One Week…

Giuseppe is north of Malibu, pedaling down the coast. He should be here in a few days. Our plan is to go through his bike and make sure it’s ready for Mexico, then head out next Saturday morning. He, like many others have brought up the caravan situation that is going on in Tijuana. Why am I the only one who sees that situation as a great photo op? What do you think? Should I take a gas mask to be prepared for tear gas? Should I have Giuseppe take a picture of me running for the fence? I can borrow someone’s dog for the photo! Decisions, decisions.

Any which way, my bike is ready… for the most part. Thanks to John Bereza’s comment, I will take my snorkeling gear with me. I don’t want to regret it when I’m down in Mulege, Loreto or La Paz. Considering we will be riding through a lot of desert, water will be a cherished item. I added a larger water bottle holder that Daniel from Switzerland gave me because it can hold a 32 oz. water bottle and added a custom made double water bottle holder to the back of my seat. I packed everything except for clothes and food which will go in my front panniers and rode my bike around. This bike is definitely more stable than my Scott mountain bike which I used for the first part of this trek.

Speaking of Trek, I watched a YouTube video last night about a bicycle tourist who had a different kind of setup and it definitely caught my eye. As you recall, I started with a single wheel trailer that attached to my bike’s rear axle and ended up snapping my axle, then I changed over to a two wheel trailer that had way too much stuff in it, was very wide and felt like an anchor on the hills. Well… I think I’m going to feel a little lonely without a trailer behind me, so I’m going to try the setup I saw in the video….

This little Trek contraption is a tag-along kids bike. It will attach to the seat post of my bike. I used to have one of these some years ago when my favorite daughter Trina was a munchkin.

After taking the picture, I removed the handlebars, pedals, crank and chain. But now, after looking at the picture, I may put the handlebars back on, cut them up a little and turn them so they give support to the large orange waterproof bag that came with the first trailer. This bag has my tent and snorkeling gear in it and is attached side to side over my rear panniers.

There is a method to my madness here. I’ve spoken with a few riders who have broken spokes because of the weight placed on the rear wheel. I really don’t want that to happen, but I do want the ability to go down dirt roads in Mexico without worrying about spokes popping. By distributing the weight back onto the smaller wheel, I shouldn’t overburden the rear wheel of my bike. The only problem I see, is transporting this tag-along back to Southern California on the plane. If the airline charges too much, it’s going to stay in Mexico. Fortunately, I only paid $10 for it thanks to Richard from OfferUp, a great app for finding deals. Maybe I’ll be able to trade the tag-along for a couple of fat quesadillas and a cold beer!

Thank you for following me on this adventure! I can’t wait to get back on the road, see things and meet people so you can see what I see from this out-of-the-ordinary way of traveling! Oh yeah, we’re going to need Santa hats for Christmas!