A little about me

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Kathleen JonesSo you live in the East Bay?
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2 years ago

Amber StarfireTo Kathleen JonesIn Napa - which is probably considered north bay.
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2 years ago

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My name is Amber Starfire, and I discovered cycling late in life — in my 40s. I didn't own a bicycle as a kid and spent most of my wheel time on roller skates or a homemade skateboard. 

Fast forward to midlife. I was a single mom of four kids (two grown and two still at home), living in the Sierra Foothills and working from home. There were lots of trails in the area, so I tried mountain biking, but wasn't fit enough or skilled enough to enjoy it. Then, a man I was dating (now my life partner) invited me to ride the 35-mile route in the Tour of Napa Valley with him. I brought my heavy mountain bike, gave it a go, and fell in love with the road.

Since then, we've ridden a few organized group tours and a couple of self-guided and organized tours, usually one or two weeks in length, but never anything lasting more than that.  And that's been fine for Rich (my aforementioned partner). But a number of years back, I saw that Adventure Cycling offered a van-support ride of the entire Pacific Coast, from Canada to Mexico and knew, in that moment, that I wanted to do this ride.

As a fifth generation Californian, raised in the San Francisco Bay area, and who lived in Oregon and Washington for a few years in the 70s-80s, I have a particular fondness for the Coast. And I just couldn't—can't—think of anything I'd rather do. However, there's this pesky thing called keeping a job, or working for a living, that got in my way.

I finally retired in March of this year and am now embarking on my dream ride of the coast.

The route: Sept 10-Oct 20, 2022

I'll meet my Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) group at a campground in Bellingham Washington. On our first day, we'll shuttle from the campground to the border of Canada and begin our ride from under the Peace Arch in Blaine, WA.

We'll ride 36 out of 41 days, a total of approximately 2,000 miles and, on the way, climb around 100,000 feet. Lucky for me, I won't have to carry any of my camping gear! Just my rain gear and what I need for each day.

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Scott AndersonI’ll bite. What’s the significance of the two colors?
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2 years ago

Amber StarfireTo Scott AndersonScott, I have no idea. I didn’t create this map and have been wondering that myself. LOL.
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2 years ago

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Training

I've spent the last 41 days training specifically for the tour, riding a percentage of each day's miles and elevation. So I've trained my body to ride 8 days in a row between rests, to ride increasingly longer periods of time, and to pace myself during climbs. I've learned to manage chafing issues and fatigue. I'm as ready as I can be. 

Only one real anxiety remains: Camping. I haven't camped in years. I had to buy a new tent and mat for the trip and practiced setting it up and taking it down. Hopefully, I'll be able to manage all that in the rain, which, according to the forecasts, we are likely to encounter early on.

The Blog

I plan to bring my GoPro to take video and lots of pictures and blog along the way. I hope you'll follow along and provide encouragement. I'm certainly going to need it.