My Cycling Life Changes

You never know what might happen in life. As I have moved into this new state of what some call "retirement", a lot is happening and a lot is being learned. Let me give a few examples.

This time last year, we were moving into a rental home after living a year in an RV on Lake Conroe. Originally we thought living in an RV would be like way cool. And it is. But we learned an RV is not a house and you better be a really good fix it yourself-er. And you better enjoy living in a very transient environment with new people coming and going into and out of your life all the time. The long and short of it is, we were not RV full timers and never will be. But as Grandpaw said, "Bought Learning is the Best Learning".

So fast forward to today. The RV is now sold. We built a new house which closed yesterday. We now live in a 55 plus community called Bonterra. No kids or adolescents. A club house with a pool and work out facilities and lots of resident clubs to keep us socially active and plugged in. Yoga, Whisky Tasting, Wine Tasting, Travel, Water Aerobics, Massage Therapy, Parties Parties Parties......and the list goes on....Below you will see a drone shot of the completed home.



Now comes the really fun part, cycling. This year I've cycled a little over 3500 miles. We are getting ready for an 850 mile tour that will cross Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

I have a new, used bike that I love and I'm selling my speedster friend the R84. See pics below. The R84 is great for speed on the weekends, but the Bacchetta is more suited for both weekend riding as well as light load touring. And I really don't need 3 bikes.

This is the R84 Full Carbon Speedster

This is the Bacchetta Corsa High Racer

In the back ground of the Bacchetta photo above you will also see a partial image of a Surley Long Haul Trucker touring bike. I ride this bike as well. It's just not suitable to ride with my speed hungry riding buddies. But stay tuned, it may see some real touring use next year.

Interestingly, the gentleman that is buying my R84 is an 82 year old cycling addict. His name is Jerry. He used to own his own plane and has been bicycle touring for many years. Take a look at one of Jerry's trips with his buddies by CLICKING HERE. 

The really cool part about selling my bike to Jerry is that it's gonna be a great bike to keep him out there and pushing his limits with his buddies too. And it's given me a new insight into just how long we all could stay active if we just reset our brains and stay away from the television and internet surfing and the dinner table.

So far I have not been bored. Who knows, if the right situation comes along, I might consider going back to work part time for a while. But right now, I'm applying what I learned these last 45 years of working to what I love.

Oh, and here is a picture of me trying out a new recliner for the house. We told them we wanted something as comfortable as my recumbent. Here is what we found.



More soon.

Tour Update: Oregon Trail

A group of long time cycling friends have come together to form its own self supported bicycle tour from the Oregon Coast to Missoula Montana this summer. We are calling the tour "The Oregon Trail Tour".

Those riding will be: BJ Davis, Mike Kimbell, Bill Oswald, Joe Shoumacher and Tom Standley. Supporting us along the way will be Gay Riegel, Gail Shoumacher and Val Oswald. Peddles will begin turning on Friday August 25th in Florence Oregon heading due east.

The map below is from Adventure Cycling's map network, our source for every self supported cycling trip we have taken in the past. Two Trans-America routes are shown.

The orange or lower route is called the Trans America route. This route was created back in 1976 and is the route we will be riding this year from Oregon to Missoula Montana, 850 miles.

The pink route is called the Northern Tier route is shown only for reference. Our plans will be to return next year to connect to that route and complete the tour all the way across the US.

The first part of our tour follows or crosses many of the routes used by settlers in the mid 1800's that migrated from the east to promised lands of milk and honey in the West. It was a time of gold rushes, pursuit of religious freedom and the promise of land. It was a time of expansion. The building of America's first trans America railroad.

It was also a time when America pushed aside the peoples who had lived these lands for thousands of years. The Cherokee, Apache, Comanche and many many others who were eventually either killed outright or placed on reservations to adopt the white mans ways. A fact that many of us today are not proud of. Yet a fact non the less.

Frontier Trails of the Old West states that:  "From 1843 until 1869 when the first transcontinental railroad was completed, there were over 500,000 people who made the trip in covered wagons pulled by mule and oxen. Some went all the way to Oregon to farm and others went to California to search for gold."

One can only imagine what it must have been like to travel over those lands in those days. Imagine pulling a wagon with a team of mules over barren prairies and across raging rivers and over mountain passes, ever vigilant for hostile peoples and animals.

The Oregon Trail a modern nonfiction novel written by Rinker Buck states that: "I often come across the phrase "seeing the elephant", a term that pioneers used to describe their anticipation about striking out across the unknowable wilderness of the plains."

Other comments about those who traveled the trail were: "The cowards never started. Only mad men started." He went on to say: "I believe in crazyass passion. It was crazyass passion that dug America's canals, flung the wagons west, built the railroads, and propelled the God fearing to their deaths at Cold Harbor and Shiloh....it was crazyass passion that would deliver me to the trail."

OMG how that perfectly explains what we are about to embark upon. We have set this goal this BHAG (Big Hairy Assed Goal) of riding across the US on a bicycle. That goal is about to begin. We don't know how it's going to end, but we do know that on August 25th we will depart Florence Oregon on our way to "see the elephant."

More soon....