The little engine that could…

From the Desk of the Big Boned Biker:

Still going strong here! I haven’t posted in awhile, life has gotten in the way, and maybe a touch of laziness. I have been doing great with my workouts; consistently on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. I have found my time lifting at the gym almost as relaxing as well as fulfilling as riding my bike. It helps me focus and really centers my mind. Here are a few pictures from the gym, though they might not be the most “flattering” I am still proud of them.

I have also been training for my up coming ride with Le Tour De Shore! Day one will be the toughest day as it will be a bit over 60 miles, though I was able to do 60 last month it was still a struggle to complete it. I really need to work on my food intake, as I think I bonked at the end(ran out of “fuel”).

The ride started out well, it was a cooler day and I wore some gym pants and a light jacket. I wish it had been a touch warmer as I felt a bit overheated wearing the coat. I did try taking it off a few times but the wind from riding made it a bit to cold still. I had originally planned to ride to Michiana MI. but decided the night before to ride to La Porte instead. It looked like a nice easy ride, mainly on calm country roads, in other words some of my favorite riding.

I took off around mid morning and quickly made my way down the Prairie Duneland trail that runs near my house. That took me to Chesterton, and even though a couple people have shown me a route around the downtown, I couldn’t remember it for the life of me. I HATE riding through the busy intersection that is there, and I am pretty sure the cars behind me hate it too. I continued along the roads, I knew them pretty well as it is the same route I take to get to the campground. When I reached the point where I normally turn left, I continued straight. This was my first break, and about 20 miles in!

I was feeling strong and had only about another 10 miles to go before I turned around. Piece of cake! I take off and am riding along with a big grin on my face. There is something about being on a bike to make you feel alive! Wait, what was that up ahead? Ahh @#$@ a hill. Yeah, I didn’t know about the hills on this route! I ended up having to walk up one of them and this was waiting for me at the top.

So apparently I wasn’t the only one who felt this way! Despite the hills though I enjoyed the country scenery. I even stopped for a couple of pictures, or at least that is what I told myself the reason for stopping was.

Now my wife and I have a deal of sorts, when I go riding she wont come get me. If I got myself somewhere, I can get myself back. Now this isn’t serious, and it is more of a joke than anything, but it is a mentality that helps me push through some tough spots. This ride though, she had said that if I needed a ride she would come and get me. As I pulled into La Porte, I stopped for another couple of photos.

I was half way, I was tired, I was drained, I was feeling like quitting. I called her up, and told her how I felt. Those hills had wiped me out, and there wasn’t even that many of them. I also was getting over a bad cold and would go into minute long coughing fits, which didn’t help the matter. I told her though that I wasn’t 100% sure I was ready to give up, and decided to rest for about a half hour before heading home.

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. I counted a cadence in my head as I cycled slowly along the road. Through a bit of luck I took a wrong turn and ended up missing a couple of the hills, but I still was feeling like I was running on fumes. When I made it back to where the campground turn was though, I knew I could make it home. I called my wife and said to cancel the red alert, I would be biking home today! 4 miles later I was on the side of the road coughing, sore, tired, and wishing I hadn’t made that call. One positive note though, I did figure out the alternative way to go, so i was able to skip the busy area!Still, all the way home, about every couple of miles I was having to stop to rest my legs. I was finished. I couldn’t go one bit more. I stopped on the side of the trail, sat down and felt like crying. How could I have let myself get this far our of shape! I had done harder rides with ease in the past, even at heavier weights! The ride to Dodgeville was a tougher ride and I don’t think I could do that right now. However, I gathered my strength and pushed on. I just kept pushing myself, on pedal stroke at a time. I eventually made it home and I remember saying out loud “I f’ing made it”. It was a hair over 60 miles, but it felt like I had ridden a century.

I learned for my June ride that, I can make it if I push myself(at least I won’t be riding alone hopefully) and that I really need to get my food intake figured out. The power bars I brought just weren’t enough fuel for my body. I further learned that, when you do a big ride on Tuesday, make sure Wednesday isn’t leg day! Ouch!

Keep on Rolling,

Big Boned Biker

It was a rather blustery day…

It was a wonderful day out, and I had plans to go bike riding! I love days like this, feels like spring has come(though in 2 days we are suppose to get a snow storm), birds are chirping and the pedals are moving. At drop off for LB 1’s preschool, I saw my friend Brian, and he made the mistake of mentioning that he didn’t have any plans this morning. Instantly I pounced on the chance, and invited him for a short bike ride. I promised to take it easy and we would just do a short little ride, and he believed me. Muwhahahaha.

I rushed home, got my youngest ready and went out to the stable(some might call it a garage). I started the process of getting everything ready. Brakes, check! Tire pressure, check! No weird rattling noises, check! All systems go and prepare for launch.

After hooking up the trailer, and making sure I had everything ready to go, Brian arrived. He seemed both excited and apprehensive. I knew though, deep down inside, that once we got going he would love it. I know in the past he had joked he could only bike a mile or so, I figured we would go out and be back real quick. That’s ok, we all have to start somewhere and I didn’t want him to over do it, never wanting to go out again.

We started out and I could quickly see that he wasn’t enjoying it. Did I mention this was a windy day? Like 50 mph gust type windy day? We went about a half mile and he asked to pull over, and I figured we would be turning around. I took that moment though to mention a few “pointers” for riding, sitting on the pelvic bone not the tail bone, don’t ride using your heel as you want to use the ball of your foot, I think I also mentioned posture and keep the shoulders relaxed. As we started back up again I also realized I had forgotten to tell him something important, how to switch gears! He was in a high gear as the bike was last used on my trainer, and with this head wind it must be killing his legs. He switched gears, sat right, moved his foot, and instantly I could tell he was enjoying himself more. We rode past the park and finally made it to the bike trail. What was nice is that with all the trees and the position of the trail, it really cut out the wind! I saw a smile on his face and was pretty sure I had him hooked.

As we went along I told him when we hit mile marks, and how fast he was going. I could tell that he found that encouraging and that he was surprising himself with what he could do. There was even a few times I had to catch up with him as we hit some decent speeds(I think at one point 15mph). We reached a shelter area and decided to take a quick rest, we had ridden over 3 miles and had to get back in time to pick up the kids. The way home was very smooth and when we did get hit by the wind, it was luckily at our backs. As we got back I could tell, I could see the look in his eyes, he was hooked. If we hadn’t been on such a time crunch, I think he could have done the full ride to Chesterton and back. I also look forward to having a new riding buddy, because you can never have to many of those!

Keep On Rolling,

Big Boned Biker

Thoughts

My son was begging me all day to do one thing, care to guess what it was? He wanted to go for a bike ride! I told him no, and no, and no, and no. My ankle is still really hurting and I wish I knew why, but I tried putting some heat on it, to no avail. However, I finally relented and took the boys on a trip in the magic cart (because somehow they almost always magically fall asleep).

It was nice and warm out, not hot, just warm. The bike felt amazing today, she responded like a dream and even pedaling didn’t hurt! As I rode down the path I started to think about somethings that have been on my mind lately. I have been going through a major depressive spell, and it has been sucking the life right out of me. I have been doing a lot of computer gaming lately, and even that isn’t making me happy. Nothing at all is making me happy right now, not even cycling. Depression rips the soul right out of you, it makes you just want to crawl into a hole and hide for the rest of your days. It blows monkey chunks. I remember looking up, and seeing something though, it is my absolute favorite part of the entire Prairie Dune-land trail!

No snow right now though…

I don’t know why, but this stretch it so amazingly peaceful to me, and brings warm fuzzy thoughts into my mind. Even today, it worked it’s magic on me. I looked over the side of the rails at the grassy area’s below and just felt peaceful, relaxed, and content with everything. I found the bike moving effortlessly along, and a smile slowly crept on my lips. Regrettably though, I couldn’t make it last. When I finally left this part of my ride, happily peddling my way home, the previous feelings and thoughts found their way back into my mind. This time though, they came back stronger and more fierce!

Looser

Fat

Quitter

Fake

Failure

Undisciplined

No control

Irresponsible

Worthless

Terrible Person

Horrid Father

These are the thoughts that are in my mind. Silent to everyone else, screaming at me in my head. This is what I am dealing with right now, and it sucks. It makes it hard some days for me to function outside the basics. How am I suppose to do well on weight watchers, when I can’t find that voice inside of me. The one that says “STFU all you other voices, I’m in charge now!”. Where are you? Where are you hiding? I know it’s in here somewhere, I just need to find out where and how to get him out again. I will though, I have to because what other option do I really have?

This is a journey, I just wish this mountain wasn’t so steep.

Big Boned Biker

Paying off your weight debt

Weight loss is paying off a credit card. It is a high interest rate, high limit, and high cost, credit card. All the food that I ate, and sodas I drank. They all got charged on my weight card! I found myself deeply in fat debt, and my credit-health quickly dropping. What does your weight card statement look like?

It sucks, it really sucks paying off debt! It felt so much better when running up the bill! So if you find yourself need some debt relief I have a few tips:

1. Don’t diet
2. Don’t focus
3. Let yourself go
4. Burn it all

Wait a minute big boned biker, that does NOT sound like a way to lose weight. Yet, it is! Let’s take it step by step.

1. Don’t Diet

   I don’t diet, and I never will! If you diet all you think about is everything that you have been told you can’t eat. Many diets have “cheat days”, you know why? Because you generally can’t live that way long term. Also, who are you cheating on your cheat days? You can’t ever cheat the scale, you can’t even bribe it (trust me I tried). What I do is “livet” not diet. A livet means I can live this lifestyle, I am not depriving myself of the things I want, I am only changing the amounts of those things. A wise man I knew(he was a teacher even) told me this “You said never diet, never do anything that makes you die!”.

2. Don’t focus
   Don’t focus on loosing weight, it’s like waiting for a pot of water to boil. Don’t focus on the road ahead, it can seem like long ways to go. Focus on the baby steps, if you don’t drink much water, increase it 1 cup a day. Got that down? Lets work on 2 cups etc. Do it at a pace you can maintain.
3. Let yourself go

   Wait, isn’t that how I got here in the first place? Wrong kind of letting go. You need to let yourself go, your old self. The new you is coming! I held on to my 4-6xl clothes even when I was down in a 2xl. The old “what if” was always lurking in my mind. It was my safety net, it let me know I could get heavier and not be naked. I finally packed the all up and gave them away. It felt bittersweet, I felt amazing that I knew I would NEVER wear that size again, and sad that I gave them to someone else that needed it. Don’t hold on to that old you, as amazing as they were, the new you will be even greater!

4. Burn it all
   The inner pyro in you is thinking this must be related to the clothing, right? This is the most simple and the hardest part. Weight loss is paying off that debt, which means burning those calories. Find away to be aware of your intake, in a way that works for you. I use weight watchers, and my fitbit. There are plenty of other ways to do it as well. If nothing else, pencil and paper. If you don’t know the calories, what I always do is find something similar and add 100 to be safe. Exercise is important, but remember, and this is really key, you can NOT work off a bad diet. Never! The importance of exercise is that it helps keep your metabolism going, and helps you burn them more effectively.

Inspiration comes from outside, but motivation comes from within. You have the power to change yourself, and no one else can do it for you. You are worth it, and deserve it! Don’t focus on the year, the month, the week, or even the day. Take it one bite at a time and you will find yourself moving down the road.

Keep On Rolling,

Big Boned Biker

 

p.s. I wonder who this guy could be?

http://www.nwitimes.com/business/healthcare/portage-man-loses-pounds-the-old-fashioned-way-through-diet/article_9bf7006f-add6-583e-aef9-d941a99153d0.html

Day 4/30

Burn baby burn….had a great workout tonight, though I wish I knew how far/fast I was going. I have a bike computer on my bike but it runs off the front wheel sadly. Today was pretty good, went and visited a friends church, lazed around the house, just a nice chill-axing Sunday. We had dinner planned out, baked bbq pork chops, mashed potatoes, fresh broccoli(for steaming). When I went to cook it though is when it all flew down hill. The pork chops were thicker than I had thought they were, so they did cook right. This lead us to order out for dinner…and the tracker will tell the rest of the story.

 

I wasn’t going to post this, I realized how easy it would be for me to fake it, none of you would ever know! I honestly feel ashamed to post this, which despite how it may seem, isn’t want this is about. I am not looking for sympathy, I am looking for change in myself. Right now, this moment, will stay etched in my mind. I don’t like this feeling, the food wasn’t that good, it wasn’t amazing, it is NOT worth feeling this shame, regret, and tummy ache(can you tell I have kids?).

 

 

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Day 4/30

 

Day 3/30

It arrived! My new bike trainer arrived today! I will be writing up a review on it with in a week…I will comment on this one thing though, I apparently decided to go with a Thomas color scheme lol

Katrina The Bike Engine

 

 

Eating wise it went meh..I did go over my points a bit but I also earned some points as well. In the end it evened out, but my goal this week is to no be negative on my weeklies!  Sadly today was actually good enough weather to bike ride outside but I wasn’t really able to go(minus taking Tallulah down the road and back for .25 mile). Jumping back though, the indoor trainer is going to be a fun addition and even the Simba agrees(Pardon the mess).

unfortunately weight watchers is down so this was the only way for me to load them today..the last two, the difference is including my activity. Also, Hi Becky!

 

Day 2/30

Today was a much better day, not sure why but just felt very focused. My youngest decided to wake up at 2 am and wasn’t going back to sleep. Since I was up anyways we made a 3am run to Meijer grocery and I picked up supplies to make Stuffed Pepper Soup! 3pp for 1.5 cups, and I add lots of veg to it! I will post the recipe up sometime soon 🙂

In more exciting news, my trainer comes in tomorrow!! My new tire already arrived and Katrina is looking kinda freaky with it. I figure that I would rather ruin a $10 tire than ruin an $70 tire. I will say if she had a second one on though I could dig it. Here is the link to the tire 700c x 32 

 

 

Here is the day!

Day 2/30

WHAM 2014 Night Ride

WHAM! Not just a cool sound from batman! It is the Whiting-Hammond After Midnight bike ride, and I am proud to say I did it. I signed up last minute for it, but thanks to a new friend it was a blast. Let me set the scene for you, it is dark, lots of bike, and 30 miles of open road!

I am really grateful for my friend inviting me to it, it really showed me how much I can push myself. I typically have been riding at about 12mph, but that night we were coming in close to 15 avg(and up at 18-19mph at times). It was such a unique experience and I hope my story can help others give it a try.

First off, we showed up early, right when registration was starting at about 9:30PM. I had been up since about a bit before 7am and was running on about 5 hours of sleep, always a great combo night and lack of sleep. We get registration out of the way, and look to go around and mingle, the only issue is that everyone is acting like it is high school. Everyone was simply hanging out in their clique and that was a bit disappointing. They had a DJ but the music was way to loud, and while a few good songs played, most of them were crap. Luckily we didn’t come for the music, right?

 

 

 

We had so much time to kill that we decided to go do a warm up ride, nothing crazy just a nice slow pace. I was later to find out that I worried my riding buddy a bit, he was thinking this was going to be high gear for me! We rode down the road trail until it ended in an area that looked kinda “rapey” as my friend put it. We meandered back to the pavilion and I was starting to feel a bit sleepy, though I hoped the excitement of the ride would wake me up a bit. We arrived in time to give us a chance to glo-ify the bikes(next year will be much better)

Crowds:
 

If I had one suggestion for the ride organizers it would be to figure out starting areas better! They had 3 classes of riders, and they wanted them to start at different times, but they didn’t really have 3 areas. The speedy riders were to go first, the long haulers(30 milers) second, and the short track(10milers) last. We were in the long hauler group, 30 miles of darkness! We were lucky that the weather was so amazing, it made the entire ride more comfortable. As we started out, this being my first organized ride, I realized that it was a bit scary! You have people riding at all different speeds, on many types of bikes, from wal-mart cruisers to high end racers! I even saw a couple of tandem riders to make the mix even more interesting. I followed my friend, who shale here by be referred to as Kool-Aid, and he followed a couple of guys we met in the line up! Sierra Nevada and Red, not their real names of course, but it will make sense at the end. They said they were going to shoot for a 12-13 mph pace, which is close to what we wanted(14ish). I soon found myself not only having to fight through the pack, but also having to deal with everyone’s rear blinker! It was freaking annoying as all get out!

We soon found ourselves pulling away from the pack, but I was very surprised when I noticed we were catching up with the front end of the long haulers! There were “sticks” on nice road bikes that we were leaving behind us, some of them with a shocked look on their face(Kool-Aide and I don’t really look like the type to be passing folks). I would be a lair if I didn’t say I enjoyed that part, just a little bit. There was suppose to be a SAG stop early on, but we never saw it. Our two friends SN and Red soon left us behind, and we settled into a comfortable pace. It was such an amazing experience, and I wish I could have stopped to take some pictures. The world is so different at midnight, ordinary buildings can look nearly magical in the soft glows. My light (http://astore.amazon.com/bigbonbik-20/detail/B00E1NQ3DU)  that I brought was working great  and ir was kinda neat that Kool-Aide actually had the same one!

 

We did actually catch up with our ridding buddies at a train crossing, and riding through the streets, owning them as if cars didn’t even exist, was an eye opening experience. How much better would our world be, if we all rode our bikes, or walked, just a little bit more? I want to take a moment and thank the police dept, state troopers, and others, who watched over the roads allowing us to move so freely. It was a comforting feeling knowing that someone had our safety in mind.

Cabela’s was the next scheduled stop and as we saw it up ahead we were ready for a quick break. We get to the corner where we should go straight, only to be met with a guy yelling “TURN RIGHT!”. Turning right, I figure that the SAG stop would be marked up ahead, but as I road further away I noticed that their was no SAG spot. We keep riding, noticing that we are nearly alone on the roads, I think most of the other riders had stopped at the Cabela’s store. Eventually, after about 25 miles we come to a stop! They were handing out water, and we both were getting hungry. Luckily someone had dropped off some food, and we were able to get a quick bite in. Refueled we hit the ground with a nice strong pace. All of a sudden there arose such a clatter, wait wrong story. All of a sudden Red comes up behind us and says “we are on our second lap!”, 12-13 mph my ass! Sierra Nevada soon comes up behind us and they both pass us again. As we roll into the last few turns, I find myself feeling sad that the ride ended so soon. We had only been out for 2 hours and 10 min, and that was including our stop for the train and the break. At least breakfast was waiting for us, hot yummy pancakes and sausage(though some eggs would have been nice).

We meet back up with out new friends and we all sit down to eat, I did find out that they really were NOT on a second lap, they apparently had found the SAG stop at Cabelas. After a few beers, a bit of bike chat and some facebook befriending, we all call it a morning.  I slept from 5am till nearly noon, and I have to thank my amazing awesome wife for letting me do this!

I wish I could have written more, but much of that night was a blur. I recommend if you are in the NWI area you try out this ride next year. Event organizers, Beer Tent, Better Starting, and a 50 mile option!

Keep On Rolling,

Big Boned Biker

P.S. Thank you all for staying with me over this long dry spell of blogging.

I had a big long post in mind, all about trying out simply filling, a version of weight watchers where you don’t use points. The thing is, I just really don’t want to write about it right now. I don’t want to write about much of anything. Things aren’t going great, nor good, nor bad, they are just going meh. Each day is just rolling into the next, and I sit at home with my boys watching tv, eating, maybe play in the backyard a bit, and then its dinner and bed. Wash rinse repeat..over and over again. My youngest of course still needs to be fed every 2-3 hours, seemingly a endless chain of feedings(lately he also doesn’t want to nap much). Potty training my older boy, and it SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. It makes me not want to go anywhere because I have to bring 5 pairs of clothes for the boy. I still struggle with my shyness and it makes it hard for me to meet new people(have to leave the house for that I suppose). Just not doing great right now, but it could be worse.

On the plus side, we are switching out WI day back to Wednesdays! This means I will have my Saturday mornings back again, and can maybe put in some longer rides. It is tough, I want to spend time with my wife and kids, but I am craving some alone time as well. I am relatively alone all day, as three year old aren’t much for talking politics or the latest movies. Yet I just crave those hours I can sit on my bike and just zone out for awhile. The wind blows past my ears, the monotonous sound of the pedal strokes, the gentile sound of the tires buzzing on the path, all come together to create an almost zen like mood. I have never found anything else like it, the harmony of my body working with the simple machines. It releases my soul, and rejuvenates my entire being, it makes me whole again.

I can not wait till next year when I can take both boys out on the bike with me! It will feel like I am getting some freedom back again (since my car is broken right now), and it will be nice to get to some fun places a bit further from the house. So while so much sucks right now, I know it will only get better! Until that time I keep repeating my motto—

Keep On Rolling!

Big Boned Biker

Am I Crazy?

My son’s first camping trip or I am crazy

To start off the day I first had to go to weight watchers to WI, and because I have my new bike I decided to pedal my way to the meeting. It was only 14 miles and it was a nice cool morning, I put the bike rack in the back of the car so I could head back home with my wife. The trip was pretty uneventful except for two things. I took a wrong turn and ended up on a very busy road and adding about 4 miles to my trip. Second as I was preparing to make my turn into the strip mall where the Weight Watchers meeting is held, a guy in a white truck lays on the horn, calls me an A-hole, and runs me off the road(where I ended up hitting a huge pothole). Luckily, both Tallulah and myself were ok, though I was shaking very badly when I dismounted. I was down almost a pound though, which makes two losses in row for the first time since mid March!

So we grab an early lunch of subway and head over to the local big box store for a few last minute supplies. Glow sticks, hot dog roasters, lighter, and some swim diapers. The excitement is already growing inside of me, I have not been camping in years! I still haven’t told my son yet, with plans to wait until the last moment to spring it on him. I had packed 90% of the stuff the night before in my panniers ( learn more here ), and after adding the last few items I started setting up Katrina for her big ride. My pack list was a bit more than I would have brought for just myself but it is roughly as follows:

Tent (Eureka! Apex 2)

Small Stove w/iso butane fuel (Ultra Light Stove)

Sons Thomas the tank engine sleeping bag(stuff inside itself to a small throw pillow size)

Snuggie (used instead of sleeping bag since I don’t own one)

Towel

Wash cloth

Long sleeve

Short sleeve t-shirt

Extra clothes for my son

4 Diapers w/ wipes

2 swim diapers

Cooking pot (cheap 5 dollar one from wal-mart)

Bug Spray

Spray on Sun Block

4 Water bottles(Two on Katrina, one in the back of the trailer and one for my son)

2 collapsible hotdog/marshmallow cookers
Bike tools(tire levers, patch kit [with more tire levers], bike specific multi-tool, some cash,spare tube, and Advil)

Chargers for phone and ipad

Ipad

Special bedtime book (Just me and my Dad)

Lighters x2

Food:

Marshmallows big

Marshmallow small

Hebrew national hotdogs (only one point per dog up to 4)

Hot dog buns

Mac-N-Cheese

Pancake mix (in a packet)

Small Maple Syrup

Chocolate chips/peanut butter chocolate chips

Bananas

As you can see I was able to fit a lot inside the panniers! The only items that didn’t go in them were the bananas(which did NOT survive the trip) and an extra water bottle, both of which went into the trailer. One thing that surprised me is that I actually didn’t pack anything I didn’t use, and in fact found that I was needing a few more items. One thing I plan to do is mark a water bottle with ¼, ½, and full cup marks for measuring water amounts.

After loading Katrina down with her load, hitching her up to the “wagon” and double checking tire pressure I wheeled her out to the front of the house. I walked in and told my son I had a surprise for him out front! He rushed to the door and saw the bike, his face started to light up and when he noticed the tent!

“daddy, your tent is on tent on the bike” he says to me

“Yes, what do you think we are going to do with the tent?”

“Camping!” he exclaims

Do yourself a favor turn up your speakers and hit play while you read the rest of this(maybe even hit replay if you want) 😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8PrTzLaLHc

I go to put on his helmet and he freaks out at me about not wanting to wear it, I remember thinking “great what am I getting myself into?”. After I get him his helmet on we pose for the mandatory “heading out” pictures. That formality done, we load up and hit the road! Ahh the smell of a fresh summery day with the world out in front of us! Life doesn’t get better than this, does it?

We ride for awhile, the load is actually more comfortable to pull than I thought it would be, thought when I corner I have to be careful as the load makes me skid a bit if I go to fast. I get up to where I know that we will be crossing the railroad tracks and am greeted by construction signs! The track crossing is closed, and there is no way for me to get the bike over the tracks. I swore a little bit in my head and proceed to find a way around this issue. I go into a little community only to find it is full of dead ends. UGH! As luck would have it though, I found an couple of folks cleaning up their garage sale and after a few minutes of them arguing between themselves about which way to go; only to find they both were essentially telling me the same thing, I get the directions I need. It does take a bit of back tracking but I was eventually able to get going again

I am going along for awhile, and not coming across the trail intersection like they said I would. This is starting to piss me off a bit and I am wondering if I am going to have to go home to get the car. For those that know me in person though, I don’t like to give up and I am very stubborn. I keep pushing on and after about 4 miles I finally hit the trail right next to the big bridge. One issue though, I got a bit turned around and am not sure which way I need to turn. I make the best guess though that I can and luckily it was the correct one. The ride is uneventful as we pull into Chesterton, IN. and I make the first turn from my cue sheet.

Is this the right road???? I wasn’t coming across the next turn and I was beginning to wonder if I had A. Missed my turn B. Taken the wrong turn C. just not gone far enough. I spotted 3 people sitting on their lawn and decided to pull over and ask for directions (See us men CAN do that sometimes). As I pull up an older lady asks, “do we know this guy?”. I chuckle a little and say no, explaining my predicament. One of them, a guy about 45 I would guess, explains that he had just showed up after 15 years of being away and thus the reason the woman had asked jokingly if she knew me. He tells me I simply need to keep going, and double checks the rest of my directions(point out a few landmarks for me to look for ahead). I wave goodbye and keep pushing on, suddenly I find myself in a VERY busy down town area that I didn’t know existed. I thought that little historic area was the”downtown” but I was very wrong.

I spotted my “rest stop” up ahead though, a Dairy Queen! One of the best parts of bike touring/camping is that you burn a LOT of calories, calories which you get to replace. So we go inside the wonderfully cool and refreshing air conditioning, and order up a couple of ice cream cones. Already, I feel that special bonding moment happening! Here we were, father and son, enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot day, while heading out for a camping trip. It is a memory I will continue to cherish.

The lady at DQ though was very annoyed with me asking to fill my water bottle(they have to go and do it as they don’t have it on the self-fill station). So I I decided to just leave it as it was, at least she had put lots of ice into it. As we head out of town, my chain ends up coming off at a traffic light, but I was surprised to find that the driver behind me was understanding as I hopped off to move the bike out of the way. They didn’t honk or pull out fast around me, so thank you random unknown person for being kind to a cyclist! It was only 10 miles from DQ to the campground, but that was one of the longest 10 miles I have dealt with in awhile. Hauling 30 pounds of gear + 30 pound of kid with a little wind thrown in of course, makes a nice recipe for getting tired out. I went through 2.5 water bottles on that final section. The sun was brutal and I was worried as I was on some rather deserted county roads. The kind of road where if something happened I don’t know how long I would be laying in the ditch. The ice water that melted though was a life saver, it was the last bottle I hit and it was beyond refreshing!

YOU CAN’T CARRY TO MUCH WATER ON A HOT DAY!

YOU CAN’T CARRY TO MUCH WATER ON A HOT DAY WHILE PULLING A KID AND CAMPING GEAR!

To get to the campground the last turn was onto a a major hwy for .5 mile. It was scary, as cars whizzed past me at seeming light speed! It was downhill, and with all that weight on the back wheel, the bike would get wobbly if I went about 13ish mph. I may or may not have been repeating, please don’t kill me, over and over again till I arrived. We arrive at the site and it is time to get to work!

One thing I really liked about our spot here is that we were right next to an awesome playground area! After setting up camp, we change into our swim shorts and go for a quick dip into the pool. It felt amazing, my feet were very swollen at this point and it did wonders to just let them soak for a bit. After our swim, he goes to play at the park for a bit until dinner. Dinner was hotdogs and marshmallows, score 5+ daddy points! The rest of the afternoon was filled with playing at the playground, going for a walk(where we met a rather interesting duck). Just spending some quality time together, it was nice to just spend time with out the stress of home. Not once did I have to yell at him to stop doing something, or send him to a time out. It was a wonderful gift that we both received.

Towards the evening we end up getting some “neighbors” a woman, her daughter, and he boyfriend. We made quick friends, as did my son. Her daughter I think was about 5 but her and my son got along amazingly, spending the rest of the night playing together. I enjoyed getting some “adult time”, visiting with someone how doesn’t need me to change their diaper was a blessing.

I let him stay up till about 10:30 and I finally ended up calling it a night an hour later. Here is one of the things I want to get for next time, a sleeping pad! Did you know; and this is scientific fact; that the older you become the hard the ground gets? I use to be able to sleep on the bare ground no problem, but not any more! It sucked, it sucked bad! I finally passed out at I would guess about midnight, and woke up a few times trying to get comfortable or to throw my snuggie back on. I was finally woken up the last time with a scary feeling of a heavy chest. I was finding it hard to breath, and quickly started to freak out, when I hear from above me “WAKE UP DADDY!”. He had climbed on my back and was sitting on top of me. We get up and he goes to play in the park again with his new friend as I fix us breakfast. This is where that water bottle marking would have been nice as I try to guess how much 1 cup of water is for the pancakes. Another camper comes up, who I had met the day before as well, and offers me a dozen eggs, cheese, and some sausages! So we ended up with a yummy feast for breakfast, need to fuel my legs for the ride home.

We lay around for about an 30 min before packing up the site, and checking out. Right before I go my kickstand comes loose, and it takes me a good half an hour to get it fixed. I HATE this kickstand and really want to replace it, but not an option right now. The bolt is tough to reach and my wrench just barely fit the spot to hold it. Also, when you pack up your panniers, make sure you don’t put your tools at the bottom, was annoying to have to dig them out. I should add that at this point my wife is questioning if I want to ride home or have her pick us up. I was still feeling exhausted from the day before(and late night), but again I am to stubborn for that. The ride home was very pleasant, though the wind was worse today and that trailer acts like a giant sail sometimes.

On the way home though, I decided to stop in Chesterton again, and have something nice a cool/refreshing. So we talked it over and decided to go and get a nice cold “beer” together. So here is my son and I enjoying a post-campout “beer” float.

We both decided to get ours as floats, and after that it was a quick ride to get home, luckily I knew to take that other detour path this time. We arrived home, with smiles and exhaustion on our faces. After we a quick bath for him it was snooze time, and after my shower I followed his lead! I think I slept for close to 3 hours! Man did I need it though, and am thinking of heading to bed here after I am done with all of this.

So, there you have it, our adventure, maybe not of epic proportions but an adventure none the less. I learned a few things on this trip:

I am not ready for that 80 mile ride

I love camping with my son(and can’t wait till my other son is old enough to go as well)

Check for constructive before you leave on a bike camping trip

That I love my son, and need to treasure all of these moments we get to spend together.

I hope to make this a tradition for us, and look forward to more campouts together 🙂

Keep On Rolling,

Big Boned Biker