Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Things I have learned, Meg's vol. 1

Oh, bike road trip = learning experience.

Notes others may profit from:
*don't pack dry lentils. Waste of weight and labor. (I over-estimated my willingness to cook.)
*do pack Trader Joe's boil-in-bag indian meals. yum. fast. win/win.
*do bring your leftover Chicago Blue Bag recycling bags- they make excellent cheapo rain gear. If the city won't recycle, at least you can.
*bring twice as many big and medium ziplock bags as you think you'll want. You'll use them.
*make a point of getting the bike maps of the states/provinces you'll be in ahead of time- verrry helpful.
*keep pens in handy places for directions/contact info.
*it is better to bring 1 bikini top and a couple of random shirts to ride in than to mess with jerseys/sportsbras/etc. Trust me and my new tan on this one.
*bring more than academic reading. After 100 K today, the last damn thing I feel like reading is Hannah Arendt. An Us Weekly would be more like it. (though I did think a bit about swiping the newest Economist from the farmhouse where we stopped to use the bathroom...)
*three resounding cheers for the Brooks saddle. Worth every penny, breaks in even better than the doc martens I wore in high school, it attracts fellow cyclists who will buy you italian sodas (thanks Pete and Judy!), and it is So. Totally. Comfortable.

These are today's lessons-- There are definitely more but I'm a little fuzzy-headed and I'm positive Melissa will have some excellent insights to add...

Time to lube the chain and ice the knees. Gnight.
xo,
meg

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