Musings about life on two wheels

Soooo nice to be home. Me, Selma and the whole kit seem to have arrived safely home last night at midnight. Now busy making coffee and about to go out for the first of many walks. I lost just under 13 pounds, door to door. We will see how much of that stays away, but…

I decided to get home asap – traveling over holiday week/weekend seems a bit hard. There are not a lot of transportation options in Del Norte but my excellent hosts drove me to the Alamosa airport, and I was able to get flights (2) to Seattle but this evening. I’m confident I’ll arrive today, not…

Tl;Dr: Saw a doc, it’s time to stop. Next stop: Seattle Background: I’ve been struggling with saddle sores (Laurel & Hardy) for a couple weeks. It’s hard to know if they are simply uncomfortable or actually harmful without an in-person exam. I stopped at the clinic in Del Norte and was able to see an…

Tl;Dr: ~50 miles and less than 5,000 feet of elevation over the highest pass on the route. WIP check back later. I’ve had a couple days of sitting around, mostly due to weather and letting Laural and Hardy heal up a bit. The weather looks as good as it’s going to get, L&H haven’t changed…

Tl;Dr: I’m super lucky and very grateful for such a supportive wife & family. A lot of things have come together to make this little excursion possible but it absolutely could not have happened without the support of my family. Ms. Marcie Swift my amazing wife has given me the time and persistent gentle nudges…

There’s a lot of time to think on the Tour. If I were making videogames about it they would be: Southern NM: Angry Plants – ride your bike in a wavy line avoiding plants that can hurt you. Higher levels switch from light to dark theme and get mini canyons, and fewer and fewer nav…

Tl;Dr: one more day of healing up in Platoro before trying the highest pass on the route. Work in progress, check back later Doing a few errands and getting ready to ride tomorrow – itching to go. My spokes took a number of hits in NM, I checked them over today – nothing broken, the…

Good article from CTS. Bad news – the back country choices are: Neither are great. Sheltering under a tree is not great (the amperage in the ground can hurt you if the tree gets struck). Rubber tires aren’t a realistic insulator. Huddling down makes you less of a target (less tall, basically), but staying warm…

Just a quick note to myself in the future about obesity & nutrition. This looks like an excellent review of Carbohydrate/Insulin model as opposed to Energy Balance and others. I’ll update this later if other interesting articles come to light.

Tl;Dr: is Tour Divide a gravel race? Not exactly, photos here. A model of route surfaces follows…. People riding and racing the GDMBR/Tour Divide have a lot of time to think, and a lot of incentive to think about the route surfaces. As an observer it’s a little hard to understand – are you riding…