Bikes

Here's my first post explaining why I'm riding and why donating to Water Life Hope builds strong bodies 12 ways.

Ed the bus offers limited space for bike storage.  Keeping the bikes inside solves both weather and security issues that can derail a tour.  So everyone has to pick one bike.  This may not sound like a great difficulty if you are someone who owns a single bicycle.

Carol's ebike on tour

Owning a single bicycle, however, is uncommon amongst habitual bicycle touring people, at least those who aren't full-timers.  There is a well-known mathematical formula for the number of bikes appropriate for any given person.  Each person needs to have N + 1 bicycles, where N equals the number of bicycles currently owned.

Different bikes do different things.  I, for example, have two touring bikes one of which morphed into a gravel bike for the Middle Georgia Epic and may stay that way.  After that there is a road bike, a  folding bike, a cargo bike and a rain bike.  Towards the back of the bike shed there's a previous cargo bike waiting to be disassembled, the parts to be donated to deserving individuals.  And then there are the tandems.  Worth noting that I have no car.  And that I'm thinking about fat bikes (N + 1).

The folder in action 

All of my bikes have a purpose.  The cargo bike, for example, is a grocery-getter and general bike about town.  When the old living room rug needed to go to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore I bungeed it to the back of the cargo bike and off it went.  My last jaunt on the Seattle-to-Portland (STP)  was accomplished with the road bike.   One of the folders both morphs across a wide range of sizes and goes into a suitcase.  It has had quite a career: Paris, Hawaii, Cuba, Serbia and more.

The new touring bike was purchased for my peripatetic retirement, especially for the upcoming cross-country tour.  It was a very spiffy bike when it arrived, upgraded yet more on delivery courtesy of Matthew.  My retirement bike is a splendid touring bike, made for stability, carrying capacity and all-day riding comfort.  So my choice is simple.

Steve has only single three bikes, along with his interest in the tandems.  He rides an e-bike almost exclusively.  The e-bike was purchased with this trip in mind as well, even though it would have been cost-effective with or without the trip.  It has expanded his biking horizons in ways we could never have anticipated.  Throughout much of our marriage Steve has biked to be nice to me.  Steve's New York childhood didn't allow cycling to be part of the fabric of his childhood.  As an adult long rides were tedious for him at best.  The e-bike makes hills disappear and allows the wind to at least appear to be always at his back.  It's fun, and it makes our rides together joyous.  His choice, too, is simple.  And since his mileage is anticipated to be minimal his e-bike charging requirements are minimal.

Carol, on the other hand, has a more difficult task.  She has several bikes appropriate to the tour.  Since we probably won't need to carry panniers she could ride her road bike.  Or she could ride the touring bike she was intending to ride when we met.  The riding available to Carol, however, is on the Silver Comet Trail (SCT).  For most of its length the SCT is relatively flat.  She tried Steve's e-bike on a ride to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, much hillier terrain.  It gave her the ability to ride as though she had been touring for years.  An e-bike identical to Steve's appeared not long after, and she dreamed of it rolling up Bicycle Route 66.

Unlike Steve, however, her mileage will be significant.  It's a 2900-mile ride.   That means batteries are a major issue.  She bought a second (very expensive) battery.  Bicycle Route 66 traverses some of the most remote areas in the country, remarkably short of outlets.  Although her other bikes might carry less anxiety they don't boost confidence the way the ebike does.  And there can only be one.  So Carol is pitching in on trip planning, scouting places to keep her power going.

This trip has been a long time coming.  Business concerns, injury and common household issues conspired to delay the launch.  We added Steve and Ed the bus, and everyone changed bikes.  The trip started as an abstract idea, a shapeless sort of thing.  It fits the people going now.  Just about time to take off.