Monday, July 28, 2008

A day at the Northwest Cancer Summit

Today was our off day in Portland meaning I got up at 7 a.m. to head to the Northwest Cancer summit. Nick, Jon and I got on our bikes around 7:45 a.m. and headed down to the Portland Convention Center arriving around 8:15 a.m. Upon arriving we talked with a number of people before walking around to explore the vendors, picking up some breakfast from the continental spread and heading into the conference room to find a seat for the day. Sue Frymark welcomed everyone and introduced our group even though there were only three of us there at the time. We then listened to another speaker before listening to the band Wideawake play a selection of songs including “Maybe Tonight, Maybe Tomorrow” aka. the LIVESTRONG song. A bunch of our teammates showed up around 9:15 a.m. with a few more trickling in at 11 a.m. and noontime. The morning session consisted of a number of different speakers many of whom were cancer survivors with stories to tell. At around 12:30 p.m. the conference broke for lunch which consisted of boxed lunches with sandwiches, potato salad, chips, apples and brownies. We took a group photo with the organizer of the event after which many left to go out and explore Portland. A group of about five of us stayed through the presentation by Kathryn Fitzpatrick from the Lance Armstrong Foundation departing the convention center at around 3:30 p.m. I rode my bike around downtown for awhile before heading back to the church stopping by the bike shop on Sandy Ave. on the way. When I arrived at the church I found Brad outside cleaning the garbage out of the van and trying to arrange things into some kind of order. I helped him for awhile before heading across the street to Albertsons where I purchased a new pair of shoelaces for my bike shoes and ice cream for post-dinner snack. I then headed back to the church where some women from the church were preparing dinner for the team. When the majority of the team was back we started dinner which consisted of a veggie and noodle stew for the non-meat eaters and a turkey noodle soup for the meat-eaters. There were also many salads to go along with dinner including brownies and ice cream! Jill and fellow University of Illinois alum Susan ate dinner with us and then loaded a group of eight of us into their cars and took us to nearby Beaverton, Oregon for a tour of the Nike Campus where Susan works. The tour of the campus included a look at the outside of the Tiger Woods building, a stop at the track made of the soles of running shoes and visits inside the Mike Schmidt and Lance Armstrong buildings. It was almost 10 p.m. when we left the campus and around 10:30 p.m. when we arrived back at the church. I still had the ice cream that I’d bought earlier in the freezer however after already having had ice cream couldn’t come close to finishing it so I put it back in the freezer to offer to my teammates at breakfast. I then journaled for awhile before heading to bed around midnight with a 90 mile riding day to the ocean to wake up to in the morning!

The team at the Northwest Cancer Summit in Portland, Oregon

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Wild Goose Campground, Lowell, Idaho

We woke up this morning at our campsite at Wendover Campground along Rt. 12 to a chilly Idaho July day. We quickly packed up our belongings and tents so the van could be packed before opening the cereal for breakfast. After finishing our cereal and rinsing the dishes Jon introduced us all to “Peel the Banana” as this mornings Mosher before we set out on our way cycling quickly along shade covered Rt. 12.

About 6.5 miles into the ride we came to the Clearwater National Forest Warm Springs (Jerry Johnson Hot Springs). Here we got off our bikes and walked them across a foot bridge and about a mile and a half into the forest until we came to a hot waterfall pouring out of the side of the hill and into the river below. Some of the team went down to shower/swim beneath the waterfall while Andrea, Nick, Andrew, Yiming, Dana, Takaya, Xixi, Fei, Amy and I all continued on up the path until we came across a series of hot spring pools. While the air may have felt cool to start the morning the spring water was a lot warmer than the air making it an easy choice to jump into the water. We spent a few hours in the spring which I suspect was the closest thing to a bath that we will see all summer aside from swimming in lakes and rivers. The spring was also right next to a river making it easy to run back and forth to cool off. I spent about 10 minutes lying in a warm but cooler spring close to the river where I almost fell asleep it was so comfortable. At around 10:30 a.m. we decided we should probably start riding again and headed for the road. We arrived at the road to find that Amy who was driving had already left with the van but thankfully Jon had thought ahead and grabbed some granola bars for us from the snack drawer before she left as it was well beyond our normal morning water/snack break.

We got on the road and rode about 20 miles before meeting up with Amy at our first real water stop around mile 26. From there we continued on another 15 miles until lunch at around mile 38. I rode that stretch with Jon, Jay and Andrew averaging about 17 mph along the winding roads that ran aside the river. After consuming two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and refilling our water bottles Jon, Jay and I continued on our way pushing a 16 mph pace the 22 or so miles to Lowell. When we reached Lowell we stopped at the gas station where Jay bought us ice cream. We then sat outside eating it while we played “knock Connie’s water bottle over by throwing rocks at it” as other groups began to roll in. From the gas station it was a quick two mile ride to the USNF Wild Goose campground just west of Lowell.

Once we reached camp we immediately began to unpack the van and set up our five tents. Nick and Rachel then began to prepare dinner which consisted of spaghetti and sauce made over the campfire. Some people took a quick swim in the river next to the campsite while dinner was being made however still feeling clean from my morning bath, I helped to gather firewood and wash the dishes and coolers. When the food was ready we ate dinner overlooking the river with the sun still shining on it. After dinner I was still hungry so I opened a package of pop-tarts that had been in my jersey pocket all day to eat while I sat next to the river and caught up on my journal. As dusk began to fall we enjoyed Smores over the campfire a special treat which was provided to us thanks to Andrea’s mom. After brushing my teeth and securing my bag inside the van I headed down to the beach to sleep on the nice soft sand! Tomorrow we will re-connect with people again as we head to Craigmont where we have a church lined up to host us.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Hello Missoula

Hello! Today's ride took us from Hamilton to Missoula where I am typing to you from the public library. The ride was flat and short, a change from recent days and with a rest day in Missoula tomorrow will almost make it seem like we get two rest days! After getting kicked off the computer after 30 minutes of use at the library in Hamilton yesterday, my sister sent me a text saying I'd left her in suspense as to what happened next - thus I had her finish my blog over the phone last night. Thanks Kimmy!

I'm happy to report that today I did not hit any large rocks and my tires seem fine. We arrived in Missoula by lunch time and had a peanut butter, jelly and honey sandwich picnic outside the van on the lawn of St. Paul's Lutheran Church (our host in Missoula). After unloading the van I headed to the Post Office to check the status of a general delivery package my mother sent me however apparently the postal service sent it to another post office in Missoula so I will have to pick it up tomorrow. I tried to upload some photos to my Photo Album however the connection here is SLOW and inconsistent so it doesn't seem to be working very well.

I4K Girls celebrate Mustache Montana!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I'm Alive!

Hello! I apologize that it's been awhile since my last post but today marks the first time I've touched a computer since July 4th. While I can not update the world on the past 11 days in a matter of 20 minutes I just wanted to check in and say that I'm alive, doing well and have returned to somewhat normal civilization after having spent the past week or so in Wyoming and southwestern Montana free of technology! This afternoon we cycled into Hamilton, Montana and will head to Missoula tomorrow. It seems hard to believe that we are less than three weeks away from Seattle - how fast time flies when your having fun! To be honest I don't even know where to begin this post as there are so many things that have happened in the past two weeks. We have gone from the flat lands of South Dakota through the Black Hills and by Mt. Rushmore, celebrated the fourth of July in Gillette, WY climbed the Big Horn Mountains where we got to play in the snow, visited Yellowstone National Park, worked as a team to find a last minute stay over after our plans fell through in Ennis, MT and made several trips to Dairy Queen among many, many other things. I'll update you on all of this stuff in time however it would probably be easiest to just start with today.

This morning we awoke in the tiny town of Wisdom, Montana where we were staying in the community center. I heard people moving around and looked at my watch only to see that it was 4:00 a.m. and that I had an additional two hours to sleep. When my alarm finally went off I'd been laying awake for at least 30 minutes so getting up was no problem. I packed up my stuff and headed to the kitchen to put on water for the oatmeal. While I was preparing breakfast Xixi Moshered me, I tried to pass it off on Nick by handing the Mosher card to him with the team credit card (since he was driving) however as he went to put the credit card in his pocket he saw the Mosher behind it and handed it back to me. After a breakfast of oatmeal, rice and Golden Grams (all mixed with milk and maple syrup - creativity is key) we cleaned up and headed outside where I gave the daily Mosher speech. I hadn't prepared anything so I had the team form a massage circle and spoke a few words before we all sang Happy Birthday to Matt and headed on our way. The morning included a gradual climb and marked the third and final time in which we cross the continental divide. We reached the top of the climb around mile 25 before beginning our decent. I was riding with Xixi, Fei and Takaya all of whom were ahead of me. Going down the mountain around mile 29 I went around a bend where gravel and rocks sat alongside the road. Looking at the rocks on the side I paid no attention to the rock that was right in front of me and hit a jagged rock about the size of a tennis ball at about 32 mph (not something I'd recommend doing), when I saw it I knew it wouldn't be good and immediately after hitting it I heard my tire make a hissing sound and knew I'd just gotten my first flat tire of the summer. (I'd been pondering only a few miles earlier as to if I'd be able to go the entire summer without a flat so apparently I jinxed myself.) Riding in the back of my group everyone else was well ahead of me and didn't hear me yell "STOP" so I pulled to the side and quickly began to change the flat. Cell phone service which has been hit or miss the past few days had resurfaced by this point in the descent so I turned on my cell and tried to call my group to tell them that I was ok however nobody answer their phone so I began changing the flat. After a few minutes a man in a white truck pulled over to check and make sure that I was ok. I told him that I was fine and just had a flat tire and he went on his way. A few minutes later I looked up to see Takaya making his way back up the hill to make sure that I was ok. About a mile after my flat my group realized I was no longer behind them and had sent Takaya back to check on me worried that I may be hurt. Takaya helped me put the tire back on the rim and we headed down the hill. When we got to the bottom we found Fei and XiXi sitting on the side of the road. As we approached them Nick who was driving the support van pulled up to make sure we were ok. We refilled our water bottles, grabbed a snack and I re-pumped my tire before letting the van go to catch the front group for lunch. 23 miles later we pulled into Darby MT where we ate a fabulous PB&J lunch in the parking lot of a super market gas station. From lunch we quickly made our way to Hamilton where we are staying at the Big Sky Baptist church.

After unpacking the van Andrea and I headed to the post office, the library and the grocery store where we bought ingredients to make Matt a brownie banana ice cream cake. We then headed back to the church where Andrea, Dana and I made cake and heated up the Chicago style pizzas which Matt's grandfather had bought for the team. When the pizzas were done we ate dinner which was immediately followed by our brownie banana ice cream cake in celebration of Matt's birthday. We are now watching the movie Super Troopers while celebrating Mustache Montana!

That updates you on today. Updates along with pictures from the previous two weeks will come in time. Tomorrow we ride into Missoula, a short 45 mile day meaning we will be sleeping in an extra hour!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Dayton, Wyoming

We are currently in the small town of Dayton, Wyoming where we are spending the night in the high school cafeteria. Today’s ride was short and easy as we arrived in Dayton around 1:00 p.m. with a one-hour stop at Starbucks in Sheridan along the way. We departed Buffalo this morning shortly after 7:15 a.m. and rode on the shoulder of I-90 for awhile until exiting onto Rt-87 where we met up with Nick and the van alongside a creek for our first water stop. After departing the water stop we followed 87 through rolling hills until things flattened out around Sheridan where Nick was stopped outside a grocery store for water stop number two. By this point it was about 10:30 a.m. and we had already covered 40 of our approximately 60 miles for the day so Andrew, Dana, Yiming, Stephe and I decided to make a detour to Starbucks in Sheridan for tea and coffee iced drinks. We spent about an hour at Starbucks sitting outside on the patio in front of the shop drinking our iced drinks. A kind woman noticed our jerseys and gave us a small donation and before we left we strategically left a few business cards on the tables hoping someone will pick them up and check us out and donate! Everyone else had gone onto Dayton by this point so the five of us made our way out of town along 338 before crossing train tracks onto 339 and climbing a rather steep hill that led us to I-90 again. The time our ride along I-90 was brief as we descended down a hill getting off after only about two miles and riding 345 into Ranchester and then turning onto 14 that led us to Dayton. About five miles before reaching Dayton, Dana and Yiming decided to switch bikes. Because they both have smaller bikes the change worked out fine until about a mile left when Dana got a flat on Yiming’s bike. As we were fixing the flat it started to pour leaving us soaked as we didn’t have our rain gear on us. As we were getting back on our bikes after changing Yiming/Dana’s flat my chain decided to fall off my bike just as I was standing up to pedal causing me to come crashing down onto the crossbar. It was a rather painful experience and left me thankful not to be a guy as that would have hurt a bit more. When we pulled into Dayton the directions I’d been given were go to the end of town and the school would be the last building on our right. As Randall who I’d set the stay over up with told me “if you don’t see anything else, you’ve gone too far!” Dayton was indeed small as we quickly passed through it and came to the last thing before vast nothingness - the high school. When we arrived we found a number of our teammates resting in front of the school, some on the school roof and finishing lunch. We quickly ate lunch as well and then a group of us headed back to the other side of town to go for a swim in the creek as we couldn’t get into the building until 3:00 p.m. The creek was cold and fast moving but felt very good on my somewhat sore legs. After cooling off Matt, Yiming and I walked our bikes back to the school where we waited around for the doors to open at three as they were supposedly set on timers to open at that time. When the doors did not open at 3:00 I called Randall who then called the school secretary Toni to come and let us into the building. Apparently the switchboard in the main office was down causing the doors not to open. Toni let us in and gave me a tour of the building showing us where both the refrigerator and locker rooms were. We then chilled in the building for awhile, took showers and waited for dinner. Amy and Dana made a wonderful dinner of chili and rice along with garlic bread. After dinner as the football/track coach was leaving the school from his summer practice sessions he told me that we were welcome to use the school laundry facilities and showed me where they were. After dinner I rode my bike to the gas station/grocery store to buy crackers for tomorrows ride as my stash is getting low. It started raining as I was riding back to the school and when I got back I found everyone inside doing various things. I sat outside under the small overhang in front of the entrance to the school and ate my rather melted Fastbreak chocolate bar that I’d bought in Rapid City while talking to my sister on the phone for about and hour. It’s rather late and I’m now waiting for the laundry to get done so I can head to bed. I think I’ll give it about five more minute and then hang dry it if it’s not dry as I’m beginning to get rather sleepy. Tomorrow we climb a VERY large mountain!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Mail Stop in Missoula!

Hey-Happy 4th of July! It's getting late and with the fast internet connection I've been focusing on catching up on uploading photos so I'll keep this short and call my sister with a longer update tomorrow but I just wanted to let everyone know that we are going to do a general delivery mail stop in Missoula, MT. How does this work?

If you would like to send the team or a specific rider something you may mail it to the post office in Missoula via general delivery.

Thus if you were mailing me something you would mail it to...
Sandra Moxley
C/o General Delivery
200 E. Broadway
Missoula, MT 59802

*Note - you can replace my name with another riders name, just make sure the rider knows that you are sending them mail as the rider will need to be present with ID to pick it up.
Mom - the team loves MOXLEY cookies!!!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Rapid City Rest Day

Hey! After a 60 mile ride yesterday we are currently enjoying a rest day in Rapid City our final stop in South Dakota.

Yesterday's ride from Wall was rather short with the majority of our group reaching Bethlehem Lutheran Church by 1:30 pm. Upon arrival we made a quick dash to the Dairy Queen located right next door to the church (who ever planned this stay over knew the importance of ice cream!). The American Cancer Society here in Rapid City generously donated water, pickles, PowerAde mix and free kids size blizzards from Dairy Queen - which we all used on our trip to the DQ.

After unpacking the van Praveen, Matt and I headed out to look for dinner donations. After coming up short at the first few places we stopped we pulled into Domino's where the manager generously gave us 8 pizzas to feed our hungry teammates. Many people headed back to DQ after dinner to complete their daily dairy fix.

This morning Andrew, Jon, Nick and I got up and made the team pancakes as a pre-breakfast. (One box of pancake mix doesn't go as far as it use to.) I then headed downtown with Fei, Xixi, Andrea, Takaya and Yiming where we completed our breakfast at a local diner. From there we headed to the bike shop as I needed to get my bike checked out after the chain fell off three times yesterday afternoon. Upon measuring my chain I was told that it measured beyond the "needs to be replaced" mark meaning that I needed to have my chain replaced. Thankfully they were able to do it quickly and hopefully this will mean the end of my skipping, falling off chain! After visiting the bike shop we headed to the library for awhile where I uploaded some photos and started this blog. (Note: 30 minutes goes by quickly thus why I'm back here at the library 5 hours later to finish bringing you this update!) From the library I headed to the grocery store to buy some food for lunch and then went back to the church to install my new break pads and do a Portrait Project interview.

Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills and Wyoming tomorrow!