I bought a Bright Eyes CD today called Cassadaga.  The first song is about traveling, visiting places/towns called Cassadaga, searching for the vortex sites and spiritual sites in Arizona, Utah, California, in order to commune with the dead.  The song suggests that there are Cassadagas all over the country where spiritual power is concentrated. The only Cassadaga I know is in New York State, a village near Lillydale, NY. Lillydale is the largest spiritual community in the world. Online I can only find Cassadaga, FL.. also a spiritualist community.  

What does this have to do with cycling? Leaving on a long bike trip requires escaping the everyday concerns of the average person. You’ve got to be focused on something besides work, earning a living, retirement, etc. It's like an Astronaut trying to get to outer space,  you’ve got to escape Earth’s gravity.  All these things in our lives hold us down to the local concerns; job , family, fear of the unknown. You need something powerful to get you out of that initial gravity well, a boost that can be hard to find. It is nowhere in our normal cultural exposure, not on TV, no news stories, no friends or acquaintances saying it’s going to be alright. Thinking about something that is secret, not in the news, but still out there, a mystery that a quick google search does not solve brings some power to the trip. Maybe there are things to discover out on the road, maybe after a day of listening to the sound of my wheels going around I will hear a secret.

THE BIKES. 

Here's the 2003 Randonnee, veteran of the Oregon coast ride 2004 (Big Bike Adventure), the Portland to Yellowstone ride 2006 ( Big Kahuna), and the Seattle to Detroit ride 2009 (King of the Road). I'm taking it to the bike shop tomorrow to get it refurbished.  It doesn't shift through all the gears anymore, the brakes are weak and the back tire is bald. The back tires get bald on a touring bike because most of the weight is on the back. The seat is not one I have ridden much, The Trek has the Brooks saddle and that is the one I would use on any tour.

This is the Trek 7300 below, the Route Verte 1000 mile ride 2010. A great bike but like I said I don't really like the straight handlebars. Your hands are farther apart with these and steering seems to take more effort , or be sloppier. Maybe it is just that there are not as many hand positions. With the drop handlebars you have 3 good positions; the inner grip, grabbing the drops, or grabbing the top of the brake levers. All 3 have your hands closer together than the Trek style and give more control, a small hand movement gives you immediate response. Whereas with the Trek your hands are far apart and any steering movement requires both arms to work together to turn the handlebars. Or, here it is, with the closer together grip, all it takes is a wrist movement to steer, with the farther apart position of the Trek it takes full arm movement. And I'm all about minimum movement.

Long Term Planning

This blog is about my new plan to bike 5000 miles. Start date July 2014. I want to start in New York state and go to the Grand Canyon, then head for Alaska.
Possibly Dog will accompany me. Wait, I don't have a dog! That is another step I need to complete.
This picture is the state of the bikes in Feb 2012. I can see how hoarders get started. the pile in front of the bikes is all ski stuff that is in position for when we go skiing, just grab it and go. Then other stuff gets added to the pile as the months go on. I'll put it all back in the closet in April. Then I can get to the bikes.

I want a Surley Long Haul Trucker for this trip. The Trek 7300 is only 2 years old but I don't really like the upright handlebars for a long trip. The REI Randonne is a nice touring bike but I have read, and agree, that it is a little light in the components. Not really a good bike for long trip with lots of weight and some possible dirt roads. It has about 6000 miles on it now so is ready to retire as a town bike. But the Surley is what I see all the time on the touring websites of people who are travelling the world.

Here are some more things that are sitting around waiting for Spring....