Some biking background

Bicycling was part of growing up for me, perhaps like most kids. I never had a car in college, so a bike was my main source of transportation.

When I was 26, living in Southern California, my job at the time involved a four-month assignment in Baltimore, from late March to late July of 1979. I took my bike, a Raleigh Grand Prix 10-speed. During those four months, I rode to work and back (3 miles each way) and did longer and longer weekend rides, including weekend trips to Washington DC and Annapolis. At the end of my assignment, I took my bike along on a train trip to and across Canada. I got off the train for two short biking tours -- 4 days in Nova Scotia and 3 days in Alberta. When I returned to California, I did not keep up my biking, but the fun of those tours remained a great memory.

In 1986 I moved to El Paso after living about four years in Ohio. In the summer of 1987 I took up biking again, and this time it became a fitness exercise. I was the New Mexico Editor at the El Paso Times then, and in 1988 I did a 800-mile ride through Southern NM, writing a story each day about my adventure. For that trip, I replaced my Raleigh with a Miyata 1000, a bike specifically designed for touring.

During those years I did a lot of running as well, and in 1997 I gave up biking because of time constraints (due in part to getting married!) and continued running as my main exercise.

By March 2007, my running had dropped off and my weight had creeped up to 210 pounds (way too much for my 5-foot-8 frame!). My blood pressure was high and I was more than a little haunted by the ghost of my father, who suffered his first heart attack at age 51. I was 54 then.

So I vowed to start bicycling every day. At first I rode 20 miles each day, usually on the River Trail that runs along the Rio Grande. After a month I pushed that up to 25 miles and shifted to routes along Upper Valley roads. I started riding with the El Paso Bicycle Club again and it didn't take too long to return to my old form. The weight started to come off as well.

One change in bicycling over those years while I was away from it: Road bikes had gotten lighter and faster, and my steel-frame Miyata was now a dinosaur among the sleek aluminum, titanium and carbon-fiber models that now dominated road cycling. I managed to not only keep up but also get faster on my 30-pound bike, which weighed about twice as much as a state-of-the-art carbon fiber bike.

Obviously I thought more and more about getting a new bike, but I made another vow: I had to lose a total of 30 pounds first. By June 2008, my weight dropped below 180 and I purchased a Specialized Roubaix (Expert model). This is a carbon-fiber bike that weighs about 16 pounds and is equipped with near top-of-the-line components.

The Miyata, which I have now nicknamed Proud Mary (she keeps on rollin'), remains dear to my heart. And the Roubaix cannot match her as a touring bike, so the Miyata is the bike I'm riding for Bikecapade II -- 20 years after her maiden tour.

I will be carrying about 30 pounds of gear for this trip -- two rear panniers and a handlebar bag. This is actually fairly light for touring, mainly because I will forgo camping and stay at motels along the way. The one heavy item on board is my Macbook laptop (5 lbs 6 oz with charger) so I can send emails, upload pictures and do this blog while traveling.