Dobber

It wouldn't be an adequate post without a phalic symbol. Huge dobber in the middle of nowhere.

Seattle to San Fran. Random shoots

Eatonville to Castle Rock. Day 2

Seth's friend Dan had caught up with us at our hotel and was going to ride with us for the day. That was cool, I liked the idea of people joining in with our ride as we rolled on our epic journey. His bike was an old Univega and if I'm being honest, it didn't look that impressive. It wasn't modern by any means, had no fancy gimmicks or groupsets and was kitted out with racks which were loaded with Ortlieb bags, the sign of a serious touring cyclist, which, I found out is exactly what Dan is. Physically he is a slight man, but I've found physique to be a very misleading measure of a cyclist. Dan is a veteran of touring and is capable of two week long, winter tours that average 175 miles daily and he regulary rides double centuries. There is no denying that is some impressive and powerful figures. Dan is a mileage beast, when it comes to clocking miles he is a gnarly as a Wolverine.
Seth and Dan had formulated a route that was going to take us over the active volcano of Mount St. Helens. With Dan leading the way we were firing through what Seth called, 'strong miles' until we stopped at a grocey store and Dan advised us to get as much food/ fuel as possible. I could sence that this was going to be a serious section of riding.
Sandy's Hasselbald camera made its first appearences to get some, 'shoots' of the weird shacks and building but apart from that it was constant pedalling until we reached Randle were we bumped into a group of touring motorcyclist and their mascot which was a transvestite teddy bear. They informed us of the closed road ahead due to the bridge being washed away and 3 foot of fresh snow and although Seth's adventurous nature wanted us to forge on the Ranger advised us that is was an impossible passage.
So we had not option but to head back on ourselves. Sandy claimed the first puncture of the journey and as the slow ascents continued the laughs started to subdue. Eventually Dan had to leave us and head home. We waved him off and we went our seperate ways. 
We arrived in Castle Rock as darkness was falling after 120 huge miles and got a hotel. This was by far the longest and most gruelling ride I'd ever done. Seth was grinning at that, he just takes everything positively in his stride but even he knew the day had been a tough ride. Sandy's eyes were red and bulging and we all had foot long subways and beers as a feabile reward for such a ride.

As I drank the beer I was reflecting on what had personally been a landmark ride and was stoked to have done it was a few motivating, epic friends.

Day 1. Seattle to Eatonville

I arrived in Seattle with the only info of a girl called Jackie, driving a maroon Volvo with a colourful bike rack was going to pick me up. Sandy can be pretty spare with his details and organisation but I'm happy to go with whatever and I always figure if you haven't got a plan than nothing can go wrong. That was my idea for the whole trip. Sure enough, I stroll out the departure loungue and a maroon Volvo rolls up. Perfect timing and organisation, nothing to do with pure luck.
Jackie drives through the rush hour traffic, drops me at Seth's and we spend the evening at his friends, looking at a collection of incredible cyclo cross bikes, drinking, hanging around a fire barrel and playing basketball. The hours fly by and we go and pick Sandy up at midnight. It's on!
Morning arrives and we build up our bikes, get coffee and breakfast and leave for midday, then go back cos Sandy forgot his charger. The chemical set is brought out and after a false start of 6 miles we are genuinely on our way.

 

Seth rocks pen and paper. Sandy rocks an apple device.

An hour into our journey and Seth has already scoped out some possible dumpster food at a crisp factory, the outcome of this search around the factory is we meet the co-founder of the company who hooks us up with enough free vouchers to last the entire trip to SF. The lolz are starting to flow and the ride is great until we hit heavy rain for the last 20 miles of our ride. 87 miles after leaving Seth's we arrive at a hotel, soaking wet but happy. Day 1 over and out.

Seattle to San Fransico

The essence of being Adequate, people who are bonded by the ideas of experiencing life, the opportunity of adventure and it's fun challenges and not limiting themselves to what they think they can and should do. After 1140 miles, 12 days riding, 50mph speeds and skatepark cradles looped the notion of being Adequate is even stronger.
Solid characters. Incredible scenery. Brutal ascents. Epic, breath taking, white knuckle descents. Century rides. Stories. Laughs.
The best of times, the best of experiences, the best of friendships.

I'll start posting up accounts and various random photos from the journey. Or you could go to www.fairdalebikes.com and check out daily reports from the Portland to SF section.

Adventure Today

I'm doing the Seattle to SF ride with Seth Holton, Taj and Sandy Carson for Fairdale Bikes. I was once told that when travelling you don't need more than you can fit in your saddle bags but I'm amazed at how little I'm taking for 16 days on the road. It all sort of fits into a bag the size of a butty box.

I guess check Fairdale Bikes.com or Sandycarson.com for updates for our progress.

Art. Girl With Beetle

It's pretty simple. It's a lady bent over with a beetle and sometimes I like the colour purple.