Why I Love to Ride

On Monday of this week I rode out to Kutztown, Topton and back through the rolling Pennsylvania countryside.  It was a nice ride which allowed me to think about what I enjoy about bike riding and especially bike touring.

Bike touring engages all of your senses.  Traveling by bike you see everything more slowly allowing you to observe much more.  You feel the air, cool or warm, dry or damp.  You hear the birds, the gurgling streams, the livestock - even the motor vehicles, key to self preservation.  You smell the scent of honeysuckle, fresh plowed fields, barnyards.  Once in a while you even get to taste an unfortunately placed bug - yuck!

During my ride I saw a flock of five guinea hens running alongside the road, perhaps residents of the nearby farm?  I saw a large white-bellied hawk sitting on a high limb of a bare tree - looking for his next meal, no doubt.

To top off the experience, as I was riding back from Kutztown through the farmlands I came upon a farm tractor pulling an open trailer filled with manure.  I laid back a couple hundred feet, not anxious to absorb the full experience.  But there was no doubt as to the contents of the trailer.  Fortunately within about a quarter mile the farmer pulled the tractor off the road.  Then he started the giant corkscrew turning at the back of the trailer, depositing its contents onto the field as he went. 

Now that's not something you get to fully experience as you fly down the highway in your car or RV.  Just a reminder of why I love to ride.

No riding this weekend - instead, A Wedding!

Me with Kari and Josh

Less than one week to the start of my ride, but I didn't ride this weekend.  I had a much more important commitment.  My wife and I flew to Houston on Friday for the wedding of my daughter on Saturday.  It was a great day.  Everything about the occasion was perfect, the ceremony, the church, the reception, the weather - and the bride was exceptionally beautiful!  (The groom was quite handsome, too).  :-)  I walked her down the aisle and "gave her away", but I know she's in good hands.  Josh is a great guy and we're thrilled for both of them.

I owe a special thanks to Kari and Josh for working out their plans around mine.  I was thrilled to walk Kari down the aisle and am thankful they picked a date which allowed me to be a part of it without having to interrupt my trip.

Now my focus shifts back to the ride.  I'll get in a few more training rides this week, plus finalizing the packing, travel arrangements and all the last minute details.  I'm excited, anxious, a bit apprehensive but ready to get going - the sooner the better!

Keep watching and reading while I wrap up the preliminaries and I get rolling for real next weekend.

Short miles, lots of climbing

Because I had lots of other things to get done today I only did a short ride of 26 miles this morning.  To make up for the low mileage I did lots of climbing.  I headed to Emmaus and climbed up and down South Mountain five times over various roads.  The last time I did this a friend from work, Joe, suggested that Oak Hill Rd. from the south was the toughest climb in the area.  I hadn't done that one last time, but I did it today.  Joe, you're right - that one's a killer.  Still, I did it this morning without stopping.  Definitely a confidence builder.  Now I've got an aching back from all the climbing, but it's good preparation.

I don't know how well I'll do when it comes to the climbs on the TransAm, but I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be.  The difference likely will be that some climbs will be much longer.  Hopefully they won't be any steeper.  The longest climbs over South Mountain are only about 1 mile but a couple of them are pretty steep.

Riding, Packing and Bike tuning - 2 weeks to go

I've continued riding evenings before dinner, 15-20 mile rides on four days this week.  Then my Saturday ride which was only 25 hours early this morning.  I kept the ride short so I could do some bike tune-up work after the ride.

Earlier this year I took the Basic and Advanced Bike Mechanics classes offered through the Bethlehem Bicycle Cooperative, the bicycling education hub of the CAR-FREE CAT-Coalition for Appropriate Transportation.

Although I had a basic understanding of bike mechanics learned years ago, I learned a LOT of new things through these classes.  Many thanks to Scott Sunderland who taught the basic class and especially to Frank Pavlick who taught the advanced class.  When I completed that class two weeks ago Frank suggested I bring my bike in on a Saturday morning so he could go over it with me and get it in shape for the TransAm ride.  I met Frank at the BBC workshop/office this morning and we got my bike in order.  New tires, a new chain, wheel truing and some frame alignment details which Frank discovered and remedied.  Frank is truly a bike mechanic extraordinaire!

Earlier in the week I did a trial pack of all the things for my trip.  The goal is two medium bags each under 25 lbs.  My attempt on Wednesday night proved I was bringing a bit too much stuff.  I took another crack at it on Thursday night, shedding a bunch of "duplicate" stuff which I could do without.  It looks like I'll meet the packing goal.  One additional purchase item I've identified is a duffle bag without wheels, which I plan to buy this week.  Turns out my very nice travel duffel with wheels weighs about 6 lbs. more than the one without.  That's 6 lbs. less stuff I can bring.  So when I swap to the lighter weight bag I should be good.

(I know this wouldn't make it on a self-supported tour - one advantage of being van supported is I can bring a few more creature comforts.) 

The start is fast approaching now.  My to-do list is still pretty long.  Lots of details to attend to when you're going to be away for ~3 months.  Making sure my bike is in good shape for this ride is one big one that I can cross off that list.

Less than 3 weeks

It's less than three weeks until the ride begins.  Anticipation is building.  I've got a lot of details to wrap up before I go.  Things like making sure the bills get paid, travel arrangements for my return and a couple of visits by my wife during the ride, computer access, bike tune-up and more.  Somehow I'll get it all done.

I had my longest training weekend yet.  65 miles on Saturday and 60 miles on Sunday.  Saturday I rode north of the Lehigh Valley - into Northampton, PA and beyond, then looping back through Bethlehem and Saucon Valley.  On my jog north I stopped at the Kreidersville Covered Bridge.  It's very well restored / preserved and in a picturesque setting.

Me, my bike and the Kreidersville Covered Bridge, built 1839, length 116 feet.

The ride south from that area topped a hill on Seemsville Road with a nice overlook of the Allentown area.  A chance to try out the panoramic photo feature of the new camera I got for the trip.

I'm not sure how much detail you can see, but the view was quite nice.

Today I rode west to Kutztown, Topton and back.  Mostly flat to rolling through scenic farm country.  I saw a horse and buggy along the main street of Kutztown.

As you can see from yesterday's photo, I'm still riding in long pants, long sleeves and a jacket.  Today was a bit warmer than yesterday, but a 6:50am start demanded the same basic outfit.  But I've made a vow not to complain about a bit of cool weather.  I can imagine we might be longing for a day or two like this sometime in June or July.

2000 miles!

Thanks to longer days I've been able to get rides in before dinner this week.  I rode on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.  I've done a total of 60 miles during the week which helps with my training.  I figure all miles are helpful and riding on consecutive days is good even if it's not for a lot of miles.  Got to convince all my muscles that we're going to be doing this on a regular basis.

Big news on Wednesday - my odometer on my Surly LHT ticked past 2000 miles.  That's since June 5 of last year when I picked the bike up.
 

Here's the proof - 2000 miles on my Surly LHT

I'm going to get a couple hundred more miles in during the next few weeks and do some preventive maintenance and swap in some new parts before starting my TransAm ride.

The other news, coincidentally also on Wednesday, was that my heart stress test showed no problems.  At the advice of my doctor I had a echo-stress test to check out my heart.  It seemed like a prudent thing to do given my plans for the summer.  He suggested this was recommended medical practice anytime a "middle-aged" person plans to engage in an extensive exercise program.  It made sense, but I'm not sure I liked his characterization of my age.  Oh well! 

Sleep Gear

Another entry describing the gear I'll be using for this trip -

My sleeping bag is a Marmot Mavericks +30, rated to 30F, filled with synthetic SpiraFil High Loft insulation.  Total weight of the bag is about 4 lbs.  In addition I bought a Cocoon cotton travel sheet from REI.  It's not quite as light or compact as a silk sheet, but it's about half the cost.  The third piece of my sleep gear is a Thermarest Basecamp 2" thick self-inflating sleeping pad.  It's full size, 26" x 76".  If I were hauling everything on my bike I'd probably choose something smaller and lighter, but I bought this one for the RAGBRAI Iowa ride in 2009 and figure it will work this summer as well.

I expect I'll use the sleep sheet alone and sleep outside the bag on the warmest nights.  The bag should work well for cooler nights.  Hopefully we won't encounter nights much colder than 30F, but combining the sheet with the bag should be warm enough.  If not, I'll wear whatever other clothes I need to stay warm.  The sleeping pad provides another degree of warmth by keeping me up off the cold ground.

Hopefully this setup will provide comfortable sleeping throughout the ride.  I'll let you know how this all works out when we get to Oregon.  :-)

The sleeping bag on top of the air mattress

The sleep sheet folded in half lengthwise on top of the sleeping bag and mattress

The sleeping bag stuffed in its compression sack and the sheet folded in its storage bag