1998 - Bike-Aid 3,600 Miles Across The U.S.A.
1999 - The Great Divide Mountain Bike Expedition
June 12, 1998 - Seattle - Orientation
DISTANCE TRAVELED: 0 MilesTIME: 0 Hours
AVERAGE SPEED: 0 Miles/Hour
TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Sunny Warm
ROAD CONDITIONS: N/A
TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: N/A
DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
Today we woke up around 8:00 in the morning and quickly ate a breakfast consisting of bananas, orange juice, milk, and Granola cereal. We then continued by talking about the typical day in the life of a Bike-Aider. We talked about numerous necessities such as what time everyone should be out of camp and if the last rider should have to ride with another rider. Next we continued onto the agreement about consensus and onto the Group Living Agreement. After this we talked about all of the rider's "special" needs with regard to food. After talking about this everyone began to get very hungry but we still had one event to go before lunch. This involved a bike maintenance workshop with Martin from Ti Cycles in Seattle. We talked about the major essentials such as adjusting the gears, brakes, and truing the wheels. After ensuring that everyone's bike was safe for the trip and all of the gears were working correctly, we finally got to the most important part of the day, lunch! After lunch we had the opportunity to have about two hours of free time to go to the local bike shop or see any places around Seattle before we leave. Anthony Tedesco, Dan Rabkin, and I went to the "flagship" store that REI has which was only a one mile ride from the church which we are staying at. It was an incredible store that just opened a few months ago. It contains the largest freestanding indoor rock climbing wall in the world and consists of two stories packed with everything that any outdoor enthusiast would need. The entire store is made of wood and it has a large fireplace encased in stone in the middle of the store. I have to say that it is the nicest and best equipped store that I have ever seen. Everyone was supposed to be back by 3:00 but a few people got lost on their way back so it ended up that the final people came in around 5:00! Next we began to talk about the rules of the SAG wagon and we devised a rotation schedule for not only driving the SAG but also for cleaning it. We also created a list of cooking duties for the entire trip. Then it was on to a dinner of spaghetti and bread which I understand is going to be a major part of the trip. It is high in carbohydrates and will always tastes good!
