Goodbye Peter, Hello John

9/2 72.5 miles Malta Mt to Glasgow Mt first headwind of the trip

When Peter saw this screwy dinosaur park coming into Glasgow he new his 1150 mile epic shit journey was over. After being on highway 2 for 5 days I couldn’t tell if it was tears of joy or sorrow. You’ll have to ask him.
I’ve seen a lot of Peter’s ass in the last 15 days. He always seemed to be ahead of me and best of all, he was constantly saying “this makes me happy”. His sister Heide told me that at some point he would irritate me, but he never did. 

My favorite image of Peter from this trip, is his arm raised in the air, waving as if conducting the Chicago Symphony, doing Mozart, while riding up a significant climb in the Cascades. 

He was not afraid of climbing, decending or introducing himself to strangers.  The locals seemed to gravitate to Peter, probably because he looked like he didn’t belong. It certainly could not be his charm. 

Peter has remained committed to this journey from the first day I sprung it on him in a February spin class.  He was always pumped to do each ride everyday. What can I say? Thanks Peter.

John Farrel is the guy who got me into this mess. I’ve biked with him twice, yes twice, to the Winnepeg folk festival.  We had so many stories from those two trips he wanted to ride the brain numbing 850 miles part of this trip from Glasgow Mt to Hayward Wi. John is tough, never whines and likes the meatloaf at Perkins. Looking forward to riding with you, John.

The rest of the day:

At a bar in Hinsdale Mt we saw a cyclops baby calf that was still born and that was stuffed and put on the wall above the women’s bathroom. We also were shown a dog eared photo of the actual dead calf to prove it wasn’t a Jackalope concoction.  Certainly STRANGE THING OF THE DAY.

We also met another person who knew of Matt Appleman’s bikes and had seen one at the National Handmade Bike Show. He said that Matt puts a ton of skill and care into his bikes. I agree. An Irish kid in the middle of Idaho and a guy going through Malta Mt both drooling over an Appleman bike.

Lastly Sarah, Jacie and Charlie Hurd drove 13 hours to drop off John and pick up Peter.  They are also going to support John and I during the day tomorrow, before driving the 13 hours back. What wonderful nuts I have for friends and family.