Hello Again From My Long Neglected Blog!

Hello, hello, hello after a long silence.

Since I returned from my 6 month solo trike tour of Colombia in 2019, I haven't added anything new to my blog. In all the years that I was solo trike touring, I did blogging. I used this space exclusively as a way to document my solo trike tours. After my tour in Colombia, everything about my touring changed. 

One reason I didn't do blogging is I started a Youtube channel. I started the channel because I felt I had so much experience with solo touring I could offer a place to go for good and reliable information. Being an older woman traveling solo all over the world, my big message was if I could do it anyone could. The learning curve for making videos was steep and it took awhile to get comfortable with the process. I've done these videos just for fun. I know lots of people make money from Youtube but that has never been my motivation which is a good thing. It would be nice to make money but, so far, that hasn't happened and I'm not expecting it to happen. I make these videos as my way to give back. For me, buying a trike is probably one of the most important and influential decisions I have ever made. I wanted to give anyone interested in learning more about trikes and solo touring a way to see what it's like to ride a trike from the view of the seat as I'm riding. I'll be talking more about my Youtube experience but I've learned there are significant limitations to video that a blog can fulfill. I've decided, even though I'm not full-time trike touring, my blog has a valuable place to document more details of my travels. At this moment, I'm thinking to do a YouTube video and a blog posting every week while I'm traveling. In the next few posts, before I set out traveling again at the end of October, I'll be talking more about my plans and how things will be different from previous travels.

Sunset View From Mitzi's

Daytime View with Mt. St. Helen's in the Distance

My last blog post was when my 6 month solo trike tour of Colombia ended. Something very interesting happened at the end of the summer when I returned to Portland. My trike manufacturer, HP Velotechnik, offered me electric assist for my Scorpion fs20. This was completely unexpected and profoundly changed the trajectory of my travel plans. When this offer was made, I had already planned and mapped out a 6 month solo trike tour through Costa Rica, Panama, return to Colombia and then ending in Ecuador. My first reaction to this offer was to wait until the following summer after this already planned tour ended. I knew the e-assist batteries couldn't go on a plane and I was excited to continue with my plans. After ruminating over the offer a bit longer, I started to see that it made more sense to go with the offer than wait. Firstly, I really wanted to know what it was like to tour with e-assist and I knew my followers wanted to know as well.  Postponing this installation wouldn't help HP Velotechnik, my followers or me.

The offer had come very late in the summer of 2019 and there was some uncertainty about whether the e-assist system could be delivered from Germany to my trike shop in Portland, RecumbentPDX, and then installed before I needed to be on the road. Every summer for over 10 years I have stayed at the home of a dear friend, Mitzi, who has another home in the south of France. When she goes to France, I go to her home in Portland. This arrangement has benefited both of us equally. This house has given me a comfortable safe place to relax and recharge for a few months before traveling again. Portland is glorious during the summer months. I get to reconnect with good friends and ride with all my recumbent cycling buddies. Mitzi always returns to Portland the end of October and I need to be out at that time. Luckily, everything worked out. The e-assist system arrived and was installed in time. 

Touring with Friends

Exploring an Abandoned Mill near Vernonia, Oregon

Riding Around Lake Vernonia, Oregon with Friends

Since it is not possible to put batteries bigger than fit in a computer laptop on a plane, the next big decision became where should I tour with this new e-assist system?  Since I couldn't fly to a foreign country, this was a great excuse to explore my own magnificent country, the USA. This is something I've always wanted to do but since I always tour during the winter months, I have only been able to trike tour in the southern states. I have done 2 solo tours across the Southern Tier and wasn't excited to do another. The Southern Tier is the warmest area of the US during the winter months but it is not warm. I experienced snow in Texas and many, many ridiculously cold nights even in Florida. 

I also didn't know anything about this new e-assist system, the Shimano Steps E8000, and was leery about going too far off the beaten path before I was confident I understood all the intricacies and knew it worked consistently. I didn't even know how many miles I could cycle on one battery charge. There was lots to learn about this new system. I decided the best idea was to cycle from the house in Portland, ride out to the coast and head south along the Pacific Coast Bike Route. I had ridden this route twice previously and it is a favorite. 

Shimano Steps Assessment

The Pacific Coast Bike Route has world class cycling. People from all over the world do this route every year. The route offers everything a touring cyclist could ask for. Good cycling infrastructure, great food, incredible views with inexpensive camping options spaced perfectly all along the coast. This route is recommended to do north to south for a number of reasons. Riding north to south will put you on the right side of the road with spectacular ocean views. Another great reason is when the skies are clear, the winds blow north to south which means TAILWIND! You can find gourmet food and great coffee every day. There are also state parks, county parks and camping opportunities about every 40-50 miles. This is the perfect distance for a day's touring. All of these parks have what are known as hiker/biker campsites. If you hike or bike into these parks, you can't be turned away and these sites are typically $7/night. Accommodation is the biggest expense while touring and these campgrounds are super affordable. The parks all have showers and offer a very safe place to spend the night. For me, finding a safe place to spend the night is always my number one priority no matter where I'm touring. 

E-Assist for Touring?

Once I decided to ride down the Pacific coast, everything fell into place. I knew exactly what gear I needed to bring to tour comfortably and loved the idea of riding out from the house in Portland. There was only one issue and that was timing. I would be starting out late in the season. The Pacific Northwest is famous for rain, lots of rain, which usually starts in October just when I would be setting out on my e-tour. Looking at the weather before starting it seemed I would be lucky for about a week. The day time temperatures would be comfortable but, unfortunately, the night time temps would be dropping into the 40's (f). I wasn't sure how I would handle tent camping in temperatures that low. 

Shadow riding

Moto-Myrtle Packed for the Road

I made my 1st big destination Berkeley, California. I have a cousin that always has a Thanksgiving dinner and I had plenty of time to get there. My sister lives in Crescent City and I enjoyed spending time visiting her. Since my tour down the coast was later in the year, the roads were quiet. During the summer months, these roads are crowded with RVs and travelers.  Kids are back in school and the weather becomes a bigger factor for tourism in this area. Every night was very cold. I am a cold weather wuss and found the temps to be too cold to camp. Every night I was paying to stay in hotels which was very expensive. All the towns on the Pacific Coast route are touristic. The hotel costs really added up. Instead of paying $7/night to camp in a hiker/biker site I was paying at least $100 to be warm. Ouch!

Pacific Coast Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast

Except for the hotel costs, the tour was a grand success. I had no rain and the e-assist worked flawlessly. I learned I could ride 45 miles with 3,000 ft of climbing at an average speed of 11 mph on one battery. For me, this was fantastic. My idea for the e-assist wasn't to be fast just faster. Without e-assist, my climbing speed is no more than 2.5-3 mph. My speed is so slow I could never do more than 3,000 ft of climbing in a day because there simply wasn't enough time. With e-assist I did climbs in Eco Mode (lowest speed mode) at 6-8 mph which is a huge increase in speed and freed up lots of time during the day. This meant I didn't have the stress of worrying about when I would get to my destination and I could enjoy the places I rode through more. I could stop to enjoy the spectacular views and talk to locals learning more about the areas. I loved it and I was hooked on e-assist. The other thing that completely surprised me was the workout I was getting. Without e-assist, I didn't have the strength to pedal fast. With e-assist, I could move my legs faster which meant I could get a higher heart-rate and a better work out. I had always heard that people who use e-assist were lazy but I found that this simply wasn't true. 

Hwy 101 - quiet and picturesque

When I got to my cousin's house, I was joking with him that with all the money I spent on hotels over the month it took to ride from Portland to Berkeley I could have been making payments on an RV. My cousin's eyes lit up and he thought this was a terrific idea. I made the joke a few more times to friends and the reaction was overwhelmingly similar. Everyone, enthusiastically, thought this a fantastic idea. Some friends asked why I was waiting. Why not just go buy an RV? What, now?!? Are you kidding me?!? This was just a joke that I thought was very funny. In all these conversations, there was also a clear sense of relief from friends and family that I could do something different than solo trike touring. I don't think I had realized before how worried everyone was about me triking on my own. I was 60 years old and things were about to change big time.

Holy moly, you just never know what's going to happen next!!