We have decided to develop a jjpeterberger bicycle-specific adventure blog site. We will continue to update this site with every other random topic...

Check it out:  http://jjpeterberger.wordpress.com. 

See you there!

Baby Steps, Right?

Jay at the top of youngberg Hill-
 (the winery is for sale - just an FYI)

How does one get ready to ride 60-70 miles per day on a fully loaded bike by summer?  Time in the saddle, that’s how! 
I am pretty much recovered so it is time to get some bike rides in.  Today, we ventured out on one of our favorite rides out of McMinnville, Oregon: a 23.5 mile out and back along Muddy Valley road. The spring like weather was fantastic for my first long ride back on the bike.  We had just two short hilly miles to our turn around point at the Lawrence Gallery on Hwy 18 when I began to get a bit hungry.  Since we were no more than two miles out, I opted to continue riding. As I approached the top of a short hill a mile or so out,  I began to wonder if I could mentally will the liver to release glucose for quick energy.  I am guessing that it did not work as I was grumpy-hungry by the time we reached the little market near the Lawrence Gallery.  We opted to purchase snacks at the market in lieu of eating our Mojo bars, a much tastier option. Unfortunately, the little market is no longer there!   A short rest in the warm late winter sun complete with Mojo bars and water was all we needed to rejuvinate and head back to McMinnville.

JP on a beautiful day

I definitely felt more comfortable on my new touring bike-  just need to get more time in the saddle.  I am pretty sure that riding 9.44 miles on Thursday, doing yoga and a hike on Saturday and riding 23.5 miles today would be exactly what the doctor referred to as baby steps, right!?  

Recovered. Time to Ride!

Today I went on the official first ride on my new touring bike. Well technically not my FIRST ride as I rode a whopping four miles on the Burke-Gilman Trail in Seattle last weekend.  Today I rode 9.44 miles on a hilly route through farm lands outside of Newberg.  My new bike, the Surly Long Haul Trucker,  is very comfortable and easy to ride- if I had one word to sum up the bike it would be: Solid.  It is nowhere near as twitchy as my Road bike (Trek 2300)  which means that is also a tad bit less responsive.  The gear levers are on the ends of the handle bar drops which will take a little getting used to. The low gearing is pretty sweet for those steep hills.  I can’t wait to load her up and get her out on a tour!  But for now I will concentrate on getting my strength and endurance back so I can keep up with Jay!

And so it begins.....

Or should I say it has re-surfaced.  What am I talking about? Bike touring!  Yep, Jay and I are officially going bike touring.  And I for one am totally excited.  We both have done a bit of touring in the past. Most of my tours have been in Ireland, Britain and Europe and most of Jay’s have taken place in the Pacific North West.  One thing I have learned through Jay is that you don’t have to travel far to experience beautiful bike touring (Or any other touring for that matter).   The one bike tour we have completed together was in 2004 where we credit card toured through East Germany from North to South with a short stop in Berlin and then following the Salle River to the head waters.  That was fun.  So, eight years later we have decided to outfit ourselves and discover the world by bicycle. 

JP with her Surly

Most of my touring has been done on the infamous pink bike:  An old Specialized Hard Rock rigid frame mountain bike.  It worked – I never had any problems- it handled all the terrain I could throw at it and is still functioning today. However, it is no longer to be my touring bike as we have decided to update our equipment and gear for our future plans.  Our first purchase is our bikes.  We opted for Surly Long Hall Truckers.  Mine was delivered first, three days after having abdominal surgery… so it now sits in my living room – so I can stare at it longingly.  Soon enough I will be able to ride my Forrest Green two wheeled work horse – and who knows where it will take me.

We are in the process of planning out several 2-3 day local shake down tours to work out gear issues.  We will mostly be camping on our bike tours from here on out as credit card tours are very spendy! Although I am very familiar with backpacking and camping – I have little experience with camping while bike touring – so I have a lot to learn. 

Our first longer tour will be this summer- where we intend to tour around Wales.  We have about 800 miles of bicycling sketched out over a two and a half week period.  If all goes as planned, my cousin Alexa will be joining us for the last half of the tour.   For now I will settle with reading about Wales and staring at my bike.  I must heal and then work up to 60-80 miles per day on a loaded bicycle. I have my work cut out for me!