Welcome to the New Year!

Since our official New Year was full of traveling and moving, we decided to ring in the Chinese New Year by dusting off the blog. We've crossed the country again, and we've got plenty of stories, tips and photos to share. For now, we'll start the new year by recapping where we've been... through "Welcome" signs!

After traveling west to east by bicycle, we headed northeast by car...

And then we turned south... and west...

So here ends our "tumbleweed" year. We're back on the bikes and exploring the southwest. We'll post here from time to time on our lessons learned and great discoveries. Hope you'll share some of your own and enjoy reading!

Wagons Westward

After trying out our new wheels and methods on our 3,000-mile New England road trip, we decided to explore a new section of this great country - the Southwest!  Our latest North American transect took us through Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. We watched the landscape morph from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachians, to the expansive Midwest and high plains, to the buttes, mesas and mountains of the desert.

Here's a glimpse at the evolution of the great American landscape from east to west:

 Climbing Monk's Mound at the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois, the ruins of the largest and most complex pre-Columbian city north of Mexico.

Crossing under the Jefferson Expansion Memorial Arch in St. Louis, Missouri - our official entrance into the West!

Crossing the flat (and windy!) plains of Oklahoma

 As we entered New Mexico, the landscape changed rapidly to reveal rough rock bulging through the dry ground...

...evolving into beautiful mountain chains like the Sandias.

Stay tuned for more dispatches from the American Southwest!

Riding in a Winter Wonderland

Today was our first long ride (in that we spent more time in the saddle than bundling up). It was great! With the past week's snowfall, we were a little concerned about road conditions. Fortunately, the sun broke through in the afternoon just long enough for an hour of riding. It made for a beautifully scenic ride around Greenbelt National Park, a popular site for short cycling races. There's very little auto traffic, just a few joggers, and even a cross-country skier!

We've been following a training schedule for "Beginners/Social Cyclists" like the one here. We're also training on new bikes, so we're slowly adjusting to the "buttery smooth" ride of real touring bikes. It should be noted that one of us has a little more experience with long-distance cycling... 60 miles one-way on a kids' Huffy mountain bike! But that's another story...

Today also marked REI's first Attic Sale of the year. We showed up bright and early to wait in line with all of the other outdoor enthusiasts/bargain shoppers. We came back with a few fun cycling gear items (for great deals!):

• Novara Bar-Top Handlebar Bag - A simple, yet effective storage space, complete with a see-through map compartment and netting to hold your belongings. We'll see how it holds up during our longer trips this spring. We're keeping an eye out for larger, rear rack bags - suggestions welcome!
• Planet Bike Blaze 1-Watt Front Bike Light - We actually picked up two of these because they had such a huge markdown. They came without the mounting gear, but we've gotten creative with some of the extra parts from older lights we no longer use. We welcome any of your suggestions for jury-rigging lights when mounting parts break/go missing!

It's been a great first week of training. We're looking forward to longer days, longer rides and more sunshine. We'll continue to keep you posted, please feel free to share your suggestions, tips, advice, etc. in the comments below!