Last-Minute Prep: Self-Doubt and Craziness
The days prior to departure were nothing short of crazy. I usually work 9-hour days so that I get every-other Friday off, and after commuting that doesn't leave a lot of spare time. I had planned on having the bike built in time for me to have it for a couple of months prior to departure so I could ride it and we could tweak any minor issues that always happen with a new build. But there was this thing called the "Port Strike" - remember that? That delayed delivery of components for my bike, so by the time I got it from Jake (my wrench, see the Introduction sub-portion "My Bike" for more detail) I had precious little time to ride it. BTW, bike mechanics are called "wrench" - it's a good term, as in "he's a good wrench" or "Does anyone know of a good wrench in this town?" When I got the bike I still had to add the components I installed, and then there was an issue with the front brake losing hydraulic fluid so that I had to give it up for a weekend. Jake actually worked on Sunday to fix the brake for me; he's a good wrench in more ways than one. But the bottom line is that I only had time to ride the bike for 150 miles prior to departure, and that ain't much. Six days prior to my departure, we packed it up for shipping via FEDEX. Jake let me use equipment in his shop to disassemble the bike and assisted me with the stuff I didn't know how to do. We put the bike and 3 of my 4 panniers in 2 bike boxes, and Jake took it to FEDEX the following day. I had packed the panniers rather hurriedly the night before, and later on I couldn't remember everything I packed.
With the bike gone, I didn't have it to ride for the next week. I planned to ride my road bike to help with conditioning, but there were just too many last-minute details still looming. It was just the prior weekend the bike had the brake problem, so I ended up not riding for the 10-day period prior to departure. So I was going to show up less physically conditioned than I had planned - big deal, right?
I didn't have all the camping gear I would need, and much of what I had just wasn't adequate for a bike trip, so I outfitted myself with new equipment. I had planned a "shakedown" ride and overnight camping trip to try out my new gear, but it just wasn't in the cards.
So I have a largely untested new bike, new camping gear that I haven't used, and I'm generally not in the best physical condition for biking. Jake had to show me how to reassemble a threadless headset (my older bikes use threaded headsets), I don't know how to set up my tent, I've never taken the air pad out of it's bag to see if it mates up with my sleeping bag (my sleeping bag requires a matched size air pad that fits in a sleeve on the sleeping bag), and I've never even tested my camping stove to see if/how it works. What could possibly go wrong? But there's no need for concern, as my fortune cookie from Panda Express expressed good fortune indeed.
A couple days prior to departure, we had a family cookout and they surprised me with a nice cake.
The night prior to departure I packed up my remaining pannier and my handlebar bag to use as carry-on luggage. I couldn't remember if I had packed a Swiss army knife previously, and since you can't carry them on a plane, I sent one to the hotel by 2-day priority mail that day. I thought I had time to do so, because even though we shipped two bicycle boxes by FEDEX from the same location on the same day, one of the boxes was scheduled to arrive the day after I would arrive, while the other had arrived the day prior to me. So I made last-minute arrangements to stay an additional night at my hotel in Yorktown. With the flurry of trying to get all the last-minute details taken care of, I was up past midnight finishing my packing - and my poor wife had to endure the loss of sleep also. The alarm went off at 4:15 the next morn, and my adventure officially began. Even though I was groggy from lack of sleep, I was pretty excited about it - but that didn't stop me from falling asleep right away once I boarded the plane.
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