New Zealand pack job - 2 days 'til I leave!

Today I finalized my pack list for the NZ trip.

Before she left, Adria put together a pack list, and for the last two weeks she's been there, we've been tweaking the list.

Here is everything I'm taking.


Here is the second phase of the pack - everything in stuff sacks.

Each stuff sack holds certain gear - the orange dry bag at top has my sleeping bag and ThermaRest sleeping pad, the black bag is bike hardware (lock, extra tube, 10 extra spokes, tools), the blue bag is off-bike clothing (only 2 pair of underwear, 1 pair of jeans), the red bag is riding clothes (chamois, shorts, gloves, socks, etc.), the gold bag is warm-weather gear (Icebreaker thermals, North Face fleece, GoreTex gloves and liners, wool hat), the grey bag is wet-weather gear (Marmot rain pants, Marmot waterproof shell). Icebreaker stuff is going to serve me well, I think. I am a huge fan of this product, and it is saving me a lot of space on this trip. When I get to ChristChurch on the south island, I will buy two short-sleeved Icebreaker tops to supplement my off-bike clothing.

The third phase - the grey, gold, and red stuff sacks are tucked into the blue bag.

Phase four - everything fits perfectly into my panniers. There is a little extra room in each pannier. The orange dry bag will be strapped on the rear of the bike, across the top of the panniers. When we're touring it will hold, in addition to my sleeping bag and ThermaRest, our tent and food.

Phase five - everything in one duffel bag for the plane ride to New Zealand.

New Zealand shakedown ride #2

I took the new bike into the shop today to have it professionally fit to my body.

Plumb bob. Video camera. Carpenter's level.

Saddle, cleat, and bar adjustments. New footbeds. New stem. Lots of stationary riding.

Two hours later I rode 24 miles - up and down Hwy 9 - to Felton from my home.

Three-quarters into the ride, all of my toes went numb and my right shoulder was on fire.

I'm sure it will work itself out - my body is adjusting to the new fit.

I'll ride 30-50 miles tomorrow, and again on Monday.

That will give me ~200 miles on the bike before I leave on Tuesday.

I don't think I'll have time to have it tuned up before leaving. According to Casey, the guy who built it, it takes about 300 miles to break a bike in. Should be interesting, breaking in a new bike on a self-supported tour.

Saw this on my ride up to Felton.

New Zealand shakedown ride #1

I did my first NZ shakedown ride today on my new bike - 40 miles on the road, 50 including commuting to and from work and running errands.

After work, I headed north on Hwy 1 towards San Francisco.

The winds tend to blow harder here in the afternoon, and from the south, so I was into a headwind the first 15 miles on Hwy 1. From what I've read about the southern island of NZ, the winds blow from the South this time of year and can be pretty stiff where we're going, so I settled in got used to it.

I rode along the coast for about fifteen miles, then went up Bonny Doon Road - out of the wind, into the woods, and up into the Santa Cruz mountains into wine country.

A couple of notes about the new bike:

1. Riding a geared bike is easier (physically) than riding a single-speed. All I've been riding lately is single-speeds.

1.5. Riding a geared bike is harder (mentally) than riding a single-speed. I'm always thinking about "Am I in the right gear?", "Could I be more efficient in another gear?", "There's a hill coming. Am I in the right gear?" There's none of that on a SS. I guess it's all about trade-offs, and I know that this is the right bike for a kick-ass bike trip that we're going on.

2. Turns out I still like to climb, even on a geared bike. There was a 10% grade for about two miles, and it made me happy.

3. I think a spoke is giving me a flat. I flatted on the way home, changed the tube, and got another flat.

4. I think I chose the wrong saddle. And that worries me because I'm going to spend a lot of time on it in NZ. I may swap it out tomorrow for another one. With saddles, larger and more cushy does not always mean more comfortable. You want one that's narrow enough to not rub on your thighs when you're in motion, and the only parts of your bum that should touch are your sit-bones. I am getting the bike professionally fit to my body tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

5. I did decide which bike shorts to take on the trip. I was going to take two pairs, but space is an issue...so I'm only taking one pair.

Riding home (back along Hwy 1, with the wind to my back this time!), I saw this farm crew planting spinach starts. Coming soon to a market near you. Another reason I love living in Santa Cruz...

Saturday random-ness

I went for my first mountain bike ride in over a month on Saturday. We've had a lot of rain lately, and it's bad trail-etiquette to ride most trails when they are wet, so I haven't been on my mtb in a while.

I left my house around 1pm and was challenged the entire time by a stiff wind blowing directly from the north. This is what I rode into for the first nine miles on the road, as I made my way to Wilder Ranch.

Honestly, the nine miles on the road to get to the trails were not fun. In the 45-minutes it took to ride to the trails, I had the following thoughts:

Thought #1: "This is not fun."

Thought #2: "You should quit if you're not having fun."

Thought #3: "No! No quitting. But you should at least turn around and get the car and drive to the trails, instead of riding." (I've got a rental car this weekend - grabbed it on Friday to visit a shipper in Salinas, and kept it for the weekend.)

After stopping for the second time to check the drivetrain for issues because the bike was so sluggish, I realize that the bike was fine. It's a single-speed, so the drivetrain is pretty straight-forward. It was me who was sluggish.

Then, something that Amber said here (http://correambercorre.blogspot.com/2009/03/4-miles.html) motivated me to press on. She reminded me that the first few miles can be the toughest. So I settled in, content to suffer, knowing that I would soon find my groove.

Made it to Wilder and enjoyed the early glimpses of spring popping:

The great thing about mountain biking in California is that there is a lot of climbing. I like to climb. I really climbing on a single speed. It's hard, and it forces me to find the balance between effort and ease.

The route I put together for today rewarded my first climb with this view. Looking north at the Pacific Ocean, the fog line is just hanging out there. It never came any closer.

On my first descent, I blew it and went over the handlebars into this stupid little mudhole. Turns out that one of my bar-ends was loose, and as I lifted the front wheel to ease over the hole, the bar-end came off in my hand, the handlebars did NOT come up, so neither did the front wheel. This is the result.

Notice that the handlebars are completely backwards and you can see said bar-end lying nearby. Good times.

The rest of the ride was pretty normal - no falls, but definitely not on my game. I think I'll re-ride it today.

When I was coming back into my neighborhood, I took these pictures of a surf contest down the street from my home.

Longboard attached to Pleasure Point street sign:

Groms watching the contest atop Sector 9 van:

Groms recycling a six pack of Coors. I'm sure they were recycling. Not drinking it. No way.

one less thing to buy for New Zealand trip

I was in the gym today at lunch and walked by the janitorial closet that doubles as the lost 'n found.

I peeked in and saw my long-lost, all-time-favorite water bottle!! I had left it at the gym, like, three or four months ago!

It's all coming together...

let's just call it a cult, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: THIS POSTING MAY ONLY MAKE SENSE TO SANTA CRUZ RESIDENTS.

FACT: I eat very low on the food chain. Vegetarian.
FACT: Since moving to Santa Cruz I have spent all of my grocery dollars at New Leaf.
FACT: I challenged myself for the month of March to spend fewer dollars on groceries.
FACT: I know that New Leaf's markup is ridiculous. I work for an organic produce distributor. FACT: Today, I went to Trader Joe's to source my seven-item grocery list.
SPECULATION: Since only one item was produce, I was wasn't too apprehensive.

Turns out I was apprehensive.

You see, I've only been inside a Trader Joe's one other time in my life. I don't remember the details, but I'm pretty sure that one of two things happened: 1. I ran out screaming; or 2. The person I was with had to hold my hand to get me through it.

My only memories are bright lights, Hawaiian shirts, plastic-wrapped produce, and scary-loyal customers.

I thought it was cult-ish.

But in the effort to save a few bucks for the NZ trip, I decided to give it another shot.

Here's what I noticed, in the exact order that I walked into the store:

1. They sell bananas by the each. I have never. ever. seen that before. $.19 per banana. With a homemade, funky-at-first-but-then-you-look-at-it-and-it's-cheesy sign tellling me that I can get five for a buck.
2. They have no scales to weigh produce.
3. Nearly all of their produce is wrapped. The peppers you cannot touch. The ginger you cannot rub. The lemons you cannot squeeze. And this explains reason #2.
4. They do not sell spinach. Turns out that was my only produce item on the list.
5. The "Captain's Galley" coffee kiosk looks like a prop from an SNL skit. Is that for real?

So, yeah, I'm not a Trader Joe's fan. But I reckon I did save about $10 versus shopping at New Leaf.

When I was paying, and bagging my own stuff in my pannier, the checker - a guy in his late 20's, kind of metro looking - thanked me for bagging and asked if I wanted a lottery ticket. I said, "OK" and I thought "What kind of cult gives out lottery tickets to customers?!"

Instead slipping me a lottery ticket, he slid one of those red "Admit One" coupons onto the check-writing-credit-card-slash-ATM-machine-table.

"What do I do with this?" I asked.

He looked at me like I was supposed to know that I was supposed to write my name and phone number on it and drop it off in the red pail at the front door for a weekly drawing to win a $25 gift card.

Let's just call it a cult, shall we?

gearing up for NZ

Sweet new bike? Being built at Spokesman right now...
Handlebar bag and map cover? On back-order but being shipped early next week...
Touring shoes? Bought yesterday and breaking them in over the next two weeks...
ThermaRest sleeping pad? Done...
Solar charger for GPS? Funny you should ask...

So, back in the day, Adria and I kicked around the idea of doing a round-the-world bike trip. We want to take, like, a year off work. At least. (And hopefully come back to the same job.) A few days after that first conversation, I started thinking of ways to get this huge trip financed by other people. And now that I'm going to New Zealand to meet her to ride bikes, and I'm in the process of gettting some gear for the trip, I started thinking about how I could get a free solar charger for my GPS for this trip. My grand plan is to document our entire route (hopefully at least 1,000 miles).

So I wrote a letter to the guys at ThinkGeek.com to help me out. And here's the letter:

I'll keep you posted.