Augusta, MT

Greetings from Augusta, Montana. My eye is feeling much better after a little medication. After spending much of Thursday sitting in the dark with my eyes closed, we joined 4 other touring cyclists for the ride to Cameron. Fierce headwinds made for a tough day. Our fellow cyclists had been riding since Virginia and said these were some of the strongest and most sustained they had experienced. The folks at the RV/Campground in Cameron were less than friendly necessitating a night camping in the local gravel pit. Pictures of this will come later.

The following day we rode on to Townsend, MT. At 95 miles, this was our biggest day yet. Everything is very spread out in this part of the country. There is nothing but miles of ranch land with towns every 30-50 miles. Our night in Townsend was less than restful. We were forced to deal with partying teenagers and frequent trains.

Yesterday, we rode into Montana's capital city, Helena. I was suprised by the size of the city based on everything else we had seen in the state. We ate lunch in the shade of a tree next to the capital and then picked up some supplies around town. The afternoon heated up considerably for the ride out of town. For the first 25 miles we gradually climbed out of the valley. The final 15 miles from Canyon Creek to the summit of Flesher Pass were pure uphill. It was a pretty tough way to end the day. We did not reach our camping spot along the Continental Divide Trail until 8 pm. Erik was so tired when he arrived at the top that he fell off of his bike. We gorged ourselves on some Annie's and passed out.

This morning started with a sweet descent, the payoff for yesterday's climb. One more crossing of the Continental Divide at Roger's Pass led to an even bigger downhill. We bathed in the Dearborn River before heading for Augusta.

We have now ridden 438 miles and are closing in on Glacier National Park. Things are going well and I am having a great time.

Jon

Into Montana

Well, we are in West Yellowstone, Montana, held up by a mysterious case of pink eye, which has rendered Natkin immobile, as his eye was nearly swollen shut.

So far we have ridden 150 miles through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, and the scenery was spectacular. We crossed the continental divide three times yesterday, climbing somewhere around 3,000 feet, and though it seemed tough at the time, it is but tiddlywinks compared to some of the mighty passes we have in front of us.

6000 miles to go...

After a week of fine bluegrass , amazing Teton views, and general horseplay, we are finally ready to depart on our journey. Tomorrow morning, Jon and I will load up our bikes and pedal towards Yellowstone on the first leg of our adventure. To date, we have raised over $4,000 for Reach Out and Read, and donations continue to come in daily.

We would like to thank all of our dear friends and beloved family, whose support and well wishes will carry us through to our goal of reaching Key West. (and Annie's mac and cheese, whose delicious products will fill our bellies and power our legs!)

Why We Ride

We are the lucky ones. The ones whose sense of adventure has been allowed to grow inside of us from an early age, fostered by books, family and friends. The challenge is to take this gift and to pass it along to others.

My close friend Jon is the embodiment of the adventurer's spirit. Over the past year, he has hiked the Appalachian Trail, moved to Jackson WY and learned to telemark ski and planned a 3 month, 6,000 mile tour around the perimeter of the country. When he called me to tell me of his plan, something inside of me clicked. After a year of helping my father launch a new company, I realized that I had strayed far from how I imagined my 20's to be. It was now time for a major realignment of life priorities, I would join the adventure.

While this trip offered an opportunity to quench the ever present wanderlust present inside both of us, we also wanted to fulfill lifelong goals to strive be a force for positive change in our communities. With these goals in mind, we opted to use our ride to raise money for an incredible charity, Reach Out and Read ( Reach Out and Reads website ),an incredible charity that works to make literacy an integral part of pediatric primary care, with a focus on disadvantaged youth. The program is incredibly effective; numerous peer reviewed studies demonstrate that children exposed to the program have increased their language test scores considerably over those not exposed, and it has the added advantage of helping parents get involved in the education of their child.

When I think back to my childhood, some of my most cherished memories are of my mother reading me a story as I lay in bed. Whether it was the adventures of Charlie in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory or Max's romp with monsters in 'Where the Wild Things Are,' reading instilled in me a sense of wonder and adventure which carries me to this day. I can think of no greater goal than to share the gift of reading with children around the country. While we ride, we plan on stopping at various clinics and meeting with children and sharing stories of our adventure, and stress the importance of literacy in everyday life. If you would like to support us, click on the link above and find the "Get Involved" tab, we'd ask that you place "ride for ROR" in "in the honor of" section.

- Erik