Bruno's Country Club and Motel, Gerlach, Nevada

Our trip is starting to feel like a reality.  Our first reservation was made today at Bruno's Country Club (can't wait to see what Bruno's idea of a country club is!) and Motel in Gerlach, Nevada.  Gerlach is located in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, and is home to the Burning Man Festival that is held for a week over labor day weekend every year; during the Festival Gerlach's population jumps from 499 to over 50,000 people.  We will be going through Gerlach before the Festival starts.  Since Bruno's is the only motel between Cedarville and Nixon, a distance of about 130 miles, we decided we better make our reservations now.  We really do not want to ride 130 miles through the desert in the middle of August!  Bruno's is still run by Bruno himself, who is 88 years young.  The restaurant serves his Italian mother's ravioli recipe which, being a ravioli lover, I can't wait to try.  As for the Country Club, well... I've seen a picture of a pool table, and I know that the neighboring town of Empire has a 9 hole golf course, but... For more information see Bruno's website:
http://brunoscountryclub.com/

Florence to Cottage Grove, Oregon

Our first day will start in Florence, Oregon.  We need to get close to Cottage Grove and have a tentative itinerary.  However, our current route make for a long (85 miles) first day.  The fastest route would be to ride from Florence to Veneta on Hwy. 126 then exit at Veneta and head toward Lorane then Cottage Grove (about 75 miles).  We would really like not to spend most of the day on Hwy. 126 as it can be busy, noisy and dirty.  It would be great to be able to spend the night in Lorane rather than Cottage Grove but it appears that there is only one bed and breakfast and we need accommodations for 4 plus space for a couple of RVs.
We would welcome suggestions!

Recovering well from my knee surgery. Able to ride the stationary bike--and next week heading down to Arizona where I will start riding outside--but easily.
Finalizing the details of the trip. It is all starting to look very real!!!

Green Bike Program in Waldport

Tonight I drove down to Waldport, OR to hang out at the Green Bike Program in Waldport.  This is a terrific program that fixes donated, generally abused, bikes to put out into the community on the "honor system".  Many of the bikes go to homeless people or students who otherwise could not afford a bike.  Other bikes are painted green and placed in different locations around Waldport to be used and returned by whoever wants to borrow them.  The program also offers a platform for young people to learn the skills necessary to repair bikes.  When I am in town I try to go down there at least once each week to learn bike mechanics.  Next week, Rick Hill, who is a volunteer extraordinaire, and the person who makes this program so successful, is starting a 3 week class for women to learn bike mechanics.  I am really looking forward to this class, and feel it will add to my confidence to take off on a cross country bike ride.  The Green Bike Program operates under the umbrella of Seashore Family Literacy.  For more information see the Seashore Family Literacy website: http://www.seashorefamily.org/green-bikes/

Ride Down the Oregon Coast

Our friend Jeri who plans to do the complete ride across the US with us is well on her way to being prepared!  During the nice weather we had recently she rode 78 miles from Newport south on Hwy. 101 to Winchester Bay, Oregon on Day 1, and on Day 2 she rode55 miles further south to Bandon, Oregon.  Way to go, Jeri!

Change in Itinerary

We have decided to change the start date for our trip to August 3, 2010 from Florence, Oregon.  This means we will probably finish in Yorktown, VA around October 22, 2010.  This change better accommodates family obligations both Dana and I have.  We are hoping that this does not cause a problem for others planning to do at least part of the trip with us.  We have a rough draft of our daily itinerary but will not be posting it until it is finalized.  Of course, as we travel, we may find we have to "tweek" it a bit.

Summer in February on the Oregon Coast

Saturday and Sunday were spectacular "summer" days on the Oregon Coast.  I was able to get in two beautiful rides.  On Saturday I rode with my friends Gale and Susan on the Bay Rd., Newport starting at   Bike Newport; I had a bit of a problem on the hills (Gale made both of them), but still got in a good workout and rode about 25 miles.  On Sunday, I rode favorite route along Drift Creek, Anderson, Creek, and Schooner Creek, with extensions, and rode it twice for a total of 30 miles.  I did much better with hills on Sunday, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.  Only problem I had was because I started messing with my cyclometer and managed to do the first half of the ride in kilometers, then when I reached 25 km and tried to adjust the cyclometer back to "miles" I turned it off completely.  I didn't have directions with me so had to "guestimate" the rest of my mileage.

Great Day for a Ride

Since I am NOT recovering from knee surgery and we had a reprieve from the rain on the Oregon Coast, I was able to get out for a 28 mile bike ride.  The weather was perfect, about 55 degrees and lightly overcast.  I started at Hwy. 101 &  rode  Drift Creek Rd.  to Anderson Creek Rd., taking Anderson Cr. to Schooner Cr. Rd. and turned east toward the Coast Range where you can ride a couple of miles before the road turns to gravel.  When I hit the gravel I turned around and took Schooner Creek to Hwy. 101.  I then turned around and again rode Schooner Creek to the gravel, then turned around and rode back along Schooner Creek then took 48th Pl. to High School Dr. and rode the hill up to Taft High School.  I then turned around and took the loop following Schooner Cr., Anderson Cr., and Drift Cr. back to Hwy. 101.  When I got to 101 I decided I wanted to ride a bit more, so took Drift Cr. back to Anderson Cr., then turned around and rode Drift Cr. back to my car which was parked at the intersection of Hwy. 101.  This is a beautiful ride that follows 3 creeks.  There are few cars, and few houses.  It's also a good detour off of Hwy. 101.

Oregon Resources

Two excellent bike shops in Oregon are the Bike Gallery (http://www.bikegallery.com/) with several locations in the Portland area, and Bike Newport (http://www.bikenewport.net/) located on the coast in Newport and a store to be opened soon in Lincoln City.  Both shops have information of neighboring bike trails and good places to ride.

If you are on the Oregon Coast check out the Yaquina Wheels Bike Club's website (http://www.yaquinawheels.org/); anybody can join, and if you are looking for somebody to ride with this is a good source.  The club welcomes new members of all riding abilities and offers novice rides in the summer to help beginners become more confident and find people to ride with.

Anybody considering a bike tour of any length should check out the Adventure Cycling Association website (http://www.adventurecycling.org/).  They have lots of organized tours, wonderful/essential maps, and a myriad of other information.

Recovering from Surgery

I am so glad to have the ride looming in the distance as I have a goal to help with my recovery from knee surgery. Hope to be on the stationary bike this weekend and maybe in a couple of weeks riding outside.
Nancy has been so gung-ho about the trip--she is keeping me inspired.
My mother Frances will be going along as one of the support vehicles and we will have various other people along as sags and riders as we progress.

Adventure Cycling Maps

We got together today to take a look at the Adventure Cycling Western Express and Transcontinental maps which we will be using.  This was a good rainy day activity as it is pouring rain with high wind warnings - not a good day for riding.  These are terrific maps for the cyclist; they also have some travel information about things to see and the general terrain.  Nancy's husband Steve is now looking at them as he will be one of our support vehicles and wants to know what he's getting himself into. 

I posted a link to a good bike maintenance guide that I found online today on Bicycling.com.

Good News and Bad News

Today is a beautiful day to take a long ride here on the Oregon Coast - sunny with little wind; that's the good news.  The bad news is that I pulled a muscle in my back yesterday right before I was planning a short ride and could not ride today or yesterday.  I am really disappointed as I had hoped to ride both days with my friend Gale, and it is rare to have such beautiful days in February.  I'm going to take my dog for a walk instead to at least get some exercise.  In a few days I'm going to start posting my training results on a regular basis; hopefully this will inspire me to get out even in bad weather.  August really isn't that far off and I need to get my training in full gear.

Disc Brakes for Road Touring

Disc Brakes for Road Touring

Why We're Riding Across the US and How We'll Accomplish It

It all started about 11 years ago when my friend Dana said she would like to bike across the US and wanted my husband and me to drive a support vehicle.  Her thought was to celebrate the Millenium.  For a lot of reasons Dana's dream never came to fruition.  In late November 2009 I was "googling" bike rides and came across a cross country tour for women; I emailed a "link" to Dana and, half joking, suggested she do it.  It took no time for Dana to reply to my email and suggest we do it together, but perhaps by forming our own group.  I'm really not sure why, as I am a fairly novice cyclist, but I said "OK".  At the time I was riding a hybrid, which I like, but there was no way I was going to ride that (heavy) bike across the US.  So, my first move was to order, with Dana's help, a new bike.  I am now the proud owner of a beautiful yellow Trek Madone 6.5 that I can pick up with 1 finger!  It rides like a dream, and is so FAST!  Somehow I think I will be able to sail across the Rockies!  Yes, I know it won't be that easy!  I also know I'm 63 years old which doesn't make this whole adventure any easier.  On days I can't ride I am doing Yoga, spinning classes and weights; at least, that's the idea - recent vacations and a cold greatly interfered with my training plans.  I did manage to get a private Yoga class while vacationing in Mexico from my friend, Yoga instructor extraordinaire, Gayna Uransky; Gayna focused on what I need to do to keep my muscles well stretched on a long bike ride (3000+ miles is a long bike ride!).