24th July to 31st July: Arlington, Colorado to Marthasville, Missouri

Arlington to tribune 24th - 

So if I have one real annoyance with the trip so far I would choose sleeping! I have the choice to either sleep in my tent to avoid the bugs or sleep in the open to try and avoid the heat of my sauna - esque tent. And then there's the wind. The wind can be your best friend and also your worst enemy. 

Now today it looked like it was going to be our best friend. We woke up (this time I was in my tent) and ate some porridge and headed out into the sunrise. Literally the sun was just poking above what looked like the African savannah. A 15 quick miles took us to our first stop where we grabbed a snack from a tiny town with a gas station. Up to 50 miles and we had arrived on Eads to have lunch.

We didn't stop for too long before we headed off into the massive crosswind to Tribune. As tough as that riding was we got it finished pretty quickly at 4 and finished up our 90 mile day. Having for a massive early dinner we went and found the town pool and met Erin and Rachael. 

We got talking, explained what we were doing etc and our somehow got on to the fact we weren't eating enough fruit and veg . Needless to say the Kansas way is to be extremely generous and they loaded us up wit more vitamin c that we knew what to do with. 

They then asked us to come for supper, an offer Sam and I couldn't refuse. Jamie had to stay and get so revision done but Sam and I gladly accepted. 

We had a great evening with Rachel, Erin and Kyle and a huge thank you for feeding and entertaining us for the evening. It was great fun! 

25th July: Tribune to Dighton

We went to dinner in tribune with some lovely people who we met at the pool in Tribune, Erin and Rachael. They cooked us some good food all local stuff and gave us some fruit that was needed as we were contracting scurvy. 

Next morning we had a good westerly wind that we took good advantage of. Got 35 miles done fairly quickly before I decided to try and cycle holding onto the Frame of the bike, this caused me to loose balance severely I went left bumped into James then veered right sharply on to what looked like a soft verge that was just weeds with gravel underneath. Dow I went and the grass was a lot harder than I thorght it was. So got some large gashes in my knee. Quick water clean, bandage and tubigrip put on. We cycled the next 20 miles to hospital to clean it up as the cuts were deep and filled with gravel and dirt. A bit grim. Sorted out we had another 15 miles on to the next town for the night. In Deighton, we Had a swim, saw a parade though the townships was pretty cool having the locals driving classic cars, floats, farm machinery, emergency crews and dirt bikes doing wheelies all throwing sweets at all the children on the sides. 

Kansas is the flattest place I have ever been, it is hard to imagine something like it. Just no elevation change at all. The road goes to the horizon and just like cycling on a humongous treadmill. The only interesting thing were the agricultural

Machinery trying to kill us or just in the fields. We cycled past one field for 12 miles. Just the scale of it is unbelievable. Then the heat, as we left Scott City where I was mended in hospital and  it was 106F which is 43C. This was at about 3pm, in the sun it must have been about 115F. I have never been so hot and drank a gallon of water in about an hour on the way to Dighton.

Sam

26th July:  Dighton to Great Bend

Breakfast pizza is the best thing to performance enhancing drugs have before cycling other than drugs. 

After consuming two pieces I was able cycle even with the hole in my knee until lunch with no other food. 

The hole I created in my knee had now closed itself up a very small amount and so I got the medical stuff and put some of the doctors potion on it and started cycling. It's pretty painful doing exercise with deep gashes in your knee but there was no choice as Kansas is the flattest place I have ever been and I just wanted to get it done ASAP! 

We had a tail wind and It was less than 90F so made us happy. It's pretty bloody rare for it to get below 90 in the middle of summer.

James put in a big stint on the front as I was a true grupetto survivor feeling hanging on with every lady sinew in my body. Charlie was feeling bad as well. 

Sam

27th July: great bend to hilsboro note.: THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!

We left The Great Bend after a very  evening in a motel and a free breakfast! One of the many bonuses of having to fork out 20 bucks each. 

Our morning was very uneventful before we had a bite to eat for lunch. This was where the problems started. Leaving the diner, I began to feel iffy with a very upset stomach. As we left the town I was sitting on Jamie's back wheel feeling properly terrible, just trying to stay at Jamies pace to the next town. A couple of miles down the road I was feeling even worse and there was no way I was going to make it without being sick. What happened next however was completely unexpected, shit went south, and rapidly! So rapidly that it took me by surprise and within seconds I was running off the side of road throwing things left, right and centre out of panniers to find the loo roll before wham, it beat me. The diarrhea was out. This left two things running, myself with my trousers down, bog roll in hand heading behind the tree and then something else running down my leg! 

Fifteen minutes later I emerged from behind the tree, changed my cycling shorts and gathered my stuff back together that I had strewn everywhere to find the loo roll. I got back on my bike very apprehensiosly     setting off to catch up with Jamie and Sam laughing to myself about what had happened. 

When I caught up, and explained to the boys where I had been and what had happened, there was not an ounce of sympathy, they just laughed hysterically at me and preceded to rip me about it for the next 40 miles to our destination!

Even in seven months in the Subcontinent, I didn't have an incident like the one I had yesterday, the speed in which things went bad was stunning and extremely alarming! 

Needless to say the rest of the day was plain sailing and we arrived at our warm showers host around 19:30. Del and his family were fantastic hosts and we had a great evening with them before planning our route on the quieter roads and heading to bed at midnight (a really late one for us) after a great evening.

A huge thank you to Del and his family for looking after and feeding us so well!

Charles 

28th July: Hillsboro to emporia

So the night before in Hillsboro we were hosted brilliantly but did stay up rather late. This led to a belated wake up and a slow start in the morning. 

Del sorted us out with coffee and juice and then we went to the local bakery with him. I can't remember what they were called but we had this amazing German pasty bun thing which gave us a bit of a kick to start off with. 

Obviously 10 miles down the road as we were sitting at our 2nd breakfast charles realised he had forgotten his water bottles and Del kindly drove them up to us. So in we went, cycling through some really lovely back roads and finally not on just boring flats. A lot of it was very reminiscent of parts of rural

England. 

Towards the end of the day we had the run in to Emporia on a pretty main road with rumble strips that spanned the entire shoulder. We took the rumble strips over the lorries screaming past us!

We arrived to our warm showers hosts in the late afternoon and had a double bed each which is amazing considering the amount of camping and bed sharing we do! They took us to a great fast food joint called

Brahms and we feasted on ice cream to make ourselves feel better after a fairly scary few miles on the main highway.

A big thank you to Ben and his w

July 29: emporia to Paola: 86 miles

Before we got to Kansas, we had heard so many horror stories that we were really really nervous! People cycling 6 miles in 2 hours, having to hunker down in a motel for 3 days while storms rage, it's so boring that you will want to kill your self. 

We have been pretty lucky with the weather, we had 1 really windy day but only stopped 15 miles short of our original aim so that wasn't that bad. We also had a couple of seriously hot days of 110 or more! However, recently the wind has dropped, it has cooled down nearly 30 degrees and the going been good. What's more, it's not as boring as everyone says, personally I have quite enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong it's been flat, but there's something I can't quite put my finger on that is enjoyable. Perhaps it's the fact that if you run out of water, food or energy ,it will only be 20 miles max to the next town.

Today we left our warm showers host with our route pencilled on to our map. We have turned off the bike route because we were sick of people asking us 'west or east?' And basically knowing what we are doing. So moving off the route, people began to be amazed again. A big shout out to Ben who so kindly hosted us yesterday and gave us a great breakfast and route for the day.

So because we are now about 200 miles of the route, people really don't get what we are doing. This was shown when we were having our 2nd breakfast today in Libo, Kansas and someone heard our accents, saw our bikes and asked us whAt we were doing. We told her and she very kindly gave us 20 bucks. Next, the man in the next door booth had paid for our breakfast without even telling us and leaving. So we were having a great morning, a slight tail wind, 20 bucks and a free meal worth at least 30 bucks. However, walking out the diner the first couple we walked past stopped Jamie and gave him 20 bucks, no word of a lie the next table stopped Sam and did the same thing before I walked out a minute later and the final table gave me 20. 

It was crazy, in 5 minutes strangers had just given us well over $100. This was one of the many bonuses of being off the very well trodden bike route as well as a bigger sense of adventure. 

So after having the most crazy 5 minutes the rest of the morning wasn't as exciting. Eastern Kansas is very plesent, very styrotyipical small town America, very neat and unlike western Kansas any of the western express (our first 1500 miles).

By lunch, we hAd 55 miles done and decided to use the money we had been given to buy a motel room to heal our weary bodies. Sams knee still isn't in great shape whilst I am beginning to struggle with saddle sores . Both conditions are only made worse by living in a tent so we thorght 'when god gives you lemons , take em' And we are currently in a motel 30 miles from the Kansas-Missouri border which we will cross tomorrow morning before heading on to the Katy trail. 

Anyway, we have 3 days on the Katy trial so more of that later.

Charles

30th July: Paola, ks to Leeton, Missouri.

We left the motel late because we had to make the most of having what was effectively a free bed due to the generosity of the people of Lebo. 

However, things took a turn for the worst as we hit the Missouri hills in Kansas. The flat state wasn't so flat as we flicked between our biggest gear on the down hills and our smallest on the 15% inclines we were battling. The hills were short, 100 meters max but that's what made them so difficult. We couldn't get a rhythm. In Colorado and Nevada when climbing  2000 foot hills we used to slip into our lowest gear and spin up the hills getting up an hour or two later, however these were too short and before we knew it we were racing downhill at 50kph again. 

All this up and down made progress slow and morale very low. We decided that enough was enough and it was time for a McDonald's breakfast. The day got even worse when we realized that it was lunch time and we realized how slow were going!

Not even a state border crossing from Kansas into Missouri could brighten the mood as highway 69 turned into highway 2. To make matters worse, Missouri roads had the dreded rumble strips right in our track. This either meant battling glass, gravel and gunge on the hard shoulder or risking death by 18 wheel truck. 

As we came into Harrisonville, we realized something. We hadn't seen, touched or eaten a vegetable in 5 days and our last meals had consisted of macdinalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen and subway: NOT VERY HEALTHY! We then realized why we felt so shit, you are what you eat! Thank you Jamie Oliver for that one. 

Therefore or mission for our stay in Harrisonville was to find the healthiest restaurant in town . Being a town in the middle of America this was a pizzeria. Luckily, they had a very well stocked salad bar and some light pasta options which made the world of difference making the next 20 miles afterwards much easier.

Next came news we didn't want to hear as a red neck, hill billy, trailer trash farmer told us things were about to get real hilly. Nothing beats a bit of local knowledge and the next 20 miles were absolute brutal.

We arrived I Leeton at  7ish and looked at each other simultaneously saying that we were NOT doing the planned next 10 miles to get to the katy trail because we were all shattered so it was pizza, bath and bed for us but not with some difficulties.

Because we are miles off The planned trams American trail people are not used to seeing cyclists who have come from San Fran and want to camp in the town park. So to solve the problem, a town council meeting was called on the spot to meet in the gas station. Everyone turned up, we were given the go ahead to camp as well as some looks that said 'you are completely insane' and away hone everyone went in their pickups. 

One gentleman let us use his bathroom for a wash which was kind and we headed back to the park for the night... 

Charles 

31st July: Leeton, Mo to Huntsdale, MO. 94 miles.

We started well this morning after Casey served us up some great breakfast pizza along with my first ever mocha. I hate coffee but this just was chocolate with a rancid coffee after taste and a serious kick to give get me up the hills!

This first 10 miles were the same as the day before, steep rolling hill continuously, energy sapping stuff reminding me of the cycling around Uppingham. We got Windsor and joined Katy's Trail which is just an old railroad that had been torn up and a limestone gravel path laid. It's pan  flat so it requires a more continueous effort instead if doing what felt like 8 hours of interval training in the rolling hills. We Followed this down to Boomville where we joined the huge Missouri River. At this point it became downhill right next to the river. Good cycling for us as 2300 miles are starting to take their toll. 

We got 60 miles under the belt before stopping for lunch had the usual cheeseburger, fries and unlimited refill soda and felt great for the next 30 miles which began at three. 

We then met a man who we told about the trip and the plan to go to St Louis (Lewis), he responded with the fact that six children were shot the day before walking back fro church. This took us by surprise so we have now changed plan and shall swing north and possibly into Indiana to avoid becoming another statistic on the sheriffs database. 

Camping tonight by the river it's really damp in campsite but we got a shower so very happy after a day in the dusty tracks. Our bikes are now white and our kit filthy. 

My knee is healing well, scabbed well but still getting a lot of pain from it when I come off of the drugs. 

Other day down stream tomorrow before we hit the great Mississippi the day after. 

Sam

Huntsdale to mckittritk, mo.

Today was our first full day on the Katy trail and it took its toll on our bodies. Not cycling on Tarmac makes a hell of a difference we worked out by the end of the day. Our average speed was reduced, the effort levels were up and within 20 minutes we were covered head to toe in dust.

To be fair, it wasn't as horrific as it sounds because we meandered along beside the Missouri River peacefully stumbling across towns where we could nip to the loo, fill our bottles up and have a quick stretch off the bike.

The day did start badly though , with our planned breakfast spot being closed so it was another 10 miles on a empty stomach which was a lot tougher than it sounds. 

After breakfast we plodded 45 miles a little town who's name escapes me for the usual fry up lunch, something with chips. I have become so terrible at remembering places we have just been through, it's slightly worrying and very frustrating... Especially when your trying to write a blog!

After lunch, batteries recharged we managed 30 before deciding enough was enough and calling it a day. We had done 71 miles on a dirt track which in anyone book is a good effort so decided to head in to town to find a camp site. 

Arriving a the camp site, we saw the shocking news that it was 15$ per tent pitch. This was just taking the piss so we grabbed a shower and headed back out to the trail to find a place to camp. 

6 days to Harrodsburg and a couple of days off, they can't come quick enough! 

Charles.

 

24th July to 31st July: Arlington, Colorado to Marthasville, Missouri

Arlington to tribune 24th - 

So if I have one real annoyance with the trip so far I would choose sleeping! I have the choice to either sleep in my tent to avoid the bugs or sleep in the open to try and avoid the heat of my sauna - esque tent. And then there's the wind. The wind can be your best friend and also your worst enemy. 

Now today it looked like it was going to be our best friend. We woke up (this time I was in my tent) and ate some porridge and headed out into the sunrise. Literally the sun was just poking above what looked like the African savannah. A 15 quick miles took us to our first stop where we grabbed a snack from a tiny town with a gas station. Up to 50 miles and we had arrived on Eads to have lunch.

We didn't stop for too long before we headed off into the massive crosswind to Tribune. As tough as that riding was we got it finished pretty quickly at 4 and finished up our 90 mile day. Having for a massive early dinner we went and found the town pool and met Erin and Rachael. 

We got talking, explained what we were doing etc and our somehow got on to the fact we weren't eating enough fruit and veg . Needless to say the Kansas way is to be extremely generous and they loaded us up wit more vitamin c that we knew what to do with. 

They then asked us to come for supper, an offer Sam and I couldn't refuse. Jamie had to stay and get so revision done but Sam and I gladly accepted. 

We had a great evening with Rachel, Erin and Kyle and a huge thank you for feeding and entertaining us for the evening. It was great fun! 

25th July: Tribune to Dighton

We went to dinner in tribune with some lovely people who we met at the pool in Tribune, Erin and Rachael. They cooked us some good food all local stuff and gave us some fruit that was needed as we were contracting scurvy. 

Next morning we had a good westerly wind that we took good advantage of. Got 35 miles done fairly quickly before I decided to try and cycle holding onto the Frame of the bike, this caused me to loose balance severely I went left bumped into James then veered right sharply on to what looked like a soft verge that was just weeds with gravel underneath. Dow I went and the grass was a lot harder than I thorght it was. So got some large gashes in my knee. Quick water clean, bandage and tubigrip put on. We cycled the next 20 miles to hospital to clean it up as the cuts were deep and filled with gravel and dirt. A bit grim. Sorted out we had another 15 miles on to the next town for the night. In Deighton, we Had a swim, saw a parade though the townships was pretty cool having the locals driving classic cars, floats, farm machinery, emergency crews and dirt bikes doing wheelies all throwing sweets at all the children on the sides. 

Kansas is the flattest place I have ever been, it is hard to imagine something like it. Just no elevation change at all. The road goes to the horizon and just like cycling on a humongous treadmill. The only interesting thing were the agricultural

Machinery trying to kill us or just in the fields. We cycled past one field for 12 miles. Just the scale of it is unbelievable. Then the heat, as we left Scott City where I was mended in hospital and  it was 106F which is 43C. This was at about 3pm, in the sun it must have been about 115F. I have never been so hot and drank a gallon of water in about an hour on the way to Dighton.

Sam

26th July:  Dighton to Great Bend

Breakfast pizza is the best thing to performance enhancing drugs have before cycling other than drugs. 

After consuming two pieces I was able cycle even with the hole in my knee until lunch with no other food. 

The hole I created in my knee had now closed itself up a very small amount and so I got the medical stuff and put some of the doctors potion on it and started cycling. It's pretty painful doing exercise with deep gashes in your knee but there was no choice as Kansas is the flattest place I have ever been and I just wanted to get it done ASAP! 

We had a tail wind and It was less than 90F so made us happy. It's pretty bloody rare for it to get below 90 in the middle of summer.

James put in a big stint on the front as I was a true grupetto survivor feeling hanging on with every lady sinew in my body. Charlie was feeling bad as well. 

Sam

27th July: great bend to hilsboro note.: THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!

We left The Great Bend after a very  evening in a motel and a free breakfast! One of the many bonuses of having to fork out 20 bucks each. 

Our morning was very uneventful before we had a bite to eat for lunch. This was where the problems started. Leaving the diner, I began to feel iffy with a very upset stomach. As we left the town I was sitting on Jamie's back wheel feeling properly terrible, just trying to stay at Jamies pace to the next town. A couple of miles down the road I was feeling even worse and there was no way I was going to make it without being sick. What happened next however was completely unexpected, shit went south, and rapidly! So rapidly that it took me by surprise and within seconds I was running off the side of road throwing things left, right and centre out of panniers to find the loo roll before wham, it beat me. The diarrhea was out. This left two things running, myself with my trousers down, bog roll in hand heading behind the tree and then something else running down my leg! 

Fifteen minutes later I emerged from behind the tree, changed my cycling shorts and gathered my stuff back together that I had strewn everywhere to find the loo roll. I got back on my bike very apprehensiosly     setting off to catch up with Jamie and Sam laughing to myself about what had happened. 

When I caught up, and explained to the boys where I had been and what had happened, there was not an ounce of sympathy, they just laughed hysterically at me and preceded to rip me about it for the next 40 miles to our destination!

Even in seven months in the Subcontinent, I didn't have an incident like the one I had yesterday, the speed in which things went bad was stunning and extremely alarming! 

Needless to say the rest of the day was plain sailing and we arrived at our warm showers host around 19:30. Del and his family were fantastic hosts and we had a great evening with them before planning our route on the quieter roads and heading to bed at midnight (a really late one for us) after a great evening.

A huge thank you to Del and his family for looking after and feeding us so well!

Charles 

28th July: Hillsboro to emporia

So the night before in Hillsboro we were hosted brilliantly but did stay up rather late. This led to a belated wake up and a slow start in the morning. 

Del sorted us out with coffee and juice and then we went to the local bakery with him. I can't remember what they were called but we had this amazing German pasty bun thing which gave us a bit of a kick to start off with. 

Obviously 10 miles down the road as we were sitting at our 2nd breakfast charles realised he had forgotten his water bottles and Del kindly drove them up to us. So in we went, cycling through some really lovely back roads and finally not on just boring flats. A lot of it was very reminiscent of parts of rural

England. 

Towards the end of the day we had the run in to Emporia on a pretty main road with rumble strips that spanned the entire shoulder. We took the rumble strips over the lorries screaming past us!

We arrived to our warm showers hosts in the late afternoon and had a double bed each which is amazing considering the amount of camping and bed sharing we do! They took us to a great fast food joint called

Brahms and we feasted on ice cream to make ourselves feel better after a fairly scary few miles on the main highway.

A big thank you to Ben and his w

July 29: emporia to Paola: 86 miles

Before we got to Kansas, we had heard so many horror stories that we were really really nervous! People cycling 6 miles in 2 hours, having to hunker down in a motel for 3 days while storms rage, it's so boring that you will want to kill your self. 

We have been pretty lucky with the weather, we had 1 really windy day but only stopped 15 miles short of our original aim so that wasn't that bad. We also had a couple of seriously hot days of 110 or more! However, recently the wind has dropped, it has cooled down nearly 30 degrees and the going been good. What's more, it's not as boring as everyone says, personally I have quite enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong it's been flat, but there's something I can't quite put my finger on that is enjoyable. Perhaps it's the fact that if you run out of water, food or energy ,it will only be 20 miles max to the next town.

Today we left our warm showers host with our route pencilled on to our map. We have turned off the bike route because we were sick of people asking us 'west or east?' And basically knowing what we are doing. So moving off the route, people began to be amazed again. A big shout out to Ben who so kindly hosted us yesterday and gave us a great breakfast and route for the day.

So because we are now about 200 miles of the route, people really don't get what we are doing. This was shown when we were having our 2nd breakfast today in Libo, Kansas and someone heard our accents, saw our bikes and asked us whAt we were doing. We told her and she very kindly gave us 20 bucks. Next, the man in the next door booth had paid for our breakfast without even telling us and leaving. So we were having a great morning, a slight tail wind, 20 bucks and a free meal worth at least 30 bucks. However, walking out the diner the first couple we walked past stopped Jamie and gave him 20 bucks, no word of a lie the next table stopped Sam and did the same thing before I walked out a minute later and the final table gave me 20. 

It was crazy, in 5 minutes strangers had just given us well over $100. This was one of the many bonuses of being off the very well trodden bike route as well as a bigger sense of adventure. 

So after having the most crazy 5 minutes the rest of the morning wasn't as exciting. Eastern Kansas is very plesent, very styrotyipical small town America, very neat and unlike western Kansas any of the western express (our first 1500 miles).

By lunch, we hAd 55 miles done and decided to use the money we had been given to buy a motel room to heal our weary bodies. Sams knee still isn't in great shape whilst I am beginning to struggle with saddle sores . Both conditions are only made worse by living in a tent so we thorght 'when god gives you lemons , take em' And we are currently in a motel 30 miles from the Kansas-Missouri border which we will cross tomorrow morning before heading on to the Katy trail. 

Anyway, we have 3 days on the Katy trial so more of that later.

Charles

30th July: Paola, ks to Leeton, Missouri.

We left the motel late because we had to make the most of having what was effectively a free bed due to the generosity of the people of Lebo. 

However, things took a turn for the worst as we hit the Missouri hills in Kansas. The flat state wasn't so flat as we flicked between our biggest gear on the down hills and our smallest on the 15% inclines we were battling. The hills were short, 100 meters max but that's what made them so difficult. We couldn't get a rhythm. In Colorado and Nevada when climbing  2000 foot hills we used to slip into our lowest gear and spin up the hills getting up an hour or two later, however these were too short and before we knew it we were racing downhill at 50kph again. 

All this up and down made progress slow and morale very low. We decided that enough was enough and it was time for a McDonald's breakfast. The day got even worse when we realized that it was lunch time and we realized how slow were going!

Not even a state border crossing from Kansas into Missouri could brighten the mood as highway 69 turned into highway 2. To make matters worse, Missouri roads had the dreded rumble strips right in our track. This either meant battling glass, gravel and gunge on the hard shoulder or risking death by 18 wheel truck. 

As we came into Harrisonville, we realized something. We hadn't seen, touched or eaten a vegetable in 5 days and our last meals had consisted of macdinalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen and subway: NOT VERY HEALTHY! We then realized why we felt so shit, you are what you eat! Thank you Jamie Oliver for that one. 

Therefore or mission for our stay in Harrisonville was to find the healthiest restaurant in town . Being a town in the middle of America this was a pizzeria. Luckily, they had a very well stocked salad bar and some light pasta options which made the world of difference making the next 20 miles afterwards much easier.

Next came news we didn't want to hear as a red neck, hill billy, trailer trash farmer told us things were about to get real hilly. Nothing beats a bit of local knowledge and the next 20 miles were absolute brutal.

We arrived I Leeton at  7ish and looked at each other simultaneously saying that we were NOT doing the planned next 10 miles to get to the katy trail because we were all shattered so it was pizza, bath and bed for us but not with some difficulties.

Because we are miles off The planned trams American trail people are not used to seeing cyclists who have come from San Fran and want to camp in the town park. So to solve the problem, a town council meeting was called on the spot to meet in the gas station. Everyone turned up, we were given the go ahead to camp as well as some looks that said 'you are completely insane' and away hone everyone went in their pickups. 

One gentleman let us use his bathroom for a wash which was kind and we headed back to the park for the night... 

Charles 

31st July: Leeton, Mo to Huntsdale, MO. 94 miles.

We started well this morning after Casey served us up some great breakfast pizza along with my first ever mocha. I hate coffee but this just was chocolate with a rancid coffee after taste and a serious kick to give get me up the hills!

This first 10 miles were the same as the day before, steep rolling hill continuously, energy sapping stuff reminding me of the cycling around Uppingham. We got Windsor and joined Katy's Trail which is just an old railroad that had been torn up and a limestone gravel path laid. It's pan  flat so it requires a more continueous effort instead if doing what felt like 8 hours of interval training in the rolling hills. We Followed this down to Boomville where we joined the huge Missouri River. At this point it became downhill right next to the river. Good cycling for us as 2300 miles are starting to take their toll. 

We got 60 miles under the belt before stopping for lunch had the usual cheeseburger, fries and unlimited refill soda and felt great for the next 30 miles which began at three. 

We then met a man who we told about the trip and the plan to go to St Louis (Lewis), he responded with the fact that six children were shot the day before walking back fro church. This took us by surprise so we have now changed plan and shall swing north and possibly into Indiana to avoid becoming another statistic on the sheriffs database. 

Camping tonight by the river it's really damp in campsite but we got a shower so very happy after a day in the dusty tracks. Our bikes are now white and our kit filthy. 

My knee is healing well, scabbed well but still getting a lot of pain from it when I come off of the drugs. 

Other day down stream tomorrow before we hit the great Mississippi the day after. 

Sam

Huntsdale to mckittritk, mo.

Today was our first full day on the Katy trail and it took its toll on our bodies. Not cycling on Tarmac makes a hell of a difference we worked out by the end of the day. Our average speed was reduced, the effort levels were up and within 20 minutes we were covered head to toe in dust.

To be fair, it wasn't as horrific as it sounds because we meandered along beside the Missouri River peacefully stumbling across towns where we could nip to the loo, fill our bottles up and have a quick stretch off the bike.

The day did start badly though , with our planned breakfast spot being closed so it was another 10 miles on a empty stomach which was a lot tougher than it sounds. 

After breakfast we plodded 45 miles a little town who's name escapes me for the usual fry up lunch, something with chips. I have become so terrible at remembering places we have just been through, it's slightly worrying and very frustrating... Especially when your trying to write a blog!

After lunch, batteries recharged we managed 30 before deciding enough was enough and calling it a day. We had done 71 miles on a dirt track which in anyone book is a good effort so decided to head in to town to find a camp site. 

Arriving a the camp site, we saw the shocking news that it was 15$ per tent pitch. This was just taking the piss so we grabbed a shower and headed back out to the trail to find a place to camp. 

6 days to Harrodsburg and a couple of days off, they can't come quick enough! 

Charles.

 

23rd July: pueblo, co to Arlington, Co (the middle of nowhere)

23rd July: pueblo, co to Arlington, Co (the middle of nowhere)

After handing the keys to David and saying a very large thank you, we were on the road at about 745 which meant rush hour. The roads out of pueblo were really busy with commuter traffic that didn't seem to bother giving an inch to three English touring cyclists. This made for a relatively full on first couple of miles before we got on to the country roads again. 

We got our heads down in the morning and got 55 or so miles done with only one quick break where we met another touring cyclist going the other way. Our new buddy then proceeded to rant to us about how much he had hated the trip, for him it was too flat, too hot, too many dogs and too hard work. In not sure what he thought he was getting himself in for when he decided to cycle across America. Mind you, neither did we but in our case ignorance was and still is bliss!

We stopped for lunch in a small town  called .... This could have been the setting for a western movie with cow boys strolling down the street chewing a tooth pick. After a bite to eat and a breather from the relentless heat, we got ready again and hit the road. All was going well with a strongish crosswind before whack! God had decided to make the next 25 miles impossible, with the wind came the dust, not fun. Things got so bad, we decided to stop 15 miles short of our original destination because none of us could face another two or more hours of battle with the bastard wind! I know I said 'fingers crossed for a tail wind' but my god do I mean it! 

An early finish means early to bed and an early start tomorrow to try and make up the distances we lost today....But then again, it all depends on the WINDS...!

3 much needed days off!

We arrived in pueblo to be met by David Suazo and his wife Jill, David is a coluguge of David Barrow who so kindly offered us his house. David S was immensly helpful in showing us the ropes of the house and even offered to take us out to Sunday lunch. An offer we couldn't refuse. 

After a couple of beers in the house we all crashed out in our very comfy beds for the night and most of the morning. After contacting home and letting our parents know we were still alive David and Jill turned up to take us out for a meal at the 'Texas Roadhouse' where we had our biggest meal to date. It was fantastic, great company in the hands of David and Jill, great food, and what seemed like an bottomless plate if steak and chips. 

We ate to our hearts  content before Jill and David Kindly drove us home with an invitation to supper with them the day after. 

We had another blissful lie in Monday before heading off to the cinema to watch dawn of the plsnet of the apes. A top film which we all really enjoyed before heading to David and Jill's house for supper. 

David had invited his brother round with his wife and kids so Sam, Jamie and I joined the family supper which was lovely. David showed us his rather large collection of guns including a dozen or so Hand guns which we were very impressed by as well as his archery kit. All very cool we thought. Needless to say Jill's cooking was a million dollars and we ate to our hearts content again.  A huge huge thank you to David, Jill and their wonderful family for looking after us so well in pueblo, we are hugely thankful for their hospitality. 

Tuesday was a day of errands, a trip to the bike shop to grab some essentials as well a trip to the post office to send some touristy stuff east including my book of Mormon that I was given in Utah during the World Cup final! I must say our panniers are much lighter now we have mucked out the crap. The evening was time to get prepared for the next leg of the trip, wash helmets, sleeping bags etc before hit road early tomorrow morning to avoid the oppressive 100 degree heat. 

The much needed break has come to an end and we are all looking forward to hitting the 'flats' tomorrow  and getting some big mileage done. Touch wood the wind is at our backs! 

Days 17-25: Fruita, Utah to pueblo, Colorado.

11th July: Fruita to Hite: 87 miles

'Our race to the World Cup Final' 

Kick off in: 54 hours
Miles to go: 164 

We left Fruita at 8am to get down to Hanksville for some lunch, it ended up taking us only two and a half hours to cover the 37 miles to lunch which was good going. We found an awesome place to eat and turned out we had met the waitress the day before so she was very kind to us. We ended up spending six hours there as the heat was brutal! When we left it was the hottest time of the day and we turned into a brutal headwind. We had 'only' 50 miles but I thought it was 35 so leaving at 1630 was a bad idea. The next five hours were some of the tougher we have had. 
Sale arrived an hour before us and found some Mormans to talk to which was pretty weird from what he said. They were out hiking a group of 18 blokes which I assumed was three or four fathers sons cousins type arrangement but turned out it was just the one family; grandfather, sons and many grandsons. 

The ride to the campsite may have been tough but the scenery was awesome. After 20 miles we dropped into a canyon which was great as it means it's all down hill to Powell Lake. But when there is a wind blowing up this canyon progress was unbelievably slow, added to the fatigued legs it didn't make for good speed. We got to the lake which could now be compared to a puddle relative to its former size. We could see the camp ground on the other side but the ten mile trip around the former shore was soul destroying to say the least. 

We had met a 50 something year old lady in the 'super'market in a local town who told us that when she was a teenager, she would would jump into Lake Powell from the Colorado River bridge, as we crossed said bridge the drop to the river was 200 foot. Not something that you would want to jump off! This brought to light the extent of the drought that western USA is in but the locals just blame the Californians. By our campsite were some huge concrete slipways that now sat about three quarters of a mile from the lake edge which was another earie feeling from a setting that could have been in horror film. 

Coming up the final hill that felt as if it were an eternity on the body we could see the moon rising, (you may have seen photos on Facebook) it was huge the photos do no justice to it! When we were cooking dinner at 2300 that night [it had all got a bit late that day], the moon was so bright there was no need to torches or any light. However, camping at 3500 feet also was a crucial error as the night temperature did not dip below 75F, Jamie woke up in a puddle of his sweat. Rancid. 

Sam Sutcliffe

12th July: Hite to Blanding: 74 miles

To the World Cup Final

Kick off in: 37 hours
Miles to go: 77

Having had a dreadful nights sleep down by Lake Powell where the temperature never got below 75F we got up at 0530, ate then left. 

The sleep that night had not in anyway helped my legs to recover in the slightest, I left Hite in the same state that I arrived, absolutely shattered and finding it very difficult to turn the pedals. 

The thought of a motel, a shower and a bed at the other end was the biggest motivation ever as well as The 'Soccer' World Cup Final the next day being something we all obviously wanted to watch! 

This day was brutal. It started with a 46 mile climb to near the Natural Bridges National Monument. Now to climb for 46 miles was a severely depressing idea in any situation, but it was at such a grade that you could not just treat it as a relatively flat section and pump a good gear. Moreover, it was just not steep enough to be in a real climbing gear. So the constant change in gear was frustrating, coupled with the fact that the temperature was going up and up made it a really tough day at the office.  Personally I completely underestimated the day, I carried as much water as I could but did not ration it as I should have like we had dome in Nevada. After several hours of winding up this never ending hill we reached the turning to the Natural Bridges, ate some lunch [usual peanut butter and salami sandwiches] and made the decision to not go up the additional five mile and see the bridges as it was an additional 5 mile climb in the heat of the day! We still had 31 miles to go and over 1500 feet more uphill. With ten miles to go I eventually ran out if water, slight panic descended as I was still heading up hill. I began to get wobbly and dehydrated I tried to get a car to stop, thankfully, a random family from Nebraska stopped and gave me two ice cold bottles of water which was a welcome change from the bath water that I had had to become used to. 

Making it to the motel was a relief with air con and a pool. Another awesome day in the desert, but utterly brutal. And what's more our race to the World Cup final was complete, we had made it actually with rather a lot of time to spare...

Sam Sutcliffe

13th July: Blanding to Monticello: 21 miles

We got up very late had a swim in the motel pool. Then we stole all the breakfast from the buffet as we could physically get our hands on.   

Then the buildup began for the Final, you all watched it I will assume, good game, the better team won etc etc...

We left with a very nice 21 miles to Monticello at about five pm after a torrential thunderstorm had passed over. We arrived and grabbed some grub in a decent steakhouse then poped over to the 'city' park. Then the problems began.

The park was green lush grass had a picnic benched area with loads of tables concrete floor as well as a large warehouse roof type cover going on. 

Sale set up his tent on the grass and hooper and I slept under tables. At about one hell was unleashed in the form of sprinklers spraying freezing water all over us. We used Charles' tent as a shield against the disaster zone and I was unamused leaving at about six the next morning with a combined eight hours between us. 

Sam Sutcliffe

14th July, Monticello to Dolores: 60 miles

The big excitement for this day was crossing into Colorado, and after a fair amount of time plodding through Utah (which was extremely beautiful don't get me wrong) this was a welcome change! We woke up after our sprinkler interrupted night in the park feeling worse for wear. 

With porridge in our bellies and only slightly less tired eyes we set off. It was 25 miles to Dove Creek where we had decided we would get our second breakfast. On the way there we left Utah and entered Colorado, which promised to be 'colourful' though we didn't really know how the red rock of Utah was going to be beaten! Now I'm not gonna lie, it should have just said green and grey as essentially in Colorado there are green trees that cover the grey Rockie mountains - once you escape the more boring prairie land! 

Dove Creek was a fairly unassuming little town which centred around the road we were cycling on. A few mills here and there and a diner and gas station! The diner provided with one of our smaller american breakfasts, which of course we were shocked by.

Then came the 30 odd mile stint into Dolores! Sam and I stopped for a fizzy drink after 10 miles and I bought the aptly named energy drink the 'go fast'! It did what it said on the tin, my brain went into overdrive and I convinced Sam that it made sense to climb hills at twice the pace as we descended them. I didn't leave top gear for 20 miles and it is fair to say that I will be buying this drink again, which probably contained 2000 percent of your daily caffeine allowance!

We met Charles at the change of road and sped into Dolores deciding that it was time to start the pannier clad tour of Colorado! Once in Dolores we had a decent burger and met a couple of professional cyclists, Lauren Hall who happens to be riding in the la course by le Tour de France which is the female equivalent of the Tour de France! And then later in the bike shop we met Nicholas who had moved from professional road cycling to being a triathlete! On his day off he so

Kindly fixed up all of our bikes and we waited out a pretty decent hailstorm with golf ball sized hailstones! We were staying with warm showers again and Nicholas was invited to dinner and we headed up to the house, getting horrendously lost on the way! Dave and Belinda out hosts put us up that night and were extremely friendly hosts. They gave us a lovely dinner and a place to camp in their gym, which was actually really comfortable on the rubber mat floor. A day well done!

15th July: Dolores to Telluride: 65 miles

After a great breakfast with Dave and Belinda in Dolores, we hit the road later than expected. This late departure may have been in the knowledge that we had our first mountain pass in the Rockies on the cards and a day spent cycling up hill. 

We went back past lizard head cyclery where we had spent most of yesterday afternoon before beggining the gradual climb to stoner. Given the recent legalization of pot in Colorado, we stopped briefly for snaps next to the sign post before heading on up to Rico. 

On the way up, we met some cyclists who were also touring, but with a support car. This we thorght was cheating and it was a great boost for morale as we over took them with all our luggage etc. 

We rolled into Rico wearily after 38 miles up hill and found somewhere to eat in peace. However, the village drunk had other ideas and we had a very limited conversation with him much to the bar lady's distress who apologized profusely. After an extended lunch, we tackled the last 12 miles to the top of lizard head pass. To be honest, getting to the top of this pass was a bit of an anti climax, I'm not sure if we are getting a lot fitter or if the gradient wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Probably a bit of both but the top it was! 10 500 feet, the 2nd highest summit of the trip. 

However , what goes up must come down. We launched ourselfs down the decent trying to break our speed record of 52 mph but headwinds prevailed and slowed us down (probably for good reason) and we settled for 45 mph. 

After a very quick down and much slower 500 foot climb, we arrived in telluride, a ski resort. A quick rekie of the tourist info told us that the only place to camp in town was the park. Off we went to the park to be horrified when confronted wit the sign 'CAMPING FEE 27$ '. We feel that paying for camping isn't right so we sneaked in corner of the campsite and popped our tents up quickly, had a bite to eat and got off to bed within 45 minutes of arriving before the rain started.  The threat of rain does make us do some pretty nuts stuff. We did 10 miles in 21 minutes in Utah to avoid another rain shower. In the end the rain didn't come, neither did the campsite warden so ended up as another successful night of free camping! 

16th July:Telluride to Montrose: 66 miles

After leaving the campsite before the warden had sniffed us out we grabbed a very expensive breakfast in telluride, being a ski resort and a tourist hot spot we had been warned but when the 'ticket' came it really did give us a fright! 

Off we went after breakfast down the hill we had climbed the day before. 17 miles in half an hour or so without pedaling was whatI would call a good start to the day. However, we had to go up the next hill, 'the Dallas Divide', a 14 mile slog up to 9000 feet before another awesome decent. The climb was like any other we have been up, we separate when things begin to get steep with Sam telling me that he would see me at the top at 11 o clock with 14 miles to go and a good hour and three quarters left to climb. Needless to say Sam came over the summit shouting, 'look at your phone!!!!' And needless to say it was exactly 11 and he had nailed it! 

Another decent on what was a pretty busy road meant that slip streaming the traffic to the annoyance of the Colorado drivers but again it was bloody good fun if a bit hairy when we were zipping along on the wet roads with very limited visibility.

During our coffee break, we met a bloke who had done 17 cross country tours as well as two trips in Europe, one in Australia and Canada to Mexico twice! It was ridiculous, we thought we were nuts doing 4000 miles but this bloke had done over 70000 miles. He wished us good luck and warned us about the lack of hard shoulder between Ridgway and Montrose.

He was right, the Ridgway to Montrose stretch was bloody terrifying with lorries rumbling past us, apparently without noticing us. Or just being too bloody lazy to move the strearing wheel quarter of an inch! 

Somehow we made it to Montrose, and crashed in sonic, one of Americas many fast food places we hadn't tried. It was all drive through, even when we walked in to the restaurant we had to order via a microphone. It took me A LONG time to crack it and my god it wasn't worth the effort. So for pudding, we went across the road to much better known territories, to McDonalds!    

After a long afternoon in maccies, we headed to our warm showers hosts for the evening. John and Emily let us camp on their porch, get some much needed washing done to our clothes and our bodies.  It was a great evening listening to stories of their two year long trip from New Zealand to Nepal whilst enjoying johns recommended local ales. 

17th July: Montrose to Gunnison: 65 miles

After a leisurely start to the morning, we hit the road when it was just beginning to get hot. We got our legs going with a 8 mile flat before we started to climb Cero summit on what felt like the equivalent of the A1! Trying to stay as close to the side as possible to avoid the 'juganourghts' I managed to slip off the side of the road and plop over, out into Middle of the road. Before I had even checked if I was ok, I was up and hauling my bike onto side of the road to get out the way of the oversized loads that were rumbling up the hill. I was fine, my pride took the biggest dent and we continued on up death road. 

Down we went to our second breakfast of fruits of the Forrest pie which gave us the energy to get up the next hill. This hill passed without anyone (normally me) falling off and we cruised the next 30 miles down wind to Gunnison.

Our first priority in Gunnison was chocolate milk, a strange priority but one we had been told was the best thing we could ever have for recovery by an ex pro cyclist so his word was now gospel! 

After smashing our body weight in tacos we began looking for somewhere to camp. This search took Sam and I all over town leaving Jamie to think about Maths and his retakes. Our search was very unsuccessful, we were turned away by the church, couldn't camp in the park until we met Justin who said that we could camp in his back garden and use his shower. We were slightly skeptical at first but after meeting him properly he was a top bloke. His friend came round and we chatted the evening away feeling very relaxed. 

18th July: Gunnerson to Salida: 65 miles

We woke up around 6 to find that it was bloody freezing in our tents. We upped sticks and moved as fast as we physically could, which being morning isn't that fast - heading to the diner justin had recommended the night before. 

Today was a big day as we crossed the continental divide and our highest summit of the trip, Monarch pass at 11300 feet so we felt we needed an extra big feed! After what felt like days we left the diner feeling carb loaded and weighed down. I was so weighed down that I managed to get a puncture rolling out of town. This was a first puncture of the whole trip which after 1500 miles is a credit to our tyres so off the back wheel came and out came the tools. After fafing with the length of the valve I managed sort everything out and we hit the road again. 

It was a nice 25 miles before our first rest stop and another piece of pie before we took on what had become the infamous Monarch pass in our own minds. We started gradually and took it easy before Sam and I left Jamie and got into a great rhythm with Sam on the inside having to deal with not wobbling and falling off the cliff and me on the outside dealing with RV's rumbling past. Lucky the traffic was more foregiving than on previous hills and we arrived at the top an hour and a half later and VERY out of breath! 

After some photos by the highest point of our trip, the highest any of us have ever been we hit the decent into Salida. The 18 miles down the hill took about 30 minutes before we swung off the road and up to our warm showers contact for the night. This hill was the worst of the day because of the 20% grade on top of some very tired legs. However, as soon as we walked through the doors of Harry's house he had some beers out. We quickly forget about our legs and enjoyed Harry's hospitality and a very comfy bed for the night. 

19th July: Salida to pueblo: 101 miles 

Today we began in Salida and we had decided to do the 100 miles to Pueblo in a day to give ourselves more recovery time. It was about hundred miles all day. But all down hill with a tailwind. The first 48 miles were a breeze, zipping along by the Arkansas River a short climb and then a further ten miles downhill to Canyon City. It was all good, apart from the fact that every car that drove past us was trying to muscle us off the road into the canyon side and kill us...NOT fun and bloody terrifying! 

Arriving in pueblo was amazing and it felt like we had achieved a serious mile stone and we are pretty much half way through in effort and time. In pueblo we are staying in David Barrow's company house, haddonstone. The House is awesome, so thank you very much to David. We are enjoying the pure luxury of having a bed to ourselves, a shower, plenty of food, and trash American television. 

A sofa is a welcome change from a bike saddle! 

We are now planning to update our blogs daily, so please keep checking for new entries. Also the Facebook page has all the photos on it so please also check those out.

Day 11 - 16 Baker, Nevada to Escalante River, Utah.

Day11: Baker, Nevada to Milford, Utah. 84 miles

 Independence Day. This is an account of the toughest day of our lives.
That is no exaggeration as the three of us embarked on an 84 mile ride from Baker to Milford but with the weather conditions all against us. We had temperatures hitting 105F (40C), a 30mph cross headwind and a stage profile to make even the great Eddy Merckx wince. This was all in the desert with no sign of civilisation throughout the entire day therefore meaning we had to carry all our food and water for the duration of the ride. This is coming from three chaps who have completed a half marathon, an Olympic Triathlon, Three Peaks Challenge, circumnavigated Sri Lanka on a bike as well as 750 miles ride from North Wales to North Scotland. We are quite used to pushing ourselves but we can all say this day was our toughest yet.

It began incredibly early we were out on the bike by 05:15 to try to beat the heat. A cool morning travelling through the first bit of desert as the sun rose up above the hills, we were all on a relatively good mood. Then the wind began to blow and it did no relent all day. As anyone who cycles knows a headwind means making a lot more effort for the same speed, no conducive to progress. We hit the Utah border within the first seven miles and this made us very happy as it meant we had completed two states (out of nine) and moved into Mountain Time Zone (one hour closer to home). But soon after this boost to our moral happened the wind picked up harder and the road began to climb. We started to climb at a steady gradient for the next 26 miles, moving up over 6800 feet from our start at about 4000 feet.

Then started the same old basin range topography that had become our very best friend over the last week. A flat 15-20 mile stretch followed by a 6-10 mile climb the same for the decent and flat section repeated. 

Having lunch at 11:30 after six hours in the saddle after the second climb of the day we reflected on how close we had been to suicide and what experiences would be better, as heard a few days previously the best was "I rather swallow a deck chair than do that again". This was before our final and brutal basin crossing into a full headwind then a steep (about 7% average) ten mile climb. I cannot really put into words but the previous quote was very accurate so let the stats talk. The only thing that made it better was seeing the Utah shoe tree about four miles from the summit which was looking back a disappointment. 

But at this summit which we reached at about 14:30 we knew it was 'only' eight miles down to Milford, again into a full headwind so having to pedal downhill. We had run out of food which wasn't good so energy levels were at an all time low as well as the water consumption rate being extremely high, we were 'running on fumes'. 

I cannot explain the feeling I had coming round the side on a hill to see a town nestled in some big green trees, just civilisation that's all that made us happy at that point!

Arriving into the classic style American diner we ordered three lots of large burgers, fries, sodas, pancakes and lots of cold water! We had been drinking what can only be described as bath water temperature water out of our bottles for the last ten hours. Arriving at 15:15 was one of the longest days I have ever had in the saddle as well as the most draining in every manner. We sat in that place for two and a half hours before deciding to move off to find a place to camp. 

Being July 4th the Americans celebrate beating the British in 1776 the which was a celebration that we decided not to partake in as we were knackered after eight days of cycling through the desert. We found a public restroom to wash our faces in and a park in which to pitch our tents, covering the sprinkler holes which our panniers. 
A trip to the trusted Subway for dinner an hour later was great as well as grabbing some oatmeal for breakfast the next day. We met a lovely Swiss-German couple who were cycling the opposite direction to us, we exchanged tips and advice for each others next few days.

Back in the park trying to get to sleep could be compared to the situation in Eastern Ukraine or Gaza with the fireworks going off all the time as well as the rednecks in their pickup truck roaring around the town drunk as rats waving the Stars and Stripes screaming. We fell asleep extremely quickly into a very deep well earned rest. 

Looking back again now a couple days later, it was an unbelievably tough day and just nothing went our way regarding weather which is half of cycling. But we made it and are the better for it, one thing I can say is that I will never return to that part of Nevada ever again unless it is to turn it into a giant wind farm. SS

Day 12: Milford to Cedar City. 54 miles.

After such a tough day previously, we woke gingerly in the park in Milford after an interrupted night of sleep. As we have now found out, trying to get to sleep in a small town in the middle of America on July 4th is neigh on impossible. It sounded like Syria with fireworks being let off well into the early hours of ther morning. 

After a quick breakfast on our newly purchased stove we hit the road towards Cedar knowing we had a short day on the cards. However, for what felt like the millionth day in a row, we had a headwind. God only knows when we are going to get this so called prevailing westerly wind! As a result of this, progress was slow before a stop at the next town. This quick stop soon turned into a very relaxing and lesuarly coffee break before we start our only climb of the day. This climb was nothing on anything we summited the day before but given the state of our legs after 8 tough days in the gruelling Nevada desert it was in no way easy. It was however, interrupted when we bumbed into another touring cyclist going the opposite way to us. We stopped and chatted, exchanged blogs with him as well as picking his brains on Utah and the national parks we were going to see before heading back up the hill, legs refreshed and ready to rock and roll. 

As we crested the top of the hill, a notification flashed up on my phone from BBC sport reminding me of the World Cup quarter finals which being in the desert were quite hard to follow. However, being only 30 miles from cedar we were back in phone range. We followed the Tour de France and then the Holland v Costa Rica match before arriving in Cedar before the second half, pulling into ther closest restraunt with a tv and watching Tim Krul, Newcastle united's hero on so many occasions save the Dutch. With Krul and dad's new foreign abode it was definitely the correct result and we left the Mexican restraunt stuffed full of burrito.

We thought that after such a tough week, we would reward ourself with a motel for a couple of nights so we shopped around, found the cheapest, most basic and slobbed for the rest of the evening before having a day off the next day. CS

Day 13: rest day, Cedar City.

A lie in...WOW! It was amazing! A lazy morning was spent relaxing in the hotel, I rung home for the first time in 3 weeks which mum was very relieved about before heading out to lunch and then the cinema for the afternoon. The new transformers was a very easy watch with the usual easy on the eye co-star and worth a watch if one has an afternoon free. In the evening, we got our heads bask into gear for cycling and prepared to take on the beastly cedar breaks climb. CS

Day 14: Cedar City to Panguich lake: 45 miles.

After a day off and a lie in the previous day it felt like a Monday morning at school again. It hurt to get out of bed! The motivation to leave the room wasn't the 4500 foot climb we were about to take on but the fabled McDonald's breakfast that we had heard so much about from so many different people. It didn't disappoint. 

However, the climb from cedar city or Cedar beaks national monument was nothing short of breathtaking! And it wasn't because we had to climb 4500 feet with an 8% gradisnt for the next 25 miles. Cycling thought the cannons, round the hair pins before plateauing out was spectacular and our photos don't really do the scenery justice. The vivid red, layered stone on the cannons twisted and turned up the hill with the road flicking from one side to the other before taking us round some alpine hairpins, or 'switchbacks' as they are known in local jargon and up to Cedar Breaks National monument. We had no idea what to expect from this so called national monument and I had made a serious effort to avoid looking at postcards and magazines with these epic land forms on to make them more impressive in the flesh. I could have looked at a post card for day, months and years and I would still have been speechless when first saw it. 

The amazing thing about cedar breaks is that it got better from the top, with views back down towards cedar city though the red, mars like cliff we had cycled to. Next it was time to take the touristy snapshots but just as we were about take loads of stupid selfies, the heavens opened, the thunder clapped and the lightning flashed. Off we went to the vistors centre where we got talking to some fellow holiday makers who were so impressed with our efforts they decided to give us all their fruit, Something that we have neglected in our diet over the last couple of weeks. The gave us the energy to finish taking our touristy selfies, time for me to try and get as close to a marmot as physically possible without slipping off the cliff face and plunging back down 4500 feet to Cedar City. Yes mum, I am still alive! 

Feeling more alive than normal after my little adrenalin buzz we climbed slowly for a couple of hundred feet before decending 14 miles to Panguitch lake where we thought we were going to camp. After a very late lunch at about 5 we were just thinking about heading down to the campsite before I popped into the local store and asked the owner about accomodation. He very kindly offered us his cabin for the night. At first it didn't sound much, but a roof is better than a tent so we took it. When we arrived, we were greeted by what looked like a 5 bedroom skiing chalet and after walking in it kind of was. 

We made ourselfs very comfy for the eving infront of a nice flat screen tv before we parted ways into our double beds for the night. All in all, a great day of cylcing topped off by the amazing kindness of the shop owner in Panguitch lake. CS

Day 15: Panguich lake to Bryce Canyon: 45 miles.

Coming soon...

Day 16: Bryce Canyon to Escalante River, 60 miles

Waking up in the middle of Bryce Canyon was awesome! It did however take us a little longer than usual to get on the road and finish the decent we had started the night before. 

After about 5 miles we free wheeled into a town called Tropic Where we stopped for a quick coffee and water bottle fill up before the 40 miles to Escalante. 

So off we went to Escalante passing another touring cyclist on the way out of town. This time we didn't stop though and and moved slowly on to the Escalante staircase national monument (another huge canyon). Now in England, if there was a national monument it would probably be a small, fairly unimpressive landmark. This was not! The entrance along highway 12 was breathtaking, jaw dropping and another word for mighty impressive in its own right but after climbing into it, I really was speechless! We continued on pointing stuff out, stopping for endless photo opportunities and trying to take it all in. It was all great until we realized that the only way out of the so called grand staircase was to cycle up and out the other side. Getting out of the canyon was a brutal, 1 in 3 gradients, narrow roads and hair pins to rival Alpe d'Huez. But my god was it worth it for the views at the top. Breathtaking, and I'm not talking about being knackered and out of breath after cycling up the hill. 

After a decent into Escalante, we sat out the midday heat watching the World Cup semi final between Argentina and Holland before we continued on though the Grand Staircase. 

On the way down the Escalante staircase, I decided to take a corner much faster than I should have before my wheels slipped from beneath me on the loose gravel sending me sliding along the gravel hard shoulder for what felt like an eternity. 

The result of my little slippage wasn't that bad at all, a little road rash on my left hip, side and elbow with a bigger graze on my left elbow. Thank god we only had a mile to the campsite which was to be our first night in a paid campsite. The bonus of my crash was that I was able to play the sympathy game and we managed to get the camp site for free. I suppose every cloud has a silver lining! After a wash in the creak we had a bite to eat and hit the hay. 

Photos coming soon, and it's worth having a look at them because the scenery has been awesome!

Day 7,8,9 and 10: Austin to Baker, Nevada.

Day 7: Austin to Carroll Sumit

After having a few too many beers the night before it was tough waking up at 6 in the morning, though Brad and Stacey had made us a hearty breakfast if scrambled egg and oatmeal to get us going. We said our goodbyes and went on our way with a few gifts from Brad, 3 neck coolers which were extremely useful and with Brad being a taxidermist He gave me the skin of a sheep's testicle, which I now use as my iPhone cover...

Now out into the desert once more! We left Fallon and had a pretty quick 30 odd miles to the first hill. It was hot but not too hot by this point. From the top of the 1000 ish foot climb Charles told us it was 13.5 miles to Middlegate, our Lunch stop. Those 13.5 miles were difficult, and by now it was hot! with a strong cross wind and a steady climb after a short descent my moral was low when we turned the corner into Middlegate but a hearty plate of Chips soon chered me up. Middlegate really was a wired place, a one house town as they are called with a pub that served the typical burgers and fries. we found out 14 people lived there and they were all related so you can imagine the sort of place it was. We did get a good burger in the bar and relaxed for 3 hours out of the heat and planned our next move.

Next problem was realising the two foldable 8 litre water bottles me and Charles bought had both broken and we had no way of carrying extra water out into the desert. We asked around and got given an old vegetable oil container which Charles strapped to his bike, luckily he's fit and could just about handle the extra 10kg. We had to climb to the top of Carroll summit, the alternate route that went up into the mountains instead of around then on highway 50. We went that way on recommendation from Brad. It was a really tough 20 mile climb but the 3 mile descent led us to a great little abandoned house with a little creak. Now It was time to use our new cooker that we had bought in Tahoe and we Cooked some mac and cheese with our new stove and then all passed out soon after and slept really very well seeing as we had cycles 75 miles in tough conditions. - JH

Day 8: Carroll Sumit to Austin

We slept through our alarms and had a leisurely start to the day with some more ration pack meal which was actually kind of tasty before completing the decent we had started the night before.

What greeted us as we turned the final corner of the decent was the longest, straightest road I have ever seen! It just seemed to go on for ever to the eye and cylcing on it was somewhat sole destroying as it felt like we were not making any progress. 

After what felt like an éternaty, we got extremely got extremely excited as we turned a corner and cycled back on to highway 50 before rolling into Austin, Nevada (not Texas). Like always, the first priority was food and then we made a plan. As we were ahead of schedule by 40 miles or so we didn't want to risk taking off into the desert and being caught short of a settlement when it got dark so we gave ourselfs the afternoon off and decided that the best plan of attack for the long days ahead with no services was to town hop. 

We rode up to the park to find our free camping spot for the night before bumping into another cyclist. Unlike us novices, this bloke was a pro. He had been touring for 5 years!! He started in Manchester snd went to New Zealand before flying to Argentina and cylcing up South America to San Francisco and now he is on the same route as us cycling to New York! Impressive though it was, it was slightly sad. Eitherwsy, he had some crazy storied that he told about cycling thought places that you would never dream of going such as Iran and Pakistan! If anyone thought we are mad, this bloke was on Another level.

We used the half day off to get some washing done as well as have a very long conversation with the sherif about the area trying to hide as best we could that we were 21 because of the pack of beers sitting on the park table! It was rally intresting talking to the Sherrif about Austin. He warned us about the rattle snakes which has been lodged in my brain ever since!

After, it was dinner and bed. But not before we had worked out where the sprinklers were in the park which came on at night. We guessed right snd had a dry night.

Day 9: Austin to eureka. 

Day 10:  Eureka to Ely 

We woke early again at 445 to try and beat the sun, heat and mostly the wind. However, the first thing I noticed when I opened my tent at the god earthly hour was that the wind hadn't changed direction and we still had a South westerly which meant ANOTHER cross wind!

After a quick breakie in the park with our fellow trans American cyclist Kenan who we had pursuaded to camp out by the deserted house that we had two days earlier we hit the road at 6, with a decent 4 mile climb to warm and wake us up. Hills continued to be story of the day with three more large climbs and two over 1200 feet. We roughly climb 1200 feet an hour so we spent most of the day cylcing up hill.

After slogging out the 78 miles from to the next settlement ely we arrived parched and hungry. After wandering round the slightly dodgey town, we asked the sherif where we should leave our bikes. His respeonse wasn't quite what we were wanting to hear: 'if I were you, I wouldn't be leaving my bike in the street because when you come back it ain't gunna be there.' The admittance of the truth didn't quite settle our nerves. None the less, we had cycled 78 miles snd  selling us hungry was an understatement. After looking up and down the street, the only place we could eat ( remember we are still in Nevada) was a casino so we wandered in gingerly to expecting to be turned away, it wasn't to be the case and we proceeded to spend the next hour snd a half stuffing our faces with burgers! 

Next objective: place to sleep. Realizing that we haven't actually slept in a bed since we left San Francisco 10 days earlier we decided to bite the bullet and fork out for a motel. The afternoon and evening was spent catching up with the World Cup goals we had missed before heading out again to eat.

An early night is the order of the evening as another early start is on the cards tomorrow morning to hopefully avoid the sun and wind.

Day 11: Ely to Baker.

We planned another early start this morning but that didn't quite materialize because of the sorounding comforts of a bed and a duvet. 6 o clock became 7 and everything got pushed back an hour so we ended up hitting the road later than expected after another hearty breakfast.

The going was slow to begin with and morale was at one of its worst yet due to the 20mph headwind we had to cycle into. The headwind turned into a hill and things didn't get much better until we turned a corner and got to the summit of the hill all within 100 meters. Unsurprisingly, morale went skywards and we contined on our merryish way through the desert. 

The second hill of the day was somewhat like the first with regard to headwinds although this climb was made easier by the fact that we had a light drizzle to cool us down, not that the drizzle lasted long and as we climbed higher the dry midday desert heat returned.

Towards the end of the day with five miles to go, we turned off Highway 50, the road we have been on for 6 days and 314 miles. We have ended up camping in the back yard of a cafe in baker which isn't the most scenic campsite but when your this tired it doesn't matter.

Tomorrow is going to be our toughest day to date with 84 miles through the desert with no services so we will be carrying 8-9 Letres of water.  And tomorrow will also mean the end of Nevada, which is a huge relief to be honest as it's been bloody tough. It's beautiful but very hard work and we are all looking forward to a much needed day off in Ceder City on the 5th July.  

Day 3,4,5 and 6 -placerville, Ca to Fallon, Nv

Day 3 

Day 3 began like any other, on a construction site in a rural suburb of a far out town. We packed up camp as it was our first night under the stars, then tucked into a hearty breakfast of bread, jam and peanut butter. 

On our previous blog we missed out a crucial bit about a cycling companion we picked up along the way. We met Peter while having lunch in Folsom and rode with him for a couple of days. He taught us a lot about touring cycling, not least how to rough camp.  However, it was his relaxed way of life that rubbed off on most I think.

Now back to the story...

We left before the builders turned up and headed along the highway. It was at this point we began to climb. We started the day at 1100ft and the climbs were fairly steep to start with with good twisty roads through heavily wooded valleys. There were a few quick, hair raising fast descents but these were followed always by a lot more climbing. We then we told by a local chap to go via a road called 'Slug Gulch', he said it attracted many cyclists to it so we thought we must give it a go. The reason for its popularity was the fact that it was two miles of road I believe to average about 12% (brutally steep!) This took us about 30-40 minutes to power over but when we got to the top to an extremely strange selection of houses on this ridge with incredible views, and we had lunch. 

Next came the magnificent Eldorado Forest, with an insanely huge expanse of coniferous trees going for many many miles. By now, we were so far from the beaten track that it was peaceful and relaxing for all of us. Bearing in mind we are still climbing on a much gentler gradient if about 4-6% (still uphill, but slot easier than the 12% from the morning). The best moment of the day was arriving at a sign just before Cooks Station that told us we had just passed 5000ft. Another great achievement for us and we were on course for celebrations but bad news arrived in the form of a shut shop, no food being served and getting charged $15 a pitch for our tents. We had a mad rush in our panniers to lump all the food together we had that came to a couple of packets of rasins, some penut butter and 1 slice of bread, and a slice of salami left over from lunch. We settled in for a long hungry night but as soon as we had finished our 'light supper' the owner of the shop turned up and let us run riot, buying what felt like the whole shop out of food. So in the end we weren't too hungry but it's fair to say its lesson learnt. 

FAA 

However, it wasn't the lack of food wasn't the most of our problems that night. Here are Sams thoughts of what wasn't his best nights sleep: 

We are on the undercover eating area outside, no tents just camped together with Peter outside at the rest stop, it's going well. I woke up at 2 and haven't got back to sleep yet it's 4, when hearing this loud banging in the bins just down the hill at 330. We had be forewarned of the bears around these parts but to hear it was bloody terrifying as we were offered the option of camping anywhere down the hill where this bear now was. I am still sat here sat two hours later and anxious about the thought of this bear getting onto the veranda, but no worries people Sale is the closest to the entrance, sound asleep so I should hear his scream and be able to scarper. - Sam

Day 4 

Woke up at 630 in Cooks Station for breakfast that was called 'the monster lumberjack', a vast amount of eggs, bacon, ham, hash brown, toast and sausages. Having fuelled up we began to climb and climb and climb. We were covering about 1100 feet vertically an hour which was a lot with 20-25kg on the panniers. It was made much worse with the fog that made the views disappear so quite unfortunate but still getting to Carson's Pass was an unbelievable feeling as it's the highest point in the Sierra Nevada's. 

The decent off the top was fast with Sale clocking 48 mph (76 kph) without pedalling. We didn't touch the breaks for the whole way down as it was such an open road. Although lorries passing at 70mph was fairly nerve racking. 

The views were spectacular as seen from the photos just incredibly large spaces. The pass over to the Tahoe Basin was awesome and the six miles downhill made the day worth it completely.

We went to a music festival in the evening which was great as the sunset down over the mountains. The got some beers and headed to the beach where we slept for the night. Just another unbelievable experience waking up to the sun over a lake and on the beach. 

Today we relax, running errands to prepare for the real mountains which begin shortly.

Day 4 

Woke up at 630 in Cooks Station for breakfast that was called 'the monster lumberjack', a vast amount of eggs, bacon, ham, hash brown, toast and sausages. Having fuelled up we began to climb and climb and climb. We were covering about 1100 feet vertically an hour which was a lot with 20-25kg on the panniers. It was made much worse with the fog, rain, wind and sub 5 degree temperatures. Moreover, the views were non existent in the fog which was a shame as we climbed over Carson's Pass at 8700 feet. Nonetheless, it was an unbelievable feeling as it's the highest point in the Sierra Nevada's. 

The decent off the top was fast and VERY COLD with Sale clocking 52 mph without pedalling. We didn't touch the breaks for the whole way down as it was such an open road. Although lorries passing at 70mph+ was fairly nerve racking. 

The views were spectacular as seen from the photos just incredibly large spaces. The pass over to the Tahoe Basin was awesome and the six miles downhill made the day completely worthwhile. 

With a day off tomorrow, We grabbed some beers and went to a sundowner music festival by the side of the lake.  As the festival finished, we realized that we didn't have a place tof stsy for the night so decided to crash on the beach for the night. Just another unbelievable experience waking up to the sun over a lake and on the beach. 

Today we relax, running errands to prepare for the real mountains which begin shortly.

Day 5 

This morning waking up on South Lake Tahoe beach to a look at the millpond in front if us with the sun coming up over the hills was just spectacular. We lay there for an hour or so just taking it all in and realising how awesome the last few days had been. 

Getting up we ventured into a breakfast place called The Big Bear which was great again having an great avocado, bacon and mushroom omelette topped off with some real English tea, which has taken me so long to find. The Americans love to drink weak teas which just doesn't cut it at all. So back the Bear we were just sat for a couple of hours eating, drinking tea/ coffee for the others. Sale was very keen to plan the route for the eight days ahead as the profile looks pretty horrific and services than we have had to this point so far. 

After that we went and bought a cooker as hot meals are a very appealing thing to look forward to each day when camping. It was then off to the beach where we spent the rest of the afternoon in the sun with a 'lake recovery session' in the middle. It's been about 25C today which was just ideal for all of us, back now a our hosts house trying to work the washing machine which has confused us all, google saved us and we now have fresh kit for tomorrow. 

We are probably out of signal for eight days but may get the odd hotspot about the place so the posts will become fairly scarce. 

Day 6: 

We rolled out of Tahoe at 6am today and hit highway 50, known as the longest road in America and our home for the next 1000 miles or so and as soon as we did that we the California/Nevada border...1 state down, 8 to go!

We said goodbye to Lake Tahoe and climbed gently out of the bowl that we had descended into two days beforehand and down into Carson city and intot the desert! We had expected it to hot but the realization of how hot was extremely daunting so we found the closest diner and demolished a plate a pancakes each. 

Into the desert we went, sun creamed up to the eyeballs and laden with water. We rode hard for a couple of hours before swinging into a pizza place and demolishing a rather large pizza before sitting out the hottest part of ther day trying to plan Sams future amongst other things.

Out we went again at 4 and by now it was really really hot! The mirage of the road was almost hollywoodesque, as were the dried out lakes we cycled past. However after a long snd rather slow 25 miles we arrived at our hosts for the evening, (another courtesy of warm showers) brad and Stacy were very freindly indeed with a welcome beer before taking us off to the rodeo for the evening. Unfortunately, there was no rodeo but it was a good fun none the less. A couple more beers back at brads house with bob his buddy sent to us to sleep well before things get basic for the next 7 days or so living out our panniers. Also wifi won't be too freely available in the middle of the desert so it's over and out for a couple more days.