrideacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

And this is Katie's blog:

http://blog-by-bike.blogspot.com/

We're world famous in Pocatello

Day 12. Burley to Pocatello Idaho. To paraphrase a great line from the very funny Mel Brooks movie To Be or Not to Be, we're world famous in Pocatello. Today a reporter from the local NBC affiliate came to interview a few of us about the ride and the causes we are riding for.

We just finished with the interview about an hour ago, and it will supposedly be on the 10PM news tonight on channel 6 here in Pocatello. Here's the link to the story:

http://www.kpvi.com/story.php?id=21801&n=15212

I'm going to try to stay awake to watch this at 10PM (MDT) tonight to see how our interviewer Tammy edited the story. I was interviewed along with Sarah Kerr (who is riding for a Chicago Rehab Institute in the wake of her sister's car accident that left her a paraplegic) and Mark Koltz (Baltimore Mark, who is riding for the American Lung Association in memory of a departed family member). Hopefully this will turn out OK.

Well, there is a lot to report on since yesterday's post. After the ride yesterday, the ABB staff conducted what is, for them, an annual tradition on this cross-country ride – the ABB Scavenger Hunt. This is taken quite seriously by most of the riders – that is, most of the riders except for us. After failing to get many of the 16 items needed, we decided that instead of winning, we'd at least try to provide some entertainment value. So, we concocted a story about us losing every single item on the list (which we never even had) when we tried to save a fictitious dog named "little Jimmy" from going over the cliff into the Snake River Canyon. Whenever Judge Jeff from ABB asked us if we had item #1, or #2, or #3 and so on, all we said was "it went over the cliff with little Jimmy" (much like my people say "Dayeinu" at the Passover seder each year!). Of course we finished dead last and set a new ABB record for least points during the annual Scavenger Hunt. At least everyone had a few laughs at our expense. Congratulations to the victorious O.W.L.s who really kicked ass. Also, thanks go to both Joe and Dave on our team who did come up with a couple of ingenious "finds" to keep us alive in the Scavenger Hunt.

Also, even greater kudos go to Dave for giving our team a new name. We don't want to refer to ourselves as "the Thoroughbreds" for a couple of reasons. One, we didn't name ourselves thoroughbreds, and two, it's not very funny. So when we had to give our team a name for the Scavenger Hunt, Dave said that since we are all married, we weren't really thoroughbreds anyway – we were more like "Geldings".

Alas, the thoroughbreds are no more. From this point forward, we are now known as the "Geldings". When we explained that at the Scavenger Hunt last night, it got a pretty good laugh.

Oh yeah, we also did some riding today. Like 140kms worth of riding. It was a very flat ride with a nice tailwind through mostly farmland (not too exciting visually). The weather at 7AM was cold (like "The Vancer wouldn't golf in it" cold). About 8C with a brisk westerly wind under mostly cloudy skies. After about an hour we warmed up a bit, then the clouds went away and it was a great day to ride.

We stopped at a National Historic site called Register Rock (see pictures). This is a rock that settlers carved their names on when they traveled west (it's hard to see in these pictures but it's kind of like frontier grafitti). Very cool. We saw carvings from the 1830's! After we left Register Rock, the Geldings added another horse to the stable (actually a filly) – Katie (here in red with her roommate Beth from Colorado). Katie has said in her blog that she wants to ride with us for a whole day, so today was a test run. She did great. You'd think she was a professional based on how she led the paceline (her first time doing this) and how she kept up. Katie can ride with us anytime, and I'm sure she'll pass us by before we hit Minnesota.

Man, that was a busy 24 hours. Whew. This ride sure keeps me busy – busier than I thought I was going to be. It's 5:40PM local time. Dinner is in 40 minutes and I haven't really had a moment to spare today. The only regret I have on this trip is that there isn't much time for relaxing. There's riding, eating, laundry, sleeping, and that's pretty much it. It's tough physically (a number of riders are showing signs of small physical breakdowns) but it's also tough mentally. We're in the middle of a 9 day stretch of consecutive days riding (4 down, 5 to go until our next break in Casper on Thursday when I get to see my Duchess). The Tetons loom in the distance like a bully in the schoolyard picking a fight, but I won't worry about them until Monday (but worry, I will, as we have to climb over the 8,000 foot elevation level to get over Teton Pass). To any of you who have skied Jackson Hole, Teton Pass is the mountain pass just west of the town of Jackson.

Here's video from today's ride:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FubFTaZkjVQ

NOTE TO READERS: ALL MY VIDEOS ARE NOW ON YOUTUBE. JUST SEARCH YOUTUBE FOR MARK WEISBARTH AND YOU SHOULD FIND ALL OF THEM.

Now on to today's mail:

Peter Kaufman has a report on Lara (who this ride is dedicated to) "I'm here with Lara at her acupuncturist - an 85 year old traditional Chinese doctor who speaks very few words of English. His credentials are impressive but Lara has begun to call his technique 'acu-torture'. His reaction to her expressions of pain is to laugh and giggle. Lara explains that the pain is excruciating but she sucks it up and pulls through it. We're not sure if the acu-torture is working but we believe it's one variable with all the other therapies she is doing that is contributing to her slow progress. Last week she wiggled her toes and moved her ankle. Water therapy has been the one place that Lara is pain free. The buoyancy of the water is heaven and her movements are greatly improved. Lara will spend next week in the city and then move up to the cottage. She will be surrounded by her girl friends and more importantly access to two pools. We look forward to continue reading your posts. We're all rooting for you Lara – keep working to get better.

Brad from Toronto writes "I have just started following your blog - verrrrry entertaining!

I really enjoyed reading/viewing your descriptions and pictures - especially yesterday's caption of 'A Mighty Wind' followed by a picture of 4 ladies playing cards - lucky I wasn't in that room!" Those were some serious bridge players Brad, let me tell you. They thought I was Italian because of my jersey.

Useful links for you:

SO COOL: CHECK OUT MY STATS FROM MY NEW GARMIN!!!!!! When you go to this page, go to the player button on the upper right hand side of the page and hit it and then (after the page loads) hit the play button just above the elevation chart; this will allow you to track through the various aspects of my ride simultaneously (just make sure to make the Google map window small enough that you can watch the elevation chart, map, and other data bars at the bottom all at the same time). Too cool for words:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39077694

This is Joe's blog:

http://jpschroeder.blogspot.com/

Trip journal and photos by our tour leader Mike Munk:

http://www.americabybicycle.com/BAMA/BAMA/North/North.html

This link is Jeff's blog:

http://sites.google.com/site/jeffsrideacrossamerica/

This link is Baltimore Mark's blog:

http://marksrideacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

And this is Katie's blog:

http://blog-by-bike.blogspot.com/

A mighty wind

Day 11. Twin Falls to Burley Idaho. The day started with a very funny incident. As you know, in yesterday's blog post I provided rock-hard proof that my wife and Kim Basinger are like identical twins. That proof, of course, was in the form of a photograph. Now this wasn't just any picture found using Google images of Kim Basinger...oh wait...it was.

Remember a blog post I had a few days ago about how many of my fellow riders already know me too well? I guess one of them hasn't completely locked on to my somewhat goofy sense of humor (and I'll qualify this as "not completely" because he mostly gets my humor). I won't mention names but his name rhymes with Mark Koltz. Yesterday, Mark K. read my blog and, after believing that the Google image of Kim Basinger was The Duchess, Mark remarked to his roommate Dave that Mark W.'s wife is a real babe – just check out the picture of her on Mark's blog. Dave, not wanting to be indelicate, said something to the effect that he had seen The Duchess on Skype, and that while she is mighty attractive (mighty attractive, he stressed), she didn't look anything like the picture on Mark W.'s blog. Anyway, the issue was settled at breakfast when I assured Mark K. that the only thing The Duchess and Kim Basinger have in common is that they were both born in the 20th century.

Also, on today's ride, when I told Jeff that I mentioned this story to my wife Susan, and that Susan looked nothing like Kim Basinger, he asked "who's Susan"? Jeff only knows The Duchess as, well, The Duchess, which makes sense, because she is, after all, The Duchess (see picture of my Duchess downing a boot of beer last March).

Before I get to today's ride, I just want to thank Jeff, Joe, and tour leader Mike for fixing Wonderboy's brain. It seems that the installer at the bike shop in Boise put his brain in backwards and let's just say I was getting wonky data (on the first day I had a maximum speed of 104 MPH, which is ever-so-slightly above my norm). Thanks guys. I don't know what I would have done without your help except to have wasted $300.

Also, thanks go to Jay for leading us through the first 25 miles yesterday. We definitely took the "Jay train" as Dave said. Wow, that was fast and was a great way to get a long day going.

Today's ride was about as easy as it's going to get. We had a late wake up and breakfast was at 7:30AM. Our ride today was mostly flat and only 40 miles (about 65kms). It went through very fertile farmland. Idaho is very agricultural. We rolled past potato, wheat, corn, and stuff we couldn't even identify. They call Montana Big Sky, but that certainly applies to Idaho too. I was expecting this state to be a bit like Colorado, but it isn't. It's like Ontario but with mountains way in the distance. I guess that means it looks nothing like Ontario. Either way, it doesn't look like Colorado, that's for sure (at least not the parts of Colorado I've seen).

The route we took today was great for one reason – it was downwind. In fact, it was a mighty wind that blew us to the not-so-bustling town of Burley. We were flying, and with minimal effort. I'm sure we are going to go into the wind at some point on this trip, but we enjoyed today's ride immensely. Let's just call this a "wind-assisted day". Before we really got going today, the ABB folks suggested we take a side trip down into the Snake River canyon to see either the Shoshone Falls, or the upstream Twin Falls. Either side trip meant a hefty climb out of the canyon at grades approaching 16-17%. You can see from these pictures that this is a significant canyon. My riding mates went to the first Falls (Shoshone) and I went alone to the second Falls (Twin Falls) and waited for the rest of them to meet me there. I didn't think I had the "kuyoch" (that's Yiddish for "strength") to do both today. Anyway, at the Twin Falls I ran into Gerard in the red and white jersey (Gerard's a Walmart guy from near Bentonville Arkansas) who is quite the amateur photographer. Beautiful spot.

Here's video of Twin Falls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6WtmSBuXpU

Further along we found a scenic overlook where we snuck under the fence and took some up-close pictures and video (don't worry Mom, I'm alright).

Here's video further down the canyon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh5om8yf_PY

The rest of the day was uneventful. Lunch was a delicious club sandwich ("burn the bacon") and fries at the Perkins next to the hotel. I guess it was Bridge day at Perkins because the local Burley Bridge Club was there (see picture). I told the ladies that The Duchess is learning to play bridge. Not surprisingly, they had no idea who The Duchess was. Anyway, they were very cute.

I wish all the days on this ride were as easy as today, but there are some tough days right ahead of us including Monday's ride up and over Teton Pass at over 8,000 feet of elevation into Jackson Hole Wyoming.

Now on to today's mail:

Arlene from Toronto writes: "Thank you for supporting my upcoming marathon. As I read your blog, I am starting to get excited about mine, and hope that I will have the courage and strength of character to be as successful as you". I hope you have greater strength of character than me Arlene. I haven't finished anything yet!

Kim Basinger from Hollywood writes: "What the f-**!?? are you doing using my image without my permission? You'll be hearing from my lawyers". Sorry Kim, but Mark Koltz of Baltimore Maryland says you look exactly like Susan "The Duchess" Weisbarth. I had nothing to do with this ugly incident. Please forward any legal threats or unpleasantness directly to him. I have his address if you need it. By the way, I loved you in the movie Nine and a Half Weeks!

Vance from Toronto writes "I heard from Joe Schroeder that there really is a Bacon of the Month Club. Is that true?". Yes the Vancer, your dreams have come true at last. Go to:

http://www.gourmetfoodclubs.com/bacon-of-the-month-club.html?gclid=CNmN--bjzaICFR16gwodZRIkxg

Useful links for you:

Here is my wheel dipping ceremony from a few weeks ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPvBisyEtXs

SO COOL: CHECK OUT MY STATS FROM MY NEW GARMIN!!!!!! When you go to this page, go to the player button on the upper right hand side of the page and hit it and then (after the page loads) hit the play button just above the elevation chart; this will allow you to track through the various aspects of my ride simultaneously (just make sure to make the Google map window small enough that you can watch the elevation chart, map, and other data bars at the bottom all at the same time). Too cool for words:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38956851

This is Joe's blog:

http://jpschroeder.blogspot.com/

Trip journal and photos by our tour leader Mike Munk:

http://www.americabybicycle.com/BAMA/BAMA/North/North.html

This link is Jeff's blog:

http://sites.google.com/site/jeffsrideacrossamerica/

This link is Baltimore Mark's blog:

http://marksrideacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

And this is Katie's blog:

http://blog-by-bike.blogspot.com/

Today I am a man

Day 10. Mountain Home to Twin Falls Idaho.

Happy Canada Day!

Today I am a man. I know that I was Bar Mitzvahed close to 40 years ago, and in the Jewish faith, that is the day that you become a man in the eyes of the Jewish people. But today, I became a man in the eyes of all cyclists – I changed a flat tire all by myself.

Before we get to that, I do have to respond to a number of my readers who question whether my wife actually is a Kim Basinger look-alike. Well, it is true. She is Kim Basinger's spitting image. Here is a recent photo of my wife The Duchess, and nobody can tell me she doesn't look exactly like Kim Basinger. Seriously. It's as if my wife had a picture of herself available on Google images that looked just like Kim. The likeness is a little scary, don't you think?

Anyway, on to today's events. Actually, before we get to today's events, I should mention that yesterday our tour leader Mike Munk held a tire changing clinic for the riders in the group who wanted to learn how to do this better (or in my case, learn how to do this at all). Mike has been timed at 48 seconds to change a flat. I know this is completely boring to non-cyclists, but when you are in a ride like this, a flat is no laughing matter. It can be dangerous by the side of the road at worst and can ruin your day at best. So, you better know how to do it. After the clinic there was a "practice session" for us neophytes. I attended with Margot Weinstein and we both changed flats twice each. Little did I know how handy this would come in.

We started the day with a 5AM wake up call followed by breakfast at 5:30AM. After loading the truck and some last minute repairs to Wonderboy's new brain, we were on the road at 6:20AM. Today's ride was 160kms of gentle downhill and uphill climbing across mostly farmland. We did have an incredible view of the Snake River Valley at a number of points today as these pictures attest. We rode today in serious heat but we drank a lot and we're just fine. In fact, at one of the breaks today I downed a big chocolate milk to help me with my post-workout recovery. We got to the hotel and before we unloaded the truck, we immediately went to Dairy Queen (stat!) for the ceremonial post-ride Blizzard. Mmmmmm. Here's the key calorie count to date:

Flat tires – 3

Blizzards – 3

Snickers bars – 2

milk shakes – 2

When we got to Twin Falls today we crossed the Snake River Canyon. Not only is this visually impressive, it also happens to be the place where Evel Knievel tried to cross via rocket some time ago. He must have been scared shitless when they lit the fuse, because that is one wide and deep canyon (apparently he pushed the abort switch seconds after lift-off which does not surprise me at all). Just riding a bike across a perfectly safe bridge hundreds of feet above the canyon floor was scary. Anyway, as you can see it is quite beautiful. Here's video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYkGLS8BmaY

One thing I haven't commented much on is the tour staff. America by Bicycle (ABB) has 6 people on the staff. I know a lot of you think I'm taking myself across country on my bike, but that's hardly the truth. First, as you all know, I have lots of people to thank in Toronto who helped me prepare for this ride, supported me, trained me, and encouraged (goaded) me. There are lots of people looking after things for me while I'm away and you know who you are. Thanks.

There are also my fellow riders who keep me company, ride with me, break the wind with me (in more ways than one), cheer me on, and just hang out with me at meals.

But the real unsung heroes of this trip are the ABB staff of tour leader Mike, his wife Barbara (part master military logistics manager, part den mother), Karen/Jeff/Debbie (routing, SAGs, and overall support), and Jim (bike mechanic par excellence). Everything is so well organized. They are unflaggingly cheerful, helpful, and caring. This ride wouldn't be worth doing without people like them with us. Thank you so much for making this the special trip I always dreamed it could be.

Now on to today's mail:

Karen from Toronto writes: "I love the name Wonderboy for your bike. You're a cyclist, but I'm a runner. I want to name my sneakers. What should I call them?" How about Sonny and Cher?

Wayne from Toronto writes: "I think you should have a nickname. How about Cyclepath for you?" Sorry Wayne, my wife already has nicknamed me. My nickname is "him".

Pat from Toronto writes: "I love the movie The Natural and I also admire your perseverance." By perseverance, do you mean the way I constantly annoy you in the office?

Useful links for you:

SO COOL: CHECK OUT MY STATS FROM MY NEW GARMIN!!!!!! When you go to this page, go to the player button on the upper right hand side of the page and hit it and then hit the play button just above the elevation chart; this will allow you to track through the various aspects of my ride simultaneously (just make sure to make the Google map window small enough that you can watch the elevation chart, map, and other data bars at the bottom all at the same time). Too cool for words:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38867479

This is Joe's blog:

http://jpschroeder.blogspot.com/

Trip journal and photos by our tour leader Mike Munk:

http://www.americabybicycle.com/BAMA/BAMA/North/North.html

This link is Jeff's blog:

http://sites.google.com/site/jeffsrideacrossamerica/

This link is Baltimore Mark's blog:

http://marksrideacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

And this is Katie's blog:

http://blog-by-bike.blogspot.com/