Final Countdown

One week to go until the official start - May 4th.  We have a few meetings on the 4th and dinner, of course.  We actually start pedaling on the 5th.  The dates of the tour are May 4th until June 20th.  Start point is San Diego and we finish in Anacortes, WA.  Below is a small map that I have lifted from the WomanTours website.

This is the third "epic" I will have done with WomanTours so it will be difficult to stop myself from comparing to the others from time to time.  On the previous two trips we have had 30 or slightly more participants; a few too many in my opinion.  It looks like only 16 have signed up for this inaugural Sierra Cascades trip, so I'm pretty happy about the lower numbers.  I know we'll be well fed - our chef will be Emily who fed us on last year's Atlantic Coast trip.  Two other women have done both of the other tours with me.  One other did the Southern Tier in 2013 and one more was on the Atlantic Coast with me last year.  And the guide for the first half of the trip was one of our guides from the Atlantic Coast.  So - lots of familiar faces, and I'm looking forward to meeting all of the others.  

In Calgary we've had a wonderful early, warm, and dry spring.  Great weather for getting in a few bike rides and early-season hikes.  I got out for two rides last week on the same route - 85km and 4400 feet of climbing.  Put those two together and you've got our June 10th ride - can't wait; ugh!  This week has turned more seasonal with a bit of moisture.  I haven't been motivated to go out hiking or biking in it so that has been good to get a few more to-do-list items done and visit with a few friends before departure.  Last night I started to pack and I can see that I'm going to have some challenges meeting the WT weight restrictions for luggage.  Today I ditched the shampoo (going strictly with hotel-issue) and bought a smaller size of contact solution.  Yes, it is coming down to those small items.  In this day & age the electronics bag is one of the heaviest - electronic shifting spare battery & charger, GPS & charger, camera, spare battery & charger, iPhone & charger, tablet & charger, iPod & charger, etc.  My gear bag would sure look different if this were a camping trip!  And - of course - two full bottles of my favourite sunscreen which I can't find in the US.  Not sure I'm willing to give up any extra articles of clothing yet.  I'll wait for the final weigh-in on Sunday.  

Here We Go Again...........

I had to think long and hard about this one.  I have really enjoyed the last two long bike trips but two months is a long time to be away from home - again.  So many things that should be done around the house at this time of year and so many local activities that I will be missing out on.  But - the route looks spectacular, so off I go...............

I'm travelling once again with WomanTours.  A "princess tour" I call it.  Fully supported, we stay in decent hotels every night and a chef travels with us to cook all our dinners.  The mileage is reasonable and we get regular rest days.   And - I'm in the average demographic for their clientele so we generally all get along pretty well.  The big challenge on this one is that the Sierra Cascades route roughly parallels the Pacific Crest Trail through the Sierra Nevada and Cascades mountain ranges of California, Oregon and Washington.  This is a road biking trip so we'll be confined to where the blacktop goes on either side of the backpacking route.  It looks like we'll be crossing the PCT 16 times in total.  WomanTours was kind enough to send more detailed info on the route last week and I think I can safely say this may very well be (physically) the hardest thing I've ever done!  The trip is 47 days long with 38 days of riding.  So - a few more rest days than usual, and with good reason!  Our average mileage is 93 km with about 3500 feet of climbing.  That's an average!!  Our scariest day will be June 10th.  169 km and 8500 feet of climbing - yikes!  There are 8 days with over 5000 feet of climbing.  Maybe I should have done some training this time :(.

Speaking of which.  At least the timing of this trip is a little later in the year than the other two so I've been able to be on my bike a bit.  I did a 9-day trip with our club out to Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands in early April.  So very nice to see green grass, colourful flowers, and ocean waters.  There were lots of hills on the islands - many in the category of "rude" grades (over 15%).  Hopefully the majority of our climbing on the Sierra Cascades trip will not be quite so steep.  Although - we stay off the major highways where we can and go on secondary roads, many of which the map indicates are closed in winter.  So..... not sure what to expect.

Oh well........  maybe this trip will be the one where I finally crawl in the van.  Stay tuned!

Lots to do before departure.  Getting excited!!