Final bike adjustments and packing for shipment to LA

I took my bike over to the bike shop today (Knapps' in Lawrenceville Township, NJ) for some final adjustments and packing for shipping to LA. I've been trying different bike set-ups, including an aerobar, and ultimately needed to decline the aerobar setup as it was too close to my legs and gave me some bruises on my thighs when I jumped out of the saddle to climb a hill. Pete, the owner at Knapps' has been very helpful, and patient with this "on again, off again" exercise with me.

We (when I say "we", I will be referring to my roomie, Bob Fuller and myself) will actually be shipping the bikes later in the week, as we await some extra spokes for the bike before final packing. As suggested by CrossRoads, we are shipping 2 weeks prior to the official ride date so as to allow for possible mis-routing(which never happens, right?); and, time for the bikes to be assembled and available when we arrive a couple days early. We wanted to take a bit of "shake-out" ride on Friday before the official Saturday May 9th sign in with CrossRoads. The first official day of riding is actually Sunday, May 10th.

It's a typical N.J. weather day here today: mid-forties, and rainy, with a windchill in the high thirties. So, I really won't miss the bike. I will have an older bike to ride on the nicer days between now and our flight to LA on Apr. 7th.

We did have a pleasant surprise over that last 4 days, with some weather in the low and mid-sixties. Bob and I did a 100 miler two days ago, with the added pleasure of a 16 mph headwind for the last 50. All I can say is that it was a good indication of what we might see in the desert, but was not exactly fun. Our return route was into the west, with the failing sun, and I can honestly say that going west to east on the XC ride will likely be a bit nicer not having the sun in your eyes toward the end of the day.

I used by camelback for the first time on a 70 mile ride last Friday. You can see below how the camelback is also recovering, and getting ready for the century rides in the desert in about 3 weeks. It's amazing to me that we spend so much money to get light bikes; only to add 10 pounds of water, a cell phone, a camera, spare bike parts, etc. on to the bike. Good thing that I lost 20 pounds since last year at this time to make up for the extra gear that I will be carrying that I normally would not carry.