Went to visit Jordan in her dorm yesterday.  She is on the 17th floor of her building and has a nice view of the city.

She’s getting all settled in and has already met a bunch of people and is busy as a bee!  She is happy as a clam and really in her element here.  She loves the city and she loves the school – I see a few more trips to New York in the future!

After visiting Jordan, Linda and I walked over to Washington Square, the heart of the NYU ‘campus’ and the started strolling back uptown. Our condo is at the corner of 46th and 8th Avenue – a bit of a hike!!  But it was a nice day so we walked. Stopped by Eataly for a bite to eat along the way.  After resting a while at the condo, we walked up almost to Central Park to a restaurant I knew of right across the street from Carnegie Hall.

And on on another note – I got a message that my bike and gear had arrived at the bike shop in Chicago. They will assemble it next week and I will be at the shop on Sept 8th to check it out!  I meet up with the rest of my riding crew next weekend and then we head out of Chicago the morning of Sept 12th!!

The odyssey has begun!  I packed all of my gear and my bike and shipped it off to Chicago where I will hopefully meet up with it in a few days.

In the mean time, Linda and I headed for New York to spend a few days with Jordan before she starts school on Sept 6th.

It’s still a little hard to believe this is really going to happen!  Things will change dramatically over the next few days. I will go from staying in the condo of some very generous friends right near Times Square

(and sampling wonderful NY restaurants) to staying at some friends house in Chicago to staying in a hostel in Chicago ( the night before we ride out) to living out of a tent for two months and cooking on camp stoves!! Let the games begin.

Jordan and her mom headed to NY two nights ago.  I dropped them off at the airport and off they went.  The next day, it be
came official – Jordan got her NYU ID!!    Linda and I will follow in a couple of days.  We’ll be in New York for about a week before we fly to Chicago to rendevous with my bike and gear.  Jordan moved in to the dorm today (and made the obligatory trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick up the ‘essentials’) and met her roommate.  Another tall lady like Jordan!  Jordan is 5’9″ and
her roommate is 5’11”!

Today was ‘put the bike in a box’ day.  I have a hard shell container to ship my bike.  I got it a long time ago and have used it successfully to ship my road bike to various places I have ridden.  Now the challenge was to see if I could stuff my touring bike in it.  I obviously stripped all of the bags off and then:  Removed the pedals, removed the racks, removed the wheels, removed the seat and loosened the handelbars.   You lay it all in the box as kind of a puzzle and – poof!  – just like magic,  you now have a bike in a box!!

Hopefully it will make it back to Chicago in good shape.  The bike shop I am shipping it to will have the privilege of putting ‘Humpty Dumpty’ back together again.  I will pack all of the rest of my gear this weekend and then ship it all next Monday or Tuesday.  Getting close!

I had a little get together this weekend to wish ‘bon voyage’ to Jordan as she heads to NYU, to Linda as she heads off soon on her Asian cruise and as I am about to head out on my bike ride!  Great fun, great friends, and good food!

And then on Sunday I took off for my last ride up and over Sepulveda Pass to Encino to get in one last opportunity to do a little climbing with a fully loaded bike.  I logged about 40 miles.  And then today I took my last training ride.  Zippy and I went out for one last time before I break my bike down, put it in the crate and get it ready to ship.   I’ve logged 1,800 training miles and No Flats!!!  Hopefully that good luck will continue

I may take my road bike out for a few rides over the next few days before I leave but I’m sure it’s going to feel very weird since I’ve been riding my touring bike almost exclusively for the last few months.

Training has kind of taken a back seat to everything else is getting ready to go.  Jordan is leaving for NYU in less than a week and I am scrambling to get everything set up for my trip – bills on autopay, house secured with cameras/alarms, arrangements for mail pickup, etc. etc.   I will break my bike down some time next week and get it ready to ship.

Unfortunately, the Blue Cut fire eliminated one of the places we intended to stop on our approach to LA – the Summit Inn in the Cajon Pass.  The fire just goes to show that flexibility will be a key as we make our way across the country.  I did a ride up around Yellowstone Park in 2013 and it was rerouted due to forest fires!  We’ll see what happens on this ride. Continue reading Two weeks to go!

Last Saturday I had my head down and was hammering home from Carpinteria State Beach.  Today was a little milder – went for a 39 mile ride over Sepulveda Pass to Encino and back.  It was only my second ride since I got back from my San Luis Obispo trip.  I did, however, find time to put my new heavy duty touring tires and puncture resistant tubes on the bike.  I sure hope they work and minimize flats!!  I can tell they are a bit heavier but if they minimize flat tires – so be it!!

I’m finding that there is much do to when you are taking off for an extended period of time!!  I’ll probably go for a few more training Continue reading Less than 3 weeks to go!

Long day!  Left Carpinteria State Beach about 7:20 a.m. and arrived at my place just before 3 p.m. – 82 miles later. Today was all about getting home – kind of like a horse turning toward the barn.  I just put the pedal to the metal (Zippy style!) and rode.  I stopped in Oxnard for breakfast, which took a little longer than last time since it was Saturday morning and the restaurant was quite busy.  And then I didn’t’ stop again until just after Zuma Beach where I wolfed down an entire bottle of Gatorade, a piece of carrot cake, and refilled my water bottles.

The ride through Malibu wasn’t too bad but then I got to Will Rogers State Beach where the bike path starts. Continue reading Back home!

Had a great breakfast at American Host restaurant in Lompoc to start things off. Needed the pancakes to fuel the climb over the hills to Gaviota!!  Not a lot of steep hills like yesterday – just long! Saw some deer on the way up. Various shades of ‘up’ for the first 15 miles and then rejoice! A long downhill. After that I made pretty good time until I got to Santa Barbara – there was some big festival/ parade going on and traffic was a nightmare!!  Stopped for lunch and then pushed on to Carpinteria. All set up in camp – about 70 miles today. It got pretty warm towards the end!! All in all a good day. Tomorrow is  the big push home – dreading going through Malibu on a Saturday!!

Took off from SLO about 7:45am amid much overcast. It was a bit chilly so I pulled on my arm warmers and a thin wind she’ll (also for visibility). Ride was again pretty well marked so navigating was pretty easy. It was still gloomy by the time I got to Guadalupe but I had a delicious breakfast of Huevos Rancheros at Nardo’s!!!That was about the halfway point. It finally started to clear up just before I got to Harris Grade Road ( of course that’s when it started to heat up!!)  It’s only about 8 to 10 miles to Lompoc from here but there is a real “grandma gear” climb for about 4 miles to the top!  But Zippy and I made it!  Now in Lompoc after about 60 miles today.  Tomorrow most of the climbing is right away. More to come