Equipment.

As said before, I am not a wealthy lady. I work a lot, I work very hard, but I by no means have money to just blow on fancy cycling equipment. It would be nice to have a proper touring bike with both front and rear panniers, shmancy hi-tech camping gear, etc...but I don't...so i'll get by with what I have. I ride a Diamondback Century (see left)...classified as a straight-bar road bike ...whatever. I paid 260 dollars for this bike and I haven't been let down. 24 speeds, great for climbing hills, attachments for both front and rear racks, very, very, very light. I have confidence that this bike will work. I've read about people touring farther distances on lower caliber bikes.

For this tour I am going to try to carry as little as I can, but still I have some limits. I have a pair of rear panniers (decent sized) that I got for 35 dollars from two very very nice friends (ahem Jaime and Ian). I have a small/light 1.5 person tent that has some waterproofing issues....but nothing that cant be fixed with some seam sealant. I have limited cycling clothing, a helmet (i would like a better one). I have some blinky lights....but I don't think you can have too many...better to be like a rolling disco. That's it...So here's my list that I will be hopefully whittling down over the next few months:

fenders
handle bar bag (and/or front rack with panniers)
rear rack bag
tarp (small)
sleeping bag (zero degree)
second set of bike pants
wind jacket (shell)
balaclava
shoes covers
socks
rain gear
magnesium flint stick
thin/strong rope
maps
helmet
first aid kit
Multi-tool
h2o bladder
h2o bottles
inflation device
extra tubes
extra lock
compass
batteries (for lights)
headlamp

simple bike computer

I am a little concerned that I will not be able to put fenders on this bike...which will make riding in wet conditions a little....wet. I suppose I will have someone look at my bike sometime soon.

Welp, back to the real world of work.

November 30th 2010

So I started riding bicycles in college. Wait, thats not exactly correct.....when I was 5. Recently moving to Asheville I have rekindled my romance with the two-wheeled machines. It is intimidating riding around this town, not because of cars....because everyone else has more money than I do. I honestly have never owned a bike that costs more that 400 dollars. Even my current bike only cost me 260....used once, still had prickly things on the tires. I added a few pieces of course, rear rack, blinkies, panniers, and a gel seat cover (to protect my luscious ass). In my tiny world, this bike is everything to me. It has 24 gears, weighs less than 10 lbs (stripped down), and as I cruise by the Asheville upper class riding there 2000+ road bikes...they can eat my smoke.

SO, I've taken up commuting via bike as much as possible. I am working up the courage to commute to work. Both of my jobs are located off busy roads....however to the NC DOT they are somehow considered cycling routes. Anyhow, more on that to come.... A few years ago I lived in Greenville NC, went to college and commuted back and forth to class (several times per day) on my bike. I also ran most errands on my bike as the car I had was not quite working well. One day as I biked to the Tipsy Teapot to study biochemistry, I thought "wouldn't it be neat to travel the world on a bicycle?" This was before I had even heard of bicycle touring....and anything much beyond organic molecules at that time of my life.

A few years later, while reading a BITCH magazine I stumbled upon an article about a girl who road coast to coast across the US on a 3 speed bike! "Holy shit, I want to do that" I said. Married at the time, my husband had HUGE objections to me being gone for 3 months alone on a cycling trip across the country. Martial problems aside, I put the idea back in a box and left it for a bit. Some other things happened....and I am no longer married....weee!

Alright, present day. I am at a point in my life where I can make choices. I have no children to support (just dogs) no husband to be considerate of, so there is no reason that i can't train and prepare myself for something crazy. However I am making a compromise....I am not cycling across the US (not yet). May 21st-June 4th 2011 I will bike 700 miles from Murphy-Manteo NC.....straight across the state of North Carolina. When did I decide this? Yesterday. Why? Because there is nothing stopping me and it gives me something to work toward. More later, I have to get to work.