Canada to Mexico day 10

Well kiddos I finally got back on the road today after 4 days off due to the heat wave. It was a relatively short day. 

Tonight in camp a raccoon walked right up to me! He was only about 6 feet away. That means at night raccoons will be roaming around the campground looking for food. Those of you who know my past experiences with raccoons know that they aren't my favorite animals. 5 years ago in Monterrey a raccoon tore into my tent in the middle of the night and stole my food. It was scary! So this time I hung my food bag in a tree. That should help. 

It is 45 degrees cooler than it was yesterday, so that is really nice. Tomorrow I have my last day of riding in Washington. 48 miles to my first campground in Oregon. I love the Oregon state parks. They are so clean and nice. 

More to come tomorrow!

Canada to Mexico Day 9

Hello friends!

Hitting the road tomorrow morning!!! One thing about the 4 day heat wave delay is that I had time to fine tune my set up. I went through every single item I carry on my bike and if it wasn't absolutely necessary I got rid of it. For example, do I really need to take a Rubik's Cube?

I mean really. I know how to solve it, so what's the point. (Actually there is a point. I do it to help me relax. Solving a cube takes my mind off of other things that maybe I need to stop thinking about. I have other ways of doing that though, so I think I'll leave the cube behind.) I did end up saving myself quite a bit of weight by leaving a few other things behind. My rolling weight is now 310 pounds. That may sound like a lot, but that includes everything. I weight 215, Hank weighs 40, and all of my gear/food for 5 days and a day of water weighs 55 pounds altogether. That's how I got to 310. Thinking about nearly 100,000 vertical feet over the entire route shaving off even a few pounds is significant. 310 pounds is actually 40 pounds lighter than 5 years ago when I rode 1,372 miles with a rolling weight of around 350 pounds. I was a few pounds heavier then. My gear was way heavier. Since then I have bought an entire ultralight backpacking set up, which I can use most of on bike tours. Titanium cooking utensils and cups. A sleep system that only totals 3 pounds for the bag, pad, and pillow. Honestly the heaviest thing I wish I could eliminate is food. If I didn't have to eat I could save so much weight! Haha! I could actually save quite a bit of weight if I was willing to eat out more, which I'll probably do more of as I go. More taco trucks and espresso stands! Yay

I hash-tagged one of my riding shirts today to help bring awareness to my charity.

I am really looking forward to getting back on the road tomorrow!

Take care everyone!

Canada to Mexico Day 8

 Hello kiddos!

I was planning on getting back on the ride tomorrow morning, but now it's looking like the heat wave won't be over until Tuesday morning. It is 113 here today and supposed to be 114 tomorrow.

Continuing to try to look at the bright side of this delay in my ride. A friend mentioned yesterday that the timing was good because I am at my parent's house rather than being pretty much anywhere else. That's a really great point! If this happened while riding through California, or anywhere else, I would have spent $1,000 or more on hotel nights and food so far. There is always a silver lining. It is just harder to find sometimes. While I have these days off I have been thinking a lot. Those of you who know me know that sometimes I think too much. Sometimes that is true. I am working on being better at just going with the flow and not stressing out too much. I am looking at this time off as a lesson for me to learn from.

I don't have much more to update today other than a picture of Hank the Tank with his new flags! Safety first!

Ooops! Where was day 6? Here's 7

Hello kiddos!

I took yesterday off from riding as planned, but I also have to take today and tomorrow off due to this crazy heat wave. It was 105 degrees here in Montesano today. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 110 and Monday it is supposed to be over 100 degrees too. I can't ride in heat like that. It is very dangerous. So I have been resting and repacking to get rid of some of the things I packed that I don't really need. Like cold weather clothes and rain gear...obviously! HAHA! The less weight I carry the faster I can go and the easier the hills will be. Below are the stats from the first five days of my ride. I'm really happy with what I have done so far. I am especially happy that I'm not sore at all. The training I did really helped! 

Yesterday I had some business cards made with all of my contact information. That way it is easier for me to communicate with people about the charity i am riding for and easier for them to find me on social media so they can follow me and donate if they choose to. I have already handed out close to 30 cards. I had 250 of them made. I bet I give out all of them before I even get to the border in mid-August. It has been really rewarding so far. The heat wave has really slowed me down, but I will get back on the road soon and get back into a groove. 

I hope you are all enjoying your summer vacation!

I will be sure to post more soon. Once I'm back on the roads I will try to post everyday again.

Take care!

 

Canada to Mexico Day 5

Hello kiddos!

WOW! That was a fast ride! I got up at 5 AM to try to beat the heat. I sure did beat the heat. I got to Montesano before the fog even burned off. It was so nice to not have to put on sunscreen today. I had a run-in with a staple, pictured below. It was really strange though because it didn't give me a flat. I pulled it out and headed down the road. As I was riding along closer to Montesano I ran into a life-long friend of mine. It was so nice to see him.

Look closely and you can see a staple sticking out of Hank's tire! I got lucky though. When I pulled it out no air came out, so I didn't have to change a flat. Lucky!

I was riding along and my friend who I have known most of my life pulls up in his Jeep! It was so cool. We ended up having lunch together later in the day.

Tomorrow a crazy heat wave is moving in, so I will be taking a day or two off from riding. I am trying to work out a new plan to get through the heat and to the beach as soon as possible. I will keep you all updated. 

More to come in the coming days!

Canada to Mexico day 4

I had another great day of riding! Today started out nice and cool in the morning. It was even a little cloudy, which I don't mind at all. In the afternoon it warmed up to around 80. There is a super hot heat way coming for Friday through at least Sunday, so I am hurrying to get to my parent's house before it gets too hot. I will get there tomorrow. I may have to adjust my plans for this weekend since riding in temperatures over 100 can be dangerous. I'll figure it out and keep you updated. Today's 37 mile ride went much quicker since I didn't have any flat tires. One of the things I'm going to do while at my parent's house is some work on Hank. Even though I just bought new tires for him I might get another set that might be better for this ride. I'll keep you updated on that too! 

You can see my moving time is just over 3 hours but the duration of the whole ride from point A to point B is nearly 5 hours. That's what happens when I eat as much as I have been and stop for water and coffee as much as I have been. 😂

Speaking of food! Hank and I stopped at a taco truck today. It was so good!

We saw an actual drive-in this morning. Not many of those still exist. 

See you again soon!

Canada to Mexico day 3

I want to give a quick update, but I don't know how to sum up my day quickly. 😆 It was very eventful. I started my day nice and early. I was up at 6 and on the road by 8:00. I will get quicker in camp once I get used to the new routine. The first 30 miles of my day was really great. After crossing the Hood Canal Bridge I realized I had almost ridden my entire 36 mile route for the day before noon, so I decided to change my plans and go another 20 miles or so. I decided to head toward Bremerton. As I was going through Poulsbo I got a flat tire. In 2015 I went over 1,000 miles before getting a flat tire. Oh well. Getting a flat on a loaded touring bike is a little more involved than a regular bike. First off I have 40 pounds of gear on my bike, so it makes for a dangerous flat. Luckily I was going up hill slowly. I had to unload everything off of Hank and get the tire fixed. I got it all off but couldn't for the life of me find what caused the flat. That can be a problem. Without knowing what caused the flat I could repair it only to get another flat down the road. Luckily I didn't. About 10 miles down the road after fixing it I was thinking how nice it would be to come across a bike shop. Well, as luck would have it I stumbled across the Silverdale REI! I couldn't believe my eyes. I pulled right in there and rolled Hank right into the bike shop in REI. I met some really cool people and learned a lot about tubes, tires, and bike maintenance. I told them all about my ride and I did a little shopping too. It turned out to be a great day after all! Since I changed my route I ended up getting a hotel tonight. Today really drained me. I was on my bike, repairing, or in REI for over 9 hours today. The last thing I wanted to do was set up camp and cook dinner. One of the reasons I pushed myself for an extra 20 miles today is because I am trying to beat a crazy heat wave that is coming. I have it all figured out now. I will update everyone tomorrow. I need rest!

Long day, but fun!

Hood Canal Bridge. It was a fun and beautiful ride. 

Hank with a flat tire. 

Hank in REI 

Canada to Mexico day 2

Hello friends! I am laying in my tent relaxing right now after a 53 mile ride today. It was a beautiful day! Part of my ride was a short ferry ride. That was really pretty out on the water. It was pretty hot today and I got a little bit of a sunburn, but not too bad. I kind of made a mistake in the campground this evening. I set up my tent in the wrong spot and a guy came in with his RV and wanted to park in the spot that he reserved and wondered why I was there. It was an honest mistake. The map that I was given of the campground doesn't show the Hiker Biker campsite. So I ended up having to take my Camp down and move it to the Hiker Biker campsite. No big deal really. The guy and his wife were really nice. I talked to the park ranger and he is going to try to get the maps changed so that that doesn't happen again. Below is a picture of my ride today. 

Here are a few pictures I took along the way today. 

More to come tomorrow!

Canada to Mexico Day 1

 Hello students,

I have to tell you about my incredible day! Today was the first day of riding for this summer’s big trip. I started at the Canadian border and rode 48 miles today. I am typing this right now in my tent. It was a beautiful day for riding. It was in the upper 70s and sunny. I actually got a little bit of a sunburn. I need to be better about putting on sunscreen. Below is a picture of the Peace Arch at the border. It is so pretty! That is where I started my ride this morning.

Here’s a cool story from today. I was riding along and looked down to see a cell phone on the ground. I stopped and picked it up thinking I could find the owner somehow and give it back to them. As I was riding along it started ringing! I stopped and answered it. It was the owner of the phone calling from a different phone. She was so thankful that I picked it up and was honest. Always be honest kids! It pays off! Anyway, I met her down the road and she gave me $20 for finding her phone! That was cool! She also said she would get on my charity GoFundMe page and donate. So that was really cool! Below is my day 1 map with mileage and everything. It was a good start for sure! I only have about 1,700 more miles to go! HAHA!

Hank the Tank is helping me dry some clothes

Time for rest. More to come tomorrow!

I'm leaving town for the summer!

 Good morning 3rd graders (4th graders now)!

Today I leave town to head toward the Canadian border to start my ride. To say I am not at least a little nervous would be a lie. I think a little bit of nervousness before starting a 50 day journey like this is normal. Sometimes being nervous about things that are outside of our comfort zone is OK. You just have to accept that this is normal and it will be OK. 

As I sit here typing this I am still not completely loaded up and ready to hit the road. I have to get my food for the first week packed up and put into the panniers. In case you forgot, panniers is another name for the bags that hang on my bike (Hank the Tank) and allow me to carry everything I need to eat, sleep, cook, ride, basically everything.

Now that I am actually starting this journey to the Canadian border and then riding all the way to the Mexican border I will start posting on here daily. There might be days when I don't have WiFi or no cell service to upload the blog, but for the most part this is the start of daily updates for you.

I hope you all have a great summer and you enjoy following me as I prove to you that you can do anything you set your heart and mind to doing. 

I will miss you all this summer,

Mr. Duggins

Documentary teaser trailer!!

 With only 10 days to go before I leave on my big summer trip I have a teaser trailer to share with you! Third graders if you don't know what a trailer is, it is like the short clip you see for a movie commercial. This short clip is to promote my documentary that will be coming out of the 4th of July. That's right! Independence Day, fireworks, BBQs, hot summer fun, and Mr. Duggins riding his bike for charity! What could be better, right? HAHA! 

Enjoy this trailer!

Click here to watch the trailer

Only 2 weeks until my next big trip!

Hello friends, family, and students!

For those of you haven't been following me on Facebook, Tiktok, and Instagram I am here to tell you that in two weeks I am starting a bigger trip than the one I did five years ago. This time I am cycling from the Canadian Border all the way down the coast to the Mexican Border! Over 1,700 miles! I am raising money for suicide prevention. My goal is $30,000 and I have already raised over $6,000. Preparing, planning, and training has already been a really great experience and I can't wait to get the journey started. 

One of the things I have been doing this time that I didn't do five years ago is training. Those of you who know my story from back then is that I didn't do any training last time and I paid for it with two weeks of serious soreness. This time I have been training A LOT. Below are some of my rides lately.

Training has been fun! Also, since I have done a long bike tour in the past, I was able to change some things that just didn't work well for me last time. Remember when I got back last time and ended up with tendon damage in my left foot so bad I had to wear a stabilizing boot for nearly 3 months? Yeah that was no fun! Well I figured our that it was due to the cycling shoes I was using. I didn't realize before that cycling shoes are only meant to be used for a few hours at a time. I was using them all day everyday for 35 days! That caused some problems. This time I am using "flat pedals" and regular shoes. The flat pedals I am using are meant for mountain bikes, but have been working great while training and I love them! 

I also covered "Hank the Tank" in stickers! He looks so cool!

There are many new things I have purchased to make this next tour as comfortable and fun as possible. I even bought a GoPro and have been shooting some really fun videos. I will shoot more along the way and share them on here.

Below are a couple links to help you find my Facebook page and my charity GoFundMe page if you are interested. It is going to be a great summer! I hope you enjoy following me on my adventure!

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.duggins.37

Charity GoFundMe:

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/cycling-for-suicide-prevention/jeremy-duggins

Several great rides lately, but this one was the longest.

Hank the Tank and I went for a 28 mile ride yesterday! It was so beautiful! There was a quite chilly headwind on the way back, but it was still really great. I have been doing a lot already to plan for this summer's ride. Check me out on Facebook if you can. There are more updates on there and the big announcement that I will be riding to raise money for charity this summer. Super excited about that!

Facebook page click here

To donate to my charity click here

 

What a great day for a ride!

 After school today Hank and I went for a nice ride. You can see the stats below. I did have to stop once and drink some water and stretch because I felt like I might  start cramping in my calves. After that I was fine. I really feel like I could ride much longer days already. I think walking and running all winter really helped keep my legs in shape. Also, on the ride today I had some shifting issues. I need to adjust the gears again and get it all dialed in. I am looking forward to some good weather the rest of the week so I can ride more. 

What a nice ride today! Got a new friend for Hank too!

 

Hank and I went on a nice ride today. Nearly 22 miles and 1,200 feet of elevation. I am very happy with the ride. It was beautiful out today. 22 miles in 2 hours isn't bad considering the hills we climbed. The way I look at this ride is if I can go twice as far for twice as long for roughly 42 days in a row over the summer that would be a great tour! 

I also picked up a new friend for Hank off of Craigslist. Meet Ruby! She is a 2004 Cannondale R600 and she is sweet! Well she is old and needs a lot of work, but she will be sweet once I get a few things replaced, lubed, and adjusted. At first I thought Hank would be jealous, but I think he is going to like Ruby. I mainly got Ruby for riding to and from the school and for training, so I am not wearing Hank out. Hank and I get LOTS of time together on tour, so a few hundred miles each month on Ruby shouldn't be a problem for Hank. One thing about Hank is that he is very heavy. Touring bikes are made of steel and designed to haul heavy loads of gear for weeks, or even months, of touring. Ruby is less than half the weight of Hank and is designed to go fast. Her frame is made of aluminum with a carbon fiber fork, so she is super light. She needs new tires, cables, chain, brake pads, wheels trued (straightened), and a few other things here and there. I will likely spend spring break getting her road ready. I love a project like this. 

More to come soon!

Decisions have been made!

 Hank the Tank and I went on a couple short rides in the past couples days. We had some good talks and have made the decision to go for a nice long summer tour this summer. We are still working out the finer details, but for the most part the plan will be to start at the Canadian Border and head South. We have worked out a route on the map that we think would be beautiful and fun. The route planned goes all the way from the Canadian border South to the Mexican Border, but we aren't sure if we will ride that whole thing. After all we rode 1,372 miles of it five years ago. One thing that has always been on my mind since that ride five years ago was that I wish we would have started at the Canadian border. By starting in Battle Ground we cut off roughly 400 miles. So why not do it again, but add in the missing 400 miles? Five years ago the only riding we did was on the very first day when we left Battle Ground and crossed the Columbia River into Oregon. Then we were in Oregon for two weeks, and then California for three weeks. Adding Washington would only add 400 miles and one more week. That ride was one of those times in my life when I felt the best mentally and physically that I had ever felt, so if I enjoyed it that much why not do it again, but for longer? I don't know why not either. 

There are a couple of unknown factors, well actually that are an infinite number of unknown factors in a bike ride that long, but there are a few important things to keep in mind. One is that the Highway 1 just South of Big Sur California has a fairly significant area of washout from a recent storm. The last I checked the expected date of reopening the highway isn't until the fall. So with that in mind what I will plan to do is ride at least to San Francisco. That will be roughly mid-July. By the time I get there I will have a better idea if riding past Big Sur is possible. If it isn't possible Hank and I could hang out in San Francisco for a few days and then rent a van and go do a ride I have always wanted to do, the road around Lake Tahoe! That would be gorgeous! So that's an option. Let's not forget that we are still in a pandemic, so as of right now most campgrounds are either still closed or only partially open. I suspect that as we get closer to summer they will be reopening. If they don't fully reopen I will have to use private camping arrangements. No biggie. 

So we'll see how things shape up as the next couple months go. As for now Hank and I will be getting ready for a long summer of riding. Five years ago I didn't do any training. I just got on my bike and headed south for 35 days. My tour was my training. Those early days were filled with lots of pain and soreness. So this time I will be riding more to be a little more physically prepared. I rode a couple times this week, but both rides were very short, 10 miles today and 8.5 miles Tuesday. I would like to step that up over the next couple months and get to the 40-50 mile per ride range. My average five years ago was 42 miles per day with some longer days toward the end of around 70 miles. I'm not in a big hurry this summer, but it would be nice to be able to break a personal record and ride over 70  miles in a day once or twice. We will play it by ear and see.

I have already been tuning Hank up and getting him ready. I got a new saddle (seat). I also finally got a bike repair stand so I can properly work on Hank without breaking my back. I love it! I have already made a list of some things I need to get for Hank and for me to make this ride more comfortable. I already have pretty much everything from the last ride, but some things need to be changed. I am excited to be able to use most of my ultralight hiking gear on this ride. That will cut down my rolling weight significantly. Last time, including me, my gear, food, water, Hank, and everything else I needed my rolling weight was right around 320 pounds. That's a lot of weight to pedal up hills! Although I did lose 20 pounds myself by the end of the ride and mailed back at least 15 pounds of cold weather gear that wasn't needed in Southern California. This time I expect to start well under 300 pounds. That will help a lot. 

Below is Hank on his new repair stand. He loves it and so do I! You can see I got the rear pannier rack back on him. I will get the front rack on eventually, but I don't need it on for now. I am planning to start riding to school each day and the front rack would just be added weight I don't need. I have been looking into getting a new bike for training and commuting, but bikes aren't cheap! It sure would make training and commuting easier. I wonder if Hank would be jealous though. I might have to talk with him about that. He likes his new stand so much that maybe he would like to be on it longer while I ride a different bike. I don't know. Seems weird to think about riding a different bike after Hank and I have made such a strong bond. We'll see. 

I took four maps and made it into one huge West Coast map for my classroom, so my third graders could see my route. It turned out really cool and I have gotten lots of questions from students and teachers about it. As I plan I will add things to it like day/mileage markers and campgrounds and things. If you look closely you can see the red line going down the coast. That would be my route.

More to come soon!

Hank the Tank is getting ready!

Hank the Tank got super excited today when I put his fenders back on, adjusted his brakes and gears, and told him I will be putting the pannier racks back on very soon! Hs said "hey what are you doing that for? Huh? Tell me! Usually all this only goes on when we are preparing for some miles." You'll see Hank, you'll see. LoL We will talk more about this soon buddy!

Hello!

Shelly wanted to say hello. She really misses all the third graders. She is very happy summer school start tomorrow and she wishes you would all stop by and say hello.

Astoria!

I drove out to Astoria today. It's cloudy and cool. I'm really enjoying it! I'm not a big fan of the hot weather we've had this summer. Right now here in Astoria it's 59 degrees! I wore jeans and a jacket for the first time in a very long time! Summer school start Monday and I'm super excited! I have some really fun stuff planned! Miss you all third graders!!!!!

Thanks!

Thanks to Brody's family for going on vacation and letting me eat their eggs and berries!  By the way Brody needs help stacking firewood. Give him a call!  ;)

New paint and stuff!

Hello third graders! I painted a wall and covered up the pinkish cabinets. I think it looks awesome. What do you all think? The only thing I'm missing are a bunch of kids! I should have held you all back to repeat the 3rd grade with me! ;)