A Much Overdue Life Update

Wowee I am overdue for an update! You know how sometimes life changes in really big, unexpected ways and then it’s like you’re on a rollercoaster and it’s really fun and you just don’t want to stop or slow down to reflect? Yeah, that’s where I’m at.

But it’s time. And I’ve got a lot of time on my hands these days, now that we’re back on another round of COVID lockdown. So, in no particular order, here is what has been going on the last few months.

I broke up with my partner, which also meant ending our engagement.

I moved to Capitol Hill into a gorgeous apartment that I’m in love with.

I adopted two dogs.

 It’s funny, when you condense it down into three sentences, all these changes seem pretty manageable. But it’s been a lot of really big changes.

Overall, these changes have all been for the better, even though breaking up with somebody that you love is heartbreaking and not something I wish on anyone. For both his privacy and mine, I’m not going to go into details, but please know that he is a wonderful man who has all my respect in the world.

I will go into details on my new apartment and the doggos though! The rental market in Seattle is really soft right now and I was incredibly lucky to find a nearly 750 square foot, one bedroom unit that’s actually affordable.

The apartment is a perpetual work in progress

It’s in a historic building on the quiet part of Capitol Hill, built in 1927! There are some really fun details that they’ve kept as they’ve remodeled throughout the years, including a fold-out ironing board in the kitchen and the original toilet! I love thinking of how many people have pooped on that exact same toilet!

The building is also pet friendly, so as soon as I was settled in I started my search for a dog. I quickly found a pair of bonded senior best friends who were in need of a permanent home and soon found myself as a brand new dog mom!

Lacey and Daisy Mae

I feel like I won the dog lottery. These girls are the absolute sweetest pups ever. They warmed right up to me, cuddling on the first day and settling right in. We’ve quickly established a pretty good routine (I think?? I don’t actually know since I’ve never done this before…) and I’m definitely spending way more money than I thought I would. Who knew vets and food and toys and all the things were so expensive?

Of course you can follow all of their adventures on Instagram.

I’ve also got a few exciting things lined up in the bike world. I’ve seen a first cut of the film All Bodies on Bikes that we’re making with Sweetgrass Productions, Zeppelin Zeerip and Shimano. It’s looking so good and I can’t wait to show everyone when its released this spring. I’ve also got a fun promotion coming up in December with Machines for Freedom and Saris, so keep your eyes on my Instagram for details about that.

Pedaling away on the trainer

One of my goals for this winter is to be more engaged on my blog and to finally update the recommendations section of my website. I have a good friend helping me with some website changes and hopefully she’ll be able to hold me accountable to more consistent content. Please let me know what recommendations you’d like to see and if there’s any gear reviews you’re looking for!

I Introduced My Partner to Bike Camping

I never thought I’d date a non-cyclist. My life revolves around bikes - it just doesn’t make sense. But the heart does funny things and here I am, engaged to a man who hadn’t ridden a bike since childhood when we started dating three years ago!

We’re pretty cute, if I do say so myself

Needless to say, he definitely hadn’t been bike camping and all of our shared camping trips so far had involved the car and way too much stuff. Every time we loaded up the car and a cooler for a weekend, a little piece of my soul died, as I would so much rather be on a bike, even if that limits how far we could go or how much stuff we could take.

Turns out, I had been making a lot of assumptions…and a certain somebody would’ve loved to have been invited all along.

We fixed that last weekend with a quick overnighter to Fay Bainbridge Park. If you’ve been a long time reader, or found me through Google, you might remember my review of this park as “close to Seattle, but kind of like sleeping in a parking lot.” While I still hold true to all of that, my opinion of it has changed.

In my happy place, on the road with my bike.

For a beginner bike camper, or someone just looking to get away for the night, this spot is actually perfect. When I wrote the review previously, I never really took advantage of the beach that’s literally steps away from the hiker-biker sites and doing that changes everything about this campground. I’ve also found a much less hilly route (more on that later) which makes it a bit more enjoyable of a ride!

I helped JR pack for his first bike camping trip, emphasizing that each extra thing he brought meant more weight on the bike. He didn’t quite listen to everything I said and still insisted on bringing a hatchet to split wood, a full roll of duct tape, and work gloves, but he also didn’t complain once about the load he was carrying :)

After catching the 11:25 ferry on Saturday, we took a leisurely route to camp, stopping at both Blackbird Bakery and Bainbridge Brewing. I was glad we took the early ferry, as we got one of the last hiker-biker spots left at camp! Definitely a popular choice this weekend (and we were able to squeeze a few more groups into the area, while still being COVID-safe.)

Going to Fay Bainbridge also meant my sister and nephew got to hang out for a few hours! Liam brought his bike too so we did lots of loops of the parking lot, some beach exploring and of course roasted s’mores on the fire!

A bit crowded bike camping, but still plenty of space to be had

This is a great time to plug the Ride Spot website and app, which I’ve shared our route on. It’s a new venture from People for Bikes to help people discover safe, fun places to ride bikes. You can follow bike shops, ambassadors (hi!), and other industry folks who will share with you our favorite places to ride in cities all across the US. You can also share your own favorite rides as well!

We had absolutely picture perfect weather for our entire trip - 70s during the day and high 50s at night with no rain in sight. We woke up to clear skies on Sunday morning, drank our coffee on the beach and packed up for home.

JR checking out Frog Rock!

On our ferry ride back, JR was gracious enough to let me interview him. I thought it’d be a fun way to share his thoughts directly on how our trip went. Click through for a quick interview with him - I’m just learning about audio and while editing lost most of it, but enjoy a few seconds!!

So what’s his advice for a new bike camper? Well, I had great audio clip of it, but turns out I need to take his advice and learn from somebody who knows what they’re doing. His best advice is to go with somebody who has done it before and can show you the ropes.

A few things he mentioned included that he had no idea you could cook a pad thai so easily over a backpacking stove (or that a backpacking stove was so small), how small and lightweight gear can be and the importance of looking at elevation when deciding a route!

Chopping Veggies for Pad Thai

If you’re curious about the pad thai, it’s my go-to camp recipe. I got it from Bikepacking.com and have modified it slightly. If you make it, let me know how it goes!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon dried red chili peppers

1 package of rice noodles

1 shallot

2 cloves of garlic (or however much you want)

Green onions

A Lime

A can of protein (Tuna, Chicken, Tofu, whatever)

At home, mix the sugar, soy sauce, peanut butter and red pepper into a water proof container. I really like these squeeze tubes that can be refilled. Pack all the rest of the ingredients.

When you get to camp, boil your noodles until they’re soft (a couple of minutes.) While they’re going, chop up the rest of the veggies. Drain the noodles when they’re soft, mix in the sauce and veggies and squeeze some lime juice. Voila!

Join me for a Live Instagram Q&A

Join me tomorrow, August 12 for an Instagram Live Q&A Session! I’ll be taking all your questions and doing my best to answer them!

Feel free to send in your questions in advance - either here on the blog, into my email, or via Instagram

Looking forward to talking with everyone and if it goes well, we can consider doing one in a better timezone for folks in Europe too!

How is Summer Half Over?

Summer 2020. Hard to believe it’s already almost August.

I’m leaving tomorrow for my first big bike trip of the season, which is definitely a bit strange for me. Normally by this point, I’ve got 3 or 4 camping trips under my belt, my packing routine is down pat and I’ve got a decent glove tan.

Thanks to COVID, I’ve been keeping it very local and not going on many big trips. Sure, I’ve gone on a couple of very close overnighters but most of my riding lately has been day rides in and around Seattle. And all of it has been with a face mask on.

Tomorrow I’m heading out for a bit of an adventure though! I’m teaming up with Kailey for a bikepacking trip from Corvallis, Oregon to the Oregon Coast. We’ll be joined by a film crew who will be helping us tell our story and share the joy we find in being fat women on bikes!

Shimano is providing the funding for the project, which means we got equipped with all new bike components, Pearl Izumi clothing, and Lazer helmets! I scored the sweetheart deal of the century and got a Velo Orange Piolet fork + frame, plus a bunch of rad Velo Orange components gifted to me as well, so I’ve got a brand new bike for this trip!!

For once I’m going to have a bike that is built for the intended trip I’m going on! Holy shit!

New Bike Day at Free Range Cycles!

Huge thanks to all those who came together to build up this bike, including my favorite local bike shop, Free Range Cycles in Seattle.

So, cool. More details to come on the trip, the film, and of course I’ll let you all know once it’s ready to be screened!

Until then, be safe, wear your masks and be safe!