Blue Beauty is Ready

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” - G.K. Chesterton

The thought of riding over 650 miles in 2 weeks (Seattle, WA to Whitefish, MT) is daunting, exciting and holds lots of anticipation. I hope the adventure lies in seeing new things and meeting new people and any inconvenience has to do with something other than equipment failure. I built my touring bike, the Blue Beauty, at a UBI class in Portland in April of 2010. I've since added racks for panniers and also built the bike my daughter will ride. Given that almost everything on these bikes has been made, assembled (credit also to Bainbridge Island Cycle, www.b-i-cycle.com), and inspected by me means that any equipment failure will also point directly to something I've done or failed to do. I'm also hoping that means that I can fix any issue that arises. The 3 pounds of tools and extra parts that I'll be lugging up the many passes we will climb provides a perverse comfort. I certainly hope I never have to open that tool kit and curse its wasted weight at the end of the trip rather than use it often and be glad I brought it. Regardless, we are at 11 days and counting before starting the adventure and I think the Blue Beauty is ready. Note the new handlebar bag that had its maiden voyage this morning in the thick fog of my morning commute from Bainbridge Island to Seattle.