Day 1: Heading to Los Angeles.

With three hours of sleep, I woke at 6am in my downtown San Francisco apartment to finish packing and meet friends at The Crepe House on Polk St. for the final send-off. Using the geometric skills of a grocery-bagging architect, I filled the bag with every conceivable necessity one might need on an eight-year bicycle trip. With Ortlieb rear and front saddlebags, a rear rack, and a bike trailer that I purchased the day before, this was the first time riding my bike fully loaded.

Piled high and wide, ready to own the road, I could barely manage straightening the hefty bike and trailer upright to hop on. Unable to swing my legs around the back of the bike due to the bags on the rear rack, I regretted not having a girl’s bike with the lower center bar. After awkwardly getting my foot over the center bar, while maintaining balance of a freight train on a downhill slope, I headed out to meet with Rosana, Tom, & Danny for breakfast.

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I love it when a plan comes together! Well, I suppose I would love it if that were to ever happen. Let me re-phrase that to say, I love it when friends come together!

Lesson #1: Just because you can fit it on a bicycle doesn’t mean your bicycle can carry it.

Riding a few feet, my bike shook violently and veered in and out of traffic. The loaded bike’s weight adding to the downhill momentum, and the bags flailed from side to side causing the steering to have a delayed overcompensation which got worse every time I tried to compensate for the overcompensation. After re-adjusting my gear, and trying to ride with one less bag, all with no success, I called Rosana who was waiting at The Crepe House. She and Danny came to pick up my gear so that we could have breakfast and deal with the problem later.

After a few laughs and a tasty meal, the next plan of action was to have Danny drop off my bags at KRON-TV, my recent place of employment for 18 years, and prioritize my gear. Prior to this day, I had disposed of most of my possessions. If it didn’t fit on my bicycle, I got rid of it. That’s why I tried to fit as much on my bicycle as possible, some things are emotionally hard to get ride of. With the dispassion of a meat butcher on an assembly line, I quickly gave away gear to friends at KRON and tossed momentos, cutting the baggage down by a third.

Finally, on my way south!!!