Preparation

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The experience of purchasing a new touring bike was made somewhat easier with the help of my friend Jeff, who had bought one of his bikes at Chain Reaction Bicycle Shop in Redwood City. Jeff and I drove over there and found a black, Trek 520 that was on sale for $1,300. (originally $1,500) By the time I got out of there, however, I had spent well over $1,500 as I needed new shoes, a new helmet, bicycling gloves, (for warm and cold weather) front and back lights, a computer for my handle bars, a bell, chain oil and various other items including one of the most important of all; butt butter! In addition to all that I spent at Chain Reaction, I also ordered on line or purchased at REI, rain pants, rain helmet cover, rain jacket, sleeping bag, pillow and another very important item: a rear view mirror to wear on my glasses. (These have come in quite handy as it turns out.)

Kevin had sent me a list of all the equipment we would be needing. He had already purchased all of the camping equipment we would need. (tent, stove, eating utensils, etc.) He had also bought for saddle bags, two for each wheel and a handlebar bag as he found them on sale. Kevin's list was very thorough, having been in the making for the last 2-3 years and included toiletries, first-aid items, clothing, tools and bicycle parts we would need to bring along on our trip. I was pretty good about getting everything recommended but Kevin thought the bicycle store that sold me the light for my bike should have given me a stronger one. Hopefully this won't end up being a problem along the way. I suppose I can always buy a better one on the road if necessary.

The last item needed was a box to ship my bike to Reston, VA. This was accomplished over the internet and worked out well, especially since the box could be used over and over, thus cutting the cost of the box itself in half for Kevin and I. (After arriving in Reston I was able to send the box back to Belmont for re-use by Kevin after we finish our trip.)

So now all I had to do was to get myself to Reston before our starting date of June 27. Since I was flying stand-by, as usual, I left on Thursday as the flights for Friday and Saturday did not look very good for stand-by travel. Kevin had already confirmed that my bike had arrived in one piece so when I actually got on the Thursday afternoon flight I could relax a bit. Over the weekend we went to a couple of local bike shops to get some additional parts needed for my bike and to get a replacement for my computer holder which had been damaged in the transport to Reston.

Also over the weekend we packed our saddlebags. (or as the bicyclists properly call them, panniers) Amazingly enough, Kevin and my bags weighed exactly the same at a total of 54.2 pounds. This was comprised of four bags each, two for the front and two for the back as well as a handlebar bag. My bike is about 7.5 pounds heavier than Kevin's as mine has disc brakes and I'm about 20 pounds heavier than Kevin because I'm fat and after all was said and done, I would be riding with 272.8 pounds of weight to start our trip.

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