The tickets were bought,maybe 1 hour ago so there is no turning back now. The trip moves forward, and we fly to China May 21st at midnite from Los angeles. At this stage it is Mom and I and our son Pine who will fly over. MY daughter Nevada is tenatively taking a stone setting class from GRS instructor and friend Todd Daniels- if the class falls thru for her since she is late signing up, then she will fly over with us ( still to be decided ).
We will spend the weekend putting our bikes back together and with any luck, we will be ready to start riding on Monday morning. If our calculations are correct, we will have about 95 pounds on the bike, that is pretty light since further north in Mongolia we will be adding a lot more weight with extra water that we carry. I am pretty sick of buying tidbits and pieces for the trip, what started out as alot of fun just shopping around at night has now turned into a real pain in the rear as far as I am concerned
We got our stove tonight by faithful UPS”Tim”, we decided on an alchohol stove. Cowboy logic says if ya cant cook least ya kin drink. If any of you readers of this blog have advice on this matter by all means fill me in, love to hear it.
SO, THERE YOU HAVE IT- JERE MIAH WILL BE OUT’A HERE AS OF MIDNIGHT MAY 21ST
Some of you may be wondering if I am gone, while still others I am sure just WISH that I was gone. For those in the later group- wait yer turn, I will be gone soon enough.
The departure date has been put back a little, looks like May of 2017 now………..ha, ha, caught ya there didn’t eye. So don’t choke on your false teeth with that surprise. The whole Russian Visa thingy is proving to be a little larger hassle than we may have expected. Slowly and with the patient help of my wife we are getting all that put together and sorted out. So, for now the date for departure is later May, with Visa dates and it has to coincide with my son Pine getting done with his studies at San Jose State.
Here is a run down on what we have been doing to the bikes to get it all ready for the trip. On Pines bike it had 32 spoke wheels and we just felt we needed something a little stouter, plus we wanted another Dyno hub to charge all the electronic junk we will pack along. When for 26″, 36 hole Rhino-Lite rims, all this laced with Alpine Spokes in a 4 cross pattern to a Son 28 hub. Mounted a new from B&M lite that ran almost 300.00………I swear it would probably be cheaper to do drugs. We changed out the brakes to Tektro, and put those venerated Salmon Brake Pads that all the tour cyclists brag about. Top off those rims with some new Schwalbe Supreme tires and about $1450.00 later……all of that for just 2 bike wheels. Now if any biker ever complains about the price of equine equipment there will surely be a quick fist fight. We double wrapped the drop bars, to relieve our hands and palms a wee bit on the rougher roads, we stayed with the Bar-Con shifters even though we thought of changing out to Paulies. So, Pine not has to find a saddle that he thinks he can tolerate for his time a-straddle his whip. And for the best of luck, and to maintain tradition he will have to give his bike a female name of some meaning at least to him. Other wise the cycling demons will plague us with bad luck.
Since we last spoke, not much has changed with my own bike, matter of fact nothing has changed.
We have been getting in most of our camp gear and clothes as of late. Nothing out of the ordinary, some layer stuff, shirts, litght jackets, testing rain gear, finding durable sunglasses and testing super sized water bottle carriers. Its all fun, but I have just about had enough of it, and now just want to ride.
Maybe the most frustrating is this new tablet, Samsung Galaxy 10.2 Tablet with Android OS (affectionately nicknamed Hemorrhoid OS) Guaranteed, this little beast will do every thing you can imagine, except work. For me its a game of Rock\Paper\Scissors, ya just never know what yer gonn’a get dang it. And I did not mention editing images because this is still a family affair, and editing an image is more of a non-disclosed XXX situation. Maybe more on that later if it smoothens out, or we may have to leave that as one of the secrets sort’a like the Bemidji Triangle.
I have taken off 2 weeks from the weight bench, my wrist has been so sore that I could hardly work. I blamed the heavy fly’s and wrist curls, but it may also be old age playing havoc………I am not a Doc and don’t plan on seeing one. I really miss the weights, and its funny, but my body seem to be responding to this lack of heavy weight as well. I notice my back is stiffer, my shoulders are stiffer etc, may all be in my mind?? I will start back into the weights this week, do some different routines, avoid the twisting wrist moves, and most likely do higher rep’s and lighter weight.
Next time we talk, it will most likely be about the assorted chargers, solar dynamo etc…………so, whatever ya do don’t miss that episode as it will keep you on the edge of yer seat.
