Jill had two more touring cyclists drop by for a “Warm Shower” the last two nights (click here for info on WarmShowers). These fellows were from Australia. Pictured above is Hank as he was getting set to leave this morning.
The other bloke was already gone, off to Starbucks then on to the skateboard park down by the wharf. He’s carried a skateboard with him for their entire adventure. They flew into Vancouver and bought their bikes there. Their route was through eastern Washington to the Columbia, along the Columbia, through the Gorge into Portland, on to see the Columbia terminate into the Pacific, then down the coast all the way to Santa Barbara. When they arrive in Los Angeles they’ll leave their bikes and fly to New York for eight days, returning to Los Angeles to ride to the Mexican border, then fly home to Sydney. What an adventure.
Things to note on Hanks setup above (clicking on the image presents a larger version of same):
♦ The stacked up stuff on the rear rack. Typical long haul; load it up, bungee it all down.
♦ The creative placement of the “handlebar bag”, very cool.
♦ The disk brakes and an advantage I had never considered.
Hank had broken 19 spokes by the time he rode into an Arcata bike store with four
of them unrepaired. Yet he could still ride with the wheel WAY out of true because
the bike has disk brakes. With brakes stopping on the rim and his size he probably
would not have been able to ride with two spokes broken, amazing to me who has
broken many a spoke while touring. Disc wheels may be in my future!