Date: 2018-07-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

My plans are definitely moving forward for our upcoming bike ride. I purchased a Salsa Marrakesh touring bike last Friday and have ridden every day in an effort to get in bicycle shape. I rode my mountain bike a few times before purchasing the Salsa and my butt and my knees bothered me. Kind of worried me as to what am I getting myself into. But I love the new bike. I am slowly upping my mileage. This morning I rode over 16 miles nonstop with zero issues. Took me an hour and 7 minutes. (14.3 mph) The bike comes with a Brooks leather seat, which came very highly recommended from long distance riders. From what I have been told the big padded seats are good for short occasional rides, but if the plan is to do distances you want a small leather seat. I have not purchased any bags yet, but we don¢t leave till August 23rd. I purposely came home early enough to give me plenty of time to get my butt and knees in good bicycle shape.  I have been watching YouTube videos of the Pacific Coast Route and it looks awesome. I am joining my buddy Frank on this trip. There is a 3rd guy who I have not met yet, but he is the experienced distance rider. Frank has done several week long sightseeing rides, but typically 30 mile days. I have never ridden more than 20 miles in a day and haven¢t been on a road bike in 8 years (till 4 days ago). We plan to head west out of Seattle on August 25th, ride through the islands and join up with the Pacific Coast bike route. This will bring us through Astoria, Oregon and then basically follow the Pacific coast south. The route goes all the way to Mexico. Frank is doing this as a charity ride so his goal is to do at least 1,000 miles which brings you to Santa Cruz, CA. If all goes well I would like to go further, as Santa Cruz is just north of Monterrey and Big Sur. We shall see how things go. The idea is to camp 5 nights a week and stay in motels 2 nights per week. Frank is planning to ride 6 days per week and have 1 day off. The goal is to average 50 miles per day. From what I have seen so far the route is mostly on roads. There are bike paths in places. I have ordered two different guide books to see what they suggest. There is a map set available as well as an app for your phone. I love having the hiking apps. I used Guthook¢s app this year on the AT and also on the Camino in 2015 and 2016. So back to the AT. Most of you know I thru hiked in 2014. This year I started on the approach trail at Amicalola State Park (GA) to Pine Grove State Park (PA). Previously I have section hiked from Kent, CT to Rangeley, ME. So basically I have only 578 miles left to finish a section hike of the AT. My plan at this time is to go back to PA in 2020 and hike to Kent, then jump ahead to Rangeley and finish at Katahdin to complete a section hike. Next summer my wife and I are planning to return to Spain to do another Camino. We are leaning toward another Frances hike like we did in 2015. In 2016 we started on the Norte but ended up jumping down to the Frances. Several of you have asked if I plan to journal on this bike trip and where. Yes I do plan to keep a journal and will just continue it here on this 2018 AT journal. I will start daily posts once I get going the end of August. Thanks for reading.