Additional pictures from the NW bike trip

September 26, 2016

We have been back from our NW bike trip for a week now and we are slowly getting back into our normal routine. Last week was unseasonably warm and we managed to ride 70 miles. Last night a cold front came through our area and this week will be slightly cooler than the average. I feel like we need to take advantage of all the nice days because our bike riding for 2016 will end soon. Today we were able to ride 24 miles. The leaves are really starting to fall and cover the trails. It does pose a small problem, sometimes you can't see stick or limbs laying on the trail because they are covered by the leaves. We did hit a few today but fortunately they didn't cause any problems. 

You know it's Fall when..........

You have to stop and clean your sprocket several times while riding!

Below are several additional pictures from our trip that weren't included in the blog write ups. Thought I would give you some extra tidbits from our rides.

Before the trip I decided to make license plates for both our bike and Tom and Susan's bike. I thought it would be a great conversational ice breaker while we rode the trails. We only had 1 person notice them and come up to us and ask about why we were riding there. This person was a very unique individual and liked to talk, and talk, and talk! So, I'm not sure we will leave the license plate on, it didn't turn out to be that great of an idea.

This sign was on the Banks Vernonia Trail. We blazed right by it while thinking "how bad could it be?" Well, this was the downhill part of the 11% grade with switchbacks. It got pretty scary and I made a mental note that we would definitely get off and walk the bikes on the return trip back to Banks. One of the main reasons I get so scared is because our feet are locked onto the pedals so if we start to go over you can't stick your foot out to catch yourself. 

We had two days that were particularly cold for me. But, even worse than the cold was for it to be cold and rainy! We have been so fortunate on our trips and have only had to ride in the rain 1 day. The picture above was taken at the Grand Tetons. You can tell by the wet parking lot that it had been raining. The rain stopped for several hours and we were able to get our ride in. I have never been so bundled up on a ride!

Tom was our designated bike holders while we stopped to eat blackberries and take pictures. We couldn't believe how many blackberry bushes were along the trail in Washington. There were also lots of apple trees here and in Oregon that we saw from the trail.

This picture was taken as we were driving in to Grand Teton National Park. This particular area was call the "Sensitive Wildlife Area". We were so thrilled to see more moose (we had seen 1 in Idaho also). We kept looking for bear but never saw any. A ranger at the visitor center tried to sell us bear spray but I didn't think I needed to spend $60 dollars for a can. All Clay and I would need to do was pedal faster than Tom and Susan if we ran into a bear! 

We drove 5200 miles and biked 200 miles. We have now ridden in 39 states. We have nine states in the NE, Hawaii and Alaska left. We are presently talking about where we will go next and when. It's always fun to start planning our next adventure! (Above photo taken by Susan Weaver)