"Never Say No to Adventure" : 2014

Monday, September 1, 2014

My baby is home! Putting the #biketour ride back together, with my Xtracycle in the background. If only I could ride them both at once!

Monday, August 25, 2014

Weight Loss

I was looking at summer photos from the bike tour and found evidence of my shrinking upper body. It appears 0-1,000 miles I mostly lost fat, then 1,000 - 4,064 miles I started losing significant amounts of muscle (my legs were growing just as fast, so maybe it all just moved south.) The shirt did also stretch some. Total weight loss was only 10 lbs, thanks in part to leg muscle mass.

Home, McDonald Pass in Montana, Last day of RAGBRAI in Guttenberg, Last day in Cedar Falls.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Why I Tour

"Because I was alone, however, even the mundane seemed charged with meaning. The ice looked colder and more mysterious, the sky a cleaner shade of blue. The unamed peaks towering over the glacier were bigger and comelier and infinitely more menacing than they would have been were I in the company of another person. And my emotions were similarly amplified: The highs were higher; the periods of despair were deeper and darker." - Jon Krakauer, describing his solo accent of Devil's Thumb in Alaska in Into the Wild.

This will be my last wordy post for this particular adventure. I've decided to combine my last two into one. I'll still post here with other adventures, but this one is wrapping up. Thanks for reading and getting to know me. If you were to pick a post to read entirely in order to learn about me, this would be the one. I'm sorry about the mispellings, apparently I can't function like an adult without spell check.

One of the most frequent things that people asked me when I met them on this tour, besides the puzzlingly ubiquitus "how many tires have you gone through?" was "Why are you doing this?"

I just don't know how to answer that. I feel obligated to try and give an answer that the asker will accept, but frankly, if you have to ask then you won't get it without a long discussion. I say things like "because it's fun" and inevitably the asker doesn't accept my answer. They try and get more... but nothing will satisfy them. Nothing I can say will fit into their paradigm or world view. I must be insane, have suffered a loss, be doing this for charity, or sacrificing in some way for me to do something so outside their accepted view of what a person would do. But I'm none of those things. I'm a traveler, and travelers travel. It's as simple as that.

That being said, if you know me then you have a chance of understanding, even if you live in a different world than I do. If you've been reading this blog all summer, and I've done an adequate job as a writer, you do know me. Or at least you know the person I've decided to project to you while tired late at night typing on a tiny keyboard in a mosquito filled city park. Good enough. We are all the same, after all - and if I do this right you'll find some of me in you and that's how you'll understand why I bike tour.

There are several reasons. I will list them here.

1) I tour because some things are worth doing just because they are hard. Doing something like this gives me the ability to do anything else I want in life. It makes me mentally and physically hard. It allows me to do the impossible.

Doing something like this mines the stone that I build my twin life pillars of strategic over-confidence and tactical self-delusion out of.

This is the Alexander Supertramp Into the Wild aspect of why I tour - but really this tour wasn't that hard. If my main motivation was an Into the Wild level self-test I'd have toured Africa, or gone without a cell phone, or not blogged daily to relieve my loneliness. My first tour in 2003 was a self-test - with my crappy equipment and naivety - but the only thing new for me on this trip was the solititude. I knew what I was doing, was well prepared, and had tremendous confidence backed up by real tested ability. Touring paved roads in the US isn't hard for someone with experience. (except for the being solo part)

So, while I did do this trip to test myself, that was not the main reason. When I tour the Great Divide off-road trail next, then we'll talk about a mental and physical test that is new to me.

2) I tour to re-affirm my faith in humanity. Now, much more than in my 2003 and 2007 tours, we are living in a world where we are told that we are all different. We are told that the country is hopelessly divided. We are told that we hate each other.

This is bullshit. I knew this was bullshit before my trip because of my past trips (especially 2007). I needed to make sure this was still true.

70-80% of the people I met I think were conservative christians. This is because I primarily stayed in small rural towns. I'm not a conservative christian. I'm sorry if you are one of the people I met in those towns reading this now and this is upsetting. I purposefully did not talk politics on this trip because I didn't want that to get in the way of me getting to know you as a person. I didn't correct people's assumptions about me because they didn't matter to me. I don't find being thought of as something I'm not insulting, because being something different from me is NOT BAD.

We are all the same. We might disagree on things, but we are the same. We are all born. We all die. We all love. And, if you are one of the many people who selflessly helped me on my trip, knowing nothing about me, you have proof that we are both good people.

I deliberately sought out people who were ideologically different from me on this trip (although it would be hard to avoid them). I listened to them. I learned from them. I became good friends with some of them. If this seems wrong or difficult to you stop watching the news and start listening to people like me. Those people on TV are making money off your fear and hate. Stop letting them and start getting to know that "evil person" next door. Get off the polarizing hatebook if you need to, and get into the real world where real people are good to each other.

Listen to your grandparents and avoid conversations about religion and politics until after you'd made friends with someone. Then learn from each other instead of arguing like middle schoolers.

Another question I was asked frequently was if I ever got bothered by sketchy people or if I carried a gun. Now, I understand that my male, white privilege has something to do with this, as well as my staying in small towns, but in 3 seperate 4,000 mile bike trips I've never had to deal with a sketchy or scary person once. Not once. I've only met nice people. Period.

3) To learn about the world (or just the US in this case). A place is only half it's scenery. The other half is the people who live there and their ways of life. When in a car you go through an area too fast, and you aren't special enough to warrant attention. When you come through on a bike people talk to you and invite you into their home. Then I learn. There isn't much more to explain here, but this is a huge reason of why I do what I do.

4) I tour because I never say no to adventure. This is the biggest reason, and it will the hardest to explain.

There is a unique and lovely state of being, an existence, that can only be reached by multiple days on the road. It's like crossing an ocean or going through a train tunnel. The trip must be sufficiently long enough to enter the tunnel and then no-longer see the beginning or the end. Time slows down. Days became weeks. Weeks become months. You change.

You become a traveler. A rolling stone. An object in motion that stays in motion. You gain a momentum that is just... powerful.

This existence becomes everything you've ever done and will do. When you are so deep in the tunnel that the beginning is ancient history and the end is an impossible to predict future, your life becomes eternal.

Personal redefinition is required. You adapt and that adaptation forces the release of all that is fake, extra, or superfluous in your life.

When you hear people talk about wanderlust, this is what many of them are lusting after. It's impossible for someone to really understand unless they've done something similar - a long bike tour, hiking the appalacian trail, etc.

This narcotic takes an incredible investment of time and energy. A small tour doesn't do it. RAGBRAI? A three day hike up the McKenzie? A 12 day trip around Oregon on a bike? Not long enough. The tunnel just isn't long enough. You never reach a point where you can't see either side. There is no unknown blackness in front of you, where you don't know how everything is going to unfold, and when you look back near the end of your trip you can account every day easily. That doesn't do it. It helps to be going somewhere you've never been. I don't even think a month long trip would do it; I think 60 days might be the least amount of time possible unless it's in a really foreign area. Then there are those who tour much longer - years - I can't even imagine...

Those shorter adventures are still amazing and worth doing, but they don't give you ... it. They don't give you the feeling of... it's not a feeling... they don't change you mentally and physically into someone else. Forever.

I love going to this place, but I also love other things. I love Iris. I love other types of adventures. Like with everything in life, I need I go here in moderation. Because of the extreme time investment I must say no to other adventures to say yes to this one... but this high can only be achieved in one way and I am hopelessly addicted.

Next time I go here I hope Iris will be with me, although I doubt she's interested in the Great Divide trail. At least that's shorter and will be less of a time investment, yet because it's much more isolated and I don't know what to expect I should be able to reach the existance in less time. But leaving her for any length of time is hard. I've never bike toured without her waiting at home for me, even way back in 2003. She is my rock. My ocean.

Well there you have it. This is why when someone whom I've just met asks me with a look of "you're crazy" on their face why I bike tour, I shrug and say "because it's fun," and they never believe me.

I bike tour because I am Seager, and Seager goes on bike tours.

ILYI

Iowa City to Cedar Falls photos

As usual, these are hella out of order.

One of the trails into Cedar Falls.

Iowa Prettiness... there are lots of these.

More Cedar Falls trals. They do a great job on their trails, just they don't go anywhere useful for commuting.

This is where the trail ended (coming towards me) when I was growing up. I'm about 3 miles from home.

More Cedar Falls trails, near the end of the day.

The Rails to Trails between Garrison and Dysert. If it's loose enough to write on... well..

DONE!

The Garrison-Dysert trail started nice....

Iowa Prettiness... there are lots of these.

This underpass near my house in CF is new. I used to have to run across this road, and before that this whole area was a corn field.

The Garisson-Dysert trail was pretty... I got swarmed by bees while taking this picture though.

Two signs in the middle of nowhere with dogs speaking spanish... I'm not sure why.

Iowa Prettiness... there are lots of these.

Home! (old home)

Iowa Prettiness... there are lots of these.

I forgot which town this is, but I think I juggled in this town on RAGBRAI once.

There is a new bike bridge near my house too... that goes nowhere....

Old home! The trees were smaller when I was there.

Iowa Prettiness... there are lots of these.

Garrison, the town with no drinkable water.

The Garrison-Dysert trail might have sucked, but it was pretty.

When I was about 12-14 and they first built this path there was a farm near where that Target was. My buddy and I got in trouble for playing in the farmer's sheds. Now the entire place is a Target.

"The shadows are getting long, George."

Castle Church!

Iowa Prettiness... there are lots of these.

This is why traveling west near the end of the day is sketchy. Cars have trouble seeing you.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Iowa City to Cedar Falls: Final Exam

If ever a bike tour had a comprehensive final exam, this was it. Super long (107 miles) headwinds all day, 4,000 feet of climbing, rough seamed PMA (pound my ass) roads, a crappy bike trail, a town without drinkable water, swarming bees, questionable navigating, a flat tire, finishing after 8pm - the only thing this day didn't review was injuries, difficulty finding a place to stay, and heavy traffic.

That all said, it was one of my favorite days of the entire tour. Iowa is friggin' beautiful and picked a stellar route through it with very few cars. The super long day allowed me to get mental closure on the trip that a short day just woudn't have allowed for.

In the next few days I'll write around two more follow-up posts that summarize my thoughts on the tour. This one will just be a short (ha!) ride report.

I knew today was going to be hard. Mapped out to be 110 miles mostly North and West, with 10 mph WNW winds predicted, and about 4,000 feet of climbing in rolling hills. That's more climbing then some mountain pass days had.

It started due west with 12 miles of PMA roads. Terrible. Finally I got to my first stop at Williamsburg at 10:15am only 24.5 miles in with already 2:05 on bike. That's a terrible pace, but it was super hilly, windy, and the PMA roads were killing my mental game.

After some coffee and pizza the next sections heading north went well, but still slow paced. Including a poop break about mile 35, I made it to Garrison 66 miles in, 5:13 on bike, at 2:45pm. 5:13 on bike for 66 miles is very slow, normally that gets me close to 75 miles or more. Hills and wind folks, hills and wind!

Garrison turned out to be a run-down ghost town with no drinkable water, and I was all out. I found a lone local couple who gave me bottled water. Yay! They were interesting. The guy wore a gun and had a shirt that said "Hey vegeterian, my food poops on your food!" with an accompanying picture. So... that guy recommened this bike trail that would get me diagonal to the next town 10 miles away without taking a busy road. I was like "sure, why not, a change of scenery." I was an idiot.

The trail did save me about 3 miles, was pretty, and did avoid traffic, but it SUCKED. It started off nice, but soon turned into deep barely compacted crushed limestone. I was barely able to ride much of it. It was almost like trying to ride on the beach. To top it all off, whenever I stopped I was swarmed by bees trying to steal my moisture. Lots and lots and lots of bees. Plethoras even. I didn't get stung, but damn. That was a lot of bees.

I'm just going to come out and say it. Rails to Trails is stupid. 99% of the trails suck and even if they don't suck to start with, they aren't maintained. The Sparta to Elwood trail with the tunnels is the only Rails to Trail I've ever done that didn't suck. We should stop donating money to that stupid charity and put the money into smoothing out PMA roads and/or widening the shoulders of county roads. No-more crushed limestone bullshit between town trails. JUST SAY NO!

Anyway...

I got to Dysert at mile 75 with 6:01 on bike around 4pm. There I took about an hour break for cheese, donuts, milk, and beer. After that I attemped to push 30 miles into Cedar Falls, but was stopped 10 miles later to deal with a slow leaking front tire due to a valve-stem failure. Doh. Final exam, you got me again!

Finally I got onto the nice well paved bike trail network of Cedar Falls, which took some navigating because they are much different then when I last lived there. I grew up biking on Cedar Falls bike trails, but now there are many more, and the outskirts of town I used to ride in are now in the middle of town. Cedar Falls is growing fast. They are also very proud of their bike trails, which, if you are coming into town from outside of town are very handy. For local commuting, however, they are terrible because they don't go anywhere useful. CF is trying really hard to be a gold bike city, but they keep doing stupid stuff like building trails to nowhere (recreation only.)

Finally I got to my childhood home at 107 miles, 8:28 on bike (longest day yet) at 8:08pm. I did that 107 mile day in Montannna, but it took much less on bike time because the riding was easier. This was a really hard day. The headwinds lasted the entire 107 miles! The entire thing took me about 12 hours total with breaks. I don't remember taking 5 hours of breaks, but every picture stop and pee break adds up.

Riding into CF felt every bit as magic as riding up to the Atlantic Ocean has felt on past bike tours. Part of this is because I came in to town on trails I grew up riding as a kid. I'm a cyclist because of those trails that I rode almost every day, every summer, for many years. Often they were used just to get my friends and me out of town, or into off-road fun trails. I haven't been on those trails in probably 15-20 years.

Well... That's today, and I'm tired. I have a lot more to say, so if you are interested continue checking here for a few more days.

ILYI