Stankertanker

Day 14: Eugene to Portland

2010-09-05T09:28:00.001-07:00

Total mileage for the day- 128 miles
Total for the trip- 1082 miles

Last night was absolutely horrible. There really is no way around it. As I went to bed at the Eugene Whiteaker Hostel I had one bunkmate who had not come back to the dorm yet, but all was quiet, and the other guys who were staying in the next dorm were friendly and, well, pretty normal guys. That all changed in the middle of the night. A late-comer checked in and proceeded to make the hostel his party/crash pad.

God, he was awful. He came in at about 3 am, ridiculously hammered and proceeded to turn lights on, talk to himself or anyone that would listen, answer his phone and have whole conversations in the bathroom (someone finally went in and took his phone, throwing it down the stairs). He shook people in the dorm awake to ask them if they had a pen and paper to write down phone numbers, to request marijuana, and (most importantly) to inquire if the unfortunate sleeper had ever heard of the sleeping pills he was about to take, Triazadone(?). This medication, he assured us all, would "knock my a** out, they ain't even gonna be able to wake me up in the morning!". Things got pretty far out of hand, and he made a lot of enemies at the Eugene Whiteaker Hostel. Finally, he decided to take his meds and pass out ("I got like a 20-minute window of opportunity!"), after which he snored like a chainsaw for hours. Even repeated punching from his seriously annoyed bunkmates could not coerce him to turn over, and finally, as the sun was coming over the horizon, he FINALLY rolled over and quieted down. The worst part of it all was, as I got up and walked to the bathroom I saw that our new friend's boxers were ripped completely open and his backside exposed for all the hostel to see.

By this point, however, my other bunkmate had dressed and left, and my gear was packed and bike loaded. This morning was easily my earliest start of the whole trip. I was on the road by 6 am, and I would need all the daylight hours I could get. I had solidified my resolve to make it back home by sundown- a ride of well over a century. I didn't even check out of the Whiteaker having deciding I would call, check out AND complain all at once- later in the day.

The Willamette Valley is a very attractive area but honestly, I took very few pictures. The sky threated to rain all day, overcast and spitting on me sporadically. I stopped to have lunch in Corvallis, to munch on roadside blackberries outside of Salem and to mow a candy bar in Newburg. As I got into the southwest side of Portland, the area got rougher, hillier and far less attractive. Also, it was full-on raining at this point.

I rode on and, even with (maybe) two hours of sleep, I still felt strong. When I got into Tigard I was elated to see things that I recognized, although getting into Portland from that direction on a loaded bike is not fun. Barbur Boulevard was my route until I got over the west hills, and I was so happy to see the city as I came over the ridge. It was nice to see people riding around on bikes, something I hadn't seen much of for the past two weeks.

Ev had been waiting for me in front of the apartment, but she was distracted by a neighbor and her dog, so she did not get to take her sneaky snapshot of my arrival as she had planned. Just as well, I was wet and tired- and a little cold. It had been a long, wet ride, and I thought of how happy I was to be home as we made our way upstairs...

Day 13: Crescent Creek to Eugene

2010-08-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

Today's mileage: 83 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 954 miles

Oh, how excited I was when I woke this morning! It wasn't raining, and I got to take a nice hot shower first thing. As soon as I was done, I quickly started getting my things packed up, I felt the first raindrops fall. Ugh, I could tell it was gonna be that kinda day. One of the RVers came over as I was packing with his little dog Cass, a sweet blue heeler-whatever mutt that jumped around in circles and played with everything. He said that there was a good place down the road for coffee, which was where he was going. By the time I was done packing and ready to push off, it was pouring.

I pulled over about a mile down the road at the convenience store, got a large coffee and two egg and cheese biscuits, and sat down for a while. I originally thought I might just wait it out, but after about 45 minutes I was tired of sitting and just ready to go. I had a mostly downhill ride today, with only one real pass in my way and it was only about five miles down the road.

I have to say, it was some pretty miserable riding. It was mostly downhill, but I couldn't really enjoy it because if I got going, the rain would pelt my face viciously, and the water would run off my rain visor and blind me continuously. Without the continual pedaling creating body heat, the cold wind was chilly and causing me to shiver; I almost wished for a steady climb to warm me up a bit. I think that at one point there was some freezing rain or small hail mixed in because some hit me in the (already blistered from the desert sun) lower lip and split it! So painful...

Every chance I got I would stop off and try to warm up some. I pulled off at McDonalds for cookies; gas stations for hot chocolate. I watched the miles go by but not fast enough. Finally, after more than 5 hours in the rain, it started to let up. I started to peel off layer after layer of wet clothes and hang them off my panniers to dry. By about 3 in the afternoon I looked like a rolling laundromat.

I had made arrangements to stay at the Eugene Whiteaker Hostel for the evening, so I began to route myself into town. After a harrowing half an hour or so, I was through the Eugene-Springfield freeway interchange and on my way to the hostel. It is located in a funky little historic area in Eugene. After I got there and was able to get settled, I went out and enjoyed dinner (huevos rancheros!) at a local restaurant and a large mocha from a coffee shop within walking distance. It was a great way to end an otherwise crappy day of riding.

At this point I have a little less than two full days of riding to get back to Portland. The route that I am taking looks to be fairly fast and flat, and it all depends really on the weather. I think that if it is raining in the morning I will probably end up with a rather short day in the saddle tomorrow. If, on the other hand, it is dry and clear- well then I might try to see how far I can go...

Day 12: Crater Lake National Park to Crescent Creek

2010-08-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today's mileage : 74 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 871 miles

I sleep awfully last night, tossing and turning in the freezing cold. I was wearing literally every layer of clothing I had, inside my sleeping bag, and could not seem to stay warm. Worst of all were my feet, which were numb the whole night. I was up at about 6 am, mainly because I couldn't lay there and be cold anymore, and I knew that if I finished the rest of the climb to the rim road I would be good and toasty. I had visions of hot chocolate and danishes and breakfast and a huge coffee from the Crater Lake Rim Village Gift Shop dancing in my head. Also, they might have a fireplace....

The rain was gone but everything was frozen. I couldn't get anything to work right. My map holder, plastic and flexible, was brittle and stiff, and could not be seen through because of the thin layer of ice on it. I took out my phone to shoot a picture, the touchscreen got hazy, frosted, and then no longer functioned. I had to stick it back in my pocket to make it work again.

Once again I was climbing up and up, my stomach empty because on one hand I really didn't want to fix breakfast in th cold, and on the other I really wanted to see the sun come up over Crater Lake. When I got there, it was beautiful but really too cold to stop and look at, so I fled to the gift shop and finally got something in my stomach. I warmed up over a breakfast croissant and three or four huge cups of coffee. I didn't want to leave. I found out from the lady at the counter in the cafe that it had snowed and that they all thought it was really odd to have snow in August,

While I was warming up I was approached by an awesome older gentle man of 76 years old. He was hiking the Pacific Coast Trail and had camped out in the same weather I was in last night. He was trying to decide whether to continue today or wait another day to go. We talked for some time about his past trips (he has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail recently, his wife only "allows" him 40 days out on the trail a year now). He was extremely serene, intelligent, almost beatific. He made quite an impression on me, and I told him so. We also talked about the recent fires in the area, and how it would be difficult for him to make it to Mackenzie's Bridge (where he wanted to finish up this section) because of the blazes. This set my thoughts in motion, and I came to realize that I better figure out another way home, rather than risk riding through the burned (and possibly closed) sections of my own route home.

I've finally decided that I will have to attempt the Sierra Cascades portion of the trip some other time. From Crater Lake I will take 97 back to 85, then head to Eugene. From there it is a two day ride to Portland. With that issue resolved, I said goodbye to my newfound friend and took off to complete a circuit of the ~30 mile rim road. It was a real piece of work but was made easier by a hefty breakfast, and soon enough I was saying goodbye to Crater Lake and heading back down the mountain.

The ride back was pretty laid back. For the first time on this trip I felt as if I could go on autopilot, that all I needed to do now was get back home. I was listening to some tunes and generally zoning out when all of a sudden I see another touring cyclist coming the other way. We hit it off immediately and chatted for some time on the side of the road. He was on a much longer tour that I, all the way around the world it seemed. He was from Hawaii and had started this part of his journey in Alaska. We parted ways after some exchange of info, and then I made my way down the road to my turnoff at Hwy 85.

The ride after that was generally uneventful. I rode against a west wind until I was tired, and then I stopped at an RV park that rents cabins, but also has tent camping, showers and a place to do laundry- all for very cheap. Tomorrow night I would like to stay at a hostel in Eugene, about 80 miles away. I hope that the forecast for tomorrow is wrong, and that it will not be raining again as they are predicting...

Day 11: La Pine State Park to Crater Lake National Park

2010-08-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

Mileage for the day: 65 miles (I didn't count the return trip for the lost Keen sandal)
Total mileage for the trip: 797 miles

Well, today has been my latest day on the road yet. I didn't set my alarm because I just didn't feel like getting up at the crack of dawn. I was headed into Crater Lake today and knew that I had relatively few miles to get there before dark. I finally got out of my sleeping bag at 8:30 (which is kinda late for bike touring) and slowly got my things together. It was fairly chilly, and the sky was very overcast. What a difference a day (and a couple hundred miles) makes! Just a day ago I was burning up, dry as a bone, and as soon as I get back to the forest, here comes the cold and rain. I got underway but realized about 10 miles down the road that I had absentmindedly set my Keens on the back rack and that one had fallen off. I had to backtrack the whole way to find it, setting me back quite a bit.

The rain eventually came down, but I didn't really mind that so much. I can escape the rain with plenty of good raingear, so I put on my layers and just kept truckin'. The only thing is, when I opened my clothes bag to grab my waterproofs, I realized that I really needed to do some laundry.

I cruised through a couple of small towns before I came upon Crescent and its RV park with a laundromat right out front. I went in and got 5 bucks worth of quarters and proceeded to wash my things. Only one hitch, though... I'm wearing half of my things that need to be washed. Oh well, just slip behind the machines, take off everything while no one's around, and put on my rainpants and rainjacket. There, that should do it. I don't look odd with my raingear on (as it's rainy out) and no one would be the wiser. I sat down with my netbook (the RV park had wifi, w00t!) out of the cold and rain, and waited for my things to wash and dry.

Well, no sooner than I had done this, an older woman walked into the laundromat with two big baskets of clothes, sorts and puts them into the machines, and then starts reading a magazine. I looked all around for a restroom to go change in, but none was to be found. Great, now what do I do? I can't put my nice, warm, clean clothes on! Anyway, I won't tell you how I finally got re-dressed, but suffice to say, it was elaborate.

I headed on down the road and was excited to turn off of 97 towards Crater Lake. I really love changing over my maps when I get to certain points on a trip, and I pulled out the Sierra Cascades map and took a look at the profile. I was startled to find that I would be climbing like a maniac, full-stop, for the next 30+ miles, right up to the rim road at 6,000 or so feet. Not to mention also, the road up to the north entrance is absolutely, perfectly straight. You can just see that climb go on and on and on forever...

I chugged and chugged late into the afternoon, the sun getting low and the heavy cloud cover not making it any brighter. For at least an hour I could see a bright spot just over the top of the horizon and below the clouds, and I chased that carrot feverishly. Of course you know it's never good when you are racing the setting sun, you'll always lose.

I finally got inside the park gates, made my way in as far as I could go in the (now completely) dark, and when I spotted a nondescript building I pitched my tent behind it and passed out, the rain still drizzling down. Later, as it had during that day (I would find), the rain turned to snow...

Day 10: Hampton to La Pine State Park

2010-08-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today's mileage: 89 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 731 miles

Two things woke me this morning: my alarm clock and the bitter cold. I think it would take some time to get used to the temperature fluctuations of the desert. During the day it's crazy hot and dry, so much that the mouth feels parched right after having gulped down water. At night, all of your clothes that were sweaty are now frozen stiff.

The owner asked me first thing if I wanted some hot coffee. He already knows me really well. We perused my maps as he opened the restaurant, but I could not stay for breakfast. The weather was good now, the smoke had cleared for the time being, and I had to get out of here. I shoved off, cementing in my mind a day of huge miles, even if it killed me.

The day stayed chilly. I wore my cold weather gear for a few hours as I pedaled with uncommon authority across the desert. I ate a delicious breakfast in Brothers and called home to let everyone know I was okay. Later, I passed through Millican, a town so small that it reportedly had a population of 1 for some time. I guess that person passed on, because the store that was recently open is now closed. Still pressing on, I realized that I had been in my big ring for quite some time, and I was approaching the outskirts of Bend.

I was a little afraid that Bend would be horrible and smokey, what with the fires nearby, but there was no problem. I ate at the McDonald's downtown, then hauled past Pilot Butte and out of town by way of Bend's rather odd red sand bike lanes.

Passing by Newberry National Volcanic Monument was awesome. It has a huge cinder cone and lava field by the road, and reminded me so much of when Ev and I visited Craters of the Moon National Park. I flew past Sunriver (where my four buddies from the springs lived, who told me to swing by and see them) with my aim firmly on La Pine State Park.

The last few miles I was fueled by frustration; I had received a text from Ev about some irritating news, and I grew anxious about things at home, Olive, etc... in my absence. I was in an awful mood when I made it to La Pine, only to find that they had no hiker-biker sites to speak of. Physically and mentally drained, I walked over to a park bench and slumped down to consider my options.

After a phone call home and a campground host who found a space for me, I was so relieved to finally take a shower after a few days without, make some dinner on the stove and pass out. I was out of the desert and back in the forest...

Day 9: Riley to Hampton

2010-08-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Today's Mileage: 42 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 642 miles

I got the jump on the sun this morning, fearing that I would add another layer of burn over my already blistered skin. I wanted to go, push hard out of the desert, it was really starting to wear on me. My nose was peeling even after repeated application of sunscreen, I couldn't stay hydrated no matter how I tried, and psychologically, the heat was winning. I wanted to get back to the forest.

It was not to be; when I checked the weather app on my Droid, it said that today would be a windy day, blowing right in my direction, with gusts up to 45 mph. Not good. I tried to get as far as I could before it started kicking up, but by the time I got to Glass Buttes, I was spinning in low gear and trying to stay upright against a furious headwind.

After some time of this, I was done. I saw Hampton (well, the two buildings -one empty- that composed the town of Hampton). I pulled into the small deli, delighted to see that I had come while they were actually open. The owners, an older couple, asked me what business I had out in this kind of wind as soon as I got in the door. I obviously looked rough, beaten by the wind and starving.

The two of them took me under their wing, asking if I wanted to hang out in the restaurant until the wind died down some, to which I happily agreed. A lot of locals came into the tiny store, among them a lifetime firefighter who, even though retired, had just come from fighting a blaze in Sisters, OR. His news was not good; it seemed that two separate fires were burning beyond Bend in Sisters, and that the smoke was making its way here.

It wasn't long before visibility dropped to less than a mile. As I sat inside the cafe, I could watch the smoke move past on the road, along with dust and the occasional tumbleweed. It was a little spooky, and did not bode well for the rest of the day (or trip).

Soon enough, the couple offered to let me stay in a spot in their (now abandoned) RV park out back. I couldn't refuse,I had no other options. I was sure that it would be an awful night- wind whipping the tent, tractor trailers flying by all night, and let's not forget about the smoke. I went back and humorously set up my tent in the wind and came back to the restaurant for my second meal of the day, which they would not allow me to pay for.

When the sun went down, however, the wind died down with it. The smell of smoke was gone in no time, even though I now knew that there were three different forest fires in the direction I was heading. Nonetheless, I got a decent night's sleep, without being woken even once by a truck or the weather.

Day 8: Frenchglen to Riley

2010-08-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

Today's Mileage:79 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 600 miles

My alarm went off at around 6 am, and I hit snooze a few times before rolling out from under the nice comfy quilt on my bed at the Frenchglen Hotel. By the time I got downstairs, coffee was already on, and the manager was setting the table for breakfast. He seemed genuinely sad that I would not be joining them, but I was in a real hurry to get on the road. I did stay around long enough to chat with some folks from Eugene, an older couple who were artists, who had a lot of good ideas about what was important in life and so forth. I paid my tab and left, almost kicking myself for my visit. The inn is very quaint and homey, and the service excellent, but for my purposes I would have been better off going to a campground. It would have cost me a fifth of the price I paid.

Honestly, not much happened on the road today except for a lot of sweating on my behalf. The way was relatively flat, and I did stop off in Burns for a few things, some JB Weld to fix my broke eyelet, and another Blizzard from the DQ. In order to try to escape the heat of another day, however, I stopped in at the Bureau of Land Management to check on the status of some camping spots I might want to take advantage of. I was told that I could certainly camp off the trail behind the rest area outside of town.

I pedaled on, now that the heat of the day had finally broken. I finished the trip out to the rest area, walked the foot path behind it, set up the tent and watched the sun go down. Good riddance.

Day 7: Alvord Hot Springs to Frenchglen

2010-08-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

Mileage for the day: 72 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 521 miles

I woke up in the morning not knowing if I was seeing the sun or the moon glowing through the tent. Like I said, the full moon was extremely bright, and I was awakened a couple of times in the night by it. I slowly got my things together and made breakfast, partly because of hanging out late the night before, and partly because I absolutely dreaded The Road (and the ten or so miles I had left to travel before it became pavement again.

As I was putting away my tent, I saw the funniest thing: a scraper coming down the road, grading it! I laughed and fumed at the same time. Oh, if only it had come through a day earlier! It turned out that the grading didn't make matters any better for a cyclist on The Road, though... in fact it made them worse. Gone were the small patches of firmly packed soil that I could hop between yesterday. Now, all of the surface had been turned over, leaving a fine silty top, interspersed with large pieces of gravel and rocks. Ugh, if only you had seen me trying to navigate it. It was something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies.

Finally, I saw the sign that designated the start of the pavement up ahead. With only a few hundred yards ahead I hear a pop and a bunch of scraping from the back of the bike. I soon found that I had broken off an eyelet that held my rear rack on. I tried to contain my irritation while I assessed my situation: Miles from nowhere, out of range of communication with anyone, and a crucial piece of equipment broken by The Road. After a bit of rummaging in my toolbag, I pieced together a quick kludge of zipties and hose clamp to get me out of there.

The first order of business was to go to the Fields Station, a tiny diner and supply store that is famous for its milkshakes. Honestly, it should be famous for how freakin' far out in the middle of nowhere it is, because Good Lord it's way out there.

I got a shake and some lunch while chatting with the ladies behind the counter. They were all very personable and talkative, curious about my trip and joking around with the customers. As I was leaving the middle-aged couple who passed me in the van the day before came in, and we talked for some time about the trip and their vacation. As I was leaving, I asked the ladies about the roads on the way back to Burns, and they said that the ride out of Fields was a bit of a pain. Boy, were they right about that. Right out of Fields, on the backside of Steens Mountain heading north, a massive climb began. A grueling 8 miles later, I was at the top and my shake and lunch were long gone.

The rest of the day I spent on long stretches on the back of the mountain. None of the riding was too laborious, but I was really fatigued by two days of The Road, and of course the huge climbs that I had been doing a lot of lately.

A few miles out from Frenchglen I started to climb again, a pretty frustrating feeling when you are looking forward to being done for the day. This went on for a mile or too and then, out of nowhere, the road pitched down- as if over a huge cliff- with the valley below laid out wide open. I saw a sign that said "14% Grade - Next 3 Miles", and I smiled.

I went to the Frenchglen Hotel, a famous old inn (and the only one in these parts), and when I walked in, everyone was sitting down to dinner, drinking wine and everything. I felt like I just crashed the party, all smelly and dirty, sunburned as could be with wild hair from being mashed in my helmet all day. The manager was nice enough to fix me a plate after the "main" dinner that I ate while we chatted. I showered and passed out almost immediately. That night, I slept so hard I actually remembered my dream (an uncommon occurrence) and didn't wake once before morning.

Day 6: Crystal Crane Hot Springs to Alvord Hot Springs

2010-08-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today's Distance: 80 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 449 miles

When I woke in the morning, I found that it had gotten down really cold last night and most of my things were frozen. I quickly got up and went looking for coffee, only to find that the office for the springs doesn't open until 9:00 am! I wasn't the only camper who was distressed about this. Oh well, I boiled water really quickly and made my own, but I knew that I would be hitting a little diner down the road in Crane for breakfast.

The diner seemed to be filled with an interesting mix of folks; locals, who all seemed to know each other since childhood, and all of the people who camped at the springs last night. This is not surprising, as there is really nothing else out here. I ordered a huge breakfast with some very average coffee and looked over the maps. I found that if I really booked it to Burns, I could make it to East Steens Road and maybe Alvord Hot Springs by nightfall.

I hoofed it to New Princeton, where I filled up with all the water I could carry, and soon enough I came to the northern "foot" of Steens Mountain. It was a monstrous climb over the lip, one local telling me afterward that it tops out at 6,500 feet. When I got to the top, they didn't even put a sign up there for me to take a picture of. This road leads into the eastern side of Steens Mountain, and is unpaved for roughly 40 miles. The first ten miles or so are paved though, and it was fairly smooth going as I climbed and descended around to the eastern face of Steens Mountain. Maybe it was the heat, the work, or how much I had anticipated finally getting there, but when I dropped into the valley facing the Mountain, I was absolutely floored.

It was the most alien landscape I had seen. Half desert, half monster ridge, it was a jaw-dropping spectacle. I rode on for some time just taking pictures and gaping at the sights before the road turned to gravel. It was okay for about a mile; After about five miles, it was pretty annoying. After ten miles, I was really starting to question my sanity. I didn't know if I could take 40 miles of this. My tires were already at a really low pressure and traction was non-existent. I wobbled and bumped, swerved and slid my loaded bike and tried to find a comfortable line. Really, the road was starting to ruin my Steens Mountain experience.

Running low on water, I figured it would be best to filter some when I came to an actual lake with water (there are plenty of dry lake beds out here). I finally found Mann Lake and filtered some of the water, before finding that it seemed to be populated by million of what looked like goldfish. Oh well, it would have to do.

I rode on down this lonesome and very bumpy road. I was passed by a total of 4 vehicles all day: a UPS truck(?), a school bus (?!), a van with a middle age couple who asked me if I knew about the hot springs, and a pickup truck with 4 younger guys in it (I will get to them in a minute).

I was making slow progress at this point, moving all over the road surface trying to find a line that would work for me. My bike was getting the crap beaten out of it, and I was sure something was going to wind up broken. I won't go into too many details here, but some swearing ensued, and then, after even more swearing, I finally made it to the hot springs. As I was within a hundred yards of the springs the pickup with the 4 guys in it passed me and gave me the "devil horns/rock out" symbol (if you don't know, ask some young person).

They were stopping off at the springs themselves to check the temperature, as they had plans for a late night soak. Great, I thought, it's a huge party spot, and it will be terrible camping here. The guys asked me about the trip, told me enjoy my soak, and then left. In a few seconds, one of them came back with a PBR and gave it to me. Never have I been so grateful for, nor finished off a PBR in my life.

I set up my tent next to the springs, and not too long afterward a couple showed up and hopped in the springs. They asked if I was on a "pedal-bike" (as opposed o a motorbike) and I said yes, and they told me I was among friends. It turned out that the guy had done some long tours in his day, and now had a small company that makes wooden bike fenders. We chatted for a while and then the 4 guys from earlier showed up again.

Alvord Hot Springs is situated at the base of Steens Mountain, and the mountain creates a rain shadow on the other side of the springs. This rain shadow is an intermittent alkali lake bed (the playa) that it perfectly white and flat. It seemed that a ton of people were camping on the playa and the surrounding area, and would come over for a dip in the springs, check out the "ghost towns" in the mountains, drink beer and hang out. Over the course of the night I had a blast chatting with everyone, and it seemed I had something in common with all of them.

It was a full moon out, and it was extremely bright on the white lake bed, without a cloud in the sky, and absolutely no light pollution at all. It was surreal. Before I finally called it a night, I took my unloaded bike out on the playa and rode around for a while, a very spooky experience.

I finally went to bed, the full moon shining brightly through the tent, and again, the howling in the distance.

Day 5: Mt. Vernon to Crystal Crane Hot Springs

2010-08-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today's Mileage: 105 miles
Total Mileage for the trip: 369 miles

First off, today was totally amazing!

I began the day by getting up and getting on the road by 6 am, feeling like a million bucks. Gone was the sluggish and tired apathy of yesterday, now all I wanted to do was push some miles. I had decided that today I would aim for Crystal Crane Hot Springs. This was gonna be some work at about 105 miles, but it did two things for me- make up for my slack day yesterday and get me to an actual hot spring with camping by nightfall.

First I needed some fuel for the road, so I stopped off at the only thing open at that time in the morning- a McDonald's- for two egg and cheese biscuits. I made the mistake of talking to an elderly man who asked me if I was travelling alone, and then proceeding to tell me of all these horrible things he had seen in his time, cyclists in accidents, etc. I bit my tongue and moved on.

I passed through Canyon City, a tiny little town with a population of about 100 or so, with a city park, and a bike lane running right through town. I couldn't believe it. I grew up in a town of thousands and never saw a bike lane until I was old enough to leave it.

The section of Hwy. 395 that I was riding since I left the TransAmerica trail at John Day took me through an awesome canyon with plenty of twists and turns but still a fairly easy ride. I saw actual miners panning for gold on the roadside. The weather was so nice, I was wearing my merino sweater and it was just perfect.

Soon enough I started climbing. I noted the squiggly line on the map but didn't worry about it too much, however, after about 30 minutes to an hour I was still going up. The views were awesome though, so I stopped every once in a while to take photos. Finally after some time I came to the summit -at aver 5,000 feet. I was a little confused that I didn't see this climb on the map, but hey, it was right on the foot of the Strawberry Range, so I guess I should have expected as much.

The descent down was great, nice and long with a slight incline for maximum miles. I pushed my biggest gear for mile after mile, making very good time to Seneca, where I stopped and grabbed a snack. Seneca is a very small town with the distinction of having recorded the lowest temperature in Oregon history (-54 degrees, February 1933).

After leaving Seneca I headed for Malheur National Forest, where I started to climb again. I tried not to be irritated when I topped the summit again at about 5,000 feet, mainly because the weather was till amazingly cool and I knew for a fact there couldn't be any more mountains after that last one.

I had the amazing experience of riding through literally millions of these little white butterflies while in the forest. It must have been mating/spawning/whatever season up there because they were EVERYWHERE. I came down into Devine Canyon and took a bunch more photos, setting a pretty leisurely pace for a ride that was supposed to a century (a 100 mile bike ride) for the day.

Soon I was in sight of Burns, and the first thing I did was head to the DQ and got a milkshake. An older couple chatted with me after spotting my bike and said they have done a bit of touring themselves. I chatted with them for some time, then realized I had about 25 more miles to the hot spring waiting for me.

I headed out yet again, this time for the Steens Highway. I had a magnificent tailwind, allowing me to push my biggest gear for mile after again, and the weather was still in the 70's even in the open desert. I had a smile on my face for a good hour or more as I crossed some seriously remote desert spaces, where looking in either direction only outlines of mountain ranges and more space could be seen.

After some serious hauling, I spied the sign for Crystal Crane Hot Springs and pulled off the pavement. I was so happy to have made such great time, but I was even more happy to see how impressive the springs were. Thee was a commons area for visitors (whether in a cabin, tent, tipi or RV), WiFi, hot coffee brewed for guests, a very nice natural pool that the springs flowed into, bathrooms and showers, it was basically an inexpensive resort. I just couldn't stop grinning. I called Ev on the phone while lounging on the couch and watching a show about hydrothermal vent communities on the Science Channel.... now that's roughing it.

One cool aspect of the place is that it's a sort of jumping off point for the Steens area, so there are people staying here who were camping on Steens Mountain last night and could give some pointers about the whole area. Some of the travelers were nice enough to force some of their dinner on me (after they found out I had ridden a bike all the way out here), and I was happy to oblige. I chatted with them for some time afterwards, and then everyone went to their tents or cabins.

So, here I am typing away in my tent with a mug of hot chocolate, looking at the stars in an absolutely perfectly clear desert sky, and in the total silence I can hear- in the distance- howling...

Day 4: Dayville to Mt. Vernon

2010-08-21T17:26:00.000-07:00

Today's mileage: 31 miles
Total mileage for the trip: 264 miles

When my alarm went off at 6 am, I knew there was no way it was going to be a long day in the saddle. Turning off the ringer, I rolled over and slept until about 8:30, when the sound of a lawn mower right outside the window forced me to get moving. Having slept very hard the night before, I was in slow motion all morning. I fixed some pancakes and tried to get motivated, thinking in the back of my mind that I would still be able to pull off my planned 100-mile ride today, and kick back in Burns in the evening. I wanted to just get the Hwy 395 stretch out of the way, as it looked like there was really nothing on this particular route. It didn't help that the waitress from the diner yesterday said that I would also encounter a ton of mega-mosquitoes...

After a quick trip to the Dayville Mercantile for some super bug spray, the pedaling towards John Day began. The route was pretty flat except for a few places, but I just could not find my rhythm. Usually within about 20 minutes of riding, the old legs do what I tell them, but not today. On top of that I remembered that I had not even made myself coffee. It was going to be a crap day, for sure.

As I pulled into Mt. Vernon, I began looking for a place to hang out for a bit, mainly to beat the midday heat. I found that there was a park with hiker-biker sites, and I pretty much decided that today would be a half-day. I hope to start in the morning as early as possible and get a jump on the heat of the day, and probably ride later on in the afternoon when it begins to cool off. This is a new approach for me, but I have to get used to cycling in the desert...

Day 3: Prineville to Dayville

2010-08-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today's Mileage: 85 miles
Total Mileage for the trip: 233 miles

I woke up with the alarm at 6 am, knowing today would be fairly rough. I had two big passes to climb, and I learned from my experience yesterday that I did not want to stay out in the desert sun during the hottest part of the day. I quickly got my things together (my handwashed clothes from last night were hanging all over), took advantage of the "continental breakfast" (thanks for the muffin) and was on the road by quarter to seven.

I found out two things right away: 1) it was pretty cold, probably in the 40's, and I was glad I brought good cold weather gear, and 2) it was really windy, like right-in-my-face windy. I hammered on, knowing full well I would be peeling off layers in no time. The first climb of the day up to Ochoco Pass was very long, about 33 miles. It worked out really well, however, as it was so gradual it was not very bad. I spent the majority of the morning working my way up, until my tiny muffin breakfast wore off and I pulled off the road to fix some brunch.

I had heated up some vegetable soup with pasta and gobbled it down by the time I noticed a bunch of tiny eyes all staring at me from the bushes. I was initially alarmed, until I realized that it was a large group of ferile, half-bred kittens that wanted some of my brunch. It was obvious that they had at one time been around humans, but now were half-wild, and living really out in the middle of nowhere. I wished that I could have helped them somehow, but the best thing I could do was ring my bell really loudly as I pedaled away (hoping to scare them away from the road).

It was warming up now, and I was sweating ever so slightly as I continued climbing. I was heading back out of the dry desert environment again, and ascending into the green, tall trees and the snow zone. After a couple of short steep patches, I was done, and went over the Ochoco Divide. I started out for a nice 7 mile downhill run, setting my sights on Mitchell.

Most of the ride was easy going at this point. It was getting hot now, and more so because I was dropping down again, but I had a plan to wait out the hottest part of the day in Mitchell, then tackle the short steep climb back out later.

Mitchell is an incredibly tiny town (almost a ghost town) with one tiny little cafe. I had heard good things from other TransAm riders, so I stopped in and ordered a grilled cheese, an ice cream DrumStick and a large soda (of course).

The waitress who worked there was very friendly, and did pretty much everything- wait tables, cook your food, she was the only one working. We talked for quite a while about the town, all the TransAm riders she sees coming through, and about how she is a "rockhound" and pretty much everything there is to know about all of the gems there are to be found in the area. She asked me to sign the cyclists' log book, and as I looked through it, I saw a ton of people whose names I recognized from internet forums and such. That experience was amazing, as sometimes bicycle touring can seem so detached and personal. It made my whole trip to Mitchell.

As I was getting ready to leave I mentioned that I was heading for Dayville and she told me about how the locals call the hill out of town the "eight mile climb". I felt a little nervous but I was soon pedaling off down the road.

Let me just say, that climb is a b***h. There are no two ways about it. It's short (well, 8 miles really) it's really steep, and it's in the desert so it is hot. God, I hated that climb. Luckily someone spray-painted words of encouragement on the roadside for the poor cyclists who hoofed it up that thing, because it was just awful. It even sucked for the cars and trucks that had to go up it. I saw at least two vehicles pull off to the side with engine troubles while I was climbing it, and I could have raced this one particular tractor trailer it was going so slow. The worst part of it all was that you could actually see the top, but it never ever got closer. Cars would come over the top, miles away, and it would take them like ten minutes to actually get to you. From miles away. Man, was I happy when I was done with that thing.

The ride toward Dayville was completely amazing, though. Nice downhill sections through John Day Fossil Beds National Monument- these amazing gorges that were tall and massive (it was dark inside, the sun couldn't get in unless it was directly overhead). I took tons of pictures, stopping every few minutes. At the end of it all was Picture Gorge, which, again, was amazing. Totally worth all the awfulness earlier in the day, and then some.

I then coasted down into Dayville, thoroughly whipped but satisfied with the day in the saddle. I made my way to the bike hostel at the Dayville Presbyterian Church. I know right, in a church?! Anyway, they have been hosting TransAm-ers since the 70's, and they are pretty awesome. They have a washer and drier, a shower, a fully stocked kitchen computer with net access- pretty much all you could ask for when you're out riding a bike all day. Plus, they accept donations, they don't even charge you for all that awesomeness. As I am writing this, I am sitting in the fellowship hall, waiting for my clothes to dry. Probably gonna sleep in the sanctuary, too.

Day 2: Clear Lake to Prineville

2010-08-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today's Mileage: 85 miles
Total Mileage so far: 148 miles

I started off the day in an unlikely fashion; I woke to the sound of one of those pain-in-the-a** campers from last night wretching his guts out in the bathroom. I smiled and rolled over, snoozing for another few minutes before I began to get my things together.

Breakfast was a special affair, as I was cooking up my Huevos Rancheros that Evie gave me as a going away present. With breakfast out of the way I packed up my things and took a little spin around the lake. It was a bittersweet experience, as the lake was splendid but the flies were overwhelming. I honestly have never seen so many, they were just thick clouds in the morning sun.

Yesterday's planning paid off, as I left the campground and dropped down at top speed towards Warm Springs. After a speedy descent, I cruised for a while until I began to decent into a spectacular gorge. The road wound and twisted, and the views were spectacular. It was getting a little hot, as I had dropped quite a bit in elevation since the morning. When i got to the bottom of this gorge, I got to the town of Warm Springs, which was situated right at the bottom of it. The only problem was that I had to get back out now...

The climb back out was grueling, not really for the steepness, but the heat. I was sweating like crazy for miles until I finally got out, and then I cursed Warm Springs for ever deceiving me like it did. Onward I rode.

I came upon Madras, a little town that was blazing hot at this time of the day. I made my way to a burrito joint, where I had an awesome veggie burrito and about a billion cups of ice water. The lady behind the counter was really sick of me asking for refills over and over, so I finally just went and refilled it in the bathroom sink. Whatever, I was thirsty out in the desert.

The National Grasslands that I rode through next were still pretty warm, and it was weird being surrounded by just acres and acres of dried up and sun-bleached grass as far as the eye could see. I guess I am a little spoiled by Portland, where it rains like 10 months a year. Need to thicken up the skin a bit if I am gonna ride out into the desert, eh?

Coming down from the grasslands was amazing. I swear, the last 8 or so miles into Prineville were all fast downhill, the day had cooled off, and I was exhausted but happy. I had already made up my mind to stay at any motel in Prineville, as I was still a little irritated about the lack of showers at the campgrounds last night. I found the Econolodge, paid the man, and went to my room.

Prineville is a cool little town. I wish I had gotten a chance to go to the museum right across the street, as well as the coffeehouse around the corner, but it is a small town and everything closes up really early. I ate some pizza from a place next to the motel, went back to my room, and passed out hard.

Day 1: Portland to Clear Lake Campground

2010-08-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Today's Mileage: 63 miles

Finally, after all the planning, stress and headaches, I was out the door. The first thing I noticed was that the bike was really heavy. It never ceases to amaze me how much a loaded touring bike weighs, despite your best efforts to keep it as minimal as possible. Oh well, I'll get used to it.

I made my way out of town via the Springwater and booked it through Sandy. It wasn't long before the slog up the side of Mt. Hood began in earnest. I sweat and grinded up the side of that d*&n mountain until I finally got to Government Camp. I don't even know how many passes I went over, but they all were at about 4,000 feet.

I didn't mind the climbing that much for two reasons: 1) it wasn't REALLY steep, it was just an hours-long, granny-gear, neverending kinda steep, and 2) there was this awesome arctic breeze blowing me up the mountain the whole time. It was so nice to have that chilly wind on my sweat-drenched clothes. Plus, I had some great tunes on the mp3 player...

I finally saw the summit of Mt. Hood peeking around the corner, and I couldn't have been happier. Too bad I would be climbing for at least another couple of hours after that first sighting.

One thing I really hate is starting off the morning with a climb; I will try as hard as I can to camp (or get a motel room, whatever) at the top of a climb, rather than have to do it first thing in the morning. I looked at the map and saw that Clear Lake Campground was over the top, and I was beat. I turned off at the sign, only to find that the road going to the campground dropped hundreds of feet down to the lake (and I would have to climb out of that in the morning). Grrr...

The campground is extremely nice, but is pretty high dollar: $17-19.00 a night, no hiker-biker, no running water, no shower. Great, I thought, it's either get robbed for this camp site, or climb back out and go find another one. I was so tired that I just paid it and pitched my tent. On the up side, I did score a bunch of free canned goods that were left in the "lost and found" basket at the hosts' RV. Mmmm, mashed potatoes and sweet peas, perfect to put me right to sleep...

...Or so I thought. Of course, as soon as it got late, a bunch of knuckleheads down in the "Premium" sites started getting drunk and rowdy. I got out the earplugs and bit my tongue (which was just dying to go tell them to shut the *&^% up).

About to go touring around Oregon...

2010-08-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hello, family and friends!

Tomorrow morning I leave for yet another bike tour. This time I will be heading out from my front door for a loop tour around the state of Oregon. Along the way, I will climb up and over the side of Mount Hood via Government Camp, through Warm Springs to Prineville, where I will pick up the ACA TransAmerica Trail. I will follow it until I get to John Day, where I will drop south through Seneca to the Eastern Oregon desert country to Burns, OR. I then intend to begin a clockwise loop around the Steens Wilderness area via Fields-Danio Road, passing through Mickey Hot Springs, Alvord Hot Springs, Steens Mountain, the Alvord Desert, Frenchglen, Pete French's Round Barn and finally ending the loop near Hines, OR. Then I will pick up Highway 20 west, travel through Riley to Bend, then on to Crater Lake. From there, I will follow The ACA Sierra Cascades route north, all the way to Hood River, which I will then follow back to Portland.

This will be one of the longer bicycle tours I have taken, and probably the most diverse. The entire route will encompass well over 1,000 miles, and I have right at 16 days to finish the trip. This will be my first door-to door trip, meaning I will leave from my front door and return to my front door (all of the others began or ended in a distant location- Washington, DC, Waynesboro, VA, Awendaw, SC, etc...).

I plan to leave as promptly as possible tomorrow morning. On the trip I will be carrying a few things of note:

My Motorola Droid, which will show you where I am by that nifty little applet up there in the right hand corner.

A full tent, which I have never toured with before- I will miss my beloved Hennessy Hammock, but I am afraid that in the high desert there will be no trees to tie it to.

The Surly (of course). I procured a set of Nice Racks since my last tour, so they will see some use.

A neat little gizmo that I built to convert my dynamo hub's power to the range of usefulness for USB devices (5 volts, so I can charge stuff by just riding).

An MSR water filter and dromedary bag for the long, dry stretches.

A new wheelset, a pair of 700c Ryno Lites laced to XT and Alfine dyno hubs that I built especially for the dirt and gravel road sections of the trip. I am also using a set of super tough Marathon XRs in 700X40. I hope that takes care of any wheel/tire troubles that may arise, but I am taking an extra folding tire just in case, along with extra spokes and a cassette tool. The last thing I want is to break down in the desert (for obvious reasons).

I do plan to post from the road as often as possible, stop by and see what I am up to. I will have links to my web album, as well as pics from the road.

Wish me luck!

Getting pretty excited...!

2010-08-11T19:14:00.001-07:00

New Google Maps Bicycling Feature

2010-03-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned yesterday, Google has added a new "bicycling" layer to Maps. Here is the video explaining all of the new features:

Google "Bike There"!? Finally?!

2010-03-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

via BikePortland

Big announcement from Google?

Exciting news from Google! Looks like they might be ready to announce their "Bike There" feature in Google Maps. This feature has been highly anticipated since their announcement in October of '09. Now, I wonder if my Motorola Droid will get a little bike icon in Google Navigation? I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Too funny...

2010-03-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

This bike was forged in Hades. Only the strongest can survive it.
via Craigslist

61 cm Schwinn Traveler

I originally bought this bike from a man who said he worked on the AC unit for a space shuttle. I believed him because why would you lie about working on an AC unit. Not impressive. I just hope the AC unit worked better than this bike because she will eat your soul.

This bikes name is Blueshy Biscuit. You can change her name, but she will not respect you if you do.

She is one bad mother. She does not have a seat. Nor does she have a seat post. She will eviscerate your genitals with the rusty hole where her seat post was before surgery.

Want to change gears? She has 12 of them. Only gears 2, 3, 4 and 5 are reliable though. The rest of them resent your existence. 1 and 6 fall off because the derailleur is misaligned and 7-12 do not work because the front gear shifter cable is snapped. The gears are remarkably sticky and resistant to pedaling. In 3rd gear (42-20something gear ratio) I find it as difficult to go up hill as I do in my new bikes 42-16 gear ratio.

The chainrings are more of an oval than a circle. You might think this is a disadvantage, but in reality the earth is more of an oval than a circle. Now what do you think?

The breaks work in the sense that they clamp down on the wheel. However, at cruising speed, my stopping distance is 3 car lengths (5 in the rain. BONUS!).

The front wheel is untrue, but not horribly so. The back wheel is untrue and will dislocate your spine with its wobbling.

The grip tape is falling off.

The pedals used to have cages, but they snapped. Now they are narrow and hurt your feet when you pedal.

Almost every part of this bike is designed to kill you. The only thing in good condition is the frame. It is solid chromoly and straight as an arrow (that is made of chromoly). There are some nicks on the paint, but those are only there to remind you what a badass you are for riding it.

I think this bikes target audience is twofold. It is good for:
A) Someone looking for a good cheap frame to strip and make into a thunderous beast on which they cruise the land.
B) A sadist who wants to give it as a present to their masochist lover. Trust me my sadist friend, with this bike you will know your pet is suffering even when you are not around.

TL:DR A good frame with crappy components is looking for a good home.

Planning my next tour...

2010-03-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

View Eastern Oregon Desert Hot Springs Tour in a larger map

Deserts, Mountains and Hot Springs in Southeastern Oregon... stay tuned!

Yurt Camping by Bike

2010-02-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

I quickly scanned the Weather Channel for the next three days' forecast and some State Park websites for ideas. I knew I wanted to cycle somewhere, but I only had two or three days to do it, and I didn't have any idea where to go. Finally it dawned on me: Ev and I had talked about checking out the little yurts at some of the Oregon state parks, and the coast was totally do-able. I could take the MAX to Hillsboro, and then it would be 71 miles from there to Cape Lookout State Park.

View Yurt Camping by Bike in a larger map

I had a number of concerns before starting out on this trip. The first of these was the bike: This would be the second long-distance trip I will have taken on the Raleigh (I also did the Bridge of the Gods route on it in December, a 100+ mile day). While the Surly has always been my touring bike of choice, I am finding that I appreciate a more nimble, lighter bike for trips that won't involve dirt roads, trails, or overly rough travel. Lately I have outfitted the Raleigh with quite a bit of high quality and touring-specific components, and felt somewhat confident in it (more on this at a later date). I was still a little concerned about taking it out on the road for more than a hundred miles or more. Another area for potential problems was the fact that I was unable to book a reservation for the yurt. Because of the fact that I decided the day before to go on the trip, it was impossible for me to reserve it. I contacted the reservation center only to find that you cannot make a reservation 24 hours in advance. At that point, it is first come, first served. However, I was also told that it was highly probable that there would be a yurt available when I arrived, if I wanted to take my chances. Concern number 3: The weather. The forecast was looking "okay", and when I say "okay" I mean it was gonna be cloudy but in the 50's, with only a 30% chance of rain in Tillamook. While that doesn't sound fantastic, it was enough to give me a window of opportunity I couldn't pass up.

Starting out from Hillsboro, I began worrying almost immediately about clothing and the weather. Though it wasn't raining, it was fairly dreary and I was getting the "cold extremities/little bit of sweat/too hot/too cold" conundrum that can become very uncomfortable after a while. Thinking that a little bit of soaking rain would make it unbearable, I did the "take something off, put something else on, adjust your layers" dance until I felt reasonably warm but not overly hot and sweaty. I spent much of the next hour or two climbing. Passing familiar landmarks brought about flashbacks from my failed tour of last year in this same area. I would not be denied this time around, and after dropping down to my climbing gears for a while, I came up over the top of the climb and took a picture. This time around I was making much better time, probably because I didn't feel like vomiting with every pedal stroke. Waiting for me was a massive downhill bomb for at least a few miles, a welcome reward for my hard-earned ascent.

The weather started warming up, and I was in a really good mood thinking maybe, just maybe, those grey clouds would hold off and not dump a whole bunch of rain on my head. Up ahead in the distance I saw a store with a sign out front for camping supplies. There are very few stores and even less restaurants on this stretch of road, so I pulled over with the quickness. It was getting near lunchtime so I grabbed a few snacks, a muffin and a drink, and sat down at their little table to chow down. The store owner asked me if I wanted her to nuke my muffin, as she said she had just pulled it out of the fridge and it was still "frozen inside". I told her that was okay because I was gonna take it with me. Another customer came in and as he was making his purchases, he made conversation with the owner:

Man: How ya' doin' today?
Lady: Aw, I'm doing okay, after all that rain finally quit. We got near (some amount) inches yesterday. My dogs didn't even wanna go outside when I let 'em out. I bet they gonna be peein' full-force when I get home today!
Man: Yeah, it could be worse, we could be in Haiti... I tell you what, they got it rough over there right now. (referring to the recent earthquakes)
Lady: They sure got problems, don't they...
Man: Yeah...
Lady: Well you know, they wouldn't be so bad off if their gub-ment weren't so durned corrupt! And you know, we shore ain't no better...!
Man: You mean, you think we are as bad off as people in Haiti? (confused)
Lady: Hell yeah! (red-faced now) That durned Obama and 'em up in the White House...!
Man: Ummmm... Have a good day! (shaking head, leaving)

Unfortunately, she was still fired up after the customer left. I, being the only person in her establishment (besides the cast of "The Young and the Restless" on the television), was left to converse with her for much longer than I would have liked. I finally finished my lunch and broke for the door.

As I rolled into Tillamook the hills flattened out into farmland and the sun peeked out to shine on me just enough. Now moving along at a good clip and buoyed by the warmth, I was almost willing to overlook the fragrant aroma of the million or so cowpoops that I was now riding past. Home of the Tillamook Cheese Company, this is a dairy area, and for a while it was cows as far as the eyes could see (well, there are hills in the distance). Tillamook is a nice little town, what little bit of it I saw. I really only rode into town and made a left, then I was out of it again. I did catch a glimpse of a bookstore where I would like to have stopped, but didn't.

Almost immediately I turned onto the Pacific Coast Route. I don't know why, but I get so excited when I see the signs for cycling routes such as this. It reminds me of when I was cycling from SC to DC, and I came to the section of the Atlantic Coast Route that joins the TransAmerica route. It just feels sort of epic, like I am starting off on some massive, life-changing adventure. Someday I hope to cycle these legendary routes, but for now, I get out for a couple of days when I can.

I got to the beach area fairly soon after that, and strangely, that's where the climbing began anew. I was riding along the coast and the hills became sharper and more frequent. I was also catching a stiff headwind coming in from the ocean, making my progress slow and arduous. About a mile from the campground, I passed the strangest house I had seen during the course of the trip. It was really more of a tiny compound, with cyclone fences around its small yard, razor wire, threatening signage, and a security outpost not twenty feet from the front door. I would have taken a picture, but I was afraid that the closed circuit security cameras would see me and I would be shot on sight. Very odd little house.

Sarah and Jim, the campground hosts, were standing outside their RV when I pedaled up. Chatting with an RVer next door selling firewood, they told me that I was right to get there early, as they expected the rest of the yurts to go quickly. I was relieved to have secured one, as the thought of camping in the howling wind that night was not very thrilling to me after a day in the saddle. As I was filling out all the paperwork they asked me about the trip, almost excited that I had decided to join them at Cape Lookout for the evening. I thanked them for the keys, took a stroll on the beach while the sun was still up, had a nice hot shower, and settled down for the evening.

The yurt was well furnished, with a futon couch, a bunk bed, a skylight, electricity and heat. You couldn't cook inside (a bummer, given the heavy winds outside) and no running water. It was really cheap to rent for the night, and was just what I was looking for.

I cooked a dinner of one of my favorite bicycle touring dishes, a package of dried mashed potatoes with garlic (huge, and cost just pennies in the supermarket!) and a carton of milk from the gas station. Honestly that was it. I find that pure unadulterated carbs (and lots of them!) are what I crave after a day in the saddle. Plus, it's easy; just add boiling water, wait a few minutes and there you have it- a whole pot of delicious mashed potatoes. I sat around sluggishly for a while after this trying to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime (a task at which I failed miserably).

I woke in the night to the howling wind flapping the sides of the little yurt, and the sound of rainy spray on the skylight above me.

The first thing I noticed in the morning was that the rain had come to visit in earnest. I lay in bed trying to put off a day of cycling in the rain, but soon I was up and about. Cooking breakfast was not happening. There was no way I was gonna stand in the rain to boil water, so for breakfast I munched a package of dry ramen straight from the package (hey, don't knock it 'til you've tried it!) and planned to stop for coffee at a stand I had seen a few miles down the road. I swept out the little yurt, got all my things together in my panniers, and got back on the road at about 9 am. I am lucky to have very good raingear these days, and good merino wool socks, layers and baselayers to go with it. I was gonna need them too, as I had at least 70 miles of riding to do in this weather, with no sign of it letting up.

I made it back to Tillamook in record time, as the headwind of yesterday had turned into the tailwind of today. The little roadside stand, "Brewing in the Wind" served me a grande size cup of java, and I steered the Raleigh back towards the cow pastures. Enjoying the flats for about 10 miles or so, I was good and warmed up for the coming climb back over the Coast Range.

I found myself marvelling at the area along Hwy 6. Take the trees for example: craggy, old, covered with bright thick green moss, they look incredibly drab and creepy. Coming from the South, we don't see trees like this. We have moss down south, sure, but not entire trees covered with it. And the waterfalls, just about every turn there is a little waterfall or a big waterfall, or some kind of water pouring over a cliff right by the road. As I stopped off at a state park rest station by the roadside, I read about the Tillamook Burn and tried to imagine what this area must have looked like with only black sooty stumps and ashes everywhere.

It was a different exerience pushing over the range from the west as compared to the east. The west side was much longer, the climb more gradual, making it seem like it was not as tough, but dragged on forever. I noticed myself looking around each corner and over every hill saying to myself "Is that it? Is that the top of the climb? How much further to the top?" After a stop for another muffin (and a few hours) I finally made it to the summit. Ready to take my reward, I prepared for a nice long downhill, but alas, it was not to be.

For one thing, the rain was really coming down. At high speed the droplets effectively blinded me, and the stream of water coming off my helmet seemed to want to collect in my left eye. Secondly, I was a bit sketched out by the little river of water that were flowing over the shoulders of the road, making it difficult to tell whether there was good clean asphalt under there or some mushy mud that would cause me slide out or otherwise injure myself. The third blow was that it seemed that, when they built and paved the road, that the shoulders on the other lane were wider than the one I was in. I had no trouble going up on the other side the day before, and never noticed the width of the shoulder. However, on this side I had to be very careful that the shoulder wasn't cut down to a thin sliver by a guardrail, or was filled with debris, or just go away completely, dissolving into gravel and forcing me onto the roadway. I cursed the Highway Shoulder Gods as I nervously crept the miles down from the summit.

Soon enough, hills turned into rural roads, and these eventually turned into busier roads bursting with rush hour traffic. I found myself back in Hillsboro just as the sun was going down, everything I was wearing was completely soaked through every layer. By the time I got off the MAX in Portland, it was at least 10-15 degrees cooler, and all my energetic body heat was gone. I shivered the whole way home from the station, and when I got home I felt pretty miserable. I had ridden for 70+ miles in the pouring rain, and now I was done. Still, I knew in the back of my mind that after a long, hot shower, I would feel better- and know that it was totally worth it.

Bagby Hot Springs

2010-01-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Ev and I took a trip up to Bagby Hot Springs in Mt. Hood National Forest. It is located about an hour outside of Portland, and includes a short hike through the woods to get there.

When we got into the forest, there was still snow on the ground and roads. Our hike was made difficult by the fact that the trail, having a high volume of visitors since the last snow, was packed down to a slick icy surface in places (I swear, I have to get some boots with good traction). The trail is beautiful, snaking through the forest and crossing over streams multiple times. In a lot of places, the rapids were rushing very fast, the water as clear and blue as I have ever seen in a stream or river.

The water from the hot springs are channeled into a few bathhouses. These were built in the 1980's to replace the original ones built in the 1920's (which were burned to the ground by negligent bathers' candles). The bathhouse we used had 5 tubs which are hollowed-out logs about 15 feet long, and a large communal tub that can fit a few people. The facilities were more elaborate than I expected, really. You could fill the tubs with hot water from a piped-in outlet, and use the cold-water tub to cool it to the desired temperature.

We had expected crowds and long waits for the tubs; when we arrived, we were able to get a tub right off the bat, but when we were ready to leave, there was a line forming at the door. We went in the winter and I can only imagine how busy it gets in the summer.

A couple of points come to mind:

The soak was warm and relaxing, with the added benefit of not drying and irritating the skin like a chlorinated hot tub can. I find that I can only take so long in a hot tub before I have to get out because I am itching so badly.

The tubs are handmade from logs and the plumbing is extremely rustic; our log had begun to split on the end and leaked a good deal of our warm water out, so next time we will try to get an un-cracked tub.

Expect nudity.

We read that dogs were not allowed in the area, so we left Olive at home. When we arrived we found that we could have brought her, as there were plenty of other dogs running around and playing while their masters were having a soak.

Bridge of the Gods

2010-01-07T12:46:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, before it got all rainy and snowy in Portland, I followed a suggestion from Rubber to the Road and did their Bridge of the Gods ride. It has taken me a while to post some pics, but I wanted to get them together before they went by the wayside, and because it was such an awesome ride.

View Bridge of the Gods in a larger map

I began with a little navigating around the city to get over to Mt. Tabor, where the route began. From there I was on my way down the I-205 bike path, and soon came to the MUP over the bridge into Vancouver. This section of the bike path runs right down the center of the bridge between the lanes of traffic, so it is rather odd feeling even though it is barricaded by concrete on both sides. The wind was whipping up and frigid, with the headwind making the bridge into Washington seem much longer than it should have.

After leaving the bridge, I was riding along quiet country roads almost immediately. The sun was strobing slowly in and out of the clouds, making it just warm enough to be comfortable in layers.

I was riding for some time along the Washougal River. It was obvious that I was climbing as I was moving against the current, but the grade was very slight and I didn't notice . The roads became more mountainous, and I was reminded of the Blue Ridge Parkway in some sections. Canyon Creek road was a small little road in the mountains, not very busy but with the usual 4X4's driving a bit too fast (I have almost come to expect this sort of thing). In retrospect, this section was the only portion of the ride where I was concerned about traffic, and even then I simply rode more defensively while using my mirror.

A sidenote: I know I have mentioned a mirror before, but let me say it again- a mirror is absolutely indispensable for bicycle touring. I will never leave mine at home again. Nothing beats being able to see what's coming up behind you on a bike. I know it's the Dorkiest Thing Ever©, but seriously folks, if you are concerned with being uber-fashionable, maybe bicycle touring isn't for you...?

The route snaked into the Columbia River Gorge area, and the views became stunning. There was very little traffic, the clouds were rolling over the mountains, and I was in the greatest mood just being able to ride through this section and stop to take pictures every once in a while.

I could see Beacon Rock coming up in the distance. Ev and I visited this area earlier this year. The visitors can climb a neat little walkway that switches back and forth up the side of the rock to the top. Olive seemed to enjoy it. When we visited there was about a hundred little Russian kids running everywhere, back and forth, up and down. Must have been some kind of field trip...

Nearing the Bonneville Power Dam area, the sun finally came out and started warming it up a bit. I was positively giddy at this point, the shoulder was wide and the legs were feeling really good. There really is nothing like a good long bike ride in beautiful scenery.

The halfway point of the route is the Bridge of the Gods, where you cross back over the river into Oregon. The structure is long and high, and it's fun to look through the metal grate at the water below when you're crossing.

The story of the Bridge of the Gods is a fairly interesting one; The modern bridge stands in the area of what was at one point a natural landbridge, created by a landslide. While there is some debate about the exact time of the slide, the Native Americans have some great legends surrounding it that are worthy of further reading. Most of the debris has since been washed away, but what is left of it is now known as the Cascade Rapids.

The route then takes you onto THE nicest bike path I have ever ridden. Through the woods and back along the gorge, this path is build with very nice rockwork, concrete railing and gorgeous views. It was heaven. I had read that it was very nice before I saw it, but it was more impressive than I had expected.

I made my way into the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The famous Multnomah Falls is here, the waterfall that Ev said helped her decide to move to Oregon. It is a very popular tourist destinations and is easily accessible by the interstate, so it was positively mobbed when I arrived. To give you some idea of how busy it was, I was almost unable to take a picture of it because of how tightly packed the tourists were at the entrance. I cropped about a million out of this photo, and you can still see them packed onto the bridge in the middle. Although tempted for a moment to take the trail to the top of the falls, I thought better of it given the volume of visitors. Next time maybe it won't be so crowded. I downed a giant coffee while watching the people mill around, and was on my way again.

Climbing is one of those things that you either love or you hate. Over the years I have developed a "love" relationship with it provided a) I know that it's coming and most importantly b) when it will end. So, imagine my concern when I began climbing again, with a good 40 miles or so still ahead of me. For a few minutes I did the math, trying to calculate how long it would take me to get back home considering my mileage, the slow pace of the grade, and how my legs were feeling.

All of that vanished as soon as I rounded the bend, and realized I was heading to Crown Point, and to the beautiful Vista House. Apparently, while skimming over the route description, I failed to notice that it was one of the waypoints. Either way I was excited to stop and visit.

As I stood on the promontory taking some pictures, I thought for a good while about how perfect bicycle touring is for this area; I had left Portland that very morning and seen more in one day than most people get to see in weeks. Heck, I can think of days worth of cycle touring I have done in the past that did not even compare to this few hours on the road. It was quite a revelation, and I was truly caught up in the moment.

It was getting late in the day, and I knew that I needed to be getting home. For the rest of the way I tried to set a strong pace, and I eventually made it home in the dark, just a little weary but elated by what I had seen. The full ride from door to door was over 100 miles for the day, but it was so worth it. I immediately told Evelyn that whenever any of my cycling friends come to visit, this route would be the one I would ~~drag them kicking and screaming~~ suggest they take with me to see the area. I can imagine this trip being absolutely stunning in the Portland summer (I get goosebumps just thinking about it!).

Snow Biking!

2010-01-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

First off, let me just say that I know it's been a while since I posted. I need to play catch-up (again). Please bear with me as I try to do so. The holidays have been good to me, and I have a huge backlog of things to post (rides, trips, the holidays).

I have always been a big fan of Jill Homer's blog, Up In Alaska. Alaska holds a special allure for me, and snow biking just looks like so much fun! Granted, Jill has the equipment to do it right (a fat-tired Pugsley- a bike I dare say, I have lusted after for some time).

Last week we got some surprise snow here in Portland, causing some serious headaches for motorists. When I left the house for work that morning, I had no idea I would be cycling home in a few inches of powder that afternoon. As the white stuff started coming down, my coworkers became frantic; "Can we leave early?", "I have to drive an hour out to the boonies in this!"... The best part was the comments I got about riding the bike home: "Don't die!", "Are you crazy?!"

(I was pretty excited, I am not gonna lie. Hey, I'm from the south... I remember a few years when I spent Christmas at my grandmother's house in shorts!)

So, when it came time to go, I put on my layers, my coworkers wished me well ("It was nice knowing you!"), and I walked out the door. Had I had any foresight, I would have put an "EMS" sticker across my helmet and back while I was letting some air out of my semi-fat tires, because that's what I was for the rest of the way home. "The riding isn't so bad", I told myself, "just stay out of others' wheel ruts and you'll be fine". The drivers, on the other hand, were having a rough go of it.

Once I stopped and helped an elderly woman who had ended up straddling the curb after a slow motion slide. Another time I helped a few other cyclists push a family in a Corolla that was perpendicular in the road. As I was riding slowly down the road towards my apartment, a man in dress shoes slipped off the curb and fell right in front of me. It looked awful, a very hard fall, and he didn't speak to me for a minute or two, just rocked back and forth in pain. I stopped and told him I was just gonna wait there until he said something, and finally he said he was sure his ankle was broken. He used my cellphone to call some help, and after making sure he was going to be okay until they arrived, I continued on my way.

By far my favorite encounter of the day was this: As I was heading down Tillamook (an extremely popular cycling route) I saw off in the distance a massive white object in the road (Imagine the Death Star). Granted, my vision was obscured by the snow flurries, but even so, this thing looked exceptionally large. As I approached the thing, I found it was actually a snowball of massive proportions! Apparently a group of kids who, being pretty freaking awesome, had rolled this thing around for what must have been hours. It had reached such a size that they were actually smaller than it, and stood now at a height of about 5 feet or more!

Now, I don't know about you all, but I was pretty "adventurous" kid. That being said, this scene resonated with me, and I threw my fist in the air for them while shouting a triumphant "Yeaaaah!".

All was not well on the giant-freaking-snowball-making front, however. It seemed that the kids, lacking the proper planning and forethought required to pull off tasks of this monumental nature, had decided to cross the street with it (possibly to build a giant-freaking-snowman?) to their house. As they pushed it across, it got stuck in a rut in the middle of the lane, and due to its enormous size (and possibly rolling resistance?) was now blocking traffic for a block or so. I joined forces with the five or six of them, and after some struggle, the giant snow-planet lumbered over to the side of the road. After congratulating these future physicists, astronauts and other upstanding members of society, I moved on.

I made it home with little trouble, a little slip and slide here and there. The next day, I rode in again with no trouble, and the snow started to melt soon after. Quite a few people in the clinic I work in spent the night in a hotel or spent hours on the road that night.

All in all, I enjoyed my first real "snow" in Portland (Now, time to start saving for a Pugsley!)...

Over the Cascades, to Seattle and back...

2009-11-14T19:53:00.000-08:00

A couple more pics from our last two days. We drove through some fairly heavy snow in the Cascades to meet up with some friends in Seattle. It was good times, and the first snow we have seen this year!

We also got a few more shots of Roslyn, just because it was snowing this time when we went by.

We also stopped in at Twede's Cafe that most folks would know from Twin Peaks. The diner was robbed and burned years ago, but has been rebuilt. It looks very little like the diner from the show, but it does have a great deal of memorabilia and it is still a fairly popular tourist destination. We decided to stop by and have lunch, as well as some coffee (of course!) and cherry pie.

We went over to Snoqualmie Falls as well, another icon from Twin Peaks. The weather was pretty awful, but we took a couple of pics and checked out the visitor's center. It was almost like you could hear the theme music in the background...

We arrived in Seattle and hung out with an old friend from high school and her boyfriend. Had a great time, then did the tourist thing around Seattle the day after. Once again, the weather was grey and cold, but we went to the Science Fiction Museum, checked out Pike's Market and the Space Needle, and basically walked around all day.

Roslyn, Washington...

2009-11-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

As most of our friends know, Ev and I are huge fans of the TV show, "Northern Exposure". One of the things we wanted to do upon moving to the Pacific Northwest was to go to Roslyn, Washington- the little town where they filmed the show.

We were so excited to actually be there... it actually felt like Sicily, Alaska. Check out the pics!

Cross Crusade

2009-10-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

What a blast, both Ev and I are pooped. Just came back from Cross Crusade at Alpinerose Dairy. Took a few pics while I was hanging out watching the races all day. Lots of fun, crazy attendance. Check out the slideshow, most of which were shot on the big run-up on the backside of the velodrome. Incredibly, three cyclists actually rode all the way up it over the course of the day. Amazing!

Also among the participants were a lot of young racers having a go at it (about age 7-15 years old, carrying their bikes up and over stuff with the big boys and girls right on their heels, sometimes helping them up the big climbs).The first race of the day had unicyclists in attendance, and at one point a couple on a tandem singlespeed competed (yes, they carried it up and over as well).

Alpinerose Dairy is pretty bonkers, they have this huge velodrome, an old fake "wild west" town, baseball and softball fields, an opera house, all kinds of craziness. They let this event go on at their place for free, and attendance was free as well. I like free.

View Alpenrose - Crusade 2009 in a larger map

A few vendors and companies had booths for the huge crowds, giving out free coffee, tea and other beverages, free oatmeal (which was delicious) as well as a waffle and a Belgian fry stand. Very nice...

The Oregon Manifest has begun...

2009-10-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last night Ev and I went out to see the Artcrank Poster Show for the Oregon Manifest. This event also happened to coincide with the First Thursday event in the Pearl district that was going on, so it was packed. When we got there it was full to busting, quite a turnout for 30 works by bikey people. I didn't take any photos there (too busy) but here is a slideshow via BikePortland.com. Check out the last photo of the onstreet parking bike corral. This is one of my favorite things about Portland. It's a testament to how many people can park bikes in the space of one or two (car) parking spaces. There are a lot of these in front of local businesses (It looks like 32 in Portland so far) and more on the way. And, they are ALWAYS full.

We hung around for a few minutes, then headed out again and looked around at some of the galleries. There was a lot of work on display, and we spent the rest of the evening gallery hopping, spending some time in the Lawrence Gallery where we were surprised to stumble onto their collection of Dali and Picasso works. Very nice and unexpected.

(This one's for you, Teresa...)

When we decided to head home, we headed by the Zoobomb Memorial, and then got onto the new, completely buffered bike lane down Stark Street that took us all the way to the river. The city deserves some major applause for this one. Well done!

Some random pics from my morning rides.

2009-10-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Portland, I have gotten up pretty early in the morning and taken a nice ride around the city just about every day. I used to have a similar routine in Columbia, with two notable exceptions: 1) I was usually commuting to job, which I don't have in Portland, and 2) it's a LOT easier to ride a bike pretty much anywhere in Portland. So, I guess it's a trade-off.

Anyway, check out the slideshow, and thanks for stopping by...

Update

2009-09-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

I will get back to regular postings soon, but have time for a quick update right this minute. I have changed the comments section to "moderated", to try and reduce spamming on some of my older posts. It's kind of a pain, but that's what you have to do sometimes.

Will be back soon, thanks for reading...

Joey

A little impromptu spelunking...

2009-08-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Ev and I made a visit to Ape Cave in Washington.

Ape Cave is a lava tube located in Gifford Pinchot National Forest just to the south of Mount St. Helens in Washington, USA. At 13,042 feet (3,976 m), it is the longest continuous lava tube in the continental United States, in terms of passageway length. Ape Cave is a popular hiking destination with beautiful views of the Mount St. Helens lahar region. Lava tubes are an unusual formation in this region, as volcanoes of the Cascade Range tend toward the stratovolcano type and do not typically erupt with pahoehoe (fluid basalt). A logger named Lawrence Johnson discovered Ape Cave in 1947 when his truck fell into a sinkhole and in there he came upon the entrance to the cave. A Boy Scout troop under the leadership of Harry Reese performed the first exploration in 1950; they named the cave for their sponsor, the St. Helens Apes: a group of local Scouts, sometimes called Brush Apes.

via Wikipedia

As you enter the cave from about the center, you can go two directions: an uphill section that warns of being difficult and a little treacherous, and a downhill section that is relatively easy. We chose the downhill section first. Most of the way, it was very easy going. The walls and ceiling are very smooth (having been created by hot lava!) and relatively free from cave-ins. There was a bit more traffic on this end of the cave, with lots of children and elderly people going through without too much difficulty.

Very smooth walls and ceiling. The whole cave is damp to the tough, though, with water dripping down the walls and ceiling. The temperature in here is a steady 42 degrees, with a persistent 7 mph wind.

Popular spot to photograph in the cave, a "ball" of stone suspended between the two overhanging ledges.

Detail of the walls. The caves were formed only about 10,000 years ago, so there are no stalagtites or stalagmites.

Towards the end of the downhill section, it begins to get very tight. I do not know the person whose behind this is, but he and his daughter were ahead of me in the tunnel. Most of the others were well far back in the more spacious parts of the tube.

Gives you an idea of the size of the space. Interestingly, the father of this little girl was trying to help her go farther down to the end. I applaud his parenting style! The two of us could go no further down, ourselves. I was laying on my stomach for this shot...

A chunk of the ceiling that had caved in.

We went back the other, more perilous way up the cave. This way was strewn with huge rocks, slides and climbs.

We became fast friends with others in the cave, often bottlenecking into big groups, helping hoist others up over steep dropoffs and over very tight spots.

A skylight towards the end of the cave. There was a bit of growth of ferns and moss around this hole, but nowhere else in the cave.

The exit from the cave.

After we left some hours later, I was completely worn out. I came close to falling asleep in the car on the way home, and went straight to sleep when I got home.

Here's the rest of the pics...

Evelyn's 3-Speed Raleigh Sprite Mixte Conversion

2009-08-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

While we were still living in Columbia, Evelyn bought a 1968 Raleigh Sprite Mixte from a woman on Craigslist. When she purchased it, it was in great shape, and it cost her all of 100 dollars (an unheard of amount for a nice, used bike here in Portland!). I had previously warned her that she might not be too keen on its friction-shifting 10 speed drivetrain, as it was a much more organic and less precise means of finding your gears.

She stuck with it, and the bike proved to be a reliable steed. She strapped it onto the back of the car, and we brought it with us out west. The bike gets ridden daily, to the grocery store, to the movies- all over, really. After her fifth rough start- that resulted in injury- I suggested that we swap out the drivetrain for something less fussy to use (It was apparent to me that the more she rode the bike with the difficult shifting, she would probably avoid taking it, maybe opting to take the car instead). At the time, she was hesitant, not wanting to really sink any money into it (we are trying to stretch our dollars as I am unemployed).

Unable to find a bike that she liked back in South Carolina, Evelyn's mother asked her to go take a look at one she found on Craigslist in Portland. The plan was, if it was worth the money, we would purchase it and ship it back to her. The Raleigh Sports 3 Speed proved to be in very good shape, so we snapped it up. As soon as Ev saw it, she was extremely envious, and once she rode it, with its smooth, 3-speed shifting action, she was sold. We had a hard time boxing that thing up and shipping it away (for it to be destroyed in transit, thanks UPS!).

The deal was sealed, we would put a classic Sturmey-Archer AW hub on her mixte. I found one on eBay that was NOS, still in the (shelf-worn) box from the 60's, and got a great deal on it. Interestingly, the thing shipped from Isreal, which took a little while. I was curious why it was shipping from so far away, but it was listed with free shipping, so there you go.

I went to work removing the old stem shifters, cables, front and real derailleur. The old chain got tossed in the trash. After taking the rear wheel off, I broke it down to just the rim, unlacing it and donating all of the left over components to Community Cycling Center. I mounted the new fulcrum and and pulley on the frame, and the shifter to the handlebar.

One thing I noticed when Ev was riding the other 3-speed was that it seemed to be geared rather high, 48X16 (later confirmed by the late Sheldon Brown). For a city like Portland, it would probably need to be brought down a bit, maybe 48X20. I had a 19 tooth and a 21 tooth sprocket for my Alfine, so I decided to put on the 21. A little conservative, but it was a good place to start. I have since found it be just about right, allowing Ev to make it up all but the most strenuous hills (that one being NE 16th street heading towards Alberta avenue, hehe...).

The rear wheel was relaced with DT Swiss double-butted, cross-3 pattern. As for the chainline, the AW hub comes with a dished cog that can be flipped, as well as two spacers, allowing you to adjust the chainline quite a bit. As it was, I had already pulled the crank off, and removed the inner chainring that was no longer needed. The crank bolts allowed me to place a spacer between it and the chainring, adjusting it to a perfect 45 mm. The rear wheel went back on, and after adjusting the cable just right, she was ready to go. Since the hub had been sitting on a shelf for decades, I was sure the original lubricant was gone. I added some of the recommended SAE 20 motor oil to the oil cap, and we hit the road.

I think it looks great. Gone are the big metal pie-plate, the cables, the derailleurs and unattractive cassette. Now in its place is a simple hub, and a nice looking chainring with a sweet chainguard.

It has to weigh five pounds less than it used to, and I'm not kidding. More importantly though, Ev seems to enjoy her bike a lot more.

Now we just gotta replace that ailing Brooks vinyl saddle... ladies, what do you think about this one?

The next time I hear about some cyclist blowing a stop sign...

2009-08-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

...I'll refer to this study:

Cyclists cause less than 10% of Bike/Car accidents

(via Treehugger)

While there is a public perception that cyclists are usually the cause of accidents between cars and bikes, an analysis of Toronto police collision reports shows otherwise: The most common type of crash in this study involved a motorist entering an intersection and either failing to stop properly or proceeding before it was safe to do so. The second most common crash type involved a motorist overtaking unsafely. The third involved a motorist opening a door onto an oncoming cyclist. The study concluded that cyclists are the cause of less than 10 per cent of bike-car accidents in this study.
The available evidence suggests that collisions have far more to do with aggressive driving than aggressive cycling.

I am usually not big on regurgitating posts from other sites, and this article has been making the rounds. Still, I have heard so much opposition to cyclists from motorists based on the perception that "cyclists flagrantly disobey the rules of the road; therefore, they cause accidents". Practically every person, legislator, public official, radio personality, etc., that I have heard complain about cyclists (or oppose progressive cycling policies) use this argument.

The data is showing that, in reality, it's a very different story.

Portland Adult Soapbox Derby

2009-08-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, too much fun. Got some pics up, check 'em out here!

Sick as a Dog

2009-08-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

I decided that my first tour upon moving to Portland would be a trip to the coast. I had done a small amount of research into the Oregon Coast Route, and when I found a decent route from Portland, I hit the road. I was going to take the "alternate route" from Portland to Tillamook, head south through the Three Capes area, and return by the Nestucca River Road. All of this should take a few days, depending on the amount of climbing involved.(I must admit that I did about 90% of the planning on the day of my departure, as I was packing my panniers).

I rode out of town by way of the Oregon Zoo/Washington Park/Japanese Gardens area, up some pretty good climbs, getting the legs started early. It was forecast to be one of the warmer days of the year in Portland, about 86 degrees. Outside of town, I got onto a nice bike path to Hillsboro, a relaxed ride into the small town where I would pick up the route at the MAX station there.

It was getting to be around lunchtime when I spotted a Wendy's on the edge of town. Anyone who knows my affinity for the dollar menu knows that I can rarely pass on their baked potato and ceasar salad (2 bucks!)(except for of course when they -without even asking beforehand- put bacon on it). I stopped and sat in the air conditioning for a few minutes, when an old friend called and I chatted with her. As I left, I got a medium fry to go, assured that I would nibble on them at my next rest stop.

Still not doing much climbing, I stopped off again about an hour later and bought a blue Gatorade (my fave!), and ate the rest of my fries. I was at about the 500' part of the climb that I started to feel a bit queezy. My stomach seemed uninterested in processing anything that I had eaten, even though I was drinking lots of fluids. About twenty minutes later, it felt like I had a painful basketball in my gut.

Things started to go downhill pretty fast after that. I felt very dehydrated and thirsty, but the more I drank, the more I felt like I was going to pop. Waves of nausea came over me like a chill from the back of my neck, and I quickly scanned the map for someplace to pull off the road.

After a miserable ride of at least ten more miles, I came to a campground. I tell you, after climbing some 1500 feet - feeling sick as a dog - it was a welcome sight. I stopped at the first picnic table I saw, plopped down with my head on the table, and just sat. I didn't know what to do. My phone had long since lost reception in this national forest, and only the campground host and and a few stray campers were around.

I feel really, really sorry for the nice hippy camper who came over from his tent after a few minutes to check on me. He said "Bro, you okay, Bro?" and that was all there was to it. I raised my head only to put it back down again, seriously ill. I wish he hadn't had to watch me puke, but oh well, there was nothing else I could do.

I finally made my way to a campsite where I struggled to string up my hammock. My legs and arms were weak, and I continually had to stop and sit down while I struggled to hammer the stakes into the ground. My legs were cramping in multiple places, as were my arms, something I have never experienced before. My stomach was very tender and sore. After a good 45 minutes of struggling with my shelter, I finally crawled in and laid down. I stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, alternately trying to sleep and heading to the restrooms next door to my site.

During the night my sleep was disturbed multiple times by leg cramps, forcing me to jump up and try to straighten the affected limb. I slept with my water bottle, drinking it dry before the morning.

When I rose, I felt a good bit better, but definitely too weak to continue with the tour. I slowly got all of my things together while I made coffee and breakfast. At one point an older woman with a big dog came over to ask if I had cycled here. I told her I did, and she related a story about her husband and she cycling the coast years ago. I told her I thought I had food poisoning the day before, and she told me I looked "really sick".

I left the campground, but not before going out the wrong way (and wasting a lot of time) in the forest. The old trail road was very steep and primitive, and I didn't know that I was going out the wrong way, because I was so out of it when I arrived the day before. I had a little bit of climbing to do to get back over the range, which took me a long time because I was going so slow and stopping so often. However, once I got over the top, it was all downhill to Portland.

Once I got back into cellphone range I call Ev and told her what had happened. It took a couple of hours to get back into town, and when I got back to the apartment, I ate a huge plate of beans and rice with sour cream, then passed out.

It had been a long hard two days in the saddle (and off). As bad as I feel about abandoning the tour, I don't see what I could have done differently. Next time I will have to pay better attention to what I eat on the road...

Hopefully, I'm back.

2009-08-17T04:39:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, long time no see. So, what have we been doing?

Tour de Fat! What a blast this was. Kudos to New Belgian for putting this on, and all of the freak bikes were a nice plus!

Oregon Brewers Festival was pretty fun. Too bad it was during one of the hottest days of the Portland heatwave, and we had no AC the entire time.

Moving (again). We decided that living above a punk rock doughnut shop that was open 24 hours was not going to work long term.

Job Hunting. I have been hunting in earnest for a few weeks now, and have a few things on the horizon.

Riding my bike. A lot. I have gotten back into the groove of heading out pretty early and getting a lot of miles in by 10 or so. I have been averaging about 40 miles or so everyday, and resting on the weekends.

Portland Twilight Criterium. Thrills and spills, right in the middle of town. Big crowds there, too.

Getting out of town. We have gone to Cannon Beach and Astoria twice since we have been here, and really love the Oregon coast. We have also been out to the Columbia River Gorge, Vista House, Multnomah Falls, etc...
Here are some pics!

Okay, rather than recap everything right here, I am hoping I can just pick up where I left off. I am planning on taking a short tour out to the coast this week (barring any job interviews that may arise). I am not sure how long it will last, maybe just two days, possibly more (?) depending on how I'm feeling and how it goes out on the road. I will keep you guys posted as the plan evolves.

In the meantime, I'll be getting pictures of our recent trip out to the Gorge online.

Still getting settled in...

2009-07-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, I have not abandoned the blog, just been amazingly busy. We have been trying to get settled into our apartment, taken a trip to Astoria to the Goonies House, all kinds of stuff. Hopefully I can get caught up soon, I have a ton of video and things to get online, but for now, it will have to wait.

Stay tuned!

SC to OR- Day 9, Boise, ID to Portland, OR

2009-07-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

View 7-06-09 in a larger map

We slept in just a little bit this morning, knowing that we had only a few hours of driving to do. We grabbed our continental breakfast and got on the road, making our way out of Idaho and into Oregon.

In eastern Oregon, we stopped at this little diner called the Redneck Cafe, determined to see what they thought was "redneck". It was a little surprising.

First off, they served the infamous "fry sauce". Now, I do know some rednecks and none of them eat fry sauce. Also, they clearly advertised that they served espresso, not a typical redneck beverage. The proprietor of the establishment was a very large, very sweaty, and very Greek man named "Bo", which I guess in some alternate reality is kinda redneck, but most certainly not in the classical sense. They did however have some good grub, and their portions were huge.

Entering the Columbia River Gorge is awesome, with its mountainous banks dotted with windmills, and its water filled with kitesurfers and windsurfers. After about 50 miles, though, it starts to get a little old, and at about 100 it gets downright unbearable. We were so elated to see Mt. Hood, we were both like caged cats until we finally got to downtown Portland.

Because our apartment was not gonna be ready until later this week due to the holiday weekend, a friend of ours invited us to stay with him for a few days. We headed over, but quickly realized we needed to get into a hotel. Alas, Olive was way too riled up from sitting in the car for days on end, and the presence of little cats at our friends' house was really more excitement than Ev and I could bear. We made plans for dinner later and headed to the Quality Inn.

Tomorrow Ev starts her new job, and we both start our new life in the Pacific Northwest...

SC to OR - Day 8, Grand Teton National Park, WY to Boise, ID

2009-07-05T07:33:00.001-07:00

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Had a hard time leaving the park this morning, everything was just gorgeous. On the way out we drove past the awesome Teton Range, really indescribable.

Drove quite a ways into Idaho, past some very scenic areas, and into small towns that were having 4th of July parades and to a tiny diner called simply "Angus" (they serve "fry sauce" there, a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise).

We stopped off at Craters of the Moon National Park, a completely crazy place that is just a huge area of volcanic cinder, lava and lava tubes. I had no idea it even existed until we went by it, but I am glad we stopped, cause it is pretty surreal.

There are massive fields of crumbling and broken lava, huge cinder cones that look like mountains, and caves created by the lava tubes, some fallen in, some still able to be explored...

Some of the cinder piles are huge; Just as a point of reference, the dot of white is a family, climbing to the top...

Called it a day at about 8:00 in Boise. We really wanted to make it into Oregon, but we were just too beat- and sick of driving. We expect to arrive in Portland tomorrow afternoon...

SC to OR - Day 7, Riverton, WY to Grand Teton National Park, WY

2009-07-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

View 7-04-09 in a larger map

Headed out of Riverton in the morning with one goal in mind- the Grand Teton and Yellowstone area. While reading about camping options in the area, our book said it was best to get there before 11 to reserve a space (they are all first- come first served). Traffic wasn't too bad during this stretch even though it was coming up on a holiday, and after a few hours of driving and waiting in a short line, we had a spot in Colter Bay Campground, a very nice little spot away from the monster RV's we saw on the way in.

Suffice to say, Yellowstone and Grand Teton are way too much to explore in a day. We hit up Old Faithful, checked out the hot springs and the geothermal areas, and went looking for wildlife. The hot springs and geysers in the area are awesome, pictures really don't do them justice at all. I shot a lot of video that I will have to upload when I get a minute.

We camped for the first time with Olive last night, and she did really well. We put her bed at the end of the tent and she laid down and went to sleep. I didn't hear a peep put of her all night, though Ev said she was shivering in the middle of the night (it got a little cold at night, about 45-50 degrees).

Again, more pictures are up here...

SC to OR

SC to OR - Day 6, Denver, CO to Riverton, WY

2009-07-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

View 7-03-09 in a larger map

Wow, what a difference a day makes. Today we left Denver and headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. I was not really that into going at first, as we were supposed to be using this time to head to Grand Canyon. That changed when we got there; The loop around the park is fantastic! 12,000 feet of elevation at the top, and a fantastic view over the snowline, herds of elk on the mountainsides, marmots scrambling around the place, it was awesome.

We did pay a little bit of a price though, and that was altitude sickness. My head was throbbing, my vision was blurry, and I was winded the entire time. Ev said she was pretty nauseous. We made it to the top, however, and it was totally worth it, even with the climbing.

Some more pics are up if you want to check them out...

Afterwards, we headed toward Grand Teton. We are spending the night in Riverton, and will head into Grand Teton and Yellowstone in the morning.

Wish us luck...

SC to OR - Day 5, Burlington, CO to Denver, CO

2009-07-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

View 7-02-09 in a larger map

Back on track today, headed for Denver and Casa Bonita! Not a lot of time, but I do have some pictures up here...

SC to OR

Next stop, Rocky Mountain National Forest...

SC to OR - Day 4, Wichita, KS to Burlington, CO

2009-06-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

View 7-1-09 in a larger map

Our "story in pictures", continued...

SC to OR - Day 3, Manhattan, KS to Wichita, KS

2009-06-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

View 6-30-09 in a larger map

Today's fun times are best described in pictures...

SC to OR - Day 2, Clarksville, TN to Manhattan, KS

2009-06-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

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Got up and on the road after having an awesome continental breakfast. Drove for a good while through Missouri, a state that is far more attractive than I had been led to believe. Lots of exposed rocks on the roadside. St. Louis was pretty cool as well, although we really only snapped some touristy pictures and drove right past.

Stopped for a break and to walk the dog at a small "Conservation Area" called Little Dixie Lake. Looked to me like it could use a little more conserving, namely from the locals. There seemed to be a ton of people fishing off the bank, their little spaces all strewn with trash (beer cans, bait cups, etc...).

Ev had been excited about this famous barbeque joint called Gates' & Sons in Kansas City forever, so we went. Ev got the "Burnt Ends" sandwich, with cole slaw, and I had a huge basket of french fries. While I found my dinner to be, well, exactly what you'd expect from a big basket of fries, Ev says that South Carolina's BBQ is far better than Kansas City's finest.

We had hoped to drive late into the evening, making Colorado a little sooner, but the "Oil" light came on for a second at about 70 or so, so we decided to stop in Manhattan, Kansas, to check it and add some oil if needed (we JUST had an oil change before we left town).

(On a side note, I really need to get some exercise; the couple of laps around the parking lot on the bikes last night really didn't cut it...)

SC to OR - Day 1, Columbia, SC to Clarksville, TN

2009-06-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

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Ev and I both woke at probably 4:00 am from mix of nervous energy about the trip, and the fact that neither of us had really slept well after we sold our bed and were sleeping on Thermarests. We got up and got to cleaning, me loading the car while Ev scoured the kitchen, cleaned the fridge, and generally made it look somewhat presentable. I kept my self busy packing and loading the car. By about 10 am we were ready to call it quits and hit the road.

With little fanfare we left our little condo and took off for Oregon.

We told the GPS to take us to Casa Bonita's in Colorado, and off we went. We seemed to make good progress on the road, making Asheville and its mountain scenery in no time flat. I fell asleep while Ev drove us through the hills, and before I knew it, we were in Knoxville, TN.

We continued switching the driving duties until we got to Nashville, where an unfortunate wrong turn had us on a scenic tour through that city's touristy areas. It was about that point in the trip when I could tell I wasn't going to have a pleasant evening. A migraine, brought about by my erratic sleep schedule of late and my lack of cycling in almost a week or more, was making its presence known.

Wee made a beeline for a place to spend the night, get out of the sun, into some peace and quiet with my pounding head. We ended up at a nice hotel in Clarksville, pretty expensive by my standards, but dog friendly and with an astonishing continental breakfast, larger than most Shoney's buffets. After Ev gave me some Tylenol PMs, I was out like a light, and slept well through the night, while Ev tried to watch TV at an almost inaudible volume.

Quick Update

2009-06-23T05:32:00.001-07:00

Things are moving right along around here, quicker than we had expected. Our "month" of getting things together and moving has positively flown by. Posting on the old blog has been pretty spare as of late, but fear not, for we are soon to depart on a big ol' road trip across the country. I will be updating regularly with pictures from all over the place.

Our plans as of now are that we will spend the rest of the week cleaning out the place and getting our stuff packed, visit with the family Thursday and Friday (my birthday), and then leave as early as possible on Saturday morning for St. Louis.

Stay tuned!

Everything's a blur...

2009-05-31T03:13:00.000-07:00

It has been about a week since my last post, but boy what a week it's been.

First, the big news: This week, Ev got a call from the Department of Agriculture in Portland about an application she submitted a while back. She had seen the job listing and it looked awesome, so she said, why not? Expecting the usual -apply, nothing happens, call about application, etc...- process, she was surprised to find that her skill set matched what they were looking for to a "T". They gave her a phone interview, and they want to hire her.

We are moving to Portland. We have about 4 weeks. No joke. We are positively scrambling right now, Craigslisting most everything, and giving away what we can't sell. That's the big news.

In other news, I began my new job at the bike shop and it turns out that it's one of the cooler places I've worked. The people there are great. It's pretty fast-paced, so I'm always on my toes, and I really enjoy the work (it's bikes, as you could have already guessed). It really sucks that I am going to pick up and leave after one week, because it is definitely a place that I could stay for a while. I would have loved to get a bit more experience as well. Life's a bit unpredictable.

Speaking of working on bikes, I got the Raleigh back together with a nice new Suntour Honor derailleur from a vintage parts shop on eBay. It was in pretty good shape, but I took it apart completely and rebuilt it, and it is like brand new- no slop, dialed in and shifting smoothly.

It seems that old Raleighs are big in our house these days. We just went to North Carolina and picked up a very sweet '78 Raleigh Sprite mixte, nuclear green and in fantastic shape. What a sweet bike, it probably has about 5 miles on it. No joke, it really is in fantastic shape. The only thing wrong with it is the Brooks vinyl saddle has some cracked pieces underneath, probably just from old age (as it hasn't been ridden at all). After a full day of cleaning, packing and meeting prospective buyers of our stuff, Ev and I took both of the Raleighs out last night and went for a ride.

The Greenway was busy because of a river festival that was going on. We only caught the tail end of it. We rode along the riverwalk, up through downtown, sat out on a restaurant patio and had dinner. It was good evening for it, cool and not too humid. We rode back through the dark, swallowed about a million bugs, and almost got locked inside the park gates.

It is impressive how far Ev has come since she has started going to the Y and working out regularly. Yesterday she set a good pace on the road, a huge difference from just a few months ago. Her average speed and endurance are up considerably. In fact, if she were on a fast bike (the Raleigh is what you would expect from a '78 steel girl's bike- heavy!), and she knew how to shift it well (the Raleigh has friction shifters, her first time using them) she would have actually be kinda -fast-.

There's more, but it would take a lot longer than I have here to cover it all. Suffice to say, we are in full-on relocation mode, purging all of our extraneous worldly possessions and trying to get the condo into somewhat decent shape.

More to come...

Ride of Silence... and disasters right and left!

2009-05-23T04:56:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday of this week, Columbia had its Ride of Silence. Attendance this year was very good, somewhere around 125 to 150 cyclists. This year's weather was nice as well, much better than last year's, when it was absolutely pouring down rain during the ride.

As has been noted by others who have participated in the Ride of Silence, it can be a little eerie. Imagine it: a long string of slow moving, contemplative riders going right through the center of town, no conversation, just stretching from one direction to another. Many times during the ride, I wondered what motorists were thinking, as most of them just looked confused (or irritated), and many people in the office buildings and local businesses came out to the street and watched, curious to see what was going on.

I don't know, I kind of like the sort of "mental jamming" this sort of activity invokes, and its surreal nature. Maybe it makes motorists think about their actions in relation to cyclists, as well as the danger they pose to them? Maybe it reminds cyclists that there is a very real danger in their actions, and that they need to be more mindful and aware on the roads? The point was driven home in the speech given before the ride citing some of South Carolina's statistics over the years; needless to say, I thought long and hard about my daily commute during that portion of the event.

Speaking of my commute (and mindful motorists), my neighbor almost struck me -twice- on my way to work yesterday. As I was nearing the end of Kay Street, making a right on to Broad River road, I saw a car approaching in my rear view. As there is a median separating the left turn and right turn at this "T" intersection, I thought "she won't try to pass me, there's not enough room. She'll have to swerve to the right to keep from running over the median." Well, that's exactly what she did, tried to pass me with less than 50 feet of roadway left, swerving quickly to the right and squeezing me off the road. As I rode into the grass and bushes, I gave her a piece of my mind. Sadly, she heard none of my chidings, as her windows were up, and I could see that she didn't even look for me in her rearview or anything. It was as if I were roadkill or a landmark that she had passed some time ago, and not a person on a bike in the grass, roughly even with her rear wheel, and about to meet my demise.

While she was waiting to make a right turn, I got out of the grass, and moved back into the turn lane. I watched her the whole time as I tried to make my turn, seeing if she would even think of looking to the right before pulling out. Sure enough, as soon as I pulled out, she pulled right out with the classic "left hook", then hit her brakes, surprised to see me there even though I had been sitting there plain as day (and yelling at her!) for at least 20 seconds.

I had had enough; I moved right to the center, taking the lane and forcing her to recognize me in front of her. I motioned for her to go around me in the other lane as she shot me a nasty look. It was obvious to me that nothing less would have gotten through to her.

I stewed over this incident for the rest of the ride in. When I got to work, I called Ev and vented, but then thought better of my plan to verbally decimate her in the parking lot when I got home (she and her husband live directly across from our condo, I see them every morning and afternoon). I don't know what I could have done differently in this situation besides just stop as she approached and pull off the road to let her pass. No matter how visibly and deliberately they ride, cyclists are still at the mercy of motorists on the road. I believe that I will just stick a copy of the SC bicycling laws under her windshield wiper.

I wanted to post a picture of the Raleigh, as I have it mostly finished, at least enough to take it to the Ride of Silence this week. I had a pretty good week of commuting to work on it, too, it being a little lighter and more nimble than the Karate Monkey. However, all that came to an end on Thursday afternoon.

As I was coming through an intersection on my way home, I shifted gears and heard a horrible sound and my rear wheel went into a skid. I stopped and dragged the bike onto the sidewalk to inspect the damage. It looked like the rear end had been bludgeoned with a mallet: derailleur mangled beyond recognition, chain dropped and wrapped around the hub multiple times, wheel rubbing the frame, the hub bolts free from the dropout. I was mortified. What had happened? I put everything into a somewhat mobile condition (just so it would roll, that was about it) and walked it home, about a mile or so.

When I got there and inspected the damage, I pieced together what had happened: It looked like when I rode through the very bumpy intersection (the city has removed the pavement on the road, and has not repaved- it's like Paris-Roubaix out there) my chain's quick-link came undone and got somehow tangled in the rear cassette (or derailleur), twisting the derailleur clockwise and into the spokes. The worst part of it was that the derailleur hanger is a dropout-mounted type, so this twisting motion basically levered the dropout open- letting the hub nut slip free. Then, it just broke loose from its mount. In a nutshell, it was a disaster.

I did come away from the event with a few things: Firstly, I hate derailleurs. I am glad that I decided to put an internal gear hub on my Surly, and will probably go this route on all of my bikes from now on. Secondly, I hate (certain) quick-links on chains. This isn't the first time I've dropped a chain because the link just popped open on the road. My Whipperman on the Surly has a quick-link, but it's a completely different type (a single speed chain) and a far superior design that can't just pop apart.

As the derailleur is a vintage Suntour, it may be tough to find another one to replace it. The older derailleur had very little slop in it, and was very nice looking. I may just have to replace it with a more modern piece of equipment, as 5-speed stuff is getting a little obsolete.

Otherwise, the bike is basically okay (I had to straighten the dropout with a mallet and such) and I got my fenders installed. She is really nice looking, I think, but I'll wait on posting a pic of it until I get the derailleur replaced.

Some bike-related happenings...

2009-05-17T04:53:00.000-07:00

It's Bike Month in South Carolina!

As most of you know, this Friday was Bike to Work Day in Columbia, SC (Bike to Work Week was May 11-15th). I was tapped to be a ride leader from my area. My route would come from the St. Andrews area to downtown. All of the routes would convene at a downtown architectural firm (Watson Tate Savory, one of Columbia's official "bike-friendly businesses") for breakfast and such at 7:30 am.

It seemed a little strange to me to get up so early to do my commute. I was up by 6 am, and at the first checkpoint by 6:30. Typically I don't leave for work until 9:00, unless I am going to the Y beforehand. I found my friend Guy at this first stop, which also happens to be where I usually meet him if we decide to ride in together. I planned for three stops spaced at 20 minute intervals in case we picked up some new commuters and they were very slow. Sadly, this did not happen- we didn't pick up anyone at all. Oh well, I didn't really expect to have a peloton of cyclists heading into town from my area. Most people wouldn't dream of cycling from where I live- even regular cycling commuters see it as too dangerous or scary.

It was refreshing to see a good turnout when we got downtown, though. One group had apparently come from some 28 miles out, having started at 5:45 am. My hat's off to them! I've often thought that it would be nice to have a pretty long commute (20+ miles) every morning. You'd get a good workout, and you'd be head and shoulders above everyone else in your workplace, mentally and physically. I would only wish it was on a fairly mild route, maybe some country roads or through a park of some sort.

I got a part-time job at Harrell's Bicycle World, a respected long-time local shop, as a bike mechanic. I am pretty excited about this opportunity to get my hands dirty. I will still keep my other job at the University for the time being. Hopefully it will be a nice change of pace, and I'll get to talk bikes a lot more...

I was asked to work with the BikeColumbia Education Committee, a branch of the BikeColumbia Task Force. I attended the first meet & greet yesterday afternoon. A good group of folks, and I look forward to working with them in the near future.

She's looking pretty sharp...

2009-05-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Got the Raleigh back from the powdercoaters yesterday. For the price ($45.00, frame and fork, strip, sandblast, frame prep) I can't complain. I see one area that is not perfect, but on the whole, far superior to my rattle-can paint job. She came out in a dark green, somewhere between a "forest" and "kelly" green. I think Surly would call this a "campstove" green, but she has just a hint more blue.

Here is a flash photo trying to estimate the color. It is kinda close, but it is still a little bright...

Another top shot, showing tires (Schwalbe Marathons) on new wheel build (Weinmann rims, DT Swiss Champion 2.0 spokes, stock hub), new cables and shoes on cleaned up brakes, stock bottom bracket and cranks, Suntour friction shifters. The rear wheel has not been built yet, due to a little mistake in spoke length calculation (I came up like 5 mm too short AND long).

Still to come, SKS wheel eyebrows, new pedals, maybe MKS Touring. I think she will be done by then.

More on the Raleigh restoration...

2009-05-10T01:16:00.000-07:00

Just a little update on the Raleigh. I got all of the bearings flushed and repacked, and began the reassembly process. She looks awesome, and I was very proud of the way the paint turned out (I put a lot of time and effort into it). Which is why it sucks for me to have to say what I am about to say: I am going to have it powdercoated. Yes, after letting the finish cure and starting to put her to back together, I realized that the finish, while very good, did not provide the level of protection that I would hope. For example, tightening bolts onto the frame produced a twisted, peeling affect (on the otherwise perfect paint) that made me sick to my stomach to look at after spending so much time getting it just right. So, I am going to have a professional powdercoat it for me, and I will be assured of a much stronger, protective finish. Lesson learned, no need to dwell on it any more. Lucky for me, Evelyn is looking forward to the build being finished (this was her Dad's bike), and she encouraged me to go ahead with the powdercoating when I was torn about what to do.

It is also possible that I will have it done in olive green. It is almond right now, and it looks great, but I think I might like a darker finish. Also, it would probably not look dirty as quickly as an off-white would.

It seems weird to say, but I see how some folks turn retro-grouchy; while working with the adjustable bottom bracket and headset, I thought to myself how cool it was to be able to service these things. My Karate Monkey headset and bottom bracket are not user serviceable, and I've often been curious about whether this is a good thing (the mechanisms are sealed, keeping dirt out and whatnot) or a bad thing (when it dies, you have to replace it wholesale, no repair possible). I think I am falling into the camp that thinks it would be better if all of these parts were user serviceable.

Take for example, the threaded headset: how simple and convenient it is to adjust the stem height as compared to a threadless model. Just loosen the single adjusting bolt, lift it, and then tighten it back. On a threadless model you must loosen at least a few bolts, add or subtract spacers, and reassemble. Not that there are a lot more steps or anything, the point being that it just seems a lot more convenient the old way (plus, it's easier to get your stem higher if need be, without a ton of extra spacers). I have not forgotten that threadless, sealed headsets obviously keep the bearings cleaner than older treaded designs. It's a trade off, and lots of folks don't like doing lots of service on their bikes (or paying someone else to do it).

Similarly, the friction shifters (Suntour) on this bike make me think of a more natural, relaxed approach to cycling. It seems to me a bit more zen-like using friction shifters, as they function mainly by feel. You sort of massage the bike into gear, paying attention to the complaints of the beast (mainly clicks and scrapes) until you find your gear. Gone is the rigorous structure of the clicky index shifter- with friction shifters you're on your own. This is my first bike to have them, and I am liking the change.

The rims (Weinmann) have shown up, but the box of replacement spokes (DT Swiss) that I ordered have not. Soon, I will begin the wheelbuilding part of the build, and I am very much looking forward to it. I have cleaned and repacked the bearings, and they are ready to go. Also, regarding the wheels, I decided to go with the Schwalbe Marathons that I was debating on last post, and they will be here this week as well.

Funny story: I had originally decided to purchase a new headbadge (to replace the one I damaged) on ebay. So, I followed my auction closely, watched it until the last minute or so, then bid. Well, needless to say, a furious bidding war broke out in the last minute, and the winner outbid me... by 45 dollars! I was like "I would never have thought someone would have paid so much for them (there were a few classic looking ones, but I know nothing about headbadges). Oh well, the hunt continues...

Raleigh restoration, continued...

2009-05-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the frame has had all components (headset, cups, bottom bracket, etc) removed and I have decided on a color for the old girl. I found a great "almond" at the hardware store that I think will work well. I was pretty torn for a minute between "leather brown" and this and the almond, when all of a sudden I saw a very nice olive green. Decisions, decisions...

I spent most of the day yesterday taking the frame down to bare metal and getting a good look at the brazing and tubes. Sadly, the headtube badge that looked so cool on the frame was destroyed during removal. As the badge is the only "branding" of the bike that I plan to keep, I have found a replacement for it on eBay. I was forced to abandon the priming of the frame due to the rain, but I did get the fork done. Next will be two coats of almond, followed by clearcoat.

I thought it would be a good idea to keep a running tally here of the cost of the project (something I haven't done when working on previous bikes). Here are the costs of the project so far:

Stripper, primer, almond topcoat, clearcoat- $23
Two Weinmann 27 X 1-1/4" rims- $24
Headtube badges from eBay- ~$3
Shimano chain- $10
Brake shoes (4)- ~$10

Note that I already have a few items that would be necessary to complete the project such as bar tape (Bontrager, from my Surly build), tools (bottom bracket tool, Dremel, steel wool, etc...), rim tape, and a pair of Sora Tiagra brake levers.

There is one issue that I am torn on however, and that is what type of tires she should get. My first thought was to just go for the Cheng Shin HP tires that were on it, gumwall and everything. From a "restoration" standpoint this would make sense. However, from the utilitarian aspect, it does not. Personally, I have had many tire troubles before I bought my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, and I will probably never use another brand on my main bike. I have come across a pair of Schwalbe Marathons in 27 X 1.25, and am seriously thinking about getting them for this bike. If I do, the budget is blown by 10-20 dollars.

Decisions, decisions...

Back home, and a new project...

2009-05-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

I am back home, and have a couple of things going on.

Work has been good, I haven't had too much trouble getting anything done with the broken rib (the dog accident). Mostly it hurts when I laugh, sneeze and get out of bed in the morning. I haven't cycle commuted this week because Ev thinks I should take it easy on the poor rib (she's probably right, but riding in the car is so boring).

Ev likes to make fun of the fact that I always seem to have "projects". Well, I have a new project; A few weeks ago when cleaning out the Johnson's garage during Ev's mother's brain surgery, I was given an old Raleigh Sportif ten speed. It was in okay shape, most everything seized, rusty chain, broken spokes, one rim totally rusted out. It was painted a 70's/80's blue that I was not a big fan of, but the frame was my size, and it was a pretty decent frame- lugged, with Reynolds 502 steel, American-made and good looking, too.

Ev's brother thought I should turn it into a fixtrocity, but I thought I would just find someone to give it to. Then I thought that if it were painted a good color, and all of the old Suntour components cleaned up a bit, it could be a pretty nice ride. I began hitting up Old Ten Speed for inspiration. I decided to restore it with a couple of upgrades such as fenders and maybe a better saddle, new paint and tape- with a budget of no more than 100 bucks, for certain. I figure it's not really worth any more than that, but it would be a shame to let a free bike (that works and fits) go to waste.

Right now I am really into coffee colors, so I will probably paint it a white, cream or brown, which I think (accented with tan, black and chrome) will look nice on a city bike. I have already gotten it stripped down to the frame, except for the bottom bracket. I will get some pictures up soon, but for now, just imagine an old blue ten speed that came out of a garage where it has been sitting for about 15-20 years.

Day 9- Fredericksburg, VA to Washington, DC

2009-04-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

View 24-APR-09 in a larger map

I woke up at 6:00 without the alarm, having slept very well. I quickly got my things together, the morning traffic of Fredericksburg looming in the back of my mind. As soon as I got on the road, it was all white knuckle. I was bobbing and weaving, dodging trucks and cars, and then in the next turn- nothing. My map had guided me off the traffic route and into a park- the Fredericksburg Spotsylvania Military Park. It was pretty sweet, riding down the tree-lined lanes with zero traffic, and on either side of the road were the remnants and deep furrows of Confederate trenches from the Fredericksburg Campaign. It was interesting to see these, and to pass by Lee's headquarters up the hill. I hated to leave, but I pressed on to DC.

The rolling hills had begun now in earnest, and I was taking advantage of them as much as I could. I would speed down one side, gather as much momentum as possible for the next climb, then work my way down my gears until I got to the top, and repeat. This worked out very well for me, as I had easily made 25 miles by about 10:00. Only a few times did the climbing become torturous- one of these was descending at about 40 miles per hour into Patomac Creek Run for a solid 3 or 4 minutes, only to be met with a solid brick wall of a climb back out of it. I cursed the hills, dropped into low gear and slogged it.

As I got closer to the DC area, the terrain became much more extreme, with massive downhills and tough climbs, only this time next to large highways instead of country roads. By the time I got into Occoquan, I had ridden along a very generous MUP along Ronald Reagan Highway for some time. Traffic was really starting to pick up, and I found I had underestimated the distance for today, calling Ben repeatedly and telling him "Oh, I'll be there in so and so..", only to call again an hour later and change it.

I rode through the little touristy town of Occooquan right by the river, crossed a footbridge, then headed for Mount Vernon. You have to pass through a military base to get to it, and the traffic was heavy at the checkpoints. What I found at Mount Vernon was a tourist nightmare: I must have passed at least a hundred tour buses parked on the side of the road, two lanes of bumper to bumper traffic for miles, chaos. Of course I filtered through all the mess, but who in their right mind would want to drive into that?

I found the start of the Mount Vernon Cyclepath, the corridor I would take into the city. It was a beautiful ride, right next to the Potomac, with lots of people out and about. Runners made their way along the route, families picnicked at tables, cyclists whizzed by while others slept in the grass, enjoying the great weather. The route according to my map was supposed to be 14.5 miles from beginning to Arlington Bridge, but it was in actuality much longer by the mile markers on the trail. As I rode along I could see the familiar icons of Washington coming into view: The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the White House. I was thrilled to be so close to the goal of the trip.

Soon enough I was crossing Arlington Memorial Bridge and rode right up to the Lincoln Memorial. Although the place was absolutely mobbed with tourists, I did a victory lap around the Reflecting Pool, hehe. I snapped a bunch of pics and met Ben.

Later on in the evening Ev would get into town, we would meet Nicci and hang out late into the evening.

Yay! I made it!

Today's Mileage- 96 miles (my calculations were WAY off...)

Day 8- Richmond, VA to Fredericksburg, VA

2009-04-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

View 23-APR-09 in a larger map

I woke to the sound of a trash truck, then a car alarm. I am definitely not as used to the sounds of the city as my host is. After some time of getting things together, we went out to walk the dog, and I got a good look around the downtown area of Richmond.

While it is relatively nice, it suffers from the problem that a lot of cities suffer from which is that its downtown area is dominated by fast moving traffic and huge, multiple overpasses. Let me explain: when we left the apartment, we walked about a block or two to the "Riverwalk". While it is a noble effort on the behalf of the city, it is not what I would call "idyllic" by any means. The traffic roar is right next to you, and if you look, all you see is multiple highway bridges above your head. Even the old train station downtown goes unnoticed, hidden by the concrete bridges looming over it.

After some breakfast from my generous host, I made my way out of the city. I stopped of at the courthouse to take some pics, and generally pointed my camera at all the monuments and statues on the way out. I like the area further away from downtown, as it looks to be more of a college area- laidback, with cobblestone streets.

I traveled in pretty ideal weather for a while until I got to another section of the route I had been looking forward to- the intersection of the Trans Am in Ashland. When I got into town, I found it very cool, a laidback little town with a thriving downtown area. I stopped off at Ashland Coffee and Tea on the advice of Ravi, and was pleasantly surprised. Their coffee was fantastic, and their veggie sandwich was top notch. I checked the email, called friends, and then split.

I didn't sleep a ton last night, so I was planning on taking a short day and trying to get to bed early. I was really feeling it today, as the hills started rolling. My mapset showed very little between Richmond and Fredericksburg, so I pedalled along on the hills passing through only really one town on my way.

When I got to Fredericksburg, I knew I had picked a bad time to enter the city- it was right around 5:00, and the traffic was crazy. I finally made it to a campground and got set up. I looked over my maps and tried to estimate mileage for tomorrow's ride into Washington. I was really looking forward to the Mount Vernon Cyclepath (along with finishing my trip and seeing Ev and my friends). I figured it would be about 70 miles, a respectable but shorter day in the saddle.

Today's Mileage- 65 miles.

Day 7- Suffolk, VA to Richmond, VA

2009-04-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

View 22-APR-09 in a larger map

Ugh. Some days are just harder than others.

It started out easily enough, leaving Suffolk and getting underway at a reasonable time. I chatted with a fellow bicycle tourist Matt Cazalas for a while when he called me to see if he could take me up on my offer to stay with us on his way through town. Of course I told him I was on the road myself, and really hated that we wouldn't get a chance to meet and share stories. All of this conversation was had over a McDonald's Big Breakfast, no sausage- extra eggs, with an extra triple stack of pancakes because they messed my first order up and just gave me extra. Caloric requirements met, I was on my way.

The sky was looking daunting, but I wasn't skeered. No, I just donned my trusty raingear and went for it. The wind was kicking up pretty good, but I figured it was fine. The real rain never came, but the wind blew ALL DAY LONG from the North-Northwest- the direction I was going. At times, the gusting would stop me dead in my tracks; Often I would just grind away in my lowest gears just looking at the pavement so that trash wouldn't get blown into my eyes. I was in the Virginia rural farm country, a place where there is nowhere to hide. One time a gust blew so hard it knocked me right into a ditch, and I was looking around for funnel clouds.

I stopped a lot, as it was very frustrating forcing my bloated steel sailboat into the wind. I called Ev and asked her what was going on, and if I might need to find cover. The forecast was not good: Scattered thunderstorms, strong winds and gusts from the northwest. I bit my lip and just kept grinding away. I would become overjoyed when I would see a wooded area ahead of me, as this gave some protection and allowed me to pick up the pace a little. As it stood, my average speed for the first twenty miles was a dismal 6 miles an hour.

Turn after turn, zigzagging through these godforsaken fields for hours, I became more and more convinced that I was not gonna make it to Richmond, where my WarmShowers host Ravi lived, and where I was supposed to be by 8:30.

Finally, by the time I got to about mile number 65, the wind died down, but the sun was going down as well and I was a ways from Richmond still- about 45 miles. I turned the cranks as fast my legs would go- into the sunset then into the dark. At 8:30, I called to say I was about 10 miles outside of town. By this time I felt ragged and beaten, and my GPS giving me two different locations for the same address didn't help.

I FINALLY got into downtown Richmond at almost 10:30. I tell you, I was never so happy to crest that hill and see a cityscape in all my life. Ravi, my very understanding and generous host, was a really cool guy, and we hit it off immediately. It turns out that we have a lot of similar interests such as bicycle commuting and touring (duh), Linux geekiness, we even have the same shirt. Ravi shares his downtown loft with a very well behaved Rottweiler and a butterball tabby cat, both of which made me miss Olive and Buster (recently deceased). We chatted for a little while, but then it was time for me to crash out on the couch. I woke up quite a few times in the night because of the sounds of the street below, but man was I glad to be anywhere but out in that wind...

Today's Mileage- 108 torturous miles

Day 6- Kitty Hawk, NC to Suffolk, VA

2009-04-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

View 21-APR-09 in a larger map

I woke up from another good night's sleep and checked the clock. 6:15, best get moving. I got all of my things together, made breakfast and coffee, pumped up my rear tire (the tube seems to have a slow leak, I took it off but couldn't find it), all with the thought of the weather and "The Bridge" in the back of my mind.

I wanted to get over it before the morning traffic became too heavy. On the Adventure Cycling maps, it has a warning that there are no shoulders on Wright Memorial Bridge, and it is 3-1/2 miles long, over the water. Horrible scenarios played out in my mind. I made one last sweep of the place (my morning routine upon leaving somewhere while bike touring borders on schizophrenia, I'm always afraid I will leave something) and headed out the door.

I met a couple out in the campground who had been staying there for a few days. They were very curious about my trip, and did not seem to like the peacocks at all. I can understand. They are beautiful, but they can be a little loud, especially if you are sleeping outside. I took the beautiful MUP out of Kitty Hawk and came to the bridge. I stopped to put on my screaming yellow jacket, turn on my lights, and steel myself for what lay ahead, when I ran into the motorcycle guys again. They all waved and yelled, and I started off. It was very foggy outside, and not very bright daylight yet, but as I got onto the bridge, I found I had nothing to fear. I don't know what had changed since ACA made my maps, but the bridge going north has a very wide shoulder, so much so that I took a picture of it. I rode across it unscathed, and continued onward.

After about an hour or so I stopped off at a gas station for some "2nd breakfast". I got two honey buns and a Frappachino that was "Double Mocha" flavored. Now, you can laugh if you want to, but I had a lot of miles to cover today, and at 480 calories apiece and the drink at 280 calories, I'd say that's a good deal (about 1200 calories for $3.50). I made sure that I found the library at Barco, updated my blog that was way overdue, and took off again.

Things began to get a little arduous after that stop. As I zigzagged my way to Sunbury, I found that the wind would shift with me. I could not catch a break, it was relentless. The area I was travelling around, Great Dismal Swamp, had a great deal of rural roads in fields as far as the eye could see. There was nowhere to hide from the demon winds, and when I finally finished the gruelingly straight-into-the-wind slog for 20 miles that was Highway 158, I stopped off at a little cafe and just sat there for a while. It was pretty demoralizing.

Luckily, I changed directions in Sunbury, and headed into more protected areas, some back roads into woods and dense canopies. It was nice because the sun was getting a little low, and it was cooling off, the roads were a lot less busy, and the wind couldn't attack me here. I road along for some time, heading for Suffolk, where I had already reserved a place to stay (there was no camping anywhere in the vicinity). I did get pounced upon by another group of mongrels on these back roads, but these were wearing collars, and didn't cause me to almost die. I yelled at them while I got off the bike and walked past. I really didn't want to have to mace them, as I know they were just protecting their property.

I told my GPS to take me to Main Street when I got into Suffolk, and I was surprised to find that it is pretty nice downtown. It's really too bad that I am like 4 miles away and it's starting to rain, or else I might want to walk down and see what's going on. As it stands, I need to work on the bike (grrr, broke off another eyelet!) and try to arrange a place to stay tomorrow night in Richmond on WarmShowers.

If you guys want to see some more pics (not arranged or edited, but in chronological order), go to my gallery

Today's Mileage- 119 miles (a personal best, even with the brutal headwinds!)

Day 5- Salvo, NC to Kitty Hawk, NC

2009-04-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

View 20-APR-09 in a larger map

Woke up this morning after a very good night's sleep, having not woken up once during the night. I immediately looked out the front door to see the weather conditions and to my surprise, it had not rained yet. Arrgh, I could have camped last night. Oh well, at least I can take a good shower this morning before I set off for Kill Devil Hills.

I was determined to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial today, and sure enough, as soon as I got out the door, it began to pour down. Good thing I have a lot of raingear. It came down in buckets and, in combination with my old friend the tailwind, gave my backside a good soaking. At least my bike was getting a good wash after the wreck the other day dirtied up all of my panniers and such. I could have kicked myself when I got not 2 miles down the road to the town of Waves when I saw a total of eight(!) different tent campgrounds. Most of them had free WiFi, and one of them was right next to a sweet looking coffee shop/cafe. I should have just ridden a little ways down the road and I could have saved some money last night (as well as internet access and good java!). Oh well, lesson learned.

When I got to Oregon Inlet, a ranger from the Park Service flagged me down and basically demanded that I let her take me over the bridge in her pickup. She said that it was basically shoulderless, long, and she didn't like cyclists riding over it when it was pouring like it was. I obliged, and as we passed over the bridge, I saw what she meant. We talked about her 15 years with the Park Service, her sons in Kitty Hawk, and the ubiquitous "4x4 vs. Shorebirds" issue. When she dropped me off on the other side, she gave me a "Junior Rangers" badge. Nice.

It began to clear up a little bit as I approached Nags Head, so I stopped off at a Taco Bell/KFC (?!) to grab some bean chalupas and strip off my raingear. The Nags Head area has a very nice MUP running down its entire length, and I spent the next hour or so reeling in roadies on carbon fiber bikes until I got to Kill Devil Hills (coolest city name ever?). When I got into town I could see the massive Wright Brothers Monument looming over the city. Boy, when they build a monument, they really build a MONUMENT. That thing is huge! I rode up to the top (my friend the tailwind turned into a headwind, the traitor!) and ran into a group of older motorcyclists who I had seen twice already on ferries here. They took a picture of me because they thought of me as "just another part of their trip". We swapped stories, they took a picture of me at the monument, and I headed back out on the road.

Kitty Hawk was not far away, and it was starting to sprinkle again. I thought of the motorcyclists warning me that a storm was heading this way, and I thought of the hostel again. On a whim, I called, and sure enough, they had plenty of room for me. I decided that today would be my REAL rest day (sort of), and I would go there, hang out, do some laundry, and relax my sore shoulder and arm for the afternoon.

The Kitty Hawk Hostel is an old converted schoolhouse with a ton of rooms for travellers of all types, a large _tent_only_ campground, complete with lots of picnic tables, a fire pit, outdoor showers, a bath house, a laundry room and a bunch of spectacular peacocks roaming the property. They also have dorm rooms (which I got for a steal) and single rooms for a little bit more. Right now I am doing my laundry "for real", instead of rinsing it in the sink like usual, and tonight I will probably head up to a coffee shop and get this darn blog up to date.

This area also has a great MUP that they are really proud of. It is very nice, and it goes from one side of town to the other, through the woods, a little farm, a park, around a pond, and into a few local shopping centers. I think I'll explore it a little on my way to the coffee shop...

Today's Mileage- ~45 miles (plus running to the ATM, etc...)

Day 4- Cedar Island, NC to Salvo, NC

2009-04-21T07:59:00.000-07:00

View 19-APR-09 in a larger map

I slept pretty well last night, only waking once at around midnight, chugging a bunch of water as I was dying of thirst. When I awoke again at 6:30, I knew that I wasn't going to the 7:30 ferry. I turned off the alarm and rolled back over. I nodded on and off until about 8, and then I went and got the continental breakfast and got my things together.

I made it to the 10:30 ferry, by which time I had decided that today would be a "rolling rest day". I was only going to try to get to the next ferry off of Ocracoke, or find a good campground, either one would be fine. That's still ~50 miles, but a far cry from my 100+ mile days so far. I had a long conversation with an older couple, the husband of which was an avid cyclist with one or two longer (across North Carolina) rides under his belt. We chatted about the ride so far, gear, the weather, and after a while, the environment. You see at one point the wife asked one of the deckhands that worked on the ferry why an alarm was going off. He told her it was common for people's car alarms to go off while on the ferry, something I thought was a little amusing. They continued their conversation about the trip over, the depth of the water we were passing over, and dredging. It was at this point that the deckhand went into a tirade about environmentalists, how they were making it hard on everybody, how they were gonna get stuck because they couldn't dredge the sound, etc...

It is important to note at this point that few of the people that I spoke with on the Outer Banks have a very good opinion of conservationists, scientists or environmentalists. One of the hot-button issues right now is whether or not people should be allowed to drive vehicles on the beach. The arguments -for and against- both range into the realm of the surreal. Some other issues are dune managements, shorebird nesting, fishing limits, all kinds of topics that folks who live away from the coast don't even care about. It seems the general concensus for the "Joe Six Packs" in the OBX is that environmentalists want to make it hard to work, hard to play, and to generally take the fun out of everything. I spent the rest of the trip having this conversation.

I finally got off the ferry after two hours and fifteen minutes, and was greeted by new best friend, a massive tailwind pushing me right down the coast. I traveled the length of Ocracoke Island in record time and rode right up onto the next ferry to Hatteras. The trip was only 40 minutes this time, but seemed longer because no one peppered me with questions about the bike or the ride I was on. I just watched the dolphins as they escorted our ferry to Hatteras.

When we arrived, the first thing that stuck out was the 4-lane intersection at the ferry gate, and the giant row of castle-sized McMansions on the shoreline. I thought to myself that this was not really gonna be my style of island- big money, commercial and tacky. I was mistaken, as about a half mile down the road it was all dunes and shrubs, very nice. I road for a long time just getting glimpses of the ocean over dune tops as I flew down the road at 25+ miles an hour, effortlessly, for miles. I remembered my previous promise to myself, that I would look for a campground, go see a lighthouse, and that's it. I was so excited to see that there was a campground (a state park one, too, my favorites!) right at the base of the famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Two birds with one stone! I rocketed over there, only to find that the camping area was closed! Ugh, I felt so dejected. I snapped a pic of the lighthouse (mainly for my sister) and then sat down and looked at my maps.

I was surprised to find that I had overlooked a hostel in Kitty Hawk. How I had not seen it before I don't know, but I would love to head over there and meet some people from wherever. Maybe there'd be some cyclists there, who knows? As much as I love being by myself on the road- on the bike, just going, it does get lonely every once in a while, and it would be great to have some folks to hang out with. The problem was: 1) Kitty Hawk is like, fifty thousand miles from where I was 2) I had wasted three and a half hours on ferries today and 3) today was really SUPPOSED to be a "rest" day. Plus, when I called the hostel they said they were full, although they did have tent camping for 3 dollars- good enough, I thought.

I hit the road once again, but by this time it was about 5:00, and looking like rain. I remembered Ev telling me that there was a chance of rain today, which made my decision more difficult. After a lot of lollygagging on the road and off, as well as chatting with Ev and my sister, I finally decided to stop in Salvo for the night. Salvo is a tiny little town with an even tinier post office- about the size of ones closet. It is also famous for having the "Best Tasting Drinking Water" in 2005, an honor it displays prominently on its signage around town. Really, it's only about one square mile in its entirety, so I shouldn't have been surprised that there was only one motel, the Salvo Inn Motel. My room was very cheap, but it's in a nice area and I am not choosey when out touring by bicycle; I just didn't want to sleep out in the rain tonight and finding a good campground was surprisingly difficult around here. On the plus side, the shower has good hot water and pressure, which my banged-up left shoulder, chest and elbow certainly appreciate.

I tried to play catch-up with my blog and listened to the ambient music created by the refrigerator in my room; It's not annoying, but rather very soothing. I think it will put me to sleep tonight...

Today's Mileage- 86 miles, counting both ferries. Sure didn't feel like it!

Day 3- Onslow County, NC to Cedar Island, NC

2009-04-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

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I woke to a bitter cold, my sleeping bag all soggy. I could see my shirt filled with sweat from last night, now frozen into a flat sheet. It had apparently gotten down to freezing last night, then in the morning, the dew fell on all of my stuff. Oh well, what can you do.

I hit the road at about 6:45, just as the orange sun was creeping over the treetops. It took me about 5 miles before I warmed up, but even after the rest of me was warm, my fingers were still pretty cold. I stopped off at a convenience store at the "T" where the main Atlantic Coast Route and the "Outer Banks Alternate" split. I quickly downed two honey buns (cheap calories!) and a canned coffee beverage of some kind, then headed for the coast again.

The ride to Cedar Point was a little long and boring, and I passed through the little town as well as Bogue, to the town of Cape Carteret, where there was a great library with an outdoor seating area and wifi that I could use to update the blog and upload pics, while I made some calls to people. I headed out after about an hour, and took "9 Mile Road" or "9 Foot Road" (depending on which sign you were looking at) to Newport, a great little town with a huge community center, baseball games going on, lots of folks out and about; a pretty quaint little piece of "Small Town America". I immediately was reminded of the tiny town in Chuck Klosterman's "Downtown Owl". I stopped at a baseball field where the groundskeeper was extremely generous with his water hose, very eager to let me refill my water bottles. I also passed through the most confusing intersection in Newport I have ever seen; Imagine, if you will, a convergence of streets (not like the typical two way intersection) of no less than 5 roads as well as a railroad. No lights at all, the locals just stop and look around to make sure nobody is coming, then they go for it.

It was after I left Newport that I had my first disaster. As I was riding down a fairly country road, 4 or 5 dogs came from out of nowhere (actually they came from the yard of a run down house with about 20 cars in various states of disrepair in the yard and driveway). I had no time to do anything, grabbing the mace was useless, they were right on me. One of them ran in front of me and I nailed him with the front tire, full speed, lifting the rear end off the ground and launching me over the bars. I landed painfully on my left arm and shoulder and must have rolled about 5 times in the road. The dogs were dumbstruck, and ran around howling and barking in all directions.

I picked myself up, bloody and dirty, and my shoulder and chest in dull pain. I looked around and the first thing I saw was a kid about 13, cutting the grass. He had stopped the lawnmower, seeing the whole thing happen, and stood there frozen as I gave him the universal "WTF?" gesture. He bolted into the house, leaving me there with the dogs and the wrecked bike, panniers lying in the road. I slowly walked up to the house, furious, ready to give the owners a piece of my mind about having a slew of dogs, unleashed, no fence or anything, twenty feet from the road.

Of course no one came to the door even though it was obvious they were home. I yelled some obscenities and went back to the bike. One of the pedals was pretty banged up and makes a clicking sound every rotation, but the rest of it was fine save for some scratches and dirt.

I pedaled away, more intent than ever to get back to the coast and out of the country. I had to race against the clock to make it to Cedar Island, as a ferry was leaving for Ocracoke. If I missed it, I would have to stop there. I made a pretty good pace for a while after this, as the wind gods smiled on me with a huge tailwind as I rode up the coast. When I got to Cedar Island Reserve, the woods opened up to a huge wetland, and one lone bridge. It was massive and steep, and it was a little tough to slog up it with my busted shoulder and arm very sore. When I got to the top, though, it became my own personal rollercoaster. A massive tailwind, a completely flat road for miles and miles, and a nice downhill run; I made the last 10-15 miles in record time, turning my biggest gear the whole way. As my big fat tires hummed on the road, I shot a video of it (coming soon...you can hear my busted pedal clicking in it).

I got to the ferry, but not in time. I was about 15 minutes late. The woman in the restaurant/campground/motel felt so sorry for me all dirty and busted up that she gave me a seriously reduced rate on a room "if I promised to come back and have dinner here tonight". I accepted, with a promise that I would, in turn, destroy just about whatever food items she put in front of me.

My room was small, but fantastic for the price, and it gave me a chance to dry out my things from the night before. My shower water pressure was so low that it literally trickled out the showerhead, so I had to take a bath (which my sore muscles appreciated). I then ate like a fiend in the restaurant, went back to the room and crashed.

Today's Mileage- 98 miles

Day 2- Carolina Beach, NC to Onslow County, NC

2009-04-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

View 17-APR-09 in a larger map

I woke to find that my bike had still been raided by the little mongrels, even after I had removed the food. They were obviously pros at this sort of thing. Unrolling my panniers and making their way inside they gnawed holes in (of all things) my tool bag full of wrenches, oil, and a dirty, oily rag inside. Weird.

As I broke camp a guy walking his dog came over and talked to me about the bike. He was an old school bike touring guy, having cycled with his wife all over Europe, talking about Berlin (after the wall came down), Budapest, etc. He was amazed at all the little conveniences that had come along since his days of bicycle touring, and asked a lot of questions about my components and such. Nice guy, I asked him if he planned on ever doing a cycling tours again and he said, "Oh, I've got two kids now". Fair enough.

Today I cycled through the Cape Fear area to Wilmington. While it seems like a really nice place, I quickly got sick of the convoluted directions on my cycling maps of the area. It was quite a hassle getting through the city, coming in on one side that was heavily industrialised and leaving on the other which seemed to be a massive sprawl of interstate bridges as far as the eye could see. Wilmington does have a couple of things going for it, though, such as a couple of great city parks. All over the place you will see the state flower, the azalea, in full bloom. I stopped off and made some phone calls, then made my way out of town through a mixture of neighbourhoods ranging the socioeconomic scale. After about an hour and a half of backcountry riding, I got into Hampstead, a nice little slice of small town America. Sometimes when I run into these little towns with such a "homey" feel I want to stop off and check things out for a bit, but I pressed on to Surf City.

Lots of beachfront cycling awaited me in Surf City, and I enjoyed the sun and ocean breezes all the way to North Topsail Beach. Since it's still technically the off season, I had no problems with the traffic that can plague these areas in the peak of summer. I stopped off for ice cream, and realised that my metabolism has finally reached "touring status", meaning that everything, everywhere looks yummy.

I hated to leave the beach and head inland, but I aimed my bike towards Dixon. As I was riding over a bridge on the Intracoastal Waterway, I ran right over one of those stupid road marking nails, the ones with the fluorescent coloured plastic ring on it so it is obvious for road workers. About an inch long, it stabbed into my tire, but didn't flatten it. Interestingly, it held air until the tapping sound on pavement drove me nuts, and I finally stopped and wiggled it out, at which point my tire went flat. Oh well, I'd been riding over all kinds of garbage on the road shoulders this whole trip, so it was bound to happen eventually.

I formulated a plan to camp outside of Jacksonville. I would ride past Camp Lejeune, a marine base, and through Dixon and Verona. These two towns weren't anything special, and I rode straight through them. By now I was really looking for a place to sleep, and just wanted to get to Jacksonville. When I got there, however, I never saw the campground that was shown on the map. I rode into town, debating if I should stop off at the Jamaican restaurant and calling a couple of motels in the area. I was astonished to find that they all charged between 90-100 dollars at even the cheaper place, and I wasn't about to pay that. I pressed on for Maysville, where looked to be another campground.

It was beginning to get dark and I had quite a few miles to cover. As the sun went down, I began looking for "alternative" camping spots, as I really didn't feel like doing any night riding on these rural roads. I passed a man standing in a field blowing a trumpet, and when I rode over to ask him if he knew of any campgrounds closer than Maysville, he ignored me. Just acted like he didn't hear me. Weird.

Finally, when I rode up to a radio tower with a large fence around it, set off the road a couple of hundred yards, I knew this was the spot. There were no houses around, and I put down my Thermarest and sleeping bag, called Ev, looked at my "Field Guide to the Night Sky", and then went to sleep under a perfectly clear night sky full of stars.

Today's Mileage- 112 miles

Day 1- Conway, SC to Carolina Beach, NC

2009-04-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

View 16-APR-09 in a larger map

Got off to a good start out of Conway, hitting the road at about 8:00. Right off the bat, got into some nasty commuter traffic. About ten miles out of town, rolled up behind another Crazy Guy On A Bike, or a recumbent, rather, who stopped and flagged me down.

I immediately wished I had never stopped, as this guy was very abrasive (with very bad teeth and hygiene) launching into a rant only a minute into our conversation about Warmshowers.com, how they "blackballed" him, this that and the other, then tried to witness to me. Turns out he's called the "Pedalling Preacher" and has crossed the country like 16 times or something. Anyway, I got out of there quick.

Had some pretty uneventful riding until I got out of SC, typical giant pickups driving way too fast on country roads, not giving me enough space on a clearly signed road. Made Calabash about noon, and headed to the beach. Sunset beach and Ocean Isle were very nice, with bike lanes throughout and low traffic. I hated to leave it, but I had some miles to make for the day, so I headed back inland.

The miles through Shallotte and Supply were long, straight and boring. Not complaining, I made good time and all, but it wasn't as nice as riding on the beach. Soon enough, though, I would be in Southport, a beautiful town that I will have to visit again, with tons of little Mom & Pop shops and a main street that runs right into the sea. It was a very inviting little town, but I had to catch a ferry to Fort Fisher. Off I went.

I caught the ferry over to Fort Fisher (another great little town). On the way over, I got to chatting with an extremely curious little kid and his father. He asked me where I came from, where I was going, and looked at me wide-eyed when I told him I was going to DC. His father asked me the standard questions, "Why?", "How to you make money?", "Where do you sleep?", and I tried to explain it to him. When I told him that I was interested in the sciences, the kid asked me, "Do you blow stuff up?". He then went on to ask me if it might not just be better to drive there, and why I got rid of my car some time ago.

The best part of the conversation came when the father, to my surprise, gave the kid a nudge and said, maybe you could do something like that". Mom, however, sat in the car, having nothing to do with the madness we were discussing.

I got off the ferry and headed to beautiful Kure Beach, a fantastic spot with these great windswept trees right on the beach, and Carolina Beach, where I spotted a campground. I headed in, got set up right next to 4 other Crazy Guys, made dinner and relaxed. I made some phone calls to friends and family, then chatted with the guys until late in the night. They were doing Key West to Bar Harbor, doing 50 miles a day. I went to bed and fell fast asleep, but was woken in the night by the sound of something going through my panniers. I was sure that it was a raccoon or something, and shooed it away, having already put all my food in the hammock with me.

I slept straight through the night, after a nice long ride in great weather. My mileage for the day- 102 miles.

From SC to DC

And I'm off...

2009-04-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well, today didn't start as I was expecting. The Stankertanker, aka Miss Olive had to go to the vet for a surprise urinary tract infection. I had originally planned to go to work, finish my hours up for this week (since I was taking Thursday and Friday off), then head off to Conway, SC to pick up the Atlantic Coast Route. The plan was to find a cheap campground a little ways outside of town and hit the hay.

Well, Ev and I got out the door after work, quickly checking on the little dog and getting my bags and bike loaded up. It was a pretty long ride to Conway, and by the time we got into town, it was already dark. We rode down the nicely landscaped drive into Myrtle Beach State Park to find a neon sign at the gate reading "No Vacancies at Campground". I asked the lady in the booth if that meant tent camping as well, and she said yes, then delivered the unfortunate news that all of the campgrounds in the area have been booked solid "for months"(?) I was out of luck, it was getting late, Ev had to work in the morning and it was going to be a long drive back for her tonight. We raced back to Conway, and tried a few run-down looking motels until I found a gem, the Conway Inn & Suites. This was a nice little place with WiFi and continental breakfast that was clean and pretty cheap (it should be noted that I will not spend a lot of money on a hotel or campground while bicycle touring. If it were up to me I would simply plop down where I got tired, on the side of the road or wherever, and go to sleep.)

So, here I sit posting in Conway, where tomorrow morning I will ride a couple of blocks to pick up the Atlantic Coast Route, and off I go.

SC to DC

2009-04-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

As many of my friends may know, a long-time friend of mine, Ben, lives in Washington, DC with his girlfriend, Nicci. He is one of my few friends I have made a point of keeping in touch with over the course of many years, and we always make plans to hang out any time we are even in the same state. Recently I decided that my next tour would be to visit them in DC. I will cycle there over the course of a week or so, and Ev will drive to meet me there. Then, in the vein of our recent trend of freeloading off of our friends who happen to live in cooler cities across the US, we will stay with them for a few days while being touristy. I also have another friend from my department at the university who is a recent transplant, and I hope to hook up with her and grab dinner or something.

The idea of travelling to Washington is not a new one to me. Some years ago, when shopping at REI, I stumbled across "Bicycling the Atlantic Coast" (at the same time that I found "Bicycling the Blue Ridge Parkway", the book that would become the basis for last years' BRP tour). Once I had scoured the book thoroughly, I knew that I wanted to take an Atlantic Coast trip, maybe to DC or to New York. Earlier this year, the Biking for Obama group passed through my state, and gave a call for anyone who wanted to travel with them or just to share some company for a while to come and meet them on the road on the way to the inauguration. I was completely torn about this, as I desperately wanted to go to the inauguration, but they had no tickets or place to stay. Also, it was REALLY cold in January, and they were doing a lot of miles per day. At the time I was unemployed, but had put in some job applications and whatnot, and thought it best (safe) to just stay home. This turned out to be something I would really regret, as it turns out that Earl Blumauer of Oregon gave them a golden ticket to the event when they got there. When my sister ~~bragged on and on~~ told me about about taking her kids on a White House tour shortly afterwards, the proverbial deal was sealed. I have been to DC before, but my trip was so rushed and hectic that I didn't get to see the sights. Plus, I am feeling pretty patriotic these days (Obama makes me proud to be an American again).

I will leave next week on Wednesday afternoon for the town of Conway, SC. From there, I will travel the Adventure Cycling Atlantic Coast Route
to DC, following the "Outer Banks Alternate" portion of the route. I have always wanted to see the outer banks, but really haven't had a reason to go there until now. I will have to do significant mileage to make this trip work, as I have ~700 miles to cover and about 9 days to get to DC (you do the math). Luckily, the majority of this route is flat, and at sea level, and the weather is supposed to be in the 60's to 70's this time of year- perfect riding weather. I plan to camp most of the time, and will be cooking my own food in order to save time and not have to continually look for hotels, motels, restaurants, etc. I am trying to factor in maybe one night in a hotel in the middle of the trip to do laundry, shave or whatever, but that's about it. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan (yeah, right!), I will roll into the Mall in DC on Friday the 24th sometime, and my friends and girlfriend will be there to meet me. Then, we will stay until the following Monday when we will drive back.

If there is anything I have learned from my previous tours, it is that -weight- is the enemy. For this trip, I am going to cut out a lot of things from my packing list. One way I will do this is by sending a bag of extra clothing (nicer, street clothes for hanging out in DC) along with Ev for when she drives up later on in the week. That way I can take at the most two pairs of shorts, two pairs of socks, two shirts, and my rain gear (jacket, pants, helmet cover, overshoes). In this way I will cut out a lot of weight and space in my panniers. It is not forecast to be cold enough for any cold weather gear to be necessary, but if it get chilly, my rain gear works well to keep the chill and wind off (down to about 40 degrees, the average temperature I commuted in all winter this year). I will be travelling with a pretty good amount of food, but I find that things like dried mashed potatoes, oatmeal, ground coffee and instant rice aren't really so heavy and they pack really well (mostly flat packages). I will be taking only my Trangia Mini stove and cooking set this time around instead of my much nicer MSR Blacklite with all the bells and whistles like spatulas, spices and mini cutting board. I will be taking rear and front panniers even if they may not be necessary, so that I can pack them 60-40 (60% of your weight in the front, 40% in the rear). This will get a lot of the load off the rear wheel and stabilize the ride somewhat. I did not take front panniers on my Palmetto Trail trip earlier this year, and my bike was very unevenly distributed, with all the weight on the rear. I am even toying with the idea of only carrying my LG enV phone with its mp3 player and camera instead of my Sansa mp3 player, Kodak digital camera and the phone. I don't know about this, as my phone camera isn't great, and the mp3 player on my phone is fairly flaky.

One thing I will certainly be taking along is a new device I have been working on modeled after the Minty Boost and an idea posted here, which I will post about later, and of course my Asus EEEPC so that I can update here as regularly as possible. I always enjoy it when people follow along and post comments about the trip. It can get a little lonely on the road, and it's nice to hear from friends and family.

More to come, soon...

Playing catch-up...

2009-03-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

I have had quite the week, let me tell you. Lots and lots of things going on.

Evelyn's mother, Mrs. Johnson, found out a few weeks ago that she had a brain tumor. While not malignant, it was quite large, roughly the size of a golf ball (or larger). On Thursday of last week she was scheduled for surgery, so Ev and I made the necessary arrangements and went out of town on Wednesday to meet up with the family before the surgery.

Everything went smoothly, and we all made our way back into town by the weekend to get the house prepared for the patient's return home. Lots of cleaning and rearranging over the weekend, and hanging out with the family. Sometime this week, Mrs. Johnson will be coming home to recuperate.

I have a bunch of things in the works right now... I will be catching up on this space... a new project or two, some trip plans, all kinds of stuff...

...And with nice weather comes the #$%holes.

2009-03-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

I think today's Yehuda Moon sums it up perfectly!

I just remarked to another cyclocommuter yesterday that "sunroof weather" was "harassed bicycle commuting weather"...

Weekend Trip to Santee

2009-03-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

Haven't really posted much this week, had quite a bit on my plate. Ev's mother was diagnosed with a large brain tumor, seemingly out of nowhere. I was sick last week one day after fighting off a nagging sore throat for three days. Basically, a bunch of things that needed some attending to.

We went to Santee State Park on Saturday, though, and hung out with my sister and brother-in-law (the "French-Smiths", hehe) and the rugrats, Brianna, Logan and Ms. Evyn. My Dad also made an appearance, and all the men went on a rather ill-fated fishing trip. We took the Stankertanker (Olive) on a 5 or 6 mile walk on some trails in the park, and almost decided to spend the night and camp there, we were having such a good time.

We didn't take a lot of pictures because I left the good camera at home. What I did take a picture of was this great, out of the way place where we ate lunch.

Lone Star was a small town in South Carolina that was well on its way to becoming a ghost town some years ago. As a kid, I remember driving out to it with my parents, and when we got to the area, it was a few buildings that looked like you could film a western there. Someone decided to buy those buildings, pick them up and move them to another location, then combine them into a cool little retro restaurant/country store/kitschy spot. The resulting establishment is called "Lone Star Barbecue and Mercantile", and if you get a chance to, go to this place, you'll be glad you did.

The cook there catered a party we went to recently, and his spread was impressive. When we decided to go to Santee, this restaurant was first on Ev's list of places to go, and it did not disappoint. I went back for thirds, and ~~almost had to be dragged out of the place~~ left thoroughly satisfied. This place is famous for its "tomato pie", a baked concoction with a doughy crust, sliced tomatoes, cheese, and other yummy ingredients.

...And, oh my goodness, the banana pudding!

The UberLight!

2009-03-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest projects I have seen in a while, the UberLight combines a bunch of my favorite things: Arduino, LEDs, coding, and cycling! It uses a pair of matrix displays to show green, red and yellow patterns, coupled with an accelerometer that controls the brake lights, and a switch for turn signals. A little bulky, but definitely a project I'd like to try if I had a large bike such as an Xtracycle or a Big Dummy. Source code and schematics at the Maker's page...

I think the only improvement would be if it were powered by a dynamo instead of a battery...

Via WyoInnovation

One S240 a month?

2009-03-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Right now my work schedule is pretty easy. I am working in the area of about 20 hours a week, mostly on my own schedule. Until my schedule becomes a little more full, with say, a full time job, I am going to focus on one S240 (short cycling/camping trip) a month. I think it's pretty doable, given that I can usually get most of my work hours out of the way early in the week, and then head out Friday morning to somewhere to camp, and back by Saturday. Easy stuff.

A couple of things to think about regarding this sort of trip: Columbia doesn't have a ton of camping places, and there aren't really a lot of cycling friendly destinations within a comfortable days' cycling distance. I can think of Congaree National Forest (which has camping), Harbison Forest (literally right across the road from our condo, but no camping). Greenville is a great area for cycling, a few parks around, but too far away for a "true" S240, as it would take more than a day to cycle there. My parents and family live in the St. Matthews and Orangeburg area, it would be nice to go visit them on my bike, but then there's no camping involved (probably stay at their house).

I follow Russ Roca's Epicurian Cyclist blog, a site devoted to the finer side of touring and commuting gear, and he had decided to try a trip a month recently. I decided to make the "once a month" goal for myself when I stepped out of the house this morning; What a fantastic day it is outside. I only wish that my camping of last week had had such great temperatures to wake up to.

I think that for now, my destiination for this month's trip will be Congaree State Park, where there are a number of trails, and very nice primitive campsites.

Afterthoughts on the Palmetto Trail

2009-03-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

I have recently updated all of the Palmetto Trail posts with maps, photos, etc. Thanks for following along, and feel free to comment or ask questions in the "Comments" section.

A couple of random thoughts about the Palmetto Trail, in retrospect:

First things first- When outdoors, in the woods, wherever- check yourself for ticks! I found a deer tick on myself, and had a long conversation with a friend who has been battling with Lyme Disease for the last year or so.

Always take hand warmers out on the road with you, even if it's supposed to get a little cold... I found mine in a box at home when I got back.

If you are going to attempt a few sections of the Palmetto Trail, especially the "swampy" ones, I would advise you to either A) take the strongest, most heavy duty bike and equipment with you that you have, and hope it is up to the challenge, or B) take a junker bike with cheap parts and FREAKING DESTROY IT on the trail in some mudhole or on some log, then walk out of the woods. I am glad I had good equipment in some sections, but even then I am sure that I will be tightening bolts here and there for the next two months. Such was the rattling that my setup took on the trail/dirt/gravel road sections... and I haven't even gotten a chance to put my wheels on the truing stand yet...

The Palmetto Trail is really better visited as just short "day" sections. A full-on continuous "tour" of the trail is not really an ideal way to see it. I liked the constantly changing environment, obstacles and scenery, but most would not find the hardships enjoyable. Also, consider hiking the PT rather than biking it; I am certain that it would be more enjoyable in the more difficult sections (swampy areas).

Take a GPS, ideally one with a very sensitive receiver under dense foliage, and loaded with City Navigator AND Topo mapsets. This will make sure you can find your way to at least one of the myriad Forestry Service, dirt and access roads in this area (there are a great many that aren't even shown on any maps I looked at!)

The blazes on at the beginning of the High Hills Passage section change from (maybe) white to red (Hilltop section) to yellow about a mile into it. I wasted about two hours trying to follow each trail section before the ranger stations opened, before figuring out what was going on. This section is especially rewarding as a hike, but cycling it can require some pretty technical bike handling skills (very steep descents and climbs, large roots and stumps, sharp cliff-hanger turns in some places where a wrong move could mean real injury). An un-loaded mountain biker may have an easier time with this section, though. I swear, there is one section in this passage that I almost could not push my loaded bike up the hill!

If you find yourself in an extremely odd area, where you're thinking, "This can't possibly be part of the Palmetto Trail!"- such as, say, the worst neighbourhood(?) you've ever been to in your life, or on top of a (burning!) dike that stretches on for miles and miles, or a gravel road on a power plant that is heavily travelled by high-speed earth-moving vehicles, just look around; Chance are you'll eventually see a blaze or a sign telling you that you're going the right way.

I know that some folks see riding a bicycle on the road in SC (or anywhere) as some terrifying, dangerous thing. I can assure you that this is nonsense; All of my experiences on this trip where I have ridden minor SC highways have been extremely rewarding, almost idyllic situations. Every one on the road was extremely courteous, often times giving the full use of the lane, smiles and waves. I say this because it seems to me that Palmetto Conservation Foundation feels that most of the folks who would do some sections of the trail are possibly wary of vehicular cycling on roads; This often times leads to routing through sketchy areas, when a more rewarding route is available.

Palmetto Trail: Day 4

2009-02-26T18:52:00.000-08:00

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Last night was uneventful, and I slept rather well considering that I had planned for cold weather, and got all sweaty in the middle of the night because I had too many layers on. Anyway, I woke at dawn, got packed quickly and had my oatmeal and coffee. I began the SwampFox Trail at 8:30.

This leg of the trail was off to a good start, and it is obvious that this section of the Palmetto Trail receives a good bit of care from hikers, with wide and flat areas cut through the forest, making travel by bicycle a breeze. I was so excited to be able to get up to a decent touring speed (8-10 mph?), only stopping to take pictures of some of the nicer passages through the woods. It must be noted that this section has an abundance of spiders, as denoted by my constant face full of webs.

It didn't last for long, however, and before I knew it, I was in the middle of another burned area. Yes, this section of the trail had received a burning recently as well, and the ground on all sides was covered in ash and soot. I trudged onward, trying not to pay attention to the fact that my tires were being caked with the mud/soot/more mud combo. Soon enough, my bike, panniers, even my shoes (that I had accidentally sunk into a puddle while hopping over a log) were thick with soot and bits of plant ash. It was getting a little old. My hands became blackened as I reached for my blackened water bottles, my pants and jacket with heavy black smudges all over. The burnt smell wasn't pleasant either.

I made my way through the second map (about halfway through) of the SwampFox Passage before I started planning my escape. I had made it to the Witherbee Ranger Station, where I met an archaeologist for the Forestry Service. Nice guy, he talked my ear off about my GPS and about old roads, before he told me that there was more burning going on further down the trail. I thanked him for his help, filled up on as much filtered water as I could carry, borrowed a hose and sprayed some of the crud off my bike, and set a course for the Awendaw trailhead.

After a bit of back country dirt road touring, I made it to the beginning of the Awendaw Passage, and the end of the SwampFox Passage. I was sad to cut this leg of the journey short, as SwampFox was the one I had looked forward to the most. I made a quick jaunt through the Awendaw passage (really just to say that I had), and hightailed it to the entrance of the Buck Hall Recreation Center where I was to meet my ride back home, Evie and Miss Olive...

I just got back home and am about to crash out for the night. Tomorrow I will try to get some more details up, afterthoughts, pictures, and GPS maps of the legs of the trip.

Palmetto Trail: Day 3

2009-02-26T18:51:00.001-08:00

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I woke up early at Jack's Landing and got going quickly. I only had one objective for this morning, and that was Waffle House. I made the ten miles or so into Santee and sat down to a huge breakfast.

With the requisite nommage taken care of, I got down to the serious business of the Palmetto Trail. I wanted to finish Eutawville today, and get within the area of SwampFox Passage by nightfall.

The riding today was really all over the place; On the one hand, I had a friend of my girlfriend advising me not avoid one section, making the ride a little easier. Likewise, the dirt road sections around Eutawville weren't bad, I kind of enjoy that kind of riding. But the section through Eutawville around the middle of town, seriously, who planned that section? I mean, I would advise anyone to stay well away from that section of the Palmetto Trail. This area is literally covered with trash, I mean it's everywhere. There are all sorts of abandoned buildings, rundown shacks with graffiti all over them, and just piles of trash and debris everywhere. One particular part of this area, I had to mace a pitbull that threatened to grab my pantleg as I rode past (something I do not relish, as a dog lover and owner).

Seriously, Palmetto Conservation Foundation, take this section of town out of the Palmetto Trail!

Anyway, I visited the Eutaw battleground, and headed out of town, finishing up the Eutawville section and moving on to Lake Marion. One interesting aspect of this section is that the majority of it goes along the top of the dike system around the lake, This makes for some fairly smooth riding, even if a little boring after an hour or so. It seems that I came through on the wrong day because when I got to the dikes, they were all on fire! Yes, it seems that the powers that be decided to do controlled burning on this very day, and the whole path was black, smoldering and smoky. When I pulled up to the workers who were doing all this burning, they asked me where I was heading. I told them I didn't know, cause at that point I didn't know where I was going to camp yet. They were shocked that I had ridden from Columbia and one of them, I suspect, thought I was a huge liar. Oh well, they were very helpful and said that the travelling was not so bad a few miles down, where the burning wasn't as recent.

I made it to the campground at the SwampFox Passage trailhead, a primitive free site just off the interstate. It has no power, but running water and bathrooms. It also appears to be a bit of a sketchy little hookup area, with two cars pulling in, one person getting out of one car and getting into another, then about 20 minutes later, the person getting back into their car, and both drive away. I have seen this happen at least three times now, as I sit here and type. Oh well...

Tomorrow, I begin the SwampFox Passage. It is some 40+ miles, and I probably won't finish it in one day, it being through the woods the whole way. Still, I am getting closer to the coast...

Palmetto Trail: Day 1 & 2

2009-02-24T17:19:00.000-08:00

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I started out on the road yesterday morning, heading from my house down the capitol City portion of the PT. It was a good day for riding, and I made pretty good progress over to Fort Jackson. I stopped and cooked lunch on the trail there, and made my way over the very difficult end section of the Fort Jackson section. I came out on the intersection of SC 262 and Leesburg road after what seemed like an eternity of pushing, lifting and dragging my loaded bike over stumps, logs and through bushes and briars.

My self-created route over the non-existant portion of the trail proved to be awesome. Back country roads on a pretty nice day, very courteous drivers and low traffic. I made my way out to a railroad crossing that I had seen on Google Earth, that connected to the backside of Poinsett State Park. I followed it up a little ways and then found the defunct set of tracks leading into the trees- the beginning of the Palmetto Trail Poinsett Park section.

It was, again, some difficult going with a loaded bike, making my way over rough trails that would be much better suited for hiking. I made pretty good progress from this point, but it was about to get dark, and I was some distance from camp.

I pulled into the vacant campground a little after dark and set up quickly. It was supposed to get into the 20's and I still needed to fix dinner and shower. Luckily the showers were turned on and hot, and I was able to get bunkered down relatively quickly. I slept fairly well despite the freezing temperatures, only waking once or twice because my face was cold.

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I woke Tuesday morning at about 8, pretty well rested but a bit chilly. I made breakfast and took a long shower, knocking the chill off from the night. I was ready to go at 9, but ended up not getting out of the park before 11. I was unable to find the correct path out to Manchester State Park for the next trail section. I am going to take a moment and say that I really wish that the trail had better signage. I was warned about this problem before I left, but I have found myself continually lost on this trip, and it can be very frustrating.

I eventually found the right way by trial and error, and trudged on to Manchester State Park. The going here was not any easier, and after a few hours, I just used my GPS to route me a path to the next trailhead by the highway. I had a pretty nice ride on the back country roads, and at last made it to my current location, Jake's Landing. I am actually in my Hennessey Hammock as I type this, where as luck would have it, this campground/marina (which is closed) has free WiFi.

Tomorrow I will make my way into the town of Santee, hopefully for a big, hot breakfast of pancakes or something...

More Preparing for the Palmetto Trail

2009-02-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

"In wildness is the preservation of the world"
- Henry David Thoreau

Having taken care of a large portion of my responsibilities for this week and weekend, I can now finish up the important business of preparing for my trip down the Palmetto Trail. The weather looks okay (as in, nothing too foreboding) and I have a decent route for the broken section of the trip that I discussed last time. I have discovered that the section that I had previously thought been hesitant to traverse because it travels along a railroad bed was, in actuality, a section of the trail itself, actually built on the a defunct railway line. This was a good surprise, as it now allows an alternate route into Poinsett State Park, from which point the trail is continuous to the coast.

I will probably leave tomorrow morning, as early as possible. I will have a good bit of work ahead of me, as passing the Fort Jackson section can be difficult towards the end of the trail. It may be a bit more difficult with my bike loaded, so I hope to give myself plenty of time to get through it and on to the next section, as well as making sure of a place to camp for the night. I have camped at Poinsett before, and am thinking it would be nice to camp there, but I may push on past it. Thirty or so miles is not very much progress for the first day. We will have to see...

Happy Valentine's Day... plus the Tour of California!

2009-02-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Hope everyone has a great day with their squeeze. I know Ev and I will spend some of it watching the Amgen Tour of California.

I personally am excited to see the emergence of the new Cervelo "Test Team", with such strong riders as the sprinter Thor Hushovd, as well as last year's TdF winner Carlos Sastre. It's gonna be pretty exciting to watch Team Columbia Highroad as well, with strongman George Hincapie (still one of my faves), Michael Rogers, Kim Kirchen and fastman Mark Cavendish, who effectively pwned four(!) stages in the TdF last year before leaving for the Olympics mid-race. I am also anxious to see how things are gonna work out with the Astana team this year, with Lance making bold moves such as not wearing his team colours while training, and prediciting his own victories this year, in spite of his return to a team that already has many strong riders. The roster includes California local Levi Leipheimer (who has won the Tour of California in 2007 and 2008), Alberto Contador (won the TdF in 2007, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana in 2008), and Andreas Klöden (2nd place in 2004 and 2006 TdF, bronze medal in 2008 Olympic games). Early press suggested a good deal of static between Lance and the team, namely Contador, who at one point threatened to leave the team if Lance joined.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out. Personally, I would love to see Lance play the super-domestique role, as he's stated that he'll ride for "the best guy". To have someone like Lance supporting Contador would be inspiring. As commenter Jamie Fallrath mentions on Cyclicious:

Can you imagine a super-domestique battle between Lance and someone like Jens Voigt? Hay-zoos Marimba, that'd be fantastic.

I agree wholeheartedly. That sort of scene would be epic.

What is not so epic is the return of at least four positive testing dopers in the form of Floyd Landis, David Millar, Ivan Basso and Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing, die already!). Yeah, they were banned, yes they've done their time, but to me, it is obvious that they will cheat to win, and I am not a fan of dopers...

So yeah, I am really excited about this year's cycling season. I just wish that I could be in California to see it!

Preparing for the Palmetto Trail

2009-02-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

As you may know, I recently returned from a trip to Portland, Oregon. I still have yet to fully post about the trip, partly because I haven't really processed it all yet, and partly because as soon as I returned I delved into a plan to tour the Palmetto Trail.

I received an email from the Palmetto Cycling Coalition about the Palmetto Trail Challenge, and I was like, "Why not?". I think that they want people to do it as part of a team sort of thing, and do it in segments, but think my plan is better ;-)

I would like to do this trip now because of the fact that I have only a few weeks before beginning a new job, and the fact that the weather is just warm enough at night, and just cool enough during the day (South Carolina, remember?) for it to be comfortable. I don't want to attempt this trip when the mosquitoes are out and about.

So, where am I with the plan so far? Well, I have a few problems; Firstly, the trail is not yet completed to the north and south of Columbia. I would like to complete the sections between Columbia and the coast, camp at the beach for a night, then come back. If you look at the map section between Fort Jackson and Wateree, the trail is not opened. I don't know if it is even in the planning stages yet, because information is difficult to find on the Palmetto Conservation Foundation website's Trail Talk page (it's not up). I was told to contact someone within the organization about the proposed route, so we will see how that goes. It would be easy enough to simply map a route from one section to another by Google Maps or GPS, except for the fact that a route through this area invariably involves bicycle travel by way of Highway 378 (Garner's Ferry road).

I had always thought that 378 would be a good touring route (once outside of town) to Poinsett State Park. The road has nice, very wide shoulders. It was only on the last few times I have travelled that way by vehicle that I found it unsuitable: a stretch of about 5 miles is completely devoid of shoulders, and has heavy, fast traffic. Sadly, there is really no other means to get into the area besides this highway. I have tried unsuccessfully to find even a dirt road (preferred) that would get me out there, but have found none. Unfortunately, it seems that the only way to make it happen would be to route myself to the railroad tracks, then follow the trackbed to the park. Now, I'm all for some "Rough Stuff" touring, but I'm a bit concerned that this track crosses a river, and I'm not interested in trying to traverse a river on a train trestle. So, that's out the window.

It appears my only option is to be dropped off at Poinsett and do the route from there. I have heard it is an easy trip from that point, and it appears that there is a good bit of camping along the way. I don't see this trail (less than 300 miles from Columbia to the coast and back) to take long -if it's easy going-.

As far as preparing myself, here's where I am: I have been taking regular trips from road to trail situations on a daily basis, mainly at Harbison State Forest and the Fort Jackson portion of the Palmetto Trail.

As my Karate Monkey is a 29er, it is ideally suited for this type of riding; It has large wheels which roll over just about anything, and a strong steel frame that smoothes out the jarring bumps on the trail.

While in Portland, I was done a great favour by Jason Beasley and the folks at Sellwood Cycle Repair in the form of a very well priced pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires in 700x45. It was such a good deal, I bought them there and took them on the plane with me. These may very well be the best tires for this type of trip. Aren't they heavy, you ask? Yes, they weigh a ton, and I am not joking about that. They are by far the heaviest tires I have ever picked up in my life. But, they are also the beefiest tires I have ever used. I inflate them to 40-50 pounds, and they float over the bumps, cracks and potholes in my route, as well as the fallen logs and roots on the trail. They are not knobby per se, the tread is really more cut into a slick, so they roll well on pavement, but have enough grip in the woods, too. In the end, my bike was really made for fat tires, and I am sick of the flats and rough ride of my Armadilloes.

The Fort Jackson portion of the Palmetto Trail is where I spent about 7 hours yesterday. Suffice to say it beat me down and left me for dead. Sure it is very easy riding for the most part- on the base, down the paved path, and into the first bit of woods. It could even be described as pleasant, riding through the pines on the first few miles where the trail is well used by cyclists and joggers alike.

The trail is especially nice to ride in the areas where there has been some controlled burning. The only real hazard is the soft but slippery pinestraw lies over the white sand ubiquitous to this area and the foothills.

However, the trail becomes considerably more difficult the further out you go. At some point it becomes clear that the farthest part of the trail was created by a Boy Scout troop in like '87, and not much has happened in there since. I was picking up my bike and jumping logs, trudging through deep piles of pinestraw and pinecones, and fighting briars and these godawful little trees that threatened to tear my wool sweater off my back. I kept thinking of Jill Homer's recounting of her pushing her bike for miles and miles on the Iditarod Trail in her book, "Ghost Trails" (get it, it is a truly inspiring work).

I finally finished the whole section, and turned around and came back, seeing no point at which the next section began. Oh well, it was a good tough workout, and gives me an idea of what awaits me on the rest of the trail. I hear that for the most part it is easy going, but I want to be prepared for the worst.

So, what else do I need to do?

1) Work on building up my shoulders and upper body, including my neck. I was very sore after yesterday's workout. I have been looking at some exercises designed to increase stamina for cyclists, so I will continue to work on those. I have had similar soreness and fatigue on cycling trips in the past.

2) Get my new GPS in order. I have been selling things on eBay for weeks now, and have been able to afford a very nice new Garmin eTrex Vista HCx. I am waiting for it to arrive so I can load my maps onto it for the trip. I am excited, as this will be a significant upgrade from the eTrex legend I had been using.

3) Keep looking into finding out the "proposed" route from the Palmetto Conservation League. If I don't figure it out that way, I may be forced to travel by car to the trailhead at Poinsett (I would much rather travel from my front door to the coast and back). Getting someone to drop you off and pick you up can be a pain, for you and the other person.

It's Darwin Day!

2009-02-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I really need to update soon, but for right now, I just wanted to say "Happy Darwin Day"!

I'm not sure what, if anything, we will do to celebrate, but regardless, Happy Birthday, Charlie... the 200th anniversity, to be exact.

Portland...

2009-02-01T06:42:00.000-08:00

After 6 or seven hours on the plane, the geography was definitely starting to look different. Terraformed greens and browns had at last given way to rocky mountains and snow, and then to clean white as far you can see. When the captain came over the cabin speakers and told us we were about to land, we looked around for a city, somewhere, anywhere. He then told us the current conditions in Portland were foggy... real foggy, as in very little visibility. I began to notice that what we were aiming for was appeared to be a cloud in a river basin. It was impossible to actually make out any sort of city at all, but we we were about to land in it. It was like we were gonna belly flop into a giant cotton swab. It was strange sensation, flying down through the dense fog, and really being able to see absolutely nothing. Finally, about a minute of zero-visibility later, we saw the ground. And the weather was crappy and rainy. Welcome to Portland!

My friend Zita hit me on my phone as soon as we touched down, and scooped us up at the airport. After a short drive around town trying to find the place we were going to stay, we got to my friend Jordan's place and took a nap. We had been at it since about 2 the night before, and my head was starting to throb.

We woke up feeling refreshed, and hit the road. We walked into town from where we were staying, taking in the sights and generally getting lost in the city. It was pretty foggy, so I haven't taken a lot of pictures yet. We went to the legendary Powell's Books, a place I could waste some serious time in. We had dinner in a noodle joint, and just messed around the first night.

We rose pretty early the next morning and went looking for breakfast. We had a bite to eat at a little pancake joint, where I lost my not-yet-24-hours-old hat (Portland 's Goodwills are the heat!). The weather was clearing up, and we took the bus downtown to my friend Z's place, got a little lost, but generally mulled around checking out the sights. After returning home and picking up our friend, we hti up Clever Cycles, ad I was floored. What a place! Easily the nicest, most upscale and posh bike shop I've ever been to in my life. Careful, bike lover, when you go in this place: you will leave broke as a joke if you don't watch it. We (Ev, myself and Jordan) were all drooling up in there. Stunning. We hit up a restaurant / bar called "The Lucky Labrador", a very dog friendly brewpub that was awesome.

So, how do I like Portland? Oh my goodness, I am in love with the place. The city seems so active and vibrant, even in the winter. People are out and about all over the place. And the bikes, oh my goodness the bikes! I was expecting a lot of cyclists, but Portland is truly cycling mad. Old bike, new bikes, longbikes, bakfiets, you name it. There are cool bike shops scattered all around, and every time someone passes by on the street, I have to stop and check out their rides. Again, this is in the winter, who knows what it's like in the spring and summer. It is a rare thing to look down the street and not see cyclists in the bike lanes or waiting at the lights.

I will update soon with pics, but right now, we are running around a mile a minute.

On our way outta town!

2009-01-29T15:26:00.000-08:00

Well, we're gonna head out the door soon for Portland, Oregon. We got flights out of Charlotte, NC and we will be up late tonight, it seems. Oh well, that's okay, by tomorrow morning we will be in the PDX.

I look over in the corner and see my bike, and I know if it had a face, it would be wearing a frown. Here I am, on my way to the hands-down most cycling friendly city in the entire US, and I'm not taking my steel buddy. All is not lost, however, as my friend that we are crashing with has a loaner bike just for me when I get there. Sweet.

So with that, I bid you adios, and I will be updating regularly with pics when I can. Stay tuned, and see you later!

Some Good News, and a Long(ish) Ride

2009-01-28T03:38:00.000-08:00

The future is looking pretty good for us right now. This week we will split town and head for Portland to visit friends, check out the city and what's going on there, and basically hang out while we have the chance. I think a week or so out of town will do us some good. Different scenery, fresh perspective. Help us make future plans and such.

I am excited about a new job prospect coming up on the horizon as well. I have only been unemployed for about a month, but it seems like longer than that. I have been using my time wisely, I guess, putting a ton of stuff that has become useless to me on eBay, but I don't want to get used to the "stay at home" lifestyle. I am not one who would start watching soaps or anything, but I definitely feel lazier than I did less than a month ago. I have been able to get some miles in this week, with a good long ride on Monday.

I got out of the house at about 9 and thought immediately of going back inside. It was cold and crappy out. A drizzle was coming down, and I was sure it would rain on me soon enough. Nevertheless, I put on all my waterproof gear and hit the road. The entire ride was plagued by cold and drizzle, with the temperature dropping down low enough for my cyclocomputer to fade out and stop working (it does this when it gets near freezing). I made my way across town to Sesquicentennial State Park, an area I like a lot but is frequently plagued by way too many people being loud and obnoxious. Today was different, with nary a soul around except for a lone fisherman who eyed me and my balaclava suspiciously.

It has become a habit of mine to cook lunch on the road on longer rides, and this day I set up in one of the shelters and enjoyed a hot soup. The picnic shelters have large fireplaces on either end of the structures, which would be great if I were hanging around for longer than thirty minutes. I don't like to stop and eat lunch for very long, because it takes a long time for me to get warmed back up afterwards. This day was no exception: It took me a good 20 minutes or so after I got back on the bike before I could shake off the chills and lethargy. It probably didn't help that I had had no coffee all day, a despicable state of affairs.

Anyway, after all was said and done, I arrived back home almost 6 hours later, having taken the long way home so I could finish up more than a metric century for the day. Not bad, considering I had started out just trying to get out of the house... and in some pretty crappy weather, no less.

Reflections on Exercise and Health

2009-01-24T04:50:00.000-08:00

One of the downsides of my recent graduation and subsequent unemployment is the loss of my "commuting to work" miles. I had always thought that if I had the time on my hands, I would put in a ton of miles and do a lot of longer rides on a daily basis. What I didn't factor into this was the bad weather we have had for the last week or two, coupled with the chores I have given myself to do (eBaying lots of things, etc...).I have always been of the opinion that my daily mileag had a direct correlation with my weight, mental well-being and -most of all- my migraines. This was made perfectly clear to me yesterday.

I woke up in the middle of the night after falling asleep really early the night before- about 11:30. I got up, did some things online, and went back to bed at about 2:00. When Ev got up to go to work, I knew things were not gonna be good. My head was swirling and foggy, stomach doing backflips and lurching, and at the edges of all of my senses, the cold-sweat electricity that can only mean one thing: a massive migraine.

I can't say it was unexpected. In the past two weeks I have put in about 110 miles - less than half of my mileage from just one month ago, when I was relatively migraine-free. Furthermore, I had used the last of my Imitrex shots on my last migraine battle, about three weeks ago. What I hadn't expected was the intensity of this latest ordeal. It was awful. When I saw awful, I mean awful. I was completely debilitated for the entire day. I did not nothing but sleep, and when I wasn't sleeping, I was trying my hardest to sleep. Sounds outside of the windows sent me running to the bathroom with nausea. More than once the dog's barking at something outside woke me to a cold jerk of pain. I am here to tell you, I wouldn't wish my migraines on my worst enemy. When Ev got home, I could barely speak above a whisper, because the sound of my own voice in my head was gut-wrenching.

So, with that, I am renewing my pledge to myself to put in my commuting miles, even if I have no job to commute to. I will wake up, every day, and go ride, unless I absolutely cannot. And, first and foremost, I will make twice the effort to find a job to commute to. Also, I am going to re-join the Y and get my upper body in shape like I had planned to do all along, but haven't from lack of funds, distraction, whatever the reasons we come up with for not get things done.

...And, of course, get my prescription refilled.

Tech: My new toy...

2009-01-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

Recently, I took the plunge and purchased a new Asus Eeepc 900A. This recent incarnation of the Eeepc (defined the "netbook" market) sports an Intel Atom 1.6 processor, and runs Linux out of the box. It was also amazingly cheap, having been purchased from a big-box store right after Christmas. This little guy packs a lot of punch into a small form factor, sporting a (easily upgradable!) solid state drive, lots of usb ports, VGA out, and the ability to expand the system storage through SD cards. The machine came with 1 GB of ram, but even that is expandable up to 2 GB with a standard DDR2 memory stick.

One of the first things I did was to replace the standard Xandros install for Easy Peasy, a reworking of Ubuntu Linux with the Netbook Remix Interface. The stock OS failed within minutes of first boot (actually as I was trying to retrieve updates from Asus). Oh well, it took me about five minutes to boot linux from the SD card, and all was well. I am extremely impressed with Easy Peasy, with everything working right out of the box, and I looooove the netbook remix interface on the smaller screen (it's 9"). In fact, just about the only thing I don't like is the awful bootsplash that they threw on it, but that's no big deal, I just removed it.

The weather in our area (as well as my recent unemployment and graduation) has kept me from getting in a lot of miles lately, but when the weather gets up above freezing, I hit the road with my Eeepc. It's ridiculously tiny, about the size of a hardcover book, and about the same weight. The Eeepc is highly regarded among the bike touring crowd, and it's easy to see why. The netbook platform seems to be the ideal mix of weight, size and usability- coupled with the newer power-sipping Intel processors- for the touring cyclist. A side note: my Eeepc fits in my Ortlieb Ultimate 5 handlebar bag perfectly, almost as if I had planned it that way.

So far, I am impressed. The combination of size, price, expandability and low power requirements makes it ideal for me and my recent minimalist leanings. It may not be for everyone, but for me, it's an almost perfect desktop replacement.

Inauguration Day!

2009-01-20T07:05:00.001-08:00

I have a ton of catching up to do here, with a lot of good things going on, some fun stuff, and travel on the horizon. Well, it's gonna have to wait, cause today I plan to camp out in front of the TV and watch all the inauguration coverage I possibly can. I can only imagine what it is like in Washington right now.

What a day...

Out and about...

2009-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Went out for a nice little ride yesterday...

Across the dam, just kept on going, a little chilly, but not too bad once you get moving...

Snapped a couple of pics of the lake while I was at the park.

Found myself a picnic table by the water's edge.

And made myself some lunch!

Mmmm, veggies and noodle soup on a chilly day...

Fun with Zenity

2009-01-10T06:48:00.000-08:00

Lately I have become fairly annoyed with the amount of steps it takes to get data into my computer. Because I have become pretty interested in journaling, I have been trying to get all of my daily "stuff" into one place, and fairly organized.

This is not easy for me. I have a 2 megapixel camera phone with a 2.0 GB MicroSD card, a 4.0 megapixel digital camera with a 256 MB SD card, a GPS unit that connects via serial port, and a voice recorder on my mp3 player that saves to internal memory or MicroSD card. All of these devices are okay at what they do, but none of them are perfect for everything. Sometimes I like to just carry my phone, sometimes I just randomly blurt things into my voice recorder, and lots of times, I carry the camera and tripod for better shots.

The trouble is, I like to get all of that content into one place, according to the day it was created. It can be fairly frustrating to connect all of these things, create a folder (named by the date), and click and drag all of the content from them all into it -everyday-. I have been visualizing a script to do this sort of thing for a few weeks now, but didn't feel like committing (I get obsessive about programming, and will geek out on it if given the chance). Now that I am unemployed, I can devote a little time to it, plus I consider it a learning experience.

So, what do I need to put together? Well, I need a script that will create a folder in the space I specify, name it according to the date, create subfolders for "Images" and "GPS data", mount the various devices and cards, or confirm their presence, pull the data from them all and put them in their respective places, ask for confirmation if deleting files after moving them, and unmount the devices if needed. I also would like to specify another device if necessary, other than the ones that have previously been written into the script.

It took me about thirty minutes to bang out a pretty decent shell script to tackle this problem. I am pretty impressed with it, but it does have some hangups: first, it doesn't do any progress bars. On functions that take a minute (downloading tracks, waypoints, etc. from the GPS) it would be nice to know where we are in the process. Also, if I decided to change where I wanted the default folder to be, the script would simply throw all my stuff where it wanted without even asking me (the nerve!). Also, the script runs through all of the various devices in sequence, asking to "confirm" every step, even if a device is not there, or doesn't contain any data. When it moves data off of devices, it has no safeguard (confirm "delete"?) of the data from the device. If I accidentally entered anything but y, n or the default options, the script would blow up. Before I went any further with this (albeit a perfectly functional, but rough) script, I decided to give it a face. I also gave it a cheesy name, so I could remember the darn thing- "Grabbux" -causes it "grabs" all of my stuff for me, and puts it all into one place.

Zenity is a GTK-specific dialog-creation tool. It allows one to create dialogs and a GUI for applications, and it is pretty easy to get your head around, even if you are new to scripting/programming/Linux in general. Take a look:

On the left we have the shell script running. It works perfectly fine as it is, provided you never change the SD cards, put them in a different location, want the data to go somewhere else, etc. On the right, we have the Zenity dialog, with a much more elegant GUI. There are lot fewer clicks, and progress bars can be popped up , as well as warnings. Overall it looks better, too, and integrates much better with the Gnome desktop. It is very fast as well, but hey, this isn't exactly a heavy application or anything.

More...

Just a couple pics from the morning ride...

2009-01-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

This morning was a little nasty out, with a little wind and a threatening rain. I had to drop off some job applications, resumes, and go by UPS, so I thought "Why not snap some pics on the way?" This might seem a little counterintuitive, until you consider that I like the rain.

The rain actually held off until I got all the way downtown before it let loose... but only for a few minutes.

Wall Street Journal: Escape Your Car

2009-01-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

A Real Auto Bailout: Escape Your Car

Story

Got a great ride in today...

2009-01-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

Got out the door at about 10 this morning, a little late, but it wasn't like I had to run anywhere. I needed to run some errands, but mostly I just wanted to get some miles in. It was slightly rainy as I left, but not enough for me to need my rain jacket. It had pretty much cleared up by the time I got down to the river.

On my way down the greenway, I ran into my new buddy, a crazy guy who really likes going for long rides and camping out in the woods. Pretty nice guy, maybe a little more out there than me, though. We chatted about S240s and Grant Peterson, and he asked me if I wanted to drink beer by the river with him and some "interesting company". Too bad I had to decline.

I shot some pics around town as the skies were nice and bright, and the temperature was awesome.

I did say I had errands to run, like going to the bank, UPS, the post office, and the grocery store. This photo is what it looks like when I go grocery shopping on my bike.

Inside you will find:

2 liter bottle of ginger ale

1 gallon of OJ

1 carton of eggs

2 bags of vegetable medley

1 block of tofu

1 jar of apple sauce

1 carton of half & half

2 zucchini squash

1 Reese's Big Cup

1 pound of whole coffee beans

...and I had plenty of room to spare. Just the thing for a family of three. I did forget the bread, though:-(

Couple of new things for the bike

2009-01-03T04:42:00.000-08:00

In the last few days I have done some upgrades to the Monkey, to make her a little more comfy and utilitarian.

I really like my Klean Kanteens for a number of reasons: They're light, stainless steel, they look good, don't make your water taste like plastic, seal very tightly, and have a variety of tops that can be interchanged between bottles. For my specific purposes, though, they have some added benefits, namely that they can be used to carry alcohol or spirits (trangia stove) on the frame, and they can be used to boil water directly in the bottle on my stove (sterilization, if I ever needed it- haven't yet). They also come in a bunch of colors, but I like the brushed steel.

I changed out my Planet Bike aluminum bottle cages for Klean Kanteen's 27 oz. bottle cages, as my PB cages rattled like crazy against the bottles (and scratched them up). The Klean Kanteen cage is plastic, which I am not that fond of, but it fits the bottle snugly, and I have hit some pretty good bumps and the rattle is gone. I also added a third cage on the underside of the down tube for additional water, or for a fuel bottle on camping, touring trips. I also purchased a flat top for the third bottle, just to make sure I didn't accidentally take a swig of the good ol' denatured alcohol (and subsequently go blind!).

For some years now, I have had a Blackburn Airstick, that has served me faithfully since my bike delivery days on my old Trek. The pump was small enough, and it worked pretty well for tires that required pressures up to 60 pounds or so. As I moved a way from knobby mountain bike tires, the pump became less and less useful, as it was bear to achieve proper inflation in my higher pressure tires.

For the last year or so, I have carried this pump with me in my repair kit, and it has helped me inflate my 110 pound pressure tires up to about 60 pounds after a flat, so I could limp it home. Then, about three months ago, it self-destructed during a flat-fix, and I had to regrease and rebuild it. It was time for a better pump.

I found the Topeak Road Morph G pump at a deep discount during the holiday season. When I got it in the mail, I was surprised to see how light and small it was. This frame pump expands to provide a decent floor pump (with extending hose), 160 psi capacity, inline pressure gauge, and a pretty good mounting system, making it an ideal commuter/touring pump. I have heard very good reviews of this pump on the touring forums, and we will see how it works out for me.

So, pretty much the best New Years ever...?

2009-01-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I laid down last night to catch a couple of z's before the ball dropped, and woke up at about 7:00 am this morning. I suspect that Ev tried to wake me, but I am pretty sure that didn't go well and I just slept right on through. Boy, am I getting old.

Happy New Year!

So, resolutions? This year I have a few:

My ideal weight of 180 pounds. I am at 197, so 17 to go. I plan to accomplish this by joining the Y again and working on my upper body, as my lower body already gets a workout.

10,000 cycling miles. For 2008 I was at ~6,500. In 2009 I would like to break 10,000. This shouldn't be hard, as I missed out on about 2 months early in the year getting my Surly squared away, and some days I didn't ride due to inadequate weather gear, not having my commuting act together, etc...

More reading. I am not sure how many books I read last year, but I definitely plan to read more, by audiobook especially (more miles on the bike, more time to listen). I also just recently acquired a Tolstoy collection, Three Novels: The Cossacks, War and Peace and Anna Karenina and hope to finish it this year (a huge undertaking..."this book is like carrying around a baby!" Ev says).

Take it easy. This year I am going to work on not letting other people's actions get under my skin. I am a highly critical individual, and sometimes the acts of others tend to get me pretty fired up. This may be my most difficult resolution to keep.

Downsize. This year saw the downsizing of a few of my possessions (my car, aquariums, books, etc...), and we will see much more this year. My desktop computer, lots of clothes, everything in my closets, my record collection, and even more of my books, will be going out the door to Goodwill, eBay or garage sale in 2009. I will try -everyday- to find something in my life that I do not need, to get rid of.

Learn to type quickly. This one comes from the fact that, in high school, when the other kids were taking typing class, I was taking extra art classes, and therefore never learned to type. I have been slowly teaching myself with the help of online tutors and courses, and by the end of 2009 I want to be able to type at least 50 words per minute.

Christmas in the Mountains: Christmas Day

2008-12-30T02:10:00.000-08:00

I woke early on Christmas Morning to find it clear and a little chilly. I lit the fireplace, checked out the scenery from the back door, and read a while (Tolstoy-Three Novels) before Ev woke up, about two hours later.

We went out to find some breakfast in downtown Gatlinburg. For anyone who hasn't been to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, it is a tourist hell in the middle of a gorgeous mountain setting. I submit to you Exhibit A- the "space needle" ride in the middle of downtown-

Some other curiosities:

As we walked around downtown, we ran across a lot of restaurants, most of them closed. We had been in this position before, and discussed the fact that we always happen to be in this area, looking for pancakes, on some holiday, when everything was closed. Luckily, the proprietor of a fine establishment called the "Brass Lantern" was standing on the street, letting everyone know that his restaurant was open and that they had "good food". This turned out to be the case, and we chowed down on pancakes and eggs- just the thing we had in mind.

We both made some calls to our folks back home, then got on the road into the mountains, heading to Cade's Cove. The drive out was gorgeous, with winding mountain roads, a little fog and rain, and elevation changes making the ears pop and squeak for about 30 miles. We did notice that there was a good bit of traffic ahead of us, but figured that, today being a holiday, traffic where we were going would be light.

We were in for a surprise.

When we got to Cade's Cove, there were tons of cars making their way down the single lane, one-way road that cut through the countryside. We made our way around the 11-mile loop in fits and starts, sometimes passing around lines of stopped cars, sometimes stopping to let 20-30 cars pass from behind us. Yes, the traffic was heavy, but the scenery was great, and the wildlife was pretty oblivious to the vehicular onslaught, posing lackadaisically for cameras. It was pretty funny to watch a line of SUVs (on this little cracked-pavement-and-dirt road) come to a screeching halt, and hordes of people leap from the car (armed with cameras of all varieties!) while a deer is just standing there eating some grass. They must think people are crazy.

Great countryside, and gorgeous weather-

There are a number of historical (as in "really old") cabins out here-

Ev, loving the traffic-

Checking the map-

Brief moment of solitude-

Most of the ride looked like this; Bumper to bumper lines of traffic twenty cars long.

Apparently rush hour became too much for some folks, however. While everyone stopped to snap pics of a big buck in a field, a car at the back of the line began honking and yelling for everyone to move out of the way. Apparently these jokers had come out to a national park with a small-and-now-dwindling supply of gas, and wanted everyone in front of them to get out of their way so they could leave.

The drivers grumbled and gave them a piece of their minds, pulling off the side of the road, the deer bounded away (the horn-honking helped a lot with the photo op!) and the clowns pulled through. On their way by, I told them to smile, and I snapped a pic. They asked me why I was taking a picture of them, and I replied that I was making a "collection" (thanks, BikeSnobNYC!).

At this point, he forgot the impending fuel situation he had just been complaining about, and put his car in park. I suggested that he just go, as he had gotten everyone to pull into the ditches, etc., and the road was his to do as he wished. Now, apparently, he wanted to stop (which in turn blocked all of the cars that he had just pulled over behind him).

Words were exchanged, Ev was called the "B" word, and it was only by her "vigorously imploring" me to let it go that things did not get completely out of hand. Words were exchanged and, thankfully, that was all. Suffice to say that I am not proud of this instance, but I feel like in light of this guy's behavior to this point, he had it coming to him.

Irritated, we finished the rest of the route and left. What had started as a quaint and comfy Christmas Day in the mountains had become something else entirely. When we got back into town, we both decided that we weren't going to cook anything, but hit up a little pizza joint called Geno's, and vegged out watching "A Christmas Story".

I tried a new beer with my pizza, Fat Tire, and smiled as I read the bottle. Apparently the recipe for the beer was conceived by one of the brewers on a bicycle tour of European breweries. Pretty neat, I think.

I went to bed fairly early, stuffed from the pizza I had eaten and worn out by the day...

Christmas in the Mountains: Christmas Eve

2008-12-27T05:52:00.000-08:00

My sister and brother-in-law were nice enough to give Ev and I a trip out of town for Christmas this year. We headed up to Gatlinburg, Tennessee from Wednesday until Friday. Our trip up to Tennessee was nothing short of eventful. Before we left town, we downloaded directions from Google maps, and did pretty well until we got to the Blue Ridge Parkway signs. As the BRP has special significance for me, we decided to take it for a little while, just to see the sights. This was fine for about an hour or so, until we realized that we were going way too far north, and away from Gatlinburg. We got off of the parkway, and caught back up with the Google Maps directions.

We drove on and on for some time, following the way it was telling us to go, onto darker and more primitive mountain roads. We got to the point where we were simply unable to drive faster than 20 miles per hour, due to the fact that we would surely fly off of a cliff, and die in a fiery explosion Dukes of Hazzard style. Finally, after meeting the end of pavement and the beginning of gravel one particular road, I decided to call my sister so I could ~~curse her out for sending us into the middle of nowhere~~ ask her for directions. At about the same time when I had pulled over and started talking to my brother-in-law, a friendly (?) stranger came up to the car window, seemingly out of nowhere.

It would be difficult to elaborate on what exactly transpired during the course of this exchange; suffice to say that our backwoods friend:
1) Thought Ev was "pretty", but that he liked my (somewhat fledgling and mediocre) beard more.
2) Was an engineer, but told us that the diameter of ones tires dictated how far one had to travel.
3) Was wanted by The Man, but was being protected somehow by Dick Cheney ("A fine man, and an excellent shot...")
4) Really didn't want us to go to the "Three Way Inn" ("Do not stop at the Three Way Inn, Do not stop at the Three Way Inn, Do not stop at the Three Way Inn!").
5) Had an uncanny knack for rattling off perfect directions, with worrisome precision.
6) really didn't like Columbia (or Oregon for that matter).

Luckily, his wife(?) showed up and rescued us from what seemed like a common prank our friend played on poor unsuspecting lost city folks. I am just glad that Steven was on the phone during the whole exchange just in case, you know, the overwhelming charm of my ramshackle facial hair was too much for our somewhat bonkers Appalachian friend.

After a few miles of backtracking and redirecting, we finally made it to Gatlinburg. We stopped off at a gas station to refuel and stock up on supplies, as all of the stores were closed for Christmas Eve. As we got out of the car, a very strange thing occurred- the slight drizzle that was coming down only a few seconds earlier burst into a sideways blast of rain. The large roof over the pumps were completely useless to the hurricane-like torrent; we were at the farther end of the pumps away from the wind direction and we were completely soaked in a matter of seconds! I ran into the station (with the gas cap still in my hand!) and there was about thirty people huddled inside, scratching their heads and wondering what the heck was going on.

Luckily, the rain storm died down within a few minutes, and we were able to make it to our vacation spot without further delay. When we got there, this is what we saw:

That fireplace sure looks nice, what with being completely soaked and all. The view out of the back door wasn't too bad either...

MKS Touring Pedal Dismay- and Rebuild...

2008-12-26T18:25:00.001-08:00

So, before I post about my Xmas vacation trip and all the fun stuff that happened in Tennessee, I want to talk about my MKS Touring Pedals. Now, I love these pedals to death, don't get me wrong, but when I was chugging up a hill this weekend out in the mountains, my left pedal began making a clicking, crunching sort of noise. I was more than a little concerned that I was gonna lose a pedal (I have only been using these traps for a few months now), so I laid off the hill crushing.

When I got home, I did some searching and found out two things: First, that MKS has failed to grease the left bearings on these pedals (!), and Secondly, that these pedals are completely user serviceable. Now, to some people, this second finding would not be very exciting, but myself, well, I was thrilled.

You see, I have always had cheap, plastic pedals that, when they failed, they just failed, and you threw them away and got new ones. Nevermind the fact that there is a knurled dustcap on the end of this pedal that, when I fiddled with it with some pliers previously, did not even budge, or even seem as if it was removable. Well, folks, it is!

Without further ado, I give you... a picture of my pedal servicing!

As you can see, the cap needs to be screwed off (pliers, or vice grips, carefully!). Then you will see the retaining nut, then a slotted washer, and finally the cones. You will want to remove these three items, and carefully remove the bearings to a can or something so you don't lose them. There should be eleven on each side, make sure you have them all. Clean the races and the bearings if you'd like, to remove the old grease and dirt on the one side that actually has grease on it, and take a look at the other side. If you are like me, you will find that there is in fact no grease on the left hand side.

Wow. Anyway...

Put some bearing grease in there, return the clean ball bearings (you have eleven, right?) to both sides, and then put the whole thing back together. Make sure you tighten the cones down (I turned mine just to the point where it did not spin entirely freely) and replace the dustcap.

Yay, just like new! Well, better than new, because they actually have grease on both sides...

I am actually pretty excited that my pedal started to go out on me!

Lots of stuff going on...

2008-12-24T04:25:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I didn't even mention my graduation yet. I guess that seems a little weird to me, with it being a huge milestone in ones' life and all. Oh well, I graduated Monday of last week!

I guess I sort of forgot to post it here because of the holiday festivities that have been going on lately. Anyway, I am done with school for the time being, and my on-campus lab job ends on December 31st. I feel like a chapter of my life has closed, and am ready for a new one to begin.

Evelyn and I will be traveling to Tennessee for the holidays, thanks to my sister and brother-in-law's generous graduation gift. While we are there we will cycle Cade's Cove, a short-ish route up in the mountains that is said to be quite scenic. We will probably cook a nice lunch while we are out there, we will see. Not a lot is on the agenda (thankfully), and I am looking forward to the trip. I hope to take tons of pics, and will post them here when I return

I will probably not be posting here until I get back, later this weekend. Happy Holidays, everyone!