Well, Reno was Reno and some people enjoy that sort of thing, but I was glad to be on the bus to Truckee with my new wool socks from the bike shop and hand knit mittens in shades of bright orange from the thrift shop. I hoped I was ready for what was forecast.

Truckee is a nice little town with older buildings and a “California welcome center” where I was able to re-assemble my bike at leisure as other passengers came and went. Some teen girls speaking Russian and giggling stayed a while and other folks filtered through. I slowly got all my parts attached, adjusted and tightened. It was good to see my bicycle whole again, ready to do its job.

A German man on a bike with a small camping backpack and a RidgeRest sleeping pad came by. He said he always rode this way and he wasn’t going to change what worked, and that it made it easy to just leave his bike and go hiking. All through my journey people had been telling me that I was packing light. He had about half the gear I did and didn’t even carry a lock. I was impressed and curious, but our conversation was about travel rather than equipment. He had been on many tours, including one that he described as the “stupidest thing” where he ride across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver. I guess a lot of riders don’t enjoy the plains and I skipped a good chunk of the country myself, but it was hard to hear his assessment of a trip so similar to mine. He has, however, continued to ride in his own way; now his tours are more meanders around places he finds interesting, such as California, rather than aiming for a goal. It definitely gave me something to think about.

Then the sleet started. Hard to see in the picture, but here’s a bit on the ground.

With my bike assembled I hit the road with an hour of light to go. I took a nice 14 mile ride along the Truckee river up to Lake Tahoe. It was cold and I was glad for the warm jacket I got in Laramie and the mittens and socks I got in Reno. Nice wide shoulders and then a bike path for the last five miles as darkness set in. As I got to the lake I stopped in a convenience store to warm up with coffee and hot chocolate. The guy working there and I shared stories of work, love and life. And then it started snowing.

Here’s John from the convenience store.

I still had another ten miles to go until the hostel, but I was warm again and the rest of the way was bike path, followed by road with a good bike lane. The snow continued.

I was very glad for those mittens and that warm jacket and so happy when I walked into the hostel. I felt like walking into a friend’s house.

I slept well.

The next day was a day off relaxation and naps and meeting other travelers at the hostel. Yesterday I had a great hike up Mount Rose, but that’s a story for another day.

Yep, I’m in Reno Nevada now. The forecast for the Tetons was not very good. Rain, snow and wind would have not been much fun, so I changed plans and rode the bus all the way to Reno, Nevada yesterday. It was a long ride, with no heat on the journey from Laramie to Salt Lake City, leaving an hour late at 4:30 AM. As the sun was rising I saw the Tetons forecast and updated my plans. This journey turned from tolerable to quite interesting due to meeting fellow passengers Jim (below) and Willie. Jim is a fellow traveller. A serious hiker, walker and long distance biker, who travels with a trailer. We shared stories and Jim had many to share. He seems to mostly work to enable his travels, which he has been doing for many years. Great guy, as was Willie who was not a traveller, but had much to share himself and also greatly improved the journey.

After a frantic change involving a quick ticket change at Salt Lake City onto a west-bound bus I settled in for another long ride. It was on this segment that I met Kevin. We had a lot to talk about. Kevin is a deep thinker. We covered all sorts of things from international events, militarism, meditation to race relations and religion. He’s the kind of guy who really makes you think and who’s presence is such that I felt more apt to reflect and develop my thoughts rather than reflexively retell already formed opinions, ideas and stories. Thanks, Kevin.

I don’t have much to say about Reno. It’s kind of a dull town, with folks staring into slot machine screens in nearly empty casinos. The hotel rooms are super cheap, though. It’s hard to get a meal at 10:30 at night, too, though I did end up meeting Jim on my search for food. He was fairly drunk, apparently homeless, initially quite hostile and made good conversation over the dinner I bought us. He had this classic green Schwin Collegiate bike with original matching handlebar tape in great condition.  I didn’t get to hear him play guitar since the was two strings short last night. Our meeting started out with me muttering “How’s it going?” and him retorting “What the fuck do you care?” Well I just couldn’t pass that up. I told him of my travels and how incredibly well so many people had treated me. He softened and opened. We ate and talked. We met some other local street folks and parted.

This afternoon I take the bus up the hill to Truckee, re-assemble my bike and ride to a hostel on the north side of Lake Tahoe. It’s only 13 miles, but for of those miles have a steady 7% grade. The weather will be chilly, but I will have a warm bed waiting.

So I just installed this weather app on my new phone* which shows what kind of week I was looking at. Here’s the screenshots.

Yeah, that’s not looking too promising, what with the snow and all, “But what about those winds?” you may be wondering. Perhaps a nice breeze from behind like the one that sailed me across Colorado would make it all okay. Well it might have made it better, but …

and

Yep, that’s a week of nice steady headwinds.

Now some of you may be thinking, “Now that’s some crappy weather!” but others of you may be thinking, “Where can I get me a sweet weather app like that one?” Well if you happen to be one of a very special select group of people (you have an Android smart phone and want to know about weather in the U.S.) then you can grab you a copy for a measly buck from apps.joncaplan.net.

I wrote the app a while back to suit my notion that a weather app should produce a usable forecast. Rather than just a semi-useless graphic of the sun. Despite a couple bugs that await my return to the east coast it has served me well. It even earns me a bit of money. I’m thinking that if I get some friends to download it and get some good reviews then I might get higher rankings and more downloads and who knows what crazy adventures that might lead to.

* Yep the old phone died of micro USB port corrosion. If you’re telephonically inclined please make note of my new number:
339-222-2579. No voicemail on this phone yet, tho.

Hi all. I’m in Laramie. The weather is cool (58 °F / 14 °C) with light rain and stiff winds and the altitude is 7,100 feet (2165 m). The end of summer has arrived and the weather has started to change. I’m passing the day hanging out in town with a warm bed at the Ramada motel waiting for me.

After yesterday’s ride I started to do some investigation into my route to the Tetons. I discovered that Wyoming is a very large state with a limited number of roads suitable for touring bikes. I also discovered that any route I chose would involve a minimum of 10,000 feet of climbing over about six days and I would remain over 6,500 feet the whole time, with the most direct route taking me to 9,500 feet (2900 m). I checked the weather, which indicated a good tailwind for today with light rain and a stiff headwind tomorrow.

I was able to manage yesterday’s climb, but don’t feel ready to do that kind of climbing at this altitude, which I am not yet acclimated to, especially with strong winds and cool weather. I am wiped out today.

A change of plans was unavoidable, but I’m not ready to give up on some of the things I want to do and see, so tomorrow at 3 AM I will be boarding a Greyhound bus to take a 25 hour trip to Jackson, Wyoming via Salt Lake City and Idaho. I’d go tonight, but both of the bike shops are closed and I need a box for my bike to go on the bus. (One shop says “Out Riding” for its Sunday hours.)  I will have plenty of time to gaze out the window and reflect.

Laramie is not a bad little town to spend a bit of time in. I’ve managed to find a great little coffee shop, a pizza joint that offers whole wheat crust and a library to update my blog that doesn’t require me to sign up for a library card to use a computer. I even ran into a couple of guys who were driving cross country, but headed West to East. Ah, well. Time to contemplate things on the bus.

I’m planning to spend a few days hiking in the Tetons and maybe getting up to Yellowstone. After that I don’t know. I may take the bus down to Salt Lake City and continue from there, perhaps via rail or perhaps by bike. Only time will tell. I still intend to see California!

Thanks everyone for your support and well wishes on this journey. It is changing in some respects, but I still hope for some interesting times. I’ll keep you all updated with pictures and stories.

Jon

PS I’ve added all sorts of little buttons to this site for sharing things, so use or ignore them as you like.

I had no idea that I was looking at a 3,000 foot climb out of Fort Collins, but the road just kept going up. Finally I did a  check to see how much more I had to climb. Here’s what I saw.

The blue at the top is an elevation profile. I’m at the top of that blue point now, looking forward to a twenty mile downhill.

So, you might be wondering, what is it like biking at this altitude? Well, the air is quite thin, but manageable. The wind is stiff at around 15 or 20 mph. Fortunately it’s a cross wind not a head wind, but it definitely makes for some extra work. The day is lovely with blue skies and now patches of clouds are appearing. Here’s some pictures of where I am.

It’s all quite amazing to this East Coaster.

Here’s some pictures from this morning.

Entering Wyoming.

This one is for Cliff.

One of these two should have pronghorn antelope. I’d never seen them before, but I think that’s what they are. I read all about them in fourth grade. They might be s bit hard to see.

Leaving Fort Collins yesterday

Ok that’s all for now. Be well!

I dropped in at a little coffee shop and bookstore in Loveland. I met Connor who works there…

And I met a very generous woman named Peggy who invited me to stay at her place with her and her folks.

Peggy at the coffee shop.

Norman at home.

We cooked up a fine spaghetti dinner and shared stories.

I last passed through Longmont a week ago. (See earlier post for those pictures). This morning things were looking a lot better.

The creek has gone down a lot.

The bike path off still far from passable.

This is the Boulder bike co-op. It is totally awesome! You can use a stand and tools. There are people around doing the same thing who are happy to give tips. They stock new and used parts cheap. Good music playing and feels so right hanging out there. I got new brake pads, front and rear, trued my front wheel and adjusted my shoes. The guy on the other truing stand described the process add meditative, which I totally related to. I even say the guy named Archer from the electric bike shop that I met the day before there. He seemed to be instructing a small group. Here he is in one of Boulder’s two electric bike shops (he’s on the left, with anther guy who works there).

Finally here’s me doing a serious chain cleaning and lube, removing many miles of dust and grime.

Some things I saw yesterday evening …

All within a couple blocks. What a town! Here’s the park and ride in the way into Boulder.

Hey everyone! I’ve been hearing that a bunch of folks are following this blog of mine. I’d love to know who’s stopping by, so just comment and say hello!

I’ve also just added a page on the bike gear, because I needed somewhere to put these thoughts down. It may be of interest to you cyclists out there. It’s here:  bike.joncaplan.net/bike-gear/ .