Salt Lake City

The first leg of my journey is complete! I made it to Salt Lake City on Sunday evening. It has been a very beautiful week on the road, but there has certainly been some setbacks already. Last Monday I left on my bike out of West Yellowstone towards Idaho and Patric started his drive back to Marquette. I left on a gorgeous sunny mountain day. It was exciting to finally be on the road and riding. I have loved being on the road and just riding every day. The fact that my biggest decision each day is to figure out a place to camp is a very liberating feeling. It really is the simple life! Eastern Idaho and specifically the Targhee National Forest has been incredibly pretty country. Lots of mountains and valleys filled with endless farmland. And of course, there have been a lot of hills. I have had to walk my bike up plenty of them. The rides down are always fun though.

The first few days on the road were very hot. The heat combined with the altitude, I was not used to being in, was a perfect combination for heat stroke and it eventually came to the point where I had to hitch hike because I physically could not ride anymore. It was an incredibly generous and kind man from Driggs Idaho that stopped to see if I was OK. He had a full car already and wasn't able to give me a ride. We exchanged numbers and said to give him a call if I got to Driggs and needed a place to stay. I managed to get a ride a bit later for a few miles up the road and that's where I got a call from Roy, the guy from Driggs. He offered to come back to Drummond the "town" I was in. Driggs was about 20 miles away, I couldn't believe he was willing to do that, but he showed up a little while later and brought me back to his house in Driggs that looks directly at the Teton Mountains just a few miles from the border of Wyoming. I stayed at his house for 2 nights while I rested and recovered from heat stroke. He was even kind enough to drive me to the top of Pine Creek Pass, on the day I left, so I could start my ride on the downhill! Only a few hours on the road and another disappointment would happen.

While getting on my bike after lunch at a gas station in Swan Valley I hurt my knee. I had no idea what I did but it was one of the worst pains I have felt in a long time. After a few seconds when the pain went away I wondered if it would become serious. For another 5 or so miles I tried riding but the pain was still happening at random so I decided to stop and rest for the rest of the day and night. After a good nights rest it felt completely fine so I continued my ride south. I rode along the Snake River until I got into Wyoming. I was happy to be in Wyoming, not only for its beauty, but the hills were much smaller than in Idaho. I camped one night in Wyoming in a town called Thayne. The day After I was riding up a large pass and a lot of hills and my knee started getting worse and worse. The pain was never as bad as the day I hurt it, but it was becoming stronger with each hill and it was almost constant at the end of my ride. While I was walking my bike up a hill and the pain was getting worse and worse I decided to try and catch a ride to the next town to stop for the night. I had already rode 40 miles and thought I just needed a break for the night. A car eventually stopped and 2 guys from China got out and said they were heading to Salt Lake City. After a few minutes of deciding if I wanted to take off 3 or 4 days of riding and go all the way to SLC that day, I decided it might be could to rest my knee for a couple extra days. I am staying with an old friend from college and had some advice from professionals about my knee. The consensus is tendinitis in my IT band on my right knee. Unfortunately the only way to get rid of the pain is to bike less, take an anti-inflammatory, stretch, and ice. I'm still planning on continuing the trip and I'll just have to keep an eye on my knee and do what I can to lessen the pain.

My plan is to stay here in Salt Lake a couple more days then ride west to Ashland OR. to meet up with another friend from college. It should take about 3 weeks to ride the distance. It is much more remote country though and won't be going through nearly as many towns. But the road will be much easier some of the time because I'll be biking through desert. Unfortunately there are a couple mountain ranges I will need to cross along the way as well. It has been good to rest here in Salt Lake, but I already have the itch to get back on the road and continue the adventure. Due to a weight issue I thought it was best to send my computer back home so I am not sure when my next update will be. I will try to give one before I get to Ashland, but I don't know where or if I'll be able to have access to Internet. It's a little unnerving thinking of crossing a dessert on a bicycle, but I am still very excited for the ride and think about all the magnificent views I will get to see!

Until next time... here is a map to look at so you can see where I have been riding!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=206449993592098437975.0004abb1016b01c2d033a&msa=0&ll=43.953282,-111.40686&spn=1.077599,2.897644

Thanks for reading!

PEACE!