Officially On My Way!!!

21 miles, ~2.5 hours, 640' elevation gain
(Eden Prairie to south Minneapolis, MN)


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Highlights: finally got started, felt hot, sticky & out of shape, got lost, in a grumpy mood

Journal: After several months of planning and several years of day-dreaming, I finally got on my loaded touring bike today and rode 21 miles to my first destination. The past several weeks have been very hectic & stressful for me as I have packed up & moved out of my Oakland, CA apartment. (All my possessions are either in a storage facility now or with me on my bicycle.) I've spent the past 2 weeks visiting with family and slowly making my way across the country, driving from Oakland to San Jose (my sister's family) to Fresno (cousins), then taking the train (& bus) from Fresno to Los Angeles (met another cousin) to Chicago (my aunt) to Minnesota (my uncle's family). Along the way, I've met interesting people of all ages, a few of whom might actually be reading this website.

Since arriving in suburban Minneapolis on Sunday (4 days ago), I've been focusing on the final preparations for my departure. My bicycle has been hanging up in my uncle's garage for the past 3 years (ever since I finished riding it from California to Minnesota via Florida), so it needed a good tune-up as well as a few new basic necessities (tires & tubes). Other than that, it's basically the same bike that I rode in 2003 for 6,711 miles. The remainder of my time at my uncle's was mostly spent (a) running last-minute errands, (b) whittling away the amount of stuff I am bringing with me to a manageable amount, (c) weaning myself off my laptop (which I am not taking with me), and (d) losing quite badly to my nephew Ryan at Madden NFL 2006.

After spending much of the morning sorting thru my remaining possessions, I finally did the official "weigh-in" around noon (of myself and my stuff):

• My weight = 233 pounds
• My stuff = 58 pounds (excluding my bike & the panniers on my bike that carry my stuff)
• Stuff that I left behind at my uncle's = 34 pounds (including laptop & suitcase)

A steady diet of pizza & fast food over the past 3 years has contributed greatly to my 40 pound weight increase since I finished my last long-distance bike ride. I'm hoping to lose much of that weight on this trip, although that may be wishful thinking. As far as my stuff goes, I'm carrying about 5 more pounds than when I set off in March of 2003; a few extra shirts & gadgets here & there will do that. In a week or so, I may try to get rid of a few of the items that aren't real necessities.

After the weigh-in, I loaded up my bike for the 1st time in 3 years, filled up my hands-free waterpack (70 oz. Camelback) with ice cold water, took a few photos to savor the moment, said my goodbyes, and officially rode away at 1:18 pm. Today's ride was essentially a test ride to make sure everything was working, since I was only going 12 miles (as the crow flies) to visit my friend Joanne & her family in Minneapolis. I chose to take the a longer route that would avoid cars and put me on bike paths for much of the way. Hennepin County, MN has a wonderful set of off-road bicycle trails...or so I thought. As it turned out, many of the trails in the suburbs are just glorified (wider) sidewalks, with lots of cracks and frequent traffic stops/crossings. Because of this, the going was quite slow at first and not that enjoyable. When I finally reached the Hennepin County Regional Trail in western Eden Prairie, I was excited since I could now ride a car-free bike path all the way to Minneapolis. Unfortunately, there was an unplanned detour along the way (due to construction) and I got lost in Minnetonka for about half an hour until I finally found the trail again. Fortunately, the rest of the way was smooth sailing - the trail became paved as I entered the town of Hopkins, and I was treated to some beautiful scenery as I rode around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet in Minneapolis.

Overall, I was actually a bit grumpy today given all the delays (a late start, a slow ride early on, then getting lost) . However, my bike felt very good with all the extra weight and I didn't have any mechanical difficulties. Physically, I felt OK (but not great) on the ride. The weather (80's & very sticky) may have had something to do with that. Tomorrow (50+ miles) will be a much better indicator of how I'm going to do in the early stages of this adventure. I haven't ridden more than 20 miles in over a year, so who knows what will happen. I'm meeting two of my cousins in Montana in a month, so I need to get in the habit of riding 60-70 miles a day as soon as possible. Fortunately, the first 1,000 miles or so will be relatively flat...until I run into the Rocky Mountains!

Minutes before departure with Bernard, Sandi & Ryan (Eden Prairie)