Leaning Toward the Ride

I have come to appreciate that vacations are mandatory to a well balanced life.  "Sabbath", time to rest and appreciate life, is essential.  I remember back in the days when I used to be an athlete and I learned that exercise is about stressing our bodies - rest and rebuilding is when our bodies adapt and grow.  Having said that, I have to admit that I can spell "well balanced life" but I hardly live one.  I continue to be a person of extremes.

So the Odyssey of the Seat is now just around the corner.  I'm finishing up the things that I need to do to get ready for the weekend and the beginning of the trip on Monday.  This weekend will be full - preaching three different sermons (Saturday funeral, Sunday morning services, and the evening 6TEN service), participating in the 100th anniversary of my first congregation, Zion Lutheran, on Sunday afternoon.  From the memorial service for the beloved father of our organist on Saturday to baptizing a little baby on Sunday to public prayers for the high school Cornerstone kids as they get ready to head out on a three week wilderness trip...there is a lot going on.

I look forward with joy to everything on the schedule for the weekend.  I'll be fully there.  And when I get home, likely about 9:00 PM Sunday evening, I'll finish up packing the bike and then it is time for bed.  As soon as I wake up, no matter what time, I will hit the road.  The first day won't end until I ride 856 miles to Walsenburg, CO, no matter how long it takes.  I want to enjoy Wolf Creek Pass and the ride to Durango in the sunlight and that means being there Tuesday morning.

In the meantime I have a few little things to pick up.  I'll Scotchguard my TourPack (the piece of luggage that holds my stuff and serves me well as a backrest) tomorrow.  And I might even practice a bit with my newest toy, bought just for this trip, a Go Pro camera.

I don't know exactly how this will work but I'm hoping to create some daily film clips as well as snap pictures along the way.  You will see what I'm seeing.  But I know myself and the way I can be.  Sometimes I get so entranced by the journey that I forget I have a camera with me.  I still love mind pictures and memories...but I'm getting older.  And I have grandkids now.  So shareable pictures have taken on a new importance for me.

The "Find My Bike LIVE!" button on the blog is now active.  Click it now and you'll see my bike waiting patiently in the garage.  Just a few days away now....

Odyssey of the Seat

Well, its that time of the year again.  After a highly eventful spring, life is good and I'm itching to spend a few days out on the road.

I'm calling this year's trip the Odyssey of the Seat.  "Odyssey" is a great name for any long journey apt to be full of adventure and surprise. "Seat"...well, even though the journey itself is always the destination, it just fits better with me if there is also a goal, a point, a purpose.  And this year, the point is to spend at day at the Russell Cycle Products plant in Lake Shasta, CA, getting a custom motorcycle seat built.  The whole trip is about finding an interesting route there and home.

The word on the street is that Russell makes the finest long distance motorcycle seat in the world.  Russell seats might not be terribly attractive but they have an inner spring system that distributes your weight, eliminates pressure points, and lets you ride a long way in comfort.  Even though too much pizza and too little exercise has already done a remarkable job in redistributing my weight, I'm thinking a wonderful seat would be the perfect addition to my bike.

The plan is to leave early on Monday, June 2, knowing only that I have to be at the Russell plant on Friday morning at 8:00 AM.  I'm looking forward to riding over Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado (something I've never done but have wanted to do since click here.)  Then I'll cut across Utah and Nevada on Hiway 50, billed "The Loneliest Road in America."  On the way home, I'm looking forward to a few more mountain passes in Montana and Wyoming.

Roughly 5000 miles of America in roughly 14 days...the second half on what is rumored to be a really really nice seat.

I also plan to fire up the GPS tracker again this year so Kelley, who loves me, or anyone else who wants to take a vicarious vacation, can check in on me along the way.  We have practiced used FaceTime for phone calls.  It took us a few attempts and there's no promising we will remember how to do it under pressure but we'll try.

Every time I dream up something like this - riding a long way for no fully defensible purpose - people always ask me the same questions.  Here are the guaranteed ones:

Is Kelley going with you?  You need to understand two things on this one.  1. I married "up" when I married Kelley.  She is a lot smarter and not nearly as crazy as I am.  She loves road trips but appreciates A/C and windows.  She might meet me where I'm going but she gets no particular thrill out of the idea of sitting on a bike from sun up to sun down, stopping only for gas and nature, to get there.  I can't explain why I do...but I do.  2. When I'm loaded up for a trip there isn't a whole lot of room for two.

Is anyone else going with you?  #1 in the preceding paragraph pretty much covers all of my friends too.  The kind of thing I like is riding all day long.  I can't explain it.

Don't you get bored?  Of course not.  Only boring people get bored.  I never get bored.  Think about it - out on a bike, 3 mph over the speed limit, flying through beautiful country, watching for anything that might pose a danger or threat, knowing it doesn't take much of a mistake for you to suddenly find your bike and body hitting the pavement going right around the same 3 mph over the speed limit - no, I won't get bored.

Don't you get sore? Sometimes...hence the Odyssey of the Seat.  I'll let you know how that works out on the way.

It has been a long time since my last long ride.  Can't wait to see how this one works out.