T Minus 19 Hours and counting.

The past few days have been spent tying up loose ends (mainly packing related, and making sure things run smoothly at home during my 10 week absence)  before I leave the house at 3:45 tomorrow morning for my flight to Vancouver.

I think the best way to give you a perspective on things is through pictures:

This is basically everything I have to take for the trip, and more importantly fit into my bike box and bag to travel and into two laundry baskets during the tour. Bike at the back, camping gear in front of the bike, bike clothes and spare parts on the left and camp clothes and shoes on the right.  I have also packed a massage stick, and a Wiffle Ball and Bat for entertainment at the campsites.

 The constraints are that our clothes (bike and camp) must fit into no more than two laundry baskets, and to get there I can only bring my bike box, a duffel bag, a carry on and my computer case.  The challenge was to figure out how to fit all the stuff in the allotted space.

 The airline has restrictions on the weight of each item, so I trotted out the bathroom scale to make sure I complied.  I am already paying extra for the bike box (max 70 lbs.), so I tried to optimize everything between that and my checked duffel bag (50 lbs.).

It is apparent that the hours I spent playing TETRIS have finally yielded some fruit, as I "passed" the first challenge - making sure everything fit into the two laundry baskets.
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The next challenge was to get everything into the luggage available and check the weight.  After much trial and error, success!   The bike box, fully packed with all the "voids" filled by my clothing and tent, weighs in at 66 lbs. and the duffel with my sleeping bag and other bulky stuff at 35 lbs.  Thankfully, all this goes in the truck, and we don't have to ride it to the next campsite each day.

  

One final check against my packing list and then the box gets taped up and loaded in the car for my 3:45 A.M. departure to the Airport.  Many thanks to Eric for being my chauffeur tomorrow.   I doubt I will get much sleep, if any tonight - par for the course for the past week or so - but will make up for it on the plane tomorrow.

After 10 months of preparation, it is hard to believe that this adventure will start tomorrow (in reality it started 10 months ago).  In recognition of that I have changed the Blog Summary to reflect the change in status from "plan" to "reality".  I am looking forward to actually meeting the other riders this week!  Thank y'all for your kind words of encouragement and support to date.

If you want to get automatically notified when I add to the blog - it may be somewhat sporadic during the ride, as I am not sure of when/where we will have network access - you can add the "RSS" feed to your e-mail or web browser. 

The address for the RSS feed is:

http://mysummerbehindbars.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
with this set up whenever I post some news you will get a notification.

Have a great summer!

Bill

The Revolutionary Ramble - Doh!

I rode the Revolutionary Ramble this weekend expecting it to be the icing on the cake of my 5 ½ months of training for the tour. The ride was a fairly hilly 65 mile route through a lot of the sites where Washington and the Continental Army spent their winter in New Jersey in 1781. It was fairly interesting along some of the more rural roads of the route, where we could see what appeared to be defensive berms built up by the opposing armies.

Despite the peaceful surroundings of the woods, there was the occasional marker reflecting on more troubled times for the area.

Specifically a memorial marker to a Continental Army Captain killed while trying to suppress the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny.

As you can see I have already started the transition to "touring" which means taking the time to stop and learn a little bit of the history of the areas through which we are riding.


On Friday, I worked on my bike - cleaning and lubing the chain, and cleaning the bike itself as it was getting rather dirty. Early Saturday morning, I rode 13.5 miles down to the start of the ride, and met up with the other riders from our cycling club who had signed up for the "Ramble.".

The morning started out OK, but for some reason, I did not feel quite as strong as usual, always searching for an easier gear to ride in. As well I was lagging behind, which was not typical of this year given my training for the tour. We finished the 65 miles, ate a big lunch (meatball sandwich and salad with a balsamic vinaigrette), and then headed uphill for the 18 mile ride back home.

The ride itself can best be summed up by that American Icon, Homer Simpson...

With about 10 miles left, I felt something odd coming from my rear wheel when braking, and decided to stop and have a look. Off the bike, I performed the first check, spinning the wheel to see if it would spin freely. Normally it should spin without any hesitation until the brake is applied. It did not and stopped immediately – apparently for the first 85 miles, the wheel was rubbing against my brake shoe.

That probably explained the lack of energy and my lagging at the back. Once I opened up the brakes, and the wheel was not obstructed by them, I got all my energy and strength back for the last three (Big) hills to get home.  Lesson learned – sometimes it pays to check the basics when things aren’t going well, and not just assume you are having an off day. It did make for a very good training ride with all that added resistance!

Apparently the airline recommended that I arrive at the airport at 4:30 AM since I am travelling with over-sized luggage. That will mean leaving the house at 3:30 AM on the 22nd. Oh well, I can sleep on the flight to Vancouver.

9 days to wheels up in Newark.

Today's posting provides a preview to the types of postings I plan to make during the tour.  A brief summary of the day's riding, providing a perspective on either the history or geography of the region, and our progress as we make our way across the continent..

The Countdown

With less than two weeks until I leave for Vancouver, I find myself going through various checklists to make sure that when I leave for the airport at 4:30 AM (my flight leaves at 7:00 AM and I will have over sized baggage to check in) everything is ready.

Judging from the postings of other riders on the tour's bulletin board, I am not alone with my anxieties.  I keep having to remind myself that the tour is designed to maximize the probabilities that riders who start in Vancouver finish in St. John's some 10 weeks later.

The biggest "unknown" at this point is "Will my bike and spare parts, my camping gear, and my riding and camping clothes fit into the bike box.  I have been rather ruthless in paring down non-riding clothing just to increase the odds in my favor.

Lots of people have asked for more specifics on where we will be going and when.  As mentioned in a previous post, we find out the specific route at the Orientation meeting in Vancouver before the ride starts, but I have pieced together the following "map" from previous riders blogs to give an approximation - each "Pin Point" represents an overnight stay.  If you click on the "map" it will open up a bigger sized picture.

From the route one can see the wisdom of the planned stops - fairly short daily distances (approx. 50 - 75 miles) in the first two weeks and getting longer as we go along.  This gives us time to acclimatize to riding day after day, get more familiar with our camping gear and sleeping outside, get accustomed to the responsibilities of galley crew, climb over the Monashees and Rockies, and getting to know the 40 other riders in the group.  Once we hit Alberta and the Canadian Prairies, you will notice that the distance between the "Pins" increases significantly.  We cross the Prairies in only 2 weeks of riding.

At this point I am beginning to feel like Santa Claus (making a list and checking it twice), and organizing clothing by weather - cold days, rainy days, other days... hopefully no cold and rainy days.  My last big ride is this coming Saturday - a 65 mile ride over most of the roads I have been training on.  I have decided to make it a challenge by riding to the start of the ride and riding home at the end, which should give me, in total, another 100+ mile day.  I will be riding with a group from Team Marty's (our local bike club) so it should be a fun ride - it even looks like I may get to try my rain gear.

One big mental adjustment I will have to make after heading west is to change from a "Training"  mode (constantly pushing one's self to build up strength and endurance) to a "Touring" mode - basically riding the miles and drinking up the scenery and experience.  I will also have to remind myself "It is a ride, not a race" and enjoy the sightseeing, although I suspect on rainy days it will be "Get to the next Campsite, and get dry!"

On my three other big cycling adventures (across Alaska, Montreal to Maine, and Toronto to Montreal with my son) it was much more enjoyable once the mental transition from Training to Touring was made, and we would stop along the route for the occasional blackberry ice cream cone - well not in Alaska!

13 days left to wheels up...