Surly Bikes
Yesterday, as I was dipping my toes into my ocean of bike parts, I figured I’d put some gears on my Cross-Check and get some other gear together so I could head out with some of the clowns with whom I work for an evening of camping fun. Ma and Pa were having one of their evening mixers and they make all the kids recite poetry for their friends just like in The Sound of Music, er whatever. Once our recital was over and we’d thoroughly soiled ourselves and run away in tears, we would retreat to our favorite little campsite in the trees for an evening of lukewarm wieners and dinner.
I always marvel at my Cross-Check when I work on it. It’s the third Cross-Check frame I’ve owned and even though I’ve sold a couple of them, I’ve never been able to be without a Cross-Check for too long. They just do everything. I’ve taken them on multi-day pannier-laden, garbage barge tours and I commute on one everyday. I’ve ridden it down waterbar-strewn hiking trails I shouldn’t have been riding so I could fish in a river, I’ve been caught in bad weather, I’ve been caught in the dark, I’ve been hopelessly lost, almost hit a bear sitting in the middle of a road whilst riding home from a bar in Michigan and it’s how I get groceries to eat so I don’t die of starvation. While every bike project I start invariably ends up being a bigger pain in the ass than I thought it would be, I’m always stoked to ride it when it’s finally done. Plus it’s got a dynamo light on it and being able to generate your own electricity will make you feel like GOD, or A GOD if you’re into POLYTHEISM. Anyway, after a few hours of wrenching and digging through parts bins in my garage to find a bottom bracket cable guide the bike was finished and packed for an overnighter.
I enjoy these trips because you don’t have to stress out so much about food. Food on longer bike packing/touring trips always vexes me. I’ve done multi-day bike packing trips where you have to carry all of your food because resupply wasn’t an option and I’m a worrier so it’s nice when you can just hit the Lund’s on the way to work and get a pack of cheddar dogs and a dozen of the Modelo and you are set up for the evening. What’s not to like?
The bummer about these trips is the fact that even though I’m part of the marketing team here at Surly HQ, I never seem to walk away from them with any 'content.' All the fun shit happens when it’s too dark to take any photos. You just end up with stuff like this:
Which ultimately leads to the guy that didn't bring any camping stuff sleeping next to the fire using scavenged equipment, under a tarp someone brought for emergencies.
En Plein Air