Two Weeks to Go

My preparation for the Natchez Trace bike tour continues. On Friday I intended to ride to Friday Coffee Club. I stepped outside and was greeted by a temperature of 40 degrees and gale-force headwinds with brutal gusts. The couch grabbed me with its tractor beam and I was back to sleep in seconds.

After my slumber, I pulled out my daughter’s freestanding tent to make sure I knew how to set it up. Most tents work more or less the same way so hers went up in only a few minutes. I discovered two interesting things about it. First, it is HUGE. It’s at least two and half times the size of my lightweight backpacking tent. Second, it is a side-entry tent. This means I don’t have to do the camping equivalent of a kick turn every time I leave the tent. Yay! I might even have room to do my back exercises.

I pulled out my sleeping pad and used the air sack to inflate it. I also have a little electrical inflator that I can use if I want to wait a few minutes. The batteries were still good but I dug out some spares just in case. I tossed the pad in to the tent and put my sleeping bag and new, bigger pillow in, too. Then I tested it out. Tres luxe, cherie!

Later I managed to go for a 35-mile ride on The Mule. It was considerably warmer but the winds persisted. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it went. I could have gone much further.

Before the ride, I addressed a couple of problems with the CrossCheck. When I put the bike away after Thursday’s 50-miler I noticed that the back wheel had locked up. Hmm. On close inspection I found that a tensioning spring that holds the brake pad away from the rim had come loose. (I think this happened when I put the bike down from the car rack when I got home Thursday evening.) I compared the spring on the bad side to the one on the opposite side and reseated it. Problem solved. Or so I thought. I also repositioned my bell which had been moved during repairs. (NBD.)

Yesterday I went for a relaxing ride on the CrossCheck. Once again I dealt with howling winds. (It isn’t my imagination; this spring has been much windier than normal.) I made it about 15 miles before using a bathroom. I took the bike inside and, upon leaving, turned it around and dropped it. Once again the brake spring came unseated. Hmm.

I tried to get the spring to re-seat but it kept coming loose. The spring is mounted on a post welded to the frame. There is a screw that goes through end of the post to keep the spring in place. I noticed that the screw had come loose. Ah hah! I reseated the spring then used my multitool, I tightened the screw, locking the spring in place. Success! (Multitools are designed to save space and weight, not for ease of use. This simple repair took 10 or 15 minutes as I turned the screw one quarter turn at a time. With a proper Allen key, it would have take two minutes, tops. The time is not a big deal unless you are trying to do a repair in the rain on the side of a road. Note to self: bring some proper Allen keys for the tour.)

The rest of the ride involved going into DC, around the Tidal Basin (where thousands of tourists were wandering around looking at the not-yet-in-bloom cherry trees) and up the Metropolitan Branch Trail. I found a bench in the sun and took a load off, eating some Belvitas while checking my phone.

After my snack I headed back home. The wind and the gusts were quite intense especially the crosswind on the 14th Street Bridge across the Potomac. (I think I can. I think I can. Made it!) Once on the Virginia side, I had a nice tailwind for the last 13 miles home. I had taken my time but covered 44 miles with ease. Once again I had all kinds of gas left in my tank.

Last night I checked the guide that Adventure Cycling sends to its bike tourists. The guide says that in the month before you start the tour you should work your way up to rides of 50 to 70 miles, seeking out the kind of terrain you will encounter on the tour. That’s exactly what I have done.

When riding around home, I see things I see every day. Six or seven hours of this is really tedious. On a tour, six or seven hours riding in places I’ve never seen before is invigorating. At 12 miles per hour, riding across North Dakota is actually pretty interesting. (Not that I’d want to do again.)

The weather looks pretty good for the next ten days so I’ll probably get one more long ride in.

On Thursday baseball starts and reading season comes to an end. The Nationals will be lucky to finish in third place so I’m keeping a lid on my expectations.