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Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Countdown Begins, 22 days...


Only 22 days until I begin my 26 hour journey from Newark to Bangkok. Things have been coming along well. I am making all of the final adjustments to my bike and getting it dialed in for the rough terrain of SE Asia.

I met with the Berkshire Eagle lastweek and told them all about my mission and my journey, so keep an eye out for my story!!

Loaded my panniers up and hit the road for the maiden voyage on my newly renovated touring bike. I climbed up Taconic and headed out to Alford and rode the loop, the bike was riding perfectly and everything was good. I did the Alford loop and was flying back down Taconic jamming out to The Red Hot Chili Peppers when all of sudden I was laying semi unconscious with all the wind knocked out of me on the ground. I couldn't get up, my bike was 15
feet in front of me, all 4 of my pannier bags were in the road, cars in both lanes were stopped. I stumbled to my bike and dragged it to the side of the road kneeling down with my cheek resting on the top tube. Confused and disoriented I saw a woman get our of her car to help me. I gathered all of my bags from the middle of the road and when the adrenaline wore off I checked my body for broken bones. Thank god I thought, nothing was broken, except my helmet from landing on my head. It all happened so fast and I didn't see it coming. I must have hit a huge pothole and from all the weight in my bags the bike stopped dead and threw me over my handlebars, the bike landed on top of me and then went skidding down the road. I haven't crashed all season on my road bike, I was due for a good crashing! Glad I got that out of the way before the trip!!!! Learned my lesson to be more mindful and alert and also not go full speed down steep hills on the touring bike.

I am trying to get in as much hiking and Berkshire-ish type activities. The knowledge of leaving soon is really allowing me to take it in and enjoy the beauty we have right here in our backyard. I took my new camera and went to the falls in Falls Village Ct, the water was super high and the negative ions from the water were in the air, it was beautiful!



Heres a shot of the tent I am bringing with me with my bike in it. The tent is a Mountain Ghisall, designed specifically for bicycle touring. When it's zipped up you can't see me or any of my gear, it is completely hidden along with my bike!!! Pretty sweet tent..


Here is the butterfly I painted in Fundamentals of Painting class this week!!


That is all for now. I hope all is well with everyone and my going away party is this coming Friday at the Gypsy Joynt at 830 PM, hope to see you all there!!!

1 comment:

  1. Good to see you came away relatively unscathed! Definitely need to be more careful with the added weight. I have a feeling the roads in Cambodia won't be as friendly as they are here. :p

    Great article in BE! Truly an inspiration. I'm really looking forward to following your trip. Be safe!

    ReplyDelete