Keegan’s Adventures

Prior to the return to NYC Velo of shop wrench/prodigal son Keegan, he did a bit o’travelling around the US of A. His recollection of the journey follows:

So, I find myself on this day in rural Western North Carolina. How I got here is a story for another day, but in short, I have been hitchhiking and backpacking around the southeastern US for the last few months, and like many fellow travelers, hobos, freeloaders and bums, I ended up landing in Asheville. It was very welcoming, even though my clothes were dirty and I may have smelled a little bit. It really is a nice little city. It appears to have an actual community of people supporting it, and not only that, it appears to be alive and thriving. You can see examples of this all over town. Art and music is everywhere. There is not a chain store to be seen in all of downtown (barring a single urban outfitters, which, from what I have been told, made quite a ruckus among the locals when it was allowed to move in). The people actually go outside. You can see them playing music on the sidewalk, walking in the park and doing yoga. You can find food grown within the city limits in the grocery store.

Anyway, I was wandering around downtown one day when I stumbled upon, or, I should say, overheard some hipsters discussing, and then spent the afternoon searching for, the local bike co-op. The Asheville Recyclery certainly isn’t relying on walk in traffic for their business as they are in the very back of the basement of the French Broad Food co-op and they have no sign to speak of. After I managed to find the place, I strolled in and got straight to work. 4-5 hours later, I emerged from the shop triumphant, wheeling my very own shiny new(read: 1970s era and covered in dirt and cobwebs) touring bicycle.

The original intent was to get my hands on a bicycle to use as a means of cheap, quick transportation around town while I was visiting, but as anyone who shares my love of cycling will know, once I actually took my new toy out for a spin, it didn’t take long to evolve into much more. I was getting that familiar itch and it wasn’t long before I was daydreaming about the next place I would go with my new wheels. This, combined with my boycott of air travel and a growing hatred for buses and trains led me to put two and two together. Instead of taking the bus, I would ride my bike back to New York city in a few weeks. I am planning on parking it there for the summer anyway, so, why not ride there? It’ll be the perfect segway back into the cycling community, as I am going to be picking up the wrench again at NYC Velo when I get back to there, and hell, I’m not doing much of anything right now anyway. And so a bike trip was born.

But wait, there’s still one problem, I’m broke. With less than $100 to my name, there would be no decking myself out with the latest and lightest touring gear. I’ll be able to afford food and some basic repair necessities, but not much else. This is not an undertaking I would recommend to someone who is new to cycling. Bicycle touring can be demanding even for a new bike. Riding long miles day after day in all types of weather and terrain puts a lot of strain on your equipment. Factor in the 15-20 extra pounds of gear I’m bringing and the fact that this bike is 35+ years old, and the likelihood for problems increases. It could be risky…if something breaks on the bike, I could end up stranded far from anywhere, left to my own devices to figure a way to the closest bike shop. It’s a good thing I’ve got plenty of devices. Being a larger rider and having very reckless tendencies on and off road, I have had my fair share of mechanical malfunctions far from home. I’ve used leaves and mud in place of a tire boot when my tire was gashed open by a surprisingly sharp rock. I’ve employed a stick and the bark of a nearby sapling to lash a broken frame back into something I could ride home. When a derailleur went missing once, I even performed a trailside singlespeed conversion in order to make it back to the car.

F*ck it, I’m going anyway I’ve never been the type to fret over things before they happen, and I’ve got applicable skills, right? A decade of bicycle repair? Check. A year or more of hitching around the US and Europe on almost no $? Yes. Having done my fair share of dumpster diving and other “creative” means of acquiring sustenance? Sure, couldn’t hurt. Combine that with my sub 10 pound camping setup and all I have to do is round up some fabric and borrow a friend’s sewing machine and I’ll have a custom frame bag to put it everything in. Oh, and I should probably get in shape…

Then I start thinking to myself, Why not make it MORE of a challenge. You know, for fun. Why not try and do the entire trip on $20-$30, including the cost of the bike and anything else I need to acquire for the 800 mile trip. That would REALLY give me an opportunity to put my DIY skills to use. Anyone care to make a wager?