An Epic India Bike Trip

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It's time for host Tom Butler to give the first look at how he is progressing toward his 2025 goals.  There is good news to report so far.  Tom also give some details on a family trip to experience the Olympic Discover Trail for the first time.  It is a trip he would like to see everyone do. 

Tom's guest this week is a podcast listener with a fantastic cycling story.  After only getting into cycling a few years ago, she took on a challenging month long bike trip in India.  Listen in and get a lot of information on that experience from an inspirational cyclist. 

Links

Erin's Trip Blog: erinely.blogspot.com

The Tour Company Erin Used: tdaglobalcycling.com

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Episode Transcript

Tom Butler (00:04):
This is the Cycling Over 60 podcast, season 3,
episode 23,.
An epic India bike trip, andI'm your host, tom Butler.
Let me first start with a replyto a question that was texted

(00:26):
by a listener in Jacksonville,illinois.
As a reminder, you can find alink at the top of the episode
description that lets you easilysend me a text.
The question was why aren'trecumbents considered more as a
serious option to have acomfortable bike fit?
The question is a good one asfar as I'm concerned, and I
think it just boils down to whatwe think of when we think about
what a bicycle is.

(00:47):
The interview that I did withJim and Maria Parker on the
February 16, 2024 episodetouched on this a little.
Jim pointed out that the UCIrejected the recumbent design as
an option for professionalcycling competition almost a
century ago.
If you search UCI 1930recumbent, you will find

(01:07):
information on the vote.
I imagine that if the vote hadgone differently, recumbents
would be more widely embracedtoday.
Personally, I like riding mytraditional bike, but I think
the reasons we chose to get mywife Kelly a recumbent are very
sound.
It has made a world ofdifference for her being able to
ride comfortably.
That being said, I would not besurprised if I ended up riding

(01:29):
a recumbent at some point downthe line.
I do think there's a lot moreto think about when it comes to
recumbents, as far as how ourbiases might get in the way of
embracing what is comfortablesometimes.
We're basically three monthsinto 2025, so I thought I would
report on my progress so far.
I'm well ahead of where I needto be to make my 2025 elevation

(01:51):
goal at this point.
That is mostly because of Zwiftriding.
At the six-month mark, I willevaluate this goal and maybe
bump it up.
I would like to find a way tosort rides on Strava and look at
virtual rides separately, butI'm still working on that.
For the goal of doing anaverage of 10 miles a day, I'm
13 miles behind on the progressfor that goal.

(02:12):
At one point I was somewherearound 75 miles behind the goal,
so 13 seems very manageable andI don't see any reason that
would cause me to modify mydistance goal in the future.
The final goal is upper bodyfitness.
I currently have done 11consecutive weeks of two
workouts each week.
I'm still struggling with itand several times I've put in a

(02:34):
workout on Saturday night justto make sure that I get it in
for the week.
All in all, I'm pretty happywith my progress so far in that
realm.
I thought I would talk about afamily trip that we have coming
up because I like it so much andI think other people should do
it.
As I have talked about severaltimes on the podcast, I see the
Olympic Discovery Trail as aone-of-a-kind bike resource, so

(02:56):
we have planned for our firstOlympic Discovery Trail trip.
We're going to be staying in ayurt at Soul Duck Rainforest
Retreat.
It's just beside the trail,about 20 miles from Port Angeles
.
I found the yurt by searchingon Airbnb for Lake Crescent.
I was specifically looking forsomething as close to the trail
as possible.
We're going in April and Ithink we'll enjoy the fact that

(03:20):
the yurt is heated.
We'll be close to Lake Crescent, but we won't be able to see
the lake until we ride the trail.
If you're somebody who likes tocamp, there is a campground
called Fair Home Camp that ispart of the Olympic National
Park.
You can find it onrecreationgov.
Fair Home is right on LakeCrescent.
The summer season starts May23rd and I'm positive that Fair

(03:42):
Home gets booked fast.
So if you're interested, youshould do some planning and book
something just as soon as youcan.
We will ride 10 miles besideLake Crescent on the trail and
then turn around and head backto the yurt.
You can extend the ride further.
Port Angeles would be 34 milesfrom where we are staying,
taking the Olympic DiscoveryTrail the whole way.
Some of the route between LakeCrescent and Port Angeles is

(04:05):
unpaved.
When we're out there I'm goingto try to get a look at it just
to see how rough the unpavedsegments are.
I'm hoping it's going to be asunny day, which means that
we'll take it slow and stopalong the way so we can enjoy
the lake, or it might be reallycool and we won't want to be out
riding too long, but either way, I think 20 miles is going to

(04:25):
be the right amount for thistrip.
One final bit of news I did myfirst critical mass ride this
week.
I found it to be awesome and Ilook forward to doing it again.
I was a little disappointedthat there weren't more people
there.
I think there were about 50riders and one dog in a trailer.
That is good, but I think inorder to really be noticed, we
would need at least twice thatmany people, and I certainly

(04:48):
think we could do that many inSeattle.
The weather wasn't ideal andit's a real possibility in the
summer I could see a biggerturnout.
I really enjoyed the riding wedid and how well the whole thing
was organized, but I do thinkin today's environment we need
to make as big of a statement aswe can that a lot of people out

(05:08):
here use the bicycle as a formof transportation on our roads.
I always find it excitingwhenever I meet people who have
embraced cycling later in life.
There are so many people outthere showing what is possible

(05:28):
when you get on a bike and startpushing yourself.
My guest this week is a perfectexample of this.
I asked Erin Eli to come on thepodcast and share her cycling
journey and information about arecent epic trip she did.
Here is our conversation.
A few months ago, I read thatErin Eli was going to do a big
cycling trip in India.
As soon as I saw that, I wantedto have Erin on after the trip

(05:52):
and have her share her adventure.
So thank you so much, erin, forcoming on the podcast.

Erin Ely (05:58):
Oh yeah, Thanks for having me.
I mean, I've been listening toyour podcast for a long time, so
it's kind of exciting to behere.

Tom Butler (06:08):
Well, not as exciting as to have you here.

Erin Ely (06:14):
Before we get into the trip, tell me what is your
earliest memory of the bicycle.
Well, I was thinking about thatand I was like I know I rode a
bicycle when I was a kid, but Idon't really remember riding it
very much.
I wasn't a very bicycle person.
I guess I walked everywhere, Ithink.
So I don't really know when Irode a bike.
I know I did, though.

Tom Butler (06:35):
Now you're in Oregon currently.

Erin Ely (06:38):
Yeah, I live in Eugene .

Tom Butler (06:40):
And is that where you grew up also?

Erin Ely (06:43):
No, I grew up in Albuquerque, albuquerque, new
Mexico.
That that where you grew upalso.
No, I grew up in albuquerque,albuquerque, new mexico.
That's where I grew up but,yeah, my, I didn't.
I don't remember riding a bikemuch when I was a kid well, so
at some point you took it up,did you?

Tom Butler (06:57):
was that later on in life, or what happened?

Erin Ely (06:59):
yeah, like this, may will be three years of me riding
.
I started when I was 66 yearsold.
I'm 69 now.

Tom Butler (07:08):
What was the thing that got you going?
Do you?
Was there a specific thing?

Erin Ely (07:13):
Yeah, I mean I I thought about writing, but it
was the where I live.
I live at the top of this hugehill and so I just never I've
been living in this house forover 20 years and I just never
thought about riding herebecause the hill, the hill was
an impediment for me.
And then, I don't know, one dayI was like I'm gonna go get a

(07:34):
e-bike and I literally Iliterally just went.
This was during COVID.
So what?
Three years ago, that wasduring COVID, and I just thought
I'm going to go get a bike andstart riding because I like it'd
be nice to start moving, youknow.
And so I went like I rememberit was February 14th I went down
to the e-bike store and Ibought this e-bike.

(07:57):
That was probably way too bigfor me and they probably
shouldn't have sold it to me,but you know, there was a lot of
demand for bikes and not a verybig supply during COVID.
So I I got that bike and I juststarted kind of riding it back
and forth to work.
It wasn't like I was ridingthat much.
And then I got online andlooked up if there was any

(08:20):
riding groups here in town and Ifound a riding group.
There's more than one, but Ifound the kind of the main, the
main riding group here.
So I I went to one of theirrides on my what I would call my
monster e-bike and of coursethey're all like kitted out
riding road bikes and I'm like,oh wow, I feel like really out

(08:40):
of place here.
How did that?

Tom Butler (08:44):
go?
Did they?
Did they kind of welcome you?
Did you feel welcomed or didyou feel out of place the whole
ride?

Erin Ely (08:50):
No, they were totally cool about it.
They're like hey, yeah, allbikes are welcome, well, but you
can ride pedal assist e-bikes,but not the, not the throttle
ones.
So like a class two, they don't.
They don't like class two bikes, those are the throttle ones.
If you have a class one or aclass three bike, and that's
what I had, it was a pedalassist.
It was a nice gazelle with anice Bosch motor.

(09:13):
It was a really nice bike butit just weighed like 50 pounds,
I mean, and like I'm only fourfeet eight inches tall so I'm
wrangling or you know, know,wrangling this huge bike around.
But yeah, they were all verynice and welcoming and I just, I
just felt kind of, you know,out of place because obviously
these people are all, like youknow, big time cyclers right.

Tom Butler (09:36):
Well, I think that's fantastic and good for you for
for joining in.
Uh, so it sounds like you'vegotten a different bike since
then.
Is that what I'm hearing?

Erin Ely (09:46):
Yeah, so I got that.
Well, that was in February, soin May, which is when I say I
really started cycling I boughta used specialized Robe from
somebody in the group anothershorter person that was selling
this fairly nice Robe.
It was only like a year and ahalf old or something, because
she was getting a different bike.
So I bought that from her andthat's what I started riding.

(10:07):
I was riding that for a longtime and now I have like five
bikes.
In three years I've alreadyaccumulated five bikes.

Tom Butler (10:18):
That is not an unusual story really.
I think we all do that.
There's always one more bikethat would be good.
Now, the rebate is not pedalassist no, it's just a regular
analog bike.

Erin Ely (10:32):
Yeah, which is the bike that?

Tom Butler (10:33):
I have too.
I don't know if you yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah yeah, so I.

Erin Ely (10:37):
I rode that for a long time, and then my bike guy.
you know I I struggle becauseI'm kind of a slower rider, and
so these group rides they're setup by speed, like you have to
ride 10 to 12.
You have to be able to ride 10to 12, 13 to 15, you know, just
so.
It kind of keeps the group andI was riding a lot of 13 to 15

(11:03):
rides, which I could do okay,but I was struggling.
I would ride for like 30 miles.
I'd come home and sleep forlike three hours.
I was so wrecked from it andeventually I ended up buying a
specialized carbon fiber roade-bike which is like a class

(11:27):
three e-bike.
It has an assist up to 28 milesan hour and that bike is
awesome.
I love it.
I ride that bike because thatallowed me to ride from my house
.
So before I was like taking mybike and my car down to the ride
start because I live at the topof this big hill and I couldn't
get up the hill.
So then I started riding that.

(11:47):
And then I was thinking aboutgoing on one of these big long
tours and, um, you, you cantechnically take an e-bike on
some of those big long tours,like the India tour, because
they were staying in hotels.
They said you could take ane-bike.
You can't take an e-bike on anairplane because the battery's
too big right so it would justbe, you know, ridiculous to try

(12:12):
to do that.
So and then I ended up buying aspecialized diverge, which is a
gravel bike, and that's what Istarted riding to take on this
tour because you could put awider tire on it.
And they said you need to havea wider tire because the roads
are.
The roads are pretty crazy andindia they're not in great
condition and we're riding a lotof uneven roads and gravel and

(12:35):
um tons of potholes and bigwashed out areas and so I I
thought that diverge and Istarted riding that.
And then I thought, well,you're not going to think I'm
crazy.
I thought, well, maybe I shouldget a bike made that actually
fits me, because every bikethat's off the rack is too big

(12:55):
for me.

Tom Butler (12:56):
Right.

Erin Ely (12:57):
Most of these bikes go down to like five.
Somebody that's five feet talland I'm four feet eight inches,
that's five feet tall and I'mfour feet eight inches.
So I thought, what if I get abike that's made to my
specifications, I can ridefaster and better and all this
stuff.
Well, I had a bike made by thisbike maker in Southern Oregon.
His name is Mike DeSalvo.

(13:17):
He's pretty well known in themaker world.
He's been building bikes forlike 30 years or something.
So I had a titanium bike made totake on this tour with me and
it's so small it had to have650b wheels on it.
It's a mixed frame, so it's astep through right.

(13:39):
It's the.
It's not a bar like that.
It goes down and the cockpit isreally tiny compared.
You know, I've been so used toriding these bigger bikes.
I got the bike and I'm like wow, I feel really crunched up on
this bike.
What did I just do?
You know, never satisfied.
But I got the bike in Decemberand I left on the tour in

(14:02):
January and I really didn't rideit enough before I left.
I should have had more ridingtime on it, but it worked out
fine.
It was mechanically beautifulfor the trip because, there's so
much rough riding and it workedout great.
It was good.

Tom Butler (14:18):
So talk to me about how the thought to ride in India
came about how the thought towrite in India came about.

Erin Ely (14:26):
Well, india's a place I've been wanting to go for a
long time and I just wasn'treally sure how I was going to
do it.
Because my husband didn'treally have any interest in
going to India.
And I thought, since I startedwriting I mean I feel like when
I go on a vacation now I want tobe more active.

(14:46):
You know, you just feel betterwhen you're moving around so I
thought, well, this may be acool place to go on a cycling
tour.
And I think I was somewhatnaive about it because I didn't
realize how hard the ridingwould be.
It was pretty challengingwriting for me.
So that's it.
I just thought, well, thiswould be cool, this sounds neat.

(15:08):
Well, one of the people in thatwriting group that's here in
town.
She had gone on a trip with thesame tour company and she gave
us a presentation on her trip.
So I looked up this tourcompany and they had a trip to
India.
And so I thought, wow, thiswould be really cool.
Maybe I'll sign up for thattrip to India.
I did, okay.

Tom Butler (15:31):
When you signed up, were you?
You didn't have anybody, youwere going, or did you have
someone you knew that you weregoing with?

Erin Ely (15:38):
Well, at first I didn't have anyone and then
there was another person here intown that rides with a group.
She decided she wanted to go onthe trip and I was kind of
surprised by it but I thought,well, okay, cool.
Well, she's 79.
And she's a badass rider.
She is so strong.

(15:59):
She's a much stronger riderthan I am.
So she ended up coming with meand I helped her basically get
organized for the trip andhelped her with all the
technical stuff of downloadingapps and getting all the rides
and everything.
I helped her buy her airlineticket.
I kind of helped her with allthe technical stuff and she

(16:20):
actually rode more of the tourthan I did.
She's a stronger rider than Iam.

Tom Butler (16:24):
Well, that's kind of fun isn't?

Erin Ely (16:26):
it.
Yeah, everybody on the tourtrip was just like whoa, she's
such a badass and she really is.
She really is.
She's just this tiny, tinyperson.
She doesn't you know, youwouldn't know.
She rides this big, heavytouring bike and she just goes
uphill.
She's a climber, she can climbhills, she's anyway.
So that was cool.
We rode together.

(16:46):
I would say we rode togetherabout the first week or longer,
but then we kind of split offand because, because I'm a
slower rider, I ended up ridinga lot by myself at the back of
the group and she was more nearthe front of the group.
But she actually rides a lot byherself and she kind of likes

(17:07):
to ride that way rider and Ikind of like to ride with other
people.
So that was a.
One of the challenging thingsthat I had on that tour was I
was spending a lot of timeriding by myself, but it still
worked out well, I would have tosay that I'm super impressed by

(17:27):
you and your spirit ofadventure.

Tom Butler (17:30):
I need to just go.
Okay, I'm gonna sign for thistrip and the trip is it slated
for 30 days.

Erin Ely (17:40):
Well, it's a 39-day trip and 30 days riding, with
nine rest days that areinterspersed.
They put the rest days in thesespecific areas where there's
really high historical scenery,things that you would want to
visit there's forts or there'scaves.
There's something special wherethey put the rest days in, so

(18:04):
you would ride one week, you'dride four days and have a rest
day.
The next week you might ridethree days and have two rest
days, and then five days and oneday.
It's kind of mixed up like that.

Tom Butler (18:14):
Well, I don't see it as really normal for someone to
just on their own decide I'mgoing to go do this.
What is it about?
Like your personality or yourbackground, that like it sounds
like you go for things.

Erin Ely (18:28):
Well, I mean kind of I'm sort of a like.
I'm kind of I was kind ofathletic growing up.
I was sort of like a tomboy, Iguess you could say I was a
swimmer.
I swam competitively growing up.
I ski raced.
I was actually a forester bytrade.

(18:49):
I worked on the WillametteNational Forest.
I was on a hotshot firefightingcrew.
I used to fight fires in thesummertime.
That was a normal part of yourjob when you work for the Forest
Service and I don't know.
It just seemed like somethingthat would be fun to do.

Tom Butler (19:10):
Well, I would describe you as badass.

Erin Ely (19:13):
I'm just going to say that right now?

Tom Butler (19:17):
Did you have any other options?
Were you thinking aboutanywhere else, or was India
pretty much the only thing onyour list?

Erin Ely (19:28):
Well, that tour company has a lot of big tours.
So their primary tour, thecompany, is called TDA Global
Cycling.
They're based in Canada, buttheir legacy tour is called the
Tour to Afrique and it's a100-day tour across Africa.
Wow, that would be.
I mean, I know that that wouldbe just way too much for me.
It's a really tough tour, thatone.
They camp like 90 out of 100days on that trip.

(19:49):
So my trip was a hotel trip, butthere was some other.
There was actually another tourthat they had that I signed up
for like about a year after Istarted cycling.
It was going to Vietnam, laosand Thailand, because I've
always wanted, I've alwayswanted to go to Vietnam and
Thailand.
Those are two places.
And when is the tour started?

(20:09):
Getting closer and closer?
I was like freaking out.
I was so nervous about it.
I was just like agonizing overI'm not going to be able to ride
, it's going to be too hard, Idon't think I can do it, and so
I didn't go.
I canceled out of it.
So it gave me more time to ridemore and to get more confidence
in my riding, and so that justthe India tour is offered every

(20:30):
other year.
So it was like if I wanted todo India, I had to do it this
year, because it's not going tobe offered again for two more
years.
So I'm actually already lookingat another tour for 2026.
That is one that's going toVietnam, thailand, cambodia,
malaysia, and there's somepeople on the tour that I went

(20:52):
on that are interested in doingthat trip, so I might do that
with them.

Tom Butler (20:58):
Well, I am hoping to interview someone next week who
rode around Taiwan.
Oh, okay.
Did the entire trip aroundTaiwan.
I guess it's kind of a big dealthere.
It's kind of a rite of passageor whatever there, and so that
just sounds like a superinteresting trip as well yeah,

(21:18):
yeah.

Erin Ely (21:19):
So I mean, these trips are all supported the one that
I did.
So it's like you know, if youdon't want to ride or you can't
ride, you can get in the supportvan.
So you, you have choices if youdon't want to ride, or if it's
too difficult, or you know it'sjust not working out so now did
you feel that you, if you couldgo back, you would change your

(21:44):
training a lot before this trip.

Tom Butler (21:47):
What, what do you think about that?

Erin Ely (21:48):
well, maybe I.
I actually did quite a bit toprepare for this trip.
I took a four month cyclingclass with a woman in the United
Kingdom that she helps maturewomen mature women with their
cycling, and I learned moreabout cadence and fueling and

(22:09):
you know all the things that Idon't really know that much
about because I was kind of arelatively new cycler and I
spent four months training withher and then I actually hired a
personal trainer here in townthat I went to twice a week and
he was actually an ex-triathlete, so he knows he knows a lot
about cycling, so I worked withhim for I did this.

(22:30):
I started about eight monthsbefore my trip, so I was did
that four-month cycling thingwith her and then I was using a
personal trainer and then I justhad a writing schedule because
one of the things I found outwhen I took that class with this
woman was that I was overtraining, I wasn't giving myself
enough recovery time because Iwas riding like five or six days

(22:53):
a week before that.
So once I started training withher, I cut my riding schedule
down, but it was more likespecific about some of the
things I was doing Because sheput me on an indoor trainer one
day a week, which I thought wasreally boring and I didn't like.
And then I was riding two daysoutside, two or three days

(23:17):
outside.
I had to ride a lot more zonetwo, which, which is challenging
to.
When I ride with a group.
It was hard for me to keep myheart rate down enough because
I'm constantly trying to catchup and stay up with everyone.
So my e-bike was actually goodfor staying in more zone two.
So my e-bike was actually goodfor staying in Marzone 2.

Tom Butler (23:38):
When I rode with a group it allowed me to keep my
heart rate down because I coulduse the assist and it wasn't as
hard to ride.
I think that's an excellent, areally excellent point that
people don't necessarily thinkabout is that you know you can,
you have the flexibility to dialthings in with pedal assist,
and it's not that you know thatit's easy going, it's you can

(24:02):
like vary, the resistance to, towhat is right for you yeah, and
you can.

Erin Ely (24:07):
You don't even need to turn on the bike, I mean you
don't need to have the motor on.
I mean, like I can ride like 90of the ride without the motor.
Anyway, a lot of it, a lot ofthe rides that I do, I just do
it because I need to keep upwith the group sometimes Mostly
it's hill climbing is mychallenge.
I'm not I'm not a good hillclimber.
I still struggle with that.

(24:28):
It's like I hit a brick wall.
I don't know what it's like.
I come to the hill and it's justlike you know.
I'm going, like I do know, butI look at other people and I see
them going up the hill and itlooks like they never miss it.
You know, their cadence isstill good and they're still
spinning.
I'm like how do they do this?

(24:48):
I don't understand, I'm not.

Tom Butler (24:51):
I still can't do it.
Yeah, I think there's a lot tounderstand about the way that,
you know, muscles build asyou're older and the way that
energy is utilized as you'reolder.
And I, you know, I look at mylegs and they seem to be
muscular enough that I should bedoing well.
But yeah, I think there's justa.

(25:11):
There's a lot of variety there,so right.

Erin Ely (25:14):
Yeah, I mean I'm strong.
I know I'm strong because I canlift a lot of weight.
I mean when I started lifting Iwas dead lifting on a trap bar
315 pounds.
I'm strong, but it doesn'ttranslate to sending me up the
hill the same way.
I mean, like my friend Jackie,who I told you about, she's just
this tiny person, she hardlyweighs anything.
And's just this tiny person,she, you know, she hardly weighs

(25:35):
anything.
And she just like.
When I see her pedaling up thehill, I'm going like how does
she do that?

Tom Butler (25:41):
Yeah.

Erin Ely (25:41):
She doesn't have a motor on her bike, she just
seems to just like pedal away,you know but she has been riding
for a long time too.

Tom Butler (25:53):
I think that's one of those things, that cycling
over 60, I'm really interestedin connecting with the people
that know, specifically like, asyou get older, you know what's
happening in your muscle fibers,in your muscle cells, you know
and how can, and maybe part ofit is just realizing okay, I

(26:14):
don't have the physiology thatsome of these you know, because
I get passed on, passed by75-year-old women going up hills
all the time when I'm outriding and it's like, okay, you
know, I don't know what's goingon there, but good for them.

Erin Ely (26:30):
Right, right.
Yeah, I try not to take itpersonally.
I'm always at the back of thecrowd, but sometimes it does get
discouraging.
I mean I did write a blog aboutmy trip.
So I wrote every day while Iwas gone and you can see, I mean
I wrote about it I feeldiscouraged.
I'm not riding as fast aseverybody else, I'm at the back

(26:53):
by myself.
You know that kind of stuff,but I knew it was going to be
like that.

Tom Butler (26:58):
Yeah, well, and you can, I will put a link to your
blog because I think thatanybody that be interested in
that trip there's just so muchthere and I I think it's you did
a very good job at a you knowdiary about that trip.

Erin Ely (27:17):
Right, right.
Yeah, I mean it was kind ofgood.
It was fun to have that becauseI could go back and you know,
look at it and go, oh wow.
Yeah, it's kind of nice to haveit as a remembrance.

Tom Butler (27:27):
Yeah for sure.
Can you talk a bit aboutlogistics?
How did you find it, as far asyou know getting your bike there
, you know picking it up, youknow just kind of the mechanics
of having your bike there toride in a cardboard box because

(27:57):
they break all the boxes down.

Erin Ely (27:58):
We're arriving in one city and we're departing to come
home from another one and theycan't carry there's like 22
people on the tour.
They can't carry 20.
You know, hard box bike holdersor whatever.
So, um, they required it had tobe in a cardboard box and
actually I'm not greatmechanically with my bike, so I
just had my bike shop break itdown and box it up for me and

(28:19):
then it's pretty easy to takeyour bike on the plane.
It's pretty seamless.
I was, um, surprised how easyit was actually was.
We flew out of the PortlandInternational Airport and they
just recently remodeled thatplace and and it was just like
we just, you know, checked inand they took our bikes and it
was super easy.
And we were a little bitworried about it when we got to

(28:42):
India.
We weren't sure if they weregoing to make us pay customs or
do anything crazy like that.
But no, it was fine.
We got our bikes, picked themup, they were all in great
condition and so the tourcompany when you get there.
We flew to New Delhi a couple ofdays ahead of when the tour
started, so that we had time toacclimate, kind of.

(29:03):
You know, get our feet on theground and stuff.
And then the tour companyactually had a transport from
New Delhi to Agra, which iswhere the tour actually started.
The Agra is where the Taj Mahalis and it was like a couple
hours bus ride away or something.
So they actually transported usand all our bikes to Agra and

(29:25):
then when we got there, theyhave a full-time tour mechanic
on the trip, who was awesome.
And, of course, all the tourleaders.
They all know how to take bikesapart, put them back together.
So everybody helped you.
You could you know a lot ofpeople could do it themselves or
you could have them.
You know help you put ittogether.
So they, they helped with thatand they also at the end, helped

(29:47):
us break it down on the box itand they had all these boxes you
know with them.
They, you know, compressed themall and got them all back out
and we it was actually prettyseamless.
I was surprised how easy itwent well, that's fantastic.

Tom Butler (30:03):
I mean, that could, in my opinion, be a real hassle
as part of the trip, so to hearthat it went so smooth, that's
great yeah, we went to theairport super early like four
hours ahead of time because wewere worried about getting our
bikes checked in.

Erin Ely (30:17):
It was so easy, we didn't even need to worry about
it.
Nice, nice.

Tom Butler (30:22):
Now, how about accommodations like lodging?
Was that totally figured out orwere you just kind of?
When you showed up, you foundout what was going on?
Or had you pretty much learnedabout all that?

Erin Ely (30:37):
showed up, you found out what was going on, or had
you?
Well, they had all that.
Yeah, they have all the lodging, but they don't tell you what
it is until you're actually onthe tour.
So, um, they send out, which Iguess I didn't realize it.
They send out the rides becausewe use ride with gps on a
smartphone.
So I had a quad lock on my bikewith my smartphone and we had
downloaded all the rides before,so that you don't need any cell

(30:58):
service or anything to get therides loaded in here.
So, on those rides, on therides, at the end of each ride
day, they had the hotel listed.
But I didn't realize thatbecause I didn't actually really
look at that stuff.
So they did kind of tell usahead of time, but not directly,
right, so?
But they didn't have all thehotels already booked for us and
that was all set up, so wedidn't really have to worry

(31:20):
about that.
There was really I would saythere was a real variation in
the quality of the hotels,though Some of them were very
nice and some of them were notnice at all.
Ok, I think in the in the morerural parts of India, it was
harder to get nicer hotels.
Some of them were prettysketchy but you know, for the

(31:42):
most part everything worked.
You know, the toilet, theshower, the stuff you needed,
the bed was there.
It's not like you're sittingaround in your room, right,
you're riding your bike all dayanyway, and so you don't spend a
lot of time in your room dayanyway, and so you don't spend a
lot of time in your room.
And when we had like rest daysin nicer places, we usually had
nicer hotels.
You know, when we were on ourrest days because you were

(32:03):
spending more time around thehotel and stuff.
But I think they try to getthey're not, like you know,
five-star hotels, but the nicerones are, you know, three or
four-star hotels and the otherones are kind of like two-star
maybe.
I don't know, um, but I thinkthey didn't have a lot of

(32:24):
control over the rural parts ofindia because there's limited
hotels in those areas I guessthat's one of the messages about
the ride is that you're goingto be seeing a lot of different
places and so if if you do that.

Tom Butler (32:36):
You got to expect that in some of those places the
accommodations are not going tobe, you know, excellent, but
but you're going to get by.

Erin Ely (32:44):
Yeah, and that's basically what they said in the
tour notes for the tour.
You know, be prepared to nothave, you know, every the nicest
place, but you'll have thebasic stuff that you need and we
always did have that.

Tom Butler (32:57):
You talked about having curiosity about India for
some time and I'm thinkingthat's because you see it as a
place that's got a differentculture than what you're
normally in.
Did you find that you were ableto experience the cultural
differences on the trip?

Erin Ely (33:14):
Yeah, somewhat.
I mean, like I got into thisthing where I was, I didn't want
to stop a lot because I didn'twant to get too far behind.
So some people actually spentmore time stopping on the side
of the road and talking topeople than I did.
They met people, went intotheir houses for tea and stuff
like that.
I didn't actually do any ofthat because I was riding by

(33:37):
myself and I was feeling like Ididn't want to get too far
behind everybody.
So I just kind of kept movingalong.
But I did see lots of stuff onthe roadside.
We'd pass down, we'd go throughthese little villages and
there'd be all.
You'd hear all this blaringmusic when you're coming up and
they'd be like outside a wedding, like all these people would be

(33:58):
outside and they'd be dancingand there would be all this
music.
And I mean, and really I couldhave stopped at some of those
places because some people diddo that and they pulled them in
and they were in there dancingand doing all kinds of stuff and
so, like you know, it's prettycool that way.
I mean I it was just my ownpersonal thing that I didn't

(34:20):
participate in as much of thatstuff as some other people did.
When I, when I was with someother people, I did do some
roadside stops Like you know,they call them coke stops where
you could stop and talk to, youknow, people that own the shop
and then usually when people youknow, when we stopped anywhere,
everybody was super curious,especially when you're riding

(34:43):
through these rural parts ofindia, because they're just not
going to see a bunch of peopleriding around on bikes and bike
kits.
You know it's pretty unusual andthey are all very curious and
as soon as you stop you just besurrounded by people and they
were all you know, looking atyour bike and touching stuff and
talking, asking you questionsand you know.
So that part was fun.

(35:04):
I had, I did experience thatsome you know some also.
Yeah, it just there's just somuch to look at.
This is why, on the, on thetrip rating for their trips,
they have far that one of theratings is far out factor and on
this trip they said it's likefive of five far out factor
because there's just so muchgoing on, there's so much

(35:26):
traffic and buses and people andyou know just animals
everywhere and dogs and cows howabout in the evenings did?

Tom Butler (35:37):
did they organize stuff in the evenings a lot, or?

Erin Ely (35:41):
uh, not really.
Usually what we did was was youknow, everybody rode, each got.
We usually got done by aroundtwo or three in the afternoon
and mostly people would work ontheir bikes every day.
So at the end of every daythere was an hour where you
could meet with the bikemechanic and an hour with the
medic.
You know they had these settimes that you could meet with
them and almost everybody everyday would look their bike over.

(36:03):
You know, if they had these settimes that you could meet with
them and almost everybody everyday would get their bike over,
you know, lube their chain,clean the bike, because your
bikes are getting pretty dirty.
It's dusty, you know.
So I think we mostly did that.
And then, you know, we mightkind of sit around together and
talk and have a beer orsomething, and then we'd have

(36:24):
dinner and then everybody wouldgo to bed and it was starting
all over the next day.
So we spent more time togetherdoing things on our rest days,
and on those rest days I wentwith there was sort of a group
of us.
There was one guy that was kindof the leader and he went out
and was like okay, let's, youknow, do you guys want to go see
this, and he would set up allthese tours for us, you know,

(36:50):
and we to go see the forts orthe you know special uh, the
alora caves or you know, we'dget these guided tours.
And so every single rest day Idid something like that.
I definitely took advantage ofall the um, the historical sites
and things like that that wecould do on our rest days.

Tom Butler (37:06):
Oh that sounds.
That really sounds interesting.
I mean, it draws me in justthat thought of being able to
see those places.
That's great.

Erin Ely (37:14):
Oh yeah, some of those places are just so amazing,
just the history, I mean.
You just look at these, likethe Allura Cave is one of the
the hindu cave areas that wewent to and there was, with a
hindu and buddhist and kind ofall mixed together.
But, um, it's like going to,you know, the pyramids or

(37:35):
something.
You just look at this and golike, how did they build all
this stuff?
You know, before they had allthis modern equipment and
everything is so massive and allthis big structures and
carvings and just yeah, it wasjust amazing, it really was.
There's so much history inIndia, it's just everywhere.

Tom Butler (37:55):
Now is there some interaction you had or some site
that you visited that you thinkreally will stand out to you as
you remember the trip?

Erin Ely (38:05):
well, for me, the Taj Mahal, which is where the tour
started, that was always a placethat I wanted to see and it
feels kind of magical when yousee it.
It just it just kind of hasthis aura around it when you're
there.
We went in the early morning,right when it opened, and so
there was this kind of like thishue of you know pink and the
you know blue and the air and,um, it just it's the white

(38:31):
marble of this building and wejust it just stands out.
So that was really cool.
That was kind of one thing thatI really wanted to see and I
really thought it was worth, youknow, going to.
And then the alora caves, wherethat was the other place that I
thought was really cool and, um,but there was there's so much,
there's so much, um, these oldlike forts that the moguls, the,

(38:57):
um, the palaces, you, they'rejust so elaborate and so full of
you know, stained glass and allthese painted, elaborate
paintings, and it was justreally cool to see all that.
And then you know, you stillhave that thought of going like

(39:17):
you know it's like the kings andqueens, and you go like all the
peasants are barely surviving,these guys are living in these.
So you kind of you kind of havemixed feelings about this you
know, seeing that andappreciating it, while at the
same time realizing that youknow, all these other, the
majority of the population, isnot living that way it sounded

(39:41):
like from some of the thingsthat I read and I, I followed
your trip on strava.

Tom Butler (39:46):
It sounded like you had some real challenging parts
of it and I so I'm wondering ifyou could talk about that.
What, uh what did you findphysically challenging about it?

Erin Ely (39:58):
well the in the first couple of weeks it was pretty
good because we were sort of inthe northern part of like mid to
northern part of India and thestate of Rajasthan and it wasn't
that hot yet.
But once we started going southdown the coast it started to
get really hot and so it waslike in the mid 90s and

(40:20):
sometimes up to 100 degrees andI just really struggled riding
in that.
So a lot of those days I rodelike half the day.
I would ride in the morning andthen not ride the afternoon,
and some of those days I didn'tride at all because I knew there
was just going to be too muchclimbing for me and I just I was
just like I'm not enjoying this, I'm not going to ride today,

(40:43):
and I mean I felt kind of guiltyabout that.
But at the same time I just went.
You know, I'm still good, I'mstill going on all the rest days
and seeing all this other stuffthat I want to see.
So I just put it in my headthat this isn't only about the
cycling part of the trip and I'mjust going to let it be the way
it is.
And so I had, you know, kind ofcome to grips with that,

(41:04):
because some of these tours Iknow I've heard this thing they
call it EFI, which means everyeffing inch, like you ride,
every inch of the tour.
So, there are some people thatdo that.
Although, on this, this groupdidn't seem to be that driven
for that kind of stuff, whichwas good.
I felt like the group wasreally good.
But yeah, these hot days, thosehot days with the high humidity

(41:28):
, that was really challenging.
Oh there, there were quite afew people that couldn't, that
chose not to ride some of thosedays, or chose to ride just half
of those days or actually hadto quit, you know, after lunch,
just because it was.

Tom Butler (41:41):
It was challenging, challenging well, I think it's a
super healthy perspective.
You know to go in and say I amnot going to do myself in, I'm
here to have an experience and Ican kind of see my limitations
and you know it's good for me toI to keep that in perspective
yeah, yeah it was.

Erin Ely (42:02):
It was good.
For the most part it was good.
I think I rode.
The tour was 30, you know 30riding days and I think I rode
like 23, 24 days out of the 30.

Tom Butler (42:12):
That's awesome.

Erin Ely (42:13):
Some of those days we were sick, though, because we
all got food poisoning.
Oh no so there was definitely,uh, like a three or two or three
day period where people werenot feeling so great.
Then some people just had kindof gut issues sort of off and on

(42:33):
during the tour.
So there's also that I didn't.
I didn't have too much of that,just at that one little section
where everybody got sick so wasthat a restaurant that people
ate at, or?
well, we thought it was from oneof the hotels that we stayed at
.
It was like we, the secondnight that we were at this hotel

(42:56):
, were we there for two nights.
Yeah, we were there for twonights because it was a rest day
hotel.
So on a rest day you're thereat the end of the ride and then
you're there rest day, so youstay at the same place for two
nights in a row.
Usually you're moving, likeevery night you're at a
different place, and it wasafter that place that everybody

(43:16):
was sick, so we're just assumingthat it was from the food there
.

Tom Butler (43:21):
Yeah, Now how about the food in general?
Did you like the food?
Was that part of the experience?
I experienced a lot ofdifferent food.
How was that?

Erin Ely (43:32):
Well, I did at the beginning.
At the beginning it was like,yeah, Indian food, this is
really good.
But then after a while it waskind of like, oh, no more Indian
food really good.
But then after a while it waskind of like, oh, no more Indian
food, which I didn't expect.

(43:53):
There was like, there's likedefinitely two guys that just
loved Indian food and they werejust, you know, happy about
eating Indian food all the time.
And we did have a lot of thesame foods because at night they
would serve us off a buffet.
So we had a selection of things, but a selection of a lot of
the same kinds of food everynight.
You know, there's dahl, there'sbutter chicken I'm not great, I

(44:13):
don't know the names of all thethings, but very similar.
You know vegetables, rice,protein, but a lot of curries
and a lot of it tastes sort ofsimilar after a while.
Maybe it would have beendifferent if we were all
ordering separately off a menu,but that's just how that.

(44:34):
You know, the tour was set up.
And then, you know, on our restdays we could go out and eat,
eat a little bit differently,but um, by the end of the tour,
I would say the last week I wasjust like I cannot eat this
Indian food anymore.
I was living on soup and Frenchfries and beer and chai, tea

(45:00):
and coffee.
I lost 22 pounds on this tour.

Tom Butler (45:03):
Wow, wow, wow.
That's amazing.

Erin Ely (45:08):
Well and other people lost.
Somebody lost 27 pounds on thetour.

Tom Butler (45:13):
Okay.

Erin Ely (45:15):
So we're like well, if you need to lose weight, go on
a tour.

Tom Butler (45:18):
Right?
Well, I think that you go on atour where you get tired of the
food after a while and thenyou're still cycling.

Erin Ely (45:29):
It did make it a little bit challenging to fuel
your ride.
So for the lunches, the tourcompany fed us our lunches and
those were always the best mealsof the day.
Everybody was like I got tomake it to lunch so I can eat
for the tour companies.

Tom Butler (45:44):
That's interesting Snacks and stuff.
Did you have that provided?
Did you buy those yourself?
What was?

Erin Ely (45:53):
Well, they did.
They had at the lunch stop.
They had stuff, but most of uswere eating a lot of bananas.
Bananas seem to be the mainfuel for fueling your rides.
And then you know, the Cokestops is what they call them.
Coke stops.
People would stop for drinkscold water, chai tea, or get a
Coke, or buy something on theroadside.

Tom Butler (46:17):
Now, did you find the countryside, the landscapes?
You talked about cycling, someby the ocean.
Did you find the landscapes tobe awesome?

Erin Ely (46:29):
they were, they were in.
I mean they were.
I think that the first part ofthe tour I like better.
There seemed to be morediversity in the landscape, but
it was wintertime there so therewasn't like there was.
We went to areas where there'sno leaves on the trees and it
looked kind of barren.
But then we would go throughthese areas where there's huge

(46:50):
agricultural fields of all kindsof wheat and corn and mustard
seed and cotton.
That's cotton is there.
Actually, india is a very bigcotton growing um country and so
yeah, it was variable and theand the ocean part was nice.
Sometimes you couldn't reallysee the ocean because that's

(47:11):
really hilly that part um ridingdown the ocean.
But yeah, there's a lot of alot of good landscape and some,
you know a couple of days whereit was just kind of like I just
need to ride and get this overwith, because it was like kind
of not that interesting.
But there was only actually acouple of days where it was just
kind of like I just need toride and get this over with,
because it was like kind of notthat interesting, but there was
only actually a couple of dayslike that now.

Tom Butler (47:28):
You did take pictures for your blog and also
posted on strava.
I'm wondering if you have animage, or a couple images that
really capture your trip, thatare like like things that you're
really happy that you capturedan image of well, natash mahal,
that was really my highlight.

Erin Ely (47:49):
That tag mahal was my highlight and then we we crossed
the tropic of cancer.
Yeah, anyway, I took a picturethere with one of the, with a
bike mechanic was with me andthat was one of the pictures
that I thought was kind of coolbecause it's a picture going
across there.
But there you know then a lotof the Alora caves that those

(48:10):
were other.
Those were some other picturesthat were really cool.
I thought yeah.

Tom Butler (48:17):
Do you think you'll ever do that trip again?

Erin Ely (48:20):
I don't think.
So I don't think I would wantto do that trip again, only
because there's so many otherplaces I still want to go, so I
don't.
I mean I don't think I would doit again.
I'm glad I did it, though, butI don't think I would do it
again.
They actually do have anothertrip to india that they do.

(48:41):
That's more in the southernpart, called the tea or tea
something it's in the more teagrowing regions, and then they
go to Sri Lanka, and which SriLanka is actually supposed to be
really nice.
I just want to.
You know, I think I've had myIndia feel for now, and I want
to try some other place sosomeone like you, who you know,

(49:03):
before this trip, again, youwere curious about India.

Tom Butler (49:05):
you wanted to go to India, did you feel?
Do you feel like that was agood way to, to really get to,
to experience India?

Erin Ely (49:13):
Yes, definitely.
I, you know, knowing you knowmore about traveling.
I've done trips where you'rejust traveling in a bus and
getting out and walking aroundand getting back in it.
You just, you know, you justget to really see more stuff
when you're just traveling in abus and getting out and walking
around and getting back in.
You just get to really see morestuff when you're riding your
bike down the road and you justnotice more things, the smells.
There's a lot of smells inIndia, so you really get the

(49:39):
full gamut of all this stuffwhen you're riding your bike
down the road.
I guess one of the things that Iwas sort of surprised about was
that the air pollution reallynever cleared up.
No matter where we went, it waspolluted everywhere and I was
kind of surprised by that.
Actually, I thought maybe whenyou got out of the bigger cities

(50:00):
the air quality would getbetter, but it was pretty kind
of crummy most of the trip,except it was a little bit
better once we got way, you know, south on the coast, but it was
hazy.
It was hazy from air pollutioneverywhere.
So you don't get like you know,in the pacific northwest you
can get these great big vistaswith beautiful blue sky and

(50:21):
stuff.
You just never got that.
You never got that same.
You know I would go oh, we'd beriding down this you know big
gorge or something, and you, youknow it was just a cool.
You know beautiful vista, butthe air was all hazy and so that
part was a little bit not.
I did not expect that.

Tom Butler (50:41):
So if you ran into somebody and they said you know,
hey, we're planning on doingthis 30-day trip, 39-day trip in
India, and you're like I wenton that trip and they said, well
, what would you, what are someof the main things that you
would recommend to get the mostout of that trip?
What would you, would you say?

Erin Ely (51:02):
well, you just have to be prepared to ride rough roads
.
You know, not have clean air,be able to ride in traffic,
those things are.
There's a lot of riding intraffic on this trip.
There's a lot of riding intraffic and you definitely need
to be prepared for that,although, surprisingly enough, I

(51:24):
almost felt safer riding inIndia than I do here, even with
all the traffic.
So I mean, some people cannotride in a lot of traffic and
it's noisy.
It's very noisy because they'rehonking their horns all the
time, because they honk theirhorns to tell you where they are
, not to get you out of the way.
It's just like a sign of hey,I'm on your side, I'm behind you

(51:47):
on this.
But so you're going to you ridethrough areas that are just
full.
It's like you see it on themovies.
It's just like zoom, zoom, zoom.
Cars and motorcycles go in everydirection, no lines on the.
You just start to go out intothat and they just ride around
you because that's what they doto go out into that and they
just ride around you becausethat's what they do and, um,
they're all alert.

(52:07):
So those are the things thatyou would have to be prepared
for being able to ride intraffic, knowing a little bit
that the air quality is notgoing to be great and I guess
for me the riding in the heatthat was a big thing, and I
think I would have actuallyprobably brought more of my own
food for my fuel.
I did bring my own electrolytesbecause I don't like to have

(52:28):
sweetened electrolytes and Ionly like use the scratch lab
that are not sweetened.
So most electrolytes aresweetened and I knew that that
would be a problem for me, so Ibrought that and I think if I
had to do it again which I doanother trip I would have
brought more of my own food formy uh fueling because I like to
eat real food.

(52:49):
I don't want to drink a bunch ofcokes, I don't really like to
drink a lot of sodas and stuffum I usually eat like dried
fruit and but they always hadlike nuts, and you know, yeah,
they usually had a lot of nutsand some dried fruit and then
bananas that you could use tofuel your food, but sometimes
you want more than that.

Tom Butler (53:09):
Could you access fresh markets to get stuff, or
was that pretty hard?

Erin Ely (53:14):
You could.
There was actually lots oflittle produce markets when you
went through these villages, butunless you could clean the food
with fresh water and stuff, youwouldn't want to just buy it
there and eat it.
At least I would not do that.
I did not drink any water thatdidn't come out of a bottle.

(53:34):
I didn't even use the tap waterto brush my teeth.
I didn't eat any fresh fruitunless it was served to us by
the tour company because I knewthey had washed it with their
purified water.
Um, so that I think that part iskind of an individual thing,
but based on all the stuff Iread, it was just better not to

(53:55):
eat that stuff unless you knewhow to clean it with.
You had fresh water to clean itand stuff.
So if you were riding throughin the day, if you stopped and
bought something, you weren'tgoing to be able to clean it and
stuff.
So if you were riding throughin the day, if you stopped and
bought something, you weren'tgoing to be able to clean it
properly probably you mentionedthat you are looking at other
trips to take, and so uh are you.

Tom Butler (54:16):
Have you decided between a couple trips?
Have you have you found a tourcompany that you'd like to use?
Where are you in that processof planning your next trip?

Erin Ely (54:27):
Well, I think I'm going to go on another trip with
this company.
I really like this company.
They were awesome, they weregreat.
Their tour guides were awesome,their mechanic was amazing,
their attitude was great.
They were super flexible.
I mean like when everybody gotsick they had to hire more cars

(54:48):
to transport people becausethey're they're two or the vans
that they drive they're likesprinter vans, but you know they
can only hold like four or fivepeople, Plus in the back is
full of gear and food things andbicycles and so, um, they were
really flexible and they I neverfelt any pressure or anything.
If you didn't want to ride,they were like, okay, you know,
they were really flexible and Inever felt any pressure or
anything.
If you didn't want to ride,they were like, okay, you know,
they were really good, Easy towork with, very flexible and

(55:11):
they're just really experiencedat this.
This tour company has beenaround for like 25 or 30 years
or something, so they have agood reputation.

Tom Butler (55:20):
Courteous people, friendly people, the ride
leaders.

Erin Ely (55:24):
Yes, all of them were great, very, and also
encouraging too.
You know, like there was oneday where I was riding I was
like I have to get off my bike,I can't get it.
There was a like this hairpinturn, I can see it coming.
And there was this big buscoming down the other direction.
I was like I'm not going to tryto ride, that, I'm getting off
my bike.
And the guy I was like I'm notgonna try to ride, that, I'm
getting off my bike.

(55:44):
And the guy I was in the back,so the sweep, the sweeper, was
behind me and so I got off mybike and I was like now I'm
going uphill, I can't get goingagain on my bike, I'm gonna have
to keep walking.
And he was like okay, why don'tyou let me push your bike for
you?
I'm feeling so embarrassed.
I'm like, no, I can push my ownbike, you know.

(56:09):
But I'm like I'm sorry, I can'tget back on my bike and ride up
the hill because I can't getstarted.
And you know, here it wouldn'tbe that big of a deal because I
would just go across the roadand go, but there there was so
much traffic and stuff.
There was this for me too muchgoing on, that I didn't feel
comfortable that I could getback on my bike and, you know,

(56:30):
kind of crossroad up the hill toget going again.
So it was super sweet, supernice.
I think I probably walked likemaybe a half a mile, just to,
you know, to get up to a placewhere I could get back on my
bike.
But no, they were, they wereall awesome and the mechanic the
mechanic was awesome.
They were all just supersupportive and great people to

(56:55):
tour with.

Tom Butler (56:56):
That's cool.
And what's the name of thecompany?

Erin Ely (56:59):
It's called TDA Global , like Tom David G, like Tom
David Green, tda Global Cycling,and they're based in Canada.

Tom Butler (57:11):
I will put a link to the website in the show notes
if anybody wants to check themout.

Erin Ely (57:18):
Extended tour trips, extended day tours Like most
companies don't do these longtours.
They do, like you know, six,seven days, maybe two weeks, but
all their, most of their tours,I think all their tours, are at
least 30 days.
So it's for you know, for thatperson that really wants to like

(57:39):
really dive in deep for a longtour.

Tom Butler (57:43):
Erin, thank you so much for being willing to do
this.
This was super fun and I'm justso glad that you're willing to
talk about this trip.
I am super impressed.
I mean, I think anybody that isyou know takes the initiative
that you did to go out and dothis and took on the challenges

(58:05):
and put up with some of the theproblems with the trip.
I just think that's justamazing and just such an example
to other people that you knowget out there and do stuff.

Erin Ely (58:16):
Yeah, well, I appreciate you taking the time
to talk to me about it.
Yeah, I mean, it's never toolate to start.
I'm a perfect example.
I mean I didn't start writinguntil I was 66.
And then I was like, hey, Ithink I'll go to India.
Yeah, just a short 30 days ofwriting.

(58:40):
Well, I really totally believethat you have to keep moving.
You just got to keep moving andthe easiest way for me to keep
moving is actually to havesomething scheduled that I have
to go and show up to do.
That's why having this gears,you know, ride group is really
good for me, because I have tobe there at 9 30 on monday.
I have to be there, you know,and the same thing with, like,

(59:01):
my personal training and allthat, I'm not, I'm not like a
self, you know, doer, I need tohave a schedule and I have to
show up.

Tom Butler (59:11):
Well, I I'm glad you're doing that.
I know that you're reapingbenefits from doing that, and
and again, thanks so much forfor taking the time to do this.

Erin Ely (59:20):
Yeah, thanks for having me Appreciate it.

Tom Butler (59:23):
Talk to you later.

Erin Ely (59:26):
All right, yeah, thanks for having me Appreciate
it Talk to you later.

Tom Butler (59:30):
All right, bye, bye.
Now.
It is so awesome to hear fromsomeone like Erin.
I love how she embraces newcycling experiences and I'm so
glad to hear that the gear groupin Eugene, oregon, embraced her
when she first showed up.
There are a couple of episodeideas that came out of that
conversation.
One is that I would like to getAaron's frame builder on and

(59:53):
have him share his story, andanother is I would like to get
on an Amtrak train with my bikeand go meet some cyclists in
Eugene.
The train and bike combo isintriguing to me.
So, whether you are out andabout on your bike in some new
country or just in your hometown, I hope you are discovering new
ways to enjoy cycling andfinding people to share good

(01:00:13):
times with.
And remember, age is just agear change.
Thank you.