Bygone Bicyclist

Planning to sleep in while on the road never works out the way you plan it to. Waking earlier than planned, the day had much on its to-do list, so all was fine. Local venues and fine food filled our morning – Four Barrel coffee and rhubarb strawberry cobbler at Tartine Bakery made for a fantastic pick me up. A short jaunt around the Mission area then led to my inevitable trip to Alameda. Traveling via BART with a penny farthing is a humorous adventure. Train station folk are always apprehensive to ever give glances to strangers. Watching people sneaking glances and shying away, while obviously intrigued left a smirk on my face.

I met with Greg Barron of Rideable Replicas in the East Bay after my BART venture. I knew I needed new tires for the ride, but was second-guessing my own ability to do so for such an endeavor – and rightfully so considering the terms of such an adventure. The RBR shop was neat and quant. It reminded me very much of back home at Faber Corvettes. New tires and cotters and the ordinary was ready for the road again. Straight from Alameda, I went to meet with Matthew and Elizabeth. It was great to get together again, being that it has almost been a year since doing so. A half debaucherous night ensued.

Tuesday had to be a day of little effort and much debauchery. Chadwick and I were off to Caroline’s to have some breakfast before exploring the day. It was a much needed day of nothing but calm relaxation, spent in good company.

The first day in town was more like a continuation of the last few days. Little sleep from the train rides left me a bit shoddy in terms of liveliness, but many ventures were made. Finishing the final night of travel by meeting Chadwick at the Orbit Room meant little sleep that night would also ensue. I’ll have plenty of time to sleep when I leave the city. The nice thing about having a few free days here is the lacking necessity to do X Y or Z (outside of needing new tires on the penny – my single task requiring attention).

Waking earlier than one with six hours of sleep over three days would like, I went for a walk around the mission. Shortly after a visit to Bernal Heights Park, Chadwick and I ventured toward our day. Coffee at Ritual was a nice boost to my energy craving body. Then to Rainbow grocery, which could easily be the best grocery in the country. I’ll be hitting the place before leaving the Bay. We met up with Bennett while we were at Dolores Park, and we talked old times, bikes and life. Heading out from there, we wanted to pay Nick a visit – Four Barrel it is. As luck would have it, he was just getting back as we showed up. Many coffees and Negro Modelo from the tap later, we were food craving.

Chad attempts the ordinary

Farewell to Phoenix, for now. The city that so solemnly shaped who I am, I am now setting sail from. Who knows when I shall return; perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next season. I leave only thoughts and memories as I part. The countless people I will miss. The fantastic mountains, finally blooming from their dormant slumber. Soon enough. Lisa (at Lola), I forgot to post the picture of us with the bike, out front, and it’s on my computer at home! Snap.

While final packing & cleaning occurs over the next 24 hours, I can’t help but think about how this is such a long time coming. In only two days I’ll be beginning my venture. I figure now is as good a time as any to get a sketch-itinerary on paper (well, in pixels. It’s been on paper for some time). The dates and such are just estimates, as 50 miles per day is pretty relaxed, but doesn’t account for days spent not riding. I won’t be leaving SF until April 22, all luck bearing.

City, State/Prov.	Total Miles	Miles from Last	Days on road @ 50 miles per day		Arrival Date
San Francisco, CA	0	0	0		April 19
Eugene, OR	670 miles	670 miles	14 days		May 5
Seattle, WA	387 miles	1057 miles	22 days		May 13
Abbotsford, BC	116 miles	1173 miles	24 days		May 15
Prince George, BC	438 miles	1611 miles	33 days		May 24
Whitehorse, YT	1000 miles	2611 miles	53 days		June 13
Fairbanks, AK	589 miles	3200 miles	64 days		June 25
Arctic Circle, Dalton HW	194 miles	3394 miles	68 days		June 29
Prudhoe Bay, AK	281 miles	3675 miles	74 days		July 4

As for food, things are hardly different on the road than at home. The main difference is the lack of wanting to carry food, so more frequent trips to groceries. There are certain parts of the journey that will be a few days between groceries, and for those I have planned a few different things. Most of those passes will be easily conquered by simply stocking up at a grocery, but if I care to get extremely lightweight, I’ve worked on some recipes that are high in nutritional value and will suffice better for these areas.



Derived from Joe’s Ultralight Moose Goo:
2 parts peanut butter
4 parts rice or corn flour (NOT corn meal)
1 part honey
– Mix until shimmering. Use as a spread like peanut butter.

Gluten-free peanutbutterownies
5 parts rice flour
1 part honey
1 part molasses
1 part peanut butter
1 part soy milk powder
2 parts oats (preferably steel cut)
Desired amount of dried fruit
– Mix, bake like a brownie, covered, for ~30 minutes. Cut into squares and wrap each square in wax paper.