O Rider, Where Art Thou?

Ok, a gratuitous, silly play on words, stolen from the movie title by the Coen brothers about the Great Depression based on Homer's epic Poem, Odyssey. Hang with me though.

I have not pedaled a bike in quite some time, nor blogged of said activity in even longer time.

Tis true, the rider/writer has been missing for some time.

I think it was end of August since the last time I blogged. The title of that blog entry was "Probable Tour Cancellation - Washington Fires". 

O Rider, Where Did Thy Go?

Nowhere.

The Dread Not! Five Double Aught tour was indeed cancelled. (If you recall, this was the post-poned tour from June).

End of the Odyssey? Hell, it never started.

So what happened? What caused the cancellation?

Well it was not, not being ready. I had trained all spring for the tour. I logged 1500 training miles by bike from February to June. Best training year - evah!

What it was, was three things: 1.) Blistering heat, 2.) winds of vengeance and 3.) wildfires (no adjective necessary!). The only thing missing was the locusts swarms.

June, saw me postpone my original tour due to RECORD breaking heat in the Pacific NW. It was brutally hot. Not fit for old-ish peddlers like me. So, I pushed my tour out to August.

Cancelled and rebooked all the logistics - not too big of deal. But, trying to maintain your peak fitness level for another two months- was challenging and actually hard to take! I did not do the best job of keeping the fitness levels up. Heck, by July, if I've toured in June, I'm ready to kick back and enjoy the summer. Not this year. I had to keep riding though July and August.

Fast forward to go time, I am indeed ready to go. But lickety split, the LARGEST wildfires to ever hit Washington State torch the north central part of the state and parts of south central as well. My route is affected. Wildfires, smoke and high winds. I throw in the towel for the year. It caught fire, blew away and disappeared into the smoke!

And no writing, nor riding, since then - just left it all behind for a while.

In fact, lying in a state of suspended animation since August is my garage where my tour packing and prep area was. You can see remnants of the scene in the photo. The Burro still stands, getting loaded up, with the US Flag ready to fly. I need to clean this crap up. Jen needs to get her car in the garage.

Ok, as I asked for you to stay with me in the first paragraph... time to tie this blog entry all together.

There are many wonderful fun scenes in O Brother, Where Art Thou. I always have to write something corny about the amazing things one is gifted with by bicycle touring. In 'O Brother', the character Blind Seer really (ok its a stretch) hits the railroad spike on the head when he speaks: 

"You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a... a cow... on the roof of a cotton house, ha. And, oh, so many startlements. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation."

"Ob-stacles..." Love it!  I had lots of "Ob-stacles" this summer to launching and completing the tour.

But, bicycle touring is an odyssey and I do believe great fortunes are granted those who pedal far and away distances.

"Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation."

Cheers!