Reality Bites

Porter's reaction to the news that we are leaving for 6 weeks. We tried to justify our ride, scratched his butt, gave him treats but he continued to look at us with his pleading dog eyes. He will be spending the 6 weeks with his other Mother, Emily, who we all wish a speedy recovery from her ankle surgery. Porter will make an excellent therapy assistance dog. We told him we would return with some fresh armadillo from Texas.

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Equipment Lowdown - Part Two

I am carrying minimal bad-weather clothing in my pack. Yes, back pack. I am wearing a Salomon Raid Revo S-Lab racing pack. Although we are not racing anywhere, the pack is light weight, spacious and has a separate hydration bladder compartment. The bladder can be removed and replaced without opening the main compartment. Smart. Most self-respecting touring cyclists would never wear a backpack on a multi-day journey. The rule is, "make the bike carry the weight, not your body." I've worn a pack commuting for so many years, it just feels natural at this point. For me, loaded panniers also make the bike handle poorly. We are placing the focus on the quality of the ride itself. It is a challenge to eliminate stuff down to just the essentials. One person's important item is another person's dead weight. We also need to carry off-bike shoes, as light as possible.

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a view of day three - El Centro CA to Ehrenberg, AZ

Here is a preview of what the terrain looks like for about 70 miles or so, on our way to Arizona. It is a beautiful and unforgiving landscape that offers in trade what you give it as your ride through. The traffic consists of intermittent big rigs with a few cars mixed in for flavor. One other interesting side note is there are several black rectangular burn marks in the breakdown lane, about 5 feet by 12 to 15 feet in size. It took me a minute to figure out these amount to the chalk outlines of cars that overheated, caught fire and melted down onto the pavement, their last resting place. Photo courtesy of my dad Fairrel, the Ride for Awareness 2007 team photographer.

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Equipment Lowdown - Part One

Chris is riding a KONA Jake the Snake, set up for touring. FSA compact crank, FSA wheels, Wound-Up fork (whoa), Chris King headset, Speedplay Frog pedals for happy knees, and Specialized Armadillos for the good fight against punctures. After many changes she finally feels dialed into the correct fit on the bike, as of two days ago. The last correction was installing the Frogs, which eliminated the last residual knee tweak she'd recently experienced.

A few other items integral to the trip are Ortlieb panniers and seat pack. The panniers will ride shotgun in the big rig RV when we have climbing days (is this cheating?), and will have extra on-bike clothes in one and off-bike wear in the other. The compact drive FSA crank works well and offers a great gear range without adding more weight to an already solid rig. Weight is less of an issue when durability seems like a better option.

Back in 1994 I bought a Specialized M2, first generation. After thousands of miles over 12 years, one chainstay cracked at the BB shell. Specialized sent me a Allez Elite frameset, no questions asked, without even first seeing the original frame. Amazing. Originally equipped with Mavic ZAP (yes, this stuff made it across the country in 1999 - the battery died in the Florida panhandle. A new battery and I was back on the road in five minutes), I've replaced everything except for the crankset and handlebars. The crank is dated technology, not as light, stiff or pimpy as DA/RECORD/FSA or any other exotic crank, but it looks cool with the hidden chain ring bolts. Appearance counts for something in America, last time I checked. I replaced the cracked ring bolts and installed new FSA rings, 53/39 with 13-26 cogset.

The Mavic SSC brakes will never stop crime, but they'll do a number on your bike. For the money, they are the best available. I do have a Mavic bias and plead guilty. I try to go with the little guys most of the time, they are usually more interesting. I do admit to a sealed Shimano BB though. The modified Salomon chalk bag is now a feed bag. Mountain Soles fixed some elastic webbing and Velcro straps so the bag hangs perfectly between the Cinelli Spinachi illegal in all 50 states aero bars. The bag has a side draw string that cinches it up at the waist, perfectly suited to squeezing down on the Hammer flasks. The jumbo Ortlieb seat pack holds quite a bit. This pack saved me when my rack broke in Fort Davis, Texas. I emptied my panniers onto the bed and played "he loves me - he loves me not." After boxing up 60% of my stuff, I was able to get the remaining heavy stuff into this seat pack. This pack is an old friend and we will never part. It taught me a lesson about overpacking.

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2 weeks and counting

We are at the point in this process where we just want to ride the bike. The weather looks good and 80 to 90 degrees sounds fine. We ship the bikes early next week, and they're as dialed as they can be at this point. The same holds true about our form. We did as much riding as we could, but we are also relying on that often used philosophy of "riding into shape."

Lighter touring presupposes faster touring. The miles will pile up, we will suffer, our crotches will be on fire and we'll churn away at it. Climbing up and away from the coast, the earth will flatten out, then we'll hit New Mexico, going up and up. The benefit of climbing hills on a bike is that it allows and promotes changing position; sit, stand, hands on the drops, hands on the tops, move to the brake hoods and relax.

We reach Silver City, NM and rest for a day off the bike, then we drain down toward Las Cruces, and in another day we'll find ourselves in the unfathomable expanse of Texas. Ruler-straight, flat roads with a headwind routinely crush the toughest cyclists. Ask any of them. One word; monotony and no real sense of going anywhere. It's a killer. East Texas Hill country, beautiful and not to be trifled with. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida - flat, wet and soupy, just perfect. We then arrive at the Atlantic Ocean, and there you have it. Too much fun.

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mileage is scarce, but not for long

We managed to crank out a 50 miler on Sunday, and getting longer rides in is challenging when you have to work for a living. It felt good to be dry and warm on the bike, if not hot. California and Arizona experienced unseasonably hot weather last week, mid to upper 90's. It has since cooled off, and we are watching it to see where it heads in the next 3 weeks or so. Acclimating will prove interesting, since we live in such damp and cool spring weather. The central valley of California is capable of producing serious temps.

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map link - look up and to the right

My sister Roxane and her husband Jubal provided the GPS phone that will track our whereabouts and slow but steady progress. More importantly, Jubal is lending the expertise in getting the whole kit up and running. All we have to do is turn on the phone, not lose it and continue making eastward progress. Sounds easy enough.

Thank you Roxane and Jubal, this was a fantastic addition to our ride, and we hope it provides some interest.

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