Tour Divide 2012

I'm not out there riding, but I'm watching the Live Tracker and the forum discussion at Bikepacking.net. There's so much going on right now, with so many projects it'd be great to be out there riding like David Nice. This is the sixth time that he's hit the ride, I wish him the best of luck in finishing this year!

With all that's going on I'm not doing my 'Mock Tour Divide' ride this year, but I encourage anyone else to give it a shot. The idea is simple: ride every day that the riders are out on the divide. Ride with them in spirit. You might not do 100+ mile days under brutal conditions, but if they endure all of that how come it can be hard to get out each day on a bike when you're not faced with those conditions? That's my biggest problem. I'd like to ride the tour divide for real, but right now even pulling three to four weeks of riding every single day is a challenge.

2013 suddenly doesn't seem that far away and I've got so much to do before I could get ready for something like the tour divide. I just don't know if that's realistic given my multiple jobs and family life right now. But I don't want to push it out too far either. I'll see how everything goes. If it comes together, great. If not, well then maybe 2014 will be the year. Or some other year.

Spots Gathering for Tour Divide 2012

Exercise Bike Miles

The other day I started off to work bundled up against the cold. The sun hadn't come up yet. Everything was frosty and dark as I pedaled down the road with my light illuminating the road ahead. I felt excited about the ride but I couldn't decide which way to go. Should I head down the trail and take the old highway in to work, for 20 miles total? Or risk going the shortest route (~16 miles) which put me on a busy, narrow stretch of road with no shoulders and grumpy morning commuters?

As it turned out I didn't have to decide. Not quite three miles down the road all of a sudden I was riding on a flat back tire. It happened fast. I got off, moved off into the frozen weeds and turned over the bike to look at the wheel. After rotating the wheel a little I discovered the culprit — a nail stuck in the tire. Small, but completely embedded. I had to use my multi-tool screw driver to pry that sucker out.

Then I set about working to get the tire off so I could change the tube and continue on my way to work. I managed to get in one plastic tire lever but couldn't slide it along the wheel. I broke another trying to pry up another section of the tire. All I could think was that if this had happened out on the Tour Divide I'd be in a fix if I couldn't do something as simple as fix a flat.

In this case I took the easy out. I put the rear tire back onto the bike and walked home. I made it back in enough time to change and drive to work without really being late.

I still haven't fixed the flat! I ordered some alloy tire levers that shouldn't bend when I try to get off the tire.

In the meantime, this is what I'm riding:

Star Trac E-UBi 

It's an expensive bike machine at my gym. Lately I've been putting in more miles on it than on my bike. It has its good points. I can go to the gym and ride when time or weather considerations make riding my bike less desirable. With its hill programs it also gives me a chance to build my hill-climbing muscles. I wish it was more like riding a real bike, but it does provide a good work out at least. I'm also using the gym to build core and upper body strength.

Last year I rode and ran ~1076 miles. I feel pretty good about that total but I plan to do much more than that this year. I still have 2013 in mind for a possible Tour Divide attempt, if things come together to make it possible. There's so much that has to happen for that to work out, and my fitness is only one piece. But that's a piece that I do have control over so I'm going to train and see where I end up by the end of the year! From flats to gym miles to whatever comes next, I'll keep learning and improving!

Great Fun

So this morning I got out on the Trek Marlin 29er mountain bike for my first real ride. I'm not counting the little spin around the neighborhood of the bike shop, wobbling around since I hadn't been on a bike in years, trying to figure out how the heck to shift.

Today the ride went much better. Right off the bat the bike took off compared to the trike. I'm not saying I'm all that fast, the average speed for the ride was 14.2 mph, not exactly blazing fast. But I did get up to 20 mph pretty easily on the ride and cruised along much faster than I usually rode on the trike. I had expected to go faster on the mountain bike, but it was interesting to see how quickly that happened. And I didn't have my clipless pedals, I think if I'd switched out the platforms I'd go faster. I actually tried last night but couldn't get the platform pedals loose. I think I'll need a pedal wrench.

During part of the ride I slowed down to experiment with the shifting, trying to get it into my head what each shift of the gears does. With three rings up front and a bunch in the back and four levers it's a bit more complicated than the twist-shift control of a 3-speed trike.

I've 'borrowed' a few things from the trike. The bike computer, bell and water bottle cage. Pedals (but they're not on the bike). I do plan on riding the trike in the future for fun, but I plan to put most of my miles in on the bike. I'm getting a few bags to use as my big plastic bucket panniers won't work too well with the mountain bike and I want to get the weight down that I'm carrying. I'll probably add some fenders as the weather turns wet, but I've looked at types that are quick to take on and off. Mostly I'll want them for commuting.

I've got a goal to commute via bike as much as possible. Some days due to meetings or whatever I'll need to drive still, but most of the time I can ride. Right now I've got a ~10 mile one-way commute, but I'm also applying for a new job which (if I get it) has a ~17 mile one-way commute.

It was lots of fun. Still more to learn. I want to try some cycling shorts, new saddle, etc. All in good time. Eventually I'll build up more miles, tackle longer rides and start working on bikepacking trips. Thinking about the STP ride for next year. Eventually I hope to tackle the AZT, Tour Divide and other races like those. By then it may be on a different bike, but I think the Marlin will get me started!