Day 4: what goes down must come up

Slow start to today, but a fantastic ride nonetheless! Two instances where what must goes down must go up:

1) We got an early flat 4 miles in and broke our bike pump. Thanks to divine intervention, two wonderful people, Chavez and Irene, picked us up and took us back into town to Walmart. After some hurried patching and buying of a new pump, we started on a new route which turned out to be a blessing in itself. We left at 1:30 and got in by 7, but the route   was ten miles shorter than our previous route, and had much better roads, leading us to average above 16 miles an hour. God works in wonderful ways. What goes down must come up 

2) Our bike route was great for the first 55 miles, lots of downhill, lots of 25 miles per hour. Beautiful views and lovely weather. But what goes down must come back up. The last part of the day was mostly uphill, ending on "the beast". We were forwarned that this beast of a hill was coming by the bishop who let us stay at the chapel last night, he said a casino will signal the start of that hill. There were three casinos at the bottom of hills prior to this last one, always keeping us guessing, but we were ready and knew it was coming. And we made it! 

Special thanks to Brant (Kaitlin Lilywhite's brother) and his wonderful wife Lindsey and kids for letting us stay at his place in Albuquerque tonight. 

About to ride down into the belly of the beast:

Ten piece bucket at KFC never disappeared so fast:

Helmet hair:

Day 3: God Blessed the Broken Road That Led Us to Thoreau(pronounced "thu-roo")

First off, we thought Arizona/New Mexico was flat, hot, and that we'd have the wind at our backs pushing us east. Well, we were wrong. We've been biking uphill, freezing, fighting the wind for three days, but tonight it should stay above freezing. Yay.

Anyways, we woke up to the beautiful Rascal Flatts song (referenced in blog title) this morning (shout out to our girls) and the whole day we just were fighting to get to a little city named Thoreau. Ends up, we missed a turn yesterday, and we continued so far east there was no going back. So we looked for side roads and paths to get us to Thoreau, so from there we can ride again on the highway towards Albequerque.

We found a dirt path, and walked alongside railway tracks for over seven miles. If was beautiful, and it felt better to walk for a change. So we were grateful for the 'broken' dirt road that we followed. After we got to  Thoreau, we rode quickly to Grants. Here we stopped by the LDS chapel, and bumped into the missionaries! Who let us inside to cook a quick meal. Guess where we are sleeping tonight? Bishop gave us permission to camp on chapel grounds. 

Also, we just wanted to give a shout out to last years 'The Road to Henefer is Paved with Good Intentions' day last year with Jeff Widtfeldt. Today was very similar and frustrating. Wish he could be here with us now too!

Day 2: windy flats

A lot of wind and two flats. Didn't make it nearly as far as we planned to. But we did out bike a dog that was gunning for us. Missed Bryce by two feet. That's okay though, we had our pepper spray handy just in case. The wind changed directions in the evening, which helped a bit till we got that second flat, forcing us to set up camp 15 miles short of our destination. Arizona has cold wind and more hills than we thought possible. But we have our donuts and oatmeal for the morning, couldn't have two happier, more tired campers. We definitely miss our fiancées cooking today. Enjoy today's pictures!

Day 1: Cruise Control

Awesome first day! This morning we said good-bye to our good friend Jeff in Winslow, AZ, and starting 'on the corner of Winslow Arizona', we made our way east on I-40. 

The weather was perfect! We were so excited and just were cruising along. After eating some sandwiches in Holbrook we continued on, but at a much slower pace. There was a harsh crosswind, and there would be 5-6 mile stretches uphill with no respite. When we finally pulled into Chambers, AZ tonight, we could hardly move. After laying down, Casey fell asleep within 2 minutes. No joke. Haha! 

For Bikers:

This stretch of road has wind that blows from all over. Plan accordingly. I-40 has a good shoulder to ride. 

Day 0

A little intro, Bryce and I are biking across America from Winslow AZ to Washington, D.C.  We are raising awareness for AMP athletics, a non-profit that is raising money for kids to be able to participate in sports. Check out their website below!:

www.ampathletics.org

Biking across 'merica, building momentum for children!! Hence BAMmomentum. We chose a more southerly route in order to try and avoid the colder weather that came about as a result if leaving earlier in the year. 

Jeff offered to drive us down to Winslow. We drove the 8 hours here and found a place to crash for the night. Courtesy of team momentum, Jeff, thank you!

Also, a big shoutout to Brooke and Sabrina for awesome supportive girlfriends. Couldn't ask for better girls! 

Really excited to start the biking portion of our adventure tomorrow!