Days 0-3

August 30th, 2010:

Alex beginning trip weight 148lbs
Matt beginning trip weight 236lbs

Today is the day before our trip officially begins. We have weighed ourselves, double and triple checked our gear list, updated facebook and fixedgeartouring.com, sent out our sponsorship letters, and had lunch at an all-you-can eat sushi buffet with Alex’s siblings, Jen and Eric. The bicycles have also recieved a last minute look over and tune up. Overall we have been productive, and we are attempting to calm our nerves and manage our excitement. The next step is to review our maps and finally get this show on the road.

August 31st, 2010:

San Francisco, CA to somewhere outside Livermore, CA

Today we rode from Boudine’s bakery through San Francisco which was a lot of stop and go as we passed through the city due to the numerous amount of stoplights. It was also confusing navigating through the people, cars, and streets. We were happy to get through the metropolitan area and put it all behind us. As we attempted to cross the bay on the hayward bridge (bad idea), we soon discovered that it would be difficult if not impossible. Shortly after this realization we decided that it would be impossible so we had to travel further south and cross at the dumbarton bridge which turned out to have an outstanding bicycle lane. It was smooth sailing from there however, we were unable to reach our destination of Tracy, CA because of the extra time it took to navigate the cluster better known as the greater San Francisco area.

Sep. 1st, 2010:

Somewhere outside Livermore, CA to Martell, CA

Today we were able to make short work of reaching Livermore. Then we rode across Paterson Pass and up oh my god hill (20% grade) to Tracy, CA. We then managed to navigate our way to Stockton, Ca and from there, followed 88 and the incline to Martell, CA. In the heat, we consumed too much water and felt nauseous when we stopped, which rendered us unable to eat dinner. Matt had the worst of it and vomited four times throughout the night. Yet we did learn a lesson, “Slow down on the water”.

Sep. 2nd, 2010:

Martell, CA to Crystal Springs on 88, CA

Today we left Martell, CA and continued on hwy 88 toward Carson City. As soon as we made it through Jackson, CA we started to climb. Over the day we actually climbed from 1200 ft to 4500 ft, however 20-25 miles from the summit Matt became unable to turn over his cranks due to heat exhaustion and low energy after the vomiting from the previous night. We decided that we should stick out our thumbs. We were able to hitch a ride from a man and his son out on a scouting trip to Carson Summit. From the summit we rode downhill to the closest water source, where Matt submerged himself and we filled our water carriers. Shortly after we found a free campsite (which was wonderful) by word of mouth from the camp host at Crystal Spring Campground.