Craig Hamnett

I’m sore, I’m aching, I’m hurting in places that haven’t hurt for a long time, but I can’t put into words how elated and ecstatic I am at reaching Salt Lake City this evening.

This week has been a massive personal battle. The lows of yesterday were really kicked into touch today. It was emotional, I had to hold back tears of happiness and joy coming down the final hill, and that’s that something I’ve had to do often. Not because I’m never happy, but because today was such a stark contrast to yesterday. Continue reading →

I forgot to check my list of what to avoid pitching near. The sprinklers went off at 7am and I wasn’t amused. In fact I was so bemused that I went back to sleep and didn’t reappear till 11. I had a feeling my body would try and recover from yesterdays century.

Exploring Little America I discovered there wasn’t all too much to do. I still managed my gentleman’s wash and ordered some hot dogs. Naturally they were over priced for a small stop in the middle of nowhere. I got talking to a couple of people and returned to my tent at 1pm. Continue reading →

As Kerry had to be up at 5:30 to go to work, it seemed like as good of an excuse as any to get up early for once and do a solid day of riding. A potential century might even be on the cards!

After more chatting, Kerry insisted on paying for breakfast in the nearby cafe and wouldn’t accept no for an answer. With a few parting photos I went to go and stuff my face with some American bacon, sausages, hash browns, eggs and pancakes. That’ll keep me going for a few miles. Continue reading →

Anyone who knows me knows how much I like to sleep, so as you can imagine I enjoyed the extra hour in bed without being disturbed by the cleaners. I’ve also learned to use those “Do not disturb” signs after a couple of close incidents.

I went and had my complimentary breakfast and tried the diners new Strawberry Cheesecake milkshake. It most certainly brought me to the yard, it even had a dollop of jam (jelly – crazy Americans) in the bottom of the glass. Continue reading →

I should add sprinklers to my list of things not to pitch a tent next to. There’s nothing quite like being confused first thing in the morning. I was annoyed that it was raining today, then laughing because it was just the sprinklers, then annoyed again because I now had to dry the tent.

Another annoyance was that I had found out I had another broken spoke on my rear wheel. This was a wheel that I got in Grinell, Iowa, and the difference between this one (apart from the hub) is that it has 32 spokes as opposed to 36. With 36 spokes I had none break for 1,500 miles. With 32 I’ve had 2 break in 1,000 miles. You do the math. Continue reading →

There have been a couple of people unsure if I will still make it to Los Angeles by the 28th July. I wanted to make a schedule of major points I want to reach by certain dates. The first one is Salt Lake City – 409 miles away from Casper by Sunday night. That gives myself 6 days of riding.

The initial route down to Rawlins is not only 2 days ride away, but only has one other tiny settling along the way called Alcova. As a result I made sure I stocked up on food at Walmart. I also topped up on a few wash kit supplies and treated myself to a new bike seat cover. My awesome stitching effort was coming undone but I wanted something a bit more weatherproof. Continue reading →

You may come from Google loooking for the answer to the blog post. Yes, you can ride the interstate in the following: Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Back to the trip…

The ringing of the phone woke me up at 9:30. I cleared my throat and answered. Tina and Jim were a few minutes away. Putting some freshly washed clothes on I waited in the lobby to meet them and return the phone. Continue reading →