Wisdom, Montana, to Dillon, Montana -- 66 miles

We got up and began biking at 5:15 am. The road out of town had a 360 degree view of the mountains, and as the sun came up, it illuminated the snow-covered peaks. Today’s route was mostly flat, with some rolling hills, two climbs, and few cars on the road. We hit a strong headwind and a steep hill for the 1.5 miles to Big Hole Pass - Lorraine had to walk her bike to the top. The climb over Badger Pass was longer, but not as steep. We had lunch at the top, then rode the last 17 miles to Dillon. Along the way, we met 3 bike riders who were headed west. The first guy, Jim Damico, was biking the TransAmerica Trail and then looping back around to do the Great Divide - an 8,800-mile tour! He will end up in Texas in the beginning of November to complete this fundraising trek for a memorial scholarship at a small woman’s college. The second and third riders were from the Bath area of England and were on a tandem bike. In Dillon, we went to the grocery store and camping store.

We camped at the KOA, and Lorraine cooked “Barcelona Bird,” a recipe from her “One Pot Gourmet” cookbook. Lenny did the laundry and spoke to Theresa & Gary Best about vertebral subluxation. He had an enjoyable conversation with Theresa about everything from chiropractic to voluntary simplicity and cycle touring. It started thundering, but didn’t rain. We went to sleep at 8 pm.

Darby, Montana, to Wisdom, Montana -- 58 miles

We got up at 4:15 am and packed up camp in the dark. We had chocolate muffins for breakfast, which sat like lead in Lorraine’s stomach and slowed her down. We started biking at 6 am, knowing that most of the day would be uphill. About 22 miles in, the climb became much steeper as we approached Lost Trail Pass. We climbed for 9 miles, at about a 5-6% grade. After reaching the summit (6,990 feet), we came dangerously close to going back into Idaho, but turned just in the nick of time. We climbed one more mile to the top of Chief Joseph Pass (7,241 feet). We had lunch at the summit and enjoyed a short, fast downhill. It was still 27 miles to our final destination of Wisdom.

We rode over rolling hills, and saw a couple live elk galloping through the sagebrush. We were planning on camping, but the bloodthirsty mosquitoes were keeping up with our bikes at 12 mph, and we were afraid we’d be sucked dry by morning. Of the 2 motels in town, we picked the one with no phone, no clock, sulfur-scented water, and unhealthy-looking caged coyotes and foxes in the backyard. We had burgers and huckleberry ice cream at Fetty’s Restaurant. One of the waiters, who called himself “El Greco,” kept cracking jokes and chatting with us. We were asleep in the motel by 8:30 pm.

Missoula, Montana, to Darby, Montana -- 70 miles

We left the motel before 5:00 am - most of the city was lit by streetlights, but we still used our headlight and rear flashers. We got to the town of Lolo and rode along a smooth paved bike path for about 8 miles. There was a really nice sunrise, which Lenny took pictures of. We stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom. Lenny downshifted into a lower gear but didn’t turn the crank far enough before he stopped and the gear did not change. When we left, he was backing up and forced the bike, which slightly bent the derailleur. The result was that the chain would skip in some of the lower gears. It did not incapacitate the bike, but since we were biking another big mountain pass the next day, those lower gears would be needed. We rode another 25 miles to Hamilton and stopped at the Valley Bike Shop. Tony Neaves fixed the derailleur, but Lenny didn’t want to take any chances, so he had him replace it. We talked with Randy Leavell, the owner, about bike touring, chiropractic and vertebral subluxation.

We left around noon to bike the remaining 17 miles to Darby, and it was hot riding. Lenny went into the post office in town, while Lorraine napped on the sidewalk outside. We camped at the Wilderness Motel & Campground. Lenny met Tom Allison, a logger, and got into a debate over logging. Lorraine cooked lentil stew over the range in the common area. We walked into town to get ice cream, but the shop was closed, so we bought groceries and split a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. Lorraine was looking forward to seeing elk, bears, cougars and big-horn sheep on this trip, and we saw all of them in Darby...with our faces pressed against the window of the taxidermist shop! We went to sleep at 8 pm to get an early start the next day.

Additional rest day in Missoula, Montana

We got up at 7:30 am and walked over to the University of Montana campus to “hike the ‘M’.” A dirt trail winds up the side of Mount Sentinel to the base of a giant white concrete letter “M” (which signifies the University of Montana). From the top of the trail, you also get a bird’s eye view of Missoula, Lolo Peak and the surrounding area. We took photos, and spoke to a couple from Corning, NY, whose son attends the U of M. We continued following a narrower trail above the “M”, where it became a straight and ridiculously steep push to the top of the mountain. We started up, but turned around when we couldn’t see the peak - just more and more steep climbing. Going down was probably more difficult - we took baby steps, because a twisted ankle would have ruined the Ride for Chiropractic!

We went back to the motel to shower, then met Paul & Monica Adkins at the Adventure Cycling headquarters to go for lunch. Wednesdays are “Out to Lunch at Caras Park,” with live music and your choice of food from many downtown vendors. We ate Mexican food and had time to talk with Monica and Paul about chiropractic and bike touring. They had to go back to work, and Lorraine wanted to ride the Missoula carousel - one of the fastest carousels in the country! It was the first carousel she had been on that actually had rings to grab - catch the brass ring, and you won a free ride on the carousel! Afterwards, we went to the library to check the website. When we came out, it had started raining. But by the time we went back to the motel, got our rain jackets, and began walking towards the grocery store, the sun started coming out. It was bright and sunny again when we finished shopping. We grabbed some burgers for dinner, and went back to the motel to pack the bikes for an early start tomorrow.

Rest day in Missoula, Montana

We got up at 8:30 am - Lenny made phone calls from the room, while Lorraine used the motel laundromat. We finished the journal entries for last week, then went out to have lunch, go to the library, mail packages from the post office and check out the visitor’s center. Then we grabbed our bikes and went to a bike shop to have kickstands installed. We left our bikes at the motel again, and walked to the chiropractic office of Monica Adkins. Her husband Paul works at Adventure Cycling, and they were anticipating us passing through town. We decided to stay in Missoula for another day, and arranged to have lunch with Monica and Paul tomorrow. We walked around Missoula’s downtown area, browsing in stores and purchasing some souvenirs. We had delicious veggie pizza at Zimgrino’s “Red Pies Over Montana” and went back to the motel to watch TV.

Powell, Idaho to Missoula, Montana -- 60 miles

  

 We woke up at 6 am and began biking at 7:45 am. It started drizzling as we were taking down the tent, and rained as we made our way up Lolo Pass. The route went uphill gradually, until the last 4 miles, where we climbed a 6% grade. At the top of the pass (5,235 feet), we crossed into Montana. It was cool but sunny for the downhill ride past mountains, fields and ranches.

We stopped at a National Park picnic area to eat lunch. We reached the town of Lolo by 1 pm, and the highway into Missoula became very busy with cars and trucks. We followed the route maps to the Adventure Cycling headquarters, where we signed their register, had our picture taken and enjoyed free ice cream and soda. We got some information about Missoula and checked into the Bel-Aire Motel. We were going to go to a steakhouse for dinner, but it was more expensive than we wanted, so we walked around the same blocks of town in circles, trying to pick a restaurant. We ate at the Iron Horse pub, where we had quesadillas, burgers and salad. We came back to the motel and watched TV - one of the best things about the “great indoors”!

Lowell, Idaho to Powell, Idaho -- 66 miles

We got up at 5:15 am, packed up camp, and began biking at 7 am. We rode along the Lochsa River, with a slight grade going up. There were no services along this road until we got to Powell. The weather was cooler today, and there were more trees to shade us from the sun. Lorraine had pain in her right knee, so Lenny massaged it, had her stretch, and showed her how to pedal differently to avoid stressing the muscle. 

We sang old sit-com jingles to pass the time while riding - our favorite is “Gilligan’s Island”! We arrived in Powell at 3:15 pm. There are no showers at the USFS campground, so we paid the camp store owner $6 to let us camp on the lawn and use the showers! Lorraine made pasta and sauce for dinner.

White Bird, Idaho to Lowell, Idaho -- 70 miles

We woke at 4:00 am and were out by 5 am. We used the headlights and taillights again to see and be seen. We rode along the old route 95, which has more switchbacks and a grade that is more manageable, but is 5 miles longer than the highway. It was a nice ride in the cool morning air, with sweeping views of the canyon.

After the 11-mile climb, we arrived at the top of the pass at about 7:30 am. We rode down past the open prairie, and stopped in Grangeville to buy orange juice. As we were leaving, we had a brief conversation with a local man who was amazed that we had biked up the pass from White Bird. On the outskirts of town, we met Gary Furman, who has worked at the Nez Perce National Forest Service station for the past 20 years and does lots of biking. We gave him a brochure after telling him about vertebral subluxation. The road from here was a twisty downhill, one of the most fun that we have ridden. 

We stopped in Kooskia to eat lunch and pick up some groceries. Lorraine spoke to a bike tourist from Scotland who had been on the road since May 1 and was ready to head home. The road from Kooskia followed the Clearwater River and was quite scenic. We arrived at the Three Rivers Campground at about 2:00 pm. Lenny met Jim Avey and his friend from England, Ed. Jim is 56 and a retired pipefitter from Cincinnati, Ohio. After telling them about the Ride, Jim asked for a brochure.

Lorraine met Pat Barnett and his son Mitchell when we first got here. We talked about bike touring and about vertebral subluxation. Lenny invited him over to our campsite to check out how our bikes were set up. His wife Patty came over with their 2 children and told us more about her experience with chiropractic. They have a ranch in Nez Perce, Idaho and are real nice people. Pat said he was so impressed with our commitment that he would like to make a pledge to our cause. Lorraine cooked up a concoction of rice, peppers, onions, and beans, and then we prepared for bed. The people in the camper next to us were talking so loud that we didn’t actually get to sleep until 10 pm - way past our regular bedtime!

New Meadows, Idaho to White Bird, Idaho -- 62 miles

We got up at 3:45 am this morning, and were on the road by 5 am, just as the sky was brightening. There were almost no cars on the road, but we had our headlights and rear flasher lights on to be more visible. The route was mostly downhill, with one climb at the very end, before the steep downhill into town. By getting started so early, we only had about an hour of intense sun and heat to deal with, and were finished for the day by 11 am. We stayed at Chief White Bird motel, and ate at the Silver Dollar Cafe. We had time in the afternoon to do laundry, make phone calls, and send e-mails. Tomorrow we will get an early start again to get over the steep climb - and, if we decide to wimp out, all the locals offer a shuttle to the top of the hill! We prepared everything so that we could leave by 5 am.

Cambridge, Idaho to New Meadows, Idaho -- 48 miles

We cooked our oatmeal for breakfast in the microwave and got on the road at 7 am. The route was rolling hills with 2 steeper climbs, but the big distraction was the trucks on the road. Log trucks, cattle trucks, Ford trucks and RVs all blasted past us with not much room to spare. We ate lunch before the second climb and the sun really started beating down on us. We arrived in New Meadows around 2 pm, and Lenny insisted on staying in a motel again. We checked into the Hartland Inn, and had delicious chicken and beef brisket at Sagebrush BBQ in town. Tomorrow, we will get on the road at 5 am when the sun comes up, to escape the heat of the day and finish biking by early afternoon.

Halfway, Oregon to Cambridge, Idaho -- 58 miles

  

 We got on the road at 7 am to try and beat the heat. We went through Hell’s Canyon along the Snake River, which was mostly downhill with brown mountains rising up on either side of the canyon. At Brownlee Dam, we crossed into Idaho and began a 13-mile climb that started gradually and got steeper during the last few miles. We had read that temperatures in the canyon could reach 110 degrees, and it must have been in the 90s as we were climbing. We stopped about a mile from the pass to eat lunch, and met up with Jacques and Mariejo from Paris, who are also riding cross-country. On the downhill ride, even the breezes were hot.

When we got to Cambridge, Lenny wanted to stay in a motel, so we checked into the Hunters Inn and Jack Croly, the owner, brought two cold Heinekens to our room! We had dinner at Kay’s Cafe and enjoyed the informal, friendly atmosphere. The cook asked how Lenny’s steak was, and gave the thumb’s up when he said it was perfect. One guy ordered apple pie with cheddar cheese on top, instead of ice cream. We had chocolate pie and strawberry pie for dessert (no cheese). Tonight, we are resting for more climbing tomorrow. We lost an hour with the change to Mountain Time when we crossed into Idaho.

Baker City, Oregon to Halfway, Oregon -- 54 miles

We had planned to get up at 5:00 am, but slept later and were woken by Bob Berkowitz’s phone call at 6:00 am. Had slow service but good food at the Baker Truck Corral for breakfast. Lenny talked to Debbie Epperson, the motel clerk, when we checked out, about vertebral subluxation and our website. She wanted to share that information with her cousin, who is having various health problems. Biked out of town at 8:10 am and stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. After hearing and seeing the hardships they experienced, we had great empathy for the early pioneers on the Trail!

In these modern times, it seems that bike touring is about as close as you can get to what the pioneers did 150 years ago. There is also a real camaraderie between bike tourists - the difficulty of life on the road creates a kinship and a genuine willingness to help one another out. The terrain was downhill until we reached the town of Richland. From there, we climbed for 7 miles up a 7% grade in the sweltering heat of the day. Fortunately, the downhill was equally steep! We camped in Halfway and saw a sign from Half.com about this being “the first dot-com town.” Remember hearing in the news a while ago about the town changing their name. Had a campstove dinner of lentil stew.

Rest day in Baker City, Oregon

 

We woke at around 7:30 am. Lenny started making phone calls to take care of business with his office, while Lorraine composed some e-mails to friends, and went across the road to the laundromat to wash most of our clothes. We rode our (unloaded) bikes into town to go to the post office, bike shop, library and grocery store. We checked out the Ride for Chiropractic website at the library and read all the great messages that people have added to our guestbook! When we wanted some work done on our bikes, the bike shop owner said, “I know you need it right away. Bike tourists are often a pain in the neck, but you gotta take care of them because they’re living the dream.” He was a real character. We talked to him more about bike touring - he asked us if we had done a lot of touring before and we said we had done smaller trips, but nothing this big. He commented, “It seems like a lot of people who do this are not avid cyclists - it’s like a mid-life crisis trip or something.” We had dinner at El Erradero, a Mexican restaurant recommended by the woman at the motel front desk, and had ice cream at Charley’s Ice Cream Parlor. We even considered taking a second day off, but decided to see how we felt in the morning. Went back to the motel and packed our bikes for the next day.

Prairie City, Oregon to Baker City, Oregon -- 68 miles

Got up at 5:00 am and started riding at 6:30 am to beat the heat. We went over 3 passes, with a total of 6,000 feet in climbing - 2,000 feet more than the climb at McKenzie Pass. The last pass was the hardest, with rolling hills and steep climbs. Ate lunch at noon on top of the 3rd pass, and still had 30 miles to go to reach town. The downhill ride was nice and picturesque, but we hit a strong headwind for the last 10 miles, which just wiped us out. This was definitely our toughest day. We got to Baker City at 3:30 pm, stayed at the Quality Inn, and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. By 6:00 pm, we were zombie-exhausted - we rested and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Dayville, Oregon to Prairie City, Oregon -- 45 miles

Lorraine phoned her parents from town and we got on the road at 9:30 am. Ate lunch in Mount Vernon in a public park, and spoke to a couple, Duane & Dana Diller, who were riding their motorcycle in the BMW rally. We told them more about the Ride for Chiropractic and vertebral subluxation. He was a retired eye surgeon, and was very interested in what we had to say. We gave him a brochure to follow our ride and to consider a pledge. The sun felt very hot, riding through the high desert, and we carried 2 liters of extra water. We camped in Prairie City and had an excellent dinner at a cafe in town - Lenny had T-bone steak, Lorraine had chicken & pasta.

Ochoco Lake County Park, Oregon to Dayville, Oregon -- 78 miles

We got up early and hit the road by 8:20 am. Rode over Ochoco Pass, elevation 4,720 feet, which was a fairly easy climb. People asked us about our “chiropractic” flags and we told them more about the Ride. The downhill cruise was 7 miles long with spectacular views of the valley. We stopped to eat lunch in Mitchell - Lorraine was getting stomach cramps, but felt better after we ate. 

The second climb, Keyes Creek Pass, elevation 4,357 feet, was much steeper and Lorraine was screaming all the way. The downhill ride went past tall rock cliffs and the John Day Fossil Beds. The sun reflecting on the canyon walls created beautiful pastel colors and patterns of light. We arrived in Dayville at 6:30 pm after 10 hours on the road, with 7.5 hours of actual pedaling and an average speed of 10.9 mph. We camped at the Presbyterian Church hostel.

Sisters, Oregon to Ochoco Lake County Park, Oregon -- 40 miles

We had breakfast with Jane in the morning. We hung out in town for a little while and hit the road at 12:20 pm. We biked past many ranches - the mountains and valleys were spectacular, the kind of views we had only seen before in Wild West movies! We arrived at the Ochoco Lake county park at 6:30 pm. Lorraine made a campstove dinner of butter & herb rice and teriyaki “I can't believe it's not chicken.”

McKenzie Bridge, Oregon to Sisters, Oregon -- 40 miles

We broke camp and started biking at 8:30 am. Noticed a ticking sound on Lorraine’s bike and stopped to check, but couldn't find anything - we are overly cautious now! Our starting elevation was approximately 1300 ft. It took 4.5 hours to climb the 28 miles over McKenzie Pass - elevation 5,325 feet - and 1/2 hour to descend! The average grade was 3%, and as high as 5% in some places. We rode past rocky lava fields - the last volcanic eruption from Belknap Crater was 2700 years ago.

At the top of pass, we enjoyed the view and took photos of the mountains from Dee Wright Observatory, a fort-like structure built from lava rock in 1933. In the town of Sisters, Jane Green offered to let us camp in her yard. She used to cycle tour, and was crossing the U.S. one section at a time before she hurt her knee. We talked to Jane, her carpenter Fred, and her friends Joanne and Ron about vertebral subluxation. We had barbecue ribs and chicken for dinner at Bronco Billy's (formerly the Sisters Hotel).

Eugene, Oregon to McKenzie Bridge, Oregon -- 61 miles

We enjoyed the motel’s continental breakfast and hit the road by 7:45 am. The bike route left Eugene and followed the McKenzie River, increasing gradually in elevation. We were nervous about the climb ahead, but the grade was steady and manageable. Saw newborn colts and incredibly beautiful scenery along the river - enormous trees, well-kept farms, and lush green valleys. An irate truck driver yelled at us to “Get out of the road! You're going to get yourselves killed!” 

We met up with some Adventure Cyclists in Walterville, where we stopped at the post office. Continued the comedy of errors by mailing a package which contained the wrong case for our sunglasses - now, Lorraine has 2 yellow lenses and no tinted sunglass lens. We debated staying in Blue River, but decided to get a jump-start on McKenzie Pass by continuing another 10 miles to the town of McKenzie Bridge, where we camped in the National Forest. The forest was thick and shady, and we could hear the rushing river from our campsite. However, there were no showers here - just one outhouse. A little too primitive! Lorraine cooked a gourmet campstove dinner of cheese quesadillas & salsa, and Spanish rice.

Rest day in Eugene, Oregon

We decided to spend a rest day in Eugene, so we packed our stuff, biked 6 miles into town, and checked into the Timbers Motel. Met William Watson in the parking lot, who just moved to town from Texas and will be biking in Europe in 2 weeks. Talked to him about the Ride for Chiropractic, vertebral subluxation, and becoming a chiropractor. It was raining and overcast today, but our bikes were unloaded, so it was a breeze to run errands, and Eugene is very bike-friendly. 

Ate lunch at “The Downtown Lounge,” then picked up equipment at REI and had the bike cranks tightened and front derailer adjusted. Met Amy from the Adventure Cycling group. Went to the hardware store, grocery store, and a couple more bike shops. Walked around for a while looking for a restaurant for dinner. Ended up at the Pearl Street Ice Cream Parlour & Restaurant, a neat old-fashioned place that has been serving hot fudge sundaes since the 1950s - we were the biking couple amid 5 or 6 kids’ birthday parties!

Monmouth, Oregon to Coburg, Oregon -- 57 miles

We left the motel at 11 am - Lorraine was not feeling well after eating peanut butter and a bagel. The terrain was fairly flat, and the new gearing worked well - Lorraine said that she hardly broke a sweat. We stopped to eat lunch in Corvallis, and met Erik Hawzah and Christina Hurst. They are biking the Great Divide Trail, from Montana to New Mexico, in two weeks. He works in a bike shop in Corvallis. When we reached Coburg, just outside of Eugene, it was 6:30 pm. We stayed in Kamping World RV Park.

Grand Ronde, Oregon to Monmouth, Oregon -- 28 miles

We got on the road around 8 am, with a mission of reaching the bike shop today. After biking 20 miles, 2 more spokes broke on Lenny's bike; several Adventure Cycling people helped us with the repair. We were able to ride the last 8 miles to the bike shop in Monmouth. John's Bike Shop rebuilt all 4 wheels, changed the cranks and chainrings, tuned up the bikes, and changed the bottom bracket. We bought a new air pump & spokes. He gave us a chain whip & cassette tool. The atmosphere in the store was like that in the movie "High Fidelity" - except, here bike dudes John Anthony and Ross hung out, read magazines, talked about bikes, and helped John sell bikes and do minor repairs. We spent 6.5 hours there, until 7:30 pm. It was too late to reach Corvallis, so we stayed at the Courtesy Inn motel in town and ate dinner at J's Restaurant.

Pacific City, Oregon to Grand Ronde, Oregon -- 40 miles

Kids were screaming and chasing rabbits in the campground until 10 or 11 pm last night. We woke up at 5:20 am, and broke camp by 7 am. We discovered that Lenny had lost his sunglasses. We didn't cook breakfast this morning, and had a misunderstanding about the groceries, so we stopped at a small place called Grateful Bread to eat. Lorraine says it was the best omelet she's ever had. We met Richard and Eve, and told them about the ride and vertebral subluxation. They surprised us by treating us to breakfast! Hit the road by 9 am and biked to Grande Ronde, where we stayed at the Wandering Spirit RV Park & Campground. We joined the Adventure Cycling group for a fantastic and inexpensive dinner at the Spirit Mountain Casino buffet.

Cape Lookout State Park, Oregon to Pacific City, Oregon -- 18 miles

We woke up fighting this morning - Lorraine was cranky, and Lenny was threatening to send her home. Then, we discovered we had lost our air pump, and Lenny had broken a spoke on his back wheel. Neal Brenner lent his pump and expertise to make the repair. After noon, we got on the road, and biked to Pacific City. We had lunch at Pelican Brewery & Restaurant, looking out at the ocean. Now that the weather is clear, we have been enjoying the gorgeous views from the bike route along the Oregon coast. When we were setting up camp, we met a few of the 15 riders who are on the Adventure Cycling organized tour. We decided that we should stay ahead of them, in case of any problems, until we got to a bike shop to buy an air pump. Lorraine spoke to her good friend Kara who is cat-sitting for the summer - to her amazement, Clifton has learned to open doors in the house!

Manzanita, Oregon to Cape Lookout State Park, Oregon -- 50 miles

We started biking at about 9:45 am, and met our first fellow cross-country tourer on the road. George Tregea is 72 years old, lives in Rio, and is riding his TourEasy recumbant bike to Yorktown, Virginia. We biked and had lunch together at Pacific Seafood in Bay City. He told us stories about his world travels, and we told him more about the Ride for Chiropractic. He decided to end his biking for the day in Tillamook, but we continued on to Cape Lookout State Park. There were no yurts available, so we got a hiker/biker site and camped by the ocean. On the beach, we dipped the back wheels of our bikes in the ocean and took pictures. In camp, we met another cross-country biker, Neal Brenner from Atlanta.

Cannon Beach, Oregon to Manzanita, Oregon -- 15 miles

It had started raining around midnight on Monday night and continued all day on Tuesday. We debated whether we should ride at all, but decided that we needed to press on. We rode about 15 miles over steep hills and along busy roads. The nonstop rain and the cold weather really made things miserable. In the town of Manzanita, we were looking for a motel room to dry out in, and spoke to a nice gentleman who helped us out. He told us about the yurts at Nehalem Bay State Park - round wooden cabins with a bed, couch, electricity, skylight, and space heater! We were able to dry our clothes and gear, and had a great night's sleep as well!

Astoria, Oregon to Cannon Beach, Oregon -- 30 miles

Lenny's sister Susan and her husband Mel drove us to Astoria, Oregon from their home in Lacey, Washington - a scenic 3-hour trip. Earlier that morning, Lenny had spoken to Darren Dunlap of the Daily Astorian and gave him an interview over the phone. Darren said he would meet us if he could, and expressed interest in covering our cross-country tour and writing about vertebral subluxation.

At Bikes & Beyond in Astoria, we spoke to Richard Fencsak, a freelance travel writer for the same newspaper, and told him about the ride as well. After picking up our bikes, we started our journey at 1:30 pm. We ran into our first obstacle - construction that had shut down the bridge we were supposed to cross. The alternate route was about 3 miles longer. We pulled into the Sea Ranch Campground at Cannon Beach at 5:30 pm. A great dinner at Mo's Fireside Restaurant (especially the tasty clam chowder) completed our first day on the road.

Links

In the News

Planet Chiropractic Article

Dynamic Chiropractic - Biking for Backs

Berkowitz Memorial Scholarship Goal Reached

Donate to the Berkowitz Scholarship


Bicycling

Adventure Cycling

League of American Bicyclists

Central Bucks Bicycle Club (our local group)


Chiropractic

Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic

The Federation of Straight Chiropractors & Organizations

American Chiropractic Association

Garden State Chiropractic Society

The New Hampshire Straight Chiropractic Society

Foundation for Chiropractic Education


Living Simply

Your Money or Your Life

Mr. Money Mustache

Early Retirement

Training Schedule

Oddly enough, tours longer than one week require less training than shorter ones because you can do a substantial amount of training on the road! Care to join us for a couple weeks? Here's some training tips that we use from The Essential Touring Cyclist by Richard A. Lovett.

Your training goal should be to gradually build up to a weekly mileage that will allow you to take longer day rides or easy weekend tours without additional training.

You could do the build-up in stages, stopping at one level for a few weeks before increasing to a higher level, at no more than 10% to 15% per week. Once you've reached your desired weekly mileage, the process of maintaining it is what I call "base training."

If your goal is to complete a long, single-day tour or a two-day self-contained tour in reasonable comfort (as opposed to doing so quickly), you can manage quite well if your weekly mileage is at least 125% of the distance of the ride or weekend tour.

In other words, 125 miles a week of training will support a single-day, 100-mile ride or a two-day self-contained tour of 100 miles.

But just racking up the mileage isn't enough. You can accumulate 105 miles a week by doing 15 miles every day, but that won't prepare you as well for a 70-mile trip as doing less mileage but getting in an occasional ride of at least 40 miles. You need to train for endurance and long periods of time in the saddle.

The chart below shows training schedules for weekly mileages of 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150.

Base Training Schedule
	Day
Weekly Mileage	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
50	10	rest	10	5	rest	25	rest
75	18	rest	10	7	rest	35	5
100	24	rest	8 (I)	10	rest	50	8
125	23	10	10 (I)	12	rest	60	10
150	20	10 (I)	15	15 (P)	rest	75	15
(I) = Interval Training (optional) entails repeated short sprints of up to 2 to 4 minutes. Find a way to make it fun by charging hills, dashing to stoplights, or impulsively deciding to go as hard as you can for a mile. The speed part of these workouts should be about 10 to 15 minutes.
(P) = Pace Training (optional) workouts are longer, not at a sprint, but faster than your normal touring speed. The purpose is increasing the speed you can maintain over distances of 5 to 10 miles. If you don't want speed workouts, there's no obligation. Take the speed days as easy ones and do the mileage at your normal pace.

Packing List

We'll be carrying everything on our bikes for 3 months! The list below total about 85 pounds of gear.

• Ace bandage
• Adjustable wrench
• Airline tickets
• "Alien" bike tool
• Bag balm
• Bandanas, 1 each
• Baseball caps, 1 each
• Bike tights, 1 pair each
• Books, 1 each
• Brake cables, 2
• Brochures, 100
• Bungee cords, 2
• Camera
• Can opener
• Candle lantern
• Candles for lantern, 9
• Can opener
• Cell phone
• Chain link
• Chain lubricant
• Chapstick
• Compression sacks, 2
• Cookbook, 1-pot gourmet
• Cooking mess kits, 2
• Cooking utensils
• Cooking: 2-qt. pot
• Credit cards, 2
• Cycling gloves, 2 pairs
• Cycling gloves, neoprene
• Cycling jerseys, long-sleeve, 1 each
• Cycling jerseys, short-sleeve, 2 each
• Cycling shoes
• Cycling shorts, 2 pair each
• Dental floss
• Deodorant
• Derailer cable, 2
• Duct tape, 6 feet
• Film – slide and print
• First aid kit
• Flashlights, 2
• Fleece pullover, 1 each
• Fuel bottles, 2
• Hair brush, 2
• Headlight & tail light
• Helmets, Schwinn, 2
• Hydrosocks, 1 pair each
• Insect repellent
• Locks for bike, 2
• MAC (ATM) card
• Mallet for tent stakes
• Maps from Adventure Cycling
• Matches, waterproof
• Olive oil
• Overgloves, waterproof
• Pack towels, large & small
• Panniers, front & back
• Pens, 2
• Pepper spray
• Pillows, 2
• Pocketmail e-mail device
• Polypropelene long johns
• Rain top and pants
• Razor and blades
• Ride for Chiro. tee-shirts
• Safety flags, 2
• Safety reflective gear
• Sandals, 1 pair each
• Shaving creme
• Shoe covers, waterproof
• Shorts, casual, 1 pair each
• Sleeping bags, 2
• Sleeping pads, 2
• Soap, Dr. Bronner's
• Spatula for cooking
• 4-spice container
• Spokes, 7
• Scrubber, to clean pots
• Stove, MSR Whisperlite Int'l
• Sunglasses, with 2 lenses
• Sweatpants, Polartec, 1 pair each
• Sunscreen, SPF 15
• Swimsuit, 1 each
• Swiss Army knife
• Synthetic socks, 6 pairs
• Tent, Sierra Designs 2-person
• Tent groundcloth
• Tire, spare, 1
• Tire pressure gauge
• Tire pumps, 2
• Tire tubes, spare, 3
• Toilet paper
• Toothbrush & toothpaste
• Traveler's checks
• Tube patch kits, 2
• Water bottles, 4
• Waterproof bags, 8
• Wristwatch with alarm
• Writing journal
• Ziploc bags & ties