Taking Stock

Bikes – Check
Extra tires – Check
Slime to fill holes – Check
2 month supply of Power Bars – Check
Cel phone for emergencies – Check
Tent – Check
Sleeping Bags – Check
Any knowledge whatsoever about what we’re doing – …Not so much…

“You’ll get used to whatever bike you ride,” a salesman told us at a bike store after hearing our plan to tour. He’d done it himself. He told us about how sore he was at first, and then how he got used to it and could ride his bike for any length of time. He told us about his experiences sleeping in City Parks when he couldn’t get to a campsite, and the occasional ride from someone who’d let him throw his bike in the back of their truck for a few miles.

We’d already planned out the first few days. We’d head south from Littleton down to Sedalia and then west into the mountains that first day, reaching National Forest land where we could camp anywhere as long as we were 200 feet from the road. The plan was to stay in the National Forest as much as possible. City Park camping wasn’t appealing, but a reasonable fall-back if we had to get into town for an extended period of time.

Helmets – Check
Water bottles – Check
Healthy bodies to pump our bikes – Che- check?

I pumped into Cherry Creek, breaking the law biking on the sidewalk rather than braving the rush-hour traffic on the narrow streets. Speeding along in a high gear, I came to a stop light where I stopped, leaning to the side. Green. Wrench! My right knee cried out in rebellion against starting up in the high gear. Just above the knee cap, I can still feel the pain 8 years later. I pushed on in the lowest gear possible to work, trying to do most pumping with my left leg alone. Just a strain, I told myself. Just a little something that will be fine by the time I go home. Nothing that could possibly prevent our departure the following week.

I favored the leg all day, trying to keep the doubt at bay. That night I put ice on my knee, and tried to stay off it. Only one week until our departure date. What we’d planned on being two months on our bikes… And I couldn’t even pedal. My mind kept going back and forth- if you can’t handle this, how do you think you’re going to bike across the country? You could put it off… What if this happens while you’re on the road?

Sense of Dissapointment – Check
Determination that no way in hell it will prevent us from our trip! – CHECK!
Bike rack – Check
Return Bob – Check


Car – Check.