Emotional moments, moving forward, leaving a job

Something about transitions has always gotten to me. Changing jobs, changing location, change in relationships or friendships, change in general. I'm the kind of guy who hates to lose and hates to give up, even the perception or thought of giving up drives me up the wall. Usually what this means is I am simply tenacious, to a fault, about things I'm passionate about. Often times a good thing right? Well....... it's complicated and has gotten me into trouble far more than once. Not saying that I necessarily fear change, more or less than anyone else that is, but it doesn't come easy.

This tendency can cause relationship issues, undue amounts of work stress, and general stress around just about everything else, maddening frustration, and so on. I think this runs in the family. Some kind of quiet mid-western protestant work ethic ingrained in children from a young age. Grow up, get a job, have a family, never give up, keep your head down and nose to the grindstone kinda thing. Well bull shit. I love my father to death but the guy needs to do more fun things and work less. YOU HEAR THAT DAD!!!! GO HAVE FUN!!!!

I have been in a constant battle between wanderlust and obligation for as long as I can remember, also a trait I share with my father.

....Have you ever been drinking coffee in your robe listening to NPR in the morning and had the sudden realization that you have become your parent? It's a bizarre thing, but anyway... (all you grammar snobs I know I am misusing the ellipses so just leave it)

That put your head down, work hard, and get ahead vs. get out there live hard, get dirty, and have adventures internal struggle that so many have, but very few actually acknowledge. Luckily I have a family that embraces independence and I was the middle child so I skated under the radar most of the time anyway. Maybe this made the battle a little more existential than it needed to be, who knows.

Living in a place like Bishop it's easy to get lost in all this, it's easy to get lost in the thought that everyone around you is a bad ass out there doin' it and you are just wasting away at your desk. It is also easy to look up at the mountains and get lulled into a false sense of security knowing that those hills ain't going anywhere so there is no rush. Fuck that noise man! Get out there and do things!!!! I have failed utterly to heed my own advice, but that hasn't stopped me from noticing the issue at least.

Moving on.........

Cleaning out your desk after almost 7 years of work and accumulated responsibilities is an interesting, messy, and cathartic experience. On one hand it's relieving. You are moving on, clearing out the clutter of years. On the other it's intensely emotional. I can only imagine the feeling of being laid off after 20 some-odd years. Sounds horrible. Anyway here I am in my last days working for an organization that has been my professional home for more or less my entire post college adult life. There have been a lot of tears, and a lot of other things complicating this transition, but it is finally done. Tomorrow I will pickup my last paycheck and be out of there. I am going to miss it. Not the daily grind so much, but the valuable programs and the ability to change lives and make the Eastern Sierra a better place. Connecting people with place and making a real and lasting difference in someone's life or at/for a place you love is a pretty special experience.

However, that being said, if you have ever worked for a small non-profit you know what burnout means. The burnout culture that runs rampant in small passion driven organizations caught up with me in a big way this year. You can only be a martyr for the cause for so long. Passion can only take you so far and eventually the ends don't justify the means. All that just compounded already complicated issues in other areas of my life so naturally it's time to say fuck it, throw caution to the wind, spend all my money, and dive into the deep end. It only took 7 months of existential crisis preceded by years of that obligation vs. wanderlust thing to get there but hell everyone walks their own path I suppose. So now
I have a clean office...

and I am going to ride this across central Asia...

Because why not!

The rig, the mission, and an ass-hatchet

It's all real now I suppose. My passport is back complete with Chinese and Indian Visas, I have a bike, and all the gear is actually showing up. Up until the Visas came back the gravity of all this really hadn't set in. I am still in a state of semi-disbelief that this is happening at all! but I'm too invested to turn back at this point.

Acquiring the Visas was much easier than I thought it would be. I used a third party Visa and passport company to relieve me of the hassle of traveling to San Fransisco and driving everything around myself. Living in Bishop the thought of multiple 7+ hour trips (one way, on a good day, with light traffic) wasn't very appealing. That being said it is pricey, $500ish all told with consulate fees and third party handling and shipping. Travisa, the company I used, however worked quickly and was very responsive. I had my passport back within 2 weeks Visas in hand and ready to go. The rest of the Visas we will be acquiring overland on arrival.

Now on to the biggest missing piece of the puzzle. The bike!

I did mention that I have never done anything like this before right? I am coming at this from a down-hill mountain biking history and a short one at that. I only started, sort of seriously, riding bikes about 4 years ago. A pretty serious hand injury forced me to take time away from my usual diversion, that being rock climbing, and focus on something new. After a rather tumultuous start mountain biking was just the thing. Especially the fast paced high impact down-hill variety. In many was it feels just like snowboarding/skiing in the summertime. Moving fast, down hill, instant responsiveness, and flow like concentration required, plus you have the added bonus of peddles and brakes making greater speed and response possible. It's pretty great. I enjoy activities that force you into the "zone", you know that place that forces instant decisions and instinct, you can't think there isn't enough time for that. Thinking equals hesitation, hesitation equals falling, and falling equals pain. Anyone who knows me knows that I can get into some pretty timid and apprehensive head spaces, particularly when it comes to risk, but once I push through that it's on like Donkey Kong. Once you commit to a dangerous or even potentially dangerous line you are either in, getting lucky, or getting hurt. I think that is why I have such a love/hate relationship with climbing, too much time to think, but pushing through is an amazing feeling.

Anyway, I digress.

All that being said, I have grown to love the bicycle, and I have the scars, the concussion history, and the close calls to prove it. But this is a different animal all together. An endurance challenge in a totally new culture and place. English will be rare, there won't be a burger and a beer for thousands of miles, and who the fuck knows what else. But I think I'm up for it. After all I had never backpacked for more than a week, or in actual mountains, and I did the PCT! If I can walk 2,650+ miles off the couch I sure as hell can bike 2,500+ right?! Sure why the hell not!

And this is my trusty steed!

The Surly Troll! It has more of a mountain bike geometry than other touring bikes, can accommodate larger tires, and can be outfitted with disk brakes and suspension if you want. I am going full rigid so I don't have to deal with potential blow-outs in central Asia. Obviously there are no racks on there yet but those will soon be mounted and loaded, and the color is pretty rad too. More detailed specs to come in a later post.....

For comparison this is what I am used to riding.

Excuse the size and angle difference but you get the idea. Totally different machine. This is going to be quite the learning experience. But I am used to pushing around a high geared 40lb monster with suspension so hopefully a loaded touring bike won't be totally foreign weight wise anyway. 

So I bet you are still wondering about the "ass-hatchet"? You know you are so don't even pretend otherwise!

Well that was a term I stumbled upon while trying to find tricks to expedite the break-in time for my new Brooks saddle. The leather thing with springs where the seat should be in the Troll picture. Although I didn't find it to be as painful as I had anticipated, after my first 45 miles on it, MY FUCKING ASS IS SORE!!!!!! I best get used to that I suppose but damn. So I am trying all sorts of tips and tricks but basically I will need to get 200+ miles on this thing in the next week and a half. I'll keep you posted about how all that goes! Trick one today is soaking in warm water, a long ride, and some leather conditioner at the end.

I hope you all keep following as I figure this blog thing out. Stay tuned!

Welcome!

Welcome! 

If you are here you are either horribly lost..... or you have come to follow my adventure!

If you are lost, F*** IT! Why not stick around for a bit and see what's up?

If you are here because you are interested in my whereabouts and whatnot come on it!

My name is Andrew Schurr. I am a 30 year old guy living in Bishop, CA. I have decided to embark on a bicycle tour from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan with my good friend and intergalactic time travel companion Kyle. This is a distance of roughly 2,500+ miles over totally unknown, for me, territory and a whole new cultural landscape. 

This adventure is terrifying, exhilarating, exciting and every other adjective one could possible devise all at once. It ain't going to easy, it's certainly out there, and it will be the trip of a life time. Did I mention that I have never cycle toured before? That might be a factor, but whatever. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, to borrow from Hunter S. Thompson. 

So join me as I dive in, read my esoteric ramblings on life, learn a little about me, and follow what is certainly going to be one hell of a time!