What are we riding? What are we riding for?

I'll address the latter question first.  While looking at blogs from other people who are riding, or have ridden cross country, I've noticed that many of them seem to have a cause in mind; some are raising funds for cancer research, to raise awareness of M.S., or in memory of a lost loved one.  While these are all good and noble causes, we are riding primarily to have an epic adventure.  If you can be persuaded to do anything to support our cause and sending us LOTS of CASH isn't what you have in mind, then I would simply ask you to become a regular blood donor.  Donate 3 or more times each year for as long as you remain eligible.

I suppose that I could call this ride the Relationship Recovery Ride.  I was a rather brash and somewhat rebellious teenager, and wouldn't you know it, my son is a lot like me in that regard.  This ride is a great opportunity to spend time together, to learn from one another, and to grow closer.  If I manage to maintain the blog throughout the journey, as I hope to, then you may hear some commentary about how that is going, but I don't intend to get too sappy and bore anyone with the stuff of chick-flicks or tender coming of age movies.  Hey, hold that thought.  I can see a screen-play with movie rights.  Brad Pitt can play me and for Riley, I know he won't approve of Justin Bieber, but we're talking about box office appeal and royalties.  A fat check in the mail once a month for life - it would be like winning the lottery!

Now for the first question, what are we riding?  Riley will be riding a Jamis Aurora, which is stock except for the Brooks B17 saddle.  I will be riding a Soma Saga.  The Saga is named Celia.  I don't think that Riley has named his bike, but he does have a nice talisman that will be mounted for the trip.  How or why did we select these particular bikes, you might ask?  There is a bit of a story to each...

About 2 1/2 years ago, a small bike shop moved into a spot across the street from where we live.  The shop is California Bike-N-Bean.  A shameless plug for Bike-N-Bean is warranted, so here it goes:  California Bike-N-Bean is hands down, the best shop in Marin County, if you are into mountain bikes.  The shop is small, so they don't have too many shiny new bikes on the floor to dazzle the eyeballs, but the ones they have are top notch, and they can order just what you want.  Hey, if you're going to spend the cash to get a first class bike, then you'll probably be ordering it anyway, so that you end up with just what you want.  But the thing that really seperates Bike-N-Bean form the rest is the service.  Geoff is the man!  He knows how to fix any bike out there, and he doesn't try to sell you any more service than you need.  If you want a new mountain bike, go see Geoff before you buy anything, and if you have a quality bike that needs service, then you must go see Geoff.

Jamis Aurora with new panniers

Now about the Jamis.  If you're shopping for a high end mountain bike, Bike-N-Bean sells Pivot, Niner and a few other high-end brands.  If you are looking for a beach cruiser, a first bike for your child, a decent road bike, or an entry level mountain bike, then Jamis is the 'house brand'.  Jamis makes high end mountain bikes and road bikes as well, but they also make a complete line of everyday bikes at very good prices.  So when Riley told me that he would make the commitment to go on the trip I asked about what Jamis had in a touring bike, and the Aurora was the choice - pretty simple and straight forward.  How I came to get the Soma Saga, is another story altogether.

Never buy a used bike of any kind from a guy named Loren in Santa Rosa CA!!!  I did just that, and regretted the decision almost immediately.

On my previous tours I rode an SR in 1979 and my beloved Fuji Del Rey in 1988 & 1989.  I still have the Fuji and would probably have been perfectly content and successful riding it this summer as well.  But I got to thinking, which in my case can be a dangerous thing.  In 88 & 89, the terrain was mostly flat, so the gearing on the Fuji was acceptable.  It is a recreational road bike with 12 speeds, none of which are very low.  (Being a math teacher, I could very well calculate the inches for you, but I never have.  If someone asks, maybe I will.)  It has something like 42-52 chainrings and a 13-28, six speed freewheel.  Well, I got to thinking that I'd like a triple chainring so that I would have a couple of climbing gears for going over the Sierras and Rockies.  That desire for a triple, led to more thinking, and I ended up on craigslist, where I found an old Cannondale touring bike for sale.

I bought the Cannondale for $200 from Loren and figured that I would tear it down completely and put it back together, so that I knew that it was ship-shape.  The wheels were inadequate, because if you've ever broken a spoke, especially on the rear wheel drive side, when you're in the middle of nowhere, then you know that is a situation to avoid at almost any cost.  Enter the Phil Wood 40 spoke rear hub, 14 gauge straight gauge spokes and Velocity Dyad rim for the rear.  Years ago, I built a 40 spoke wheel on a Phil hub for the Fuji and have never broken a spoke on it.   I also built a 36 spoke front wheel around an WTB hub and Sun Rhyno rim.  Not wanting to steal the Brooks saddle from the Fuji, I bought the B17 that is on Riley's bike.  After finding out that dear Loren had put a rear wheel with the wrong spacing on the Cannondale, I had to change the spacing on the Phil Wood hub; fortunately, that is a very well made product and the job of changing the end cap and re-dishing the wheel was a piece of cake, but still cost another $35 for the part.  The rest of the parts were a mixture of mostly used parts from the Cannondale or donations to and from Bike-N-Bean.  Once I got it all put together, I took it out for a couple of test rides.  It actually was a pretty sweet ride on level to moderate terrain.  Unfortunately, when I was pushing hard in the lowest gear to climb a very steep hill (still without any touring gear on the bike) the chain would jump, telling me that the derailleur hanger was bent.  Because this was an aluminum frame, fixing this problem was not possible.

Soma Saga

So there I was with a complete bike that I couldn't use because the frame was no good.  What's a boy to do?  Geoff pulled out the Merry Sales catalog and I selected the Soma Saga.  I think that it was the pump peg on the head tube that sealed the deal for me.  After getting the Saga together, and before putting the racks on, she was just the prettiest bike you could imagine.  I knew right away that the black B17 just wasn't going to look right, so I got a honey Brooks Professional.  It was there on the wall at Bike-N-Bean, and I had tried to sell it to about a hundred different people who had come in because I am a believer (the Fuji has a black Brooks Pro).  I had finally found a buyer, and it was me!  When I saw how good she looked with the honey saddle and the vanilla and gold paint on the down tube, I made the decision to pull the trigger on the brass fenders.  She might not have a talisman for the ride, but Celia's got some serious bling with those fenders.  Sadly, the addition of racks and panniers do not further accentuate her beauty.  Why doesn't anybody make brass racks?

Have you ever seen a fender like that?

If I knew then what I know now, I might have had Geoff order us a pair of Surly LHTs, but maybe not.  The Saga is so much prettier, and looks count for something when you're rolling into Coney Island after crossing the continent!