The trip begins in just a few short days now! It's exciting to think about heading out on a new adventure after a year in which neither Adele or I did much in the way of bicycle touring or camping. We enjoyed a three night trip with friends to Cape Lookout State Park over Memorial Day weekend, and we had an exciting week bicycling through eastern Oregon over the Spring break week, but our ordinary spring seasons have usually seen us getting out of the house far more often. This time we will be making up for quantity with quality and blowing all of our travel excitement in one big lump sum.
The trip we have planned is to leave Portland, OR next Tuesday and make our way out the Columbia River gorge towards Idaho. We intend to cross the Rocky Mountains into Montana and land in Missoula, then turn southward towards Wyoming, Colorado, and, if all goes well, possibly New Mexico. We have 9 weeks at our disposal and plan to make the most of them.
This is the first trip in which we have used the Adventure Cycling Association's printed maps, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they serve a touring cyclist. The benefit of having mostly current information on a physical piece of paper is not lost on me, since most often in the past I've done most of that research myself, which is not only time consuming, but also redundant if it's been done for you. Perhaps this is the first time in my life that I've also seen the money spent on the maps as "worth it," or had enough income around to justify the expense. At any rate, it's nice to have these to refer to on the road, and for that reason this will be the first tour in which I've tried to plan as little as possible beforehand to allow for as much unpredictable or spur-of-the-moment decision making as we feel like experimenting with, rather than having a single route and itinerary blocked out that must be rigidly adhered to. Frankly, I think my healthy fascination with maps and logistics may have limited our possibilities on the road on previous trips, and I can't wait to see what the universe throws at us this time around.
I loaded my new set of Ortlieb panniers up with all of the extra linens in our closets today and attached them to my Jamis to see how they felt with some cargo in them. Made a leisurely circuit through town of about 30 miles or so and met up with Adele on her commute home. I recognize now that the reality of the shape my legs are in will set in soon enough, so I'm hoping to get out again for a few more test rides over the next few days to get used to it before the actual departure.
The next trick will be figuring out what I need to bring and how to pack it all into the bags... Always makes me a little nervous.
Also included: a photo of my traditional year-end ritual after my last day of work before the summer break with friends Aaron and Charlie.
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