The Gathering Storm

Having just checked out the long range forecast for the first few days of the route it's looking like I can kiss goodbye to any chance of an easy start to the trip. With the forecast for Port Angeles on a week on Wednesday being for rain, which is no surprise, but also disturbingly cold with a high of only +3C (vs an average early April high of +13C. Looks like I'm going to have to add a fleece, balaclava and who knows what else to the ever growing kit list. Perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to the fact that none of the hotels etc. opened in that neck of the woods until mid May.

Still, it all adds to the challenge and, on the bright side, I'm hoping it might be too cold for the local bears to venture out 'investigating' the residents of their nearby campsites.

Every Little Helps

Just starting to pack up the kit for the final time. However, given I'm actually struggling to lift the bike once it's fully kitted out (bike & kit now coming in at around 40kg) I've embarked on a weight-saving mission that is becoming almost OCD in nature. As a result, everything, and I mean everything, is being checked and recheck to see if a) I really need it, and b) do I need all of it ... and then it's being checked again. The toothbrush was one of the more obvious targets but zip ties trimmed to the minimum, labels cut off clothes and even shortening the strings on my kite (my one and only real luxury item on the trip) are just some the things not to make it into the final packing. A severe haircut and nail trim are next on the list.

GPS'd Off

Half four in the morning and after numerous fruitless phone calls to the Garmin GPS helpdesk and several computer crashes later I'm calling it quits having only managed to program about a quarter of the route into my new GPS (a Garmin Oregon 400t , if you're wondering) . Of all the many, many pieces of kit I've bought for the trip this has easily made it into my top three of 'definitely-not-worth-the-money' list.

Tempted to leave the thing behind and just pack a sextant!

Loving the Fairies...

...the Glentress 'Trailfairies' that is. The ardent crew who've built what are surely some of, if not the best mountain bike trails in the UK at the Glentress mountain bike centre(http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/achs-5rnfvj). Their creations include this great section of boardwalk and other joys such as the 'wall of death' (which, incidentally was closed today - worrying).

Well, I decided to head down there and hire a bike for the day as my steed is currently in pieces in the workshop of Edinburgh Bicycle for a prolonged and increasingly expensive service (I think I could probably have bought myself a motorbike complete with fuel for my trip for the amount this is going to cost).

If I were to be honest, I was a touch hesitant about going there so close to my departure as the last time I went for a spin there I ended up with a very large haematoma under my rib cage having fallen....badly....in the car park....onto a flower pot. It was actually more embarrassing than it was painful but it was trip-to-casualty-for-chest-x-ray sore. I was even more nervous today when the only bike I could get to hire was too small for me, had loose front suspension and a knackered saddle. Thankfully, though, all went well. And when the tails are as good as this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvGvXJT05x8 then who needs four grand's worth of full suspension machinery.

As an aside, I did actually see one of the elusive trailbuilders in the forest today - he looked about 17 stone, wielding a shovel and was about to get into a JCB - yup, I decided against calling him a fairy.

Losing the Ability to Walk

Cycling lots does some funny things to my body. While there's the obvious changes I'd expect, one of the stranger ones I get when I've spent many days and many miles on the bike is the inability to walk properly. This isn't due to tiredness (or anything else less pleasant before you ask) but just due to what feels like my walking leg muscles seemingly having 'evolved' into cycling muscles. If that's happened already then what am I going to be like in 3 months time. I'm somewhat nervous!

On the topic of evolving, I just found this topical little poster by Mike Rosulek. Delighted to see you can get it on a T-shirt as well...

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/very_gradual_change_we_can_believe_in_tshirt-235487367914303657

If the whole being a non-American-Lycra-wearing-cyclist isn't going to be enough to get me shot at in the deep south (and I reckon it will be) then this looks like the perfect attire for attracting those not-so-stray bullets.

As an aside, just a thought for a Friday afternoon but, given creationists are more likely to have guns than evolutionists (I assume - I think safely) does that mean the theory of evolution will be evolved-by-shooting out of existence in the US?

Mountain Bike Mecca

I've been good as of late, having done no real tinkering to the route for the past few weeks. However, as I'm sitting here at almost 2am noting down the local bike shops along the way (or more importantly, where there ain't any) I think that's all about to change, because of two words ... Slickrock, Moab. Probably the world's best know mountain bike route. An almost mythical place to the fat-tyred cyclists amongst us and one of those places like Monaco, St Andrews, Wimbledon, Alpe d'Huez, Peahi, Trollveggen, where the place is the sport.

Now I'd previously spotted that the route I was planning was going to take me to about 100 miles south of Moab, but had reluctantly decided I didn't think it would be worth the detour (incidentally, I briefly, and very foolishly, said the same thing about the Grand Canyon when first drawing up the route 6 months ago). But then I stumbled upon this tonight ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDZUY5kGdw

Worth the 3 day, 180 mile detour just to ride that 10 mile loop? I think I shall definitely be finding out.

Here's One I Made Earlier

To give rightful credit where its due it was actually Pete Smith who took the time and effort to write up this epic MTB trip we did a couple of years ago that I stumbled upon this evening - a thoroughly memorable four day circular route in the heart of Scotland taking in Fort William, Fort Augustus, Loch Laggan and Corrour.

http://www.offroadadventures-online.com/rr061.html

Worryingly though, is that reading through this account has just brought back memories to me of just how tired and hungry I was on that trip ..... and that was only a four day jaunt. Just what the heck have I just set myself up to do in these coming months?!

Quick Release....Too Quick

As with most cyclists who've ridden the same bike for a number of years, I'm fairly well tuned into how my bike is working, and in particular any potential/developing problems with it. Now sometimes the problems are blatantly obvious, such as the snapped chains, exploding rims and snapped handlebar to name a few of the more major problems I've had happen to me (believe me, the last one was an experience and a half when it happened in a race at ~25 mph). At other times it's less obvious but you just sense something isn't quite right.

Well I got that feeling this morning as I was spinning into town on today's training ride. Nothing looked wrong on the bike as I buzzed along so it did cross my mind that it might just have been the fact that I was tired having been up til 2.30am last light looking at Beaver on the web...it's a town on Highway 101, nine miles north of Forks, Washington, by the way, and has the marvelously named Stormin' Norman Road. Anyway, after 5 miles or so zipping through the busy traffic I was more convinced that something definitely was wrong so stopped to check out the bike. Upon lifting the the bike up onto the kerb, the back wheel promptly fell out the frame. Disturbing? Eh, very! What I reckon happened is that in taking it off the turbo-trainer this morning I must have undone the quick release. Still, I got away with it and am currently feeling very, very lucky to have done so.

Got this snap once I'd got into town.

5,015 Miles

The route. I'll post more details once it's all GPSed, but in the meantime, here goes.

Double Bagging it

Following on from my test run I've decided to purchase a set of these www.ortlieb.com/_pdf_en/sack-ps.pdf

While I'm sure the bags I've got are waterproof it's more for getting
the kit into the tent dry, and not in some sodden bike bag.

As an aside, trying to make this post via the iPhone so here's hoping
it works as that'll make posting while on the trip considerably easier.

Methil No More? Well One Can Hope.

So, I'm just back from my first fully-laden training ride - up to deepest Fife yesterday then back today. Good news and bad news - First, the good news is that my bike seems to handle considerably better than I thought it would given it had ~20kg of kit on it, actually quite serene. However, the bad news is that my legs don't handle the extra 20kg of kit quite so well - fecked!

However the over-riding feeling was relief at having survived the wilds of that part of the world with only one of the locals shouting abuse at me. To be honest, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the non-urban parts of the 'Kingdom' with some very pleasant sights such as this little waterfall somewhere near Aberlour.

I Wish I Could Fly

Well, I've finally got round to booking up flights - flying on 2nd April then pedalling out of Seattle on the 5th. As an aside, I've just realised that in the 13 or so hours it'll take me to fly there I'll travel around 5,000 miles ..... and it'll then take me 80 days to cover the next 5,000. Hmm, perhaps I should get me one of these to help me along.

http://dvice.com/archives/2008/05/jetpowered_bike.php

Anyway, I'm off to pack up the kit as I'm doing my first fully-laden overnight training ride tomorrow. Here's hoping I make it back in one piece as I'm venturing over the bridge into the 'kingdom', figured going there should help prepare me for the joys of the deep south. Scared.

Oh, and on a different topic, for those of you asking, no you can't sponsor the bears! But thanks for the thought Col.

Not a Fan

Well, the fan recharger turned out to be a lunatic purchase - broke on the first ride. Damn it.

Definitely a Fan

Just purchased what I have distinct feeling is going to turn out to be either the the best, or most ludicrous gadget yet for the trip - a mini wind turbine phone/battery charger to put on the bike. Awesome or awful, who knows which it'll be but definitely worth taking a chance. because if it does work :) !
However, for my own safety I suspect it'll be wise for me to take it off the bike for the stretch through a certain large oil-loving state in the south. I mean, just picture it; non-American, on a bike, with a wind turbine ..... I think I'd be lucky to last 2 miles.

There's more details on this kit at
http://www.gadgetsnews.co.uk/post/2008/12/29/Mini-Kin-Green-Power-Generator.aspx

Too Close for Comfort?

Well, if all goes to plan then 1 month from now I'll be rolling into Port Townsend, Washington at the end of day 1. Is it that soon? Having first started making plans for this adventure in late September, suddenly the start date is rushing up on me. Perhaps I'd better start taking this thing a bit more seriously now!

Bear Necessities

I've just been checking through on some more practicalities. Thankfully it looks like I'll be avoiding grizzly territory, though I'll still be camping in black bear territory for a good few nights. To make it worse it'll be around the time they'll be coming out of hibernation and hence be worryingly hungry. What I hadn't realised is the general view out there seems to be that its actually best to fight back if attacked by a black bear, whereas for a grizzly its best to play dead (and, as an aside, for a polar bear you basically are dead!)

This website is one of the most useful I've found on the basics of ursine encounters. Come to think of it, I really hope it's turns out not to be 'useful', but merely 'interesting'.

http://www.runtheplanet.com/trainingracing/safety/blackbearsafe.asp