The Countdown Begins Anew…

The return back to Vegas caught everyone off-guard, including me.  But I don’t regret the decision, as a matter of fact it was the right decision.  For me at that moment, and I’d do it again without hesitation.

I didn’t like the way things had ended between Rosa and I prior to my departure so this was the opportunity to set things right.  We did.

Rosa and I are set to fly down to Mazatlan on Monday.  We’ll head up to Culiacan to visit her family and retrieve all my gear which has been sitting, forlorn and forgotten in a back room of the family’s house.  I’m in their debt for having held on to it through the summer for me.  I know they’ve had a hell of a time understanding why I up and left at the spur of the moment and thought it was something they had done.  I’ll have the chance to let them know it was just me.

Rosa and I will spend a few days together in Mazatlan before flying back to Vegas.  And that’s when the adventure starts anew.

I had more than a few issues with my bike and when I got back to the states I decided it was time to get a frame that actually fit me without having to use a variety of add-ons.  It took a long time to finally find a suitable frame for what I wanted.  I could have gone the full custom route, but really didn’t want to spend that kind of $$.  The problem was that I didn’t want to go with a standard drivetrain again…not with the issues I experienced in Baja.  So I had to find a production frame with the right kind of dropouts which would allow me to us a Rohloff IGH (internal gear hub).  It makes for very clean lines and damn little maintenance.

I decided to have Neil Flock, owner of Cycle Monkey build my rear wheel with the Rohloff Speedhub (it’ll be the only thing associated with speed on my bike).  After a few miss-steps I finally found Civilian Bicycles out of Park City, UT.  The really great thing is that I’d be getting a complete bike for slightly more money compared to just the frames I had previously been looking at.  So, I pulled the trigger and ordered one for me and one for Rosa.  Hers will be shipped to my favorite LBS (local bike shop) where they’ll put on a slightly different IGH, the Nuvinci 360.  It’s the same idea as the Rohloff at a little less than a quarter of the price, but it doesn’t have the same gearing as the Rohloff and since Rosa will only be able to ride with me on her vacations I didn’t want to shell out the big bucks…besides we don’t know yet how committed she’ll be to bike touring…yet.

I’ll be heading up to the bay area with certain bits and pieces of my old bike as well as most of my old gear and will start biking my way northward around the 18th of Aug.  The idea is to reach Spokane by Sept. 16th.  Earlier I said I didn’t know how committed Rosa is to touring?  We’ll find out then.  Rosa is going to fly to Spokane (she’ll ship her bike earlier) and we’ll ride to home to Tonasket.  We should have roughly five days to get there.  Sherman pass is really the only big climb to do before getting the glorious downhill all the way home.  It should be a good introduction to bike touring for Rosa.  The climate ought to be perfect and the scenery beautiful.  We’ll spend a few days on the farm with Mom and Gene and hopefully other family as well.

After Rosa flies home I’m going to stick around for a while.  I was looking at the map last night and realized how little I know of the area I call home.  My bike set-up will be much leaner than last time as I’m hoping (famous last words) to do some of my riding off pavement…can you say dirt roads and singletrack?  My sights are set somewhat high, and why not.  Although I thought at times I was gonna blow out an “O” ring while starting off in Mexico I finally came to realize that what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.  I know with a little more effort on my part there isn’t anywhere in the world I can’t ride.  It’s a mental thing….which is perfect cause I have been accused of being mental on more than a few occasions.