Yesterday (June 10) I saw Joey and Emmy outside Whitefish, MT. We met in Missoula, MT as we drove through on the way to the coast. Joey needed a new wheel and had to wait two weeks. They should be in Canada today, on their way to Alaska.
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Later this morning, I will head to West Glacier, MT. I staid at the Western Inn. It is about 18 miles to West Glacier. There will be climbing today. I have told that Glacier National Park is closed.
I am in Libby, MT tonight. Up and down hills all day for 51 miles. The forecast is 39 degrees tonight with a high chance of rain. Off to Eureka tomorrow.
I made it to Sandpoint, ID today. It rained almost all day. A cold windy day – Terry went home yesterday. I bought a B.O.B. trailer in Spokane and this is the first day pulling the load. I think it is loaded with 50 pounds or more. I warmshowers host, Puala Lund hailed me outside Sandpoint in the late afternoon. She initially mistook me for a rider who is now scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Another rider called and arrived later. It has bas been an enjoyable evening.
My Bianchi Volpe is in the lower left corner with the front wheel removed. It took a long time to pack. This photo is just before we left yesterday. We will be in the black hills this afternoon.
Thomas Stevens
Thomas Stevens began his bicycle ride across the USA on April 22, 1884. His ride is the first recorded bicycle ride across the United States. Riding a fifty inch Columbia, Stevens crossed America riding on a variety of surfaces. If we had been in San Francisco at the time we could have heard some say his plans were, “The impracticable scheme of a visionary.”
Stevens responds, “The first essential element of success, .., is to have sufficient confidence in one’s self to brave the criticisms.”
“So eight o’clock on the morning of April 22, 1884, finds me and my fifty−inch machine on the deck of the Alameda”. He took the ferry from San Francisco to Oakland to begin his trip. His machine was a Colombia Standard in black enamel built by the Pope Manufacturing Company of Chicago. Fifty-inch refers to the diameter of the front wheel. The back wheel would be about eighteen inches in diameter. An Englishman by birth the twenty-nine year old wheelman was fair with blonde hair parted in the center. His mustache was full. He stood 5 foot 5 inches at about 140 pounds. A picture of him standing next to his wheel shows the saddle at his shoulder with the bars at his chin.
Local readers will be interested to note that he crossed into Illinois at Rock Island, riding east through Sandwich, Plano, spending a night in both Yorkville and Naperville, arriving in Chicago July 4th. He wrote later about the good cycling on the graveled roads coming through Sandwich and Plano and some other places.
He rolled into Boston August 4th at 2:00pm. Stevens completed the first transcontinental bicycle ride. He had traveled more than 3700 miles, by wagon trail, walking railroad ties, even riding between the rails at time, fording streams, and walking fully a third of the distance.
The Boston Globe reported the following day, “His attire consisted of a blue flannel shirt, brown knickerbockers, blue stockings, canvas shoes, and a once white military helmet hat. A notebook was strapped to the head of his machine. His clothing showed unmistakable signs of hard usage. His knickerbockers have been replaced many times.”
After a layover Stevens did continue around the world completing his trip Friday, January 6th, 1887 in San Francisco. You can read about his travels in his book Around the World on a Bicycle. It is available at Project Gutenberg.
Northern Ireland’s playwright Stewart Parker once wrote, “The bicycle hides nothing and threatens nothing. It is what it does, its form is its function.” – Stewart Parker, Spokesong
Have fun. Go ride your bike!
The Ride Starts in 7 weeks. Watch for updates.