As TD Sizzles at 100 Degrees Two Cyclists Chase Adventure Toward Yellowstone
Sweat-soaked Nick Thielsen of Burlington Vermont and Brendan Kaunas of Chicago take a break at the Sinclair gas station as old Sol poured down 100 degree heat near Home Depot in West The Dalles this afternoon. The pair are riding from Portland with hopes of hitting Yellowstone National Park in several days.
By Tom Peterson
The Dalles, Ore., July 22, 2026 — As the thermometer tipped 100 degrees Wednesday afternoon, two young men sat on concrete blocks outside the Sinclair gas station near Home Depot on West Sixth Street.
Their clothes were soaked with sweat after a day of climbing some of Oregon's most scenic — and unforgiving — roads.
Their loaded touring bicycles leaned nearby, outfitted with panniers bulging with camping gear and enough water bottles to battle the relentless heat.
Brendan Kaunas, 26, and Nick Thielsen, 26, had every reason to look exhausted. Just 24 hours earlier, they had landed at Portland International Airport with their bicycles packed in boxes. After assembling the bikes, they pointed their front wheels east, following the Historic Columbia River Highway over the climbs at Cascade Locks, through Mosier and up the winding Rowena Loops before rolling into The Dalles.
The pair, lifelong friends originally from the Chicago area, are headed toward Yellowstone National Park on a two-week adventure with little more than a general destination and a willingness to see where the road leads.
"The way we typically do things," Kaunas said with a laugh. "We always throw it together last minute, and it's always chaos and just no planning — very irresponsible of us."
Their annual adventures have previously taken them kayaking and canoeing through northern Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This year, they decided to trade paddles for pedals.
Their route may still change.
Wildfire smoke burning across eastern Oregon has them considering taking Amtrak or renting a car for part of the trip before resuming their ride toward Yellowstone.
"We're not out here to say we biked all the way," Kaunas said. "We're just trying every time to have an adventure."
By midafternoon Wednesday, the heat had become its own challenge.
"Oh my God," Kaunas said. "It's like 100-plus for sure."
"You just drink water all the time," he said. "You're sweating every single drop of water you take in. I've probably gone through five liters today."
Despite the temperature, neither seemed discouraged.
Instead, they talked about why traveling by bicycle offers something no car or airplane ever could.
"There's something different about the pace of the trip," Thielsen said. "When you're on a bike versus a motorcycle versus a car, you just get different layers of enjoyment from going slow."
It slows your mind down, they agreed, noting the pace is more natural to how we are supposed to be as humans rather than the go, go, go that normal life kind of brings us.
That slower pace also creates something else: conversations.
The two said one of their favorite parts of traveling is meeting people they would never otherwise encounter.
"A lot of the joy you get on these trips is talking to the locals," Kauna said. "They see you pull up on these bikes with a bunch of gear on, and they just love striking up a conversation with you. It's super cool."
Kaunas recently completed another bicycle trip from San Diego to Lake Tahoe and said the kindness he experienced along the way changed his outlook.
"Everyone's just so nice," he said. "It's way different from what you hear on the news and what you read online. It kind of renews your faith in humanity a bit when you get to experience it firsthand."
For now, the pair planned to cool off, refill their water bottles and decide whether smoke conditions would alter the next leg of their journey.
Whether they continue by bicycle, train or rental car, they agreed the destination isn't the point.
The adventure is.
