A few weeks ago Jesse and I did a big clockwise loop from home over the back way to Ojai, exploring a long ridge and new trails, before descending to the bike path and home via Ventura. Honestly, we were pretty exhausted after that ride. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I said Hey!,…
Bikes Are Freedom
Bikes really tie it all together: fun, friendships, relationship, mental health, transportation, and work. The day after I last wrote, Jesse and I took a good hard look at the pandemic situation locally and made the very difficult decision to go back on complete isolation from others. Even the local hospital was getting very full…
Three Hundred and Two Days
Three hundred and two days ago I boarded a plane in Australia, routed through New Zealand, where I secretly rather hoped to get stuck, and finally landed in LAX. In New Zealand they were already handing every single passenger an information card about Covid and entering quarantine if you were staying on the island, but…
And Then It Was Autumn
We chugged, chugged, chugged up the hill as we tried to make our way from Payahuunadu, the indigenous Paiute name for Owens Valley, to Whitney Portal in the Sierra Nevada range. Second gear…first gear… a pause in pullout to let the engine cool a bit. Can Caracol, Jesse’s recently resuscitated 1972 VW bus, make it…
Bikepacking Presentation (New Zealand and Australia), Yosemite, and Cooking
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition invited me to give an online presentation of my travels to New Zealand and Australia,which I did a couple of weeks ago. If you are interested in watching the video it is linked here: Heather’s Presentation You’ll need to jump ahead to almost the 5 minute mark for the start,…
This Strange Life Does Not Feel So Strange to Me
I wake in the morning to the sound of birds and Jesse brings me a hot cup of tea. Why tea? I have lived with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) for maybe eight years now. I have the diarrheal form (it presents as constipation for some people) and mornings are hell. It takes five to eight…
Will You Consider This?
Hello, this is a letter to my loved ones. While I believe that everyone who reads my blog would be kind to a black person in a face to face situation, I also believe that I have family members and acquaintances who don’t believe systemic racism is a severe problem in this country, our country….
Memories, Bikepacking, and Keeping Public Lands Public
I was invited to write about my experience on the Wild West Route in summer of 2018. This route was developed by a wonderful nonprofit, Bikepacking Roots. Bikepacking Roots not only develop great bikepacking routes, but also work hard to educate people about the value of our public lands and advocate for these lands to…
Generosity and Inspiration
Cycletouring opens the heart and the mind; both of the person doing the touring and of those with whom the cycletourist interacts. The kindness of locals and others tourists directed toward me never ceases to amaze me. As a direct result of this generosity, I am always inspired to try and be a more kind…
On Coming Home
When is it time to go home? What does home mean when I have sold all my belongings and own almost nothing but my bicycle and the clothes on my back? These are questions I grappled with back in January, and then much more acutely last week. Before I could fly to Australia in mid-…