Hot thoughts started coming into my head while I was outside racking leaves and cleaning gutters and I found I was thinking about what a wonderful “life enhancing”  experience our tour was and how hot!

When the weather was just too blustery, I came inside and worked on sorting and labeling my pictures and feeling the heat.   I thought I would share some of the hottest spots on our trip; those places I was not sure I could drink enough fluids to keep going and even my ears felt dry.

Hopefully these pictures will warm you up too?

Mono Lake

Grapes Drying in Sun

Oil fields of San Joachin

south San Joachin Valley

Leaving San Joachin behind

My friends are thinking I should get a new touring bicycle and have recommended Burley’s  Bicycles and their trailers to carry gear.  What do you think would be a good biking choice?

Do you have some good memories of a special adventure?  Do they heat up your thinking? Would love to hear about them and hope you will share.

The 12 year old Bianchi bicycle is being taken apart in California to be shipped home.   It has done a great many miles and been a good part of my team.   It was my ‘party favor’ for my partner’s 50th birthday!

I had an older Raleigh and I bought my wife a French Motobecane Touring Bike instead of an engagement ring 35 years ago.  They were good bikes but we traded them in to get our oldest daughter a bike of her own.

Old Blue Bike has accomplished:

• 9 of the 13 Seattle to Portland Bike rides (204 miles – one day)
• 2003 Cascades/ Coast Bike ride (1400 miles and gear)
• 2005 Southern Oregon ride (400-500 miles and gear)
• 2007 Northern Oregon ride (400 miles and gear)
• 2009   Cascades Tour with Mountain Passes (1000 miles and gear)
• 2011 Cascades Sierra Tour 20 Passes (2200 miles with gear)

All the training rides and commuting for all its lifetime. I carried the kids on the back and taught them how to balance on a bike with this bike.

The frame is sturdy and stout

The derailer is now damaged and no longer replaceable – we will have to do something different to keep it my local and commuting bike.  The one shift lever broke off due to stress.   Cannot shift the gears – from 18 gears to only 5.

I do not think there are any more tours for Old Blue Bike.  I am awaiting its arrival home and thinking about the repairs.  Riding my Orbea for the time being.   Saving my money for a new touring bike.

Which bike do you think would be the best replacement bike? Recumbent or upright?

How’s your relationship with your bicycle?

Conway Summit California

I am home from the Sierra Cascades Bike Tour of 2011.  My good old bicycle is being taken apart in California to be shipped home.  It may take a lot of work to get this 12 year old work horse back in shape.   I only had 5 gears left after a pack cord broke loose and damaged the derailer – we had to improvise.   One of those work horse Armadillo Tires also shredded to bits on the last couple of miles. The handle bars are twisted from a fall and the brake lever also was damaged. It was a tough last couple of days of riding.  But Oh MY!  What a spectacular ride it was.

Here are my 5 first lessons learned from this adventure

1. When you face a great distance to travel that might be overwhelming, you need to take it 1 day at a time and feel the success.  Step by Step.
2. I was able to get very organized in my packing and gear placement; thus I was well balanced on the bike and did not lose anything.
3. Doing big climbs, one needs to break it down into pedal stroke by pedal stroke.  Start by setting a pace one can maintain for a long time and go at the pace you set.  Forget about the others.
4. When you ride a bike on a long journey, you see many more things; you are more a part of the place and your surroundings.  Heat, observation and awareness.
5. One has to be more flexible as a team, a group, because you are dependent on each other and the competition factors need to move to collaboration = wanting success for everyone.

I also learned more about some beautiful places on this planet such as the Lassen Volcanic National Park and surrounding Mountain Range.

Have you done a bicycle adventure?  Are you planning one?  Does this idea inspire you?

Waterfall

Mountain from the road

Most recent update from the Sierra/Cascades Bike Tour Group is that the mountains are high and very beautiful.  As I write the fellows are ascending the highest pass Tioga – 10k feet -   and are descending into Yosemite National Park.  They will be in the park approximately 3 to 4 days.

The group is still taking lots of pictures, have traded books they are reading, one has suffered a yellow jacket sting, a bit of road rash, and  some tight ham strings are creating a bit of a problem.

Snow Park

The greatest fun is that the intrepid 3-some have been joined by more folks.  2 brothers are doing part of the journey together from the Canadian Border to the Mexican Border; they have added to the adventure.  Then a Dutch couple in their late 20s have been included in the ride, they are taking 2 months to do this trip and took a side trip for several days in San Francisco.

One single fellow who is on the same venture has also joined the group.

One of the brother’s wives arrived last night to switch out some gear and deliver food, so she is going to use her truck to take everyone’s gear up to the top of the pass and lighten the loads for such a huge climb.

People have certainly been one of the best parts of this adventure… and then there is this yellow wild flower that is just everywhere on the California end of the journey and it has a lovely fragrance. The group is working on getting a picture of it.

It was delightful to meet Barbara of Blogging Without a Blog and we are in her debt for helping us with pictures.

I think they are having a fabulous time and having a great ride experience – 10 days to go!

Hope you are having a good ride?   Have you met friends along the way on your journeys? Any bees? Not to mention road rash?

Local Produce

This has been an amazing experience and we have met so many interesting people.

When we arrived in Mazama, Washington the whole community was gathered for a pizza feed in the park and they included us in their event.

We encountered a fellow who had started from Sumas, British Columbia to ride to the Mexican Border with 14 other people, but by the time he reached Redmond, Oregon he was alone on the ride.  When he found our group, he debated about going home and getting his gear and joining us.

Bend, Oregon was an amazing experience and must be a biking hot spot.  There were so many gear stores and so many trails and events, we just explored and explored.  Good motel, hot showers and laundry facilities; time to regroup and refresh.

Our fourth partner could not join us in Ashland, Oregon, because he had such a severe cold. Bill did find us a wonderful stop to rest and enjoy that city, and then nicely took our gear on to the next stop point, so that our first 8,000 foot climb was pack free.

Lower elevations have been very hot and the higher elevations quite cold at night.  We are now into California and Mt Shasta – looking forward to what this part of the ride has to offer.  17 Days of riding to go.

What an experience this has been.  Have you encountered wonderful people on your adventures? Got a good story to share?

The biking tour fellows are having a great time and a good adventure.  When they arrived in Mazama, WA., the whole town was having a pizza feed and they were invited to join in and be a part of the gathering.

It was a hot ride to Ellensburg and then a lovely canyon ride by the river into Yakima the next morning where they spent a day regrouping and doing laundry before heading off to White Pass.

They have been on the road 10 days so far.

It is anticipated that there will be 3 days of no cell service so I do not expect to hear anything until tomorrow.  I am a bit disappointed to not get pictures yet as one rider has his ipad on board.

The panniers are working well, and the tortillas were a good lunch idea but they are too heavy for their honey and peanut butter pickups.  Consuming them as quickly as possible.

There are several bikers and teams out riding and the group keeps making connections with them – and sharing ideas and pointers.   It is a fun group.

For those of us just staying at home – I thought I would share Terrill Welch’s Saturna Island, British Columbia hike in stunning photographs with you.

Don’t just sit there, grab your water bottle and pull on your boots…!

What adventures are you having and garnering refreshment and re-creation from?

Sierra – Cascades Bike Tour details:
Biking Tour: Over the Top
Cascade – Siskiyou Biking Tour
Along for the Ride

Bike tour shirt front

Wow one of my biking tour teammates made us all T-Shirts to wear as we go over the  mountain passes and we are going to attempt to take at picture at each crossing along the way…

FRONT Of SHIRT
2011 Sierra Cascades Tour
2191 Miles
20 Mt. Passes
49 Days
4 Old Fools
BACK OF SHIRT
August 2011
Bend, OR.
Burlington, WA  45 feet
Rainy Pass  4,855 ft
Yakima
Mt. Rainier NP
Columbia River Gorge  600 ft.
Ashland
Crater Lake  7,100 ft
Lake Tahoe
Tioga Pass    9,945  ft
Yosemite
Sequoia Nat. Park
Santa Barbara
Carpinteria, CA  15 ft.
October 2011

Bike tour shirt back

I want to extend a hearty Thank You to Paul who designed and presented us with these nifty shirts.

I also want to say that getting everything into 4 panniers is quite a feat!  And takes some organizational prowess.    Now we need to add Bear Boxes to the trip also – who is going to squeeze those into the packs?

Ride safely and have fun along the way!

I’ll keep you posted on our endeavors…Happy Trails to you all

Ready To Ride

CBC wrap up

We wanted to test ourselves for our 2200 mile ride starting August 15,2011 from the Canadian Border to the Mexican Border – 5 weeks through the Mountain Passes.  It was good training and tested our legs.

I did not know if I would be able to participate as our puppy swallowed something smooth and large and had to have emergency surgery in Tacoma the night before the ride.   By morning, our puppy was resting easy and they had removed the object and were keeping him sedate and under tight watch.  It relieved my tension to get out with a group and ride.

It turned out to be a bit cloudy – sunny and just an amazing ride and I was so glad to have gone and completed the event.    I was also grateful for a hot shower and a nap afterwards to regroup.

Fourth of July weekend we did 80 miles through the Capital Forest Area on our own and in glorious sunshine – definitely feeling like summer.

We are off to a good start!

How about you have your summer activities started are you re-creating yourself?  What is your pleasure?

Cascade Bicycle Club’s new newsletter arrived and it had just a giant pannier load of spring information.  I have gotten in a couple of bike rides already this year as the weather warms up.

What I found most interesting was the Streetfilm.org site  and I watched Stephanie’s Story in San Francisco right away.

Then I clicked over the menu bars and spent about an hour reading blog posts and watching top films like this one about Ciclovia: Bogotá, Columbia

I thought I just had to share this information with others – what great ideas and plans abound at this site.  There are recent articles about the transportation budget and what local communities are planning.

About Streetfilms – In their own words:

Streetfilms produces short films that show how smart transportation design and policy can result in better places to live, work and play. We package complicated and wonky concepts into easy to understand and accessible videos which are freely available online.  Our nearly 350 videos have been viewed over 3.5 million times and have inspired action and behavioral change worldwide.

Streetfilms broadcasts the powerful voices of leaders and innovators in the livable streets movement.  Such leaders include Enrique Peñalosa, Jan Gehl, Donald Appleyard, Janette Sadik Khan, Donald Shoup, Earl Blumenaur, and many, many more.

Streetfilms is a project of OpenPlans, a non-profit organization that informs and engages communities through journalism and open source software.”

Could you use this information in your neighborhood? Do you know of other great sites like this one?   I would like to know more – how about you?

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Just FYI our spring tour 2011 has been moved from a May start date to August 10th start date – too much snow in the mountains and the weather needs to be better for 2200 miles.