Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see
the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people
there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not
the same as never leaving.
-- Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
I've been back home for a bit over a month now, and already it feels as as if it were years ago that I left for my seventy-nine day adventure. The familiarity of Arroyo Grande--the people, the streets, the stores and the routines feel comfortable and they make my journey seem far away and remote. But I've managed to keep a hold of many bits of perspective and insights that I gained while I was away. I've been trying to find the story in each day, to keep an eye out for new discoveries, and to approach my surroundings as if they were somewhere new and unfamiliar. And I've been trying to remind myself that there is always an opportunity for adventure even in the things that seem small and mundane.
One of the big things that has stuck with me is getting out on my bike and exploring. San Luis Obispo county has so many fantastic little roads tucked away between the valleys of the hills and underneath the old oaks that dominate the landscape. And while it would be easy to drive those roads it feels much more exciting to be out in air on a bike. Perhaps it is because it makes me feel like I'm on that first bike ride I took on my trip when I pedaled away from Dutcher Creek Village and explored the roads through the wineries in Cloverdale and around Lake Sonoma. The bike I brought with me on my trip was a 15-year-old silver Specialized Sirrus. It's what is called a "commuter" bike: built more for comfort rather than endurance. It had a nice, soft, cushy saddle, flat handlebars, and allowed me to sit a little more upright. It was a nice bike for the twenty- to thirty-mile rides I was doing on my trip, but it was starting to show it's age. When Kevin was tuning it up for me in Washington he even commented "You know, they don't even make parts like this anymore..." But other than a gold Schwinn Stingray from my youth and a beat-up mountain bike in college, it was really the only bike I had ever ridden so I didn't know any better. For the first several days after I had returned home, I continued my bike rides. I rode the narrow road that meandered through the ranches in Huasna Valley; I peddled past Lake Lopez onto High Mountain Road where cars seemed an anomaly among the vineyards, cattle, and horses; and Jobie and I took a few trips to San Luis Obispo on our bikes. My old Sirrus was serving me well and I was having fun on my renewed introduction to the scenery I had missed for so long in my own backyard.
A couple weeks after I was home, Jobie and I took a little wine-tasting trip in Paso Robles and we met up with two of her friends, Rich and Lina, at one of the wineries. We brought along a little picnic which we spread out on a table and purchased a bottle of wine. As we were visiting Rich told us about a bicycle trip that he has done for the past several years. It was a ride that started in Mojave, California and went up Highway 395 through Tehachapi towards Lee Vining and Lake Mono and then into Yosemite. "That sounds fun!" Jobie chirped as he told us about it. "Can we do it with you this year?" One thing led to another, and now we're signed up for this ride. On September 1st, we'll be heading to the desert to begin a 5-day ride that will span roughly 300 miles and about a mile and a half of elevation gain.
I figured that this ride would be a good excuse to buy a new bike, so I visited a friend, Eric, who owns a bike shop. I originally had intended to get a bike similar to my Specialized Sirrus: the new models of it cost roughly $600 and that sounded reasonable to me. When I went to see Eric and told him about our ride, though, his response was "You don't want to do that ride on a commuter bike. You'll need a real road bike for that." So after trying several different bikes and expanding my budget multiple times, I settled on a black Specialized Roubaix with red and white stripes on it. Jobie got a matching one, and we agreed that I will stay away from the purple spandex top so that we don't look too coordinated. We've already gone on a few training rides with our longest one at just under 75 miles when we rode to the Smokehouse in Cayucos to get fish tacos. Eric was right: there is a huge difference in how this new bike rides compared to my old Sirrus. The new one is much smoother and faster and feels much more agile on the road. The only thing I miss is that big, soft, cushy seat on my old bike.
