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“There is no such thing as an easy day”. Dennis Peterson, circa June 20, 2021.

True dat!! The next time you hear me say “tomorrow should be an easy day”, please slap me upside the head.

It started off great. 25 lbs less gear on the bikes. Gerty was loving it and we were rolling!

It was longish, kinda gentle ups and downs but we were slack packing. I was spending as much time in high gear as I had in low gear through the passes. This was fun!

Cruising along the Pend Oreille River. Just a slight breeze into us.

Then 50% of us saw this. It’s a long story. I’ve heard it was pretty awesome.

We even got cold, crystal clear water straight from the side of the mountain. Trust me…the best. Especially when you just cranked out 22 fun miles in an hour and a half. Maybe biking could possibly be fun?

This couple loves the water so much that they come after church and fill up gallon jugs. I’m talking 100 gallons…minimum. Pretty sure next time you buy a water at a convenience store, I know where it came from.

We rolled across the river into Newtown, WA and had some fries at McD’s. 32 miles in 2:15. It was there things changed. Obviously, not for the better.

I had expected us to ride 60 miles. At Newton I realized it was 66 miles and we had 34 left…not 28. Bad to celebrate before halftime.

We did cross into Idaho. That was good. Only about 14 (not sure) more states to go. And WA was HARD.

That 34 miles took 4 hours. Wind, long (not gentle) hills, hot. Terrible. Why am I doing this moment(s). This is the last mile plus.

456 miles and 5 passes in 8 days. That’s quite a bit for a novice biker. And I have 300 miles of mountains to go.

Cindy and Dennis offered/politely recommended I take a day off at their cabin before those climbs. I hadn’t even considered it but I accepted fairly quickly.

I feel good. My legs are much stronger. It’s hard to ride in the saddle for 8 hrs but I know I can do it. I’m hoping day off makes next 300 miles a tad bit easier.

Ride on.

Just Pete

P.S. Thanks for the Buds!!

We are somewhere. Somewhere nice. Cindy drove 60 miles to pick us up alongside the road and bring us to their cabin in Sandpoint, ID. Shower, laundry, great dinner, and several Budweisers! Talk about trail magic!

Today was one of our easier days thus far. Pretty good climb for half the day but it wasn’t ridiculously steep like the passes.

Took a little more time to check out the scenery like this waterfall.

If you have followed along with me before, you know one of my favorite things is a chair with a back. Check. Also notice the helmet hair. 3 basically corn rows that are starting to become a regular thing…even post-shower. Maybe if I carried a comb that would help.

Probably should have had a Budweiser in hand but when you have 30 more miles of riding to do, it’s really not prudent. Look at me, I may be becoming an adult!

We have been taking pics of American flags along the way. I plan on a bonus edition for July 4th of flags on display like this. I think it will be kind of cool.

We stopped today with 60 miles left to Sandpoint. Those 60 miles should be relatively easy because we’ll be slack packing. Cindy will drive us out to where she picked us up this afternoon. Our saddle bags will stay at cabin because we’ll be back there tomorrow afternoon.

This will give me a good indication of how my bike legs are. Before leaving FL, I didn’t ride with the 25 lbs of weight on the back that I’ve had for past week. Curious to see the difference as I won’t have them tomorrow. Pretty sure it will be significant.

If I failed to mention, the cabin is pretty nice!!

Fingers are still a bit odd. Not much strength in them at end of day. Had trouble plugging my charger into phone this evening. Mostly my right hand. Fortunately I’m right handed. It’s also the predominant brake hand when flying down hills.

Hoping to crush the remaining 60 miles in time to watch most of US Open final round.

Ride on.

Just Pete

The morning got off to a great start. Breakfast and it was only 2 miles away!

As we were preparing to hit the mountain, we met Bob, “The Candy Man”. He bicycled here from Sioux City, IA about 50 years ago and never rode back.

Another tough climb. 3,000’ in 15 miles. That’s 200’/mile. When hiking I think 500’ of elevation gain/mile is tough. Hiking up hill is definitely easier than biking up but I’ll take the flats and downhills on bike. Much faster!

We reached the summit of our 5th pass in 4 days. Sherman Pass at 5575’ is the highest so far. Have I mentioned that I’ve had enough of these?

From there it was downhill…mostly. We descended down and crossed the Columbia River.

We made it to Colville late afternoon and got luxury accommodations at the Stevens County Fairgrounds.

I noticed this evening that my fingers weren’t functioning properly. Struggled to cut a burrito with a knife. Had to hold in palm of hand and saw. Also had difficulty holding a toothbrush in fingers. Weird. Guessing it’s something to do with having to hold on to brakes continuously on long downhills. It definitely tires your hands out.

We’re about 120 miles from Dennis and Cindy’s cabin in Sandpoint, ID. Expecting to be there Sunday early enough to watch end of US Open. Wish us luck!

Ride on.

Just Pete

Team Gerty went big today. Got to where we hoped to get but it was way harder than I anticipated. Had to deal with another one of those things that starts with p and ends with ass. Have I mentioned that I’m really tired of those things.

Today started pretty poorly. The casino had a great breakfast menu that Dennis and I dreamt about. Problem…not open today. Devastating!

Then our navigator (me) missed not 1, but 2, turns getting out of town. 4 “bonus” miles.

Next town on the route was small and had nothing. We had no choice but to head to Tonasket. Then our luck started to change. Road construction. 1 lane with a pace car. The road crew loaded our bikes in the back of a truck and drove us 3 miles to end of 1 lane stretch. That took care of 3 of the “bonus” miles.

As soon as we arrived in Tonasket (32 miles in), we spotted Shannon’s. Breakfast we’d been searching for and the nicest people. They get lots of cyclists stopping there. It was great!

We left Tonasket about noon for Republic. 41 miles. 27 of those uphill to Wauconda Pass. Loupy Loupy was no joke joke yesterday and Wauconda was as difficult.

It was pretty hot and my water was so warm it was like drinking sand! We spotted a little restaurant a couple miles from summit. Unfortunately it has been closed for a while. We could see an ice cream machine through the window. That was a mean tease!

A couple more miles of brutal climb and we reached the summit. That’s 4 passes summitted in 3 days. Don’t try that at home.

We (primarily me) were exhausted and still had 14 miles to go. It’s usually downhill all the way from the summit. Of course, not this time. Definitely downhill but a couple of big ups thrown in to torture us.

We finally made it to Republic about 6:30PM. I am really tired and will sleep well.

Dennis thinks this first week will be the toughest part of trip. I REALLY hope he’s right. I can’t do much tougher.

One more big pass tomorrow and that will be the last for a few days.

Ride on.

Just Pete

Sometimes all you really want is a good breakfast. Some eggs, bacon, and a chair with a back. Not asking for much, is it? Yeah, we’re 0 for 3 on the road. We were able to get a breakfast burrito this AM. Tasty but not quite what we were looking for.

We did see this deer ford the stream while eating. So, that was kinda’ cool.

We ripped through 21 miles pretty quickly. Rolling hills so we could move at a good pace.

From there it was time to pedal up Loup Loup Pass. After the last 2 days, the next pass I want to hear about is a TD pass from Trevor Lawrence to DJ Chark. Touchdown Jags!!

My legs feel like they’re getting stronger until I struggle getting up a pass. A tad bit frustrating for me. Then I realize 24 hrs ago we were on the other side of those snow-capped peaks. Progress!

It was, once again, continuous uphill. You get so used to looking at the hill that sometimes it looks like it might be slightly downhill. Then you try to coast. That lasts for a couple seconds and you realize it’s still uphill!

After many rest stops (for me), we finally made it to the top.

From there, it was pretty much downhill. Scariest moment of trip heading down. No shoulder and a guardrail so you’re riding on the road. Winding road and a truck gets right behind me. Nowhere for me to get out of the way and they couldn’t pass. Didn’t really know what to do, so I floored it. Didn’t have my app going so not sure how fast I was going but it had to be about 40 mph. Obviously I survived!

We are now out of the rainforest and into a much more arid area.

We got some great trail magic at the end of the day. My high school classmate, Loren Grode, set us up with rooms at a casino in Omak. Nice digs. We had dinner with Loren and his wife, Karla. Fun and relaxing.

Thinking tomorrow might be a little less grueling so we’re hoping to do a bigger mileage day tomorrow.

Ride on.

Just Pete

We had a great camp spot last night along the shore of Lake Diablo.

Got going at 5:30 this AM. Had to make 49 miles and the first 31 were straight uphill so we had to allow plenty of time.

This probably doesn’t look steep to you but it definitely was…especially when you consider it went on for 31 miles! Good shoulder and very little traffic so that helped.

The first 26 miles was a climb of about 2,500’ to Rainy Pass at 4,500’. It wasn’t raining but that is a snowbank I’m standing on!

After that I was pretty spent and we had to climb another 1,000’ in 5 miles to Washington Pass at 5,500’. This will be my highest crossing for a while, so got that out of the way.

Dennis could really just ride circles around me going up the hill. He has me set the pace and will stop with me on those climbs. There are a lot of stops.

The final 18 miles was downhill. I’m pretty good at that. We got up to 32 miles/hour. Feels pretty fast on a bike. Probably fast enough.

We reached Mazama at 2PM. Lots of saddle time. Makes me pretty confident that, if I ever get out of the mountains, I can do some pretty big miles.

That won’t happen tomorrow. Another pretty good climb up Loup Loup Pass. Won’t be nearly as long as today’s climbs so we’re hoping to make 50-55 miles.

Feeling good physically. Recovering quicker every day.

Thanks to all for your support.

Ride on.

Just Pete

I felt pretty good this morning. My left knee is a little sore but other than that…all good.

We are definitely in the mountains now. Seeing lots of snow covered peaks.

We followed the Skagit River for quite a ways today. River is flowing fast and seeing lots of waterfalls. River is flowing downhill and we were riding uphill.

It was a lot of uphill for the first 33 miles. Not super steep but long with some downhills thrown in. I felt much better today over 33 miles than I did yesterday.

The last 12 miles was pretty much one long, steep, continuous uphill. Pretty brutal and I struggled but some nice scenery.

Even got pretty close to a nice doe!

We are camping just before the climbs up Rainy and Washington passes. We will be climbing about 3,000 feet in 30 miles. I am hoping that early in the day I can handle it but this is going to be difficult.

There are no services for 48 miles. I really have no choice but to make it.

Ride on.

Just Pete

Tomorrow I start pedaling. From now on, the blogs will come a day after my reality. Sunday is Day 1, you’ll get that on Monday. In other words, my today will be your yesterday! Got it?!!

I haven’t even started riding yet and I’m getting some serious “trail magic”.

A couple of friends in Ponte Vedra gave me some much needed assistance moving my bike around. Kris is out on her own road trip and the bike wouldn’t fit in my car so Jay Reidenbach took bike and I to bike shop to get boxed for shipping…and he had to take me to pick up the next day. I then needed transportation to the airport at 4:45 Friday AM as I checked my bike as luggage. Dill Harper happily volunteered to take me. Thanks so much, Jay and Dill!!

I am in Woodinville, WA at the home of Cindy and Dennis Peterson, my cousin. Cindy picked me up at the airport and got me to the bike shop so my bike could be reassembled. She is also taking “us” to Anacortes tomorrow AM. Thanks, Cindy!!

I say us because Dennis is going to ride about 450 miles with me to Sandpoint, ID. Really excited about this because Dennis has WAY more experience at this kind of stuff than me. If I have problems at the beginning, I’ll have some help.

About a month ago someone asked me if I was going to name my bike. What? I thought they were totally nuts!!

As I started riding more (not lots). I remembered that I talked to my stick a bunch while hiking. (Big hill coming up, Stick. Get ready to go. Etc.). Never gave it a name other than stick.

Bike is going to be an even closer relationship. Call me crazy but I’ve decided to name her. Meet Gerty!!

My Grandma Gert was one of the most amazing people you could ever have met. Funny, tough, and full of energy. Just like a bike needs to be.

We had a lot of sadness in the Peterson family in the last 18 months. We lost my cousins, Marie and Sherry, and my Aunt Pat so it all seems appropriate.

I am bawling my eyes out now so gotta quit.

Ride on.

Just Pete

I’m pretty sure that I can hike. We’ll soon find out if I can bike. I know already that there are some similarities and some obvious differences.

Hiking I can easily manage 2.5 – 3 miles every hour. Biking I think I will be able to cover 5 times that mileage per hour. Both of those activities require you to put in time. In an 8 hour day of hiking, I’ll make 20 miles. 8 hours on a bike (if that is physically possible) should get me 100 miles. One of my goals is to do at least 1 100-mile day.

The logistics are quite similar. I learned to not plan very far ahead when hiking. I just figured out how long it would take me to get to the next town (usually 3-4 days on the Appalachian Trail) and pack enough food to get me there. On the bike, I will go through many towns on a daily basis so I won’t carry much more with me than trail mix and beef jerky. Stuff I can eat on the go.

My tent and sleeping bag have been with me for 3,000 miles of hiking and they are coming along on the bike. I’ll stay in some low budget motels, will be able to stop at a few houses of friends, and sleep in my tent the rest of the time. I will guarantee you that I will not spend 36 hours in my tent during a torrential rain like I did on the AT.

It will be difficult to consume as many calories as I will burn. I think 4,000 calories is what I’ll use daily. That’s about the same as hiking. You can really eat whatever you want. Junk food is highly encouraged!

As for differences, my butt doesn’t get sore hiking! My toes were numb for the entire AT and a couple months after. Lots of pounding. I have a feeling my fingers will be numb on this ride. There is alot of your weight that is distributed to your hands and your butt.

I got the crap beat out of me through falls on the AT. Cracked my elbow, dislocated a finger, and more cuts and scrapes than you can imagine. I don’t anticipate as many incidents like that on the bike but if I do, it probably won’t be good!

I realize that I’ll be riding on roads and that there is an element of danger there not found on the AT. I appreciate everyone’s concerns for my safety. Trust me, I will do everything I can do to minimize that. I’ve got a high end helmet, brightly colored jerseys, high visibility panniers (saddle bags), and a flashing red light. Can’t do much more than that.

One final similarity. You can raise money for charities while you ride, too! Go to the pledge page on my website https://at-pete.com/pledge-information/ You’ll find a couple of new ways to contribute. We’ve already raised more that $2,000 including 171 beers in the Buy Just Pete a Bud program. That’s $684 going to the charities I’m biking for.

Thanks so much for your continuous support of my adventures.

Ride on.

Just Pete

I’m scrambling to get things organized as I’m flying to Seattle early Friday AM. Physically, I think I’m ready. I’ll have ridden 30 miles a couple of times. Only have to do that 2-3 times every day…for 70 days!

Brooke has been busy updating the web site. There’s a new Sea2Key page where you can see if I’ll be passing by your town! Sea2Key – Just Pete Hiking (at-pete.com)

We’re also ready to raise some money for our charities once again. I really hope you’re not too tired of this already. I’d say this is the last time I’ll do it but I can’t guarantee that.

I’ve got a couple of new ways to make it easier to play/pay. Buy Just Pete a Bud should be kind of fun. Especially for me!! Make sure you go to the pledge page. Pledge Information – Just Pete Hiking (at-pete.com)

I also have another request. Get all of your friends and families to follow my blog. Have them go to at-pete.com. Click follow in bottom right and enter email. Heck, just forward this email to everyone you know!! There are 315 of you now. If that number was 31,500, Budweiser would be calling me to participate in the Buy Just Pete a Bud program!

I will be doing my part by advertising on the back of my jersey as I’m riding. I’ve actually picked up a couple followers while riding out on local roads.

Your generousity and support has always amazed me. I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart.

Ride on!

Just Pete