Cycling/ Bike Purchasing

[Lettow77]

 Fly back "home"? what is home, exactly? I can't lean on my friends to stay at their house- it'd be embarrassing, and its no recompense to one of the only people I get on well with. Summer housing in dreary Martin, TN  is an opportunity come and gone, and switched if I know how i'd get my personal effects there anyhow.

  Sleeping under an open sky might be my lot no matter where I go. (Although, for the sake of argument, if I pushed hard enough to stop at a hotel every night, as some cycling enthusiasts did, I'd be in Nevada for about a week)

If any languishites want a boarder, I am certainly taking offers.

I am prepared to offer tutoring in Southern history by way of compensation.

[Eddie Teach]

Everyone is pointing out the physical hardships of a trip like this, but there is another trial. The mind-numbing monotony. I've on a few occasions set out in my car with no specific destination in mind- it wears thin pretty quick. There's a pretty good chance you'll turn around long before carting water through the desert becomes a problem.

Go or don't go, just know what you're getting yourself into. Most likely the worst thing that happens is you lose a chunk of change on the bike, either on resale or baggage fees.

[Admiral Yi]

Lettuce, did you buy a one plane ticket or round trip?  How much cash do you have on you, or in the bank?

[alfred russel]

Fly back "home"? what is home, exactly? I can't lean on my friends to stay at their house- it'd be embarrassing, and its no recompense to one of the only people I get on well with. Summer housing in dreary Martin, TN  is an opportunity come and gone, and switched if I know how i'd get my personal effects there anyhow.

  Sleeping under an open sky might be my lot no matter where I go. (Although, for the sake of argument, if I pushed hard enough to stop at a hotel every night, as some cycling enthusiasts did, I'd be in Nevada for about a week)

If any languishites want a boarder, I am certainly taking offers.

I am prepared to offer tutoring in Southern history by way of compensation.

But you have a place to stay in Berkeley, right?

I don't understand--you have a limited amount of money, no income, and no place to stay? It sounds like you don't need to be thinking about a vision quest or a bike ride--you need to get a job and investigate if any types of social assistance might be available.

[Lettow77]

 A one way trip was more..thematic.

As for finances, a gentleman doesn't discuss such things. I'll manage- I keep impressively low living expenses.

  Edit: of course I wouldn't seek social welfare. I live basically free on school campus, granted, but that is an investment on the government's part in the country's future. It is overdue that I seek a job, though.

One of the options before me was to get an apartment in midtown, get gainful employment, and start that sort of life, transferring to the university of memphis. I toyed with the idea earlier, before rejecting it in favour of..whatever this trip was. Which may have been a silly idea, but I still hope for a desirable outcome. Either way, in the fall I will apply myself as I have seldom before- I'll have no real distractions.

[Martinus]

If I were planning such a long trip, I would probably not spend less than  $1000-1500 on a bike.

[Razgovory]

If I were planning such a long trip, I would probably not spend less than  $1000-1500 on a bike.

For that, I'd buy some Sherpas and have them carry me.


Lettow, you felt out of place at school so you went out West.  Now you feel out of place in California and you're planning to go to Utah.  You're going to feel out of place there as well.  The problem lies in you, not the place where you are.

[The Brain]

The problem lies in you, not the place where you are.

[Zanza]

If I were planning such a long trip, I would probably not spend less than  $1000-1500 on a bike.

And probably the same amount on other equipment. Cycling through such a desert stretch sounds like you need some rather good equipment.

[Lettow77]

The problem lies in you, not the place where you are.

I understand that well. I'd feel more at home in the South now, having seen California, but I can't go back yet. I don't expect to fit in Deseret- I just want to ogle its adorable culture. But that wouldn't take long and i'd tire of it pretty soon I think, which is one reason not to just fly/greyhound out there.

Also, I am hoping the journey _to_ Utah will do something about who I am, which would hopefully fix the problem the destination can't solve.

On the other hand, my dear best friend told me I was just running away with this wonderful venture,  and that I should take my medicine and linger here. Plus, the costs would be rather expensive..

On the OTHER OTHER hand, I want to do something of note that people don't think I can, and mormons are absolutely adorable. Furthermore, I am just visiting here in Berkeley; I dare not tarry here, or i'd feel I was imposing. Anyhow, one way or the other, I need to go somewhere soon.

I should have gone to my grandfather this summer; he lost his eldest son and wishes i'd do what that son would not, straighten up, accept the One True Faith, tend to the family land, and be a respectable Mississippian. But I was too selfish and afraid to do that; I feel so much my father's son, except in the many areas in which he exceeds me, and he was something of a black sheep.

Anyhow, I really just want certainty in life. I need a proper missus and years that rotate rather than progress.

Edit: but on the OTHER OTHER OTHER hand, I don't want to change who I am! I am a quiet and private person with a mercurial nature. I like absorbing culture and discussing history. Increasingly, comfort and a normal life replace political ideals in terms of what is important to me.  I'd be happy with people who cared about me, tea, a cat, and an internet connection.  I just wish being that person brought me more happiness.

[Razgovory]

I think taking your medicine is a good idea.  Challenging yourself isn't a bad thing, but taking an enormous and dangerous challenge with out preparation or the necessary skills is.  I think you should take some sort of summer job.  Something hands on like a street department, or construction where you would get some exercise.  A few months of hard work in the sun would do you some good.

[Zanza]

You should cycle to Oxnard.

[Norgy]

This is an incredibly stupid idea.

It sums the whole thing up wonderfully.

A serious suggestion: Buy a bike, go for 10-20 mile long rides five days a week for the next two weeks, double it the next two (20-40 miles) and see how you feel.

If you still have an urge for death by pedal, go for it.

[Maladict]

You are an idiot if you do this.
With this kind of preparation it doesn't even matter what kind of bike you get, you wouldn't know how to use it to your advantage anyway.
Seriously, get a bike (any bike), load it up with all your gear and go for a one-day, 150 mile or so roundtrip. That will get you sobered up real quick.

[Monoriu]

I propose an alternative challenge.

Make enough money so that you have enough cash to rent a private jet for a one way trip between Berkeley and Salt Lake City 

(I am not saying you should spend the money; I'm saying you should make that kind of money)