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Thread: Solo tour

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    North Bellmore, NY
    Posts
    1,346

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    Wanda, I am wishing much luck on this fantastic ride. You are doing what many us just sit back and think about and solo no less. I am enjoying reading your journal. Keep it up!!!
    2012 Specialized Amira S-Works
    2012 Vita Elite
    2011 Specialized Dolce Elite (raffle prize) - Riva Road 155
    Ralaigh Tara Mtn Bike

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Southern NH
    Posts
    170
    So....you say you're drawn to the Devil's Tower? Any close encounters of the third kind that you want to tell us about?

    (someone had to say it!)

    What a great trip! I would love to do something like that someday.
    Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling. ~ James E.Starrs


    My bicycle jewelry...
    http://www.etsy.com/shop/Winterwoman...f=pr_shop_more

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Posts
    1
    Wanda (and William and Bennet): Great journal on CGOB, great dream trip. Your attitude encourages me to lighten up already! Best wishes as you pedal on.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Boise Idaho
    Posts
    1,162
    Glad you chose to rent the van and drive through yellowstone, to bad you couldn't take more time and really see the park though. FYI,you drove right by the house I grew up in as you went through the entrance in Gardiner
    I think your trip may be flying along now
    Sky King
    ____________________
    Gilles Berthoud "Bernard"
    Surly ECR "Eazi"
    Empowering the Bicycle Traveler
    biketouringnews.com

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Pac. NW
    Posts
    350
    Totally LOVING your blog! Thank you for sharing.

    And my DH really likes you too! I read to him about all your beer/bar stops! You're his kinda rider. You (& Williams) know how to stop and enjoy a beer!

    You are Totally AWESOME!!!!! What a tuff cookie.
    2011 Specialized Ruby Comp
    2015 Giant Liv Tempt 3

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Nomadic
    Posts
    337
    So glad I hit up the touring section - a great read and inspiring! Keep the rubber side down...
    Sit bones = ~135 mm, saddles that work ~ 155cm/6.1 in wide
    2003 da Vinci (custom road/all-rounder)/Terry Butterfly Ti
    1994 Gary Fisher Nirvana (vintage MTB/commuter)/Terry Butterfly Chromoly
    1991 Terry Symmetry (NOS frame/fork, project in progress)
    1973 Raleigh Super Course (project in progress)

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    SF bay area
    Posts
    151
    Great blog and amazing journey! I look forward to hearing more as you make your way across the country!

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Ann Arbor
    Posts
    42
    I can't believe it's over! I have greatly enjoyed reading about your trip, and have started thinking about doing my own someday.
    2010 Trek Madone 4.5
    2013 Velo Orange Campeur

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Nebraska
    Posts
    1,192
    (Blushing)

    Thanks, guys. It was quite some trip.

    By the end, Bennet's poor little face got pretty darned dirty, and her smile was a little strained, but we made it.

    Just a few random thoughts on my tour, and touring generally:

    1) Yes, it is a long trip, but you don't do it all at once. You just get on your bike and pedal. Then tomorrow you do the same thing. Easy, really.

    2) No matter where you go there are hills and headwinds. You don't have to love them, you just have to deal with them. I will probably never learn to love hills, but I got over some pretty challenging grades.

    3) On a similar note, after I got home, I realized that I had chosen just about the hilliest route possible for that trip. No wonder I was getting tired of climbing toward the end.

    4) I never thought of this as a particularly brave thing to do. OK, sometimes the traffic was more than was comfortable, but my mother's fears of strangers doing unspeakable things were wildly overwrought. I was constantly amazed at how nice strangers were to this tired, crabby, smelly person who just rode up on a weird bike. Those strangers made the tour the amazing journey that it was.

    5) Keeping a journal is hard work. I joked after my last tour that writing up the trip is as hard as the trip itself. It wasn't really a joke, it is the absolute truth. Still, journaling is worth doing. I worked hard for those memories. I certainly don't want to forget them.

    6) The same goes for pictures. I didn't take enough. It's not possible to take enough.

    7) I had a lot of people say that they could never do that. OK, don't. This was my dream. I'm not forcing it on you, but if you do want to do it, just, you know, do it. It really isn't that hard. If your dream takes you somewhere else, I think you should do that.

    8) And finally (until I think of something else, of course), I really couldn't have done this without my poor put-upon husband's help. He was my home support crew, sending supplies, coordinating rental vans, and finally riding the last three days with me. Yeah, I may have seemed alone, but I had a lot of help. That help, BTW, includes all my online buddies - you guys, in other words. Sometimes I could feel your good wishes helping me up the sides of mountains. (I wouldn't have minded if you had pushed a little harder, though.)


    I'm working on adding pictures on Crazy Guy. It will take me a while, but I do think I got some good ones. It takes a while to sort through them. Be patient.
    Give big space to the festive dog that make sport in the roadway. Avoid entanglement with your wheel spoke.
    (Sign in Japan)

    1978 Raleigh Gran Prix
    2003 EZ Sport AX

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    around Seattle, WA
    Posts
    3,238
    MoB - glad you had a fun ride. Sorry about not pulling you all those hills.
    Beth

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    perpetual traveler
    Posts
    1,267
    I just read the entire journal and enjoyed it and the pictures. It makes me think that I could do something similar. Congratulations on the great trip.
    Trek Madone 4.7 WSD
    Cannondale Quick4
    1969 Schwinn Collegiate, original owner
    Terry Classic


    Richard Feynman: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Pac. NW
    Posts
    350
    I totally enjoyed reading about your ride. I found myself thinking about you while out riding.

    Thanks for sharing.
    2011 Specialized Ruby Comp
    2015 Giant Liv Tempt 3

 

 

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