Warning Track

I awoke this morning to a shipping notification for an item that will arrive after I depart for the 2012 Tour Divide. All orders are done. Time for final prep of my kit and myself.

I tapered in May. I focused on critical details unrelated to the bike. I spent time with friends and family who I will miss dearly. Thanks for your patience to those who endured my borderline-awkward-lingering. Whether you knew it or not you were part of Tour Divide training.  You're all part of the story.

My coworkers have new questions about my sanity after my spending a day at the office in cycling clothes when I forgot street clothes.



My BoB trailer saw some miles fetching gas and, more interestingly, a 50lb bag of lawn fertilizer. The guys at the hardware store got quite a kick out of the bag loaded onto a bicycle trailer. 50lbs at a distant center of gravity makes for very interesting riding. It's also not the best for the carbon fiber frame. I might need ANOTHER bike.




All the riding and visiting meant good food. Some of my Whole Foods bills are almost embarrassing. I should by stock.



May also covered spring flower blooms, mother's day, and mom's birthday. It seems I know a lot of current, future, and hopeful moms. Good luck to all.



Durham is finally getting a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 40 for the American Tobacco Trail. Planning also includes surfacing the currently unfinished miles around Southpoint. Most importantly it will be smooth sailing all the way to Starbucks.



I took my first Amtrak trip in lieu of driving. Fresh off the train and a broken night of sleep I found this sign in Jesup, GA particularly entertaining. Georgia conservatives were either napping or laughing.



After reading about my knee pain David offered up a set of Speedplay Frog cleats. I love these cleats and pedals. In the picture below note the thickness of the caps for the studs on the left vs. the right. The left was my first clipless toe cleat ever. That's another piece of gear well worth the money. It endured use and abuse, then sat patient and idle, and then jumped right back into the thick of things. That speaks to me.



Memorial day weekend I did a little biking and a little packing. There was a test ride in there for new glasses which are back in for tuneup. Donna Hillsgrove's office of Eye Care Associates in Chapel Hill is great if you need an optometrist for any reason. They listened patiently to my goal, asked questions to understand, and then delivered several miracles to get me setup for the trip. I can't say enough about them. They are great.

I call this "Autopilot":



Compare that to the view from the Moots cockpit. Note the bike stem and then the width of the handlebars.


The Moots bars don't fit in the picture even with me leaning backward and the camera perched on my stomach. It's just that much bigger. That's why I think of it as an SUV.

This deer on 3rd Fork Creek Trail was particularly brazen. I had to clap and whistle to get it to look up for a picture. It was too busy grazing to be bothered by the pesky human.



In rambling around the neighborhood weaving around to everything that appeared rideable I couldn't decide on this one.



Well, I did decide, honestly from the other side first. I rode up this through the shrubs and down the subtle slope pictured above. It rode like a perfectly good sidewalk.



Go time is right around the corner. I'll be making changes to email notifications. If you stop receiving updates please check back for updated information.  Also, Thanks to my first blogger follower! I'm hoping to do a flurry of blog posts to vet the new system and decompress for departure.