A great sign

A any backs into a propeller... udder destruction

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Sunset over the Pacific from Twin Harbors State Park.

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Im gonna start a few days back to try to catch up on my belated blog-posting. After the Hoh rainforest we caught a glimpse of the pacific ocean at Kalaloch. Turning inland, the days ride ended at Quinault lake. The calm lake is ringed by cedar rainforest and made a perfect place to watch the sunset. Wednesday, the ride took us back to the coast + through two fading industrial cities- Hokuiam and Aberdeen. We finished at a beachside state park and i took my first shower in too long. Yesterday put us in the small town of Bay Center, biking a long detour around a bay and the self proclaimed 'oyster capital of the world.' Today...well im sure you'll hear from the other guys about todays mishaps, but it was the undisputed worst day of riding yet. I am excited for our rest day in astoria, a chance to do laundry + stop at a bike shop, and the upcoming week of riding in Oregon.

Some views from todays ride

the first picture is of the grass/wet land just about 20 miles north of center bay where the wind hit up hardest. Second is a calmer mudflat. The last is the pacific ocean.

Trading hills for wind

We thought today would be an easy day and even contemplated attempting our longest day by biking to Cape Disappointment (83 miles). Instead we fought headwinds for 50 miles to a county park in Center Bay. No fun.

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Since my esteemed colleagues have been doing a much better job of posting often, i thought i would add a few photos of our journey myself. These are from lake crescent which we biked around our first day from port angeles. It was somewhere around 10 miles to bike one side of it. Thankfully much of it was downhill. It was carved by glaciers, is surrounded by mtns, and is over 600 feet deep. The other pics are of the hungry bear cafe where we ate our one pound burgers and of our first view of the pacific. It was great to finally see it after 20 miles of riding with waterlogged gear in tow from our rainforest shower this morning. Today was def. One of our harder days so far (over 50 miles and 2000 ft with full gear in tow) It only took us like 200+ miles and 15,000 feet of climbing to start getting in shape... So evidently it took 2 days for this blog to post but here itis.

Our weekly fillup

Today the total was 3 dimes, 2 nickels, and 6 pennies.

Olympic Park - Quinault Lake

Tonight we are spending the evening many miles away from the coast at a natural lake formed by a terminal moraine.

Everything grows!

This biome is amazing in the amount and variety of plant life in can support. Here are a few photos while i wait for the sun to set.

Everything grows! Part a

Olympic Park - Quinault Lake

Tonight we are spending the evening many miles away from the coast at a natural lake formed by a terminal moraine.

First glance at the pacific

Just south of stay beach in olympic national park

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Your daily dose, coming to you live from our studio in the Ho Rainforest, Washington. On our 2nd day in the olympic peninsula, we enjoyed a scenic morning ride along highway 101. The chilly evening was followed by an outright cold morning- we could even see our breath! This also meant that the tent was turned into a sauna, dripping with condensation. Not long after the Ho rainforest turnoff, we set up camp. This basically meant dropping the gear + hopping back on the bike to continue along the windy backcountry road. Having seen the sights + eaten my fill of wild blackberries, i sit on the edge of the Ho river. Meanwhile alan is off giving himself a spongebath in the frigid waters... At the end of the day, the tour has surpassed 200mi, with another 200 to go to the oregon border. Im sad to leave the incredible rainforest, river, + mtns behind but tomorrow promises beaches + our first view of the pacific ocean!

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...after

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A visual...the before and after pics from our one-pound burgers

FW:

Wow. What a meal. We just ate one-pound burgers, with fries + ice cream for dessert. The campground was conveniently next door to the diner, named the Hungry Bear. The burgers were appropriately named Hungry Bear burgers. It capped off a great day here on the tour. I awoke from a less-than-great sleep at a hip hostel in downtown Victoria. We then made our way to a midmorning ferry to Port Angeles, followed promptly by a lunch stop for an Indian buffet. After yet another stop for groceries, we finally began the days ride around 1. The ride introduced us to Highway 101, our route for the rest of the trip. After some long, gradual hills we made it to Crescent Lake, ten miles of incredible outlooks onto the blue-green waters and tall surrounding mountains. The lake was followed by a steep climb, then fifteen downhill miles against a strong headwind. Now i sit at camp blogging while i work my way thru a food coma. Its good to be back in washington + finally headed south.

Back in the states.

We just docked at port angeles. Now food and then off to a campground... Not sure which one yet. Picture of victoria harbor

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So you might be wondering how, exactly, nathan alan and myself are going about carrying or homes on our backs. We are doing self-contained touring, meaning that we carry everything needed to camp out- tent, stove, food, and clothes. We've spent every nite except last nite at the state parks that dot the islands and peninsulas of the washington coast. Each one of s carries our gear in a different style. The guys are riding 29ers, or mtn bikes w 29inch wheels. Nathan rides w a rear rack and 2 panniers, or bags, while alan has a trailer that is basically a full-size extra wheel with a large pannier on either side. As for myself- i have my trusty lemond road bike, pulling a BOB trailer. The BOB has a single small wheel, long wheelbase, and a basket to hold a bag. We each pull ~25-30lbs + the weight of the trailers (the BOB weighs 20lbs!). This makes biking slower + considerably more difficult. I've had problems w gearing that make hills a challenge, and have swapped cassettes. There is talk of replacing my crankset with a mtn crank, which would give me much lower gears. (Pictured below, the view from the ferry dock @ Orcas Island)

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Hello from victoria! We've spent the sunny afternoon strolling thru the downtown + harbor districts. Yesterday we ferried from Orcas Island to Sidney, BC. After speeding back from our campground to the ferry dock, we were disappointed to find that we just missed the boat to Friday Harbor for our 2nd day in the San Juans. Instead we decided to gain a day in victoria by forgoing a side trip to the other island. And in my opinion its been worth it! We got to the hotel late last night but i woke refreshed after a hot shower + my first real bed in over a week. Besides being a rest day, today has served to be a day of exploration + culinary adventure. Nathan + myself ate pita wraps followed by ice crea sundaes- and tonite promises more food, drink + merriment. Thats it for now, Nadav.

Victoria, post-college hangout

Today we spent the day walking around the city of Victoria, BC as our first "day of recovery". (I think the tally is at ~150 miles, ~10000 calories expended, and 7000' of climbing over 4 days) We need this day.

The city is full of young people traveling much the way that we are. Some appear to be backpacking a few touring but all o them are here to soak up the beautiful weather and enjoy a wonderful day. For a smallish city the culture is vibrant. The are street performers, lots of live acoustic music, and a rich combination of nationalities. I am pretty sure that I heard French, Dutch, and Mandarin, inaddition to the varios flavours of English on the streets.

It is hard to gauge what it would be like to live is in a city like this. For the most part we stayed the touristy area of downtown with its $6.00 milkshakes and upscale trendy food joints, but you still get the feeling that Victoria has much more to offer than just a seasonal retreat.

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So this blog is coming to you from two very sore and sweaty people. Nathan and i (alan) are currently on the summit of mt moran (2500 ft of uphill biking over the course of five miles continuos climbing) OUCH. THE view is incredible the skyline majestic and the air... Windy clean and cold. AWESOME. nadav eat your heart out.

En route to canada

We are aboard the Chelan ferry to Sidney, british columbia! Picture is of the san juan islands from our ride up Mt. Constitution, a 2000' climb over 5 miles.

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I thought i should finally post about our trip, and the typing is
improving my texting skills for sure. We are on the scenic San Juans, Orcas Island in particular. Todays ride was short- 13 hilly miles from the ferry to our hillside campground at Moran State Park. We were too tired after a 500ft climb to explore the surrounding lakes + mountains. We did make an important stop at a bike shop in Eastsound to fix nathans hub and swap out my cassette to get a few lower gears (which i loved on the hills). Probably the most interesting side effect of our trip has to do w food- since we burn 2-3k calories/day just biking, were constantly in search of calories. This has led to weird meals such as eating binges at mcdonalds, pbj-trailmix-cheddar sandwiches, and pb-tuna-cheddar-tabasco. Delicious, but a constant struggle to eat enough! Pictured below, our helmets out to dry at camp

Mileage so far...

First day - about 28 miles (8 on a ferry). Felt great.
Second day - in the neighborhood of 30. A bit of pain.
Third day - 42 miles + 10 to town for food. Stressed muscles.

plan for today... 30 miles, 17 of which are on a ferry.
Picture of our ferry

Washington park, Anacortes

We are on Fidalgo island in washington state. Sunset from last night

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so while we are stopped, waitin for the ferry i thought i would catch up on some of our escapades in seattle. 1-AMAZING urban mt bike/freeride park, sick tricks, nice balance beams, a few jumps, a few pinch flats, and NO injuries!!! Not bad for mine and nathanz first time. We also had phenomenal food from the farmers market and joshes cooking, but the coolest thing was a place called tako truk. This was a restaurant? But really a guy with a fanny pack on the side of a road to whom you gave five bucks and received back two or three SUUPERB taKos. Group favorite? The yamarindo (yams, tamarind sauce and purple cabbage mmmmm)

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the before and after of my beautiful but HOT hair. :-C

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ahhhh, freezing coastal water...

Rocky to a Sandy Beach

So far the trip has been incredible, both in the beauty of the scenery and the amount of effort required to move the bike in a forward direction. It isn't much of a shock to me (i did virtually no bicycle training) but it doesn't make the pain any less. This morning i went down to the beach at kitsap during low tide and got to see the beach blanketed in oysters making a low gurgling sound that pretty much drowned out the sound of the waves. There is just an incredible feeling of pristine life and earthiness in this state.

The first picture is the rocky beach covered in oysters and the second one is the beach at our campsite tonight.

Alan's new haircut

Unfortunately the barbes had one ten minute window so my turn is in the next town.

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Our campsite, morning 1...

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Crossin on the ferry, first leg is ON...