Remembered My Boots This Year, But…

This year’s Shasta Gravel Hugger in Montague, CA is in the bag. The Olympia/McCleary/Edmonds crew this year was Brad, Makaela, Stewart, me, Lolo the pup, (Olympia), Billy, Courtney, Scott (McCleary), and Piper (Edmonds). 

The crew!

Thanks to Karlye for loaning out her 4 bike rack!

The three of us girls in the back. 

Lunch in Eugene. 

We rented the Gillis House in Yreka, a huge Victorian mansion. Here’s a few photos. Notice in each of these photos there is a bike (or two).

The game roon (2 bikes)

Dining room (2 bikes).

Foyer and bike

Front living room…and bike. 

Main floor bedroom and Stewart’s bike. 

The house supposedly sleeps 16. It slept the 8 of us comfortably with Piper and I sharing the twin beds room. 

Me and Piper’s room

Brad, Makaela, and  Princess Lolo’s room. 

Billy and Courtney’s 

Scott’s. 

The house had 4 1/2 bathrooms and two kitchens. 

The “Master”. 

The upstairs full bath and half bath. 

Main floor kitchen. 

Brad and Lolo. 

Upstairs kitchen. 

It took awhile to get the lay of the house. There were also two staircases. 

Main entry

Back stairs to the kitchen. Lolo would go up these stairs, but wouldn’t come down them. She would find her way to the front stairs. 

After a great pasta dinner, we hit the sack in preparation for the race the next day. 

This race doesn’t start until 11:00am, and that’s just the women riding the Full Hug Route (100 miles). The Full Hug men went out at 11:15. Piper, Brad, Makaela, Stewart, and I went out at 11:30 for the Half Hug Route (65 miles). Scott, Billy, and Courtney went out at 11:45 for the Handshake Route (30 miles).

Waiting our turn. 







And they’re off (photos courtesy of Scott). 

Same as last year, the group pulled away from me quickly (even though I was wearing my own boots this year). As you can see from the above photos, the weather was much much better. We even got intel from Jason that there was NO snow on the entire course (a first in all the years they’ve been doing the race)!

Last year they had shortened the course due to snow, and pushed the start back a half hour. This year we would do the whole route. Last year I was in pretty good shape. This year, not so much. My biggest ride since getting back from South America was 37 miles. 

I watched everyone pull away. I thought I might catch Piper later, but that was not to be. I passes a couple of people, but they soon passed me. Rode with one guy for a few minutes, then I stopped to take a photo (I planned to take more photos on course this year…I didn’t).

We could actually see Shasta this year!

This year we got to do the Jeep Road. It was my favorite part (no, I did not take a photo of it). It’s a rutted, rocky, big puddle section. Fun! Also much better if you are going through it alone (pick whatever line you want).

After the Jeep Road, I realized I actually didn’t have the route on my Garmin (I downloaded it, but didn’t check to make sure it was there). I wasn’t sure which way to go, so I stopped to check my phone. I was going the right way. 

Eventually came to another turn with course flaggers. Así made the corner, the guy yelled, “Now for the tailwind!” It was also largely downhill. I was flying! I came into Little Shasta, and past the cemetery. I followed the road to the left, and continued on. Awhile later, I saw a sign for Big Spring Rd. What? We already did Big Spring Rd. I stopped and checked the route on my phone. Well, crap! I was headed back to town! How did that happen??? I had a decision to make. Go back to where I missed the turn, or just give up and go back to town (I was at 34 miles)? I looked closer at the map, and could see there was a road a little way ahead that I could take to cut back over to the route. Since I was feeling good at that point, I opted to take the road over to the route. Turns out, it was where the Handshake Route had turned off from the Half and Full Routes. 

It was just a couple of miles when I rejoined the Half Hug Route. It was just at the base of the big climb. The climb was different than last year. It was pretty rutted and a bit muddy. At one point it got to steep for me to ride (remember, not in the best of fitness).

The one and only Aid Station was at the top. I had a half of a banana, and a small can of Coke. At this point I figured I had gone about 3 extra miles…no big deal. Besides, next up (or I should say down) was the big descent (the one that was completely in the snow last year). Wow, that was so much fun coming down on a dry, snow free road!

With the downhill (and the Coke), I was kind of rejuvenated…for awhile. I even stopped to take this photo!

The hills were so green!

Then the headwinds…again…only this time I was considerably more tired. Plus, at this point, I remembered the course, and how far there was left to go, in addition to the extra three miles. Only, at one point, I thought I had less than 10 miles to go when a Full Hig rider went by and said, “Only 11 more miles!” What?  Noooooo!!! That meant I was going to be doing close to 70 miles! Well, it was what it was. All I could do was keep pedaling. It also looked quite probable that I was not going to finish before the sunset. At least, the wind had died down a little bit (those who finished earlier…and by “those”, I mean everyone else) had experienced much higher winds on the last 6-7 miles. 

Finally, I came into town and dodged the last bit of mud puddles, made the turn to the finish line, and the cheering of all my friends!

Done…finally!

Instead of 65 miles, I had done 69.8. Piper and I were the only ones in our category, so she took 1st, but I won for most miles (and stupidity). Piper and I did a podium photo (and we even got prizes).

See? It was dark (and Piper is doing a great job of holding me up)!

In fact, all the Olympia/Edmonds women (and Billy) ended up on the podium. 

Makaela 2nd for Open Women Half Hug

Courtney took 1st (and she wasn’t the only one in her category).

Since I had finally finished, we were all able to go back to the mansion for some much needed food and relaxation. Jason came over with a box of his bars, and some new stuff to try. All was delicious! 

We all retired for a well deserved night’s sleep. Morning (and daylight savings time) arrived. To check out of the mansion, all we had to do was turn down the thermostats, turn off the lights, and lock the door. But by bit we all headed home. 

It was another great weekend with good friends. Although I swore while I was riding that I would not do the Shasta Gravel Hugger again, I may change my mind. At some point, I need to get everything right!

2/19-Billy has Survived and a Few Stats

It seems Billy has survived his journey in a suboptimal box. He is pretty durable. 

Nice thing about not needing to reuse the box, I can just cut it open. 

All put back together. Ready for the next adventure. 

Thank you suboptimal box for holding together. 

I’ve compiled a few stats:

Kilometers/miles ridden from Puerto Montt to Ushuaia: 2092.6kms/1300.3miles

Kilometers in Chile on the Carratera Austral: 1208.4

Kilometers in Argentina: 884.2

Total days in South America: 92

Days spent riding with forward progress: 41

Days off, not including Ushuaia: 36

Camping in Chile: 15 nights out of 44 days

Camping in Argentina: 8 nights out of 25 days (not counting Ushuaia)

The rest of the nights were spent indoors. 

If you’ve followed my previous tours, you may notice this tour was different. It was by far the most relaxed tour I’ve done. It’s also the only tour where I have lost fitness, and gained weight. However, I very much enjoyed getting to do this adventure with Alex and Markus. Their previous experiences in South America were invaluable. They made it very easy for me. And, we laughed…a lot!!! In the end, spending time with great friends while having amazing experiences is what it is all about!!! Thank you Alex and Markus for letting me tag along!

2/17-Leg Three…Home At Last!

Yep, after 40 hours of travel time, I am home!

The flight from Houston was quite fun for the first 45 minutes or so. There was a lot of turbulence coming out of Houston. Then things settled down, and it was just another boring flight. Funny thing though, of all three flights, I slept more on this one than the other two combined! I think the lack of sleep finally caught up with me. I was watching Oppenheimer on my phone, but kept falling asleep. I got the gist of it though. 

Coming into Seattle, Rainier was mostly cloud covered, but Lake Washington was clear. 

Gathering the bags went smoothly as I was able to get a cart. Of course, I had to pay $8.00 again. SeaTac is the only airport out of 7 airports where I had to pay for a cart. And $8.00 is a ripoff! 

Best part of the day was Makaela pulling up!

She took me to the airport back in November, and picked me up three months later. She is also brought me food! She’s the absolute best!!!

I haven’t taken Billy out of the box yet. The box survived Ushuaia to Buenos Aries, BA to Houston with hardly a scratch (plus 20 hours in the BA airport). I get it at Oversize Baggage in Seattle, and one of the handles is ripped, the top is only partially retaped, and there are other tears. This is all because TSA opens it! When they put it through an X-ray scanner, I don’t see why they have to open the box. Or at least they could completely tape it back up! This is why there is nothing but the bike in the box (well, that and the AirTag). I hope Billy is okay, but I’m too tired to check today. 

Can’t really see the damage. Oh, the IKEA Fracta Bag came through unharmed. It’s a pretty sturdy bag! I can definitely recommend this bag for flying with bikepacking bags. 

I will probably do a wrap up post soon, but for now I’m enjoying having had a nice long shower, and wearing different clothes!!!

Stay tuned for the stats (if you are interested).

2/17-Leg Two and I Am Tired!

After the last post, I did find another spot to crash for awhile. I was under a stairway. Almost felt like my tent. I think I slept about 1 1/2 hours. There was another cyclist sleeping not far from me. Another guy got creative and made himself a cubby with a couple of carts. Yet another guy almost seemed like he had moved in. He was there before I got there, and was still there after I left to go check in. I thought that because there was access to outside, what would stop someone from periodically staying in the airport (like in that Tom Hanks movie, only easier because you could come and go).

I went out for a change of scenery (plus, it was warmer outside). 

Finally it appeared the United counter was going to open at 5:30 instead of 6:00. But first, I kid you not, they spent a good 30 minutes arranging, then rearranging the “path” to the counters. At one point, I was talking to a young guy as we were watching them do this. We thought maybe they were arranging the maze so that it didn’t actually go to the counter. They had hidden cameras, and they were going to film all of us trying to navigate the maze to nowhere, then put it on some show. At 6:05, they quit futzing around, and opened the counters. 

“No, let’s move it over here…yeah, make that a dead end.”

Where they just put Billy on the belt in Ushuaia, I had to follow the nice lady to Oversized Baggage. Once rid of the baggage, I headed to International Departures. First stop, “Migraciones” (aka Passport Control). There were three women behind me heading to Atlanta, then California. We had a nice chat while we waited in line for quite awhile. 

Once through that, the next stop was security. Funny thing, you could take water through security, but not on the plane, even if you had bought it after security. Couldn’t quite figure that one out. 

On my way to the gate, I stopped for some food. A final couple of jamón y queso empanadas. They were good. 

I was in Boarding Group 3. I was waiting patiently for my group to be called. One of the gate crew came over and said if I gate checked my rear dry bags, I could board now. As usual, they would run out of overhead bin space. Since I didn’t really like carrying them anyway, I agreed. It was after I was on the plane that I realized my electronics were in them. No big deal for me, as I still had my big battery bank in my backpack, but you’re not supposed to check battery banks. They are supposed to be in carryon. Oh well, they had even searched the bags at the gate (but only looking for liquids). This whole no liquids on the plane thing seemed inefficient. They searched every single carryon bag before boarding. 

The flight was uneventful. I only slept in short catnaps. My pillow disappeared behind me. I was chilly sitting next to the window. Only watched one movie…Barbie. It was pretty good. 

We actually arrived quite early in Houston. Customs/Passport Control had just opened at 5:00. It was a quick breeze through that, then onto collecting the baggage. Billy came out on the carousel. Got all the bags and proceeded to Bag Drop. Had to bob and weave to get through the ropes. I did mention to the baggage guy that the battery banks were in the bag. He said it was fine. 

Final stop was to go through Security again. Now waiting at the gate for my flight to Seattle. One more to go!

1/15-16 Leg One of the Journey Home

Leg one is complete. Everything made it to Buenos Aires (of course, I knew that because I saw Billy and the blue bag get loaded on the plane).

Billy waiting to board. 

And here comes the plane! Had a moment where I was reminded of the movie “Airport” where the plane keeps coming. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. 

 I managed to be in the last row of the plane. Turns out, I was the only one in the whole row.

Nobody else in my row. 

 Yes, I did lay down across three seats, and yes, it was somewhat comfortable (not as comfy as those seats that become a bed…I’m guessing). Of course, I was right next to the toilets, so lots of people got to be envious of my ability to lay down!

Last sunset in Ushuaia. 

Goodbye Fin del Mundo!

Sunset AND Ushuaia. 

Buenos Aires

The Capitol of Argentina is quite large!

At the baggage claim in Buenos Aires, Billy came out 3rd! Yep, no oversize baggage place here! He made some pretty wide turns going along the snaking belt until he got to me. Fortunately, he didn’t knock anyone over. 

Wide load making the corners. 

I wanted to figure out where Check-In was for United, my next flight. No luck finding it, so I decided it was something to deal with in the morning (later…I mean, it was already morning, but 2:30 is a little early).

Since I have to keep my bags with me until I can recheck them, I set out to find a quiet spot for a rest. There were people laying all over, in all the chairs (of which there aren’t many), against open walls…I found an area that was strangely quite quiet. 

Just me and a bunch of carts. People would walk by periodically, even official looking people, but not nearly as much as the other parts of the airport. 

I got out my sleeping pad, and even the pump. Made a pillow out of the bag my quilt is in, took my shoes off, laid down, and draped my buff over my eyes.

 I’m not sure I slept much, but I did rest. I think I was dreaming about trains of carts going by…oh wait…trains of carts were going by. Eventually, more of the space was filled with carts. Then row by row, the cart locomotive took them all away again. 

Eventually, I had to pee, so I packed it all up, and headed back into airport central. I finally found the information booth, and there was even someone there! I asked which check-in counter would be United. The woman told me H46, but that it wouldn’t open until 6:00…PM (my flight is at 10:05pm). That means I have to lug Billy and the bag with me for, now, another 12 hours! It’s gonna be a long day! If I was wealthier, I think getting a hotel room might have been a good idea. But then again, unless I paid for two nights, I’d still have to check out probably by noon. Of course, if I was wealthier, I’d just pay for two nights. Sadly, I am not. 

So, I think I will go find another place to park it, and maybe sleep/rest some more.