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The Tybee Island Round Trip – 30 miles
As luck would have it the bike does not start. The electrical issues that got me in Atlanta were back. Now the question was could I fix it with a new battery or were there more severe electrical gremlins at work. After making a few calls I found an independent mechanic that thinks he might… Read more
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Piedmont to Coastal Plain: 300 miles
At this point I’ve lost the sense of what “Monday” means with nearing three weeks on the road. It’s strange to have the bike in Georgia, sort of an out of place thing even though I enjoy having my own set of wheels. The bike seems to be running just fine. With the battery issues… Read more
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Another Go at It
Today I had more of the same fun I did yesterday. It was good to be in Georgia on Father’s Day to celebrate with my Dad. The lake was really down this year. Atlanta was in a drought. It took a bit of wrangling with the “tickets” to ensure that everyone believed why I was… Read more
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North Georgia. . . As good as I remember It (100 miles)
It was Father’s Day so I needed to pick up a card & gift for Dad as I didn’t have much room on the bike to carry it. I wound up getting a foam roller from Relax the Back Store in town. I’ve found a foam roller to be really helpful in helping me to… Read more
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Catching up on life..
The first order of business was to get my eye checked. I had an 8:30 appointment so it was up early and off to get checked. The infection was a stye, and a reasonably aggressive one at that. The problem though is that all I could really do is let it run its course. No… Read more
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Murfreesboro, TN to Atlanta, GA – 252 Miles
My eye was not doing well. I have a solid bump on the eyelid that is painful to close. It wasn’t materially worse than it was last night, but not better either. I really wanted to get up to Deal’s Gap in western North Carolina, but not sure how to deal with my eye. If… Read more
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Olive Branch, MS to Murfreesboro, TN – 280 Miles
You’d think I’d sleep well every night as I’m tired from riding. Not so. Actually I’ve slept less well this trip than I do usually. I’m not quite sure why. Maybe it’s the anticipation of the riding or being in an unfamiliar place. None the less, I slept great last night. I’m ready to tackle… Read more
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Eureka Springs, AR to Olive Branch, MS (330 Miles)
After a bad case of cabin fever I was ready to get on the road again. Unfortunately that stretch of US62 was as bad as it was on Sunday. I kept hitting slow traffic in one big rural sprawl along the whole highway. Some 60 miles later, things become really rural again. I picked up… Read more
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Stranded – 0.5 Miles (0 net)
Sunday Evening the weather forecast came in that today was going to have bad weather all day. There were severe storms coming our way. If I leave today, I’ll follow in them. Staying a day lets them go by. I decide to stay. It was horrific being stuck in that room all day. The weather… Read more
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Around Eureka Springs – 85 miles (0 net)
The folks from last night invited me to breakfast down at the buffet. They have GRITS! Real grits! I’m the only Japanese bike rider in the whole motel, so needless to say, I stick out. Every few days I have to do a bit of bike work. The last major spot was up in Denver,… Read more
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Salina, KS to Eureka Springs, AR – 400 Miles
Wow… what a difference a day makes. I open up the door from my motel room and wow the heat and humidity is stifling. I need to go jogging as I’ve been idle the past few days so I start with a 2-3 mile run to get the blood moving. There are plenty of dirt… Read more
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Boulder, CO to Salina, KS – 521 miles
Leaving Colorado and the Rocky Mountains behind, the ride is going to be different. I had plans to be out the door by 6:30 but with staying up a bit later than expected, I actually didn’t get rolling until 8:30. I had hoped to beat the heat of the day, but alas, I may get… Read more
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Around Boulder – 0 Miles
The rains were coming and Jeff and Maureen live here so I’m taking two days off the bike to chill and hang out with them. Jeff was able to take Wednesday off, so we got to do a bit of exploring by car which was a nice change. We drove up to Rocky Mountain National… Read more
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Montrose, CO to Boulder, CO – 300 miles
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take one or two days to get to Boulder. Colorado was going to be some of the most technical but rewarding parts of the trip. Montrose sits at 5500 feet and Monarch Pass is just over 11,000 feet. Given the height of the pass, I decided to take… Read more
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Torrey, UT to Montrose, CO – 345 miles (320 net)
This day was the pinnacle of inefficiency. Despite the fact that I’ve been on the road for a few days, this was the first day of warm weather that I was carrying all my stuff. Stuff would not go in the right places in the saddlebags. I had to take care of some things at… Read more
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Cedar City, UT to Torrey, UT – 210 miles
I was mixed in where to go to next. I knew I could make good mileage if I went 89 to 24. I figured Bryce National Park might be a good stop, but it would cost me in mileage. In the end, I figured take it slow through Utah as there is a lot of… Read more
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Around Cedar City – 145 Miles (0 net miles)
Today was my day off. I wanted to keep the mileage low so that I had sort of a rest day during the first chunk of the trip. Utah has an amazing number of national parks, so I figured I’d use today to see at least one. The morning was spent catching up on email,… Read more
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Austin, NV to Cedar City, UT – 375 Miles
Gustavo and Colin are much earlier risers than I am, but they seemed content to hang around a bit longer for an 8:30am departure. The morning was crisp and clear with no rain in the forecast for the day. US-50 was a nice ride over the Austin Summit down into the next valley. Eureka (I… Read more
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Sunnyvale, CA to Austin, NV – 427 miles
What a start to the day. I didn’t sleep very well last night because of, well the anticipation of today. I can say now that I’ve got the first day behind me and while not w/o its challenges, I’m on my way. Morning called early (for me at least), 7am. Breakfast & shower, check. After… Read more
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Time is consantly going….
The reality that I’m leaving has now hit me hard. They say that time is a unidirectional vector that moves at the pace of about 24 hours every day. With all the planning and prep that has gone into this trip, it’s hard to believe I’ll be leaving tomorrow. Anel has be great and patient… Read more
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Nacimiento-Fergusson: The one goat trail I wanted to ride
Nacimiento-Fergusson Road has been sitting in the back of my mind for a while now. After seeing it on Pashnit I knew it was just a matter of time. It was a matter of time before I’d get down there to ride it. Not if; when. I won’t say I’m one for goat trails, but… Read more
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The Oh Dark Thirty Ride – Easter Sunday
Part of me (well a lot of me) felt odd telling Anel that I was going to bed at 9pm on a Saturday night, but the morning was quickly coming. I wanted to tell myself it was so early, but too many things made this year the year: A full moon, dry roads, no rain..… Read more
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The Long Haul Home
Today was the pinnacle day of the trip. It’s odd that the day home would be such an event, but for me it was. I’d been a bit nervous on doing 500 miles in one day as the max I’d done was 400. In that day I was exhausted and this was 100 more. In… Read more
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Off the bike
After three full days on the bike, it was nice to have a day off. While it was not a riding day, it was a full day none the less. We had more a few photographers on the trip, some by trade and some by hobby. A few of us got up at oh dark… Read more
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Toolling around
Day three things start to relax. It was plenty warm in the park. The plan is to see most of the park’s major sites: Zabriske Point, Dante’s View, Badwater Basin, the Amargosa Opera House, and Artist Palette. As I started to get to know the park, I quickly began to appreciate it more. Being under… Read more
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Into the Valley of Death
Day two starts early as well (I sense a theme here) and we’re headed off to Death Valley. We climb out of Bakersfield over a small pass. As we head down the pass, you can see the Kern Canyon out in the distance. The caverns loom out there and the morning sun illuminates the whole… Read more
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Running down the coast
Last year the trip to Death Valley came and went and I decided not to go. I regretted that decision and was determined to go this year. I’ve wanted to start going on trips that have more miles per day and this seemed like a good trip to start. The last day was 500 miles,… Read more
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Project365 commencement
I’ve started a new project in November called Project365. The idea behind it is taking a photo a day for one year. Being a leap year, it’s more like Project366, but 365 works better for me. Some folks do a theme each month or something of similar sorts to keep the project interesting to keep… Read more
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Back at home: Finding both Loneliness and Solitude
For the past few months I’ve been reading this Easternesqe book of wisdom called “Wabi Sabi: the Art of Everyday Life”. One of the things that resonated with me was this quote concerning aloneness: Language has created the word ‘loneliness’ to describe the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to… Read more
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Heading West
It’s time to head home. It was great to see such varied countryside and have 900 miles under my belt with about another 300 to go. There was snow for Lake Tahoe in the forecast. Odd thing was that in Tahoe it was 60 degrees and sunny. Not exactly snowy weather. Well, being smart, I… Read more