Lots of stuff happened In 1984. The Olympics came to Los Angeles, we lost Marvin Gaye, and Harry Dean Stanton was in Repo Man and Paris Texas.

I was planning to start graduate school at the University of Iowa in the fall and I desperately wanted to spend the summer on a bike.   I connected with a couple of friends that were thinking the same thing and we rode out to California.

There were lots of adventures along the way.  Like a Basque Festival in Idaho that included feats of strength, free beer and chorizo sausage.   And there were tornadoes in Nebraska that left us seeking refuge in a jail... and plenty more.

Well, I recently reconnected with one of the guys I rode with that summer when he bought a set of Ironweeds.  It turns out he had a bunch of slides from the ride that he passed on to me.  I had the local camera shop convert them to digital.  Here are a few of  the slides from that trip.

Travel by bicycle can only be understood and appreciated (or despised) by experiencing it – or through verstehen, as sociologist Max Weber would say. The freedom, your propinquity to the world and the slow speed of your travel intensifies the experience.   Even the physical exertion, occasional deprivation, and discomfort of the road give you a greater appreciation for small comforts or the simple kindness of people you meet along your way.

I remember riding into a small Austrian village years ago; it was nearly dark and it had been raining off and on all day as I rode.  My riding gear was sodden and I was bushed, so I pitched a tent on a grassy commons in the center of the village and crawled in my sleeping bag for a much needed night’s rest.   Very early the following morning, through the window of my tent, I caught a glimpse of an old woman – she must have been well into her 80s – as she silently placed a kaisersemmel roll and a carafe of coffee outside my vestibule.  This act of kindness is not uncommon to the traveling cyclist.

Making a cup of tea under a schoolyard pavilion during a thunderstorm becomes a moment of pure joy.  Finding a warm shower and a soft bed after days of spit baths and hard ground brings much gratitude for a thing that might normally go unnoticed or unappreciated.  Bicycle touring puts you in the moment, particularly when you are not tied to a schedule or predetermined destination.  

Last weekend I did a camping ride with four friends.  The weather was cool and on Sunday it rained.  Now you might think the cool, wet weather would put a damper on the fun and frivolity of the trip.  But in the end, it made for a more vivid and memorable ride.  A few pictures are shared below.

The 100th Tour de France is about to get underway.  I find that when non-cyclists discover my interest in bikes and biking, they will make a comment or ask me a question that relates to the world's best known cycling event.   

Because it involves bicycles, I have some broad interest in competitive cycling.  However, I have never mounted a bike for the purpose of trying to go fast, or at least faster than another person.  Well, I used to race my daughters the last block of our ride home from school, and I always lost.  

The competitive cycling scene drives much of the consumer interest in light-weight parts and materials.  I have nothing against lightweight stuff, but it is pretty low on my list of priorities.  For instance, I'm puzzled by the notion of replacing a perfectly good steel fork with a carbon fork.  A good steel fork weighs about 6 to 12 ounces more than the average carbon fork.  Most riders are toting more weight in their bladders. 

For me the best part of bicycles is riding, so why would I want to go fast and get it over with sooner?  I’d rather savor my time in the saddle.  A wise man once said to me,  “I ride because I enjoy it, and to stay fit.  The way I figure it, with a lighter bike my ride ends sooner AND I get less exercise.”   I could not agree more.

Loaded touring, commuting and social rides were my introduction to cycling.  I took up cycling for practical reasons; it was simple, inexpensive and a terrific method to experience travel.   After a couple of fully-loaded tours around the countryside (all the gear… panniers, sleeping bag, tent, etc.), I fell in love with bicycle travel.   And there is nothing quite like the comfort and stable feel of a fully loaded bicycle.  It seems counterintuitive, but it’s true.  I've talked with other loaded touring cyclists and there seems to be a consensus. 

Now, I have heard it said, by the casual observer, that loaded bicycle touring looks like an unpleasant endeavor, particularly compared to the sleek, speed-obsessed road cyclist astride their beautifully molded plastic steeds.   The touring cyclist, by contrast, has all the visual appeal of a refugee escape.  The sunburnt rider with worldly possessions bagged, tethered and hooked to a sturdy, if not fatigued, bicycle.   Nonetheless, I think it's fun and it's where I began my relationship with cycling; and, like a well-suited marriage, my love and respect for cycling and bicycles has been repaid with much happiness.

Ride well and have fun!

I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite bicycle-related videos from the past year.  First is Back to Earth from El Zumpango a Bay area film maker.   I think this video beautifully captures the liberation, whimsical energy, and fellowship of a group camping ride.  The other, What is Bicycle Travel?, is a short promotional video, but very well done.  It conjures up some warm thoughts and images on a cold December day.

Adventure Cycling and America ByCycle have created this fun and useful video on packing your panniers for a tour.  I do have one contribution to the content of this video.  After a few tours spent rummaging through panniers looking for that pair of cozy socks or that clean t-shirt, I came up with a simple method to help me find clothing quickly.  I keep clothes that go above the waist in one pannier (the right rear pannier to be precise) and clothes that go below the waist in another. Of course, using multiple stuff sacks as shown in the video may render this technique unnecessary.