THE SHAKEDOWN CRUISE

Saturday, May 29th, I took the Pilgrim (yes I’ve decide that name will work) on its shakedown cruise fully loaded. Actually, I’d say I had about 95% of all that I plan on taking loaded. I wanted to see how the bike would perform under stress. The day before, I started laying out all the cargo for inventory and weighing. I’ve read a lot of articles about what cycling tourists feel is the right amount of weight to carry and what ratio front to back it should be. Well, once weighed, it was WAY over what is usually recommended. All the loaded gear, with five full water bottles, tipped the scales at about 75 pounds!

The morning I was to depart I started throwing stuff overboard to lighten the load. I was able to get it down to between 58-60 pounds. I was pretty happy with that and didn’t see how I could cull out anything else. Besides, I can always mail back home anything that I don’t use or that will be dead weight.

I’m using four panniers and a handlebar bag. I also have a small saddle bag for a multi-tool and tire patch kit plus two small stem bags for my cell phone, mp3 player and other small items. The tent, air mattress and a bag that houses my mattress chair and a small folding seat will be tethered to the top of the rear panniers. My sleeping bag fits nicely under the handlebar bag on the front platform rack.

As I walked the bike out to the street for the first time under load I wonder if I could even maneuver the thing. Or if I’d fall over once I started trying to peddle….with all my neighbors laughing. It seemed strange, whimsical and challenging all at the same time. Would pieces of luggage or bike parts start to fall off within the first block? Would I be able to get this ship whoaed when I came to cross-traffic? Well, all went fine and I was soon sailing West out of town to the cheers of all those who lined the streets to see me off (that last part I was just dreaming in my mind).

I was worried, although, about how well the front racks would take the load being secured to a front shock. But, my worries, again, were all for not, they did fine. The new 1.50” tires rode very well at 80 psi also.

There didn’t seem to be much wind, which suited me fine till I stopped for a drink. No wind means gnats! In our part of West Central Illinois we have pesky Buffalo Gnats. And they show no mercy and little concern about when to leave the area.

As, I said, the bike rode great and it seemed to take little effort to get it up to speed and then maintain it. The ballast seemed to make it want to pick up momentum. I was quickly running 15-16 mph and was a happy camper.

The plan was to ride to my mom and dad’s house about 15 miles away and then back home. I’ve taken this route many times and it’s the way I always go to work, plus, though the highway is in dire need of repair it’s flat and a piece of cake. I had gotten a later start so didn’t want to do much more in case something went wrong. What’s more, like always seems to happen, the wind might change direction and I could go from cruising at 15 mph one minute to fighting a 20 mph headwind the next (Illinois is like that).

I made pretty good time getting to my parents house and, somewhere before I got there, I decided I wanted to challenge a certain hill, Florence Hill, on the way home since I’d have to ride up the first day of my tour anyway. It wasn’t all that steep, but it was just a very long, gradual climb that I knew would tax my legs once I tried it loaded. It wasn’t a big deal unloaded and I’d rode up it a number of times in the past.

After I left mom and dad’s I headed for the hill about eleven miles away. It wasn’t on the route going home and I’d have to detour to get to it by about two miles. And, sure enough, the wind had switched directions…it never fails. It was now blowing about 5-10 mph East by South East. That wouldn’t be an issue until I headed back down the hill, crossed the Illinois River draw bridge and rode the remaining nine miles on home, directly into the headwind.

About five miles from the hill, the wind decided to change again and started coming, what seemed to me like anyway, directly out of the South….the direction I was heading into. Bad form wind! Bike riding in Illinois is usually about 10% physical and 90% mental. You can never out guess the wind. It’s as annoying as the gnats.

So, after dropping my cruising speed down to about 9 mph and riding in my lower mid-range gears, I finally made it to the hill. I didn’t even stop for a breather or to get psyched coming off the draw-bridge located at the bottom of the hill. I down shifted into the higher gears of my lower chain ring and pulled into the slower traffic lane that runs up the hill. An up-beat song started on my mp3 player so I was ready for action!

After about the first 50 yards or so I thought, “Hey, this ain’t too bad. I can do this…even loaded!” I did have to go ahead and gear down till I resigned myself to the reality that 3rd gear was the best I could hope for to get the job done.

Then it happened….the gnats! I had no wind to keep them at bay, I had forgotten my bug spray and I was travelling just slightly faster than I could probably walk and ma and pop gnat decided to bring all the kids and their friends to dine on me for supper. I couldn’t conquer the hill without opening my mouth for air and the gnats enjoyed seeing how many of them could enter my mouth with each breath.

I couldn’t believe it! I could see the top of the hill (what seemed like miles away) and I was trying to decide just how bad I wanted this. I wasn’t even half way up and the temptation to do a downhill U-turn and get the wind in my face to rid myself of these devils was tremendously tempting.

But no! I wanted to conquer that hill. No amount of these stinkin’ buggers was going to keep me from my goal! So, all I could do was try and maintain my 6 mph spinning and spitting. Spin, inhale, spit a gnat…spin, inhale, spit a gnat…spin, inhale, spit a gnat. I actually kind of got a rhythm going doing this and had made it about 75% of the way up the hill. I could see the top getting closer. Then it happened….I let something distract my rhythm and I spit on my handlebars! Aargh! The only thing that might have made this worse was if I was a tobacco chewer (which I’m not).

Man, I was mad! I was determined more than ever to get this job done. Spin, spin, spin (no time for inhaling and spitting, I was mad). I finally got to where the hill was starting to level out, and I really wanted to go further, but, I saw a good place to turn around before the slow lane merged with the fast lane so I took it. I did a U-turn, up shifted into my middle chain ring and headed down.

The rest of the ride would be pretty well uneventful after I started downhill, or so I thought. No gnats and I wasn’t in the mood to set a speed record going down so I just relaxed, stopped peddling, coasted at 27 mph and relished in the victory….I’d wait and count the gnat bites when I got home. But, for now, I was happy and the bike seemed to sail well at this speed.

My happiness was short lived. I cleared the end of the bridge to run into the 10 mph headwind with gusts probably pushing about 15 mph. Normally, I won’t let this type of wind bother me too much but I wasn’t on a bare bike. I was tired, I was pushing a 60 pound heavier bike and I cast a bigger shadow. So, I now found myself back at about a 6-8 mph spin, but, at least there were no bugs.

I occupied myself for the next eight miles thinking about that one pint container of Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream I had bought to enjoy after a ride such as this. It turned out to be a pretty good, yet challenging, maiden voyage for the Pilgrim. In less than a week I’ll be screaming up the hill again on my way over to where my brother lives in Quincy, IL. One thing’s for sure…I will be bringing the bug spray.