Susie & Gus take a 40 day Vacation

[Joseph]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUGgOqEqOkc

took a 40 day vacation with bikes.  I ride a Gus and my friend, Tim, a Susie.  Check out the video above for a recap of events in sequential order.

The original idea was a skate trip by bicycles but with mediocre at best planning.  We would ride from Seattle to Oakland finding as much dirt and gravel as possible.  

We left Chicago by car on July 3rd with my wife, 2 dogs, 2 bikes and plenty of camping equipment.  We dropped my bike off in Seattle to get the front hub replaced and drove up to Orcas Island for some camping and skating.  After 10 days of driving my wife dropped Tim & I in Seattle to begin the biking portion.  Yes, my wife dropped us in Seattle and drover herself and the 2 dogs back to Chicago by herself.  She is the best and has already let me know she will not be doing that again anytime soon. 

Free Range Cycles in Seattle was the starting point for the biking portion because that is where my bike was.  We had a late start and ended up skating under the bridge, Marginal Way, until dark with the Grindline crew.  A guy named Isaac gave us a place to crash on the flat bottom of there indoor vert ramp.  He also gave us a great route to hit skateparks along the way towards Yakima.  

We zigzagged through Washington hitting skateparks along the way. If you didn't know already the Seattle area has the most skateparks per capita.  The route was not straight forward but the trip was not meant to be. We rode towards Yakima and hung for a day before making our way towards Bingen, WA.
After skating Bingen Park for a full day we hitchhiked across the Columbia River to get into Hood River, Oregon.  From Hood River we rode to Portland and instead of staying in Portland for 3 days we stayed for 14.  After about 8 days our friend finally asked how long we would be sleeping on his floor.  We originally thought we would ride the Oregon Outback but due to heavy fires thought best to just stay and skate Burnside everyday and do some s24o in the Portland area. (We plan on going back and doing the Outback in the early spring time).  We both were not interested in biking the 1 and used a Hertz bailout to rent a van and drive the 1 with our bikes to Oakland.  Saving our legs for lots of day rides and skating through the Oakland area. 

We stayed in Oakland for about 10 days and skated every single day expect one when we decided to take BART to walnut creek and ride Mt. Diablo.  After sleeping outside on the Mountain we checked out Riv and took BART back to our friends place in Oakland.

After a good time in Oakland we took the Amtrak back to Chicago on August 12th.

The big take away... Bring your bike to each town you visit so you can go where you want when you want.  Sometimes, listen to locals.  Lastly, carrying a skateboard while touring adds a lot of extra weight but totally worth it if you are still a 30+ year old skate rat.  

-Joseph

[lucky...@gmail.com]

Man, I love this. Rad.

On Oct 29, 2021, at 08:32, Joseph <joseph...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Jared Wilson]

After seeing a couple photos on Riv's IG I was really hoping we'd eventually get a trip report, and boy have you've delivered!

Cheers!

Jared in SLO

[steve bishop]

Maaan! What a great itch to scratch!

Steve

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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[Stephen]

This is dope, looks like an awesome trip! I got to ride with Tim last week in Connecticut, it was a great time!

[Tim Baldwin]

This trip was a blast! Glad Joseph and I made it happen after postponing a year due to the pandemic. Many thanks to Allison for the drop-off.

Stephen, it was a pleasure riding the Nutmeg with you. Hoping to do it again next year. Holler if you end up in the Chicago area and we can link up for a ride.

[mrb]

Awesome video and hello to fellow Nutmeggers!

[Justin]

Awesome trip and documentation! I definitely remember seeing that bike at Nutmeg. I've been wondering where all those folks were, there were more Rivendells on that farm for two days than anywhere else in the world I'd wager. I wish I'd taken photos of everyone I saw. It's funny thing feeling like you have a pretty unattractive bike to the people you see most when riding it but then go to a Nutmeg Nor'easter and experience your bike getting a lot of attention. What a trip

[Stephen]

Hell yeah dude, likewise if you come by NC.

On Saturday, October 30, 2021 at 2:26:12 PM UTC-4 Tim Baldwin wrote:

[Damien]

You guys rip! That was soooo fun to watch. You've inspired me to go for a bike-skate sesh even though it's going to feel mildly wintry here this week.

[Matthew P]

Nosegrind on the pool coping!  Nice ledgework too.

I think the Anti Hero (& Girl-Anti Hero "Beauty & the Beast") trips of camping/sleeping wherever, in urban parks etc., changed the way I think about travel.
They showed me that "out there" begins wherever you've never been, which starts really close to home for me, despite having been much further.
And the bike is my way to fill in the gaps.
-Matthew P
doing local bike camping in San Diego on Kumeyaay land

[Oli Cowling]

This might be my fav riv video ever made

Sent from my iPhone

> On 29 Oct 2021, at 16:32, Joseph <joseph...@gmail.com> wrote:
>