Shake Down Cruise

Endorphins + manageable adversity = Life is Good

We took a long loop ride (20 miles) to a park that's about 6 miles from home, had a lovely overnight, then took the short ride home after breakfast and breaking camp.

3 miles out stopped to fix Perry's flat tire, felt smug when we found the offending staple, and had it patched in about 10 minutes. "Hmm, it's not holding air."  This thought repeated as we found and patched all 7 holes!  More like 1.5 hours total.  Lesson learned: Neither of us remembered to pack our spare tube and it's going to be a tube a piece.

We had good sun, but battled headwinds of 17 mph with gusts to 25 mph.  Stopped in sweet town of Tumalo at Farmer John's to buy a picnic dinner, rather than our original thought of setting up camp and biking back to town for burgers.  Had a good sunny table by the river for our picnic while the hiker/biker camp "dried" from sprinklers that had been on when we arrived (makes for mass moisture under the fly).  Slept mostly warm enough under our new quilt (first outdoor test in this quilt and tent) in spite of 32 deg. overnight temps.  At dawn there were a skajillion songbirds, which Carol was sorry Perry couldn't hear.  Frost was still on the bikes when we broke camp and headed up the hill to home.

Got home in time for Perry's knee injection and a short list of minor "to-do's" that will improve our experience next time.

~Carol and Perry

Photo: not my bike, but an old gasoline engine bike in the yard where we fixed the tire.  Would love to know the story, but the locked gate and No Trespassing sign quelled our curiosity.

Everything's Jake

Here's my cheerful new mascot, representative of the other stuffed animals in our family at home. He's curious, adventuresome, and self-reliant enough that if he decides to go on walkabout somewhere along the trip I shouldn't worry about him. He loves riding on the bike, and the first time it rained a little he didn't mind a bit.

Last training ride home from work on Monday, I was not sure whether to hop on the bus at the top of the 5-mile hill or keep going 15 more miles all the way home. "I'm good", he seemed to say, and "Let's go!" With him, everything's Jake. Yesterday my legs were still recovering and I was tired; without him along pestering me to keep riding I chose to take the bus home. After all, he's not the one pushing the pedals.

Biked McKenzie Pass

Perfect day for a training ride up McKenzie Pass yesterday. Exactly 2 weeks after my PT said "wait 2 weeks for that", and just before the next system of sloppy cold weather. Here we are in front of North (Faith) and Middle (Hope) of the Three Sisters. Charity is out of sight, in more ways than one.

~ Carol

Test ride, loaded

The Perfect Flat Tire

Two weeks ago, pedaling alone uphill on the hottest day so far this year, my rear tire went flat. I had never changed a tire on this new bike without husband or son to coach and advise, but there I was by a corner of lawn under a shady tree on this quiet residential street. So I unloaded the bike and set to figuring it out. Halfway done, I declined a call from hubby to come rescue me. 45 minutes later I had everything back together, filthy hands, covered in grease marks, and started off again. By then the 87 degrees had cooled off to something much more balmy and pleasant. It was the perfect evening to continue my ride, happy and confident that I could change a flat and get the rear wheel back on through all the chain and gearing mechanisms that I still do not quite understand. No time pressure helped a lot, too. I got home at 8:00 p.m., grateful to have daylight and good weather for this perfect flat tire.

Two days ago, after pedaling up the same hill and hopping on the bus in order to get home in time for my violin students, I saw that my bike bag was gone. It had been on the bike when I left work, containing cell phone, calendar, and rain gear. Yikes! So I got off at the next stop, waited for the next returning bus, got back to the original stop, and the bag was not there. No cell phone. Violin students due in an hour. What to do?

What I did was an inventory of the present moment. I was okay; I had my wallet and my bike with me. I had choices. How important were the bag and the cell phone, to go back and search? I dislike my "smart" phone anyway, and am planning to revert back to my flip phone that actually knows how to behave like a phone. The bag could be replaced, though I am attached to the excellent and rechargeable flashing light on it that was a gift from my family. I had options. Contacting home seemed important, followed by doing what I could to find the bag. The violin students wouldn't mind a canceled lesson.

I was lucky to find a bike patrol police officer right away, who kindly loaned me his cell phone to call home. My husband's first words were, "Your bag has been returned to the security officer at the PUD where you work." I couldn't believe it! Another police officer had found it, dialed the "Home" number on my cell phone, found out from my husband where I worked, and already taken care of returning it to my workplace. What a miracle!

So I got an extra 5 miles riding back downhill to the office, retrieved the bag, refilled my water bottle, and headed with relief straight to the bus station. Another lesson in being okay with the unexpected, doing an inventory of the present moment and realizing that I'm perfectly okay right now, and figuring out the next best thing to do. I think I'll be doing a lot of that on my journey. The adventures and lessons have already begun.

Here's half of our bike team

Mark, DeeDee, Sue and Bruce on their recent shake down cruise. Way to go!

~ Perry

Another quick, fun project

My toiletry bag was not quite big enough, so I made one with some heat-laminated plastic "fabric" -- thanks to Sara Bella Upcycled, http://www.sarabella.com/, for teaching me how.  It makes the front slightly see-through.  Lightweight nylon for the back, zipper and tape from a well stocked sewing room.

Maybe later, after my bike ride, I'll make the stuff sacks for tent parts, which we'll split between us.

~ Carol

Intrepid?

I've had many people express admiration for this venture, and someone called me "intrepid". On the contrary, I'm filled with trepidation. There is so much I don't know, not having done this before: what exactly to pack; how to fit the panniers to the bike; what I can afford not to pack; what the weather will be like in July, August, and September across the Rocky Mountains, Midwest, and New England; how to get all the packing organized and decided when I get home from a training ride after work so tired, hungry, and brain-dead it's all I can do to shower, eat something, and fall into bed; how I'll fit in with a group that includes some folks who already have fast friendships and a history of bike touring together; how it will be to try to stay connected to home with limited access to the electronic grid; etc.

So I proceed in good faith with periodic meltdowns. Six more weeks until we start. Meanwhile I continue swamping out details of my job at work, documenting everything to hand off, and needing to clear off my desk and clear out the drawers of 30 years of my career there in case my desk needs to be used by someone else while I'm gone. At some point I will look forward to this trip as a vacation, but preparing for it is quite a job. I'll accept "intrepid" as a descriptor for my preparation, and we'll see whether it applies to the journey once we're under way.

Bruce (red jersey) with Mark & DeeDee on a training ride. Looking forward to meeting M&DD!

How to Prepare for a Long Distance Bicycle Tour

http://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/blog/video-how-to-prepare-for-a-long-distance-bicycle-tour/

Fun project

I just tricked out my handlebar bag to securely hold my solar charger. One of the limitations of the Suntastics sCharger-5 was no tie down points, so we got their permission to drill small holes in the edges, tied on cord loops, and sewed some Velcro tabs onto the Ortlieb bag (without compromising its waterproof virtues). Voila!

~ Carol