Tag: flavia chen

Portland & Seattle Rest Up

Posted on by Ryan

After so many weeks riding bikes the next would be spent taking time off to drink some brews eat good food and have fun with friends. Pretty much the same as whilst riding then just without all that pedal action. The previous evening after arriving and showering up we all went to see Helio Sequence in downtown, Portland natives who me and Eal have both liked for a while.

The first rest day in Portland, we spent most of the day at the St Johns farmers market, first eating from the vendors then helping pack up. Emily had arranged a Saturday evening BBQ with lots of people coming for what was a great night with the game of cornhole, handbuilt by Stefaan, proving to be the main attraction. No other game can boast technical phrases like  ‘sliding hole woody’ for point scoring.

I had the bike taken care of by a local shop ready to be picked up Monday, just a middle chain ring needing replaced. We had a great few days spent almost exclusively in the St Johns neighbourhood becoming temporary citizens to the point we couldn’t walk down Lombard without being greeted by a bunch of new friends we had made. Including Kim and Derek owners of The Olive & Vine shop who invited us round their place Sunday evening for dinner after Derek had just being victorious in a dance off at local bingo! I immediately connected with Derek when he told me of the years he had spent studying in York, so close to home! He spent time travelling via rail during his time, so was very familiar with Darlington, Newcastle even Scarborough. The latter he was able to say in the most perfect Teesside accent, “Scarbrah”. So funny.

Whilst in Portland I had booked some train tickets to head north for Seattle so we could spend some time with Flavia, she had just arrived herself! Good job Flavvy! We rode to the Amtrak station which allowed bicycles in the luggage cart for an extra $5. Portland is actually only a days ride from the coast but we are in no hurry to see the Pacific as we will have just under 1000 miles of riding down the coast to San Fransisco after Seattle.

I was beyond excited to see Flavia again, she met us at the station with her super happy face I have missed so much since Whitefish. We rode back to her sisters apartment where we will all be staying. The next few days in Seattle Flavia gave us the guided tour of the city she grew up in, its great to see a city via bicycle. We crammed so much into our few days it would take a while to list everything we did so the pictures can tell their own story. We decided we would take a train down to Kelso and then ride out to the coast from there leaving Seattle.

I found saying goodbye to Flavvy at the train station incredibly difficult not knowing when we will meet again especially as I head to the southern hemisphere in a few short weeks. I had a lump in my throat as the train pulled away, it felt like my heart had been pressed through a mangle, I was overcome this way as I road away from my Mums back in May but I can scarcely think of another situation other than bicycle touring in which you could know somebody for just a few weeks and get so close. She will always be a very special friend and one that I’m grateful to serendipity for throwing my way. Thank you for putting yourself out on Guffy in the middle of nowhere USA Flavia, total adoration. The world needs riboflavin ryeboflavin so a future meet is not desire its a requirement. Miss you lots like jelly tots.













Divided And United

Posted on by Ryan

Breakfast in Whitefish, sad happy times. I got some monstrous pancakes which I cleverly devised a well in the middle of to hold maple syrup for dunking. Appetites satisfied it was ride time, this is where Flavia splits from us. I held up emotions pretty good as we hugged goodbye knowing we get to meet up again in a few weeks but as soon as we started riding I was bummed out, face like a bulldog all day long. Poor Flavvy having to go tackle all those nasty looking climbs in Washington on her lonesome, she made it this far so she can handle it for sure but I’m going to miss her company so much. People continually ask me what my favourite part of the ride has been in the US so far, I had been saying riding the Mississippi, thats changed to riding with Flavia.

Thankfully I had the best possible evening ahead to pick my spirits up. Rather ironically as I said goodbye to one riding partner today I would reunite with Cooper from the TransAm as he was driving back home to Minneapolis (remember I stayed with his sister Elsie). This also reminded me that I have revisited Wim and Joe too this summer, a good record for meeting up with friends again.

Coop met us at a bar in Poulsen with his buddy Alan, we had a great night sharing beers and pizza. Just generally catching up and laughing hard at our stories from Virginia and Kentucky, great time.

We said goodbye to Coop and Alan as they joked about the long mileage they have sitting in their car today. Me and Eal left town on a great bike path that lasted for a good 20 miles before we joined a narrow road with heavy traffic. The mountain range on our left made for an incredible view, I couldn’t help but think about the mountain bikers riding the divide along that thing, crazy.

I was hit by another flat around 15 miles before Missoula, again it was just a small sharp stone which had penetrated the rubber and kevlar, the tyre needed replacing, it was pretty worn, luckily Missoula has about 6 bike shops! Once in town we first hit the Adventure cycling office to the warmest of welcomes. We were given a full tour of the new office space, had our picture taken for the hall of fame and spoke with co-founder Greg Siple for a while who eventually weighed our bikes fully loaded on his fish hook scale. Both were almost identical at 88lbs. Greg also got us a feature on the local college radio show ‘One for the road’ on our rest day.

That evening my phone decided to melt itself in my hand so after getting our bikes booked in at a shop we walked several miles down to a cell phone repair shop that told me it was irreparable! They had a number of second hand sets though so I managed to get a decent replacement that could take my sim card. The radio show that evening was so much fun, we talked travel, our trip and got to pick some tunes! 🙂 Kevin the DJ joined us afterwards in a bar to talk some more about his travels, he has covered some ground for sure.

Missoula is a great town, Saturday morning meant farmers market too, right outside the Adventure cycling headquarters. It was time to get back on the road though with a steady but gentle climb up to Lolo pass, I knew it was gentle because this is a section I have ridden before on the TranAm and I was excited to ride it again. Initial headwinds gave way once in amongst the mountains. It was beautiful forest riding all the way up to the pass which also acts as the Idaho state line and Pacific timezone crossing. Another hour gained we plummeted down the other side for 10 super fast miles to our campspot for the evening behind the small store at the Lochsa Lodge. We were joined by a fellow Brit called Richard heading east and shared a few brews in the lodge bar after nomming down a campstove dinner.

Breakfast at the Lochsa lodge that next morning was just a great as I remembered from the last time. The view out the window was a little concerning, forest fires have been really bad in the area recently. Highway 12 which we are on all day was almost closed yesterday as the active fire came within 1/4 mile of the road.

I set out first knowing we had a gently downhill 90 mile day ahead but with very limited services. 45 miles I stopped for the first time to take a break as the smoke start to sting my eyes and I could feel it on my chest. A women told me leaving the lodge it would be bad for 15 miles then ok which is the reason I continued riding so long without stopping but It still hadn’t eased up. It wasn’t until around 25 miles before Kooskia that the air felt clear again. All my clothes smelt as though they had been hanging over a coal fire all day (better than usual?). Me an Eal eventually synced up just before Kooskia and got the tents pitched under the small park shelter. I had remembered from my last camp in the park sprinklers were hidden everywhere so grass was out of the question tonight.

 

Mountains Of Fun

Posted on by Ryan

I had expected a change in scenery several days ago leaving Havre, Bob told me that we were on the cusp of the transition towards trees, mountains, greenery, the rockies! Still nothing had really changed and I was starting to wonder if someone had moved them. Breakfast is a big deal for our little trio, we almost always make time for a first and second breakfast, recently I’ve been going for the pancakes, adding the blueberry option where possible.

We had a reasonably short ride to Cut Bank in order to line up tomorrows destination and avoid a stopover in Browning which we had been strongly advised against. The campground was sweet, nice showers and wifi is always welcome. Flavia rolled up quite distressed, she had lost her beloved orange sweater that she purchased in Fargo to help with her thermal issues. I told her a small mammal by the road would now be using it for warmth, that seemed to help. We cooked up some food and had a few Ninkasi beers whilst playing, the now nightly round of, hangman and sketchgame on Flavorings iPad.

There was some rain around the next morning, we hit the gas station for a quick breakfast eager to make some ground up early as we headed towards Glacier. I had some trouble with the creamer machine for my coffee. There was no obvious button to dispense milk but there was a filled teat hanging down like a cows udder, I squeezed the teat. The milk came out but so did the gas station lady to tell me off. 🙁

The area between Cut Bank and East Glacier was part of the Blackfeet Indian reservation. Those guys even had a bad rep 200 years ago, apparently they still do. The previous warnings about the town of Browning however seemed a little misguided. We stopped at the grocery store and had brief conversations with a few friendly locals. There were a bunch of forest fires around that hazed the view of in the distance but leaving Browning we could see the rockies for sure, an amazing sight.

The scenery still refused to change up until a mile before East Glacier, then suddenly, trees, trees and more trees! I haven’t seen forest for weeks on end, I pulled over at the first gas station elated. We trucked on up over Marias Pass which marks a continental divide and coasted several glorious miles towards Glacier Meadows campground.

I crawled out of my tent/burrow the next morning to be told I look like a prairie dog as usual by Flavia. There was some sadness in the air though, today would be her last day riding with us as she continues west to Seattle and we make a detour south west for Missoula, then Portland. If we hadn’t already scheduled and made plans we could have continued to Seattle and then went south afterwards. We will have time to spare at the end of the trip so this way we will get to go up to Seattle in a few weeks and have a big happy reunion.

The riding, stopovers, food, beer, laughs made the day to Whitefish probably the best days riding in the US. Not only was the scenery magnificent, we got to have second breakfast at a wonderful lodge, take a dip in the ice cold rivers, arrive in Whitefish just as the farmers market vendors opened up and then hit the brewery in town. The trouble with the blog is its just a summary of the days events to line up with pictures. Almost the entire ride is lost in the posts. So you will just have to believe me when I say it was amazing, also Flavia managed to fall over sideways whilst stationary clipped into her pedals, didn’t want to miss that detail out.

I talked about lifer friends when we left Joe’s in Pitts. Going through school and work you inevitabley get bunched with similarly like minded people and make lots of great friends, the pool is pretty big, you were more likley to meet them and how lucky I am to have so many great friends that I wish I could see now even just for a drink at the end of a ride, Doug, Lewy, Luke, Ben, Jack, Nate, Coop and everyone else!

Bicycle touring, the pool is much smaller. You could go weeks without seeing anybody else and when you do the chances are you might talk for a few minutes or ride together for a day and part ways. Maybe you ride a little farther together and keep in touch. If you cover enough miles and discover many new people with a bit of luck you might come across a Flavia Chen. Fiercly intelligent, super generous and caring but still a total goofball, simply a beautiful person and most certainly a lifer. I am already counting the days until Seattle, she has to make it there herself first!

Fargo + 1

Posted on by Ryan

Leaving Elsie’s we headed back towards downtown on the Cedar creek trail which took us right by target field again and across the river to the north. Today would be off the grid again as we came off the northern tier to get here so it was a case of ride 65 miles due North on secondary roads to reach the town of Dalbo and rejoin the trail.

The Garmin juice was low so I resolved to checking maps at each gas station we stopped to verify progress and road numbers to Dalbo. The last 10 miles brought rain showers so we turned up at the legendary Adventure Bicyclists Bunkhouse dripping wet at the porch of Donn Olsen’s. He has converted an old barn on his farm to house cyclists passing by his home on the northern tier route. He is one of the other few trail angels to be given the June Curry award by the ACA for his generosity, kindness and dedication to bicycle tourists.

The bunkhouse was awesome and we even had company for the night with David and Pata, an older couple also heading west. It was funny because I had said to Eal on the way in I was expecting other bikers tonight, but had guessed Flavia from the previous week. Just an hour later Flavia did turn up!

We sat around in the bunkhouse sharing stories, Donn had some great tales from previous years, his laugh was infectious, such a great guy. He also gave us maps and information on a 100+ mile bike trail that we can take straight to Fergus Falls, I’m not sure why the northern tier doesn’t follow this but we will.

To join the long bike trail Donn had told us about we first had to get to the town of Bowlus where it picks up. The riding was glorious, flat, sunny, tailwind. Me and Eal had left the bunkhouse last that morning but arrived in Bowlus to find David, Pata and Flavia all setting up at the city park. The cafe across the street provided the ice cream and we got to spend another evening in great company including Bill an Eastbounder who could provide further advise on the road ahead, always useful. David and Pata are doing shorter mileage but me, Eal and Flavia agreed to get a super early start and shoot for Fergus Falls tomorrow which would be around 105 miles.

It was an earlier start than me and Eal had been used too, not since the Spanish wild camps had we seen the day at this hour, we broke camp with Flavia then went to the cafe for breakfast and hit the trail around 7:30. I had a good sense of progress getting the miles racked up before midday, important on a century ride. The trail was completely flat, paved with a steady flow of towns and services. It should have lent itself to fast riding but I enjoyed spending the time riding casually chatting with our new buddy. Flavia was so much fun to ride with, she spent most of the day talking in a British accent pronouncing local terms we had been teaching her.

After racking up the century the skies turned black and so did our plans for Fergus Falls. Camping options weren’t obvious, Flavia’s iPad helped us find a spot on the edge of town but it meant some backtracking and a gravel road, spirits remained intact and we pitched beside a lake at the recreation area where I finally accepted Flavia’s offer of a green pepper to go with my dinner which she insisted on giving to me the previous night. The three of us hit our tents suitably exhausted after what turned out to be a 112 mile ride, asleep before I hit the pillow.

We had camped a few miles outside Fergus Falls the previous night so made our way in town this morning where Flavia had gotten recommendations for breakfast at the Viking Cafe, great joint. We were heading for Fargo, home to one of my all time favourite movies, Fargo! Being a Sunday the roads stayed nice and quiet except for the 10am rush to church. Midway through we stopped in the small town of Brownsville, our second in Minnesota, this one was famous for Potato Days which unfortunately wasn’t for another week or two. At the small town cafe we stopped for pie and coffee when an elder guy called Arlan squared up with the waitresses to have our bill put on his tab! Hero.

We finished the ride contemplating what the bright lights of Fargo and a motel stop would have in store for us. The Howard Johnson provided accommodation, not a bad deal now the room is split 3 ways. We cleaned up and hit a local bar for food and beers. Flavia is vegetarian, on asking if they did veggie burgers the guy responded, ‘No, but our burgers are so good vegetarians would eat them’. She still got fries and salad. Me and Eal ordered a paddle of sampler beer and raised a toast to end the night with Flavski to her poppa Mickey C as it was his birthday.