We just left Tonsai and are headed to Bangkok. Kyle has a friend coming to meet up with him, so they'll spend some time traveling. JP was going to come visit me, but he may be getting a baby instead....

We were on Tonsai for about 2.3 weeks. We climbed pretty much every day except the days one, or both of us, had diahrea, which was probably 4 days....that place will mess you up....

We hooked up with two of Kyles friends the first day we got there. J and S. We climbed with them pretty much every day. I've never climbed harder in my life. We'd climb in the mornings, take naps on the beach, and then climb in the evenings. S is doing a yoga training course on Koh Samui for the month of Feb. So if JP doesn't show up I'll most likely hang out with J until March 1. March 1 is the day we're going to arrive in Singapore and start biking....

Here It Comes

I'm in Idaho Falls right now at my parents house finalizing all of my stuff.  Most everything is ready, there's just things a few things here and there that need to be packed or bought or both.

I leave IF tomorrow morning, I'll go down to SLC to see a brother, a sister, a cousin, a granny, and a grandpa.  Then my flight is Thursday in the early am.

I'll get into Bangkok a couple of days later where I'll get to see Spencer and Breckan.  Two days later Kyle shows up.  We'll spend a day or two in Bangkok, getting anything together that we need to get together.  Kyle has never met Spencer or Breckan, and we'll probably discuss a little more about our route, etc...  Then Kyle and I will head down to Railay.

I was in Railay last year with RLD for about a week.  It's ok, if you're into really really pretty beaches and a lot of freakingly sweet climbing.  It's all bolted sport climbing on super interesting limestone.  It's all overhung and super pumpy.  I've been so busy that I haven't really climbed since mid November, so it will take a few days to get back into it, but I'll have a few days for that...

After about 3 weeks in Railay JP and possibly KH are coming for a visit.  I'll have to leave Thailand to renew my visa, and Spencer won't stop talking about how awesome Laos is, so we're planning on heading there for a couple of weeks.

In the meantime Kyle will have a friend visiting also.  After they all leave Kyle and I will head to Singapore where I'll meet my bike box, Kyle will purchase a bike, and then we'll start riding north through Malaysia and Thailand.

Breckan and Spencer have to finish their teaching contracts.  So Kyle and I are planning on wandering around Vietnam until they're ready.  We'll meet up with them early April in southern Laos and then it starts.

Our 'plan' is to head up north through Laos, into China, through Tibet, through Nepal, northern India, a whole bunch of 'Stan's', Iran and then Turkey.  Tibet will likely be next to impossible, in which case we'll just change it up.  

None of us have any huge aspirations of reaching some destination in some pre-determined time or anything, so we'll play everything by ear.  If we see something cool, we'll turn, if we don't, we'll keep going straight.

The only thing I'm nervous about at all is my knee.  I have this trick knee that comes back to hurt me every once in a while.  It seems to come back mostly through running in the mountains, but every once in a while the bike brings it out also.

Right when it was hurting the most this summer I went and got an MRI done just to see if I was damaging anything.  The Dr. said it looked 'pristine', so that night I took some Ibuprofen and did a night time summit of Eagle Peak with JH.

Our packs were a little on the heavy side, but we still ran quite a bit and did it pretty quickly.  It was still a long day, but my knee didn't bring me down too much.  It started flaring up a few weeks later, so I took it easy for about a month, and then got back into it slowly and kept it easy for the fall and early winter.

By the time I actually get on the bike in early March the knee will be super rested.  And I'm really hoping that if it flares at all, a little ibuprofen will clean it up.  We'll see...

"let me tell you about my b[ike]"

i promised this list to MS about 8 months ago....

i'm mostly really excited about 3 parts of this bike.  the frame itself, the rear hub, and the handlebars.

i bought myself a 'big dummy' frame from surly.  i got it last may, right after they had all sold out.  so i called every 'three pirate flagg-ed' surly dealer in the western u.s. just to see if there was one sitting on a floor somewhere.  there wasn't.  then, somehow, spencer found one on craigslist in reno....spencer didn't even live in reno....

i already had a modified surly 1 x 1, and i dig it.  which is why i wanted to go with surly.  the big dummy has that rear wheel so far back it allows for all of the weight from my stuff to sit right on the rear hub.  i also liked the idea of having all that extra cargo space....and the big dummy looked comfy, so i bought it.

to go along with the frame i got the v-rack, freeloader bags and snapdeck from xtracycle.  i used the bags all summer and like them for the most part.  there were a couple of things i would have liked to have changed, but i had no idea how, and was too lazy to really even think about it.

the racks seemed to carry AP just fine.

the handlebars were made for me, for this trip, by sabrosa cycles.  after they came back from the powder coater, the metal turned a beautiful green.  i can't find a good finished product picture, but i've never seen sexier bars.

i'm not really much of a mechanic, so i wanted to get as many bombproof parts as i could.  i don't really like messing around with derailiers either, so i got myself a rohloff hub.  it was on the pricey side, but i'm a sucker for that fancy german engineering.  it's got a fistful of gears crammed inside, so there's virtually no maintenance and it shifts super easy.  the low gears are a little bit crunchy, so when i called rohloff they told me the break in time is usually '3,000 miles or so'....

and as an added bonus, when i coast it makes that 'tick-tick-tick' sound that i love.

i put on avid linear pull brakes, a chris king headset, white industries bottom bracket, surly chain ring (i think it has 42 teeth....and the cog has 16).  the crankset is sugino, the front hub is shimano dx, the seat post is from salsa, the seat is a brooks b-17, and the rims are salsa gordo's. i decided to go with platform pedals, i don't really know how much i pull anyway.  maybe i'll regret that, but i got some redline bmx pedals.  they have a huge platform, so that will allow me to move my feet around and will maybe compensate for the lack of pull?  i don't think i really care.  my road bike had clipless pedals, but all the other bikes i've ridden never did....

some of the parts i picked out special, some were just whatever i could get at my LBS.

i road the bike all summer and loved it.  i can't hop a curb to save my life.  i pop the rear wheel too soon every time.  i even wait extra long, but i never time it right.  that long wheel base throws everything off.  but i'm super impressed with how easily it handles.  i took it on some singletrack, not really technical stuff, and it rides really fun.  the rear seat just hops at the most unexpected times.

i one time rode it with JP on the back for about 2 miles, and those 180 lbs nearly killed me.  but the dummy handled super good with smaller loads.  i just hope i boxed it good enough....

and, many thanks go out to jruss for all of his parts recommendations...