TandemHearts

We drove to Glacier National Park as part of our Work is Over Rated Tour 2007 for 5 days of camping and hiking. This park has some of the most jaw dropping views (and tamest animals) we’ve ever seen.

Glacier National Park is in Montana, on the Canadian border. The park is tied to Waterton National Park in Canada, so if you go, take you passport so you can visit “the other side”. We didn’t have time for that, so saved the Canadian side for our next visit. The park is named not for the glaciers that it has, but for the ancient glaciers that carved the dramatic landscape. Even so, the glaciers are a rare treat. Global warming threatens these glaciers, with some sources estimating that there will be no more glaciers in the park by 2030. In 1850 there were 150 glaciers in the park; today there are 35. There is some irony in lamenting the loss of the glaciers and then driving 1,000 miles to see them. The park has added a shuttle bus system to limit crowding and pollution, but if you are going to visit the park, leave the gas hog at home.

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We’ve ridden in more than a few cool places, both on and off the road. Without question, Crater Lake is the most jaw dropping ride we’ve ever taken.

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In early June, Veronica heard about an organized bike ride called the Tour de Blast, that goes up the highway into the Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument. It sounded like it would have spectacular views and a lot of climbing - right up her alley. We decided we would take ten or twelve days, stopping on the way to Washington to ride in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, do the ride, then go back as far as Oregon to ride the North Umpqua Trail again and ride around Crater Lake.

So, we loaded 2 road bikes on the roof of the car and 2 mountain bikes into back of the car, along with all our camping gear and set off the Pacific Northwet. Whiskeytown NRA is one of the few parks in the National Park system that allows mountain bikes on trails. We picked up a trail book and headed for a ride that had a lot of climbing and good views. This would be a sort of shake down ride, since Veronica hadn’t done any mountain biking in several months. Thom had been making good use of his time off to ride local trails, so he and his bike were ready. A few miles into the ride, we missed a turn and had to head back down a steep, paved road to get the the trail head.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” - John Lennon (more…)

We spent a couple of days camping at Grover Hot Springs State Park near Markleeville, CA, just south of Lake Tahoe. We wanted to do a short “test” camp out to work out the bugs in our equipment and figure out what else we needed to buy. Of course we also had to do a little bike riding. On the drive up we passed some guys riding out of Placerville. They were headed up a huge climb and were taking a break. We stopped to make sure they were fine. (more…)

On June 2 I rode the Eastern Sierra Double Century. This ride features some of the most amazing scenery and the worst roads I have ever ridden on. Out of the five double centuries I have completed, it was the hardest for me. This ride starts at 4,000 feet and climbs up to 8,100 feet. Most people notice the thin air above 8,000 feet. The area is also extremely dry. I thought where we live was dry - 30 - 40% humidity is our norm. But in the Eastern Sierras the norm is 10 - 20%. The low humidity and the elevation really made this ride difficult for me. (more…)