Holy Shigoaly!

It has only dawned on me this morning that in just one week my intrepid cycling friend Roy and I will be leaving for Idaho and our bikepacking trip will begin.  The plan is to cycle the "Trail of the Coeur D' Alenes" although we don't have very much information to go on.  A friend of mine found a Northwest Rails to Trails guidebook but it will take too long to arrive here in the mail so we're winging it for now.

Except for being paved, it looks pretty good

Another friend wants me to find him some Old Joe pipe tobacco and it seems now when I travel,  I'm looking for specific items to bring back from my trips.  A couple of months ago I came back from Israel with two rosaries, a religious icon, some Holy water, a baseball cap, a Tora written in Hebrew, small gifts for two nun friends and a piece of the Western Wall for my daughter.

Last week I had the foresight to start pulling out my bicycle camping gear and I was surprised to find that I had neatly stowed all the equipment in one place.  Except for the Thermarest which is stored uninflated under a bed in the basement.  I still need to go to MEC to buy some freeze-dried foods like spaghetti and meatballs and go to Starbucks and buy a few packets of their Via instant coffee.

I'll be riding my Schwinn MOAB bike on the trip since it is the lightest MTB that I have.  Last night I pulled it down from its hanger in the garage and when I put it up on the repair stand and gave it an initial inspection, I discovered that it needs quite a lot of work to get it ready for the trail.

There is just enough time before next Friday to: 1. Fix the brakes  2. Swap out the tires  3. Install handlebar bag  4. Put on double sided clipless pedals  5. Attach handle bar extensions  6. Raise up the handlebars  7.  Fasten the Spiderflex seat  8. Install cyclometer  9. Clean the chain/rear cassette 10. Lubricate the chain

The end result of all those preparations!  (photo by K.Roy)