I have forgotten just how heavy and slow a loaded touring bike can be...

Well... I'm 13 days out from leaving on this summer's grand tour. And, it has been 13 days since I last hopped on a bike. Today, a ride was necessary for so many reasons. I have been slacking on the training. I road the Flying Wheels metric century 13 days ago (felt really strong) and to reward myself, promptly went on a five day motorcycle ride into eastern Oregon with some buddies. Works been busy too. All of a sudden... I have forgotten how to keep my momentum up for the big ride. And, now... this week, I am heading to Boston for work. Ack! So, today's ride was crucial. What did I do? Well, the Seven is being put away. Its time to do some tour work. I loaded up the Burro and headed out. This was the shake down ride- to see how the bike is working, how my new satellite tracker will 'track' and more importantly... how prepared I am to be sloggin' long distances.

The Burro has been put away most of the winter. But its still set up for touring, racks and all. I put on the touring paniers, added some gym weights, a couple choice rocks from the garden and headed out to do the Seven Hills of Kirkland route (the REAL seven hills, not the metric century, which is 11 hills).

The first thing that happened to me, just a few pedal stokes in, A BIG SMILE just came across my face. I was riding the Burro on a tour again! The smile would soon turn to a grimace at the first hill. This bike is heavy. Ahhh, yes, takes me right back. You move slow on these machines. Its apparent I'll need to recalibrate the daily time in saddle on the tour. Yes, 10-12 MPH is a safe estimate. It also makes me believe that I really need to lighten up my load. Just the essentials.

So, here is the Garmin Connect data for today's ride.

And here is the Spotwalla of the new satellite tracker data (Delorme InReach SE)


Here is a silly pic of the bike with the weights that I used to simulate a load. Must be 30-35 lbs there!

And here is the token bike next to sculpture pic!

Cheers!