Although I’ve been slogging away on details for the big fall adventure, I’m trying to keep my eyes on the bike touring adventure coming up in July as well. The problem has been actually getting on my frieking bike. The weather the last few weeks has been a bad combo of cold and wet, and neither of those two things gets me excited to get on a bike. Throw in the extra time planning the tour and the impending 6 week absence of Kimberly in France… well, biking has been more theoretical than actual.
That should change soon… we’re in a dry spell with highs in the 80s, meaning temps at dawn are more 50s than 30s. I’m hoping to do a 30 miler Friday and maybe an overnight this weekend.
The work/ride extravaganza is a kickoff for my new theory… I should be able to work and tour at the same time. I have the connectivity, the desire and the job(s) that (largely) can make this work. So, the grand experiment takes the form of a 21 day ride from Portland to San Francisco, with 16 riding days and 5 zero-mile work days. Here’s how it’s looking:
PDX – Keening Creek- Pacific City
- – work day –
- Bev Beach or bike shop hostel (Newport)
- – work day –
- Honeyman
- Sunset Bay
- Humbug Mountain
- Harris Beach (Brookings)*
- – work day –
- Elk Prairie
- Eel River RV Park (Fortuna)
- – work day –
- Ave of Giants
- Standish-Hickey
- MacKerricher Beach (Fort Bragg)
- – work day –
- Manchester Beach
- Bodega Dunes
- Samuel P Taylor
- SF
* If I’m feeling good and the light is with me, day 9 could add another 25 miles (pretty flat ones too) across the state border and to campgrounds in Crescent City, CA. I can do the work day from there and tackle the big hills right out of town on a shorter day to Elk Prairie on Day 11.
This route follows the standard camping posts in “the book” (aka Bicycling the Pacific Coast Highway, the tome you see in a lot of panniers and handlebar bags on the ride). I’ve ridden every mile of this route… just not all at once. I intend to finally conquer this with the extra time I have, plus relax into it a bit with the off days.
Quick gear update… some readers had been asking about the brake converter for the Goblin. Well, it finally arrived. I hope to install it on my Marin (the never discussed black converted MTB that wallows at my cabin begging to be used from time to time) and see how it feels riding a 700c wheel on the front and a 26″ wheel on the back. My guess is I won’t notice. If that’s the case, come July I’ll fly out to Portland with my 700c dynohub wheel, the usb gizmo that takes the juice from the dynohub and makes it 5v/USB, a front fender and the brake converter. A little surgery on the Goblin, and we should be good to go… with green juice.
Ok, now I’m starting to get geeked up for the ride…