psycho cyclo

“That’s crazy!”

That’s the response I get from most people when I tell them I’m planning to bike from Portland to Davis. I think that was pretty much the response of everyone except for my dad. My dad’s response was, “Hey, when are you getting married?” Which of course is his standard greeting whenever he sees me, which he asks me in Korean every time, before switching back to English. I replied, “This is the last crazy thing I’m doing, I’ll start looking for a wife as soon as I get back,” which is probably a lie…

Honestly until today, it really didn’t seem all that crazy to me. It probably should’ve struck me as crazy when I started doing my research. The biggest site for bicycle touring information is crazyguyonabike.com — but no, that actually didn’t make me think my idea was crazy. If anything, it made me feel like my ride would be nothing special, because a lot of the people on that site do extremely crazy cross country or multiple continent cross country bike rides.

It wasn’t until I finished loading my bike that I realized how crazy this would be. I will be riding 1,000 miles, 800 of which will be alone. It can take up to two weeks, with nothing but the stuff on my bike to keep me alive for those two weeks. Everything I need is there, food, water, shelter, tools to fix mechanical problems– at least I hope everything is there. There’s not really any contingency plan so I hope I haven’t forgotten anything.

I’m trying to rearrange my stuff so that I can take my laptop. Hopefully it fits. If not, I’ll have to resort to pen and paper. How quaint. My maps too, are printed sheets of paper and a guidebook, another quaint relic compared to the google maps navigation on my phone that I usually use.

My train leaves in a few hours. I guess we’ll see soon how crazy this trip really is. If I can fit my laptop I will try to update every couple of days when I stay in a hotel/motel. If the laptop doesn’t fit, I guess I can try to post from my phone, but I can’t promise I will. So if I don’t update, if all goes well, I guess I will see you guys in a few weeks.

Things I am thankful for:

• Concerned friends and family
• Panniers (and paninis)
• Gatorskin tires
• Compact backpacking camping gear I’ve accumulated over the years