I guess that's it

So we're done. We rode our bikes from Canada to Mexico. Crazy. I feel like it should have taken us longer. Or maybe I just wish I could keep going. My body is ready to keep going south, and My Pony is patiently waiting outside if I need her, but unfortunately my checking account needs some work so it's back to real life in Seattle for me. I will say I am extremely excited to see Seattle pals and to get sweaty on the dance floor, if my feet can remember how to step-touch. And I miss wearing shoes that don't make me look like a nerdy space alien ... my brown Vans in particular. But I am sort of disappointed that it is time to cross this one off the list.


I could take this time to go into detail about my deep and meaningful post bike tour reflections, or how in our last twenty five miles on the road we got lost in Chula Vista, or how Amanda and I got really cute haircuts today, but instead I want to share with you some of our bike tour statistics...with bullet points of course

• Total number of flat tires: 3. Amanda and I both got flats the first week in BC and then Sam suffered his second when we were getting made fun of for wearing spandex by some sexy surfers at a cliff side turnout in Malibu. A wet suit could sort of be considered spandex right?



• Fastest speed: 4o mph. Somewhere in Oregon I went down a long, big hill...




• Total number of clipless pedal related wipeouts: Three. Refer to our archives for the play-by-play and photos of the first two falls. I ate shit from complete lack of clipless pedal coordination the second to last day of the ride while Amanda and I were getting directions from some more sexy surfers in San Diego. Needless to say it was extremely embarrassing. So much so that Amanda even said she was embarrassed for me. I'm getting red in the face again just writing this. Totally not smooth.




• Total number of hotel rooms slept in: 2. After almost dying on the Astoria bridge we felt that we had at least earned a shower, and thanks to my Mom spoiling us rotten, the Lucia Lodge in Big Sur was blessed with our company after riding through the most beautiful section in California.




• Most miles in a day: 111. Duh.




• Least miles in a day: 36. This was in the beginning when we were wimps.




• Total number of days cycling: 34.




• Total number of days off: 4.




• Total number of raccoon related sleepless nights: 2. Episode 1 was in Gualala, California when the darn varmints tried to use Amanda's cell phone and Episode 2 was in San Simeon, California when I left my food out. What?




• Total number of times I accidentally ran my front tire into Amanda's panniers while riding way too close to her: 3. Sorry pal.




• Total number of my relatives I subjected Amanda to: 6. Dad in Orinda, Mom in Santa Cruz, sister Brooke in Santa Cruz, sister Blair in Huntington Beach, and grandparents Bee and Muck in Oceanside, California. She wasn't kidding about the family reunion tour thing.




• Least friendly area to ride in: North Bend, Oregon on Labor Day. This is the location of the infamous illegal bridge ride over Coos Bay and is home to dozens of unfriendly, cyclist-hating, ATV-riding, big car-driving, alarmingly loud horn-honking jerkfaces.




• Most beautiful and awesome areas to ride in: Everywhere in Oregon, except for North Bend and the Astoria Bridge, and Big Sur, California. Attention Oregon homeless people and smelly hippies: Showers in Oregon State Parks are FREE! FREE!? What are you waiting for?! Go get clean!




• Total number of times we got lost: once... less than 10 miles away from the border allowing us to have a surprise tour of beautiful Chula Vista, California. P.S. judging by the priceless looks on some of their faces, I think if Amanda and I had played soccer all the way down the coast we would have been way more popular among the Chula Vista-ians.




• Total number of Bike Posse Members: 10. Diego from Spain, Chuck and Jim from Madison, Max from San Francisco, Eli and Andrea from Seattle, Courtney and her dude (?) from Eugene, and Stephen and Pius from Swederland. We only rode near Stephen and Pius for about 20 miles, and they ride recumbent bicycles which are pretty nerdy, but they did help disperse the humiliation of exposing our horrific tan lines by exposing their own horrific tan lines with us at the beach today so they can be part of the posse.




• Total number of times we did laundry: 5.




• Total number of times people told us riding down the coast was "all downhill" and then laughed at their own joke: eighty million.




• Total number of cows that responded to Amanda mooing at them: one.

So I guess that's it. Amanda and I keep hearing that we need to come up with some way to continue posting our rants and raves on this blog now that the tour is over, so if anyone has any ideas, let us know. Until then, read all of our archived posts over and over like a crazy stalker.