I am a planner and never leave things til the last minute, but some things out of my control are messing with my carefully planned ride. First, the weather is totally, and unusually, unsettled. We’ve had some rather hairy thunderstorms with heavy rain and hail almost every day. I can’t see myself sitting in a tent every afternoon, fearing for my life.

But, the biggy is not having my front bike rack yet. I can’t ride without all four Panniers. The rack was ordered months ago but when installed, needed another part to accommodate panniers. It is finally supposed to arrive on the 30th and be installed on the 31st. I’m scheduled to work the next two days and leave the 3rd, not allowing any time to practice riding fully loaded. So it looks like I’ll be postponing my ride a week and starting further down the ride. Plan D.

When I found out the part wasn’t coming in a timely manner, I got my Surly Longhaul Trucker out and took it to the bike shop to have it checked out as a backup in case the part for the other one didn’t come. But, alas, there are 40 bikes scheduled in front of me. I can pay time and a half to get bumped up but the mechanic said I need a new chain and cassette. The cassette has to be ordered. Scheduled date of arrival, the 30th. I can’t win.

The moral to this story: I need patience and flexibility. My friend said this is an omen that I shouldn’t leave yet. Whatever.