Just Pics!!! (steal if you would like!)

What a Difference...

So we recently went to the Mecca of Tour Cycling called Adventure Cycling in Missoula, MT. The place was great and showcased a history of Touring by Bicycle in the US and all over the world. I made a purchased which kinda hurt at the time but may turn out to be worth it over the course of the next 2700 miles!!!

I dropped some bills on a new bicycle seat!!! The seat I was on is certainly awesome for racing, but is totally not designed for day-in, day-out riding as is the case with riding across the country!! Today, after a busy rest day, I gave it a shot and the only way I can describe it so far is that it feels like riding on a Couch Cushion!! No lie thats what I feel when I ride on it. Now, it is only the first day but it totally rocked the other saddle, and I hate to admit it but I may not be able to return it in good faith (Love it. Or Return it, Guarantee!) So what a Difference a Day can make when referencing what my bum is on!

So, on to a different topic! The last couple days have been Crazy! and Awesome! I really do love Montana, I can say without hesitation that Montana is my favorite State right behind Good 'ol Tennessee!! The people here in MT are so incredibly interesting and nice, the mountains are friggin' mountains, the sky has been beautiful; it has been such a pleasure riding (and driving the van one day)

I think the most "interesting" thing about MT that if I wasn't on a bike the whole time would be traffic in MT. Specifically, that there are few to no four way stops, in fact there are many many intersections that simply dont have any form of stoppage at all! The cars somehow just automatically stop and pause independently and everyone survives.... how that works I will never know.

Most of you know how I drive so this next part should be pretty funny. I am from the country and we own backroads. Not the safest places to drive and definitely not safe to speed. NOT SO IN MONTANA!!! In fact, some of the same roads that I would like do drive 70+ in Tennessee, are in fact driven 70+ up here. The friggin speed limits on a tiny two-lane twisty road with ZERO shoulders is 65-70 mph for cars!! I cant get over how crazy that is! Wow....

Also, that have deer in peoples backyards.... weird.....

I will try to keep posting this week, but who knows what the days ahead will bring regarding internet.... so here are the next days ahead

First, Pray For Us!!! Tomorrow, by all accounts, will be a days worth ridiculous climb and quallifies as the worst or steepest we have seen yet. We are camping numerous times this week, so lots of bugs and tents.... sounds good to me. So up and up we are going to go, then down and down into one of my favorite places.... YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK!!!!

Yep, we are going to make it to Yellowstone this week and I cant wait! Not only are we going to be there, but we also get to have a sweet rest day there. And not only do we get a rest day in YNP but we also get to celebrate 4th of July in YNP too! Seriously, how awesome is that to spend my personal favorite holiday in one of the greatest things this Country has ever done. Name one other thing that just about everyone can agree that America did Right!!!

Anywho... hopefully this catches everyone up

Live and Miss everyone!

PS... this post is dedicated to Curtis W. and Don M.

PAIN!!!

haha so the day after a Century is not so fun.... its been said that for every hour of riding when doing a century you should take a day off...

Well, we are not doing that... too tough for that! haha sorta

so today the weather was beautiful and the road mostly a gradual uphill, all and all not a bad day.

Cept my saddle has been a screaming! With about 30 miles to go I almost jumped in the van to ride the rest of the day. I didn't and I am glad I chose to complete the ride. Mari and I hauled you know whats for the last 30 and made it a quick finish. It got us off our bikes (read: butts) faster and then I somehow jumped into a 36 degree river after we were done... Thanks Mari, Glenna, and Tom for the encouragement cause it felt GREAT!!!! cold but awesome!!

So, while it could have been a more comfortable ride, it was certainly a success today!

Ride On to Missoula!

Peace

PROOF!!!!

Just for kicks!

Centuries can be fun!

100 MILES!!!!

short and sweet...

I (no We!) rode 100 miles today!!! holy crap i never thought it would actually happen. I had my hesitations all week and deliberated about forcing myself to be the driver today! haha yeah right!

It went great and (while no one believes me) I felt like I could seriously do more. So that feels even better knowing that!

So, i feel great and I have a video that proves that I rode the whole 100 that I will post next chance I get!

Thank You everyone for supporting me and to all the riders who helped me through!

peace!

~Mario

P.S. 100 MILES!!!! whoa!!! wow!! heck yes!!!

INTERNET!!!!

OK! so I Promise I am still riding.... and still meaning to keep this updated as often as possible. Thing is internet has been ridiculous to find and the house we are staying tonight has WIRELESS!!!! I didnt think itd be near this difficulty to find. Oh well ill try to catch everyone up as fast as I can....

We are on day 7 of our ride and it has been 1/8th of an adventure to say the least. We have hit everything from rain forest to high sierra desert.... all just in Oregon/Washington. I keep saying that about every 20 miles or so the whole picture changes. Though we had about 80 miles or so in some absolutely beautiful, wide, rolling wheat/barely fields. On a particularly tough stretch of road, I remember thinking I was sitting in a Brewery smelling some intense malted barely, got me through the tough stuff... Oh, and Full Sail was in fact sweet times

Just watched the LVs Ride Salute to Father's Day... AWESOME!!

Anyways... back to the ride

Along the way we have been fortunate enough to stay with hosts who have been way off the map hospitable, and we have been so incredibly grateful for it. Seriously, if you have been one of our gracious hosts, you have changed me life with your kindness. From the pot luck in Dayton, WA last night (amazing!) to the enchiladas with Veronica's salsa to the scrambled eggs (that mysteriously tasted like bacon!!) you have fed us well! And having a bed, floor, carpet to sleep on has been a blessing (hey you count the little things!) And, surely not to forget the singing and hot tubs! haha You have been wonderful and have given us all something we will never forget.

So we are in Idaho now, first time I have ever been here and its great! Get to check that one off the Map! The ride today was 70 miles most of which we had the strong gusts at our backs which made for some BA tailwinds and and easy riding! Another thing about today that was great is that we started at like 630AM to finish around 2. Feels like a rest day!

Other days.... not so much

Yesterday was long, hot and kinda awful but had a Great finish with Mari, Glenna and Karen. We had some tough goings all day (all 9.5 hours of it!) but just found our rythms towards the end and just let it ride, slowly and surely.

Biking into Hood River was rainy so that was no fun....

But, take all the hurt and discomfort we have all experienced and it amounts to nothing but a side story to all the great sights, sounds, smells and experiences of the ride thus far. Really feels good to acomplish the day no matter how the ride went.

Can't wait to change time zones! Getting closer to the East Coast will be a blessing!

Love You All

Hope to get back on here soon

Enjoy the Pics!

Yeah Idaho!

The Van.... the Sign... the Ride!!

Stonehenge (for real)

Mt. Hood and Stonehenge

After a long day!

First day of camping... pretty much went off with out a hitch

Another of Mt. Hood but with me in ti this time

Fresh Salmon caught earlier in the morning from a host family!

Totally Bad A%$

Rainy day... but turned out good

Barely fields!

Final Preps!

Well our first house we have come to is so amazing! I have been here for 3 days now and this is the first place that we have had internet, a kitchen, carpet, and so forth, so its a great opportunity to catch you up on just how crazy these few days have been!

Had come to expect very warm weather, so I did the one thing every southern kid would do.... I shaved my head! And man did it feel Great back home! Well, that all changed!!! haha I kinda wished I had it back, but I am sure it will be great in about month! As of right now, we are looking at a High of 59 for our first day of riding tomorrow... OH man I dont even like biking when its less than 75 outside so this will be a test.

While the week so far has not had its hangups, esp trying to get all the bikes unpacked and back to working order. There has definitely been some challenges and all I can say is that its crazy how confident I am that we are already working as a team to get it all done. Safety and Flexibility are the two things most stressed. And, for me are the two most important aspects of making this ride work.

After some silly, Chatty-bike shop mishaps my bike finally arrived! In two pieces, now one!!! I am finally good to go! haha after 2 weeks of no riding its time to get to work! It feels so surreal to actually be on the verge of undertaking this ridiculous adventure, and I cannot wait to get on my bike!

Sorry I am so tired and this doesnt make sense or is written better. I have had no time to sit and think, just work on helping our Team get started.

Safety and Flexibility.

Peace

I promise better posts later

~Mario

Why am I posting about a Wedding??

Well, because it was the Greatest Wedding Ever (yes, that is a Second-Line wedding procession down the one and only Bourbon St--NOLA!)! And, I got to connect with several riders and be reminded of why we are riding.

The wedding was full of close friends, some family, Brothers, and former LVs!!!!! Sometimes it can grow easy to forget just how much people along the way mean to you.

One of the best ways I've heard to describe that comes from former LVs Joe Kolar via Denis Block and a very late night conversation. It is like that shoe box that gets filled with excellent memories of people, places, and times that have past. You will never forget about them. Every time you open the door you see the box and are reminded of whats in it, but only every once in a while do you find the opportunity to open it up and dive into it. Soon as you do, it all comes flooding back.

This weekend was one of those times! And, what an awesome opportunity it was! Too Much Fun! From catching up, to looking forward to the upcoming ride, it all came back! Like it has been no time lost at all.

And the shoe box is even more overflowing now....

Word to the LVs and all my Family/Friends from this weekend!

HEY!!

Hey Cool....

Who is THAT.....?????

All Together Now...

Well... not quite there yet but its coming along!

A big chunk of the pre-ride work has been completed (pending some slight editions) Our ride and que sheets are finally finished and we have the ability to print out detailed directions and maps, generate GPS files, and to post the precise route online for all our viewers to see. They are going to be available on the web site within the next few days.

Not to sound like I am plugging or anything, but I Love RidewithGPS.com! It is truly a fantastic, simple, and accurate mapping tool much, much more user friendly than other mapping software and websites I've seen. Oh yeah, AND ITS FREE!! I like free a lot, especially when whats free is better than whats not.

Nevertheless, I still had to sit here for hours on end clicking away from screen to screen to make sure the route we needed to take was the most ideal I could make it based on size and surface of road, amount of traffic, and shortest distance between two points. It made for a slight balancing act between how far to ride and where was the best (read: safest) road to ride. We managed to avoid interstates save a mile or two, and for sure are riding past some great POIs on the safest roads possible.

So, with housing all but totally taken care of, route complete, van and trailer in hand, we are just about ready to hit the road!

And, if you can't tell, the picture up there is pretty much my favorite one--- Its called "The End, Safe and Sound"

Peace

number 1

this is my first blog entry