DIY

Where can I get info?

Adventurecycling.org :: maps, FAQ, official info, find a group
crazyguyonabike.com :: inspiring stories, photos, advice to be taken with a grain of salt

I'm still confused and scared and I want my Mommy!
read on, sucker....

3 BIGGEST MISTAKES TransAm Riders make

1. Taking too much stuff (more info below)
   
2. Taking too litle time
3. Doing it for the wrong reasons. Bikes are a great way to experience the country, not see every bit of it. If you want to see every national park and see every city on the way, you will be sorely dissapointed, and prolly won't make it. If you're not doing it because you want to pedal it to the other side, you will probably find yourself miserable.
   

Are those Adventure Cycling Maps worth it?
Absolutely. I'm a stingy SOB, but those maps are awesome. They tell you where there's food, camping, how to avoid death on roads of doom, where the hospitality secrets are, etc. Buy em.

Do I have to go West to East cuz of the winds?
Absolutely not. Like the Adventure Cycling site says, the winds on the flats come mostly out of the South, making it suck equally for both Eastbound and Westbound riders. We actually got more headwinds than tailwinds in Kansas and Nevada, but more crosswinds than anything.

20 mph crosswinds suck. The only way to avoid em is to get up at 3 in the morning when it's usually calm. A staggered paceline also works to a degree.


Are the Appalachains really harder than the Rockies?
I didn't believe it when I was told, but they really are due to the steepness. Other stuff that you might notta known:

• Nevada is not flat. Not the part we went through, anyways. It goes like this: 10 miles uphill, 10 miles downhill, 5 miles flat, repeat. All day.
• There are mountains everywhere. Except for Kansas. Appalachains, Ozarks, Sierras, Rockies, and a bunch of other ones. If anybody says "I think it's going to be mostly flat tomorrow" PEE ON THEIR TENT AND TELL EM TO SHUT IT. No seriously, there are uphills everywhere, embrace that fact or die.
• Guess what? Utah isn't flat either. Our longest climb was in Utah, not Colorado.
• LOCALS DON'T GIVE GOOD DIRECTIONS Not when it comes to bike routes anyways. We only got good directions TWICE in 2 months. Every other time, they led us down dangerous roads. People will try to give you directions. Just nod and smile.

How much water do I bring?
Bring at least 2 water bottles and some way to carry 2 more liters. In the long stretches between service in Utah and Nevada, I would STRONGLY recommend you bring AT LEAST 7 water bottles worth (5 liters/ 1.5 gallons). You can probably flag down someone for water, but me, being the jerk that I am, prefer to play it safe.

Don't bring a water filter. Bring some tablets for emergencies. Oh, by the way, there's nothing to purify in Nevada.

How do I train?
Ha! You silly silly individual. The training is the first week of riding. It's very unlikely that you, with your job and social life and all that jazz, can adequately prepare for the mileage you'll be doing.

However, it's a really good idea to go on an overnight trip and test out all your jazz before you leave. I didn't do that. My only training was riding to work and back and everywhere in between every day for a month (20 miles a day, maybe? 25 max).

Oh my gosh, you musta gone through like 50 tires!
No, I wore out my back tire after 3000 miles. I'm still riding my front tire, it must have 5500 miles on it. I replaced my chain after 3000. Never replaced brake pads or anything, though I would recommend carrying some spare. You will wear out stuff a lot faster if you don't properly inflate your tires, lube your chain, etc.

How long you take? How many miles a day?

Everybody asks this question and I just sigh. It varies, and you're largely at the mercy of the landscape and the distance between towns. If you're in good shape, and you've got an 70 pound bike (like I did at the end) expect to average no more than 70 miles a day. You want a rest day once a week, or you and butt will be miserable. A rest day does wonders for the soul. If you're traveling light (50-60 pound rig) you could likely do 80-90 mile days.

I look exactly 2 months to ride 4000 miles (TransAm+Western Express). Averaging around 66.6 miles a day. We actually started out doing 40-60 mile days and ended with 70-80s because we had to play catch-up. I would not recommend taking any less than 2 months. 3 would have been sweet and would have allowed for some side trips and tomfoolery.

What kinda bike do I need?
You can do it on an old 10 speed if you're a good mechanic and a strong rider. You can do it on a mountain bike if you're willing to work a lot harder. A standard road bike will work if you're prepared for broken rear spokes and maybe an aching back.

The best option is a touring bike with a triple chainring. As long as it's in good mechanical condition (any good bike shop can verify for you), you have a decent mechanical knowledge, and it has adequate cargo-carrying capacity, it's hard to go wrong.

What you bring?

WELL, I'm really glad you asked. This is VERY IMPORTANT, so read carefully. The key is weight: I recommend no more than 70 pounds (bike and gear combined, minus what you're wearing). If you really try, you could get away with around 60 total, and if you put some serious cash into lightweight stuff, 40lbs. Lighter weight individuals should definitely CARRY LESS.
I started out with around 85 pounds, and ended up dropping 10 pounds in Ridgway, after the sage advice of an Eastbounder named Sky. I never dropped my heavy Canon DSLR, pots + stove, and stash o grocery store food. By dropping these items, I could have sent my front panniers home and saved another 8-ish.

I really had no problem with hauling all the weight up the hills. But my body did. If I hadn't dropped the weight, my achilles might have ended the trip early for me. Literally, as soon as I dropped the 10 lbs in the middle of CO, the tendinitis stabilized, my knees were happier, and everything slowly got better.

SO, stuff I brought:

Bike:

• Surly Long Haul Trucker
• rear panniers: Old used Topeak (thanks Dr. Lee!!).
  
• front panniers : Deuter: not as flashy as Ortleib, but prolly lighter, and cheaper, and worked great for me
  
• Mirricycle handlebar mounted mirror (actually designed for MTBs, worked great, gave me (relative) peace of mind on deathnasty roads
• Cute lil bell, a necessity
• Speedometer: Specialized Speedzone Sport Wireless- easy to remove for shady areas/ when you don't want to look at it, I would recommend taking a speedometer to make map reading easier (you'll have a better idea of when turns are coming up, and if you missed one)
• Seat: Specialized Avatar. Make sure you get one that YOU LIKE! Or you shall suffer.
• Racks: Rear Axiom Streamliner, Front Axiom Lowrider (for the front, put the bolts in backwards, nut the end, so you won't be semi-screwed like I was when the bolt broke and I couldn't get it out)
• Lights: Cateye blinkies front and rear- used frequently
  

Clothes:

• Cycling shorts: 2 pair (dropped my third in CO) Specialized Pro and Comp.
  
• Jersey: one. (dropped 3rd in CO)
• Socks: 1 pair King Kong, 1 pair Wool-E-Boolie (dropped 3rd pr. in CO)
• Shoes: Specialized Sport MTB w/ BG high-arch footbeds (got rid of toe numbness, arch hurties)
• Gloves: Spec. Ridge Longfingers, Garneau cold weather (only used cold ones once in CO, but I woulda SUFFFERED without em)
• Rain Jacket: cheapie thing made out of stuff they make Doctor's surgery scrubs outa- breathable, waterproof, packable, cool. Buy it at the Spin Cycle.
  
• Rainpants: packable hiking things
  
• Halo headband- keeps sweat outa eyes n glasses
• Cheap sunglasses
• Giro Xen helmet w/visor (visor is helpful for rain + riding into the sunset)
• Off-bike shirt: western button up shirt, I'd recommend lighter colors
• Cargo shorts: I'd recommend a lighter fabric than the khaki material I wore
  

Sleeping stuff:

• Sleeping bag, Deuter 50 degree bag. NOT warm enough. Bought a cheap wool blanket and my friend Katlyn sewed it into a liner (I shoulda put a zipper in the liner to make getting in easier) Thanks Katlyn!. It gets down to upper 30s at higher alts in July+Aug.
• Sleeping pad: Thermarest inflatable (Thanks Rents!!)
• Dr. Lee's tent. Sent home in CO to save weight (it was a 2-man). Replace with tarp. I would recommend taking a lightweight one-man if you can afford it. I had a couple miserable nights in Cali and Utah due to the mosquito+heat combo. Sweat+buzzing+biting=no sleep.
• 8x10 all purpose tarp (picked up in CO). Lightweight camping tarps are available.

Foodstuff

• MSR whisperlite stove, tank+ regulator (Thanks Lee!!)
  
• Small MSR stainless pot + lid (sent home 2nd pot in set home in CO)
• Random groceries
• Tough string to hang food in tree for bear country (bearboxes not always provided)
• Fork, Spoon, pocketknife (I used kept the knife in my jersey pocket and used it at least a dozen times a day)
• Military can opener (lost it and bought dollar store thing cuz I knew I'd just lose another)

Tools:

• Multi-tool w/hex + flathead screwdriver
  
• Chain breaker + a few extra SRAM links
• 8 + 10mm open ended wrenches for racks+fenders
• Spoke tool
• Tire levers (Pedros are the best, trust me)
• Frame pump (don't take a dinky little thing. you will be using the pump every couple days or your tires will be worn after a few weeks)
• Extra cables, spokes+nipples, rack bolts
• Touring cassette tool (allows removal without chain whip)
• Old school patch kit, NOT glueless! (I recommend packing 2 kits into one box)
  
• At least 2 extra tubes
• Extra folding-bead tire
  
• Rock N Roll chain lube
  

I used every tool I took, though I only needed the spoke tools and cassette tool to repair others' bikes. I had to borrow a leatherman to fix my mangled front fender. (Thanks Sean!!)

You'd be surprised as how few bike shops there are out there. Many bike shops won't have a touring tire or even a fatter 700c tube in stock, so call ahead if you're counting on it.


Hydration:

• 2 water bottles. (24oz standards: insulated bottles won't do you much good)
  
• 3 liter Deuter reservoir, very nice to have
• filled up 32 oz powerade bottle in UT and NV when we had not services for 60-plus miles. Drank everything.
  

Random Junk:

• Canon SD1000 camera, charger, cable (bought extra SD card in KS)
• Canon Rebel camera, charger, cable, polarizer filter + extra battery (sent home bat + filter in CO, never used either)
• iPod nano (put in wash, broke)
• mp3 player given to me by me aunt (thanks Auntie!!) (sent home cuz I figured I'd have plenty of music when I got back, so I'd see how I did without. Did pretty well.)
• MSR water filter (sent home, never used- in dry areas, there's almost nothing to filter)
• iodine water-filtration tablets (emergency backup, never used, but tiny and light)
• Gore-tex sack for food bear-proofing (sent home, used pannier instead)
• Needle and thread, used to repair panniers, clothes
• 3 bungees, did the trick. Woulda been nice to have one of them cargo nets
• Handkerchief- useful for all kindsa mess including napping, bread holding, pantleg tying, waving round your head like a helicopter, etc. (Thanks Anne!!)
• Pepper spray- for dogs and dog-like humans. Thankfully, never used.
• Shoelace- tied around seat tube- just in case. Used as belt when I lost mine.
• Electrical tape wrapped around seat tube, helpful. I should have brought some duct tape, too.
• Pen+paper for doodling, writing stuff, etc.
• Colored pencils (sent home in CO)
• Good book (On the Road, Unbearable Lightness of Being, etc.)
• SMALL lightweight cable lock. Most places are very low-key, no need for a giant chain or u-lock.
• Ziploc bags
  

WOW, I think that's it. As soon as we rolled over the Golden Gate, we were blasted with a nice freezing wall of air. I got some jeans, a hoodie, and a U-lock to protect me from the savage SF bike theives.



What the heck ya eat?

Grocery stores. They're sweet. Bring a lightweight camping stove that can run off of unleaded (there won't be much kerosene to be had) and you can eat like a king. When you go through town, pick up some goodies to cook. Just make sure you don't weigh yourself down with too many turkeys.

If you have multiple people, split the cooking equipment and food among you, to save weight and room. We invented something called the food fund. Everybody puts 10 bucks in, you buy communal meal foodstuffs with it, and you replenish it when necessary. No need to figure out how much each person owes and all that garbage.

Many people travel without stoves. Guess what? You can eat cold soup! Restaurants work too, they just get expensive fast.

Other revelations: Nutella, peanut butter, cheese (stays fresh for 2 or 3 days in the burning hot sun), jelly (good for a week), honey (NEVER GOES BAD)


Where the heck ya sleep?
Anywhere you can manage. If you're on the route, people around town will likely know where most of the cyclists sleep.

What if nobody knows? Or they tell you something that sucks, like the expensive RV park down the road or a luxury hotel? Churchyards are good. Schools. Fire stations. Most of the times, it's good to ask. If there's nobody around, just set up. If it's shady, slip in after dark.

When we were off route in the beginning, and people weren't used to seeing cyclists come through, a lot of people let us camp out in there yards. Hospitality will surprise you. Just don't look like a creep.

$$$

After all the random expenses that came up (bike stuff that I already had but had to buy again, hotels, ferry rides,etc.) and 10 days in the extremely expensive San Fransisco, I thought I was way over my $3,075 budget, which included the bike, all purchased equipment, food, lodging, plane tickets, and $500 for 'random crap.'

Turns out I was right at budget, spending between $3000 and $3150. (Breakdown below.) Not any more expensive than living and going to NCSU full time. The way I look at it, I got a free bike and a lot of useful junk out of the deal, too, since I'll be commuting all over the place on the bike.

Approx Costs: Stuff Total 1412 Trans,Lodging Total 382 Food Total 1363 Actual Total Purchases 06/02-08/14 1860 Actual Purchases+Bike n Equipment 2999

(Stuff includes bike, equipment, repair stuff on the road, care package and shipping, U-lock and stuff purchased in SF, books)
(Trans includes tickets and FedEx for stuff back home)

State-by-State stereotypes

Virginia: is for lovers, and friendly people, and the Confederacy. Appalachains ouch, awesome swimming holes, never ending state, watch out for heat stroke due to humidity. Best descent of the trip, without question. Dagum racoons, where'd my bagels go?

Kentucky: unbridled spirit (and they really mean it), Hazard KY was a nightmare, watch out for coal trucks, still steep like VA.

Missouri: no, you can't just roll up the backside of every hill, but they are a little nicer than the Apps. Surprisingly pretty. Enjoy the green while it lasts.

Illinois: no, it's not flat, although it starts to get there. Um, that's about it.

Kansans: purty damn flat, though not a pancake. Crosswinds galore. Friendliest people ever. Nicest drivers anywhere- got so many waves we felt like celebrities. Ask nicely, and you can get into a ton of the pools for free, use showers in parks, camp for free, etc. City parks almost always have a park you can camp in for free. Enjoy.

Colorado: Goodbye flat, climb for hours, descend for a lil bit, amazing views, goobye friendliness and free stuff, hello terrible tourist drivers and tiny shoulders. Cold at high altitudes. Snow for Eastbound riders. Not just green mountains, desert-like stuff, too. The scenery made up for any shortcomings, which is saying a lot.

Utah: most varied terrain of all. Longest climbs, steepest descents, roller coaster roads, tons of motorcycles, expensive camping. Unbelievable terrain, lots of thorns, no toilet paper.

Nevada: most boring state ever. Huge sky, sleep under the stars, quitest roads ever, roads to nowhere. NOT FLAT. Winds suck. They don't go away at night, so don't even try. Last day in Nevada was beautiful. Supposedly, most westbounders that don't make it quit here.

California: Surreal beauty. Vineyards. 4000 ft descent (mostly). Watch out for bears. Second best descent of the trip. Not enought time in Cali. Davis, CA: bike heaven, my favorite town. San Fran, baby.


Random thoughts

• Make sure you'll have some way to get a care package out to you, wherever you may be. Just address it: "Your name, Care of Post Office XXX, Town, State, Zip" It's prolly a good idea to call the post office to make sure it's okay. Don't expect it to get there on time, so send it before you need it, and don't get there before it does.
• You're not soloing Everest. You don't need flint, flare guns, oxygen, etc.
  
• Know how to put your food, toothpaste, and cookware in a tree, for bear country.
• Pepper spray is more effective against angry grizzlies than firearms, no matter what the good ol boys say
  
• You don't need DEET. Never used it.
• Go nuts. Do something stupid. Talk to people. Ride and smile.
  

Final words
The TransAm is not a pleasure cruise. (It's not a race, either.) If you aren't 100% committed you probably shoudln't do it. It will suck sometimes. It will hurt. No matter how much you research and prepare, you will forget things, and things will go wrong. There will be times when you think you can't do it, no matter how much you want to.

If you want to do it, you will make it, and it will be more than you ever expected it to be. Send me some pictures, okay? I miss the road.



Love,
Steven Valenziano



Yeah

The End of the Road

Home.

HEY LINDA!! Dirty me in the clothes I'd been wearing for the past 10 days, antes de sweaty nap, buzz cut, showering, riding over to The Spin Cycle to say heyyyyyy.

Last meal in San Fran with Parker

Something about King something. I told you I had to pee.On the flight home, I felt like a little kid with my nose glued to the window until I drifted off to sleep. It was my first time flying, and I was stunned by the beauty of the night cityscapes. Into the distance, they seemed to burn on a sea of black. I woke up around 2 to see some really wierd landscape. I couldn't tell if I was looking at trees. I didn't think so, since we were way too high for them to be that big. It took me 5 minutes to realize they were clouds.

Flight: 10PM Pacific Aug 12th ---- 9 AM Eastern Aug 13th. About 6 hours of flying, and I traversed the country that I'd spent the past 2 months crossing.

The journey has come to an end.

After a beautiful day tooling around San Fran, a night at the Green Tortoise, and a day in Berkeley getting all my stuff boxed, lazing around, and packing some more, Halley helped me out big time by helping me haul one of my boxes down to FedEx Kinko's.

10 or so agonizing blocks later, we'd hauled my bike box, and a box stuffed with the rest of my stuff, taped em up for the last time (after saying goodbye to my dearest ride), and payed the $115 to Ground them to Cary. Maybe I can blame my stomach or my toe or something, but Halley definitely had an easier time carrying her share, which was just as big as mine. Way to make me feel lame Halley :)

After a whole lotta essay writing for her John's Hopkins med school app, Halley is heading home Thursday.

Across the bay on the subway, and crippled without my bike, I limped around Pier 1 and sat in the grass, looking at the tourists, traffic, bikes, and the rest of humanity speeding by in the sun and wrote and drew the afternoon away. I met Parker at Cafe Treiste, munched on a somewhat dissapointing sandwich, with the sun in my eyes, coming in low through the window, casting a warm glare on everything.

I limped 7 more blocks to the BART again, checked into the sci-fi like SFO Airport, went through security smoothly (but not without some deep breathing to deal with the smoke-breath woman behind me who couldn't stop complaining and standing way too close to me), looked in vain for a place to send me postcards, forgot the Nalgene Parker gave me on a bench, and found my window seat on the US Airways flight.

The stomach thing started bothering me again on the flight. It's getting annoying.

Richard and Mom picked me up at the aeropuerto, and soon we were speeding through the roads I've known for so many years.

I plan on posting the following things in the next couple days as a wrap-up to this blog:

• Trans-Am Rider's Guide: tips and junk that I consider extremely valuable, and which I did not find in my research prior to embarking in June
• Stitched Panoramic photos of the country. Woulda done it before, but didn't have the proper software.
• More photos, stuff I didn't ever manage to put up
• Short lil video?
• Rider bios? Short descriptions/photers of the people I rode with.
  

By the numbers. everybody loves numbers.

6 soft things: number of beds/couches I slept on in the first 2 months before arriving in San Fran

4000 miles: I rode at least this far. My computer broke at around 3100, in Utah. Halley's read over 4000 by SF.

350-400 people: based on the number of people we ran into, my estimate of how many people do the Trans Am each year

18 jars: conservative estimate of amt. peanut butter I devoured. In the West, where services were rare, I'd go through a jar in a day or two.

10 states: Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California

32 bears: number of bear attacks successfully evaded

4 days: estimated av. days between showers

5 hotels: stayed in across the country

5 flat tires: a couple flats were due to my idiocy. A couple due to wrong tube size.

2 pounds: the amt. of weight I gained. I lost upper body muscle, so I guess it's in me legs?

4 heaping plates: amt. of delicous food in the epic eating incident o that town after Austin

9 pounds: amt. of weight I sent home after running into Sky

Half a bajillion: number of mosquito bites I got as a result of sending home my (Lee's) tent

3 inches: amt. of useless seatpost I hauled cross the country as a result of not hacking it off

$80: amt. of money spent buying bike stuff that I already had but didn't bring/ brought but didn't know I had

Lost (or broken): I'm an irresponsible turd.

• Can opener


• 1 loaf of bread, 2 bananas, 2 bagels lost to racoons and skunks


• Belt (cedar city) I have half a shoelace holding me pants on right now.


• 2gig iPod nano. Put it in the wash. idiot. I'm not buying another- I too irresponsible and poor.


• Front freddie fender: foot hit it while going kinda slow, plastic got mangled after getting caught by turning wheel


• Plastic cover to bar-end shifter, sitting in a cow pasture in Utah somewhere


• Specialized cyclocomputer. Just stopped working after my Bryce Canyon debacle. I think warrantee will take care of it.


• Toilet paper stash. Lost it on the last day on a fast downhill. Cursed but didn't stop.


• Rear allen skewer: overtorqued and stripped AL nut. Replaced with little hardware store thingy. Shady but functional.


• Nalgene that Parker gave me. I told him I lost these things chronically. Lost it 6 hours from home.


• Giro Xen Helmet. I think it was stolen at the Green Tortoise. 2nd to last day in SF. At least it didn't happen earlier

Random things I've come to miss/ appreciate:

• Toasters
• Refrigerators
• Toilets
• Grocery stores
• North Carolina
• fall colors
• Music
• Chairs
• Simmering
  

Random things I'll really miss about the road:

• Waking up with the sun without an alarm and without pain
• Sleeping under the stars
• Not even thinking about what to wear, because there was only two options: riding stuff, and regular stuff
• Not caring about being a dirty, stinky, unrefined, directionless dagum kid
• Small town America (at least certain parts)
• Getting waved at like a celebrity (Kansas)
• The part of my heart I left in San Francisco
• Eating ridiculous amounts of food, and having it always taste good, no matter what
• The great people I rode/ lived with throughout the trip. I hope to see them all again as soon as possible.
  

Other randomness:

• Got tendonitis in my left big toe due to an ill fitting flip-flop. Tis actually quite painful. I also have a MASSIVE callous on the bottom-outside of the same toe. The combination is no bueno.
  


• The group I rode to CO with arrived in San Diego a few days ago. I got a call from them saying that Billy's derailuer had sneaked into his spokes and wreaked some serious havoc. I returned their call in hopes of helping em out, but after 4 or 5 tries on my dying cell phone, I couldn't get a hold of them. Good luck guys.
• Cell phone officially dead after 2 years. The dagum cheap motorola charging connection sucks. After years of struggling to get it to work, and 20 minutes straight of screwing with it, I've given it up for dead. I barely had enough power to arrange an airport pickup with me mum. Sillyness.

In summary

I set out on the trip with high hopes, and ambitious expectations for what I would get from the trip. I was worried that I would be dissapointed, that I wouldn't learn as much as I'd hoped, that it would be as simple as a really long bike ride.

It turned out to be more than I ever thought it would be. It may not come across in the words I've put down in this blog, partially because there was far too much to write down, and there are things I can't write in a public blog, for fear of future consequences, and the knowledge that many (/most) of my thoughts would appear immature/offensive to many people (perhaps rightfully so).

Before leaving on the trip, I would literally break out in sweat when reminded of my urge to just go and escape the things that had been so familiar to me for so long. Prior to this trip, I'd been in the same place for my whole life. All my schools, my first home, and even the hospital where I was born are within a 40 minute bike ride from my parents house, where I grew up. The longest trip I'd taken previously was a 10-day bike trip up the east coast to ride BMX on everything within sight. Those trips were enjoyable, but travelling by conventional methods and not truly exposing myself to local culture, they had a minimal impact on my mind.

It took me exactly 2 months to get to the Golden Gate Bridge. It may seem ridiculous, but somehow, the country actually seems smaller to me now. I can think back and recall all the unique 'feels' of all the places we passed through and slept in. Each one of them was unique, yet unified, I can extract a vague, impossible to describe sense of the 'spirit' of each area.

Simply, generally, and inadequately:

The South: spirited, hospitable and accomadating, strong-willed, green, lingering racism, warm

Middle America: unconditionally and ridiculously kind, flat (ish), simple, traditional, respectful

The West: big, ENORMOUS, independent, dry, remote, unique, desperate

Nevada: why do people live here

Of course those don't do the job, but they'll have to do for now. I think I'm going on 4 hours of sleep or something.

The trip definitely calmed my restlessness, postponed my flight from America, made me reconsider the value of home, generally rearanged my priorities, and hopefully made me a calmer, more well balanced person. Fortunately, according to a few accounts, I'm still a bit crazy.

Sitting in the house I've called home for 17ish years, it still seems a bit unreal that I'm finally home. I'd been looking forward to coming home, seeing family and friends that'd I'd been away from for far too long, and getting back to being productive Steve. However, the trip caused me to question, yet again, and more so than ever, the merit in 'production' and 'progress,' what it means to truly serve humanity, and all that jazz. Nevertheless, I find myself looking forward to the coming months of school and my frantic efforts to optimize my working efficiency, grow as a student, and really 'get stuff done.' As much as possible, of course. While I don't find the thought of all the work crushing, as I did before, I seriously question its purpose, more than I have before- a thought that crushes me if I think too much about it.

For this reason, part of me wants to be back on the bike, where every day was simple. There was no questioning. The purpose of the day was to get from point A to point B, taking a winding path with the simple purpose of getting there, having fun, and hopefully riding into something new. We were able to pedal through society without being constrained to its norms and held by its principles. However lacking in reality, it was amazing. We were free.


Steven
08-13-08
Raleigh, NC

San Fran Cliff'sNotes

Hokay, only one pic for now. It took me all of 10 minutes of mousewrangling to wrestle this dagum photo onto the internets.

• In Blue Tortoise hostel right now. Seems super-freakin-cool. Lots of young-uns, plenty of people from other countries, just talked to an Irish woman and forgot her name (way to go, jerk). It sounded cool while I remembered it.
• Met up with Parker's British buds after riding over the bridge. Went up shadiest elevator ever and dropped our junk in their hotel room, and hit the nearest bar. Some totally random guy bought us all drinks and immediately went away and chatted with some other folk. Bouncer did not like my hobo-ID. Smuggled some Ben and Jerry's in. Parker got some girl's phone # without even trying. I ended the night by passing out sitting on a stool, with the Brits faces appearing occasionally when I was able to pull myself from the darkness. It was 12:30. We'd been up since 4:30 AM, I'd gotten about 4 hours of terrible, mosquito-tormented, hotnasty sleep behind a gas station, and we'd ridden 110-ish miles. Hello SanFran.
• I found some Jeans and a hoodie that previously belonged to a fellow named Danny at a massive Goodwill. Bought a knock-off messenger bag for $9 from some Chineese vendor on the street. Had to go back and exchange for a second one after I found out the buckle would release after putting it on. Spent the day unsuccessfully trying to box and send my extra junk home. Had fun riding and getting lost in SF. Relatively respectful, safe drivers, no red-light delay, bumpy streets, bikers EVERYWHERE, hipsters on fixies, racers in lycra, regular peoples on MTBs, hybrids, and old 10-speeds. Just as many girls riding as guys. It takes a surprisingly long time to get around because of the lights and all the traffic. Had some fun weaving throughout the traffic. Cops don't care if you pull some shady business right in front of them, even running a light or almost-grazing a few cars at a time.
• Couchsurfed at Zach's and Walkers for 4 nights. Tastylicious, organically healthy dinner at Zach's. Walker cooked up a sweet American breakfast. Dunno what did me in, but woke up with a really nasty feeling in my stomach that still hasn't fully subsided, and had me majorly miserable for 2 or 3 days. Garbage. Those days, the city had a nasty little edge on it. It dindn't help at all that they were cloudy and cold, never above 60 degrees during the day. Checked out the MOMA, SF Photographic, spent a painful day on Walker's couch, reading and sleeping. Walker's girlfriend found out about me trip and said she was hoping to do a similar thing with her father when he retired. I shared some wisdom. I need to write up all the little-known stuff I learnt.
• Sun came out. Stomach calmed down. Still a little tweaky, but I can deal. Soup and coffee seem to help quite a bit. Breakfast at Morning Due at Church and 17th- FREAKIN SWEET!! Super-nice Barrista's, delicious Omlettes, uber-relaxing. Cafe Trieste- nice n cozy. The Revolution cafe- anarchy, latin music, and bagels. Rode around the Embarcadero, Fisherman's warf, touristy as aw hail, Presidio (windy as aw hail), Seal rock (no seals), Golden Gate park (surprisingly dissapointing), stomach ache returned when I started climbing some massive hills. I NEED A MOPED DANGIT. $40 an hour!!!???? No thank you.
• Couchsurfed with Chad, a teacher. Did some engineering counseling with Jack. Farmer's Market on Pier Uno= very sweet. 30 person lines for the women's bathroom, though it didn't really bother me. People watching for a few hours. Free baseball in the Standing Room??? HA!! YOU STUPIT. (I stupid.)
  
• Throw in a couple parties and some enlightening SF-local interactions, an excursion to the kid-ridden Exploratorium and a Chinatown restaurant with Halley, a few hobos, one or two showers, a surprising amount of missing North Carolina, Isotope comics, sleeping on a park bench, and a lot of bike locks, and that's been my week-plus in SF in a nutshell

Must go enjoy the SUN, and surprisingly warm weather (short sleeves!!!).

Redeye flight back to NC on Tues.


Steven
08-10-08
San Francisco

Eye yam ear

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Disheveled.
Davis was suhweet. Their town logo is a bike.
We met up with some Brits Parker had ridden with earlier in the trip. They put us up for the night and took us out. I all but passed out around 12:00.
About 3 hours into the just-go-south-or-west madness. 101 is right beside us- it turns into the bridge.
We got to the middle of the bridge around 7:30. Perfect timing. It was surreal. And ridiculously cold and windy.

After one of the worst nights of sleep of the trip (gas station, hot, mosquitos, bears, nofood, 4hoursofsleep), waking up at 4:30am, and spending 5 hours getting lost and slowly making our way down the peninsula on bike paths and freeways, we caught a first glimpse of the city.

It was gnar-gnar.

I couldn't stop grinning for about 45 minutes straight.

I spent my first day in the city riding around, getting lost, getting a map, getting lost some more, getting some clothes from goodwill, a U-lock (locals tell me bike theft is real bad round here), a knock-off messenger bag, and trying to figure out what to do with all my junk, other than let it sit on my bike and get stolen.

At Berkeley right now, updating the blog, taking care of disgusting laundry, baking cookies at Halley's brother's girlfriend's place, and then heading back into the city.

Will hit it full-force tourist-on-a-bike style tomorrow. Lucky for us, the Guardian just came out with it's 35th annual 'Best-of-the-Bay' issue. It's a good thing, because I only settle for the best. The best cheap restaurant that is.

What little I have discovered so far:
So far the place seems really cool. People are down with idiots on bikes zooming through the streets. It's perfect weather for riding- no sweat. SF Marathon was yesterday. I scoffed as people limped off their 26 miles. Poor guys.
Rainbow grocery=super cool organic mess with very friendly and helpful staff. Lots of crazy people swarming through the aisles.
Bay Bridge= bull (no bikes) means you gotta ride the BART across the bay. Balogna.
Rode down tunnel of doom. Do not recommend.

Arr. Time to go kiss a seal.

Steven
08-04-08
Across le bay from San Francisco

Nevada schmemada

epic. Mine was taller.
Paul and Ted. They told be bout the AWESOME $3.75 buffet. 4 heaping plates later, I was finished.

I have no idea.
Middlegate savings and loan. Well, mostly just savings.

Err, exciting?

Salty?

Well, I finally found the long, flat, straight road I was looking for. Unfortunately, at this point, there were still about 300 more miles of it.

Good riddance Nevada.

Oh yes, it's called the "Bee" state. I don't think I saw a single Bee.

The most fun I had in Nevada was inventing things in my head. I planned a carboard furniture line, and started designing a compact desk lamp in my head. I'm excited to get back and start working on em.