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I have just finished building my first rear wheel using The Bicycle Wheel as a guide. This book will teach you the technical aspects of the bicycle wheel in both structural principles and practical methods. After a couple hundred miles on my new wheel, it is still true as an arrow.

This book debunks myths and gives you the confidence to repair, build, and rebuild wheels. I can honestly say that I no longer fear any wheel repairs. It has given me one less thing to worry about during my upcoming cross-country trip.

The only warning I can give is about Jobst Brandt, not his book. If you run across him in the Newsgroup or in person, you will quickly find out that he is a very opinionated person. Most of his opinions are correct, but don’t ever argue with him. Jobst has to be one of the bigger know-it-all jerks I have seen on the Usenet. I guess everyone has their failings, but his book is first rate.

The Bicycle Wheel ISBN: 0960723668 at Amazon

I didn’t get a chance to finish typing up my journal and answer emails before bed yesterday. The food from my cook stove was warming for a while, but with the food and hot tea gone, night’s chill started winning the battle. Last night was just a bit cooler than my first night on tour. Not being near a big city might have been a factor.

This is the first night I used my full mummy bag. I’m talking near freezing, mummy bag pulled tight so only your mouth and nose is out kind of cold. That mummy bag was perfect. I woke up and didn’t want to get up. Unfortunately my bladder has a veto over what I want, so I stepped out into the cold.
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As soon as I realized that my recumbent would allow me to complete my dream of riding a bicycle across the country, I started research all over the web. While reading through the many trip reports of coast to coast touring cyclists, two things became clear. First, I would be riding the TransAmerica trail created by Adventure Cycling in 1976 (the year of my birth). Second, I should purchase, read, re-read, and take along Donna’s book.
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I had a good night’s sleep last night, despite the temperature. I thought about not bringing my 20 degree bag and purchasing a warmer weather bag. I’m thrilled that I didn’t talk myself into it. I needed every bit of that bag to stay warm last night. I woke up just before 7, refreshed with my headache gone. I’m sure that drinking water throughout the night helped counter the dehydration and altitude effects. I immediately went to get my $20 worth of hot shower. Seeing my campsite for the first time in the light assured that I didn’t do too bad of a job picking it out. The layer of pine needles added a nice soft accentuation to the air mattress. I setup the laptop and AA batteries to start charging in the outlets along the all of the restroom.
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I have been unable to find a pannier set that works exactly as I would like for the under-seat rack on my RANS Rocket. I like the panniers made by Arkel of all the panniers I have looked at and used.

I decided to make my own set tailored (quite literally) exactly to my needs and I borrowed quite a bit from Arkel’s design work. Below is a description of the process for those who would like to do the same.
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The bicycle tourist is greeted with two choices when starting their tour. Do I ride away from my home or pack up everything and take alternate transportation to the start? For local tours, the loop method is a good idea. Start off in one direction and ride in a big loop until you end up back home. If I had a year’s time, not just a couple months, I would enjoy a loop tour of the US. It would be ideal to leave Indiana, riding in the northern states during the warmer months and the southern states during the cooler months. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the few extra weeks it would take to get to Virginia by bicycle and luckily, my dad has nice friends.
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I have been asked many times why I wanted to ride a bicycle across the county. Having completed the trip, the question became easy to answer. It was not easy to answer before I left. My history started the same year as cross country ride. I am a bicentennial baby, born in 1976. This is the same year the Bikecentennial route was created. Thousands of cyclists rode across the country on that route, during that year. Many thousands more have crossed the United States on the same route since. The route is still maintained by the same organization with a new name: Adventure Cycling. Their maps are extremely helpful for the bicycle tourist and have kept the same basic route, with slight changes as roads are modified over the years.All of this is good and well, you say, but it still doesn’t answer the why. The truth is that I didn’t really know. I read a tour report on-line and thought it sounded interesting. Over the years it fermented into a strong desire. I wondered if this was something I could do. I started riding a Trek 520 touring bike in college. I was overweight. No nicer way to say it. Riding 50 miles in a day was a task. This wasn’t because I couldn’t physically do it, my butt just couldn’t handle the time on the bike. Yes, I had the real bike shorts. I tried three different seats. It just didn’t work. All season would be required before I could do two back to back 50 mile days. I couldn’t see myself riding across the country, when you are doing 50+ mile days every day. The idea was put on the shelf.
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For over 20 years, the American Diabetes Association has held a fund raising event that gives cyclists the chance to ride around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This event
is called “The Smoothest Ride in the World”. The only thing required to participate is $35 in pledges, a human powered cycle of some sort and a helmet. It is the most diverse cycling event, with pace lines going for a sub 5 and a half hour century through weekend cyclists bringing the young kids to ride. The track is large enough to accommodate the variety. Each time around you just have to answer the question, “Can I ride another 2.5 miles?” With “pit stops” between turns 1 and 2, in the middle of the back straight away, and between turns 3 and 4, you are sure to be fully energized.
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This owner had motorized his BikeE as an attempt to stay close to much stronger riders on lengthy rides. The motor was sizable and could propel him along at speeds in excess of 30 MPH. All was well and good until… Well. He brought his bike in his dealer with a serious problem. It seems the chain had managed to jam in the sprocket assembly and instead of the wheels turning the bike was shortened in length.

You have to see these photos to believe the story:
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I have not found a way to better describe this book than the first sentence inside the dust cover. “It’s as if Dave Barry and Charles Kuralt squeezed together onto a bicycle to pedal across America and around the world, filing outrageous dispatches along the way.”

Indeed, many times while reading I felt as if I was watching the well done Sunday morning stories where the common man or the small town are shown in all of their glory. Those stories that aren’t as touching will give you a great laugh.

As an aspiring bicycle tourist, this book was hard for me to put down. I can give a book no better compliment than to say that it followed me to lunch and dinner every day for a week. The only problem I had was trying to cope with the fact that I would not be able to start any serious bicycle touring until I left on my Trans-Am tour in May of 2002. This book made me want to be out on the road NOW!
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