Donations? Heck yeah!

Wheel full 70pxSeveral (well, two) of the readers of this blog have messaged me asking how to contribute to my ride. I really appreciate that, and I encourage folks here to give generously.

Wheel full 70pxJust not to me.

No Paypal 166px

Wheel full 70pxWhile you are in the giving mood, though, let me make a couple of suggestions.

RTC Logo 241px

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has done work all over the country that is near and dear to my heart.  The organization provides funding and other resources in seeking to preserve abandoned railroad rights-of-way as multi-use trails.  Bicyclists are a primary beneficiary of the RTC’s efforts, and its website [linkie] is a wealth of information about and links to the growing network of rail-trails out there.  If you would consider giving to the RTC, click here [linkie] or on the logo above.

TNC Logo 313px

The Nature Conservancy, despite the fact that I couldn’t get a job there after graduating from law school, is another favorite of mine.  I like the way it does business- instead of knee-jerk opposition to land development and the use of tactics like lawfare and back-door lobbying to tie the process up and to make things so expensive that the developer finally just gives up, if TNC sees something worth preserving, the organization buys it or buys the development rights.  Over the years, it has compiled an incredible track record of preservation of some of the key remaining natural places all around the country.  If you would consider giving to TNC, click here [linkie] or on the logo above.

Shifting gears (subtle bike pun, sorry)-

Stollery Logo 270px

My grandchild Aidan died of an aggressive cancer of the brain in 2011 two days short of his second birthday.  He was treated at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, where he received incredible care from some of the most compassionate doctors and medical staff in the world.  While the situation ended so very sadly, we know that the SCH is on the forefront of work that will give some future child and her or his family hope for a normal life that is cancer-free.  If you would consider giving to the SCH, click here [linkie] or on the logo above.

Massey Logo 246px

The Massey Cancer Center is part of my grad school alma mater: Virginia Commonwealth University. A great friend from those days participates every year in the Massey 10K fundraising run with Aidan’s name on her T-shirt along with that of her husband, who also died of this terrible disease. Massey is one of the leading cancer research institutions in the country.  If you would consider giving to the MCC, click here [linkie] or on the logo above.

Wheel full 70pxNo pressure, folks.  I’d be really pleased to know that my ride has resulted in even a single donation to any of the places I have listed.  Or you pick a worthy place.  And thanks for doing that.

David Edgren

 

One Point Two One Gigawatts…

Great Scott 800px

Wheel full 70pxWell, not quite.  While I am looking for a bit of onboard power on my bike, it’s kind of impractical to be tethered to one of these.

Chief Joseph Dam 800px

Chief Joseph Dam, Columbia River, Washington* – Image credit: Wikimedia

Wheel full 70pxA few posts ago I wrote that my ride was not going to be about how many tech gadgets I could bring with me [linkie]. I have to admit that I’ve found there’s a fine line, though, between bringing just what you need and going full Navin Johnson.

I don't need this 800px

Wheel full 70pxBut I do want bright reliable LED lights front and rear without the hassle of carrying extra batteries and keeping up with them and enough auxiliary power to recharge small electronic devices, like my iPhone and Bad Elf GPS unit [linkie] on the fly.  So I added to my bike build one of Schmidt’s P-238 filled hubs.

Peter Schmidt Generator 800px

…heh, just kidding about the plutonium part…

Wheel full 70pxYou can read real facts (and probably more than you ever wanted to know) about the Schmidt dynamo hubs here [linkie].  The big thing for me is that the hub sounds bulletproof.  I just need it to last about ten weeks without any issues.  It sounds, though, like it will still be functioning after I’m not.

Wheel full 70pxTo pull off power to charge electronics I had one of these included in the build.

The Plug 800px

Wheel full 70pxYes, it’s an honest-to-gosh USB port on a bicycle.  Swiss-made, too, by a company called Supernova.  There’s more information here [linkie].  The little rubber cap hanging open in the photo covers the port, which delivers cleanly regulated 5 volt power at 500 milliamps.  That just happens to be the spec power for USB 2.  The only catch is that I have to be riding at least 12 kilometers/about eight miles per hour.  Something about “engaging the flux capacitor,” probably.

Wheel full 70pxBut enough about tech.  In the next post we’ll talk about why my ride is different from this guy’s [linkie], and how I intend to keep it that way.

David Edgren

* I have to admit that having the bike built in the Pacific Northwest, where pretty much everything runs off hydro power, put me in a “if they can do it, I can do it too” frame of mind. I love wild rivers as much as the next guy, but the hydro dams up here are, by and large, magnificent pieces of civil engineering.

RIP Kalamazoo Bicyclists

Wheel full 70pxDamn it. Just damn it.

Kalamazoo Bike Murders 800px

Image credit: http://www.mlive.com

Wheel full 70pxOn Tuesday of this week some geefus driving his pickup truck with a blood alcohol level likely just this side of Everclear ran down a group of nine bike riders on a country road near Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Five of the cyclists died at the scene.  Four were seriously injured.  The geefus tried to leave the scene, but his pickup truck wasn’t up to helping him get very far.

Kalamazoo Bike Murders 02 800px

Image credit: http://www.mlive.com

Wheel full 70pxHe probably thought he’d hit a squirrel or something.

Wheel full 70pxYesterday the driver of the truck was charged with five counts of Second Degree Murder.  Hanging, as far as I’m concerned, is too good for him.  I was going to segue into writing about the relative safety of long-distance touring on a bike on a trip like mine, but lost heart when I saw a couple of the national press stories, which in the sternest tones have…

…admonished bicycle riders to wear helmets and follow the rules of the road.

Wheel full 70pxYeah, you read that correctly.  There is no report that indicates that the cyclists, who were members of a Kalamazoo area bicycling club out for a regularly scheduled group ride, were doing anything other than riding safely*.  I’m all for wearing a bicycle helmet, but look again at that picture of the truck.  Now look at it again.  That truck plus the driver probably weighed something short of two tons/1,800 kilograms.  That damage was caused by hitting nine objects in succession each weighing an average of about 200 pounds/90 kilograms.  “Wear helmets” my ass.

Wheel full 70pxI have other posts waiting to go up.  I’m just too bummed out to post them today. My thoughts right now are with the cyclists who were struck down, both alive and dead, and with their loved ones. So very sad. So very needless to have happened.

David Edgren

*The coverage of this terrible situation by the web news site http://www.mlive.com has been excellent and thorough. A summary through today of the stories is here [linkie].

Mapping the Revised Route

Wheel full 70pxI’ve spent some time working with Ride with GPS [linkie] in revising my cross-the-country route and working out final maps.  Here is the latest all-in-one map

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and each of the five stages.

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Wheel full 70pxStage I through IV is each 1,000 miles/1,600 kilometers,  Stage V is about 139 miles/75 kilometers.  Click on any of the map images to see a full size map.  The full size stage maps are all of equal scale to the others.  Here are links to the maps on Ride with GPS, which you can enlarge to street level detail.  You can navigate between stages directly using the linkie on the right side of the map.

David Edgren

Houston, we have a (foot) problem…

Wheel full 70pxBig feet run (pardon the unintended pun) in my family.

Feet800px

“Plates of meat,” as the Brits say.  More like platters in my case.

Wheel full 70pxOver the years, I’ve had problems at various times finding shoes large enough to fit properly, and especially in this day and age where manufacturers seem to arbitrarily take every hundredth bigfoot size shoe that comes off the assembly line and label it a size or two larger, and in kilometers or something. I mean, I’m no chauvinist, but why should I have to care about “EU” shoe sizes?  It’s bad enough that my feet have mutated grown from size 13 when I was in high school to their current size 15 or 15.5 state, but “EU 52?”  That sounds like some kind of Bulgarian perfume.  And why such a huge upper range (that nobody seems to make in any event)?  If your feet are EU 16, do you need a magnifying glass to see them?

Wheel full 70pxIn any event, and putting the snark aside, finding an EU size 52 bicycling shoe with SPD cleats is, in this day and age of, failing all else, being able to find just about anything on Amazon, well nigh hopeless.  Endless Google searches have resulted in zilch.  My query on BikeForums [linkie] resulted in a couple of responses that gave some seemingly specific information but after calling nearly every bike shop in Seattle trying to chase them down with no luck- lots of sympathy but no luck- I felt pretty defeated.

Wheel full 70pxEven worse, my friends at Bike Gallery [linkie] in Portland had an EU 52 Shimano shoe that seemed to fit pretty well- tight and stiff, but that’s why they are a biking shoe.  Except that my ankle where it meets my foot prevents the “strap and ratchet” closure at the top of the shoe from coming together, much less fastening.  Great shoe, but not for me.

Wheel full 70pxI’m going to call other shops in Portland today, hoping against hope I might be able to find something to take back to Alaska with me to break in over the next month or so.  If anyone reading this has any suggestions or recommendations, please let me hear from you.  Otherwise, wish me luck.  I think I’m going to need it.

David Edgren

The Method to My Madness

Wheel full 70pxFor those of you who have looked at my route on Ride with GPS [linkie] and wondered

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let me see if this helps.

Wheel full 70pxI know my route is certainly not the most direct way to get across the country.

Boundary Map not Annotated - 800px

It stays way south for a long time, makes a right-hand turn up the lower Mississippi Valley, then finally starts heading northwest in Arkansas.  Relentlessly northwest, almost to the Canadian border.  Then I’ll head west again, dipping down into Oregon before the last northwest dash to the Pacific Coast.  The distance between the two places is only about 2,500 miles/4,000 km as the crow flies [linkie].

AstheCrowFlies

Wheel full 70pxBut I’m not a crow.  I’m a 63 year old fat guy with, as my grandpa used to say, “arthur-itis.”  I haven’t really pushed myself in years.  I found out in 2014 when I tried to walk the Cotswold Way in England [linkie] that my knees just won’t let me walk any meaningful distance>  But I can cycle all day long at 10 miles/16 km per hour.  I mean, does that make any sense?

Wheel full 70pxSo I’m setting some goals at the outset.  I base my planned mileage (kilometerage?) on riding six of seven days each week.  I won’t necessarily need to take advantage of that day, but it’s there if I need it.  So the ride goes like this.

  • Week one: 40 (and a bit extra) miles/65 km each day for 250 miles/400 km total.
  • Week two:  50 miles/80 km each day for 300 miles/480 km total.
  • Week three:  66 (and a bit extra) miles/100 km each day for 400 miles/640 km total.
  • Week four on:  75 miles/100 km each day for 450 miles/720 km total.

On my Baja and other Pacific Coast rides, I was doing 75 miles/120 km a day by day four.  So I think I’ve built in a reasonable cushion, given that those rides were 20 years ago.  So I planned my route with, so to speak, an ace in the hole…

 

Annotated elevation chartClick to embiggen

The first four weeks of the ride are essentially flat.

Wheel full 70pxOh yeah, there’s some up and down terrain, especially in week four as the route starts up the valley of the Arkansas River.  But not much.  And I think I can (or will be able to by that point) deal with it.

David Edgren

To-Do List 0.2

Wheel full 70pxThe second cut at the to-do list, now in better order.  These remain items that involve accomplishing something between now and July 25th.  As before, the ones followed by a question mark are things I need to research/make decisions about. Your input on these is particularly appreciated.

Green are done.  Red are urgent need to do.

Physical Health

  • Dietitian – UPDATE: Appointment 6/21/16
  • Endocrinologist – UPDATE: On wait list
  • Dentist
  • GP
    • heatstroke?
    • salt tablets?
    • chafing
    • muscle pains
    • numbness
  • Meds
    • ADDED: Refills?
  • Sunblock
  • First aid kit
  • Personal care items

Bicycle clothing, outerwear and shoes

  • Bicycling shoes
  • Socks and underwear
  • Pants and shorts
  • Shirts
  • Outerwear
  • Rain gear
  • Gloves

Other clothing

  • Street clothes, ADDED: underwear and socks
  • Street shoes

Camping gear

  • Tent
  • Sleeping bag
  • ADDED: Ground pad
  • ADDED: Small flashlight

Other gear

  • Goggles
  • Helmet
    • Helmet mirror

Routing

  • RidewithGPS
    • Finalize routing
    • ID bike shops along route
    • ID lodging/campgrounds along route
    • ADDED: ID bike organizations/clubs along route
      • ADDED: Contact and provide routing info and tentative dates in area/request feedback  DO ASAP
    • Cue sheets
      • Print and laminate ADDED: ? Note: Are these necessary?- duplicates cue sheets on iPhone

Travel to JAX and final pre-ride

  • ID JAX bicycle shop UPDATE: Done- Zen Cog
    • Arrange assembly of bike in JAX
  • Air travel ANC to Florida UPDATE: On 7/22/16 to JAX
    • ADDED: Make reservation DO ASAP
  • Ground travel airport/lodging to Zen Cog
  • Pre-ride lodging/camping in JAX

Tool kit and spare parts

  • tire bars
  • inflation gauge
  • patch kit
  • hex wrenches
  • spoke wrench
  • Quicklink
  • Chain lube
  • Extra tubes (part of bike purchase)
  • Extra tire (part of bike purchase)
  • Extra spokes (part of bike purchase)
  • spoke nipples

Misc Accessories

  • ADDED: iPhone Quadlock case on hand
  • Quadlock cardio monitor ADDED: Ordered/received

Photography

  • Handlebar bag camera UPDATE: Canon “M” Series w/ lenses on hand
  • ADDED: Flexible tripod
  • ADDED: iPhone Quadlock case tripod connector on hand
  • ADDED: iPhone remote shutter release on hand
  • iPhone card upload cable UPDATE: On hand

Handlebar stuff

  • Handlebar bag (part of bike purchase)
  • iPhone Quadlock stem/handlebar mount ADDED: Ordered/received
  • ADDED: Bar ends (part of bike purchase)
  • Handlebar tape
  • iPhone card upload cable UPDATE: On hand

Frame stuff

  • Frame mount pump
  • Water bottle(s) (part of bike purchase)

Bike protection

  • Lock(s)
  • ADDED: Security cable

“Should I?”

  • Camelback?
  • Strava?
  • Solar panel?
  • Bounce box?
  • AAA?
  • Handlebar speaker?
  • GoPro?

Budget

  • Spreadsheet

Miscellaneous

  • Upgrade data plan ADDED: for iPhone

 

Wheel full 70pxThis is the first effort to organize this list. The next iteration will take into account comments and suggestions made thus far.  As before, if you see anything I am missing or an item you want to give me input on or about, please comment below.

GoPro or No?

Wheel full 70pxIt’s been suggested that I buy a GoPro camera to take on the trip.

image

Wheel full 70pxThey look like a pretty nifty device. The idea of automatically documenting the ride as you go along is appealing. But…

1.  It looks high maintenance. Memory cards? Power? Weather resistance?
2. Bike riding is inherently not really smooth. Video quality?
3. Comfort. What is it like to have one of these hanging off your helmet all day?
4. Utility. Does anyone really want to look at 500 or so hours of YouTube video of a quirky route across the US shot at around 10 miles an hour? Doesn’t Google Maps pretty much offer that without all the pedalling?

Wheel full 70pxSo I know nothing about having and using a GoPro. Is it really the best use of around $400 out of the ride budget? I welcome discussion of this, and particularly by folks who have used one of these gadgets.

David Edgren