Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
As I was leaving for the airport today, Nigel said that maybe our "huge" bike trip was going to go into the Guiness Book of World Records. When I told the guy at the bike shop that we were going to ride the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, he advised me to allow the full weekend.
Yeah. We're taking five days. But we're also TRAINING as we RIDE, a novel approach that means that nobody in the family has had more than 5-10 minutes of seat time on any given day in the last month.
Reminder to self: ask Tamsin if we can stop at a bike shop and buy some anti-chafing cream.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Trip Blog
The ten yellow rain ponchos came today from Monkey King.
They're *not* just like the yu yis from my mission. But somehow the smell is the same, and the feeling of the PVC on my arms brings back memories of water pouring over me in cascades as I rode through the inky blackness of typhoon season.
Western rain gear solutions are so...inferior. So expensive. So wasteful. And ultimately so disappointing. We'll see how the Monkey King fares vs. northern Idaho rain in just a week from today! And all for only $6.49 per cape, shipping included. I do have a few extra capes.
And man, do they put that WalMart rain poncho to shame! This is a serious rain solution.
On the flip side of frugal, I splurged for a couple of super light weight backpacker stools. Teri snorted and told me they were shaped exactly like a bike seat. Tom shook his head regretfully and told me that's how REI turns a cheap camping vacation into an expensive yuppy camping vacation without improving the experience. Camp stools: too small to be comfortable, too big to pack. And, he added, if I was planning to just toss those into the bike trailer HE was pulling I should think again. So they're going back to REI. I hope northern Idaho has some nice largish pieces of wood for sittin' around the campfire.
When he saw the camping towels, however, Tom became a big spender. I bought three and thought I would cut them in half. You know, save money, save space, save weight? When I lived in China, all I had for towel, wash cloth, and shower curtain was a little square less than the size of a dish towel. Tom voted that a 20 x 30 inch camping towel had already saved as much space and weight as needed to be saved and pointed out that I had plenty of extra space in my panniers.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
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