First time on the road

The weather finally broke today in Indianapolis so it was time to hit the road with the new bike. Did a quick hour and 12 miles. What a great bike! I'm amazed what a difference there us between a $350 and a $1700 bike. The gears just slide up and down, the disc brakes stop on a dime, and the crank shaft makes for easy peddling.

It was not fun getting it dirty the first time out as there were many puddles and snow melt off on the road.

3 months away and counting.

Not much to travel on right?

The bags are in, and time to figure out how light I can pack them. Should be plenty of room for 4 pairs of clothes ( going to be hot, so that won't be bad), work equipment, and bike tools, and repair items, and food and water, and camp equipment, and shoes, and camera, and GPS and as little as possible.

Just something for me to do

Mostly, right after the first response of "are you crazy? is this a mid-life crisis?", I'm getting a "Do you have a cause? Are you doing this for a charity?".

The first statement and question. Probably yes a little crazy, but a very calculated crazy is what I prefer to think. Crisis, NO. We can all imagine better places to be in, but really, my wife, family, and business is in a really great place right now and I couldn't be a happier person with all I've done that last 46 years. So, it really is to me a mid-life adventure.  I've got about 35 years of working in some way shape or form, most of it has been indoors. It's time to get outside, it's time to stay healthy, and its time for an adventure. Plain and simple as that. Hope I make it the whole way and enjoy the adventure, but if I don't I know I'll enjoy the way I do take.

I have pondered having a cause and raising money for something/somebody. But it came down to.. I'm not a real big believer that the things that are important to me need to be important to someone else. That leaves me with the cause is myself, simple as that. If you follow along when this really gets going in May and if it some how motivates you to do something good for yourself or others, even better.

Got the Route Maps and the Plane Ticket

May 19, San Diego here I come.  That may be the first one way ticket I've bought. Looking forward to a couple days with Cindy and family and then heading out Saturday, May 21. Tim and another friend are going to ride with me the first couple days which will be nice to get started since there's a 3500 ft climb day  one.

Not sure that I really "Dream on Two Wheels" yet, so probably will not use the sticker. But the maps are here and look very helpful as advertised. About 400 miles a map, so 5-6 days per meap. Yep, that's 3 full maps for Texas, in June, pretty sure I'll be tired of Texas by then.

The "Mode" has arrived!

I have been coached into a very nice bike to get across the country. I rode a similar one about 30 miles and this 2011 model year is even better. So going to be sitting on this right here in the corner training the next 3 winter months. Hope the Colts go deep into the playoffs. Wait that probably won't matter I'll still be watching NFL from this seat anyway.

Committed now

I've ordered my bike, so I'm committed now. I guess I can still back out and have a touring bike, but that's not the plan.  So I get a bike but I really won't get to ride it outside for 3 months. Also got a really nice trainer so, I'll just be riding in the house watching TV.  So when you see my GPS stats, it's not going to look too good. This is going to be the adventure I was hoping for.