The trickiest bit about traveling with a bicycle isn't the riding, it's the conveying. Bikes take very well to being ridden. They seem to take umbrage at being transported. True to their passive aggressive nature they take their revenge by tossing off washers and bolts, or anything else left unsecured while your'e not looking. Bike touring is pretty straightforward. You strap everything to the bike you think will be useful and sit on the seat and peddle. But, every once in a while you get as far as you can easily get by peddling and throw your contraption on to some other machine and trust that you'll both get to your destination unscathed. That doesn't always work out. Things can go wrong. For me, they often have. I've had my bikes bent and made unrideable by careless baggage handlers. I've made them unrideable myself when I've lost or overlooked necessary pieces of hardware . Once I even got at my my destination only to open the box I'd placed my bicycle in finding that I'd left the wheels behind. I've sometimes left out the pedels. I can't even count the number of times I've botched reassembling the headset and had to take it in to a bike mechanic for adjustment. The last time this happened the mechanic took pity on me and showed me that all I had to do is remove the handlebars and I could leave the headset alone. Traveling with a bike in tow has involved a lot of trial and error, but mostly error.
I'm traveling Amtrak as I write this. The train has stopped for ten minutes or to pick up passengers in Johnstown Pa. I rode to Grand Junction by the scenic route and I'm taking the train from there to New Jersey to see my family. Amtrak supplied me with a large box to carry the bike and most of my camping gear in. It's so large that I didn't have to remove the wheels to fit the bike into the box, so there's no danger of leaving them out but I'm wondering what I did with those peddles. I'm not so worried about what happened to them as I am worried about the bike generally. There have been two transfers on this journey. Can I really expect Amtrak to get it right and move that precious box at the right time to the right location? I don't know. It's out of my hands. A traveler has to live by faith the same way that your garden variety saint does. You need to trust that things will work out, and if they don't, you need to trust that works out too. You could try traveling without faith, maybe put the responsibility on a travel agency, have everything planned and reserved for you. I'm not sure how much that resembles traveling the way I do it. It sounds like all the real traveling has already been done for you. The only interesting part for me is the uncertainty. If I wanted certainty I would have stayed home. But what do I know? I'm the guy that packs his bicycle without noticing that I've left out the wheels.
The train has just crested a mountain range. Which is it ,the Tuscarora, the Blue Ridge, the Kittatinny , Allegheny? It's very misty up here and overcast. I can see a freeway winding it's way through the mountains below. Most of the trees still have leaves attached with colors from deep red through all the hues of amber, to bright yellow. Oak is the dominant tree on these mountains, especially white oak. There's also maple and hickory. The conductor has just announced that we are now rounding " the world famous horseshoe curve". I know train spotters think highly of this landmark. The scenery is great here, especially with fall colors, but the horseshoe curve isn't so impressive. The evening before last the California Zephyr was descending the front range into Denver. That was a more spectacular descent by far, including an unannounced horseshoe bend. The view was vast. The drop immense. There was a foot of newly fallen snow. Behind the peaks the sun was setting casting a golden glow over everything, the city ,the plain, the mountains. The scale of the West is so far beyond anything in the East . An obscure eroded cliff or gully, a little noticed mountain, in the Western U.S. wouldn't pass unnoticed in the East. It would attract tourists. It might be named a National park.
Here's a postscript ,written the next day. Surprise, surprise, the bike didn't make it. Amtrak just called to say they have it now.
I'm traveling Amtrak as I write this. The train has stopped for ten minutes or to pick up passengers in Johnstown Pa. I rode to Grand Junction by the scenic route and I'm taking the train from there to New Jersey to see my family. Amtrak supplied me with a large box to carry the bike and most of my camping gear in. It's so large that I didn't have to remove the wheels to fit the bike into the box, so there's no danger of leaving them out but I'm wondering what I did with those peddles. I'm not so worried about what happened to them as I am worried about the bike generally. There have been two transfers on this journey. Can I really expect Amtrak to get it right and move that precious box at the right time to the right location? I don't know. It's out of my hands. A traveler has to live by faith the same way that your garden variety saint does. You need to trust that things will work out, and if they don't, you need to trust that works out too. You could try traveling without faith, maybe put the responsibility on a travel agency, have everything planned and reserved for you. I'm not sure how much that resembles traveling the way I do it. It sounds like all the real traveling has already been done for you. The only interesting part for me is the uncertainty. If I wanted certainty I would have stayed home. But what do I know? I'm the guy that packs his bicycle without noticing that I've left out the wheels.
The train has just crested a mountain range. Which is it ,the Tuscarora, the Blue Ridge, the Kittatinny , Allegheny? It's very misty up here and overcast. I can see a freeway winding it's way through the mountains below. Most of the trees still have leaves attached with colors from deep red through all the hues of amber, to bright yellow. Oak is the dominant tree on these mountains, especially white oak. There's also maple and hickory. The conductor has just announced that we are now rounding " the world famous horseshoe curve". I know train spotters think highly of this landmark. The scenery is great here, especially with fall colors, but the horseshoe curve isn't so impressive. The evening before last the California Zephyr was descending the front range into Denver. That was a more spectacular descent by far, including an unannounced horseshoe bend. The view was vast. The drop immense. There was a foot of newly fallen snow. Behind the peaks the sun was setting casting a golden glow over everything, the city ,the plain, the mountains. The scale of the West is so far beyond anything in the East . An obscure eroded cliff or gully, a little noticed mountain, in the Western U.S. wouldn't pass unnoticed in the East. It would attract tourists. It might be named a National park.
Here's a postscript ,written the next day. Surprise, surprise, the bike didn't make it. Amtrak just called to say they have it now.
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