June 8 - practically ready to roll

So ... what does the Hummer weigh when it's practically ready to roll ? Well, I just weighed it, complete with water bottles, perpetuem in the pack etc. -- 34.6 pounds. Sigh. That doesn't include probably a few more gels that I'll carry, a couple more AAA batteries, perhaps a camera ... double sigh.

Fellow rider Glen was joking on Saturday that he was going to strap a rock to my pack to slow me down on the hills ... no thanks, I'm already dragging a rock up the hills. I might yet ditch the spare tire (yes, a spare tire, already have spare tubes) but dunno about that. A tire weighs a little more than 1/2 pound ... it all adds up. By gum, that would get me down to 34 pounds !

Perhaps I'll just put two spare tires in the drop-bags and hope that if I have a problem I can make it up to or back to the last sleep control. After all ... I've never cut up a tire so badly that I've needed a tire on the road. My philosophy has been that if the tire is gone, so too is the wheel and then I'm dead in the water anyway.

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It's morning again and that spare tire is still in my pack. I could change my mind later but at this point it's rolling with me.

I'm mostly packed. I'm backing up my Windows XP environment as I write this. Once that's finished I'll pack the external SATA drive that is my Windows environment, ready for the trip. After I post this, I'll start loading the car. I've not eaten yet ... somewhere along the way I'll do that to. Our goal is to leave around 8am, but that's not critical. We're only traveling to Erie PA today with a stop at Stef's along the way.

35 pounds ... hmmm. Life would sure be a lot easier if it weighed half that much -- rather, CLIMBING would sure be a lot easier and there will be a lot of climbing on this ride.

Along with the climbing there will be wet. There are thunderstorms over Leesburg VA right now and by the looks of things that kind of weather will be with us on and off for the duration. Wet, wet, wet ... but at least warmer than it's been up here. Oh well.

I changed my tires yesterday and am going with narrower tires in front (23mm) vs the wider tires on the back (25mm). I checked out my clearance and I could easily go to 28's or even 32's without a clearance problem. At those widths my only issue would be getting the tires past the brakes. I'd have to loosen off the brakes to insert the wheels. The 25's are tight but with a push they go through. "They say" that the wider tires are more comfortable and less resistance on rough roads ... and hey, since I'm already carrying 25 pounds, what do I have to loose with a couple of hundred extra grams in tires ? At this rate, sooner or later I'll be installing a triple crankset with a granny gear !

That's it for now ... got to get moving.