After a shade under two months the States it's finally time to return to the UK! We've had the most relaxing week of chilling and partying in San Francisco- what an absolutely amazing city this is! We've crammed in a fair bit including a visit to Alcatraz, cycling the Golden Gate bridge and seeing the Giants lose a ballgame- a perfect place to end the trip really.
Thanks to everyone who has read and commented on our intermittent updates- your messages of support really have helped us keep going. Photos of our trip our now up here and donations to CLIC Sargent our still very much welcomed at our justgiving We may be past £3000 but there's no reason why we can't smash our target!
So all that remains to be said is a massive thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way. 3930 miles after Beverly Beach, Maryland it's time to pack those bikes up again! See you in the UK!
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
San Francisco at last!
Apologies for the long delay in posting to the blog. There was very limited internet access all across the Nevada desert, and by the time we got into California, we were just too focused on getting to San Francisco! But we have made it at last: we arrived in San Francisco yesterday after 49 days and over 3,900 miles on the road!
Day 40: Cedar Breaks, UT - Milford, UT (78 miles)
Day 41: Milford - Baker, NV (84 miles)
Day 42: Baker - Ely, NV (63 miles)
Day 43: Ely - Eureka, NV (79 miles)
Day 44: Eureka - Austin, NV (70 miles)
Day 45: Austin - Fallon, NV (112 miles)
Day 46: Fallon - Genoa, NV (93 miles)
Day 47: Genoa - Fair Play, CA (86 miles)
Day 48: Fair Play - Davis, CA (75 miles)
Day 49: Davis - San Francisco, CA (68 miles)
The long stretches between towns in western Utah and all the way across Nevada made this stretch incredibly tough. With no services for often over 70 or 80 miles, we had to carry lots of extra water and food. We also hit a lot of headwind and crosswind, which made the cycling very slow at times. The toughest day was into Austin where the winds were incredibly high, and it rained as we crossed the last mountain pass which meant we were all very cold and wet, so we decided to get a motel instead of camping!
Still, we had an enjoyable trip through Nevada - we even got to celebrate Sam's birthday in Ely at a great Mexican restaurant.
We enjoyed a run of luck in the last few days; when we arrived in Genoa, there were no campsites but the English owner of the B&B took pity on us and let us sleep on the floor of her living room and use the hot tub!
Then our next day into Fair Play we stopped at the Barkley Homestead Winery where the owners let us sleep in their lakehouse and sample their fantastic wines and beers!
And on our penultimate day we met Amy, a friend of Sam's from school, who is studying at the University of California in Davis, and let us stay in her apartment.
Yesterday we enjoyed our last day of cycling, taking a nice gentle pace all the way to Vallejo, only to miss the last ferry of the day by 15 minutes! Luckily we were able to catch a bus across the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco!
It's been a long and tiring trip, but it has been worth every second of it, we've all had such a fantastic time. We would like to thank all the kind people who have helped us along the way.
We will post some more photos soon!
Day 40: Cedar Breaks, UT - Milford, UT (78 miles)
Day 41: Milford - Baker, NV (84 miles)
Day 42: Baker - Ely, NV (63 miles)
Day 43: Ely - Eureka, NV (79 miles)
Day 44: Eureka - Austin, NV (70 miles)
Day 45: Austin - Fallon, NV (112 miles)
Day 46: Fallon - Genoa, NV (93 miles)
Day 47: Genoa - Fair Play, CA (86 miles)
Day 48: Fair Play - Davis, CA (75 miles)
Day 49: Davis - San Francisco, CA (68 miles)
The long stretches between towns in western Utah and all the way across Nevada made this stretch incredibly tough. With no services for often over 70 or 80 miles, we had to carry lots of extra water and food. We also hit a lot of headwind and crosswind, which made the cycling very slow at times. The toughest day was into Austin where the winds were incredibly high, and it rained as we crossed the last mountain pass which meant we were all very cold and wet, so we decided to get a motel instead of camping!
Still, we had an enjoyable trip through Nevada - we even got to celebrate Sam's birthday in Ely at a great Mexican restaurant.
We enjoyed a run of luck in the last few days; when we arrived in Genoa, there were no campsites but the English owner of the B&B took pity on us and let us sleep on the floor of her living room and use the hot tub!
Then our next day into Fair Play we stopped at the Barkley Homestead Winery where the owners let us sleep in their lakehouse and sample their fantastic wines and beers!
And on our penultimate day we met Amy, a friend of Sam's from school, who is studying at the University of California in Davis, and let us stay in her apartment.
Yesterday we enjoyed our last day of cycling, taking a nice gentle pace all the way to Vallejo, only to miss the last ferry of the day by 15 minutes! Luckily we were able to catch a bus across the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco!
It's been a long and tiring trip, but it has been worth every second of it, we've all had such a fantastic time. We would like to thank all the kind people who have helped us along the way.
We will post some more photos soon!
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Well that's most of the mountains done now...
While it may seem that we're trying to break the record for the longest time without posting to the blog, it turns out at the top of mountains and in the middle of deserts there isn't a lot of phone reception or super-fast internet readily available! I'm now writing this from Cedar City, Utah- about 150 miles from the Nevada border. Here's a run-down of what we have managed the last couple of weeks:
Day 29: Pueblo, CO - Westcliffe, CO (60 miles)
Day 30: Westcliffe - Garfield, CO (68 miles)
Day 31: Garfield - Sapinero, CO (70 miles) - Monarch Pass, elevation: 11312 feet
Day 32: Sapinero - Ridgway, CO (68 miles)
Day 33: Ridgway - Dolores, CO (99 miles) Dallas Divide, elevation 8983 feet; Lizard Head Pass, elevation: 10222 feet
Day 34: Dolores - Blanding, UT (82 miles)
Day 35: Blanding - Lake Powell, UT (98 miles)
Day 36: Lake Powell - Caineville, UT (68 miles)
Day 37: Caineville - Boulder, UT (70 miles)
Day 38: Boulder - Bryce Canyon, UT (80 miles)
Day 39: Bryce Canyon - Cedar Breaks, UT (71 miles)
The past few days have been easily the toughest of the trip, but also by far the most rewarding in terms of scenery. Through the second half of Colorado we headed through the Rocky mountains. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed after Pueblo (before it had been flat plains since Missouri). As soon as we were past Pueblo, the climbing started- following a morning off to service the bikes etc we only managed 60-odd miles, including our first major climb. The next day, we attempted to tackle Monarch Pass- the highest point of the entire trip at over 11000 feet- we got to within 3 miles of the top when it got dark and we camped out at the roadside. While this seemed a good idea in the evening, it was so cold the next morning the idea of climbing another 1000 feet didn't seem very attractive! It was a pretty big sense of achievement once we got to the top however- everything had to be downhill from there!
The scenery continued to be pretty spectacular for the next couple of days as we wound our way round most of the major hills until day 33, when we left ourselves two big climbs and around 100 miles to do to get through the end of the major mountains. While it seemed daunting at the start we ended up breezing through, rewarded with stunning views and the last 50 miles (mainly downhill) cracked off in around 3 hours.
Our first day into Utah wasn't quite so pleasant however- steep rolling hills and massive crosswinds meant it was a really tough day into Blanding. At the end of the day, however, we met our first fellow west-bound crosscountry-ers: Greg and Bianca from New England who we ended up following for the next couple of days. It was nice to have a bit of a change of company for once! I think we're now around a day or so ahead of them, but we definitely hope to catch up when we get to California!
I think it's fair to say Utah has been the highlight of the trip so far; while Colorado was beautiful, the last few days has felt like we've been riding through the set of a western film. We've seen canyons and mountains, deserts and lakes- every day has seemed to hold something a bit different. We're now pretty close to Nevada- meaning we have around 800 miles still to cycle to get to San Francisco. Our target originally was to get there in around 50 days- something we're well on track to do- if we push we may even be there in 49!
Pretty sure this might be a bit of a long stretch without much more internet access, so this might be the last blog for a bit, although obviously we will update as often as possible! Wish us luck for the desert!
Day 29: Pueblo, CO - Westcliffe, CO (60 miles)
Day 30: Westcliffe - Garfield, CO (68 miles)
Day 31: Garfield - Sapinero, CO (70 miles) - Monarch Pass, elevation: 11312 feet
Day 32: Sapinero - Ridgway, CO (68 miles)
Day 33: Ridgway - Dolores, CO (99 miles) Dallas Divide, elevation 8983 feet; Lizard Head Pass, elevation: 10222 feet
Day 34: Dolores - Blanding, UT (82 miles)
Day 35: Blanding - Lake Powell, UT (98 miles)
Day 36: Lake Powell - Caineville, UT (68 miles)
Day 37: Caineville - Boulder, UT (70 miles)
Day 38: Boulder - Bryce Canyon, UT (80 miles)
Day 39: Bryce Canyon - Cedar Breaks, UT (71 miles)
The past few days have been easily the toughest of the trip, but also by far the most rewarding in terms of scenery. Through the second half of Colorado we headed through the Rocky mountains. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed after Pueblo (before it had been flat plains since Missouri). As soon as we were past Pueblo, the climbing started- following a morning off to service the bikes etc we only managed 60-odd miles, including our first major climb. The next day, we attempted to tackle Monarch Pass- the highest point of the entire trip at over 11000 feet- we got to within 3 miles of the top when it got dark and we camped out at the roadside. While this seemed a good idea in the evening, it was so cold the next morning the idea of climbing another 1000 feet didn't seem very attractive! It was a pretty big sense of achievement once we got to the top however- everything had to be downhill from there!
The scenery continued to be pretty spectacular for the next couple of days as we wound our way round most of the major hills until day 33, when we left ourselves two big climbs and around 100 miles to do to get through the end of the major mountains. While it seemed daunting at the start we ended up breezing through, rewarded with stunning views and the last 50 miles (mainly downhill) cracked off in around 3 hours.
Our first day into Utah wasn't quite so pleasant however- steep rolling hills and massive crosswinds meant it was a really tough day into Blanding. At the end of the day, however, we met our first fellow west-bound crosscountry-ers: Greg and Bianca from New England who we ended up following for the next couple of days. It was nice to have a bit of a change of company for once! I think we're now around a day or so ahead of them, but we definitely hope to catch up when we get to California!
I think it's fair to say Utah has been the highlight of the trip so far; while Colorado was beautiful, the last few days has felt like we've been riding through the set of a western film. We've seen canyons and mountains, deserts and lakes- every day has seemed to hold something a bit different. We're now pretty close to Nevada- meaning we have around 800 miles still to cycle to get to San Francisco. Our target originally was to get there in around 50 days- something we're well on track to do- if we push we may even be there in 49!
Pretty sure this might be a bit of a long stretch without much more internet access, so this might be the last blog for a bit, although obviously we will update as often as possible! Wish us luck for the desert!
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