I've got meself a tank.

Nervous, anxious, scared.

Those initial few moments you start pedaling a fully loaded touring bike for the first time are weird to say the least. Imagine that first time you got behind the wheel of a bus. Or the first time you drove that RV off the lot...okay so maybe not, but trust me, it's an uneasy feeling. I could probably throw my road bike 20 feet if I used the whirling technique that olympic hammer throwers use, but I can barely lift this tank 2 inches off the ground. Time to start handing out a lot more of these postcards that are weighing down one of my panniers, I guess.

But, I'm so excited to finally have my ride... One day last week in Jamaica Plain (a few miles south of Boston) I was looking for a copy shop to make a few fliers for an event. Though the copy shop I had been searching for was closed, there happened to be a bike shop right next door. Hmm, seeing as it's what I do, I meandered in to to hang up a flier and let the staff know about this awesome ride from New York to Washington. As luck (or serendipity or whatever it's called when good stuff happens) would have it there was a 56" Surly Long Haul Trucker hanging from the ceiling. I'll spare you the statistics, but let's just say that for that bike and that size to be hanging there, I felt like this was meant to happen. Can't thank Jeffrey Ferris and the gang at Ferris Wheels enough for helping get me all geared up and ready to go. I've heard several good things about Jeffrey since arriving at the Bikes not Bombs festival last week and it looks like they are all true.