Wandering Ponderer re-hash.

This is from the archives, yet I feel it has more to say.


Do you remember that song, “I Am the Wanderer”? It was from the Sixties or so, it goes on about a guy that feels the need to wander whenever he gets too close to someone. Well, I don’t have the exact same problem, although I do feel I have the soul of a traveler, no I need to wander just not when I get too close to someone.

I need to wander; I need to see what is around the bend for I am always imagining what is there. I imagine what it would be like to visit this place and see that area; I imagine all the interesting and wonderful people I will meet, even the homeless ones that other people would rather walk over than talk to. For it is those experiences that I treasure.

I grew up reading quite a bit, I was an only child to a flight attendant; I had a father growing up but he died when I was but eleven years old. Needless to say I was alone quite a bit. For me, though, it really wasn’t that bad. I had friends but I also had my imagination, stories and my bicycle to get me through it. It was with these things that I could go anywhere! Not only would I ride my bike ten miles across town but I would journey across the country or the globe, imagining the stories that I would eventually make for myself.

This has carried on all the way to where I am now, I still have more passion for my bicycle than is probably healthy and my imagination has yet to slow down even a bit. What has changed though is instead of me dreaming up a trip where I am riding a horse across the plain in search of that lost cow I am now seeing myself cycling through the high mountains on my way to the coast. You see it’s still there, it has simply evolved.

When I was about sixteen years old I knew this older man who I would go on rides with; he was an awesome guy if not a bit odd, but engineers often are different than the rest of us. He, however, is one of the people responsible for getting me hooked on bike racing, he would tell me stories of him back in the day racing on the track, putting it all out there on the line to the point where you have to KNOW that you will win, otherwise you are simply the first loser.

One time we were at a race and we were rolling around, warming up, and discussing the agenda for the race. I started to look at different situations objectively, weighing the pros and cons of doing this rather than that when all of a sudden he broke my train of thought with an exclamation. “Zac,” he said, “You think too much, stop thinking. In a race you must learn to not think, just do. If you over think a situation you will miss the opportunity to take the win.”
This sage advice, from an old Jewish engineer from Rochester New York, has stuck with me to this day.

Still, I have a tendency to over think things; I try to listen to what my heart tells me but I always have this fear that I will make the wrong choice. What if I make this decision and down the road the latter choice was best? Ugh! Sometimes, it simply destroys me.
This is why this blog is called The Ponderer’s Musings and I am called The Pondering Guey, for I am the Pondering Fool, I think till all the choices are gone.

Now, my heart is strong and gets stronger everyday, for everyday I learn to listen to its inherent knowledge more and more.

If I can simply learn to balance the two I will be perfect, no?
Now go out into the world dear readers and do what the song says, Listen to Your Heart!

Ponder-book?

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Horses for courses.

If there is one thing that stands out about the sport of cycling it is its obvious focus on equipment. This, in fact, is the leading factor why so many people never get in to it. After ten years of being called a cycling nut by those closest to me I thought I knew all there was to know about the bicycle and its parts; however, after planning my tour for the last 7 months I have learned that I have but only scratched the surface of what I thought I knew.

After deciding that this is the way I wanted to spend my summer- alone and on a bike for three months- I had to look in to how, exactly, I would accomplish this. For you see the thing that first scared me the most about this undertaking wasn’t the incredible distance, nor the high mountains or expansive desserts but the thought of me having to quit without finishing it. Therefore, what would I need to do in preparation? What could I factor out of the equation to make it less likely that I’ll fail?

I thought about this for a long time. Yet with all the energy I spent on the topic I was still thinking about it backwards. I was still thinking like a racing cyclist. “Unlearn what you have learned,” the voice of Yoda whispered into my ear. I cannot go out for three months on a twenty pound bicycle and expect to complete the distance. I would have to reevaluate some things.

My original plan was to do this on my current bike, my precious; my darling Walker Road bike that was built by my very dear friend and sponsor, Don Walker. When I first acquired this bike it was my dream-cycle come to life; light, stiff, comfy, steel- all the things I wanted- yet even though it is perhaps the most perfect bike
for me it would not suffice for this trip.

The plan was to pull a trailer, loaded up with all the essentials plus food, water and tools but after my first trip over-land I realized that it wasn’t ideal. Also there was the fear of me riding down the back-side of a mountain, hitting my brakes and the trailer trying to come around the bike- not exactly a good variable to have on one’s mind.

So what was I to do? I had to think outside of the box I found myself in. I started reading on-line journals of people that had done similar things, what did they bring, what did they omit? And slowly but surely I started thinking like a tourist- slow and heavy.

Yes, that’s exactly it, perhaps not slow- steady- but heavy is a definite. I need my equipment to be reliable for a long time. To be able to take the abuse that I know I will dish out. I need things that will not break and leave me stranded on the side of the road in no-where, Utah.

I’m having a bike built specifically for this trip. Don is building it because I simply couldn’t fathom the idea of riding anyone else’s frame. It will be his first ever non-racing oriented bike and I’m excited to see what he will bring to the table. In a way I see it as a chance for the both of us to show people what we are capable of when we step outside our comfort zones.

I’m also looking at some, by normal standards, odd parts. Things like a 48 (yes, that’s right) spoke wheel for instance or what is called a “Triple-izer” chainring. This is unique for it allows you to use three chainrings on a compact crankset. Talk about stepping outside of the racing box, if I mentioned this to some of the lycra-clad, leg shaving posse that I previously associated with they would ostracize me and beat me with their frame pumps!

Yes, it has been an exciting time finding these new tips and tricks and yet I am no closer to the end than when I started for I know as soon as I turn the first pedal on my bike I will realize new things. Perhaps I will pedal slower? Maybe I’ll stand less often or ride twice a day instead of doing one long effort? Only time will tell.