Testing, Testing, 1-2-3

This weekend we slept in our tent on both Friday and Saturday nights.

I'm so glad we tested it out!

First of all, I LOVE our tent (thanks, Beckles!). It rained for about 24 hours straight on Saturday, and the tent stayed pretty dry. It packs down tiny and light. It has a little net at the top for storing things. It's easy to set up. It's the perfect size for us. I feel really good about it!

But both nights were tough, sleeping-wise. I think we may have tried to go to sleep too early. For optimal tent sleep, you should be really exhausted, I think (which we will be, on the trip).

The first night, we were on brand new sleeping pads that Dean had bought that day. I had a miserable night. The sleeping pad just felt tiny and I kept rolling off it. I gave up and went into the house to sleep around 3:00 a.m. Also, the world in general just seemed really loud. Cars passing, animals making weird sounds, the wind... It was loud. I think the noise part will just take some getting used to.

For the sleeping pad, though, that was totally out. So we went to REI on Saturday and exchanged them for a queen size air mattress. MUCH better. It takes up most of the tent, but there is just so much more space to sleep/roll around on. And it can be folded into a little carrier bag that I think we can easily strap to one of the bikes. Yes!

But on Saturday night, I made the terrible mistake of not zipping myself into my bag very well, and I woke up freezing in the middle of the night. I zipped in and got a bit more sleep, but was up again at 5 a.m. and that was that. I moved around so much that I woke Dean up, too, and neither of us could get back to sleep. We went inside and slept in for a few more hours in our bed after that.

The cat was very confused about what we were up to this weekend. She did NOT like the tent.

But I think with some minor tweaks, it will be great and really comfortable. We'll make sure to bring some cold weather clothing, just in case, and we'll definitely be tired when it's bedtime. I might pack a little Tylenol PM just so nothing's left to chance.

On Sunday, we did another 40 mile training ride. In a lot of ways, it was better than last week's. We had just finished the Park Tool School at Revolution Cycles and our bikes were in tip top condition, plus I think we feel a lot more confident about handling any problems that might arise on the road. Shifting gears was WAY easier for me this time, and my bike didn't squeak like 1,000 tiny tweeting birds. I feel like we went faster. I feel like the exhaustion level was pretty comparable, but this time we knew that eating a big lunch would give us a second wind. It went well!

On the downside, I was trying out a new saddle and a new pair of bike pants. When I got home, my butt was probably about as sore as last time ... maybe a little more, but I had the beginnings of saddle sores. Since I was trying two new things, I don't know if it was the saddle, the pants, the fact that I used vaseline instead of a chamois cream, or what. It's a little worrying. I guess we'll try, try again and see if I can figure a way to keep that from happening. Plus, I'm buying chamois cream stat.

Anyway, that's about it. I have a ton to do over the next 25 days of prep before we go. Eek!