Biking Brian’s Blog

It turns out I wasn’t able to see much of last night’s fireworks display from the campsite, but judging from the sounds there wasn’t much to see. It was still loud enough to keep the cows next door mooing, though. I woke up at 1 AM with a few rain drops getting me wet. Hey,…

I was running a little late this morning, arriving at the breakfast place at a quarter past 6 – the service was a little slow since the family in the hotel room next to mine showed up before me. I was still out and on the road by 7, though. After heading out of Darby,…

I woke up at sunrise, feeling a little better than yesterday, but still stayed in the tent for about another hour, as the sun had not yet risen above the mountains to the east. The hour delay was a bad idea. By the time I had finished breaking camp, the same nasty feeling as yesterday…

No, the mileage is not a typo, especially considering this update is late, but all will be clear later… I woke up shortly after sunrise and Dave was already packed and gone – he had mentioned something about getting an early start. I walked over to the KOA Kafe for breakfast, and Phyllis and Geoff…

One thing I had forgotten to mention yesterday was that I had broken a spoke on the rear wheel. This is the first time I’ve ever broken a spoke in my life (excluding the tandem bike). Luckily the break was on a non-drive side spoke (quite unusual, actually), so it was a fairly straightforward do-it-yourself…

After breaking camp I made it to the town of Trout Creek. Not much there, but there were a couple of casino/saloons – both closed, since it was too early in the morning. There was also a cafe, though, where I had breakfast. Today had more good scenery along the Clark Fork, but I hadn’t…

After getting out of the US 2/95 logjam in Sandpoint, it was smooth sailing on Highway 200 eastbound, which would get me to Missoula, Montana in a few days, where I could rejoin my original planned route. Highway 200 has some nice views of Lake Pend Oreille before it breaks off to follow the Clark…

After riding to Walmart to pick up some stuff, I dropped the bike off at the bike shop for a badly needed cleaning. The rest of my errands could be done on foot. Despite this being a “rest” day, I still had lot to do (laundry, etc.). Sandpoint has a population of only 5,200 but…

Some days you wake up and know you’re not looking forward to riding. A couple of days ago the rain had conveniently stopped before sunrise. Not today. There’s nothing worse than having to break camp and pack a soggy tent while it’s raining. Even riding in the rain is better than that! Taking a rest…

Although there were no mountain passes, today’s ride was tougher than expected, with a big climb up out of Colville, rolling hills through the National Forest, and then a downhill to the Pend Oreille River, where it finally flattened out. This part of the Colville National Forest had a lot of interesting lakes, in addition…