After 13 years of bicycle touring I have finally cleared my schedule for a big ride. My stepfather died unexpectedly last year and that was the excuse I gave the family for dropping everything and going for my long desired adventure. My husband, Jacinto, was supposed to go with me. At the last minute we chickened out on leaving 'the girls' in charge of our small business, an old fashioned one screen movie theatre.Plus, I think Jacinto hadn't quite decided he wanted to go. Watching the ball game is very important to him. This trip was all camping - no TV!

Irony was that I had chosen an organized trip mostly because of Jacinto. Our cycling has evolved into all self organized trips. With our business we have funny schedules and it's easier to plan things on our own. However, Jacinto is a very social person and is used to being entertained. I am an only child and need lots of down time to recharge my batteries. We do fine on week long trips, but I thought for a trip of this duration it would be better to have some company to entertain Jacinto. So - the ironic part is I signed up on an organized trip because of Jacinto and then he didn't go.

I've been a life member of ACA for years. I am also interested in history. The Lewis and Clark seemed made for me.

Over the years age and appetite have gotten the better of me. Even though I have always exercised, mostly swimming laps and cycling, I had managed to gain almost 100 pounds! Eeegads! Unbelievable! How did that happen? One delicious dessert at a time . . . . This trip was just the catalyst I needed to go on a serious diet and exercise program. Gone were the home baked goodies I love. I joined the gym and started lifting weights again. I believe a key element in my program was three hour+ bicycle rides. By the time I left on my trip, I had managed to lose 38 pounds over six months.

My initial goal was to pull a BOB trailer with 20 pounds of personal gear. This wouldn't count food/water or my share of the community gear. I had weighed my camping gear at 11 pounds. I have always been a minimalist packer and thought that surely my one long sleeve shirt, one short sleeve shirt, one long pants, one shorts, etc. wouldn't add up to more than 9 pounds of clothing. Ahem, lets just say that I was wrong.

Jacinto and I had planned a four day shake down tour in Wyoming with three passes. Heavy snowfalls in the mountains and rain/cold at the lower elevations forced us to change our plans. We ended up with a four day loop out of our front door. We started in Rifle, CO with overnights in Mesa, Hotchkiss, and Redstone. This was a hotel trip.Jacinto had allowed he would do the month long camping trip, but by golly, he was hoteling it for the shake down. Even thought he wasn't going on the trip, we stayed with the hotels on the shakedown. Truth me known, at this point I wasn't so excited about camping either. I had been towing the loaded BOB for a month and putting lots of miles on the bike. I was very confident of my ability.

We did luck out and not hit rain during our trip. We had fierce headwinds the first two days and unseasonably cold weather the entire trip. The cool weather was probably a good thing as we slowly ground our way up the 8,606 feet of vertical gain while climbing Grand Mesa. There was a significant amount of snow at the top. We were on the road 15 hours! I was toast by the time we pulled into the hotel at 8 PM after our 5 AM start. How could I ever ride a month over the Lewis and Clark? Oh, no! I shouldn't go. All of this training wasted. I haven't lost enough weight . . . . a huge feeling of despair enveloped me. How could I go? How could I not go? I had looked forward to this for so long and was Xing off the days on the calendar. I had told everyone I knew far more than they cared to hear about my plans. : ) I wrote the touring list for support. I had several people reply that they, also, had had feelings of doubt before 'the big one'.

I did go. It was a matter of getting out on the road and turning the pedals.

Heart

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