Author: TrailingTheSun

Leave it to Steve and Taylor to sign up for the worlds toughest Ironman. St. George is home to the triathlon with the lowest percentage of finishers. This is sure to be a gnarly experience!

While we train, you should enjoy the photos below!

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Click HERE

“Every man dies, not every man really lives.” -William Ross

Today is the 90th day of our crusade.  A 1/4th of a year ago, Steve and I left the comfort of our small town and ventured into the unknown. When would we eat? Where would we sleep? Who would we meet and how would they become a part of our story? Could we actually ride our bicycles day after day after day for thousands of miles through treacherous conditons? Could we fight the bone-chilling cold, the ferocious wind, the scorching heat, the soaking rain, the frozen snow, and the relentless hills and mountains? Could we actually spend 24 hours a day  for 4 and a 1/2 months with another person? The biggest question was: are we stong enough? Through perserverance, tough decisions, confidence, brother-hood, and pure strength, we found answers for all our questions.

Utah is truly beautiful. It’s home to the most spectacuar scenery I’ve seen, yet. Mountain sized rock faces brightly colored orange, red, and beige tower all around us. The photos I take can never do it justice. We are ants in a big big world. As we make our way along the winding road, prairie dogs run to their homes standing straight right like a soldier on duty. Never flinching. Though this has been the most delightful to-look-at state, it has also been the most energy obliterating. The hills never end & only seem to climb to the sky. The wind is relentless and has not let up since we arrived. Actually, that’s not true…the wind ceased while we slept. (pointlesss) On March 31st, as we made our way to St George, we felt like salmon attempting to swim up river. The wind was more difficult than ever before. We slowly pushed our way through about 50 miles before pulled off to the side of the road and collapsed. Exhaling deeply, I laid back against the gravel and set my gaze to the bright blue sky. For a moment I thought about where we were. It felt surreal knowing that I got where I was all on my own mental and physical strength. No one was there to hold my hand. No one helped me or told me how to do it. Steve and I did it alone. Forced into independent adulthood. “Let’s bike another hour and find a campsite”, Steve suggested. I agreed. We biked that hour through tormenting gusts, until finally we saw what looked like a nice place to set up camp. Beside a small pond filled with anxious ducks that flew away as we neared, was a small grassy field. We set up our tents and decided to climb one of the rocky mountains. We slowly inched our way up loose rock and gravel. Carefully placing our hands and feet, we made it to the top. Eyes grew wide and jaws dropped as we peered across the landscape. This was my favorite camping site yet! See our tents and bikes way down there? They looked like toy trucks. Animal tracks imprinted into the stone. We were quite high up! When we got back to our camp, we decided to build a fire and cook some rice and beans. It was our first hot meal while camping. It was succulent. Following dinner, we laid back on our sleeping pads and did some star gazing. We laughed and reminisced about our trip up to this point. April 1st began lovely. The wind had calmed and the sun was shining brightly. However, this was just an an April fools joke on us. Right as we began to pedal, the sun disappeared behind the clouds and the wind returned. I had little water on me, so I created a schedule. I wouldn’t take a sip for the first ten miles, and then I would allow a drink every 3 miles following. This day will forever be in my memory as the most brutal riding I had done up to this point. After 18 miles of climbing straight up the side of a mountain with the wind forcing us back, we pulled over. We laid out our sleeping mats and pulled out our sleeping bags. We cocooned ourselves and took a break. It felt like we had gone 50 miles. As we laid there, we saw a white cloud coming fast toward us. The temperature dropped rapidly and then it came. A bitter blizzard. We quickly packed all our gear and substituting socks for gloves we pressed SLOWLY onward. We faced the cold, the snow, and wind head on. As the snow flew into my eyes, I was blinded momentarily. 3 miles later, we took another break. We kept trudging until we hit about 23 miles up the mountain. We were only 4 miles from the summit of 9,000 + ft when a pick up truck passed by. It stopped and headed reverse toward us.  A truck full of greasy guys offered us a lift, and we decided it was the smart thing to do. The snow was coming down harder than ever. We threw our bikes in the bed of the truck along with ourselves. “This was one of the most insane experiences of my life”- Steve Kerr. I had to agree. We stood in the back of the truck climbing the mountain with ice crystals flying fast into our faces. I covered my face with my hat it became so painful. The truck flew up the mountain at an alarming rate. It was exhilarating and terrifying. Our way down the summit was the most horrifying. As the truck zipped down the curves and turns, we looked along the thin road and noticed we were above the tree line. One slip, and we would be off the mountain. It gives me the shivers just reflecting on that moment.

Finally, when we safely made it halfway down, the truck pulled over. After unloading the gear and passing out bracelets we were on our way again. The snow had subsided greatly. As we cruised down the mountain, I noticed my front wheel was acting “funky”. Turns out most of the spokes were loose…AGAIN. THIS WAS A NEW WHEEL!!! So, I guess it got damaged from being brutally loaded onto the bed of the pick up. We pulled over and Steve began digging for his spoke wrench, when a man pulled up to us. “You guys alright?”, he asked. We explained the situation and he offered to set us up in his yard for the night. He then offered to bring us to a bike shop in the morning. His name is Eric Allred. He is a kind and generous man. He raised a handful of boys and is now raising a 7 year old girl. We had fun chatting and hanging out.

Steve and I spent a lot of time in the garage for a  next to a warm fire. My partner in crime cooked us rice and spaghetti over the fire. When time came to sleep, the wind shook our tents violently and I got maybe an hour of sleep. It was brutally cold.

In the morning, Eric cooked us hash browns, eggs, and bacon. We also enjoyed some home made salsa and raspberry jam.

Now, I am off to the bike shop to see if we can’t get ourselves back on the windy road.

Thank you for reading!

“Don’t let fear stop you. If you do, you’ll never know what it’s like” -Eric Allred

Take Care,

Taylor

Today  Steve, Jen, Colin, and I took a 90 mile drive to the town of Silverthorne. With an elevation nearing 9,000 ft, my ears were popping. Jen had to do some shopping, Steve planned to cycle his way home, and I planned to do some swimming. We arrived at the rec center around 1:10. Steve quickly began his 90 mile trek home, while Jen and I created a plan for the day. I had until 2:30 to get my swim work out done, and then I would take Colin off of Jens hands so she could make her purchases without worrying about her little boy.

My workout went well! I completed 100 laps which comes out to one lap over a mile. After my workout, I met up with Jen and took Colin to the mens room to get him swim suited up. I’m getting a small dose of fatherhood. The two of us splashed around in the 1 1/2 foot swimming pool for about an hour before it was time to go. I asked Colin, the 2 year & 10 month old, “Will you remember me when you are older?” “Yes, Taylor”, he responded as if the question was a silly one.

Changing the little blondie back into his dry clothes proved more interesting than the last visit to the mens room. It was difficult for me to put on a dry diaper with him screaming for his mother the whole time. Older gentlemen chuckled as they walked by, thinking he was my own son. They offered me tips on how to best approach the situation. After he was dry and found his precious mother, the smile returned to his young face. So, begins the journey home. We stopped at a small plaza to grab a bite to eat. My eyes lit up with I saw Qdoba was among the restaurant options. The other two ate at a place called “Noodles”. Colin simply had a massive cookie.

About 20 miles from Steamboat Springs, we saw Steve in the distance. He was doing great!

After a solid work out day, I think we will sit down and enjoy a movie. As it turns out, Jen is a movie buff! We had a fun conversation discussing films on the way home.

PICTURE TIME!

1: Hot Springs- The other day, Steve, Jen, Colin, and I enjoyed these pools of naturally warm water! It was so cool. Check out that steam!

2: Steve, Colin, and Jen at Hot Springs.

3: Jen and Colin at the hot springs

4: Mushroom and vegetable root pot pie cooked by Chef Steve

5: YUM- Good job Stephen

6: Cool Colorado Sky

7: When the sun sets, it changes he color of the mountains!

So, let’s review the resume.

1: We have shown strength, endurance, and maturity while cycling across the United States.

2: We can cook delicious meals. Well, Steve can. I can cook waffles.

3: We are honest, hard working, and self sustaining.

4: We can change diapers.

So, the question that remains is: What more do girls want in men? Seriously…

Single and ready to mingle,

Taylor

Today, Taylor Thibodeau ran a marathons worth of mountains. (26.2 miles)

With elevation being at 6,700 ft and rising as I climb forward, the air is thin. My lungs are still adjusting & I find myself beathing deeply and frequently.

(Hang on…Colin just informed me: “I pooped, Taylor”. Diaper changing time again. Soon, I’ll be an old pro)

Ah, all clean. Now, where was I? Oh, yes…marathon.

I motivate myself to run long distances in quite possibly an unhealthy way. I go without running for awhile, until I begin to feel sick. I feel uneasy, because I realize that I’m slacking. Slacking is not very “iron manly” of me. This causes me to push my limits and go far and hard. Then, once I’ve gone the distance, I get comfortable. That comfortably leads to slacking, again. The process repeats. Seems to be working, though.

Today, I talked with an old friend by the name of Josiah Stinson. I really missed him. It was a great conversation and I look forward to remaining in contact!

Overall, this was a wondrous day!

Hope all your lives have adventures. If not, make the adventure!

God bless you and all you love,

Taylor

Our current audience:

First off: Who’s been reading our blog?

In the last month we have had views from the following countries:

Country
United States
Philippines
United Kingdom
France
Brazil
Canada
Germany
Australia
Denmark
Venezuela
Peru

On march 16, 2012 Steve Kerr and Taylor Thibodeau road their bicycles into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. This is their story. *play Law and Order Theme song*

The two of us awoke and prepared breakfast at the home of Zack and Desiree. The married couple had gone off the work early that morning, so we all said our farewells the evening prior. After cleaning up a bit, forgetting my flannel and Steve’s wallet, we headed out the door. Destination: mountains. We planned to meet with Steve’s uncle Ben somewhere in Denver to drop off our gear. From there, he would take his 2 year old son, Colin, to the zoo. Steve and I were able to enjoy our ride without being weighed down. On uncle Ben’s way home, he would pick us up and bring us to his home in Steamboat Springs, CO. This town lies 6,700 ft above sea level.

Like the river beside us, we flowed through the mountains. Our tires hugged the turns and the curves of the great rock faces surrounding us. We passed signs warning us of falling rocks and wildlife crossings. We also passed Buffalo Bills grave.

As the road narrowed and became increasingly more dangerous, it became apparent to us that we were on a road that didn’t allow bicycles. Then, we saw a sign that confirmed our belief.

Eventually, we were rescued by Uncle Ben! Steamboat Springs is home to some of the most breathtaking scenery I’ve ever seen. I feel so small next to all these magnificent mountains.

So, what have we been up to? Running, Cycling up mountains, and Swimming. Running out of breath fast due to the thin air makes for intense training. We’ve also been baby sitting Colin. The eccentric little man who is not yet 3 is a bundle of fun. Lot’s and Lot’s of “The Busy World of  Richard Scarry” has been watched. Steve and I also have changed our first diapers! Of all the accomplishments I’ve made on this trip, handling that situation is in my top 5.

Taylor

Moments after I published the last post, Steve informed me that we would be couch surfing. We were both delighted because it had been awhile since we took advantage of the website. We pedaled 10 miles to the home of Zack and Desiree. They are two newly wed Christians who have  gigantic hearts and a fun loving attitude. They dig board games and I was pleased to see that Jurassic Park was in Zack’s movie collection. We both agreed that Jurassic Park 3 doesn’t qualify as part of the franchise. I was glad of this. On the other hand, I was not glad that Zack told me that he will remember my name because of Taylor Swift…I paid it back by calling him ZATCH (he hates when people spell his name with a “CH”) We’ve had fun hanging out with them.

We are not surfing alone, however. We are sharing the home also with  Christyn and Hudson. They are in there early 20’s in Denver looking for work. They are a couple of cool laid back hombres.

Fun times have been had. While everyone was out doing things with their day, Steve and I walked to Qdoba and watched  a series of movies including: Tombstone, The Page Master, and Heavyweights. Overall, the day was a success. When Zack and Desiree returned home with Anna (3 year old they babysit) we went to the dollar tree. I purchased: waffles, whipped cream, trail mix, and potato chips. Can you believe it was all just 1 dollar? Soon, the house was full of people and we had a regular party going on. A picture was necessary.

So, here I am. Sitting on the couch while Hudson plays Steve’s Guitar and the other married couple plays a board game with Steve. Tomorrow begins our ride into the Rockies. I am greatly looking forward to taking a bounty of photos and videos.

I will be posting a video as soon as I have enough footage to put together. Also, I am also working on “my masterpiece”. It will take about a month to complete. Should be good! Stay tuned.

Praise God for all he has done for you,

Taylor

Dear friends,

I would first like to apologize for withholding our adventure from you for over a week now. I do put brief updates on Facebook, if you are interested. If we are not “Facebook official” plug in Taylor.Thibodeau@yahoo.com into the search bar and I’ll pop up. Shoot me a friend request!

Now, onto business. I am aware that Steve began a post a few days ago, so I’ll try not to step on any toes, here. We can all look forward to his account of events from his ride to Perdido Bay up to the train to Denver. Some pretty exciting things took place.

Also, grammatical errors may be present…just let them slide for my sake. I’m busy not caring about punctuation and run on sentences.

PART ONE: Taylor’s Reason)

The day before, I finally got around to replacing my front wheel. I also replaced my back tire. My back tire flattened about a half dozen times. With these new improvements, I expected things would be easier. I was wrong. Facing the fury of the wind once again, Steve and I struggled to make headway. With all we put in, we received  little in return. It was becoming clear that the two of us were in Florida no longer. The hills had returned, the palm trees vanished, and the rays of the sun had weakened significantly. To top it off, my back tire was acting unusual. As we rolled, I was sure I had a flat. I signaled to Steve that I needed to pull over. However, when I pressed my fingers against the rubber, it seemed full as ever. This happened several more times. Distressed from spending countless dollars on parts that would not deliver, I began to complain. Thoughts of home entered my mind. After sulking for a bit, I got hold of myself and repeated the phrase, “If this was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.” Steve checked out my back tire and thought me crazy when he saw that it was still pumped full of air. I’d have thought me crazy too. However, I know my bike, I’ve been riding it 3,000 miles. Something was different.

Some time later, while riding down a rocky road, I could feel each and every pebble push against my rim. Then, I began to lose control and swerve left and right. “Sh**!” I hollered. Though he was listening to music, he could hear me through his headphones. Whenever one of us shouts profanity, it typically means there is a flat amongst us. Without a word, he glanced at my rear tire and saw that it was indeed deflated. “This is ridiculous! I can’t go on this way…I don’t have the money and we don’t have the time! If we want to finish this trip, we may need to adjust our plans.” We changed the tube, and made an agreement. “If this tire last tomorrow, we will set up some couch surfing and proceed with our plans. We will get excited again and do it. However, if this tire fails us once again, we will take a train north to Colorado.”

As we lay in our tents that were so close together they were touching, we explored the idea of taking a train or a bus.Now, I can’t speak for Steve, but I can tell you my reasons and why I am “okay” with it.

1) From the beginning of this trip, right from the planning, I had always said, “I wouldn’t call this a ‘bike trip’, I would call this a trip with which we use a bike…because it makes the most logical sense.”

2) If we were to bike from MS to CO, it would take us at least 3 weeks. Now, I spend about 25-30 dollars on a food a day. You do the math. On top of that, I had been getting flats like crazy…that’s another 20 bucks for two spares. I just couldn’t afford it, and I wanted to reach LA.

3) We need substantial amount of stationary time to train for the Ironman. If we proceeded as we were, it would be a tremendous effort to find places to swim along the way, and we may not be ready in time. Not worth the risk!

4) I have biked over 3,000 miles. If you get directions from Boston to LA the total distance is 2,982 miles. We have done the equivalent of biking the country and more. We still have at least 2,000 miles of pedaling ahead of us. So, I am not in the least upset with my decision.

Now, I hope no one is disapointed. This is our trip, and we will do whatever it takes to finish! We are having a blast and adventure will find us anywhere. By the end of this trip, we will have cycled the equivalent of biking the country almost 2 times.

So, that’s my reasoning for doing it…I’m glad everyone is now cleared up on the matter. If we had endless time and endless money, there is no doubt we would have biked the whole way.

PART TWO: The Cops, The Bus, The Mountains)

The night before the greyhound bus left, Steve and I picked up a couple of bike boxes from the dumpster of a local bike shop. We strapped them to the back of our bikes and pedaled 6 miles to the station, so that we could dismantle our bikes bright and early and head over.

After the terrifying 6 miles down route 49 with this 5 foot long boxes strapped to our back racks, we came to a  small field and chose to camp there. Right as we were choosing where each of our tents would go, a car creeped by and put on it’s high beams causing me to squint. “Ah, man…what the heck” We headed toward the car full of people. “What are ya’ll doin”, a man asked in a delicate woman-like voice. After explaining ourselves, they suggested we try the bridge that was less than a mile. “You don’t want to camp on peoples land…they’ll just shoot you around here. We thanked them and headed for the bridge. I guess they were friends of the owner of the property we were on.

We headed for the bridge. We headed down a dirt road to a  field that lead to a bridge. We were mostly surrounded by trees. Steve was anxious. After hearing the whole “people will just shoot you” thing, he was not prepared to take that risk. Some nights I’m uptight and others, he is. It just happened to be his turn. He mentioned sleeping without his tent. He intended to just sleep on his mat with his knife next to him. I began to set up my tent, and try to bring his nerves down. Just then, a car began to pull in. The moment Steve saw it he said, “That’s it, I’m getting a motel.” “With what money?”, I let out just before the car reached us. I squinted at the vehicle, “That’s a cop car I think…yup it is.” I muttered. In the back of my mind I was excited. I knew we did nothing wrong.

“Hey there”, the cop began. “You guys have a gun?”, he asked. “No sir”, Steve and I respectfully said at the same time. “That’s good…well I do” So, what are you doing? We explained our trip. He questioned why we were on someone else’s property and why we had such big boxes with us. A moment later, his partner rolled up. All was explained and after giving him and his partner wrist bands, he left us with, “If some drunk redneck bothers you down here…just dial 911…we will be right here.”  Steve slept soundly after that.

Morning came and the strenuous task of dismantling our bikes began.

At long last the bikes were in the boxes and ready to go. Unfortunately, we seemed to overlook the fact that only one bag item would be included with the fee. Steve broke his panniers down and managed to fit everything tightly into to bags. I on the other hand, clipped 3 of my panniers together to form one monster-like bag. Hattiesburg to Jackson MS to Monroe LA to Shreveport LA to Dallas TX to Amarillo TX to Raton NM to Denver CO. Over 30 hours on buses. We left Hattiesburg, and headed for Jackson. It was 10:30 in the morning.

When we arrived in Jackson, we had an hour to kill before the next bus would depart. We both grabbed some food and waited at the front of the line. When the hour had passed, the driver unclipped the yellow plastic chain separatin the passengers from the bus and began accepting everybody’s tickets but ours. He simply ignored us. With puzzled looks on our face, we looked at him. He signaled for us to head to the back of the line. This caused an even more puzzled and even angry look. He said, “Your bikes aren’t gonna fit.” Steve and I just stood there with alarm and anger in our eyes. “How can that be? we are front in the line…and they fit on the last bus.” He continued to accept other passengers tickets and said, “The loaders pack luggage first and that’s not luggage.” I protested, “How is this not luggage?” Steve didn’t speak, and he didn’t have to. Everything he would have said was clearly seen in his eyes. The both of us took a step back to cool off and wait patiently. When all the other passengers were on, he looked at us and said, “I have two seats for you, but your bikes won’t fit.” I searched his shirt for a name, so that I could report him if need be. “Can we work with the loaders and try to fit them?” Steve said. The man didn’t answer. He continued to ignore us and do some last minute pre-departure activities. I walked over to the loading crew. “Hey there, we have two bikes here. We fit them on the last bus and we were first in line. We can’t be stranded here…can we try and fit them?”

All in all, they fit them on the bus. Steve and Taylor: 1 Bus driver: 0

I thanked the Lord.

We met a lot of characters along the way. I sat next to a couple of “gangsters” in the back of the bus. Sort of ironic there. Anyway, They offered me weed and I refused. They wreaked of sweat, dirt, and nicotine. Not much different than I with the exception of the nicotine. Some time later, I noticed they passed an erotica book back and forth called “Hot Flava”. Hilarious if you ask me.

Later, I sat next to this guy. He looks a great deal like Viggo Mortenson from the side…not so much in this photo. This is Jim Hilburn.

He raises and domesticates wolves, rides and fixes motorcycles, drive trucks, and has 15 children all in 11 years. (Hmmm…?) Apparently 3 of his children were conceived in the same week. He parties…hard.

We Arrived in Dallas at  about 10 PM. This would be our 2nd and last bus exchange. Because of our most recent experience with getting our bikes aboard, we were nervous. But all worked out well. From Dallas Texas to Amarillo Texas was over 8 hours through the night…I slept off and on laying on the back three seats of the bus. When I awoke, all I saw was flat land. Ah, this is the Texas I dreamed of!

The terrain soon began to form hills and small canyons. We saw several small herds of wild antelope.

As I was listening to my iPod day dreaming out the window, I glanced forward momentarily and returned to look out the window. Then, it hit me. “Did I just see what I think I saw?” Directly in front of me was one of the most spectacular sites my eyes have ever seen. Glorious snow covered mountains dominated the land. The beauty was so great that my eyes watered uncontrollably

Finally, we arrived in Denver after 30 hours on the bus. It was 6:45 and we had a lot of work to do. We put our bikes back together and headed 16 miles down the way to find a camp spot. The sun had set, and as the cars began to lessen, we knew we were close to a place to camp. We stopped our bikes at a high point. We looked over and saw thousands of lights. It was beautiful and oh, so quiet. A moment later, the howling and wining of a pack of coyotes echoed in our ears. I pointed to the direction the sound came from and said, “Honestly, I want to camp in there.” It was a massive prairie -like place attached to a couple bodies of water. Trees were very scarce and everything was dry.” I’m going to check it out.” “Okay, I’ll wait here”, Steve informed. I shown my light from my phone and noticed a small fence. “Is that a fence?” Steve asked. “Yeah…but I’m going to check it out anyway.” Halfway to the  scarce line of trees, I decided it was pointless since we were trespassing. I turned around and met up with Steve back on the road. Steve was shining his light on a sign. It read: “No unauthorized vehicles allowed.” Then, he shown his light on another sign which read: “Please leash all dogs.” “Wait, so this isn’t private property? I am camping here”, I declared. We pushed our bikes through the entrance and weaved through the sharp cacti. Not too much later, we were both asleep.

The following morning, I woke up to the sound of shoes running back and forth, dog collars, and quiet chatter. I checked my phone. Steve had sent me a text reading,” Gone running. Will be back in an hour”. I rubbed my eyes and unzipped my tent. As I exited, my eyes grew wide and my jaw fell. I stumbled to my feet and stared with aw at the view before me. Thunderous mountains stretched the landscape. It was as if I didn’t see these same mountains yesterday. Once again, I was filled with emotion and my eyes watered. God has such a creative mind.

See the mountains in the back?

I peered across the way and saw dirt trails leading in all directions, around the water, and over hills. Occasionally, I saw someone running, riding a bike, or walking a dog. I began to walk down one of the paths. I heard the sound of a small yelp which caught my attention. I knew it wasn’t a bird and it didn’t sound like anything I’d heard before. I looked right and then I looked left. I heard it again and again. Finally, I realized I was just a few feet from a prairie dog and his hole. I then looked out and saw dozens of holes with their hosts standing at guard near their home. Stiff as soldiers they overlooked the land. I continued my walk and just a few steps later noticed a coyote prancing down one of the trails. That’s when I decided I better get my camera.

When Steve returned from his 1 hour and 20 minute run, it was my turn to hit the trails. With the mountains all around me, I felt a part of everywhere.

See the coyote?

The rest of the day was dedicated to mostly this! With that being said, I hope you enjoy it!

Keep it real…

Hopefully a video coming soon! Got to get back to training…farewell for now.

Taylor

Click here for Disney World video!

Check out the video and the posts below! Also click apparel to see people representing our t-shirts.

 

Taylor

Click this link if you want to live!