Set your tentative clocks -- May 2012!!!

Have I really just set a month? Albeit tentatively, this now looks like the best time for me to do something crazy, like going through with my blog title. The reason? I've decided what I'm going to do for the rest of my summer, which prior to today was something I wasn't sure about. I had three main options:

1. Do nothing for the rest of the summer but travel. That would have included going back to London for the Olympics and seeing friends / family. Happiness level: High. Financially: Wallet rebellion.
2. Go back to Arizona and continue my research for the remaining ten weeks. Hopefully my advisor would give me an RA over the summer. Happiness: Ehhh. Financially: Ehhh.
3. Accept an internship offer in Houston if they had flexible starting times. Happiness: Crap, not Houston again. Financially: Waaaaahhhhooooooo!!!!!!

Although I haven't officially accepted yet, I think I'm going with option 3. The money to pay for this trip is a factor, granted, but also the company that I'd work for is heavily involved in my research back at Arizona. Therefore I'm hoping that this allow me to continue my work, just like in option 2, but be able to live off more than cans of Chef Boyardee's ravioli.

"Don't make me eat it mummy"

The internship dates at present are from late-May to mid-August, with a degree of flexibility. This would leave the majority of May open (Arizona finishes on 3rd May) for me to get up to Vancouver, cycle, spend a bit of time visiting friends in Calgary, and then flying back down.

Cool, eh?

In other news, despite Craigslist's best efforts, I'm still searching for a touring bike. My price range has increased significantly though, having realised the options below $250 weren't exactly options. In the past few days I've turned to ebay, and found an excellent make of bike that I'm going to focus on buying; the classic Trek 520. The one that I was looking at, having been outbid earlier, sold for $720. However, there seems to be a new one up every few days, so I'm not worried. I think I can get a better price as well.

Trek 520

Why have I focused on this model? Here are a few reasons:

1. It's made of steel with additional strength located at luggage points. Wheels have 32 spokes that provide the extra strength required on long tours.
2. The chainstay (the distance from the pedals to the centre of the back wheel) is sufficiently long enough for me to carry rear panniers without them hitting my foot every stroke. Or my foot hitting them every stroke? Either way, it's kind of important.
3. The gears. Triple crankset and normally an 8 speed cassette in the back means that I should be set going up the mountains at any pace. Some people complain about the gearing being too high, but I just think that's because they're slow.
4. It's an absolute classic, as previously mentioned. This bike has been on many tours, some over thousands of miles, and held up. It's well respected, and I'd certainly have faith in it.

People have also mentioned the Surly LHT to me as another option. They've been selling for $900 +, but doesn't appear to have any additional benefits on the 520. So for now I'm going to continue looking for the Trek.

Other than that in the past week I got another PB up Gates Pass (1:03) and went on a 94 mile ride with some members of the UA Cycling Club. That was a great Saturday morning, taking 4:43 to complete. Some of the riders I cycled with compete in 200 mile endurance races, so I was happy just to stay with them.


So that's been my week. Trying to move this tour slowly forward.