photo-gallery domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home1/shirokuma/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131Here it is. The entire collections of articles, photo galleries and video the Great Annual Bicycle Adventure Along the Wisconsin River (GRABAAWR) on in one convenient to carry package. All the links for my GRABAAWR adventure and the events leading up to it are. As always, try to resist the urge to watch the video before reading the articles. But if you simply can’t wait to hear how it ends and must skip to the last page of the book at least read the Pre-roll articles and Day 0 first.
Also, coming soon! Audio interviews with the owner of Bike Wisconsin and the mechanic for GRABAAWR! Stay tuned to this Bike Channel.
The Video
Podcast: Inverview With Rob Layton
Podcast: Interview With Jorge Creespo
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Trip Log 15: GRABAAWR 2019: Pre-Roll
They say that getting there is half the fun. I am not so sure about that but it certainly isn’t half the trip. Sometimes getting to the start of the journey is harder than the journey itself.
Trip Log 16: GRABAAWR 2019: Pre-Roll Countdown
Counting down the days until the start of an epic tour.
Trip Log 17: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 0
This is officially the first day of GRABAAWR though we don’t actually do any riding. I am calling this Day 0. All we did was check in at Northland High School where we will be spending the night and got our orientation speech and our cue sheets and t-shirts. Really cool t-shirt.
Trip Log 18: GRABAAWR 2019: The Name
I have given every bicycle I have ridden since at least high school a name. So I couldn’t neglect naming a bicycle I would be riding across Wisconsin on. But choosing the right name is easier said than done.
Trip Log 19: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 1
I chose to ride the Century option that goes up to the Upper Peninsula and unofficially to the headwaters of the Wisconsin River. It probably wasn’t a good idea to ride so far on a bike I had never ridden before. I wasn’t just battling the hills and the weather but I had to struggle with the bike too.
Trip Log 20: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 2
The journey from Rihinelander to Wausau.
Trip Log 21: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 3
Day 3 of GRABAAWR from Wausau to Wisconsin Rapids.
Trip Log 22: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 4
Today was a Type II fun day. It rained almost the entire time I was riding. It cleared up for the last 12 miles (25 km) of the ride to just dump down rain when I was less than 10 minutes from the lodging area.
Trip Log 23: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 5
The journey from Mauston to Baraboo was a short one.
Trip Log 24: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 6
The day can be considered a Type II Day. I got lost twice and battle a constant head wind. But, on the bright side, I shared the misery with three new friends.
Trip Log 25: GRABAAWR 2019: Day 7
The journey ends. Today was the last day of the trip. I am my fellow wayfarers rode from Muscoda to Prairie du Chien. A ride of just 44 miles. The route was mostly flat with a few long, gradual climbs, finishing with a long descent into Prairie du Chien. The only downside to the ride really were the gnats. Anytime I stopped for any reasons they swarmed around me. They got in my nose, my mouth and my ears.
This particular trip is like no other I have taken. First, it’s longer than any other trip I have taken so far. 7 days of riding plus another 7 days of traveling and hanging out with family and friends. Second, the tour part of the trip is fully supported. I won’t have to carry my own gear. Third, I won’t be riding Mad Max, my Surly Blue Beast. These differences have a big impact on what I am packing.
On one hand, because I am not carrying my own gear during the ride I can take items I normally wouldn’t. For one, I can take more clothes and breakfast and dinner* are provided so I don’t have to carry cooking gear or food other than some trail mix and jerky. My go-to snacks while riding. On the other hand, since I am taking a lot of public transit including an airplane the amount and size of luggage I can carry is limited. I don’t have the benefit of hanging it off the racks. I have to lug it about by hand? Finally, my dad’s bike doesn’t have a touring style rack because of the full suspension. I don’t have any kind of bag I can attach to it.
*Turns out that I was wrong about dinner being provided.
My original plan was to take my blue pannier set. The same ones my kids used on our trips to Oshima and Sagamiko back in March. The backpack portion of it is the only pannier that will fit both my tent and sleeping back. While I didn’t have to pack any food or cooking gear I did have 8 boxes of omiyage (souvenir) cookies that had to fit in somewhere. Now I don’t have to take souvenirs but it is just a thing I do these days. I managed to just barely get everything I thought I needed packed into the pannier back pack and 2 side bags a few days before I was scheduled to leave. Then I realized that I forgot to pack my helmet. I mentioned this at work and we all joked that I could just wear it on my head. Why not? People wear ball caps and other hats. Why not a helmet? I could explain that I am afraid of flying. I guess that explanation wouldn’t “fly”.
I gave up on the idea of the blue pannier bags. I kept the blue backpack but moved the rest to my shabby old grey, everyday panniers. I managed to fit everything including the helmet. But then I realized there some other odds and ends, like my iPad and keyboard and spare batteries that had to go somewhere. So the morning I was scheduled to leave I shifted a few things around and got out small carry on suitcase from the attic. I put one pannier into the suitcase and filled the corners in with other items. So what I ended up with is my blue back pack from my other pannier set, 2 grey Konnig panniers with one inside a suitcase and my waste pouch stuffed with camera gear and spare batteries.
Now, you might be asking yourself, why doesn’t the Journeyman just take a full size suitcase. After all, it is a supported trip. He doesn’t have to carry his own gear on the tour and the rest of the time it will be sitting in a room at wherever it is he is staying. Well, I’ll tell you why. Pure stubbornness and perhaps a touch of stupidity. It just seems wrong to take a suitcase when you are going on a bicycle tour.
The final packing challenge is how to carry the bare necessities while on the bike. Like I said, my dad’s bike doesn’t have a touring style rack on it and I don’t have any kind of bike packing bags. I seriously looked into buying a front rack that would work with the suspension and also work on Mad Max but in the end I gave up on the idea. Eventually, I will get a front rack for Mad Max but not this time. I also considered taking my frame back but there was no way to attach it to the frame. Again, full suspension makes for odd geometry. I briefly considered taking it anyway and lashing it to the minimal seat post rack but it turns out there was no room left in my luggage to pack more luggage! I think I will just lash my waste pouch to rack with bungee chords along with my tripod. We will just have to see how it goes when it comes time to pack the bike.
Here is most of the packing list.Most notably missing from this is a spare tire and water bottle. The lack of a spare is easy to explain. I don’t know what size tire my dad’s bike has. So, if I get a flat I will be patching instead of replacing. The water bottle in more problematic. My dad’s bike has only one water bottle cage but no water bottle. I tried to fit my water bottle into my bags but I just couldn’t find room for it. Fortunately, I ordered a tour branded water bottle which I will be able to use. One water bottle doesn’t seem like enough even if I am not cooking and it isn’t the heat of summer yet. There is no room for another water bottle cage on the frame so bringing my own cage to attach to the bike is out of the question. It looks like I will be buying water and lashing it to the rack or hanging it from my waist pouch.
]]>22 July 2018
About The Video and Blog Article
This video is a different on several counts. One, it is not about an actual tour. Two, it has subtitles in both Japanese and English! The subtitles were a lot of work because even though this video is the shortest video I have made so far it is all talking. Fair warning: I translated the Japanese myself so there will be mistakes.This video and blog post are a follow up the video and the blog of my Boso Hanto trip that I took back in July. You should watch and read those entries first before jumping into this one. The third thing you should know about this post is that the video was taken shortly after my Boso Peninsula trip but this article is being written many months later. The footage has been waiting impatiently on my hard drive for me to get around to editing it. I finally cleared up enough time to get around to it. I am looking forward to putting this to bed and clearing it off my hard drive.
In A World Where…
If you watched the video from my trip to the Boso Peninsula you know that my tire was spiked by a screw on my way home. I ran out of space on my camera so my adventures in emergency road repairs is missing from the Boso Hanto chronicle. About a week later I had some problems with the same tire and I took some video of my doing the repair on my front porch.
I have been having a problem lately with the sidewalls of my tires wearing out long before the tread wears out. I replaced the tire that I was riding on before with a Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire thinking it would last longer. That was at the end of July. It turns out that the Marathon Plus also wore out on the sidewall in November. It was a little bit disappointing. The Marathon Plus only lasted a little more than 3 months. Now, in that 3 months I road more than 3,000 kilometers. That would be more than 1800 miles for those of you who are metric system challenged. (Get with the program people, it’s the global standard!) I don’t know what the official life expectancy of a bicycle tire is but I think it should be more than 3000 km. In November, I was forced to change the tire again but couldn’t find any Marathon Plus tires at my usual bike shop haunts. As I needed one in a hurry I bought the best tire available which was a Bontrager. The Bontrager tire wore through the sidewall in February. In the end, about the same life span as the Marathon Plus. I think I still prefer Marathon Plus tires. They have a sturdier feel to them. Here it is in February and I am once again looking for a new tire. I couldn’t find any in stock at my local bike shop and they weren’t getting anymore in stock any time soon. They finally suggested I get them online from Amazon. That’s what I did. I order a tire and 2 spare tubes. Both were delivered in 2 days. Incidentally, I think I am still rolling on the same front tire. A CST Traveller.
My hat is off to the guys at Blue Lug who weren’t afraid to direct me to Amazon. To be honest, I can get bike parts cheaper and quicker from Amazon or some other online store but I appreciate the expertise that the mechanics at Blue Lug have and their passion for bicycles. They won’t lose me as a customer just because they can’t undercut Amazon’s prices or delivery times. In fact, I have an appointment for a complete overhaul by Blue Lug in April. In the words of the Terminator, “I’ll be back.”
I am wondering if there is something wrong with my rims. I will be keeping a closer eye on this new tire. Hopefully, I will be able to identify the cause of the problem or this new tire will last considerably longer. Only time will tell. In the meantime, enjoy the video.
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