"And on whatever day it is ... we rested"





Joe and Dennie, on beach at Manzanita, OR

Today is a rest day and we are just chilling and doing wash … and checking out the metropolis of Manzanita, Oregon.  I am privileged because we got to stay at one of my very good friend’s house.  Joe and I were in the trenches at Intel for many years.  Sometimes we were in the same trench, sometimes we were in opposing trenches.  But somehow we developed and have remained very good friends.  This probably due to shared interests, shared faiths and basically we are a couple of great guys, of course.  Joe made dinner for us last night, and then today Joe, Dennie and I walked the beach and then took 15 minutes to walk to the end of Manzanita.  Well that is not entirely true.  It could have taken 15 minutes or less to walk Manzanita from end to end, but it would mean passing a shop and that is difficult to impossible for Dennie, “Ooooh, look at that!”, “Oh, that is so clever!”, “What time will this shop be open, I want to come back!”  I was able to find coffee and a bear claw pastry, so I was happy.  That took care of the morning.  In the afternoon, I caught up on some PC stuff.  Jim and Bill chilled.  We checked the next few days ride and the next 4 days are going to be 70 or more miles a day, plus what looks like some considerable climbing.  That is less concerning than the weather, though.  It appears we might be in for some considerable rain.  If that is the case, we will ride from coffee shop to coffee shop until we reach our destination; or if worst comes to worst, we will call Dennie and have her pick us up.  We do not need to get drenched and sick.  Here are some pictures of the Manzanita, Oregon area.

"Cycling the Oregon north coast ... MAAAHVELOUS"

Wow! What a day! Sometimes I just felt like yelling at the top of my lungs, “This is SOOO MAAAAAAHVELOUS!!”  I did not know if the day had the potential to be marvelous.  We are doing our best to find comfortable, but low budget accommodations each night. Last night our lodging was a waterfront motel in Astoria, Oregon.  The room was comfortable, not luxurious, but comfortable. Then about midnight the sound of road construction commenced. And from midnight until about 5 AM new pavement was put down in front of our motel.  I attempted to sleep with a pillow over the top of my head, fitfully. 

But next morning, I said, “See you later”, to my lovely wife and Jim, Bill and I headed out of Astoria.  The route surprised us.  We thought we would immediately take US 101 to and down the coast, but instead, we headed east and then south on US Business 101.  Once again, Adventure Cycling had chosen an outstanding route.  When Dennie and her mom left the motel to catch up with us, they actually took longer in the SAG car then we did biking because of their sightseeing.  The route apparently followed the Lewis and Clark Trail and through state parks, inland valleys and then finally down the coast at Seaside, Oregon.  At Seaside we were routed to a beach walk and pedaled a comfortable pace in between the morning beach walkers and beach cruisers.  It was definitely a place to take a break, sit down, chill and eat our sandwiches.

After Seaside, we were told the real climbing would start.  We were told this by a guy in a bike shop in Seaside, Adventure Cycling said the same, and my friend Joe, who had a place in Manzanita said to expect some good climbs.  So I know that Bill and I were a bit apprehensive about the climbing, and of course Jim said little.  Jim rarely conveys any concern about what we would consider a cycling challenge.

It turns out the only extraordinary thing about the climbs were the views.  The climbs were solid, a good push, but not as hard as we had expected.  However the views, the views were absolutely awesome, fantastic, and mahvelous.  Everyone knows the Oregon coast is famous for its beauty, but here we were, cycling and actually experiencing it.  We would climb with forest on both sides and then there would usually be an overlook and of course I would bring our ride to a halt, “Stopping! Photo stop!”  And then another descent through the forests and another climb, repeat and repeat.  Like I said earlier, it made want to just yell, “MAAAAAAHVELOUS, JUST MAAAAAAAAAAAHVELOUS!”

At the end of our last descent, we turned into the little coastal town of Manzanita where my friend Joe was going to put us up for a couple of days.  Friends are precious and catching up with Joe was ample evidence of this adage.  It was fun catching up and Joe was able to share some early Intel stories about me during my more savage days of corporate middle management.  I tried to deny the dirt he was heaping on me but I do not think I was too convincing, or he was more convincing than I was.  We all shared a wonderful home cooked meal and everyone retired, except me, because I had to complete my blog for our fans. And now this post is complete except for the following pictures.




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"One State Done ... Three More to Go"

It was a misty, meisty morning this morning.  Jim, Bill and I rolled out of Longview, Washington in a light fog, with a tail wind, no rain and great pavement.  Life is good and we are lucky to participate.  One thing I need to mention is this is going to be a very short blog, because today marks the day that Dennie and I have been married 31 marvelous years. So, short blog and then Dennie time and y’all are not invited.

We are done with Washington. Today was our sixth riding day and we completed Washington and are currently overnighting in Astoria, Oregon.  For the statistics fans we rode 327 miles in Washington and climbed 14,736 feet, which means Washington was a 14’er. 

So, here are a few more pictures and you will hear more from me tomorrow.  Having a mahvelous time.

"Our Fifth Day of Riding ... Simply Mahvelous"

Today is our fifth day riding after a day of rest in the beautiful metropolis of Chehalis, Washington; population 7057.  Yesterday, in addition to being a day of rest, and doing our wash, and doing some bike maintenance and cleanup; yesterday was also a day of high wind and rain, so we were glad we were not riding.  Today’s ride was about 55 miles and I was not expecting much of a ride.  It looked like we would be going through some populated areas and we were no longer on the coast, so I confess, I was kind of thinking today was going to be a slog.  The last 15 miles looked like they might be interesting as we climbed along a creek and then descended into Longview, but I thought the rest of the ride could not come close to what we had experienced in our first four days of riding.  How wrong I was, but more on that later.

My morning of getting prepared ride also hit a bit of a hiccup.  Well, it was kind of a major hiccup.  The top strap on my road bike shoe totally broke at the connection to the shoe.  The strap is connected to the shoe by a screw and the strap broke on either side of the hole in the strap where the screw attaches.  Dang!  The metropolis of Chehalis does not have a store that would carry straps for the Specialized Pro road bike shoe.  In fact, I was fairly confident that none of the metropolises in front of us would be carrying replacement straps for my shoe.  So, what to do? Maybe I just duct tape my shoe to the end of my leg.  After some thought, we grabbed a pocket knife, cut another hole in the piece of strap that remained, shaved of some of the strap to thin it so the screw would go through it and attached it to my shoe again.  The ankle pad can no longer be centered over the top of my ankle, but I am able to get down the road, 55 miles down the road today.  Also, after dealing with solving my shoe problem, I forgot to take my sandwich out of the fridge, and left without my lunch.

So, like I said earlier, I thought the day was just going to be kind of a slog, no big deal.  I was wrong.  I need to put in another good word for the Adventure Cycling routes.  They do their best to keep the route away from high traffic thoroughfares.  They do their best to skirt cities and populated areas, and they seem to find the routes with the best riding experience to include local scenery, views, et al. Today’s ride was evidence again of their excellent results.  Weather was damp, but not too damp.  Temperatures were cool but great for riding.  Wind was not too bad.  Our route went through deep forests, open country roads, along the side of a river, climbed up a valley along the side of creek that could sometimes be glimpsed through deep forest and then descended down to the Columbia river.  Today was a GREAT ride, I loved it.  It was simply mahvelous.

Tomorrow we ride along the north side of the Columbia River and then cross over into Oregon and ride to the coast and overnight in Astoria, Oregon.  Washington has been absolutely beautiful, and now the coast of Oregon.  We hope we are ready for the climbs.  

"And on the Fifth Day ... We Rested"

So today was a rest day, not much to report.  I did catch up on some email and phone calls back home.  I was also made aware that it is impossible or at least difficult to post comments on this blog.  I am glad that someone brought this to my attention because I was feeling so neglected.  No one was commenting on the blogs.  A big thank you to Mark Williams who told me how to go into settings and open up the ability to comment, so now everyone can comment to their hearts desire.  Try the comment feature out and make my day.

Today was a day to hit the Laundromat and catch up on our laundry.  Plus we put the bikes up on the stands and did a bit of bike maintenance general cleaning.  I guess I could take advantage of this rest day and tell a bit about our choice of steeds.

Jim McGirk is our Cannondale rider.  He briefly considered riding his 2011 Cannondale Super Six but decided to go with his 2011 Cannondale Synapse for a bit more comfort.  Components are Ultegra SL Compact with a 11-25 cassette.

Bill Rahe is riding his 2010 Scott CR1 Pro.  His components are also Ultegra SL and he is riding a triple with a 11-28 cassette.  I will say, much to my surprise, Bill has been waiting for us at the top of most of our long climbs.  I am not sure if it is his superior conditioning or the fact he is riding a triple and Jim and I riding compacts.  Bill is quick to claim it is the triple and not his superior conditioning, we shall see as the ride goes on.

For comfort, I briefly considered riding my 2009 Specialized Roubaix Elite; also a triple with Shimano 105 components.  But I went with my 2009 Specialized Tarmac SL with SRAM Red compact componentry and a 11-28 cassette.  I just found the Roubaix to be too soft in the climbs and so far, I am happy I left it back home in Corrales.

We have another day and a half in the beautiful state of Washington, and Wednesday we will overnight in Astoria, Oregon.  Then Thursday we roll into Manzanita, Oregon (about 20 miles south of Cannon Beach, Oregon) and we spend a couple of days with a very good friend of mine, Joe McAvoy, at his place in Manzanita.  Joe and I were colleagues at Intel and we spent time in the trenches together.  It is going to be fun catching up.  And then Saturday night we are privileged again to stay with another friend of mine, Theresa Zawalski, near Depoe Bay, Oregon.  Theresa is going to continue to let me believe that I was her favorite boss at Intel.  We used to work together in New Mexico and then she left to work for Intel in Oregon.  Hmmm, maybe I wasn’t her favorite boss. Oh well, she is my favorite Theresa Zawalski and I look forward to seeing her again.  Friends are precious and I am blessed to have more than I deserve.

Time to get some sleep and roll down the road again tomorrow.

"Four Days into the Ride ... Going Strong"

We now have four days under our wheels and tomorrow is our rest day.  Due to rain, we considered making today our rest day. But when the forecast predicted less than a half inch of rain today and more than an inch tomorrow, plus high winds, we reconsidered and remained on our schedule of ride four days and rest the fifth.  I know that is not biblical, but we are not yet up to riding six days and resting on the seventh.  Yesterday was an 80 mile day with 4200 feet of climbing, dry and windy.  Today was 44 miles with less than 1000 feet of climbing, very wet and less wind. About half way into the ride we decided to stop for coffee and something to eat in Oakville, WA.  There was only one diner in the little town and I was a bit concerned because there were only three cars in the parking lot and I think two of them belonged to employees. So I was violating one of my general rules when traveling.  I believe that the quality of the culinary experience is going to be directly proportional to the number of cars in the parking lot.  However, like I said, it was the only diner in the town of Oakville. At this time I can add the name of this diner was Jag’s, for your future reference.  We dismounted, pulled off our rain gear, leaned our bikes up against the front of the diner and went inside.  Two of the tables actually had customers, a family with a baby and a group of three … all waiting for their food.  We were able to find a place to sit, making our choice from ten empty tables.  The waitress came over and figured out we actually were going to make a food order, and thought to bring us menu’s when we started ordering from the menu items that were written on the walls, that she let us know they were no longer current or available.  At twelve, as in high noon, we made our order.  It was not a complex order: ham and eggs; two pancakes; and biscuits and gravy.  Jim, Bill and I started talking about the ride, talking about the weather and the rain.  We talked about what city would be coming up next and how far way was it.  We wondered where Dennie and her mom might be and what they were doing while we were riding.  We talked a while and then wondered where our food might be, because it had been a while.  We looked at the other tables and they did not have food at their tables either, very odd.  At 12:20, one of the other tables was served.  To make what is becoming a long story short, at 12:35 the second table was served and at 12:45, we were finally served, 45 minutes after a very simple, not complex, order was made.  After a very, very long meal break, we got back on the road and headed to Chehalis.  As we were leaving Bill leaned over and said, "Did you see that baby at that other table?  When they came in, it was a newborn.  I know it had it's first tooth when they paid their bill."

So after 4 days of riding, we have ridden 242 miles and we have climbed just over 10,000 feet.  Weather has been a combination of sun, wind, and rain.  The countryside and scenery have been awesome.  The first couple of days were rainforests, mountains meeting the sea, off shore islands, harbors and smells of the ocean.  The past couple of days have been forests, lakes and rivers.  Needless to say, it is very, very green.  With the rain and all, we find it amusing that when we pass forest service stations, the fire danger is always posted as moderate.  We are not sure how to get a moderate fire started, everything looks so wet. 

About all of the cars that pass us have been very, very courteous.  They often hang back and when they pass, they usually cross over the center stripe to give us plenty of room.  Only twice, that I remember, has a car come unnecessarily close and once a high school kid in the passenger seat leaned out and yelled at us. I guess high school behavior is universal and not regional.  In prior blogs I mentioned that Jim is using the maps from Adventure Cycling and I have GPX files from Adventure Cycling (the GPX files are free downloads) on my Garmin Edge 705.  Also, in our SAG vehicle, Dennie has a set of the maps from Adventure Cycling so she knows where we are.  Now that we have been on the bikes for four days, we are not sure how someone could do this ride without a GPS with map features, especially in the cities.  The Adventure Cycling routes are excellent at providing routes with low traffic or wide shoulders but sometimes this means you could easily miss an obscure turn and ride right by your intended route.  We have done that a few times and I will glance down and say, “Jim, check the map.  We are off GPS.”  The nice thing about a GPS is you can see where you are in a city or where the route is indicated and how far away we are from it.  If we did not have a GPS with map features, there would be a number times when we would either be miles off course or lost in the city or find ourselves on a busy boulevard without a bike lane. 

We have seen a number of other riders with panniers and we suspect they are possibly heading to Mexico also.  When we pulled into our Microtel last night, I saw a young couple with panniers looking longingly at the hotel from the driveway, so I went out and chatted with them.  They were from Los Angeles and he had accrued six weeks of vacation and they were going to go as far south as they could from the Canadian border also heading towards Mexico.  They had been riding for six days and had gone about 200 miles (we had been on the bikes for 3 days and covered the same 200 miles).  They also told us about an older, retired Korean couple that they met in Bremerton that did not speak much English.  They had flown over from Korea, bought bikes in Seattle and planned to ride to Mexico.  They completed 12 miles their first day. I am going to wake up in the middle of the nights wondering how far they get.  What an incredible sense of adventure … or is ignorance bliss?  Oh, the young couple with panniers decided Microtel was above their budget and they rolled away looking for an RV campground.

“Day Two … Wahoo!”

Day One came to a close and after dinner, and after finishing my Day One blog and posting pictures, I retired to an unsettling sleep.  All night a strong wind blew from the south and that was the general direction we were going to be riding the next day.  We had looked at the ride for Day Two and we were planning on an easy, flat recovery ride down to Port Hadlock.  However, when got out of bed, and downed our breakfasts of yoghurt and oatmeal, and went outside, we could see the flags standing out straight and pointing in the very wrong direction.  We could look forward to another day of headwinds.  Well, that’s OK because a day of riding into a headwind is better than a day of not riding.  I forgot to mention during yesterday’s ride, I had a flat, so this morning I needed to find and pack another new tube and CO2 cartridge.  I spent too much time trying to figure out where I packed my spare tubes and I wish I could say they were buried by Dennie’s luggage (all of it), but it just turned out to be a bit of forgetfulness on my part.  Finally I found them in the Thule pod and we ended up departing about 15 minutes late.

Although there was the wind I mentioned, the temperature was perfect in the mid-sixties and the sky was relatively clear.  It was a beautiful day, a great day for a ride and that is what we were doing.  We were expecting a rather flat ride and we wanted to make Day Two a recovery ride because we had two long rides coming up Day Three and Day Four.  Our expectations of a flat ride were soon dashed climbing out of Anacortes.  And by the end of the day, those expectations of a flat ride were done completely away by rollers most of the day.  Rollers and headwinds, just another day in paradise.  It wasn’t extraordinary climbing, 3000 feet in fifty miles, it was just unexpected (Garmin track of Day Two).  And although the headwinds were occasionally strong, we were often sheltered by forest or by the roller we were climbing.

Scenery was outstanding, rain forests, verdant fields, mountains meeting the sea (why in the world did we think it was going to be a flat ride when all we can see are mountains meeting the sea?), inshore islands and lovely bays every time we could see through the forest.  The Deception Pass Bridge was just an awesome sight.  We even had to take a ferry to Port Townsend.  Again, this is so far removed from what we see in New Mexico.

So in two days, we are just about on schedule with just under 120 miles under our tires.  We also have climbed a bit over 5000 feet.  Jim and Bill felt strong today.  I must confess I think I was pushing harder than they were and did not feel as strong.  I think that is the result of not riding for almost two weeks and eating and drinking my way to the starting line with lovely wife Dennie and her mom, Ellie.  I am hoping my fitness level will soon return, but I need a bit of recovery time.  Next two days are longer rides and then we take the fifth day off.  I will keep you posted on how we all do; my concern level is mild.  My anticipation is high; the ride so far has been all I and we expected.

“Stick a Fork in It, Day One is Done… and it was FUN”

The planning, the training, the driving have come to an end and now the CanMexPac ride actually begins.  Yesterday we picked up Jim and Bill at SeaTac International Airport and after a sumptuous meal in Seattle we overnighted in Bellingham ready to ride the next day.  Of course we woke up many times during the night and I am sure Jim and Bill were probably peeking out their window, just like I was.  At 2AM the ground was dry and I thought that was a sign that was too good to be true.  At 5AM, the light rain proved that the 2AM sighting was indeed too good to be true.  At 7AM we started stirring, getting breakfast and attending to the bikes, in preparation for the portage to Blaine at the Canadian border.  After a leisurely morning of preparing, hoping for a rain respite, we actually started riding south from the Canadian border at about 10:30AM.  Before we rolled out, Jim talked to my wife and arranged some “soft” stops for her to meet us.  “Soft” means we would probably be there at the pre-arranged time, and “soft” meant that if she did not find something more interesting to visit, it would be a nice time to meet her as she was our SAG vehicle; Support And Gear.  Eighteen miles south of Blaine, we stopped and celebrated with local coffee the fact that we were 1% complete on our approximately 1800 mile trip. And Dennie and her mom was there to celebrate with us.

Except for the headwind, it was a good first day for riding.  There was some light rain, but not bad.  The temperature was about 65F and the climbing was very moderate.  And the scenery was definitely different than what we experience in New Mexico.  There was dark, damp rainforest with thick green moss on the cement bridges.  The skies were grey but it was still beautiful, and again, so different from what we ride back home.  And there were vistas of bays, and islands, and green mountains and forest meeting the sea.  I was loving it!

We were navigating with a combination of maps and GPS tracks.  Jim had the maps from American Adventure Cycling that we had purchased and has the entire ride mapped out and described from Vancouver, B.C. to Tijuana, Mexico.  I had the same maps but I had given my maps to Dennie, our SAG driver, so she knew where we were … or should have been, but I will get to that.  I had also gone out to the American Adventure Cycling site and downloaded the GPX routes and I was using my Garmin Edge 705 to keep us on the correct route.  So Jim was using paper and I was using the GPS, and together we were finding the little roads that American Adventure Cycling recommended.  To AAC’s credit, they do a pretty good job at putting you on safer, low traffic roads when possible.  But sometimes that meant we could easily miss an obscure turn.  After a while, we started relying more on the GPS, especially when there were multiple turns in sequence.  This worked well until the GPS operator (yours truly) missed a turn and after about 5 miles down the road said, “Whoops, we are off GPS. We better stop.”  This is probably a good time to mention chemistry, ride partners and personalities.  Without getting into too many specifics, after we are just about 50 miles into our ride, with more headwind than we expected, you don’t want to hear you are no longer on the route.  I was not happy with myself for missing a turn.  So at this time, we pulled out the maps and tried to figure out where we were.  But the maps are very detailed and designed to support riders that are on course, and apparently if you are even five miles off course, you are also off the map.  With grey skies that hid the location of the sun, I was not even sure which direction was west or north.  BUT fortunately, the Edge 705 has a “go to” feature.  So, I punched in “Anacortes, WA” and the 705 replied “on road or off road?”  We are definitely skinny tired roadies and no one was feeling adventurous enough to go off road, so we chose the on road option.  In the end, we might have added 3 miles to our total ride distance which turned out to be 66 miles for the day (Day One route).

We rolled into Anacortes and found our lodging, a very charming place called Anaco Bay Inn.  We got cleaned up and the three riders debriefed and went over the Garmin MapSource actual track for the day and the intended route.  We found the 90 degree turn we missed (I feel it was mostly my fault because we had become comfortable depending on the GPS rather than pulling the maps out) and also decided we did not add that much distance to the ride.  Jim thought our “new” route might have even been shorter, but I am sure it wasn’t.  But, bottom line, all’s well that ends well.

Tomorrow is a shorter and even flatter ride, not that today had much climbing, just a few moderate rollers.  Jim is coaching us to slow down some and make it a recovery ride.  He said we have a lot of miles to go and we should pace ourselves in the beginning.  That is good advice for me because I really have not ridden in about two weeks.  I told Jim if we are pushing too hard than he should just fall back, because if I look back and see him hanging on my wheel, then I assume we are riding as we should.  Bill admits that he rode like a horse heading for the barn when we got within 5 miles of Anacortes, he was really pushing it.

It is time to get this post published, and then retire and rest and rise tomorrow for Day Two of our CanMexPac ride.

“T minus One … tomorrow we ride, finally!”

It is the night before our first day of the ride and it is drizzling just a little, not unusual for September weather in coastal Washington.  I hope I am ready for this quest.  For the past week and a half, Dennie, her mother, and I have been eating our way west and north, with brief interludes of wine tasting to interrupt the eating.  I got on the bike once, while we were in southern California, and got a short 25 mile ride in, but other than that, it has been visiting, eating, having a few drinks, driving and eating a little more.  I need more time on a bike, I am so looking forward to getting the ride started tomorrow. 

Dennie, I and son Joshua departed New Mexico last week on our way to California to see our niece Ashley and Raul get married.  That was a lot of fun, visiting, and eating, a few drinks and one bike ride.  All four sons were able to get time off for their cousins wedding and it was great to see them all party together (Gibson’s at Ashley and Raul’s wedding).  Then we send Josh back to New Mexico with his brothers, packed Dennie’s luggage in the van, put the bikes back on top, packed more of Dennie’s luggage in the van, picked up her mom and her luggage, and then packed more of Dennie’s luggage in the van and started heading north.  Did I mention how much luggage Dennie brought with her? A minimalist she is not. 

We met her brother in Sacramento and shared a meal, more eating.  And then the next day we took our time going through Oregon and hit a few wineries, a creamery and a chocolate factory.  Oh, and we ate some more.  This should make climbing interesting, I think I am developing a handicap. Sampling Oregon wineries

Today we drove to SeaTac International, and picked up my riding buddies, Jim and Bill.  We folded them in between Dennie’s luggage and then we started searching downtown Seattle for a place to experience some great seafood.  Great seafood is understandably difficult to find in New Mexico.  After a while, the search for great seafood just became a search for a parking spot with more than 6’2” clearance (which seemed to be the norm for parking garages in Seattle) that could accommodate the bikes on top of the van.  If a great restaurant happened to be next to the great parking spot, then that would just be icing on the cake.  BUT, as luck would have it, down next to the wharfs, we found an outdoor parking area and right across the street there was a seafood restaurant.  We were hungry, no longer particular so we went in.  The prices were such that it BETTER be great seafood, but as luck would have it, they had dinner specials for before 5PM diners, and we were there before 5PM.  So we sat down, sampled a few local brews on tap (except for Bill, who only drinks wine) and then had some GREAT seafood.  The coho salmon was the best I have had in a very, very long time. 

After dinner, we headed to Bellingham, checked in, took the bikes off the top of the van and got our gear ready for the ride tomorrow.  My next blog will be about our first day cycling on our CanMexPac ride.

"En Route ... with One Nuptial Detour"

The CanMexPac ride is just about to start.  Jim and Bill’s bikes have been delivered and they are on top of the SAG (Support And Gear) vehicle.  All the gear has been delivered to my place and I am almost packed.  I have all my bike stuff packed, but before Dennie and I head for the Canadian border, we first will be attending our nieces wedding in southern California.  I guess I need to find a tie, nice shirt and pair of shoes to pack along with the bike gear.  Dennie has told me that my riding bibs and an Iron Horse jersey is not considered appropriate wedding attire. 

I have gone over the check list that Jim provided:

Start ride on Sept 22nd and end Oct 30th (est).
Each bike should start with new tubes, new cables, new brake pads and new tires.
Jim will bring coffee pot and coffee; this will also provide hot water for morning oatmeal.
Each rider bring 4 bibs, jerseys and riding socks.
Rain gear, helmet cover, leg warmers and arm warmers.
Community laundry soap and softener and quarters for laundry.
First aid kit.
Snacks/water to be purchased on the road.
Jim to bring spare rear wheel with cassette, work stand, cables, lube, tools.
Windex, alcohol, cleaner and cleaning towels to wipe down bikes each night.
Two floor pumps.
Each bring four new tubes.
Each bring CO2 or frame pump.

I took my bike (Specialized Tarmac SL2) into High Desert Bicycles, Albuquerque, for the final once over before the trip.  Randy did a most thorough job going over everything on the bike.  The bottom bracket had just a bit of play so he replaced the bearings.  Also, he was not satisfied with the shifting but could not get it adjusted to his satisfaction.  Finally he discovered the rear derailleur hanger was bent ever so slightly (probably because I laid the bike on it’s side, chain side down, once and bent it), so he replaced it and now this bike shifts so crisp and the chain runs so quiet.  My bike is better than new.  I, of course, highly recommend High Desert Bicycles in Albuquerque.

We leave for the wedding tomorrow, and after the wedding we leave southern California and head north.  The plan is to pick up Jim and Bill, September 21, at SeaTac airport and then we start the actual CanMexPac ride September 22.  The general plan is to ride 60-70+ miles a day at a leisurely pace with camera and rest stops when we see anything of interest that would warrant a stop.  We plan on riding four consecutive days and resting the fifth day.  The entire ride is about 1900 miles and we expect it to take a little over five weeks. We will target our rest day locations to be areas we want to get off the bikes and visit (Cannon Beach area in Oregon; Napa Valley area; Half Moon Bay in California; etc.)  At this time my blog readers can send in their suggestions for ‘don’t miss’ areas to visit.

I am blowing my travel budget, though.  I estimated lodging costs based on my experience in Colorado, but I neglected to consider that we will be traveling the Pacific coast, a very desirable place for many to visit and of course, a bit more expensive.  But blessings and kindness abound, and I have two former colleagues (and current friends) from Intel that have beach houses and have volunteered to accommodate us in Oregon.  If anyone else knows of vacant beach houses that need a visit, let me know.

So, we are just about to begin.  I am both excited and apprehensive about the magnitude of this adventure.  I pray none of us get sick, or have an encounter of the worst kind with a moving vehicle.  We hope the weather cooperates, but we expect rain and are prepared for it.  I expect my next blog will be the evening of September 22 and will chronicle day one of our CanMexPac ride.

“A Month Ago I Thought I Was Invincible … but now??”

Surgeon General Warning: Do not read any further if you would be offended by a discussion of middle aged male plumbing issues!!

As I have related in prior blogs, the CanMexPac ride is one of my big Bucket List items, something that I have thought about for years.  I have dedicated year 2011 to preparing for this epic 1900 mile ride.  I have been riding 150-200 miles a week.  I have been making sure I got a lot of climbing in.  I have done a few event centuries and I have just gone out on my own and rode a century (a century is a 100 mile ride for those new to biking).  In July I was invited to join 9 other guys and I put in nearly 400 miles in a week doing rides and climbs in Colorado, and I rode very strong and felt good.  I was on a mission and I was working a plan.  I felt incredibly healthy, and as I said, I was thinking I was invincible.

And then it happened, I remember the date.  It was July 20^th and it was a Wednesday ride.  The ride was starting at the top of Tramway at County Line and then going south on Tramway, east on US 66 and then south on NM 14.  It was going to be a good long ride with some climbing, but I thought I would add 30 miles to the ride.  I would start from my house in Corrales and meet the group at County Line, that was my plan.  Unfortunately, I was ten minutes late to the starting point, after climbing Tramway, and my group had already left.  So, I decided to catch them and started pushing.  I did not catch them on Tramway, I still had not caught them on US 66 and so I started pushing up the hill, going south on NM 14. It was also very hot, in the 90’s.  Then it happened.  Please remember the Surgeon General Warning at the beginning of this blog because it might get graphic now.  About 4 or 5 miles into the climb I suddenly had to PEE! And I had to pull over immediately and find a bush, so I did.  I dropped my bibs, peed … but it was only a dribble and it was orange colored, and it burned.  This was not good.  And it continued like this for the rest of the ride.  One of my friends had cut the ride shorter by parking at Central and Tramway and waiting for the group in the morning, and she offered me a ride knowing that I would say ‘no’.  But I was not feeling good, and I surprised her and accepted her offer of a ride and I got off my bike.  Whatever was going on with my system was not good and I had no idea what it might be.  I thought perhaps it was supplements, so I laid off my supplements and took two days off from riding.  That Saturday I rode 70 miles with my BORB’s from church (Brothers On Road Bikes) and the same thing happened again.  When it happened the prior Wednesday, the pain and discomfort carried on into Thursday.  When it happened on Saturday, the pain and discomfort cleared up in the middle of the night Friday.  I rested Sunday, and rode a shorter, easier ride on Monday and it happened again … and the pain and discomfort cleared up Monday evening.  Some people are slower than others, and when it comes to health issues and possible problems, I often find myself in the slow group. 

On Tuesday I finally went to urgent care.  I gave them some background and I was triaged.  The nurse said, “When you said you rode a bike a lot, you must mean you really ride a lot.” I said, “Yes, why?” She said, “Well normally when I see a heart rate this low, I stop what I am doing and send the patient immediately over to emergency.” “Oh,” I said, “what is my heart rate?”  She said, “47.” I replied, “Oh, that is because I had a cup of coffee before I came in. It is usually lower.” Yeah, I know, I’m bragging, but I thought it was funny. After my examination, and a urinalysis, we found out that I had blood in my urine but no infection in my bladder.  It could be an injury to the perineum or the prostate, or it could be something else.  I was given medication for infection and inflammation and advised to see a urologist.  I now knew I was not invincible and I had a problem that needed to be addressed and controlled before we started the CanMexPac ride. 

The Copper Triangle was also coming up in less than two weeks (almost 80 miles and over 6000 feet of climbing) and I had planned on riding that with a number of friends.  We were all having the pre-Copper Triangle potluck at my place in Corrales.  After giving it some thought, I decided as much as I would like to ride the Copper Triangle, it would be smarter to give my system a rest and figure out what was going on if I wanted to ride the higher priority CanMexPac ride.  So at the pre Copper Triangle potluck at my place, I let the group know that I had some health issues and was going to be a team photographer for the  ride but I would not actually do the ride.  When some of the guys got an idea of what the issue was, one by one they started discreetly taking me aside. “Marvin, I had the same issue once, is your saddle an issue.” “Marvin, who is your urologist?” “Marvin, I remember one ride that I had to stop and have my wife pick me up, the pain was so bad” “Marvin, I had the same issue for 20 months and the doctors were never able to determine the source. A homeopathic physician finally cured me.”  “Marvin, what tests have they done? Have they done a cystoscopy?”

More on the cystoscopy later, that one was the most interesting.  I ended up having an ultrasound, a CT scan, blood sampling,  six urine analysis’s, and finally, the cystoscopy (but more on that later).  I also started trying to figure out if anything on the bike needed to be changed up.  I had changed to a new type of tire a month earlier and I was running 120 psi whereas I used to run 105 psi.  I had also hit some bumps riding and came down on the back of my saddle and pushed the nose up and continued to ride a couple of times and it was uncomfortable.  So I bought a new saddle for my bike that was a bit softer, and had a drop nose and had seat removed down the center so there was less pressure on sensitive areas while riding.  The drop nose makes my saddle look like it needs Viagra. Dennie said that is so I won’t need Viagra later, pretty funny.  This week I had my cystoscopy.  That is where they stick a camera inside of you and check out the inside of your bladder.  Yes, you probably guessed where the camera has to enter.  I will spare us all the details, but as the camera was proceeding towards the bladder, it had to pass by the prostate gland – that was not comfortable.  In summary, the bladder looked good and all tests are conclusive that I do not have to worry about cancer.  My prostate is somewhat enlarged but normal for someone my age.  I also learned that the prostate starts getting blood veins as men age and the urologist requested that I look at the screen as the camera passed through the prostate.  I was able to see the small veins and I saw a few that looked more red and irritated than the others and we are pretty sure that is the source of the blood in the urine.  The urologist had no issue with my plan to proceed on the CanMexPac ride, so all systems remain go. 

If anyone actually read through this blog, my hope is the men know what to look for if they develop issues; and the wives might know what their hubbies could be experiencing.

So Jim, Bill and I remain on schedule to start our ride from the Canadian border on September 22, and head south to Mexico on the Pacific coast.

"And then there were three ... amigos"

                To ride the Pacific coast from Canada to Mexico on a bike has been a hazy, surreal dream of mine for some time, many years.  The challenge and excitement of the dream has been such that I never let go of it.  But with working and other commitments, I never really had to seriously consider undertaking the challenge.  It was something exciting, appealing and safely out of reach on the top shelf for many years.  But now that I have graduated from Intel, it is within reach and I needed to see if I was really serious about it or was it an idle dream.  It was time to ‘fish or cut bait’ (by the way, I am a fly fisherman and would never stoop to bait J).  After some personal consideration, I floated the idea out to my wife to see what the response would be. It might have been, “What are you thinking!? Are you crazy?!?”, but instead it was a steady, “That sounds like a good idea.  I am not going to bike but I will be there for support.” “Alright!! Let’s make it happen!” So at this time we started making plans, buying books, maps and checking out the internet to see how others have done this ride.  We were not going to put panniers on the bike and camp every night.  This was going to be a credit card ride, which means I ride for the day and then sleep between sheets after a warm shower and a good dinner.  It would be a much more enjoyable ride and safer for all of us if I had a few more people to do this ride with.  So I started floating it out to friends and others bike riders I knew.  I got a number of bites and people that said they were in. But perhaps after seeing what the time commitment was to do the ride, both in the actual ride plus the training in order to successfully do the ride, interest would wane for most of them.  However, I was now riding with a group of riders on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and two of these riders expressed interest, and after brief consideration, committed.  So let me tell you a little bit about my two fellow riders and we will see after this introduction, if they still want to ride with me.

                First I will introduce Jim McGirk.  On our rides during the week, Jim is usually our ride leader.  He is the coach, the wrench, and usually whenever anyone flats, Jim can only observe for so long before he has the wheel, the tube and he is changing the tire.  Jim thinks of himself as laid back and of a calm demeanor, and this is accurate when he is in his comfort zone.  However, his comfort zone can sometimes only be a few millimeters wide, so often the other riders want to make sure Jim remains in his comfort zone.  I confess, sometimes I like to explore the boundaries of his comfort zone, not always intentionally though.  Jim and I had an interesting introduction.  In addition to being knowledgeable and experienced, Jim is incredibly safety conscious to his credit.  We had mutual friends that recommended to me that I meet up with this group and start riding with them after I retired.  So I showed up one morning as a newbie and I did not know anyone in the group and we commenced to ride.  We rode south and we rode through some neighborhoods that I was not familiar with, plus this was my first experience of riding in a group so I was not familiar with all the signs, signals and silent, but known to everyone else, ride behavior expectations.  About thirty minutes into the ride, we came to an intersection with a stop sign.  The front half of the group safely navigated through the stop sign but the second half of the group had to stop due to an oncoming car.  I was in the front of the second half and it looked like enough clearance to me so I joined the front half of the group on the other side of the intersection.  After we grouped up again, Jim came up alongside of me and instructed me in his graceful manner as follows, “I don’t know WHO the HELL you are, but if you EVER pull another stunt like that, you are NEVER going to ride with this group again! I will SEE to that!” He rode off and that was my introduction to Jim on my first ride with the group.  Fortunately, I am a quick learner and fortunately Jim is a quick forgetter and it was not long before I was a rider in very good standing with the group.  About a month later, Jim and I were riding and talking and he had a safety issue with one of the riders that he was going to have to bring up to the rider.  I told him, “Yes, and your ability to instruct is so graceful!” He chuckled and said, “What do you mean?” and I told him about his intro to me on my first group ride.  He said, “Was that you? I totally forgot about that.”  It also turns out that the Pacific coast ride was a ride that Jim had a very high desire to do and he did not know how many more years he might have to accomplish it, so he committed quickly.  Jim is a great addition to this trip.  I think he is going to try to lead “from the rear” because the trip was initially my idea, but he has long distance riding experience, he is a bike mechanic and he is always looked to as the ride leader when he is on a ride.  He is one of our elder statesmen, but he is a strong rider and most of us are trying to keep up with him on rides, especially if the ride includes climbing.  He borrowed my ride maps for the Pacific ride and returned them with a ride schedule on an Excel spreadsheet where we ride a cycle of four days riding followed by a day of rest and then repeat the cycle.  Target is to ride about 60-70 miles on the days we ride and complete the ride in 37 days.

                Bill Rahe is the third member of our CanMexPac ride team. Bill worked at Sandia Labs for more than 20 years, and he instructed at UNM and he consulted.  He is same age as I am and also retired.  Bill and I often find ourselves “informally” racing on our daily rides.  He will usually tell me early in the ride, “I’m not racing today”, and then will sneak up and blow by me (or try to) on a hill.  Later I will say, “I thought you said you were not racing?!” and he will respond, “I wasn’t.  I was doing intervals.” “Yeah, right you were.” Bill also has long distance riding experience but it was a long distance time ago.  In the early 70’s, Bill rode from Albuquerque to San Francisco and then down the California coast and back to Albuquerque.  He wonders how much has changed in forty years.  We think that trip had a profound impact on Bill and he has not cut his hair since then.  Bill also has a sun exposure issue, which is a tough issue to have in New Mexico, especially if you are cycling outside in the summer.  So Bill always is in long sleeves and long bike pants, no matter what the temperature might be.  Also, to be more visible, his bike kits are usually mostly white or turquoise, with yellow and red highlights. He makes the Astana uniforms look sedate.  If we can stay in front of Bill during our Pacific ride, he should be very visible to traffic.  This is not his only redeeming attribute, but it was worth mentioning in the spirit of safety, of course.  Jim and I have a goal of introducing Bill to micro-breweries on the trip but Bill says he is bringing his own wine as he does not plan on becoming a beer connoisseur.

                I think we have ridden together long enough and been around each other long enough that we should be well suited for being together on the road on bikes for about 40 days.  We are all very excited about this trip, this journey, this quest and we are ready to get going.