Mon Jan 20, 2003
We are cycling fools!
True, we've gone on two "long" bike touring trips and countless of long rides around California, but what makes us think we can cycle 4,300 miles AND carry our gear too which thanks to our new fish scale we discovered today will weigh about 60 pounds!! Where can we cut back...I totally draw the line at my blow dryer! I hate my hair curly. Even after riding a long day and we're not going any place more special than our tent, I want my hair to be straight as I play backgammon with Robert by the (not so flattering) light of our travel halogen lamp (don't ask). I mean, isn't it enough that I am planning on bringing two pairs of light nylon shorts? Yes, that's right count 'em - two, dos, deux -- for 3 months of travel!! AND, no little black dress with matching pumps and clutch! Sacrifices I am making, yes, but WHO CARES!! This is going to the BEST thing we've ever done!!
And this wonderful web site Robert has created will enable us to share this amazing adventure with our friends and family. I can't wait for people to actually start looking at it!! I think we're committed like the pig (if you don't get this, you'll have to ask me about it).
And sweetie, thanks for the honor of writing the first entry and for being my life partner...with you, anything is possible.
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Tue Jan 28, 2003
Let the Training Begin
Yee-Haw!! It is late January and the weather is perfect. Why not ride to work?I can't think of a good reason, so I started today. It turns out that the new job at xTime is just about 17 miles from home. The ride is through some of the best cycling anywhere. Woodside, Crystal Springs and Hillsborough. Lots of hills, not too much traffic, great views of the Santa Cruz mountains, San Francisco and the Bay. And for a change of pace I can ride along the Bayfront. What more could a Cycling Fool ask? More...
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Fri Feb 07, 2003
Training Tips From Adventure Cycling
Adventure Cycling has an email newsletter called Bike Bits that anyone can sign up to receive for free.In the most recent edition there is a brief but concise training regime that they describe. The timing is perfect for us. More...
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Sun Feb 09, 2003
Training officially begins...
Wow I have a great bike!
After 5 years of tandem cycling with Robert, today I went spinning on my own Trek 2000 WSD, with Shimano 105 components. Believe me, the model number of the componentry didn't impress me one iota until I had to climb hills today. When the derailleur shifted like buttah (to be read with a nasal NYC accent) I instantly became a converted cool gear enthusiast. Not all componentry is created equal, I finally admitted to Robert as I compared this smooth sensation to lesser components on other bikes I had sampled.
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Thu Feb 20, 2003
Maps of our trip from Cartographe
We have been working with a small French company called Cartographe on interactive maps for our trip.The idea is to have a set of interactive maps that cover the route of our trip this summer. When we post a journal entry from the road, we will optionally add the coordinates of the location where the post is made. This will then add an interactive link to the map for that leg of the trip. Fabrice Fontaine has been extremely helpful. He has worked up a prototype for us. Fabrice is in the process of transferring his domain, otherwise I would add a link to Cartographe. More...
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Thu Mar 06, 2003
How to Journal from the road
I just discovered a client weblog tool that works with pMachine called wBloggar
One of the challenges to journaling from the road is that we might not have internet access when we want to create a journal entry. wBloggar solves this very nicely. It is a little windows client application that lets you create your entries locally then publish them to your web log.
It also has some pretty advanced features like:
I'm hoping it will work on an iPaq!.
PS: I just posted this with wBloggar!
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Thu Mar 13, 2003
Vermont 2000 photo album posted
We finally have our photo album section of the site up and running.
In September 2000 we toured Vermont by bicycle for a week. We have just posted a set of photos from the trip to our photolog here. It is the first album and going through this process helped to iron out some of the issues with the design and layout of the photo weblog (using pMachine :-).
We timed the trip to be after school started and before the changing of the leaves in Autumn. Doing so, we ended up with great riding conditions and no problems finding lodging. I think that we made reservations for the first night we stayed in brattleborough but that is it. For the rest of the trip we just winged it.
We hope you enjoy it!
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Thu Apr 17, 2003
New IT department for the Tandem Team
After much though and visits to CNET and eBay, we have finally put together our travelling IT department! Originally we thought we would use an iPaq and accesories (keyboard, modem, etc) to keep in touch on the road. After all Gabi works at HP and the solution would be light.
But after pricing it out and adding up the weight of the whole collection of goodies, it started to really add up. So we decided to go with this instead:
I found a slightly used Sony PictureBook on eBay for a great price. The price was less that what the iPaq plus accessories would have costed and, at 2.2 lbs, the whole thing only weighs a little more. I've been using it for a couple of days now and must say that I love this little thing. Not only is it a great travel machine, it is faster and better than my current home machine. The current home machine is about to become a hand me down.
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Thu May 01, 2003
Sonoma in May, Wine Country Century
It is time to head to Healdsburg again for the Wine Country Century.
This year the century will be our big tune up ride for the trip across country. At one hundred miles, it is farther than we plan to ride on a daily basis, but it is only one day and we are not hauling any gear.
This century is the one we do every year. It is beautiful country and a great excuse to head to the wine country for a long weekend. How can you beat:
A big ride
A nice meal
and of course, wine.
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Wed May 07, 2003
Which route to take?
We keep changing our minds but today we think we will leave from our house and head east along the Western Express.
We wanted to take this route all along but were intimidated by the passes and the remoteness of the route. Then, just over the past few days a couple of things happened that changed our mind.
First, we ran into a young man named Garth in Healdsburg who works at the local bike shop (Spoke Folk Cyclery)who took this route last year. We talked at length and came away believing that it was doable.
Then just last night we were checking out the first section on the web. The crossing of the Sierra Nevada my be the most extreme part of the whole trip so we wanted to check out lodgings and elevation gains along the route.
And what did we find? Nothing less than a great review of the scariest part of the ride, Mormon Emigrant Trail to Silver Lake by our local bike shop.
Being the superstitious mud eaters that we are, we took this as a sign. Now we are commited. You can't go against the signs!
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