Technical interlude

We got a request for a description of our bikes/gear (hi Bea and Marcus!). Here it is. Todd (lucky dog) is riding a handmade prototype touring bike thanks to our amazing friend Myke and his rocking bike shop Velo City in Winters, CA (www.velocitybicycles.com). The bike is Innerlight, and model called 2-Go and I like to think that it is the reason behind why Todd is always ahead of me. He's got 28 Gatorskin tires on and is struttin' Navarra panniers. My beauty is a Bianchi Volpe (it's technically a cyclocross bike I think but basically the same as a touring bike). I've got 28 Armadillo tires on and Ortleib panniers (thanks Momma) that I adore. To my novice eyes our bikes are relatively similar, they are both steel frames (tho Todd's breaks apart into two), drop-down handlebars, cantilever breaks, nicely set up for front are rear racks. Basically we each carry two rear panniers plus one thing bungeed to the top of the rack (Todd, the tent, me, the sleeping pads). I think we're each totting about 50lbs, which feels like a whole heck of a lot when you're going up hill - or for that matter when you're just trying to hold the bike up when it's stopped.