Adventures in Onionism

I finally typed up my comments on the Western Express Adventure Cycling Maps for the AC cartographer who encouraged me to do so. I thought I'd post them here for the benefit of anyone who might google across them, as they're too long to just post in the comments of my original bike trip entry . Here they are. Map 2: Is Pinto Summit 7,376 or 7,351 feet? Is Pancake 6,521 or 6,517 feet? Is Robinson 7,588 or 7,607 feet? [I don't think these minor differences matter in terms of physical effort to get you to the top, but it's just nice to be consistent between sides of the map.] Map 1: The directions for map 6 in Placerville are wrong (and illegal for cyclists). On the detailed map, the red line stops, but the black line appears to direct cyclists onto Route 50 briefly starting at Canal St. (Westbound). The written directions just say "Placerville. See Detail... Merge onto US 50. Matchline." However, at the intersection of Canal St. and Hwy 50, although there is a ...

From an NYT travel article about a bike trip in the Four Corners area: Something else had changed up here, too. It takes nearly a day on these trips, John said later, but you always see it: Shoulders drop their tension. Eyes unpinch from their accountant’s squint. With every mile, the in-box and the BlackBerry retreat a little more in the rear-view mirror. People shed their daily worries, until their world reduces to the clean feeling of the right gear underfoot, and the blur of the gray road. As Mike put it: “I don’t have to think. I don’t have to do a damn thing, if I don’t want to. I get to ride my bike.” Articles about a family biking from Alaska to Chile. Guardian UK . Salon .

I rode my bike 770 miles or so from Salt Lake City, UT to Sacramento, CA. I started Sunday morning at 8:30 and finished Friday night a little after 11:00 PM. As usual, all during the trip, I imagine the wonderful, informative blog posts that I will write when I get back, full of helpful gear lists and vivid descriptions. Now that I'm back, however, I'm already bored, suffering from post-adventure let-down, wishing I were still biking, and thinking the Internet is stupid, so I don't really want to write about it. However, I'll force myself to do it now, otherwise it will never happen. So, what do I think of bicycle touring? I like it. I certainly still plan to do a longer trip someday (preferably with Marcus, since marriage is no excuse, buddy.) But do I like it as much as backpacking? It's different, that's for sure. It's more like hiking the Appalachian Trail than the CDT--it's a cultural experience, not a wilderness experience. I was on roads the entir...

All done. Rode 160 today despite diarrhea and heat and chain giving me grief, making me eat it a few times. Train home tomorrow from Sac.

Plus, can i maybe do state cap to state cap in one day? It would be big, not quite sure how big.

Super 8 in carson city. Don't know why i got another motel room, maybe it was the 109 degree temps and tons of traffic and sprawl. 112 for day.

Not far from fallon. Butt very bruised, have to switch btw saddle positions every 3 minutes and crank standing, which is less easy w saddlebags. Still ok tho

133, camped at the shoe tree! Hot and flat after austin.

Austin nevada. 70 or so done. Aiming for carson city tomorrow night. Think it will get a little lower and hotter till tahoe. Finally got whole bottle vitamin i.

Did 126 to get to eureka. Everything closed at 8 so i am still buying vitamin i by the 4 pack at gas station. Camping at rv park. Mennonite breakfast tomorrow.

Made 108 yesterday. 20 this morning. Would love 105 more to eureka. Slightly cloudy, which is nice, but burning off.

90 miles so far today, 100 degrees, one tree. Only one more state named nevada to ride through!

Why does my body crave processed nacho cheese after a long sweaty day? Did i sweat out all my mono and diglycerides with the sodium hexa meta phosphate?

120-plus miles from slc to delta on my first day, first long ride ever. Cheap hotel and ice in order if i want a chance to do it again tomorrow.

Crappy gas station microwave burritos in eureka utah, 65ish in. Damn i love the open road.

Elberta utah. Jct w hwy 6. Feeling good. Neck tired from holding head up.

45 minutes in, waiting out my first storm for a couple minutes.

Here goes nothing!

start tomorrow am. Sent most stuff home with friend, will have to carry a few things to po on monday, no biggy. Delta tomorrow? I don't know how far that is.

At Paul's in SLC. Him and Kate have all the tools I need and a bike stand, so that's a huge help. I tried to tune the front derailleur but I can't quite figure it out and I'm out of patience, so I'm just going to take it to REI where they said they can probably squeeze it in while I wait. I like to think that I'm somewhat competent with bike mechanics and that I enjoy it to some extent, but I'm definitely not an engineer/tinkerer type. I managed to fix my commuter's front derailleur last week just fine (except for the lack of tools at the place I was house-sitting), but my fancy new one with STI shifters is a whole new ball game. Other than that, I think I've got everything I need except for spare nuts/bolts for my rack. Now I just have to decide what I'm actually bringing with me and what I'm sending back with a friend.