Getting Through A Not-So-Long Winter... And Introducing, Kung Fu Panda

Last winter was a harsh battle against endless snow and bikes were stored in sheds never to see the light of day. This fall, I braced myself for another long dark winter, which included splurging on huge studded snow tires for the Tank (who has since been reborn as The Abominable Snow Tank). No more cross country skiing to work, I would ride my bike this winter. Much to my joy, and sometimes chagrin because studded bike tires were overkill this year, the pendulum swung the other way. We had just a few days when the snow stuck and there was not a single day I couldn't ride my bike.

With the weather warming up, explorations east to the Alvord Desert on the far side of Steens Mountain called for bikes. We relished crisp mornings in the Alvord Hot Springs and tooled around the pristine gravel roads and explored every inch of the playa. My mind raced at night as the stars twinkled at us about putting together a dirt road bike tour here...

Leaving the van behind to ride to the Pike Creek trailhead for a lovely hike up Steens Mountain.

Tooling around the playa is an otherworldly experience.

In other news, I made a life changing decision this year. I decided it was time to retire the Tank from her status as my "go to" touring bike. She was built to be indestructible in far off lands, but I often found myself wanting a more nimble setup for exploring the Pacific NW. Once her transformation to The Abominable Snow Tank was complete, I could not imagine her being anything other than my winter commuter. And so, with the help of the amazing bike mechanic Tory Sox from Bend Velo, I started building a custom gravel bike. Originally, I had started the build from a Surley Straggler frame and fork, but Surly launched a new gravel bike called the Midnight Special which made even more sense... more stable, slighter better geometry for my midget self, and more options for upgrades later. So I made a last minute crazy switch, praying that my custom frame bag would fit the new frame.

Behold, I call her Kung Fu Panda... in addition to the Rogue Panda custom Cascadia frame bag, it will include two small Ortliebs up front, a Rogue Panda seat pack, a Rogue Panda top tube bag, two Revelate Designs feedbags, and a Revelate Designs harness. 

Mother Nature can be cruel. We had a number of fronts come in dumping regular snow and rain on us right after my bike was done, so I haven't been able to properly test out Kung Fu Panda. But that hasn't stopped me from scheming! There's been a lot of local bike touring momentum coming out of the Central Oregon Adventure Cycling group that I started last year, and slowly but surely, we are connecting with each other and growing.

Pre-Trip Preparation: The Idaho Hot Springs Tour Edition

The departure date for my Idaho Hot Springs Tour somehow snuck up on me and Ryan in a whirlwind of late spring and early summer gaiety.  We had met up for happy hour once to half-heartedly discuss the logistics and timing of getting our cars and bikes to Idaho and how many miles a day we would aim for.  At that time, the trip didn't seem real yet, so we had a hard time hammering out the nitty gritty details and I remember enjoying the beers more than anything.

Initial Logisticals

We decided that we would start in Crouch and cycle counterclockwise, Ryan would be in charge of getting a basic bike computer so he could track the turn-by-turns and I would be in charge of getting an offline GPS app for my iPhone and download the GPX file available through the Adventure Cycling Association (both of which were essential to keeping us on track with lots of unmarked forest roads).  We also settled on parking Ryan's car in Crouch and my car in Cascade to allow us the most number of bailout options, since I was driving straight from Idaho to my parents' place in Washington to fly out for a wedding.  This would allow us to use both the Lohman cutoff and the Warm Lakes road cutoff if we suffered a lot of delays, or allow me to hop in my car in Cascade to jet north while Ryan continued solo south.

Since we both already had all the gear, we just had to do last minute gear checks, and figure out where exactly we could park our cars.  I had thought to crash in Cascade the first night in town on June 20th, but after calling around, I discovered that we were starting in the middle of the Payette Games, a huge whitewater event and everything in Cascade was booked up.  Thankfully, the apologetic owner of the Alpine Lodge and Motel in Cascade, Justin, told me I could park my car there anyway.  So instead, I nabbed a room at the Wander Inn and Cabins in Crouch... a lucky find as Maggie, the gracious owner, had a last minute cancellation.  She also told me Ryan could park his car there. 

Our Bike Setupsticals

I ride a Surly Troll with 26" wheels.  This is a first generation Troll, so I had custom brazeons to allow me to mount water bottle cages on each side of my front fork and the downtube.  I also have more traditional mountain bike handlebars with Ergon grips and a sexy Brooks saddle.  My tires are the oh so heavy but oh so reliable Schwalbe Marathon Mondials (26x2), which have over 6000 miles on them with zero flats.  The Tank also comes armed with a custom Porcelain Rocket frame bag, Revelate Designs harness, 2 Revelate Designs feed bags, a Revelate Designs gas tank, a Timbuk2 Goody Box top tube bag mounted to the seat post, a rear rack with 2 Ortlieb panniers, and 5 water bottles.  Normally, I would have ditched the rear rack and panniers for a lighter weight setup, but with Ryan towing a fully loaded setup, I figured I'd opt for a few luxuries this time around.  I absolutely LOVED this setup and it handled much better than Ryan's more traditional touring setup.

The Tank, in all her glory.

Ryan rides a Surly Long Haul Trucker with 700c wheels.  Everything on his bike is stock from what I understand.  He has front and rear racks with a traditional four Ortlieb pannier setup and opted to do this tour fully loaded, as if he were on a road tour.  He did a test ride on dirt and discovered that with his cross tires on his touring bike, he was prone to pinch flatting every couple of miles.  He decided to upgrade his tires last minute to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, which, while not necessarily ideal for dirt road touring, were good enough for zero flats for the trip.  That said, he had a very hard time on climbs, sometimes having to walk rideable sections and he often had to unclip (or wiped out) on sandy parts. 

Day 81: Big Trip Decisions And Going Lightweight

When I first planned this trip, I was trapped in my BigLaw job with a mere glimmer of light at the end of my proverbial student loan debt tunnel.  I dreamt big to give meaning to the day-to-day grind of living on a strict budget.  And then one day, I found myself nervously pedaling towards Tijuana, Mexico feeling like Argentina seemed like a really really really long ways away.

I used to have a very hard time allowing myself to divert from an original plan.  If I set my mind to get to Argentina, I would get there whether I really wanted to or not, simply because I said I would.  So I promised myself from the beginning that I would only keep bike touring so long as it made sense to me to keep going, either because I was in love with the trip, or because I still had a lot of soul searching to do on the road.  One of my biggest fears, in fact, was that I would arrive at the end of the world and be no closer to figuring out what I want from life than when I started.  

I've come to realize that I really like bike touring, but right now, I don't love it in and of itself such that I want to keep pedaling indefinitely.  And while I still have a lot of soul searching to do, leaving everything familiar and erasing all sense of permanence has helped me realize that I'm not programmed to be a wandering soul forever.  Although bike touring Mexico has truly been my most amazing adventure so far, it's time for me to be closer to my family and to make a new home for myself.

Gonzalo and I have talked a lot over the last few weeks about the prospects for this bike tour, and while both of us have exciting plans awaiting us back "home," neither of us are quite ready to end the trip.  We officially decided that our trip will live in the history books as an amazing bike tour of Mexico, with Cancun as our final destination in two months, which will allow me to join my family for a trip to Yosemite in early September.  

With this new trip plan in mind, the two of us spent some time reviewing our gear to see what we could send back to lighten our load for the last two months of this tour.

Not quite ultralightweight... but I've shed probably about 20+ pounds of gear by removing the front panniers, winter gear, and other gear I don't use so much.

What did I decide to send back?

Pair of Ortlieb frontroller panniers
Park Tool big blue book of bike repair
Tubus front racks
MSR water filter and repair kit
Down sweater
Pair of winter gloves
Winter hat
Bandana
Pair of mountain biking gloves
Miscellaneous bike parts
Thermalite sleep sack
Spanish grammar book
Book about Batopilas
Mophie charger
Batteries
Universal plug adaptor
Spare Schwalbe mondial marathon tire
Thermal underwear

Our awesomely taped up boxes... Gonzalo engineered a custom box from a huge piece of cardboard for his gear.

*** IMPORTANT NOTE:  You should not tape your box up before heading to send anything from Mexico to the U.S. ... they opened my box to review everything and took out a years supply of contact lenses, a bottle of drops to sanitize water (which in retrospect, I wanted to keep anyway), and my stormproof matches.  Thanks to Gonzalo and Victor for so patiently dealing with all the red tape of mailing items back to the U.S. ***

Frequently Asked Questions Redux (Or, Yes, This Is Really Happening!)

My friends have known for the past year about my trip, but now that I have less than a month until I leave, it finally feels real to them and all of a sudden the panicked requests for happy hours and dinners and questions about my trip have come pouring in.

How Do You Carry Everything?

For those who know nothing about bike touring, it seems unreal to carry everything you could need for a trip this long on a bike.  Hey, European backpackers have packed everything they need into a single backpack for their gap year trips.  Even though I have to take into consideration bike repair, camping, and food, in some ways it is actually easier because I have a steel beast of burden to portage everything.  Granted, I travel lighter than the average person because, well, I'm little... so my things are little.

My beauuuuutiful Troll!  And my beautiful panniers, thanks to Karim for making the splurge for me!

You can check out my gear and equipment list to get the full rundown, but this is basically it... although there are still things to do like trim down the kickstand (wheeee, fun with dremels!) and work out any random kinks or last minute additions (seatpost water bottle mount for my fuel!).  This setup has evolved several times from a traditional setup to a minimalist setup to a setup designed for the ultimate flexibility, and is the product of endless hours reading reviews, blogs, my own past touring experience, and doing test rides.

Also, check out this website dedicated to pictures of fully loaded touring bikes for the way others do it, with setups that range from milk crates and zipties, to setups that look like they weigh 200 pounds.

The cockpit with my tent riding up front.

Isn't This Dangerous?

Yes, some cycling tourists have had fatal accidents in other countries, but that doesn't change a thing.  Biking in DC is dangerous.  Believe me, I've gotten hit 5 times now by 3 doors, 1 taxi, and 1 pick-up truck... the most recent this past weekend 2 blocks from home. Yes, Mexico has some areas that have travel advisories.  But then again, most middle-class suburbanites wouldn't feel comfortable in my cozy corner of Capitol Hill, and I've never felt more safe.

I've lived, worked, or traveled through all of Central America and half of South America...  I've backpacked by myself through unrest in southern Thailand, and braved solo travel in Egypt.  The scariest incident I had was when I was studying abroad in Spain and a druggie made some threatening advances on a fellow student.  This awesome British couple driving from Mexico to Argentina says it better than I can... No, it's not really that dangerous, just be smart.

What About Insurance?

But I'm not stupid.  I'm a lawyer.  I'm a lawyer who has had some experience in insurance practice and who has a penchant for extreme sports and adventure... of course I'm getting insurance for my trip!  After an incredibly huuuuge amount of research and carefully analyzing policy wording, I found the closest thing to a perfect policy I could find.  I present, World Nomads!  No, this insurance will not cover my annual visits to the dentist or pre-existing conditions, but the policy will cover most everything else, including theft of my bike, repatriation of my remains, and rental car collision coverage (which is always outrageously expensive when purchased at the rental car counter).

For the grand price of $1211.78 per year, and renewable on the road, this policy covers all the good stuff.  Among countless other activities, it explicitly covers:

• Abseiling
• Base Jumping
• Cavern Diving
• Dirt Boarding
• Trekking in Antarctica
• Cycle Touring
• Flying an Aircraft
• Heli-Boarding
• Rock Climbing
• Shark Cage Diving
• Snow Rafting
• Ziplining
• Mountaineering

Are You Going Alone?

The wonderful thing about the world is that there are an estimated 7 billion of us out there, which means the odds of finding someone else out there as crazy as I am pretty good with resources like the Adventure Cycling Association, Crazy Guy On A Bike, and Warm Showers.  I put an ad in the "Companions" section of the Adventure Cycling Association website (which also was featured in the February issue of Adventure Cyclist!), and got a surprisingly large number of responses, but most folks were still in the dreaming phase rather than the execution phase of their planning.

Hey, look at me!  I'm famous!

That is, until Gonzalo de la Pena emailed me.  He has a ton of bike touring and travel experience, and so we agreed that he would come visit me in DC to meet, and he did!  We got along well, geeked out over Star Wars Legos and cycling gear, and he didn't seem like a serial killer, so we agreed to start the trip together.  He will actually be flying to meet me in Denver and joining me on my cross-country trip so we can get to know each other better, and share our love of the outdoors at various national parks along the way.

For those who worry, you can see his photo blog from his bike trips at: http://bicimundista.com/.

Splurging On My Chariot Of Steel

I've spent more time than I care to admit obsessing over my bike touring set up.  I have the intractible conflict of being a thrifty gearhead, which makes for some interesting mental tug-of-wars.  I was sure, positive, absolutely decided, that I was going to go for a traditional touring setup; something classic like the Surly Long Haul Trucker with the front and rear racks for a full four pannier setup. 

The blog of bikepacker Cass Gilbert changed my whole touring philosophy, including how I wanted to do my own setup.  Who was I to go "classic"?  I wanted to go offroad, rugged, off-the-beaten path, versatile and needed a bike that could handle it all.  And so I  decided to go for the Surly Troll. 

This, of course, created the dilemma of a new setup.  I started drooling over Relevate Designs and Porcelein Rocket bikepacking gear.  The gearhead side of me wanted to buy all the bags!  The thrifty side of me kept reminding me that um... yea... you already bought all the regular panniers...  So I did a test ride from Pittsburgh to DC to figure out what my dream bike touring setup would be.  I mean, thrift is great, I paid off $200,000+ in student loans over 5 years because of my talent for thrift, but if my bike is going to be my home for a year or more, I damn well better love the setup.

Well, I think I've found it.  I'm not so minimalist given the length of this trip that I can bike in a single pair of bike shorts and eat from food stalls every day.  I decided to keep the rear panniers, run a framebag, insulated water bottle holders on the handbars, fuel bottle on the downtube, and Salsa anything cages on the front fork which will hold two Nalgenes in insulated bottle holders.  This required some custom work, including a custom framebag by Porcelein Rocket since framebags are not yet sold retail for my midget-sized Troll.  It also required extra water bottle bosses on the front fork and downtube.  It took some time, but Tom Palermo of Palermo Cycles in Baltimore told me he could do it...


Photo credit: Tom Palermo



Photo credit: Tom Palermo

 

Photo credit: Tom Palermo

I don't regret spending the money.  Not even the thrifty side of me regrets it.  I love my crazy ugly custom bike. 

Thar sheeee iiiiiz!  All done except for the new pedals my parents got me for my birfday!

Geeking Out On Gear

When I first started planning this trip, I threw all of my mental energy into researching and procuring gear, so that basically I had finished pulling everything together oh... in February.  All that's left for me is to pick up the spare parts, tubes, etc. that I will need.  I had assumed from the beginning that I would go with the standard touring set-up -- two front and two rear panniers with a handlebar bag.  After drooling over some of the mountain bikepacking setups, I started thinking about the possibility of doing a framebag and if possible, nix the front panniers, and to run Salsa anything cages on the front fork to carry Nalgenes for extra water storage.  It was brilliant!  Except that while certain framebags were mass produced for other model by Surly, there was no framebag made for my midget-sized Troll. 

Revelate Designs, whose Feed Bags I fell in love with, had promised that they were coming out with framebags for the Troll in the Spring.  Nothing.  Nada.  I can't blame them.  So I looked at custom options... and found Scott Felter of Porcelain Rocket.

But of course, that seemed really pricey at the time, $170+ for a custom framebag, $40 for a pair of Salsa anything cages, $60 to add the extra water bottle boss on the front fork to be able to mount the cages... at least, it seemed pricey back in January, when I was putting together my budget for paying off my student loans, what I could spend on gear, and what I would put away for the trip.  Until one day, I realized I was ahead of my savings plan due to forgetting that I would max out both my 401k andsocial security contribution limits by July.  And so I decided that if I'm going to live on my bike for 2+ years, I better have a set-up I LOVE.  Scott told me he had not done a 14" Troll bag yet, so I had the honor of drawing a pattern for him.  I dropped my bike off at a local bike builder, Tom Palermo of Palermo Bicycles, who would be adding a set of water bottle bosses to the down tube and and the front fork. 

And then, it was time to patiently wait. 

And wait. 

And wait.

And then.... I got an email from Scott... my bag is done!  And for instant gratification... he sent a picture and posted it to his flickr site for all to see.


Photo Credit: Scott Felter of Porcelain Rocket

Slowly, but surely, the clock is counting down.  It's hard to believe looking at my budget spreadsheet how many months have gone by since I sat down and made it in the first place.  It's hard to believe that I have just two more paychecks before I can pay off my student loans in their entirety, my BA, JD, and MA. 

They Call Her Agent Orange

After flip flopping back and forth, I decided finally, after supposedly deciding officially months ago to go with the Surly Long Haul Trucker, to get the Surly Troll as my beast of burden for the trip.  The reason for my big switch was the fact that even though the LHT is the gold standard for affordable touring rigs, my gut was pulling me to the Troll.  I'm not sure if its because I've always toured on mountain bikes, or because I like the idea that this bike can handle all roads, mountain biking singletrack where I can find it (Bolivia!), and the flexibility to swap out the front fork for a suspension fork if and when I get back to the United States to do the Great Divide route from Mexico to Banff or wherever.  All I knew is that it was still calling to me after talking to dozens of people, bike mechanics, and the like.

And so, after a couple weeks of swapping out handlebars, grips, seatpost, trimming cable housing, changing the shifters, pedals, and everything in between, it is done.  Today, I decided to hide out from the rain and adjust all my panniers, make sure my racks were mounted correctly, and get the setup as finalized as my weary brain would allow.  One month until I can take this baby up to Baltimore to get a frame builder to drill in extra brazeons for a bottom side downtube bottle holder for my fuel bottle.  Two months until my 10 day test tour from DC to Pittsburgh and back again.  About seven months until I can give notice to my job.  About eight months until my last effective day.  About nine months until my last official day.  Time is flying... it seems like just yesterday I was lamenting that it would be over a year until I could leave.

Much like my flip flopping on the bike, I have also struggled with where I want to start.  At first, I thought it would be amazing to start in Colombia and work my way south.  Colombia is familiar territory for me, my favorite country, and seemed like a comfortable place to start.  But much like the Troll, my gut kept telling me that it would be amazing to start at the end of the world and start biking home, and maybe I'd get there, wherever "home" is, be that my folks place in Washington State, or a bike shop in Bolivia, I liked the idea of not needing a return ticket.  Although this changed my timing a bit in order to avoid a harsh winter in Patagonia, I realized that with the amount of vacation I had accumulated, I could bump up my last effective day working while still getting paid and being officially on the books for the purposes of preserving the potential to practice law in other jurisdictions should I some day change my mind and want to practice law again if and when I decide to return to the United States. 

The Agonizing Search For The Perfect Bike

After researching nearly every single touring bike manufacturer that the Adventure Cycling Association's 2011 Touring Bike Buying Guide listed, which mind you, is easily 40+ companies, I figured out that only two companies made bikes in my midget-y size of 46cm, in my price range, and with all the features I wanted (steel, disc brakes, 3 connections for water bottle holders, spoke holder, and runs 26" wheels), and only one of those offered a complete bike, which is always cheaper than going custom.  In some ways, this is better.  I love bikes.  Having to put together and build the bike I will be riding for a year or longer is an agonizing decision.  Having fewer choices makes it easier in many ways.

So basically, I had to make a choice between the oh-so-classic Surly Long Haul Trucker (with disc versus cantilever brakes) or the Surly Troll (which could run either or both, but which didn't offer some of the other features).  So I wandered into my local bike shop to chat up some of the mechanics, who love building dream bikes and about 2 hours later, a half dozen jokes about throwing in the $1000 Rohloff hub or a dynohub, had figured out that I should get the Surly Long Haul Trucker with a few upgrades of the stock components to make it bombproof. 

The value of bike geeks excited about helping you build a bike cannot be underestimated.  I learned which things I should upgrade, like the headset, front deraullier, seatpost, and saddle (which I already own), which things can wait, like holding off on replacing the handlebars to see how I like the stock ones, and why its better to go with the Tubus racks instead of the ones Surly designed for the Trucker.  I also learned why its okay to go with mechanical disc brakes instead of cantilever brakes after having offsetting concerns about braking power versus fixability on the road.  Carrying an extra disc and extra disc brake pads weighs very little and I'll appreciate all the braking power I can get in the rain or screaming down the Andes.

Approximate delivery time, mid-March... need to do the following before bike comes:

• Go back to bike shop and wax philosophic about fenders and which Tubus racks to order
• Pull SPDs off full suspension mountain bike and replace with older SPDs, use nice ones for touring bike or consider Ergon pedals