Friday Follies ~~ In the Meantime…

Two quick notes:

First:  As you read this (Assuming always that you are reading this sometime during the day on Friday 10 September) I am somewhere south of Peachtree City, on the road, pulling a trailer with way too much stuff, on the way to Pine Mountain.  In other words, I’m having fun!

Second:  On Monday, I’ll be doing the inverse of the above.  I’ll be hauling that trailer back home.  So…  I will be taking a brief hiatus from posting on Monday.  Regular posts will continue on Tuesday 14 September.  (Maybe, I’ll even talk a bit about the weekend.)

 How I got ready for this weekend’s Tour, and Rides.

I don’t remember exactly how the idea germinated and took hold.  If you’ve been reading this blog, you might actually have a better grasp of that than I.  The concept was simple.  “Let’s ride to the Bike MS weekend, do the rides that weekend, and ride back.”  Like I said, the concept was simple.  The execution turns out to be a bit more complex.

The Practical Considerations:  Of course the idea of riding to and from Pine Mountain, in order to get to and from Bike MS seemed simple enough.  I’ve done the trip numerous times in the past.  But the thing is, I plan to stay down there in between.  That means spending nights in some kind of lodging.  It also means I need to have stuff  with me.  What stuff?  You know.  Clothing.  Toiletries.  Bike maintenance supplies.  Stuff.  And so there had to be a way to get the stuff down to the event and back.  Just sort of naturally, I had the thought,  “I can do that with the bike!”

So naturally, I announced that as a goal.  Of course I hadn’t thought it through completely.

But it’s not quite that simple:  I could use my touring bike to haul stuff.  It’s good at that.  But, I want to have a nice, light weight, reasonably fast, fun bike to use for the weekend.  I hit on a solution.  My utility trailer will hook up to almost any bike.  I could pack the trailer with the necessary clothing and gear, and haul it behind the preferred event bike.  This is analogous to hitching an Airstream behind a Ferrari .  Turns out that it seems a bit ridiculous, but it’s doable.  Sort of…

Implications:  You see, on a self-supported tour, I’d be carrying a fair amount of stuff, but for this four day adventure, I’m actually carrying more.  The thing is, I plan to stay in a decent accommodation.  I want to have fresh riding clothing for each of the three days (not counting the trip down).  I want to be able to put on “civvies” for those times I’m not on the bike, but am being sociable.  I want to be able to use the bike as transport while I’m down there.  Every one of those statements implies  something.

Take for instance, the “use the bike for transport” idea.  That one implies that I’ll be riding around Pine Mountain in the dark.  That means adding lights, batteries, and reflective gear to the load.  That’s just an example.

The approach:  I’ve done this the way I usually recommend it be done.  I made a big list.  I included everything that I thought I might want.  I pulled all that together and weighed it.  Then I started subtracting the things I thought I could really do without.  It’s still a beast of a load.  It looks kinda like this…

S'welp me, this is gonna be fun to pull over Pine Mountain!

But once uncoupled, I’ll have the magic bike available.  I’ve done some practice riding with this load.  It’s a tough pull, but doable.  Should be interesting to see what it’s like to drag this down there, a trip of about 60 miles.  Then do a century on Saturday, a metric (approx 65 miles) on Sunday, and drag the trailer back (over the mountain, no less!) on Monday.

See you on Tuesday.