Days 8, 9, & 10

Okay so, heres the deal. Two days ago I was racked. I found out the night before that one of the crew members had seen me pissing in a less than idea location on the side of the road. I thought I was fine, but whatever; I was racked for the day. I spent the day with Wes, Kent, and Brent in van 3. I was a really rainy day with only 40 or so miles of biking (pretty much all on a bike path), so I guess it was a good day to be rack, if there is such a thing. I really wish I could have been on the bike though, because I wanted to be able to say i biked every mile of the trip. Anywho, it was day 8 of the trip, and we went from Coeur d'Alene to Kellogg, Idaho. We stayed at Kellogg High School, and went to the 1313 Club in Wallace for dinner. Here's a picture of me in a metal space ship type thing outside a restaurant in Wallace:


Yesterday was day 9. We went from Kellogg, Idaho to Thompson Falls, Montana. It was a really long day (75 miles) with two huge climbs over the Thompson Pass, and it was raining and freezing. It was probably the coldest I've been in my adult life, and we were out there all day. It got to the point that we were praying for more hills to climb, because it meant that we didn't have to go downhill. Going downhill was bad because not only were we zooming really fast, making it seem even colder, but our fingers were so cold that it hurt to hold on the brakes the whole way down. It was a little scary at times, but we made it. Of the 18 riders that are on the trip, only 10 finished the day. Everyone else either was injured or racked themselves mid-day. I rode with Matt, Andrew, and James for the day, but Matt racked himself halfway through the day. It was really fun because those guys are hilarious, and we kept ourselves warm by laughing at each other's ridiculous stories.

We ended up the day at the high school in Thompson Falls. We had to drive to the middle school to shower. Luckily I got out of the shower just before the hot water ran out. That evening we went to a local diner/grille for dinner, and then went back to watch game 7 of the NBA finals. The Celtics lost. Oh, well.

We got to sleep in today, waking up at 830, but we were late getting the vans packed, so we won't be sleeping in anymore. Today was a long day, but a pretty easy ride, riding about 75 miles from Kellogg to Arlee, Montana. It's a small town located on a Native American reservation (I think). Here's a picture of the sign going into town:


Here are some cool pictures that I took on the road today:


That's a plastic bag in the bottom left corner.



That's Jared. He's from Indiana.








Left to right: Andrew, Mike, and James.

I didn't take any pictures yesterday because I didn't have my phone on me during the ride, which turned out to be a good thing, because it would have gotten soaked.

We ate dinner at a local grocery store with a food place inside of it. We were going to go to a tiny little casino, but it was closed. We played bocce and frisbee outside the school, and I accidently threw the long distance disc onto the roof of the building across the field.

We haven't had many friendship visits so far, because there isn't much out here in this part of the country, but the views have been great, and the down time has allowed us to really bond as a team. We had a team meeting today and it went pretty well.

Today wasn't a good day for my butt. I have some serious chafing going on in my crack. I've considered shaving, but I think it would feel worse growing back. Also my Achilles tendons are still really tight. They have been tight since day two. It's weird because it hurts worse when I walk than when I ride. I think I'm going to get my bike fitted for me to make sure I'm not making things worse by sitting to high or anything.

I need to buy some chamois butter.

Here are some pictures of license plates I took the other day:






Still no progress on posting videos. This application is supposed to work with videos but it didn't last time I checked. Well, I haven't checked in a while and I haven't searched for any alternatives. If anyone knows what to do, please let me know. Thanks.

It's tough finding time to write all of this on a little iPhone. There's so much stuff to do as far as maintaining my bike and clothes and cleaning everything, but I still want to spend a lot of time hanging out and relaxing during down time. Sorry if I'm not keeping in touch or calling anyone (mom).

No progress on the Professor cube. I took it out today but put it away without even moving it. I'll give it a few more days.

Oh yeah, I got racked the other day so I did push ups equalling twice the day's biking mileage (2x40=80). That reminds me, I haven't done today's push ups. Oh well, I'll catch up tomorrow, we only have 28 miles tomorrow.

I've been doing 7 minute abs pretty much every day.

I've been drinking almost no soda.

Good stuff. I'm having a blast, I just wish my thank you notes were done and my body wasn't aching/stiff/chafing.

Oops, I'm not allowed to complain. I threw my complaints and selfishness into a lake in Washington.

Call or email me! I probably wouldn't even mind a text. I can't promise a response though, so I guess there's not a really good reason to contact me in the first place.

Nick, Delilah is a terrible song, jeez.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Arlee, Montana