One week and counting…

One week from today, Jerry, Chris and I will begin what is sure to be one of the most amazing bike rides I’ll ever do. We’ll be riding 210 miles from Telluride CO to Moab UT through the San Juan Mountains and I'm so excited I could spit....

This ride will be a bit different than last year’s adventure when I did the California Coast Classic. The CCC was also 7 days on the bike, but was a different type of adventure in that it was a fully supported road ride from SF to LA where every morning and every night we had showers, delicious catered meals, and constant sag support with vans and mechanics.

This ride, we’ll be pretty much on our own during the day and while we’ll end up every night in a fully stocked hut, there will be no sag wagons, no catered meals and our bathing options will be whatever lakes or streams we happen upon during the ride. I did confirm though, that each hut will have beer. Granted with no refrigeration it may be warm beer, but it will be beer just the same.

Doing a trip like this for me is tough because I’m one of those people that tends to over-plan and over-prepare for everything. I’ve made list after list of things I could possibly need or want. I’ve tried to think of everything that could possibly break or go wrong and still I know that at some point one of our group will have an issue that will require something simple and basic that I forgot to bring.

The other challenge is that since we’ll be carrying everything we need, with the exception of food and shelter, I’m limited as to what I can bring. I’ll have a rack and panniers, my large camelbak and a small bag on the front of the bike which should provide plenty of room, but I also don’t want the bike to be so laded down, that it takes away from the fun of the ride. Afterall, we’ll be in the mountains of CO and UT which should offer some pretty amazing singletrack.

So, for the next week, I’ll continue to make and refine my lists, finalize my packing system, drop the bike off for a final servicing and cross my fingers that there’s nothing critical that I’ve forgotten...did I mention that I’m so excited I can’t sleep???? If not, then yeah, I’m pretty stoked!!