SPROUTY LOGIC

I eat A Lot of sprouts. This is my lunch today, and every day. Sprouted peas, beans, lentils, and quinoa are staple for me. Zach is a big fan too, though he tends to eat them as part of a whole meal, not as the meal itself. We plan on growing many kinds of bean sprouts as we travel because they're completely fool-proof. You can find a bag of Goya lentils or beans just about anywhere, even in gas stations--and they're really inexpensive. A one pound bag of lentils goes for a buck or two and will yeild about 10 pounds of sprouts-- perfect for the road, where finding fresh stuff can be a challenge at times. Sprouts are incredibly nutritious. As they go from their dormant seed phase to their living/growing plant phase they are bursting with energy, nutrients, and enzymes. They are live when you eat them, so they don't suffer the nutrient drain that other cut veggies and greens do. By some estimates they contain up to 20 times the nutritional value of other vegetables. For travel, they are perfect. They continue growing for a long time and don't need to be refrigerated. Plus, I genuinely can't seem to get enough of them, I LOVE them and have been doing this pretty hardcore for more than a year. Just wanted to put in a plug for sprouts, and introduce their role in our trip--eventually there will be a food/nutrition page on this site where I will be writing more on this later.

Bike Jewelry

A custom order--jewelry for your bike! We won't be making these on the road, for lack of soldering supplies--but I think this is a fantastic idea.

Inspirational Words

Love this. Words of wisdom for this trip! One month to go.....

our youngest supporter yet!

At just hours old--Luc and his Peddlers necklace. Isn't that just the cutest baby face you've ever seen? Congratulations to Vanessa and the fam!

Gear Gear Gear

have just bought a few more important items--including some good rain-gear, a purchase that i've been putting off for a while.... do you think i'm going to get run over in the dark? can you tell what colors i like? don't worry, i have lights and reflectors.
 

1/ MSR Mountain Bowl--REI 2/ MSR Mountain Plate--REI 3/ Flexi Cutting Board--REI 4/ Marmot Minimalist Rain Jacket--CYCLOCAMPING 5/ Gore Bike Wear Rain Pants--CYCLOCAMPING 6/ Klean Kanteen 27oz--KleanKanteen 7/ Cargo Net--REI 8/ See thru Dry Bag--REI 9/ Stainless Steel Pint Cup--REI

Springtime Hill Climb

Jess takes a break while climbing 5 miles up Whiteface Mountain.

April 14, 4 months to lift-off

As the days fly by, the To-Do list grows, the To-Get list dwindles and I find myself unable to think of anything besides hitting the road. I oscilate between elation, anticipation, and worry.

I lay in bed at night wondering: will rolling our sleeping mats together save space? Or, how many spices can I justify bringing? Should we buy curry and shampoo in bulk and then parcel out small amounts and make supply boxes and send them to friends around the country so we can pick them up later? No, probably better to just get it wherever we are, right? But then, shampoo bottles are pretty big and heavy. But there are travel sizes. But my hair is really long, I'll use it up in one wash. Should I cut my hair?

Haha. Oh, boy....this will be an adventure and that's the only sure thing, and that's exactly what I want. 

I'm so excited to dedicate myself to the challenge, but can I handle it? Until now, I haven't even questioned that. Of course I can. We can slow down or speed-up, take breaks, stay with friends--its not a race, we're doing this to have fun. The hard days will come for sure though; in the middle of A Rainstorm, in the middle of Nowhere, in the middle of An Argument--fun can seem a distant ideal, and I just hope I will have the wisdom and strength to put everything in perspective when those moments come. 

For now though, I will focus on removing the decals from my bike so that its beautiful and pitch-black. I will focus on finding warm stuff to wear. I will focus on getting my body into tip-top health and shape. Sigh....

Route, very Roughly.

Starting and ending in the Catskills, going north for a little, then dipping down following the warmth through the winter....Going up the west coast, then meandering back home....maybe....

THE UNITED STATES

BIKE LUGGAGE SPLURGE....

No, they're not Alligator or anything, but these are top of the line pieces of bike touring luggage. A few nice essentials will make me HAPPY. Handling beautiful things feeds my soul. Yes, I am a materialist--as long as the material is nice. Just finally had some time, bit the bullet and ordered front and back panniers, a rack-pack, handlebar-pack and a dry-bag. All in shiny black. All from the German company Ortlieb . 
Purchased from BikeBagShop.com 

HOUSE, CHECK

 

A big piece of our puzzle just fell into place--we found someone to live in our house while we're gone! Our friends Tara and Jim (both of the delicious Brewery Ommegang) are going to stay here when we go, I think its a wonderful fit, and am relieved to have that squared away. Things are beginning to get real...
Ommegang: Beautiful Packaging, Delicious Flavors, Locally Made, Award Winning, Lovely People!  

Soak Cotton-balls in Vaseline and BURN THEM!

Part of our research, preparation and education over the past months has included listening to a podcast from the Traveling Two. A couple that travels the world by bike interviews other touring cyclists doing all sorts of awesome and crazy things (like cycling for 3 years with twin 9 year olds!).

We've been getting all sorts of good tips and stories--last night we listened to an interview with a Dutch-Austrailian couple who have been biking the world for years and years. Their blog has some great camp cooking tips. One of my favorite ideas was their pharmacy inspired fire-starter: soak/cover cotton balls in vaseline, store them in a zip-loc bag and use them as fire-starters! Sounds not only handy, but FUN too! I can see skewering one of these little things and using it like a torch, good for frightening wolves. The crafty little things people come up with while living the nomadic life....these two are also hilariously obsessed with thier tea-towel, they even cook rice in it. They sold me, tea-towel is officially now on the packing list.

...and the Great Gearing-Up has BEGUN....

Christmas was a good time for the Peddlers. Our families heard our cries of "only stuff for the bike trip!" and showered us with supplies and support, and as a result our gear cache is beginning to grow. Things I have now which I didn't have before include: a cozy merino underlayer, a second pair of padded bike shorts (sexy), Icebreaker socks, a wicking tank-top, gear-ties, a second therm-a-rest sleeping pad, a fuel bottle, ultralite SPORKS, bike bells, dry-pouches for our cell-phones.....and the list goes on!
I've never been much of a camper so I'm under-equiped and need this inspiration to get myself on the road to owning the right stuff. Zach, has everything of course. He just LOVES to be prepared, which is great for him but I happen to be the opposite. I'm the kind that would find themselves in leggings and a t-shirt when my car gets stuck in a blizzard, I get frostbite on my bum when I go running in the winter because I don't put on enough layers (true story!) and my goal in life is to wear as few items as possible (its a perfect day when its 2 shoes, 1 pants, 1 t-shirt and thats it!). Zach wears shoes in the house because, and I quote, "[he] might need to chop wood at any minute"! So, its a good thing I'll have him along on this trip because I guarantee I would bring too many changes of clothes and not enough Survival Instinct. 
Don't worry, I will meet the challenge. I may not be a camper yet but I come equipped with the best gear of all--I was born with an IRON WILL, and you can't buy that at REI. 

A Weekend of Hard Work in Necklace Kingdom....

The orders have been rolling in during this shoppy time of year, and we've been tinkering away like little elves on crack. We've just passed the 50 mark! Thanks again for all the support! On that note, it's now DECEMBER 5th, and if you were thinking of ordering a custom necklace, now would be the perfect time! 

FUEL

big fan of chia seeds and lara bars....(cherry pie is the best). mila is the cadilac of chia, a bit $$,  but others are about $7 a pound, stay with you forever and are a great source of protein. some people think the texture is weird, but i love it. nutty. yummy. 

SURVIVED: Ride #1, Crash #1!

   I wish I had a slow-motion video to show you all (and to see for myself, because I can't really remember exactly what happened...). We're fine, Zach has road rash and I'm limping pretty badly though. Let me set the scene for you: 50 degrees, beautiful, .43 miles from our house, the first weekend of hunting season in New York State.
   If you live in the country, as we do, this time of year is marked by men driving trucks oh-so-slowly down the back roads, guns at the ready to shoot a yummy deer out the window....drive-by style. Let it be known that I think hunting is a very respectable thing to do if its done right, but I think its REALLY not ok to do it from the road... Get off your ass, be a man, and go commune with nature before you kill it for christ's sake. Right? Well thats how I feel anyway.
   Zach and I had just gotten out the door for a Sunday ride, it was my maiden voyage on my Surley CrossCheck, AND the first time I've ever ridden with panniers on, so lots of new things for me to figure out. This was actually my first time ever on a road-bike. We had gone about a half mile and promptly ran across an ATV and a truck full of guys stalking a deer on our land, from the road! Nooo, my pet peeve! As we passed them I heard one say, "look over there! See him?" pointing to a deer on our side of the road.  I called out, "Posted property dude!" (Dude?) Then I smashed into Zach. Pretty hard. Both of us went FLYING off our bikes. Zach's wheel came off, my pannier with my MacBook Pro got thrown across the road, waterbottles everywhere. I remember getting up, but it all happened very quickly and I dont remember too many details. To their credit, the truck stoped and Zach was able gave them an earful.
   I guess Zach had slowed down and I didn't see until too late because I was distracted by my deer vigilantism.....haha. It was actually pretty funny, and since neither of us is hurt too badly we're both laughing about it now.
  My left calf got smashed by something which was probably my pedal, and is experiencing a great deal of swelling, and Zach's exquisite bum skidded across the road and has been shredded.
We finished our ride though, alternately groaning and laughing. I learned a good lesson: look ahead, and don't get rightgeous when you're riding a new bike for the first time! Zach's lesson learned: ride behind Jess. OUCH!

Looking Pretty Before The Crash! Surley CrossXCheck.

SUNDAY in NOVEMBER

5 HOUR 75 MILE SUNDAY RIDE MAKES EVERYTHING ALRIGHT

BUSINESS CARDS HAVE ARRIVED!

Usually I can a bit of a paper snob so I was surprise to find that these were both inexpensive and GREAT, 500 for $10 from VistaPrint--I thought they'd be not so hot--but I was (happily) wrong! Click here to visit the page. Opt out of the glossy UV coating, do black and you'll be golden. 

WHATS THE DEAL WITH THE NECKLACE?

Thanks to everyone who's been buying our necklaces!!!
 

Zach and I spent the weekend hammering and drilling to re-up our supplies, which have been happily dwindling--and last week we even ran out of our special chain. It was a little stressful, but I think its a good sign.

options: heavier weight sterling chain (mens?) $75- and lighter weight sterling chain (women's?) $55- HANDMADE TO ORDER BY US!

We've been doing lots of custom inscriptions for Christmas, names, birth year (in roman numerals), initials, xoxo--but when is someone going to ask for something really strange to be stamped in? Who's weird...maybe you?   

icing his knees after a long ride, zach enjoys a beer with bones the cat. an alien earphone radio protects his sensitive ears from my incessant hammering on necklaces!

THE PLAN: Our hope is to sell these necklaces to make enough extra money to go on this journey--then, during the trip we will be making and selling them as well so that we dont need to meet our entire goal before we leave. We need to sell enough to keep our bellies full and our bodies dry. We'll roll into a town or campsite and setup a little mobile atelier....then stamp and hammer our way into people's hearts!

We'll need to sell quite a LOT, I'm aware. So--if you need a kickass little Christmas present email us and we will make you one or two or ten! 

More on this soon!

We've got bracelets and keychains in the works--and as soon as I find a non sterling-silver chain that I like we'll be doing slightly less expensive versions as well--maybe good for the kids....

RAW VEGAN CYCLE TOUR, POSSIBLE?

My question is this--can I design a system for sticking to this style of eating while I'm on the road? 

For the past 6 months or so I've been eating a mostly raw, mostly vegan diet. No refined sugar, soy or wheat either. I like it. Feels good, kind-of natural for me in many ways. I make plenty of exceptions, especially when eating with people, and I'd say I have about an 80% success rate which is good enough for me. 

I know this is quite easy to do while I'm at home, with an average, active life--BUT on the tour? I don't know if its possible. Before I throw in the towel I'm going ot be doing a lot of research to see what the viability of this is going to be.

Right now I use a lot of equipment--like a VitaMix, a juicer, and a food processor which I certainly cant take on a bike. And I think its safe to say that its a CRON (calorie restricted optimal nutrition) way to eat--and on a cycle tour you burn thousands of extra calories a day--so getting enough is going to be a challenge. And finding the right stuff, in the middle of winter in Wyoming?  

I'm going to begin some research on raw vegan athlete nutrition, to see what I turn up and I'll be sharing my findings as I go. I think it CAN be done, I just need to be Very Smart (and convince Zach to build me a mobile sprouting system!)

Surley Cross-Check Bike. My Iron Horse...

This is that coffin-nail mentioned in the first post. At first we weren't sure that I needed a new bike because I have a pretty good basic bike, but after an inspection of the frame we realized we couldn't attach paniers (which are the bags you need to mount to carry your load), also the disc brakes could prove problematic for repairs on the road so we decided to sell that baby and get a new one.

We shopped around for quite a while before landing on this bike, the Surly Cross-Check which we bought last weekend in Amherst MA at Laughing Dog Bicycles. They had a 54" frame in stock which was the size I needed (and in black!) so we decided to finally bite the bullet and make the purchase. Zach has been guiding this process, because to be honest I know absolutely nothing about bikes. I know what looks sexy and I know what feels comfortable and thats about it. This one is definitely comfortable and sexy as well as being functional so I'm happy and looking forward to taking it for its virgin voyage.

There is another Surly bike we looked at that is very popular for touring called the Long Haul Trucker, and the Trek 520 also has a great reputation but the Cross-Check seemed like it might be more versatile. We may be staying in one location for a week or two from time to time as we travel, and it seemed like a good idea to have a bike that handled well even when it wasn't loaded with gear. It's also something I can use as my primary bike after the trip as well so it seemed like a worthy investment.