2015 Road Trip Report #01

Yes, I’m on the road again. Or more precisely I will be on the road again soon enough and my Bike Friday NWT is coming with me. It’s going to be a very full journey and highlights include:

  • GAP/C&O bike ride – Pittsburgh to Washington DC
  • Three Major League games/stadiums in five days
    1. Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves
    2. Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals
    3. Oakland A’s at New York Yankees
  • Visiting one of my best friend’s from high school

I can’t really tell you what I’m looking forward to the most. I will admit, however, that the bike ride, lasting seven days, is the centerpiece.
My friend Erich and I will be riding from Pittsburgh to Washington DC over seven days, keeping the daily distances relatively short so that we have plenty of time to explore and relax.
I’ll be riding my Bike Friday again. Indeed I’ve been riding it for the past couple of weeks to get it ready for the trip and over the weekend I packed it up so it’s ready to go. Here’s a recent image:
Bike Friday  NWT 2015
Of course it’ll have panniers and more water bottles, but that’s pretty much the look. My friend Erich gave me some new tires (and much, much more) last Xmas and now my NWT sports 2″ Schwalbe Big Apples. The NWT specs suggest 1,75″ as the maximum tire size, but I can assure you that at least this set of Big Apples fits fine.
I’m sporting the larger tires because much of this ride will be not be on pavement but on fairly well maintained trail. I’m a wee bit concerned because the BA’s don’t have any tread, but I’m not riding single track so I suspect I’ll be just fine.
I’m in good shape (and if not, it’s too darn late), weighing in at 190 pounds, a lot lighter than the 275 I weighed last year around this time. My hip replacement is doing fine and I feel stronger than ever. This will be the first long extended ride I’ve done since my operation during April of 2014. I’ve done any number of long rides, and have actually averaged over 17 miles a day combined riding and walking for all of 2015, but I haven’t strung together multiple days of long rides. Okay, not quite true. I did do a nice weekend camping trip earlier this year, but it was only three days, not seven.
We’ll see.
Stay tuned for more as I document my trip. I’d love to say I’ll have lots of photos but honestly, I tend to want to make very good images instead of snapshots and that, of course, takes time. Time I could be riding. Mind you, I’m not saying I actually do make good images, just that trying takes time.
There’s a fair bit left to do before I take to the air, but mostly it’s odds and ends…and not forgetting anything. This trip I’m actually flying first class which is a blessing. My suitcase allowance is 70 pounds instead of 50 so I’ve been able to stuff everything bike related into my Friday’s travel case. Yes! That makes it a lot easier, though I have discovered that on the train portion of my ride I’m limited to 50…uh oh, I’ll have to think of something. But hey, that’s down the road and soon, so am I!
 
 
 

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