I have a touring bike!

My bike is finally framed out the way I want it for touring, thanks again to I. Martin Cycles for their help in putting it together for me (and at no charge - but I did pay for the parts!).  The things they did on this last  bit of work was to add fenders, install the Surly front rack, and to put on the foam grips.  This is their second bit of sponsorship of me, and I am so very grateful for their support.  Ryan said it was a very strong bike.  I will take it back in later during the summer to have it looked at for getting the cogs replaced, the chain replaced and whatever else they think needs replacing, because these parts are 15 years old and need to be replaced before I hit the road.  Greg Valenzuela of www.thestarvingcyclist.org  also suggested they should look at the rear rim.  Definitely don't want that cracking on me, and the rims are also 15 years old.

So the bike is part Surly, part Bontrager, and the main frame is Gary Fisher which I think was bought out by Trek.

Right now we are in a heat bubble of weather in Los Angeles.  Today I forgot to load my water bottles on the bike.  So I had to grab some bottled water from work to make it home without the dry hot air choking me.

I'm planning a bike overnight on Saturday by riding down to Long Beach.  It will be interesting and challenging. Although it's only about 36-40 miles, and although I've ridden that far and more before, I've never ridden that far in one direction.  Whether I ride it back the next day or take the train to DTLA, I don't know.  I am sort of thinking I will ride just to do it and push myself.  Wish I had a GoPro camera to capture the journey.