Intro: Who, What, When, Where, Why????

So . . . David and I are recently graduated and happily unemployed, which means it's time for a celebratory bike ride. It will take 4 months and cover over 4,000 miles.

Who - is along for the ride
What - are we taking
When - is the ride
Where - is the ride
Why - in the world have we decided to celebrate the end of residency with a bike ride?

 

Who - is along for the ride

Peter Lucey: My father inculcated my love of biking at an early age by schlepping me to school on the back of a tandem, and I've been pedaling ever since. We have a tradition of doing “victory laps” whenever I graduate from somewhere. For high school we biked from Los Angeles to Seattle, against absolutely brutal headwinds the whole way. For college we biked around the northern half of Scotland, stopping at every pub we stumbled upon. For medical school we biked around the Western half of Cuba and made it to Punta Maria, the westernmost point of the island. The plan has been to bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles since I started my residency in Martinez. Favorite quote: "The Luceys may not be the tallest in the room, but they're the toughest".

David Bunker: In case you haven't spoken to me for the last three years, David and I have a bike-themed origin story. He and his friend Jacob used to run a stall at the Martinez Farmer's Market fixing bikes for free. I stopped by their booth because I needed some biking advice, and we've been biking together ever since. He’s been patiently awaiting the end of residency to go on a really long bike ride. David is in charge of taking the photos for this trip, because he's usually heading the pack, and he's the only one who can take photos and bike at the same time without crashing or falling over. 

Nathan Quattlebaum: Nathan is Dave’s best friend from DVC, and is planning to steal David away to live with him in Portland when David decides that Malawi isn’t his style. He’s always up for a bike ride because it means he can drink a guilt-free beer or two (or 10). He is in charge of the "Road of the Day" segment, in which he highlights the most excellent road of the day.

Mom and Dom: These lucky two got roped into my first long-distance bike ride many moons ago, just because some responsible adult decided that a 17-year old girl wasn't allowed to cycle from Los Angeles to Seattle by herself. Despite having no previous long-distance cycling experience, they acquitted themselves admirably, and have been waiting for a chance to repeat the adventure ever since.

 

What - are we taking

Jessie’s Bike

• Advocate Cycles Sand County
• Jessie chose this frame because the company, at the time, was registered in such a way that required them to donate 100% of their profits to various bicycling advocacy organizations. This frame was designed for loaded touring and has all the mounting points that we need for our gear, and more. Unfortunately, Advocate Cycles no longer exists in its original form. 
• Shutter Precision PD-8 dynamo hub
• A dynamo hub gives us the ability to power our headlight and taillight without needing to charge any batteries. There are also accessories available that allow one to charge USB devices from one but we do not have a need for that at the moment.
• Rohloff 14-speed hub
• These hubs were chosen due to being bullet-proof for traveling, while they have a higher up front cost, there are less external components that have a change of breaking.
• Velocity Wheels Blunt SS 650b rims
• Velocity makes great rims and wheels by hand in the US. These rims are strong enough for loaded touring without being overly heavy while being wide enough to fit our tires nicely.
• Velo Orange Randonneur front rack
• This is a little front rack that Jessie's headlight is mounted on to provide better lighting, and can be used for smaller loads that need to be easily accessed. 
• Planet Bike Cascadia ALX 650bx60 fenders
• These were the best fenders I could find for our wheels at the time. They are super durable, fairly thick aluminum and were much more affordable compared to the other fenders that were on the market at the time.
• WTB Horizon Tubeless Tires
• These tires, and David's are 650bx47mm. They provide a rolling diameter of a standard 700c road tire, but with much more volume allowing lower tire pressures for a more comfortable ride and more off-road capability. 
• Tubus Cargo Evo rear rack and Duo front rack
• Tubus makes the gold standard for bicycle racks, super strong and well built. Both bikes have a set of racks made by them.
• Busch & Muller IQ-X Headlight and Toplight Line Brake Plus taillight
• These Busch & Muller lights are some of the best dynamo lights that you can get. The headlight is very bright with a nice cutoff to prevent blinding oncoming traffic. The taillight has a circuit inside that detects when you are slowing down and brightens like a brake light to be more noticeable to those behind you.
• Jones SG Loop handlebar with Ergon GC-1 Grips
• Ortlieb Panniers 
• These are the gold standard for bicycle touring bags. They have a roll top and are fully waterproof and have a great quick release mounting system that makes them a cinch to put on and remove from the bicycle.

David’s Bike

• Rodeo Labs Flaanimal 4.0
• Shutter Precision PD-8X dynamo hub
• Rohloff 14-speed hub
• Gates Carbon Drive belt
• The belt drive is great for any internally geared hub like the Rohloff. The belts last much longer than a chain, 10,000-20,000 miles, and do not require chain lube. This makes them extremely nice to have on long tours and through any wet riding.
• Velocity Blunt SS 650b
• WTB Byway Tubeless tires
• Tubus Cosmo Stainless Steel rear rack and Tara Stainless Steel front rack
• Busch & Muller IQ-X headlight and taillight
• TiTO titanium Handlebars with Ergon GC-1 Grips
• Brooks C17 Saddle
• FSA SL-K carbon Seatpost
• Ortlieb Panniers

Four Ortlieb paniers per person, two small ones on the front rack and two large ones on the back

Two person tent and mattress with sleeping bag. Also my foam pillow, David's mattress inflater/inflatable pillow and two foldout chairs that were ultimately cut from the panniers for being too bulky

Bike supplies: in addition to the usual tools (Alan wrench, bike pump), we brought two extra tubeless tires, extra spokes, extra brake pads, and a lock.

Dave's and my clothes

     

Food, toiletries, electronics and water

 

When - is the bike ride

Dave graduated from UC San Jose on May 23rd and I graduated from residency on June 28th, so we started the bike ride on June 29th. I have to start work in Malawi on October 28th, so the bike ride will end on October 26th.

 

Where - is the bike ride

Bike Ride #1: San Jose to Santa Barbara

The conceit was to make it all the way down the coast, from our house in Martinez to my dad's house in Los Angeles. However, we took a train from Martinez to San Jose, and a lift from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, in order to avoid the worst of the traffic without missing the prettiest parts of the coast. (Side note: David and Nathan had so much fun doing this ride the first time, that they decided to do it all over again a couple of weeks later, stopping at different for variety's sake)

Bike Ride #2: Natchez to Oberlin

The second bike ride follows the Natchez Trace Trail north from Mississippi before switching to the Underground Railroad till Oberlin, Ohio, home of my mother.

 



Bike Ride #3: Nantes to Constanta

Our grand finale follows the EuroVelo 6 (EV6) from Nantes, France, to Constanta, Romania, and is the grand finale and our swan song before catching a flight to Malawi. 

  

 

 

Why????

Aside from upholding Dad's and my noble tradition of celebrating each graduation with a victory ride, there are any number of excellent reasons to do a long bike ride. Anyone who bikes, runs, walks, backpacks, rollerblades or skateboards will understand the joy of arriving at a destination under your own steam. I'm not saying that train rides and car trips aren't wonderful in their own way, but I think there's a deeper sense of deserving a destination when you've worked to get there. Our chosen route lent itself perfectly to biking - the stunning sights we enjoyed morphed before we could get bored. The wind in our hair was just a bonus.

Finally, residency is a mind-bending, soul-altering journey, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But it is not easy on your body. There were attempts to nurture the body as well as the spirit: Jon and I shook our tailfeathers at 1220, and maybe even burned off more calories than we consumed in mystery shots. Angela and Emma and I went salsa dancing at Allegro's and anywhere else that would have us. Catherine reintroduced me to yoga, and Karen made me take it to a new level. Angela and Karen and I did some of our best gossiping while jogging around the Marina. Dave and I even managed to go on occasional bike rides, usually on a weekend after I had pulled a night shift, because that was one of the few times that I had an entire weekend reliably to myself, such that I actually fell asleep while pedaling up a mountain on our way to Samuel P Taylor park. Unfortunately, these efforts to exercise were no match for stress-eating free cafeteria food, and in the last three years I have gained 15 lbs and both David and Dad noticed that I am slower than ever (whereas Nathan has only ever known me to be a slow rider), which is pretty demoralizing. This is a chance to catch my poor beleaguered body up to my sharply honed mind.