How slow can you go?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to bike touring: stop a lot and see a lot of stuff along the way... or ride a lot and see a lot of stuff along the way while riding.

I guess either way you see a lot, but the latter doesn't allow one to take many photos or notes from their trip.

After a few bike tours that definitely fit into the latter category (Oregon coast, ~125 miles/day, UK, 100 miles/day) I decided that I really wanted New Zealand to be in the former category. I wanted to stop and get in some hikes along the way. Chat with strangers. Take some pictures. Write some stuff down.

To be able to do everything I wanted to do (like hiking in an alpine environment, as well as biking in all sorts of weather), I decided to bring A Lot Of Stuff. In hindsight, there are some things that I could have left behind without affecting my ability to do what I want. I could have left the bike shoes at home and just used toe clips or platform pedals... and I probably could have done without the stove (although it was definitely handy when I camped out in Ms. Hope's yard). In the past, I haven't carried along as much extra clothing for cold temparatures while camping.

Long story short, all of this weight has resulted in this being the slowest ride of my life. And it has been hard on Susan's pride.

It's not unusual for me to average 18 mph on a decently long ride (let's say 50 miles). When I biked the Oregon coast I still averaged 15 mph for 125 miles per day. When I biked the U.K. I eventually took my bike computer off of my bike because I couldn't bear to see how slow I was riding.

On Thursday I rode 73 miles (more than I had planned, but the riding was pretty flat) at an average of a whopping 13.1 mph. How. Very. Slow. Ugh.

The amazing part is that on Friday I rode even slower. It didn't seem like it was all uphill... though in retrospect it must have been more up than down. Long story short: 25 miles at 9.9 mph. Ow.

Here's the thing: I'm OK with going that slow. Really. I'm getting to see more of the foliage. Stopping and taking pictures of the beautiful green mountains. Baa-ing at the sheep. But it still is embarrassing to reveal this to anyone I've ever ridden with that I'm riding slower than my grandfather would (even after his hip replacement).

Honestly, I'm pretty proud of every pedal stroke. I'm really just happy that I'm making this little dream of mine come true, no matter how fast or slow I go.

But when my bike computer died yesteray evening (probably because it was completely waterlogged, I wasn't too sad about it.

To pannier or to trailer?, that is the question

There are many equipment choices involved in a bike trip (not the least of which is the bike...), but one of the biggest ones I needed to make was whether to use a trailer (see picture at left) or a rack + panniers.

As I see it, there are some definite advantages to each.

The advantages of the trailer:

1. 1) The trailer is more stable. Instead of having most of the weight on the bike on a rear rack and over the rear wheel, the weight is distributed between the rear wheel and a new third wheel (the trailer's). When riding uphill and out of the saddle on panniers, there's definitely more side-to-side sway on the rear of the bike.
2. Less pressure on the rear wheel, which presumably decreases the chance of flatting the rear wheel or breaking a spoke.
3. The ability to take all gear off of the bike (and into one's camping area, hotel, etc) all in one go. One can just use one large duffel bag on a trailer and quickly and easily detach the entire trailer from the bike.

Advantages of panniers:

1. Packing/travelling on other means of transportation. I will need to pack up my bike and load-carrying system several times during the trip: each time I check my luggage (in Seattle, New Zealand, and Australia), and any time I board a bus (which I expect I will do at least once during the trip). One extra level of complication is that I fly into and out of different cities in New Zealand. When I fly out of Christchurch, I'm planning on picking up a bike box from a bike shop there; finding a way of packing and carrying a trailer on the plane will likely result in extra cost and hassle.

2. Simplicity. Racks and panniers are very simple and common in bike shops around the world. As Kelly and I discovered in Maui (and Seattle), BOB trailers aren't nearly as common and have special parts that cannot easily be fabricated from parts found at a hardware store. For example, in Maui, when we realized that Kelly did not have his special BOB skewer (longer than normal), we tried to build something that would work from parts at Home Depot. It did hold up for about 10 miles of load-carrying, but ended up giving up, biking back to town, and renting a jeep to haul our gear.

3. Weight. Every extra pound is noticeable when heading up those steep mountain passes, and a trailer weighs an order of magnitude more than a rack (13.5 pounds for the trailer, according to the manufacturer's website).

4. Quiet. I gave the BOB a test-haul just to see how it felt to ride (and indeed, the stability was nice), but for the love of Pete, it would not stop rattling. There was just a little bit of play between the skewer and the trailer, which was enough to cause endless noise. And if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a travel companion who just won't. shut. up. ; )

5. I've used them before. I used panniers for my bike trips in Oregon, Vermont, Colorado, and the United Kingdom and never had any problems.

So, after some hemming and hawing, I've decided to go the pannier route. But thanks to Kelly H. for lending me his BOB so I could test it out. (Kelly is a big fan of the BOB!) Perhaps for the next trip I take that doesn't require air travel, I'll use a BOB.

Pirates on Bainbridge

My friend Denny introduced me to the idea of riding the FHR, a very low-key 33-mile bike race around Bainbridge Island while the Cascade Bicycle Club has their annual Chilly Hilly ride.

I wasn't entirely sure about the pirate thing, and was pretty sure that I wouldn't be cool enough to fit in, and I don't even drink beer (the 0.83 club is a drinking club with a biking problem, they say), but decided that it would be a fun way to ride some hills to train for New Zealand.

I did feel a bit awkward when I was the only person (out of 50? 75?) with lycra/spandex/neoprene/bright yellow as we boarded the ferry, but had fun chatting with people afterwards (especially after I changed into some other clothes, even though they still weren't nearly as cool as everyone else's). During the ride, we were all mixed in with the CBC riders, so I definitely didn't feel too out of place then.

There were definitely some fun people that I met, and as the third female finisher got to pick out a prize from the pile of loot: I walked away with a pretty hand-made messenger bag with the 0.83 bike club logo hand-painted on it. Sweet! I just might need to ride with these guys again... as soon as I can find some cool high socks and clothes of the appropriate palette. Oh, and I need to figure out how to carry a messenger bag without it falling off my back.

(Picture from alyson's Picasa album from '08, showing race "number" that we wore)