Well, I certainly haven't been doing a very good job with this blog thing. Mostly, I just wanted to know that I could post anything at all... it seems to work.
As for the summer bike ride in July, all and all, it was a good trip...because we made it and everyone was still smiling at the end. Our good friends April and Kevin accompanied us on the eight-day ride and made it extra special.
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| Day 3: Crossing the border after an uphill slog |
It was, however, a bit harder ride than I expected. As usual, we didn't train. Meg and I have this idea (left over from our 30's) that there's no point training for a long distance ride since after a week or so you'll be in shape anyway. At least that's the theory. For this ride, we rode about 60 miles a day except for the last couple, which were a bit shorter. The last couple days were different in another way too in that they
weren't over a hundred degrees.
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| Hot...damn hot! |
It may not actually have been 109.5, but it certainly felt that way, especially after the hour or more at 3.5 mph going up a hill to reach the Canadian border.
Here's Kylie's and my rig at the top of one of the grades.
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| At the top in Rossland, BC |
One of my big takeaways from the trip was to jettison the trailers. I love the BOB trailer and pulled one for months in 2001 along the Continental Divide trail, but, unfortunately, they just encourage us to carry more stuff. Once I got home from our summer ride, I started weighing things and figured the bike, gear, and Kylie are about 200 lbs. Then I get on adding another 160, and away we go -- very slowly. For our next journey, the goal is to limit our gear to whatever we can cram into 8 panniers (four for each bike).
The rain on the last day was a very welcome relief. As an added bonus, there is a bike path much of the way between Coeur d'Alene, ID and Spokane, WA, which gave us a chance to just chat and even quiz the kids on some math and spelling.
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| Back in Spokane...and still smiling |
