Decorated my bike a little, took a picture (with flash) to see what my rear end looks like at night. The red dot is actually a fairly bright light, think I'm reasonably visible, but hopefully won't do much (if any) riding at night. Never hurts to be safe though!
So, another week of classes down, just one more to go! I have classes through next Friday, then a few finals between then and the following Thursday (the 10th.) One day to get all the last minute stuff done (including packing all my stuff into our basement,) then flying out of Denver Saturday afternoon!
Have gotten a lot of little things done to get ready for the bike trip over the last few days, mostly gear related. Main item is I spent an afternoon replacing all the cables and cable housings on the bike with new ones. Had been meaning to replace the brake cables for a while and am very glad that I did! The little chunk of metal on the end of the front brake cable (the thing that the brake lever pulls on - probably has some fancy name) had literally broken in two and it looks like half the strands of cable had broken off. Not good! Looks like failure wasn't too far off, had that happen a couple years ago on my beater mountain bike and it was quite a spooky experience!
The new cables have been working well, was pretty surprised when I took it on a ride around the block and the derailers and everything were adjusted almost perfectly right off the bat, lucky! Only issue so far is that when I re-taped the handlebars, I wrapped a little too much of the derailer cables (I've got bar end shifters,) so they rub against my pinkies when I grip the drops. Will probably take care of that before I take off, although it's not that big of a deal as I don't use that riding position much.
Did some more work on the front end Friday as well. The headset had been a bit loose for a while, so I took it over to Full Cycle and tightened it up a little bit. Unfortunately, when I did that, I realized that the bearing races were pitted as the wheel really liked staying in a few distinct positions - not good. Picked up a new headset for ~$25, still need to either borrow a headset tool or improvise one to put it in. Or, I suppose it would be OK to just pay bike shop to do the labor.
Picked up a handlebar bag the other day, hopefully my last decent size gear purchase for this trip. It's got a clever mounting mechanism - a little hard to see in the picture, but there's a little bit of steel cable that loops under the stem and over the handlebar so that the mount can't twist down and let the bag sag into the front brake or headtube.
Spent some time at work researching shipping options for getting my bike out to the coast. Pretty sure I'm going to ship it UPS and have them hold it for me, then just pick it up and assemble it when I get out there. So, the only big logistical thing left is figuring out a ride from Damascus, VA to the Yorktown area. Shouldn't be too difficult....
So, we haven't completely sealed the deal yet, but it's looking like I have someone lined up to sublet my room over the summer. Will be quite a relief to have that squared away!
Don't think I mentioned it on here, but a few weeks back, I managed to break my little mini-pump. Took a long time to finally get it boxed up and in the mail, but about a week after getting it sent out, there was a box on my porch from Crank Brothers with a brand new one! Yay for lifetime warranties! Unfortunately, this one doesn't seem to work quite as well as the old one did - topped off a tire earlier today and couldn't get it to make a completely airtight seal for some reason. Got the tire pumped up (quickly,) will have to do some more investigation on that tomorrow.
Ordered a copy of Bicycling Coast to Coast, it's a bit outdated but it appears to be the most current guidebook type thing for the route. It's strange to me that there's not a more current guidebook given how many people must do the route every year. Doubt that I'll actually take the book along as the maps seem to be thorough enough, but I figure it's at least worth checking out.
Ended up chatting with my friend Jeff up at CU today, picked up some good bits of information and got even a little more excited about getting started! Jeff and his fiance rode the transamerica route in 2005 and have been a good source of information to me. Thanks again!
18 days left in Boulder, then travel time!
For better or worse, I've mostly given up on planning longer trips. Detailed plans aren't usually necessary, and to me they can be rather bothersome as they create artificial expectations and goals that take some of the adventure out of traveling. At this point, my style is more focused on getting some good information and gear together and starting than it is about planning out food and lodging for the entire trip. Everything else will work out.
The Plan, as it stands now, is to find someone to sublet my room over the summer so that I can move back into the same cool little house at the beginning of the fall semester without renting an empty room for two extra months. I hope to have my bike boxed up and shipped sometime around May 10th, the day of my last exams (and therefore school obligations) for this semester. The bike will be shipped to somewhere (likely a bike shop or hostel) in the Yorktown/Williamsburg area, the eastern end of the Transamerica route. While the bike is in transit in the back of a truck, I'll grab a plane on Saturday the 12th and end up at my dad's place in Georgia for a few days of visiting. Sometime around the 17th or 18th, I'll ride up to Damascus, VA (in a car) with either some backpacker friends or my dad to go to Traildays.
Every year, Damascus hosts Traildays, a huge gathering of tourists, backpackers, and other random people. A lot of AT backpackers go back year after year to visit, hang out, and get a few quick breaths of campfire smoke and drying socks before heading back to their "real world" jobs. I've gotten sucked into Traildays every year since 2003, and can't wait to get back! Depending on how things work out, this might be the first year that I'll miss Hardcore, which is a really cool trail maintenance project organized by Bob Peoples, who's something of an AT legend at this point.
After Traildays, the bike trip will really get started. Hopefully at Traildays, I'll be able to work out a ride to the coast of Virginia, where I'll pick up my bike, dip the wheels in the Atlantic, and head west!
That's about where The Plan ends. I want to ride west along the Transamerica route towards the Pacific coast, but I'm not entirely set on making it all the way to the coast, and I don't pretend to have any idea what will happen en route.
The Transamerica route goes through Berea, KY, the town where I went to highschool and where mom and my sister live. More than likely, I'll stop there for a few days to visit with family and friends, then head on westward. Many miles from Berea, the route enters Colorado and makes a sharp right turn to the north just past Pueblo, to head north through the Rockies. At some point in that neck of the woods, likely Breckenridge, I'll take a break to catch a breath and see some Colorado friends before heading north. Way up past Wyoming and Montana, the route goes through McCall, ID, where my good friend Clair will be working as a raft guide (assuming she can't be convinced to come along on the ride ;) ,) so I'll spend a couple days hanging out there, maybe even going on a river trip. Eventually, the route leads to a little town called Astoria, on the Pacific coast. Depending on time, motivation, money, and all the usual factors that govern long trips, I might hang a right and keep riding on up to Seattle, where more friends and family live. Maybe even on to Vancouver if the mood is right.
When the bike ride is over, I'll catch a plane back to school, work, and daydreaming about the next trip.
So, there's The Plan.
Over the last week or so, I've gotten a fair bit done towards the bike trip - bought new toys, did some work on the bike, bought a plane ticket (Flying to Atlanta on May 12th,) developed a little more of a "plan," and made some progress towards subletting my room for the summer.
Toys wise, I've acquired a shiny new bike computer (as they're calling speedometers these days,) it's a Cateye Enduro 8 - nifty little thing although I haven't quite wrapped my head around the interface yet. Was a little surprised to find that on an average day, I end up riding something like 5-6 miles, which still isn't much, but it's more than I would have guessed as it's mostly just popping back and forth between classes and work assignments. I intend to use the computer mainly for navigation - it has a trip distance function that will be useful for knowing when important intersections are coming up.
Bought a helmet as well - figured it would be good to have one for the trip. Usually I don't wear a helmet around town - have quite a few justifications for that, but I know it's probably not a good idea in the long run to go without one. Managed to loose my old helmet over the winter. Long story...
Work wise, I finally got around to replace my bottom bracket (the bearings that the cranks roll on,) which is something I've been meaning to do for a while. The old one had a crack in a bearing race or something along those lines, and was generally getting worn out. Also trued up my back wheel (even though it wasn't much out of round, I wanted to tighten up the spokes a little and double check it after a little curb encounter. Repacked the bearings in the hub and discovered some pitting in one of the internal races on the hub. Pretty sure I'll be able to scavenge a replacement part rather than having to rebuild the back wheel (which could become a big project as I'd need to find a 36 spoke, 7 speed hub - not too standard of an item if I had to guess.)
The other day I managed to put a ~2" cut in my two week old, indestructible, Continental Gatorskins by misjudging a curb on campus and not quite hopping high enough to clear it entirely. Didn't wreck, but did have a flat about instantly and put a teeny little ding in the back rim. Oops. Fortunately, the manager at University Bicycles sold me another one at cost (half retail - like pretty much anything outdoorsy...) I was pretty surprised that I managed to do so much damage to the tire, although in all honesty it was a really sharp curb and pretty much any normal tire would have fared worse.
This afternoon, I had a bike fitting session up on campus. Basically what happens is the bike gets measured up, you get measured up, then the bike gets adjusted to fit you better and you get adjusted to better fit the bike :). On one hand, it seems a little funny to spend $75 (which is a good deal!) on getting your handlebars, saddle, and cleats scooted around a little bit, but on the other hand those little adjustments do make things feel better! I'm sure the difference will be more apparent when I get a chance to get out and ride more than the mile or so from school to home, but even in that little stretch I noticed a significant difference. Annie and her assistant (whose name I didn't get) did a great job, well worth it!
Suppose that's all for now, hoping to get out for a ride this weekend to make a weak attempt at getting back in shape, might even load up the panniers and call it a shakedown ride. Also planning on replacing the cables on the bike sometime soonish - got all the parts together, just haven't had time yet.
A few weeks back, I ordered a set of maps from Adventure Cycling, which after a bit of research seems like the best source of information on the transamerica route that I'm hoping to ride this summer. Bought the full Transamerica set and a section of the Pacific coast route in case it makese sense to ride up the coast from Astoria to Seattle or Vancouver. Some people that I've talked with have suggested bringing along a book-style route guide as well for additional info on towns and such along the way, but I haven't gotten around to getting a guide book yet.
First impression of the map set is very good. They are printed on that nice plasticy map paper, so they're durable and mostly waterproof. "Mostly waterproof" meaning that it is possible to destroy them using water - a while back I found out that if you manage to get waterproof maps wet, freeze them, then try to unfold them, sometimes the ink seperates from the "paper" and you're a bit up the creek. Don't anticipate that being a problem this summer.
Interestingly, rather than printing the maps as one (or two) large images, these are done in small "panes" so that you can just fold out the relevant section and keep it in a handlebar map bag on the bike to navigate while you ride. The back side has general information on the area that the route goes through, a legend, and contact information for local resources. We'll see how accurate and usable they turn out to be this summer!
The map set came with addenda printed up on standard copier paper for a couple of the maps - nice touch! None of the issues mentioned there seem too huge, but I thought it was cool of adventure cycling to mention the changes upfront rather than relying on people looking up changes to the maps. There was also a small stack of postage paid postcards addressed to Adventure Cycling with a form on the back for sending in changes, suggestions, etc.
One suggestion if you're looking into buying this set of maps - join Adventure Cycling first! The maps are discounted if you're a member, and the difference between member and nonmember for a full set of Transamerica maps is $36. Membership costs:
$30 - Student (that's me!) / Senior Cyclist (60+)
$35 - Individual Membership
$45 - Family Membership
..... and up for Shop, Benefactor, and Lifetime memberships.
