We had planned an action-packed but hopefully also relaxing month in California before our next ‘big adventure’ (more on that later!). This time ‘at home’ revolved around our annual ‘bike training camp’ in Paso Robles with the old MDR gang (many members of our friend-family, some for over 30 years!!), Janine’s commitment to do the 125 mile route at the Wild West Gravel Grinder in Red Bluff on May 7, Janine’s desire to get back to Chico and pick up her new gravel bike that finally arrived at North Rim Adventure Sports and our shared desire to spend some time at our cabin and complete a few projects that would move us forward toward making our Shasta cabin feel like ‘home’. More and more, we had been coming to the huge realization that, if ‘comfort’ is the definition of home, then the cabin WAS now home, even if Chico stayed our ‘home base’. Home base could be where we kept most of our stuff, and where our mail was delivered… but HOME is where we relax, where we yearn for, where we are most ‘ourselves’. So that might have been the biggest magnet drawing us back.

So here’s the recap. Let’s start with the low point… Janine’s new bike. This was to be her FIRST gravel bike, after 5+ years doing ‘gravel’ rides and races on a mountain bike. Every ride a bit of a struggle, especially the longer the distance, even if the mountain bike is an exceptionally good one. So there were a lot of expectations. With COVID supply chain delays, to make a long story short, in the end, the bike she got was not the bike she wanted. It weighed a full 4 pounds more than her mountain bike, and yet didn’t have its very low gears for hill-climbing. So riding it, from the start, was a disappointment. Still, it did have one outstanding feature in that it was available immediately, which in April 2022 was significant! So she decided to take the bike and immediately dive into more research to determine the bike she REALLY wanted and get it ordered.
Mike built the bike (officially to be known as “The Checkpoint SL6”, unofficially ‘the tank’) for Janine on the day after we arrived in Chico. The day after that, we foisted the cats off on Loran and Jeff Millard (THANKS, YOU TWO!!) and headed down to southern CA for our annual Paso Bike Adventure Camp hosted almost single-handedly with style and grace, by Weston Press. We went down a little early and spent a couple days bunking in with Jeff Tse in SLO, and then transferred to the lovely Adelaide Inn in Paso for the Sunday through Wednesday bike-fest. We did some rides together, and some separate (Wes offers multiple route options each day, including, this year, a few gravel options!). We both struggled a bit, mentally and physically on the rides. Janine with adjusting to the new bike (on a fast track as the Wild West Gravel Grinder was now less than 3 weeks out, and Mike with not being as prepared as he thought he should be… and the anxiety related to that lack of fitness and perhaps motivation. But, the rides were fantastic, the weather was great and the social time was SO good! With about 50 people attending there were many new and old connections to cultivate. All in all, a wonderful and memorable mini-trip, We left with enthusiasm for the next-year camp! Kudos, Wes!!!

We made our way back to Chico without issue and reunited with the cats. We spent a couple days in Chico, enjoying mild weather and group rides while stocking up on supplies and organizing our stuff for our planned stay of roughly a month at our cabin. We got to the cabin on Monday, Apr 25 and found all was well, though it was a bit colder than we might have hoped. In the first week, we enjoyed a few good rides including a weekend ride with Loran and got a few chores done on some (cold) rain days.

In addition to the Wild West ride on May 7, we had a list of other things to do in Chico, and after some time and debate we decided to ‘gang them up’ and return to Chico for the week from May 1 to May 7. So, just a short 7 days after we arrived at the cabin, we found ourselves heading back to Chico! In that time we took part in a ‘girls group gravel ride’ inspired by Karen Embry, a trip to Corning Ford for the truck, some routine medical appointments for both of us, and wrapped up the week with the Wild West Gravel Grinder on Sat May 7.
The week went by uneventfully and soon it was “race day” (or perhaps “ride day” is more appropriate!? In the end, Mike decided to do the 60 mile WW route on his old gravel bike, and Janine approached the 125 mile route with some trepidation on her new tank (oh, Checkpoint…!). She had done the entire 125 on her beloved Procaliber (hard-tail MTB) the previous year, if VERY SLOWLY, and mostly with ride buddy Loran Millard. That was a truly epic day on the bike, facilitated by 1) extreme levels of motivation, 2) extreme levels of emotional release (just coming to the end of her stint as primary caregiver for her dad) and 3) the good fortune of the Procalibur having both extremely low gears and extremely light weight. This time, she faced the concern of a bike 4 lbs heavier, with significantly higher lowest gearing. Loran was back on the bike, doing only the 30 mile after her extended COVID ordeal, but it was so great to have her there.
Mike pushed his limits on the 60 mile but had a good ride overall.

Janine knew she was ‘in trouble’ even before the first significant hill on the 125 mile route, her legs were just not enthusiastic. She was able to make it over the first big climb and to the 125/100 mile turn-off without having to walk (!), but even that was touch and go. It seemed that perhaps she hadn’t recovered fully from the previous few weeks of training (rookie move…) and was more than a bit over-trained. That combined with a not-yet totally familiar bike (and possibly lacking the huge motivation of the prior year) led to either “a mental breakdown” or “a rare dose of good sense” when she opted to turn back towards home rather than continue on the 125 miler. She felt so fatigued that she couldn’t even muster the enthusiasm to take on the 20 mile ‘out and back’ extension on the 100 mile course, and skipping that, ended up with an 80 mile day that felt MUCH more taxing than the 125 had, the prior year. A good lesson: “On any given day…” you just never know how you will feel or what the fates may have in store for you. In any case, she wasn’t OVERLY disappointed but her desire to get moving on finding her ‘perfect’ gravel bike was fueled, to say the least!
Post-event, we were both thrilled to get back to our Shasta cabin, where the weather had finally turned warmer. No more need for morning fires in the fireplace, and we could get to our favorite ‘higher elevation’ bike routes. The snow was magically gone except for the occasional patch discovered on a few higher-elevation shady spots on the many fire roads. Spring was definitely here! We set-to on our list of projects, and Janine got serious about pursuing some recovery as she was feeling that bone-deep exhaustion of overtraining.

It was quickly time to head back to Chico for a day or two to prep for our next big adventure. While at the cabin, we got quite a bit done. We drove to Medford and picked up the new solar batteries we had purchased (their availability a small miracle in COVID times) while on the road somewhere in Texas. We got them installed and functioning, including a system overhaul from local solar experts Mathew and Luke at M & L Solar. We started, and completed, two significant cabin interior projects. Mike tackled the tongue and groove wall at the back of the loft, finishing this wall with what was basically scrap material left over from our ceiling installation, and Janine dove into her second tiling project of placing (purchased) “river rock” behind the wood-burning stove in the living room. These two projects represent the first time we had tried to each do a separate project at the same time (which went OK). And, we had only a few remaining tasks before we could pursue the coveted ‘final permit sign-off’ with the county. We were getting there!
It was with a good feeling overall that we ‘buttoned up’ the cabin for a few months. It was a bit hard to want to leave as we were just getting comfortable with our routine in the cabin, enjoying the benefits of our latest improvements and settling in, and the weather was lovely. OTOH, we were excited for our next adventure, anticipating 3 major stops on yet another transcontinental crossing, a trip to bike in Europe, and hopefully picking up our NEW Lance trailer in Houston while returning back to CA from the east coast. So much adventure ahead!