THE TRIP BY THE NUMBERS

Total money raised for Bicycles for Humanity

$1,700 and counting

That's enough to send an entire shipment of bicycles, helmets, bits and pieces to an African township, where they will transform community access to school, work and healthcare. Bike mechanic traineeships will be implemented, creating jobs for proud local men and women. As an added bonus, think of the new generations of bicycle enthusiasts we've inspired!

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Every cent goes to Bicycles for Humanity

Total kilometres
4,567

Total hours spent on the bike
268

Toughest climb
Luke Towne Pass, entering into Death Valley. Even though it was cold out, I've never dripped sweat and stamped the pedals like this before.
Ada A country backroad between Porterville and Auberry, very relentless steep inclines, a small crash and a few chasing dogs for good measure.


Best descent
Luke Yosemite Valley. Flying along at 50km p/h through magical forest, long dark tunnels, and into some of the most gobsmackingly good scenery ever.
Ada Yosemite Valley.

Best feeling
Luke Despite being warned it'd be seasonally closed for days, and despite riding 3 days on a one-way uphill road to get there, and despite the rumours that the bush-fire smoke would mean certain road-closure, finding the Grand Canyon North Rim to be open was the best feeling for me.
Ada Summiting Towne Pass, a very challenging days ride but I was finally feeling very fit.

Worst feeling
Luke Hawthorn losing the Grand Final. At least it's nothing trip related.
Ada One day I stopped suddenly going uphill without warning, and Luke was behind me, causing him to crash...I felt very guilty


Best new food
Luke Mustard.
Ada Big Hunks.  (it's a candy bar...)

Best new drink
Luke Coconut water. Delicious, and apparently better hydrating than sports drinks.
Ada Root beer! (carbonated sarsaparilla)

Favourite piece of equipment
Luke Sleeping bags. Sea to Summit Trek III. No matter how cold I was before crawling into bed I knew I'd soon be roasting, a massive comfort.
Ada Sleeping bags

Least favourite piece of equipment

Luke Hiking boots. Big, heavy, somewhat smelly, and the inserts keep riding up out of them.
Ada I hated my cleats- I never clipped in and it was so annoying when going uphill, accidentally stomping on the pedal and clipping in.

Best days rideLuke Lake Mead to Valley of Fire. We expected nothing from this days ride, just outside Vegas, which made it all the more enjoyable. Constantly changing desert scenery without another soul on the road.
Ada Capitol Reef. All downhill, extremely varying Utah terrain, a myriad of colours and textures.

Worst days rideLuke There weren't many bad ones, but the gale force winds from Valley of Fire to Mesquite (ironically a day after my 'best ride') coupled with the necessity of riding on the freeway and a lost driver's licence made this one a shocker.
Ada Exeter to Porterville, it was one of the few unenjoyable days rides, to be likened to riding on the Monash Freeway. Very straight and very boring.

Favourite small town

Luke Ely, Nevada. Couldn't stop laughing upon arrival at just how classic this old mining/gamblin' 1990's timewarp town was, and just had to pencil in a rest day here to enjoy it all.

Ada Ely.

Favourite American thingsOther than the scenery, we loved the people (friendly, hospitable, polite, proud, refreshing), the abundance of sport to watch, the abundance of individuality (both the people and the places), and watching Steve Harvey's Family Feud til the wee hours.

Top 5 Destinations

Luke
1. Yellowstone
2. Yosemite
3. Zion
4. Bryce Canyon
5. Death Valley

Ada
1. Yellowstone
2. Yosemite
3. Zion
4. Las Vegas
5. Bryce Canyon

People to thank...

Angie Conron and Melanie Poole, for cooking and going the extra yard to organize the BBQ fundraiser; Marlene, Rod, Isabella and Betty Martin for their donated food, time, money and support; Paul and Val Hodgson for their donated food, time, money and support; Amy Blazewski and Emma Fulgenzi for their delicious baked goodies; Andy Gild and Matt McCullough at Bicycles for Humanity; KNOG, Paintmypicture.com and The Red Triangle Pool/Snooker Hall Fitzroy for putting up raffle prizes; Mark Kennedy at Saturday Cycles for his time, expertise and friendship, and for having the best personal collection of bikes ever; Christy Jensen for her hospitality, friendship and cycling inspiration; Steve and Heidi Hayden for their hospitality and advice; Mike DeVisser of OHM e-bikes; Kim and Sharon Lennard for a sequence of events we'll never forget; Joseph Viellette for helping us out when we needed it most (and the pizza); Henry and his family, of Squaw Valley; Merril of Grand Junction; Ryan of Moab; all those we couch surfed and warm-showered with: Josh in Carson City, Susan in Carson City, Donna in Pahrump, Lyman in Torrey, Teri-Ann in Moab, Adrienne and Tyler (and the rest of the gang) in Moab; 94.7 The Pulse Radio; all those who donated online, at our fundraiser and at Ocean Grove Fresh Fruit to our cause, you were an inspiration up many a hot hill climb; all the cycle-tourists we met on the road for the comradery and good times (a special shout out to Alex from Austin and Kyle from Houston, who we rode with for days).

THE LAST FEW DAYS

Our final days ride for the trip was the descent from Canyonlands back to the Moab Highway, all of it fittingly downhill, easy and enjoyable, all of it alone, all of it with plenty of scenery and time to think and reflect on the last three months. We pedalled our last few strokes riding two-abreast to the highway junction, where we stopped and embraced and generally felt really bloody good about ourselves and what we've accomplished together. All the highs, all the lows, all the places we'd been and the people we'd met. This three month journey was indeed the physical, emotional and mental test everyone knew it would be, and we'd done it with flying colours. We'd done it.

We hitchhiked (again, there was absolutely none of public transport we assumed existed) to Price that afternoon in a tiny, squished sedan with Ryan, a local Pastor. The next day we tried unsuccessfully to hitchhike back to Salt Lake, for a total of four deflating hours, getting so desperate to get back to sort out the flights and the bikes and everything else that we phoned our friend Mark Kennedy, of Saturday Cycles, and asked for a lift, which, of course, he was only too happy to do for us. We spent our last two days in Salt Lake warm showering with Christy (excuse the unfortunate figure of speech. Christy is also from the bike shop), packing up the bikes to be shipped home, going on a mini spending spree of bikey goodies, and going out for a lovely mexican dinner with Mark and Christy. The whirlwind which was our last few days in America had come to an end, and about 30 hours later we were back in Geelong telling our families all about it over pizza and turkish bread.

OUR CAMP

This is how we've lived for the last three months....

How everyone else camps...

 

DAY 80

Rest Day - Canyonlands National Park

First thing in the morning we meet the people camping in the site next to us (there are only about 6 people staying here, it's unbelievable how quiet everywhere has been for about a month now) and they show us the footprints in the snow (yes, there's a lot of snow lying around up here) and the scratches in the earth made, overnight, by a mountain lion! The couple are retired Park Rangers, so they'd know. Unbelievable to think one came so close to us in the middle of the night. We put it's appearance down to it being threatened by a new kid on the block: the couple have with them a 6 month old male kitten. 

So after tracking it's prints for a bit, we laze the day away eating and reading, then visit a few overlooks of the incredible canyons here. The views are surreal. It looks like the backdrop for an old film, completely fake. We stand about 300 meters above the first plateau, which again drops a similar distance to the Green and Colorado Rivers below, like two massive sets of steps into the sky. What's amazing is that the depth of the Grand Canyon (which, remember, was covered in smoke from fire when we were there) is about 5 times as much as this! 

This whole region is one big awe-inspiring visual lesson in geological history and erosion. We take in the views for hours, reflecting on the trip as we stare vacantly at the chasm below us. At night, we join our few fellow campers around a campfire, telling stories and keeping warm, delaying an early night in the sleeping bags.

DAY 79

Moab to Canyonlands National Park (UTAH)

We ride to our final destination of the trip, the Island In The Sky section of Canyonlands. We're both getting a bit sentimental by this stage. Our journey has flown by, part of us wants to keep it going forever, part of us is eager to get home to family and friends and sink our teeth into all that we want to do. The days ride is all constantly uphill, with standard Utah scenery: Buttes, Mesa's, rock, canyons, although it's all on a smaller, faraway scale. Both of us are lost in thought for the most of it. 

After a late start to the day (to let it warm up a bit to at least over zero degrees), and, now that the winter sun is setting around 5pm, we find ourselves riding pretty hard just to make camp before sunset. There are strangely no facilities in Canyonlands, not because things have seasonally shut down like seemingly everything else America-wide at this time of year, but just because for whatever reason there's no water/food/electricity/lodging available, even the visitor centre's closed. Anyway we make it right on sunset, set up camp, woof down one of Ada's great little cooking creations (re-fried beans and cheese dip with tortillas), and because it's already well below zero we simply get in our sleeping bags and call it a day. It's 6pm.

DAY 78

Daytrip - Arches National Park

Today we leave the panniers at the house and ride blissfully unloaded back to Arches, this time the skies are clear and blue but it's still extremely chilly out. Even with 2 pairs of gloves each and two pairs of socks with shoes and booties, by the time we reach Arches it feels like every finger and toe has been slammed in a car door then left in a freezer, then made to handle a bicycle, just for good measure. 

We ride a little further into the Park this time, our destination is Delicate Arch, the most famous of the arches and the unofficial emblem of Utah. From the trail head we hike for about an hour until we reach the arch, which apart from being precariously balanced and having an incredible backdrop, is well known for making its first appearance to the visitor in an all-of-a-sudden and altogether breathtaking fashion. It certainly delivers on that. Let the photos speak for themselves. We loved it. 

Back in Moab we warm shower with Teri Ann, who turns out to be a legend! She's a mountain bike enthusiast, an artist, she built her home herself (possibly the coolest house we've ever seen, decked out in art and lights and colour and antiques and all-round style), and, to be honest, Teri Ann has a hell of a lot in common with Ada: bikes, costumes, art, chunky boots, everything.  She makes her own faux fur jackets. 'NUFF SAID! To top it off our sleeping quarters are an old school bus complete with electricity, bed and furnishings!

DAY 77

Rest Day - Moab

Possibly our first actual rest day. Every other 'rest day' has included some amount of cycling and/or hiking, so this is nice for a change. We're taking this rest day because today's high temperature is 3, with a low of about -5, and it's still blowing outside and we're not falling for the same trick twice. We don't do much at all, read a bit, watch movies with the gang, go to a thrift store where Ada buys some chunky Harley Davidson boots (?). We also eat heaps of chocolate. The gang that we're staying with are a bunch from all over the world, living together by night and working together by day as interns building a sustainable house around the corner as part of a community project. Good people. Anyway, till tomorrow!