2Wheel Musings

Rain in a lean-to

2009-06-28T22:09:00.000-04:00

Thursday, June 25th

Thursday morning we reserved a lean-to in Baxter State Park. We set up the wet tent inside the lean-to and hooked the dripping tarp to the top of the structure with the other end tied to the pick nick table with a bungie cored. Then we headed out to hike hoping everything would dry out by that evening.

In the morning we headed up the Little Niagara trail. The weather was perfect all day.
I could spend ages at this park, and never grow tired of it!
Canoe's were only a dollar an hour, so we spent some peaceful time gliding across one of the many lakes the park has to offer.After getting back to camp we took another trail nearby up to Katahdin Stream Falls. Rain fell as we started up the trail, but once in while the sun would stream through some of the trees on the the vibrant greens.

Even though it did rain most of the night it stopped by morning. We had a nice pancake breakfast at the picnic table, packed up our dry gear and headed to New Hampshire.

Moose encounters

2009-06-27T08:42:00.009-04:00

Wednesday, June 24th

Wednesday we arrived in Millinocket and checked into the Econo lodge. It was a great place to wash a few soggy clothes and dry out some of our gear.

In the morning we rode our bike from Millinocket up to Baxter State Park. The ride was great with nice rolling hills and beautiful scenery. Our original plan was to spend one day in Baxter State Park, then head to the White Mountains in NH. After talking to the park ranger however we decided there were too many things we wanted to check out in this park so we decided to give it another two days.

Wednesday evening we drove back up to the park and hiked up South Turner Mountain. On our way into the woods we stopped at Grassy Lake Pond. Trin noticed that the "huge rock" in the middle of the pond seemed to be moving. We watched for quite some time before a Moose head poped up out of the water and stood there chewing. We were amazed at how long she could hold her breath in search of food on the bottom of the pond.

We circled the other side of the pond and followed a narrow trail onto a large rock in the pond. Once on the rock we heard loud splashed right over the ledge. A big bull Moose appeared, circled the rock and stood right next the the narrow path we had just crossed. For the longest time he stood starring at our only path back to land. We pondered the wisdom of walking two feet in front a very large wild animal. Eventually we decided to go. First I went a little closer and asked, "do you mind if we walk in front of you" I wanted to make sure he knew we were there so that he would not be starled. Then without looking at him we walked in nonchalantly accross the path in front of him. Once in the woods I did have to pause and turn around to snap this picture. =)

The hike up South Turner Mountain was worth every step. I could sit all day and just stare at views like this.
Clouds just rolled by as we gazed at the mountains.
Eventually, we did have to head back down.

Acadia Rain

2009-06-27T08:27:00.005-04:00

Tuesday, June 23rd

Today we checked out of our campground in Acadia and headed our car up to Baxter State Park.

Acadia was beautiful! My favorite scenic bike ride was the Schoodic loop. It's a short ride, but has a nice view of the beach almost the entire way!
The short hike up Beehive mountain was worth every step / crawl.

Acadia Natl Park

2009-06-27T07:35:00.008-04:00

Sunday, June 21st

We made it to our Blackwoods camp site very late Saturday night in pouring rain. When we shut off the car lights it was pitch black, perfect - how a night in the woods should be. We shuffled around in the car getting our gear ready for a mad dash to set up the tent and jumped inside.

Crawling out of the tent in the moring I was greeted by this beautiful view!

The rain had tapered off by morning so we made pancakes on the camp stove and geared up for a scenic ride through the park.
We had one misshap with a flat tire, aggravated by the fact that the brand new pump from Dicks Sporting Goods did not work at all! Thankfully we were only six miles into the ride so I rode back for the car. We headed into town to get a new pump - the one from Wal-Mart works great! We stopped for lunch at Maine Luau Seafood and BBQ - excellent food!! Excellent service!!!With the tire fixed and the car back at the camp site we started the loop again.The park loop from Black woods up to Bar Harbor and back was a nice relaxing ride. Pedaled away all the thoughts of work.

Along the way we detoured on some of the carriage roads. Moss covered everything in the woods, the green was vibrant in the rain.

We detoured up Cadillac Mountain. I love the nice smooth roads in this park. Although the rain cuts down on the view it also cuts down on the traffic. =)

Tonight we shall sleep well to the sound of pattering rain.

NH Sea Coast

2009-06-27T07:20:00.003-04:00

Saturday, June 20th (just catching up on this blog)
Finally on vacation!!! Maybe a day late since both of us ended up working another 12 hrs more than anticipated. Normally I start packing a week or two ahead of time. For this trip I started Friday night.

Saturday we stopped at the New Hampshire Sea Coast and did a 30 mile loop on our bikes with beautiful views of the sea. It was a good break before heading on to Maine.

Farnsworth Ghost Tour

2009-05-11T23:25:00.004-04:00

The Farnsworth House in the middle of town stands as a bullet-strewn monument of the carnage that took place decades past. Standing right up against the red brick wall you can see the chips and cracks where the bullets left their mark. The tiny window way up close to the roof was a sniper's nest. Nowadays, the structure hosts visitors and diners. The cellar is decorated as a portrayal of a funeral, wherein a session of ghost storytelling is conducted by an able host. We attended the 11PM "adult" session. The age restriction allows nothing more than cuss words to fly out freely from the storytellers mouth as he recounted incidents of the supposedly supernatural, which mostly happened during previous sessions. They were probably just that, stories. Entertaining and not too far-fetched to be scoffed at, and well delivered by our storyteller that night.
The second half involved a walk through the woods, with a different storyteller. This second storyteller is garbed in a civil-war era messenger looking costume. Like the first storyteller, most of his stories were about incidents in previous sessions. The question in our minds the whole time was, before they accumulated all this stories about previous sessions, what stories did they tell? We kept this question to ourselves, out of courtesy. I got the impression that he was new to the job, not yet as comfortable or adept in his delivery as the first storyteller.
Still the other attendees seemed all too willing to believe. One young woman showed the storyteller a picture that she took with her digital camera. It showed some white globs that to us looked like reflections from the wet grass. The storyteller was all too willing to make a story out of it, claiming that it must be some ethereal energy. He is a storyteller after all.

Short & Sweet

2009-05-06T09:47:00.020-04:00

Our fourth and final day on the C&O Trail. We made this a short day, only 22 miles, so that we could start heading home before lunch.
Our favorite part of the trip was a detour that took us through the local countryside, beautiful area.

In total we rode 196 miles

The day of the ice cream

2009-05-06T09:47:00.017-04:00

Day 3 on the C&O trail was hot. We stopped a few times to douse ourselves with cold water from the water pumps along the trail. Late in the afternoon we came upon Barons store and bought some ice cream.

Soon after the ice cream we reached our hiker-biker camp for the evening completing 54 miles for the day.
The tarp over our tent has been perfect. Our tent is very old, but small and light. The tarp is also very light, but has kept us, our bikes and gear dry through a number of rain storms.

Crowded & Hot

2009-05-06T09:47:00.010-04:00

During our first evening on the C&O trail we were awakened by the a troop! We heard footsteps, laughter and the sound of voices happily chattering. As the sounds drew closer to our camp flashlights began to illuminate the area around us, soon finding our tent. Then we began to hear loud "SSSHHHHH" sounds. After everyone in this approaching group had a chance to hiss this sound through their teeth the peace of night could be heard again and we drifted off to sleep.When we awoke and crawled out of our tent were were surprised by the "town" that was at our doorstep. A boy scout troop had hiked their way in.

We packed up and rode to the next H/B site then pulled out our stove and made pancakes for breakfast.

Mid morning we ran into a battalion of walkers. Suddenly the trail dissapeared and there was only a sea of people ahead. It crossed our minds to go back, but decided it could not last too long. We yelled "On the left!" as we approached. It was repeated like dominos up the trail and the left hand side of the trail began to appear. We slowly pedaled past the walkers and the woods soon became quiet again.
We pedaled 62 miles before making camp the second night. There was plenty of time to relax, enjoy the breeze, listen to the birds, read a book, or just stare up into the trees.

Just after we set up our tent and crawled inside it began to rain. The wind grew very stong and then thunder cracked. We looked at each other excitedly. Thunder storms from a tent are awesome! After the first thunder crack however the rain stopped, the wind died down and the sky spoke no longer.

Long & Flat

2009-05-06T09:42:00.012-04:00

For our first tour of 2009 we decided to take an easy flat trail. We began Friday morning and headed out with our loaded bikes onto the C&O Canal Trail.

A light rain shower started a few miles down the trail. Soon after we put on our rain coats it stopped and the weather was nice the rest of the tour. Many sections of the trail were lined with flowers.

Along the way we passed many of the old locks from the canal system.

By the end of the first day we had ridden 58 miles. A day without spreadsheets, phone calls or IM's. Lately we have been spending 10-14 hours at work each day. Although the trail was long and flat, the leisurely pedaling was a nice relaxing break from work. We stopped at this free hiker-biker campsite for the night. All of the hiker-biker sites along this trail have a water pump and porta-john

Packing the Pannier

2009-04-22T23:36:00.003-04:00

The panniers are finally packed for our first bike tour of 2009. Tomorrow evening we are headed down to Maryland to bike the C&O Canal trail. We will be parking at the visitor center in Williamsport then biking down to Washington DC and back.

Since I so often Google for lists of things to pack - just to make sure I didn't forget something I decided to post my packing list. The following list has been printed and packed for the trip. This should make the job of finding what we need much easier.

Fitnio

2009-03-14T23:41:00.003-04:00

The iPhone has a number of fitness applications. Many are free so I've been giving them a shot. Today before my ride I opened Fitnio and clicked on the bike. Two simple clicks. It then began tracking my mileage and calories. I thought this was pretty cool.When I got home I was pleased to see it was accurate. Then it suggested that I log onto the web site associated with it. Sure, why not. It gave me a map of my ride along with stats for each mile and elevation! More data to play with!!

Who is watching?

2009-03-12T21:08:00.005-04:00

This blog was started our of curiosity for blogging, then it became a good way to keep track of our bike tours. Eventually it morphed into a great way for my sister and I to keep up communication.

Eventually I added Sitemeter to observe traffic and see how many countries I could get to hit my site, just for kicks.Now I'm very curious, someone recently has been reading this blog that I work with. I don't know who. Sitemeter shows they are on the network for the company I work for. I wonder if they will leave a comment? =)

I feel like Benjamin Button

2009-03-10T22:40:00.004-04:00

Today was my birthday and I had a wonderful day!

Pre-20's I dreaded birthdays. In my 20's I was indifferent to them. When I turned 30 they were OK and every year since they have gotten better.

When I walked into work this morning my cube was decorated with balloons and a banner. Then I got a talking card. The Charlie Brown teacher was telling me something important - I didn't catch it. Then another co-worker brought in cupcakes and my friends sang a lovely rendition of "Happy Birthday". After work my husband took me to dinner and then to Pet Palace to pick up a gift.

A perfect day! Who could ask for more? =)

Mud, Snow, and Ice

2009-03-08T18:18:00.007-04:00

The 2009 biking season has begun!!

Saturday March 7th warmed up to 59º! We threw the bikes on the back on the car and drove to Tobyhanna State Park for our first ride of the season. The trail started with deep snow but cleared up after the first hill.
The rest of the trail was a mix of mud and ice patches. This was my first ride on ice since the "mishap" last summer so I was excited to ride through most of the patches without incident.

This year we have a number of long weekends planned and hope to get in quite a few tours.

OBX

2008-12-16T18:59:00.008-05:00

December in the Outer Banks is great. Most businesses are closed for the season because no one is around. This is great for bikers, very little traffic on the road and great hotel prices!

The ride from Nags Head up to Corolla and back was very quiet and relaxing.

Next we rode down to Hatteras and took the free ferry to Ocracoke. It was a long beautiful beach ride.

Warning!

Never tie a scarf around your handlebars. It might get caught in the front wheel and your face would end up looking like this! Doesn't look too bad, but it hurt for quite some time. =) I face planted within the first 5 miles of our ride, but had to finish the 68 miles we scheduled for that day. I caught up on Jill's blog last night and was pumped for a long ride!

This was our final ride for 2008. We finished with 2,276 miles! What a fun year!

The Weight of Snow

2008-10-28T12:03:00.005-04:00

Trin got up many times throughout the night to the sound of footsteps all around the house. The sound of slamming doors was disconcerting, for him anyway, I slept through most of it.We woke up to six inches of white – our first snow fall of the year. The trees are crying from the weight of heavy wet clinging snow. They are relieved only by the occasional breeze that releases the weighted white coating. It hits the ground sounding like running heavy weights.

I stood on our back porch listening to the thunder of trees breaking followed by the waterfall of snow pounding the ground leaving a cloud of white mist to settle.A tree in the back yard was doing a back bend over the house. Trin donned a helmet and planned his attack. He used a log to hit the lower trunk of the tree, giving it enough vibration to loosen some of the snow. Each ram brought the tree up about an inch. It is now upright; I think it will make it through this storm.The road is closed, so we can not drive to work and our internet connection is not working so we can not work from home. Vacation day! Trin can enjoy his new heated toilet seat - he just installed it last night. And I’ll finish my book! Every hour or so we check out the latest crash to see what tree nearly missed our house. So far huge branches have fallen on every side; some have shaken the house, but no major damage yet. More firewood for the winter! =)

Finger Lake Tour

2008-09-21T23:15:00.008-04:00

I hope he doesn’t point right I thought as we climbed the hill at mile 69. The right turn looked like a steep hill. Trin and I parked yesterday morning near Watkins Glen. He carried the cue sheet and navigated. I followed along and enjoyed the scenery as we rode up along the east side of Seneca Lake to camp at the top in Waterloo. It was a gorgeous day with beautiful views the entire way.We started this morning with a nice pancake breakfast donned our jackets and headed for the west side of Seneca Lake down to the Keuka Outlet trail. The Keuka outlet trail is a beautiful single track along the outlet connecting Kauka Lake to Seneca Lake.

Keauka Lake is shaped like a snake’s tongue. When we reached it we followed the bluff (the land mass between the fork) along the lakeside. There was very little traffic, the trees provided shade, and the view of the lake was prominent. At the bottom of the bluff – where the lake forks we encountered our first large climb of the day. In a little over half a mile we gained 200 ft elevation. The benefit was a gradual coast almost the entire way back out of the bluff to the top of the West fork.

Next we turned south again to follow the outer west side of the lake down to Hammondsport. It was at Hammondsport when we cut east back to Watkins glen that we encountered our largest hills of the ride. Yes, he signaled right. The first hill at the tip of Kauka bluff looked small in comparison. Each time I thought we were almost to the top it was just a turn in the road, a turn that took us higher, 500 feet higher in one and a half miles. The view was beautiful from the top. The next 17 miles would take us up and down in elevation. At mile 80 the road again seemed to stretch to heaven, our legs felt like they were in hell and our pace had slowed to the point where a snail could fly by. We stopped at the top out of exhaustion. We both drank all our water and ate the rest of our food as we gazed at the sunset reflecting off the lakes way off in a distance down on the valley floor. We still had six miles to go and it was getting dark. If the hills continued like this it could be very dark by the time we reached our car.
We hopped back on our bikes feeling refreshed. The rest of the hills didn’t seem so bad. The last three and half miles were all descent. The wind was cold as we coasted between 30 and 40 mph, but we reached Watkins Glen just after dusk. The once totaled maxima gleamed under the Wal-Mart parking light – what a beautiful sight.

Cake on a bike blog? I need a goal!

2008-09-12T22:48:00.010-04:00

Trin and I reached our summer biking goal and haven't ridden since. Instead I've been working 14 hr days and spending time on other hobbies like this baby shower cake.

We decided today that we needed another goal to give us that extra ump to get us out the door doing something. A number of times we got out and rode just because we needed to rack up some miles. Almost every time, once we were on the road we loved it. It turned out to be a great summer.

A few of us at the lunch table decided we would have a walking/ running contest. Whoever books the most mileage by the end of each month wins. This should help get me off my butt since I love competition.

Steroid Happy!

2008-09-08T19:42:00.013-04:00

My rotator cuff has been bothering me since the mishap on Mt Washburn. So today my doctor gave my shoulder a steroid shot. I've never had any type of steroid before. I wasn't aware of any of the side effects (except big muscles).

I got back to work and just started smiling. I wanted to skip - and on a Monday! Since normally Monday's are just so so I found this odd. So I googled "steroid happy" and found that steroid users are often happy while using.

I hope to not need another shot for a very long time - never would be fine with me, but I might as well enjoy this one.

These are the things that crossed my mind on the way back to work, my favorite things.

A good downhill tuck
Trinity singing in the shower
Starting down a technical hill scared shitless, realizing I could make it halfway down, and whooping at the end if I'm still on the bike with no injuries
Exploring nature on a bike far from civilization
Finding a way to cut the time of a process in half
Drinking with my friends
Finding new features in Excel - actually anything in Excel
New cool widgets get me excited
Talking to my sister
Saturday mornings
Seeing new places

Oh so many more things. Next Monday when I have a normal humdrum Monday I'll read this again. Maybe it will bring the smile back.

We reached our BHAG!!!

2008-08-30T17:59:00.008-04:00

Last year we decided to set a goal to ride a century (100 miles in one day) by Aug 2007. We set up a training schedule to get us ready, stuck to it, and did it! In total we biked 1,000 miles for that summer. This year we decided to set a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) of doubling last year’s mileage.

We started this three day weekend only 65 miles short of our summer goal and hoped to finish before going back to work on Tuesday.

This morning it rained and thunder showers were forecasted intermittently through out the day. When the sky cleared around Noon we decided to get at least 15 miles in. The weather held out and on mile 30 Trin looked at me and said, ”Want to make it a metric century and finish our goal today?" All I could think at the time was that I was hungry, but I did want to finish. We stopped at a nearby convenient store to get some food. I got a turkey sandwich, which for some reason I have been craving all year, and continued our ride. We climbed a few hills, got in a number of great downhill tucks - up to 50mph today, and completed our miles!

Tonight we CELEBRATE riding 2,000 miles for the summer of 2008!!

Finishing our Ride around Lake Champlain

2008-08-22T11:12:00.009-04:00

Day 5:

By early Tuesday morning our one man pup tent was sagging very close to us. Movement was a coordinated effort as it was, even more so now. Puddles had also collected along the sides of the tent, but did not soak the sleeping bag (yes, to save on weight on the bike we just brought one). The downpour started as soon as we got into the tent the night before and rain continued till morning, but we stayed dry. In the morning as soon as we heard the rain taper off we quickly took everything into the campgrounds laundromat so we would have room to roll up the sleeping bag, tent, and tarp, and get packed up and ready for a rainy day. Providence/Luck (I don’t know which to say these days) was with us, not another drop of rain fell during our ride. The trip turned out to be perfect, we had the excitement of a thunderstorm in a tent, while staying dry and not having to ride through a bit of rain the entire trip.

Our five day route ended on mile 244.

City Ride

2008-08-22T11:11:00.007-04:00

Day 4:

Monday morning we headed out of Adult Camp through Burlington toward Shelburne camp. Burlington had some nice bike paths through town making travel through the city a bit more enjoyable and a lot safer. I could tell we were in a city by the demeanor of the other cyclists. Normally all cyclist wave, smile or nod to each other. On the city trails they all ignore each other, just like pedestrians in New York City. I guess I understand, after all it would be exhausting to acknowledge everyone you passed on the street in NY City. This is why I would rather be on back roads or in the woods any day.

Monday was hot as soon as we checked into the camp we rode our bikes out to the deserted pool and jumped it. It felt so good. I love to bike, and I love to swim, this is a perfect day.

The wind had been blowing hard all day; we thought it might be blowing in a storm. Soon after we were in our tent a huge thunderstorm ensued along with a torrential downpour. Thankfully we had a tarp over the bikes and tent, but torrential rain on a tarp is very loud. The rain continued all night.

Peace by the Lake

2008-08-21T22:31:00.010-04:00

Day 3:
Sunday morning, we headed out early. Our neighbor on the left, evidently noticing our bikes for the first time watched us pack up and seemed intrigued. He never said anything but seemed to enjoy watching, maybe remembering trips he had taken when he was young. To our right a boy emerged from a camper with his dog. He proceeded across the road to the lake looking for his raft. When he didn’t find it he proceeded to throw a fit, screaming at the world flaying his arms. His neglected dog then ran out into the road and nearly got hit, when the car slowed down the boy ran across the road as well. Trin said “Prime Time television.” The boy then called his dog stupid, Trin whispered, “nope, its not the dog” We looked at the neighbor to the left and we all rolled our eyes.

Today our destination was Champlain Adult Campground. When Trin first told me he booked a night at Adult camp I was a little concerned and asked what we would be expected to do there. I soon found out that “Adult camp” meant a camp ground only for Adults, no kids (no flailing kids) allowed. This would make a great mid-way stop, and hopefully a great night of sleep with little noise. Don’t get me wrong I like kids, and like this morning they can be very entertaining, but this would be a night off.

Sunday was supposed to be the shortest ride of our trip. After getting our camp site we decided to head out to the local store to get food for our next few meals. The friendly Frenchman who owned the camp directed us to a store “1 mile down the road.” Five miles later we found it, so we still ended up riding 50 miles just like the past two days.

The camp site was perfect, secluded and right next to the lake. We set up camp and went for a nice long swim in Lake Champlain. Our tent rested at the crest of a rock cliff and high winds drove the waves hard all night. So much for "quiet", but we really enjoyed the site; it was a great chance to relax.

We eat Spam, not dog

2008-08-20T23:04:00.006-04:00

Day 2:
Saturday morning after loading up the bikes again we hung our laundry from the bungee cords that were securing our tent and sleeping bag hoping they would air dry during the day. Unfortunately they did come out a little musty smelling from the bit of rain Friday night, but at least they didn’t smell like skunk! We continued up the New York side of Lake Champlain crossing the Rt 2 bridge over to Vermont just before the Canadian border. Saturday evening we stayed at Goose Point Camp ground. I was concerned when we pedaled in as all the tents in the camp ground seemed to be very close together. When we got to our lot we found it might not be that bad. There was a nice weeping willows overhead that hopefully would shield our laundry that evening from the dew.

We stopped at the store to see what we could get for dinner. The woman running the store had a group of visitor sitting around at the entrance making it very difficult to get to the actual isles and their kids were running all over screaming – not just making noise, but actually coming close to splitting the ear drums. When we found a few items we had to interrupt to purchase them. If there were any other stores in the vicinity they would not have gotten our business.

With no stove (we had decided to keep our load as light as possible,) we ended up with spam, after getting frustrated with the peal back lid doubling as a spoon we decided to use our fingers. With the close quarters we could hear the entire conversation of our neighbors that seemingly recently came out of a box. One of the kids had been reading a book during their time at this camp and was amazed at things she was finding out. The statements like “did you know Filipinos eat dogs?!” kept intruding our slumber. Trin of course was raised in the Philippines, and he has never eaten dog.

Preparation Aches

2008-08-19T20:26:00.004-04:00

I learned about the Lake Champlain Bikeways when I was looking for some Vermont biking. It seemed like a good choice for a first bike tour so I ordered up the maps from their website and could not wait to surprise Bonnie about my excellent find. As it turned out she of course had already ordered a set of maps several days before I did. Which came as no surprise to me.
A quick google search yielded a cue sheet that begins from the bottom of the lake, goes up through the New York side to Canada then goes down through Vermont. I mapped it out in Mapsource and modified it so that it began from Crown Point state park and then crossed over to Vermont right before reaching the Canadian border.
Bonnie gave me a list of camgrounds in the general Lake Champlain area and I waymarked them in with the route map. We then chose the campgrounds based on a 50-mile max daily mileage. We ended up charting rides just below 50 miles for each day.
The first campground I called to make reservations was Crown Point. We were told that the park was flooded due to several days of continuous rain. This was unwelcome news and we worried that it may be a preview of how the tour would come down.
Undettered, I proceeded to check the other campgrounds and found out that they did not share Crown Point's predicament. I simply rotated the route and found a different starting point near Port Henry. We decided to make reservations on campgrounds for each night to ensure we would not be riding around looking for another campground should the one we chose was full.
For the first night we decided we'd stay in a motel since we would be driving to the lake right off from work and would arrive at a late hour, way past quiet time in most campgrounds. We found a mom-and-pop motel called Family Fun Cabins and Motel. The owner sounded very pleasant over the phone and was very accommodating about us leaving the car at their place for five days.
All the campgrounds we chose had available sites and we had no problems placing reservations.
Another tool that helped in choosing daily mileages was the terrain view of Google Maps. If the terrain showed a hilly profile, we reduced some miles from it.

Five Days with the bike and tent

2008-08-19T18:57:00.009-04:00

Getting Ready:
Trin and I took a 5 day bike tour around Lake Champlain, so I’m very behind on blogging. We are currently on our way home and internet connection is slow from the road so I’ll post a bit and attempt to catch up over the next few days.

We prepared and over prepared over the last few weeks. Trin mapped out the route and printed the cue sheets. I started packing then rethinking everything that was packed since we would have to carry it all on our bikes. Maybe we over prepared, but this was going to be our first “real” bike tour. We left our office building around 5PM Thursday night but I continued to work on the way to Lake Champlain, till around 10PM when we lost all cell coverage. It’s the time of year budget for 2009 need to set up, this means many late nights to be able to take a few days off. Our first night we stayed in a cabin where we would park our car during the 5 days that we would be biking.

Day 1

Friday morning we loaded up the panniers and said goodbye to work and all other electrical devices. No Google for 5 days!! Well, we did take our cell phones in case of emergency, but left them powered off the entire time so that we would have batteries if we did need them, OK so I turned mine on 3 times to check the time. The first mile was all decent and a bit chilly but as soon as we started climbing the next mountain we warmed up and the weather stayed beautiful. Friday evening we stayed at Au Sable Camp grounds. We rode around the area for a bit to view the Au Sable Chasm and bought a “stuffed crust pizza” from the local store, but I think it was stuffed with particle board instead of cheese. After we got in our tents it rained a bit giving our clothes no chance to dry. To save on luggage we only brought two sets of clothes, washing them out each evening. The camp was quiet except for occasional noises from nearby camps. The honking of the camp near us as someone blew their nose a number of times and a nasal Wanka Wanka Wanka from a kid on the other side of the grounds. The only other disturbance was a skunk that kept coming over and making lots of noise near us. At one point he came right over to my side of the tent. I yelled at him to “GET”, surprisingly and thankfully he did. We slept till dawn woke us up.

The Downhill Tuck

2008-08-04T21:46:00.002-04:00

Being on a bike is freedom. Sure I could see some of the same scenery from my car window, but on a bike all the senses are engaged, the world is experienced. I love to bike, most of all the downhill tuck. Hugging the core of my bike as close as possible minimizing wind resistance, racing down a hill till the wind pushes all moisture out of the eyes as tear drops straight back to the ears. This never fails to make me smile big enough to get bugs in my teeth.

Long Island, Orient Point

2008-07-21T20:11:00.011-04:00

Sunday we rode the ferry out to Shelter Island. It was scenic, the traffic was low, and the people were very friendly.
On our way back to Sag Harbor we jumped in the ocean to cool off.

Sunday night we decided to stay at the Silver Sands Motel, right on the beach, beautiful and relaxing. The next morning we road out to Orient point. On our way we stopped at a deli to buy lunch. For some reason I have been craving Turkey sandwiches this year. Since Trin is more coordinated on the bike, and pretty much on anything, he carried our lunch, in a spectacular display of one-handed riding, out to the beach at the end of Orient Point.

It was very hot again so we stopped at Goldsmith Inlet for a quick swim. The water felt great so we swam to the other side. As we approached the far shore, ouch, ouCH, OUCH! We swam up on shore and got out, then looked back to see a bunch of little jellyfish. We were glad to be out of the water, but now we needed to swim back. We waited for a break in the line of Jellyfish, jumped in and swam back as fast as we could.

We ended our long weekend sitting on lawn chairs on the beach, listening to the waves lap the shore, enjoying the breeze.

The Officers Flashlight

2008-07-20T07:28:00.008-04:00

We parked at Hither Hills state park and biked out to the Montauk Light house today, winding around all the roads on the north side of the fork. The weather was perfect.

Since the campgrounds were full we decided to stay in our car overnight. Around 10Pm a security guard came by, shined his light on Trin, and then came over to my side and told us we couldn't park there overnight. We went further down the road and found a church with a huge parking lot. We parked in the far corner and set our alarm for 6AM wanting to be out of there before anyone arrived for church the next morning. Around 4:30AM a police officer came around. He pointed his flashlight on Trin, then came over to my side to let us know we had to leave. He was very nice, and I wasn't sure how to answer the question "where are you staying?" so I told the truth, "here." He smiled and told us about a park just down the road that would be private and we wouldn't be bothered there. We ended up just driving to Sag Harbor to start our biking early.

Later at the beach a little girl was merrily running down a ramp, but stopped short when she saw Trin. She cowered to the side till her mom came to get her. Now our joke is that Trin is scary! Both officers came over to talk to me after taking one look at him, and a little girl cowers at the sight of him!! LOL! Now does this look like a scary face?

Biking NYC

2008-07-17T07:24:00.006-04:00

Since I had to be in New York City for business this week, why not take advantage of the bike routes!

We rode from SkyTown down around Battery Park, then up to Central Park.
The Central Park loop was especially fun. The road was closed to vehicles and pedestrians stayed on the side of the road. This left it wide open for the bikes! We could race around the park, and there were plenty of other bikers to give us incentives to push harder.

Three and a half weeks after the mishap on Mt. Washburn I can finally breathe without pain and get through most of our rides with very little pain. Most importantly I feel like I'm getting my confidence back.

Michigan, Kal-Haven Rail Trail

2008-06-28T23:13:00.005-04:00

Our last stop on the Pennsylvania to Yellowstone, Wyoming road trip.

We hopped on a rail trail this morning intending to put in maybe 50 miles. Around mile 10 we asked each other how much further we wanted to go. We were enjoying the trail and had thoroughly enjoyed our trip, but we were ready to go home. On mile 11 we looked at each other and said, "lets just go home" We turned around and headed back for the car, then drove straight home. We got in around 2AM. I'm a bit anal about having the house spotless before leaving for vacation, but what a wonderful feeling to walk in to a clean house after a long trip! This worked out perfectly giving us Sunday to relax and do laundry before going back to work.

The Dark Wisconsin Tunnel

2008-06-26T08:04:00.006-04:00

The rail trail we choose today boasted 3 old train tunnels. Just before entering the first one we passed a big sign advertising flashlights, ice cream, and soda. A home owner along the trail was taking full advantage of his location. We smiled and rode on. Just a little way into the first tunnel there was a turn. From there for half a mile there was no light whatsoever, not even a speck at the end of the tunnel. A distant drone slowly became louder and a small light appeared to be getting closer. Trin said, "A ghost train!" We decided to turn around and did our best not to run. We went back to the small ice cream stand and paid $5 for a flashlight. The "train" turned out to be a park truck doing maintenance on the trail.

The tunnel was damp and eerie. The only sound was that of dripping water and our bike tires on the old rail mound. This was the kind of darkness that makes every horror movie ever seen flash back into memory. This 3/4 mi tunnel was quite an experience.Before leaving Wisconsin we stopped at "The house on the rock" a house built around a pinnacle rock

It features an infinity room. The room narrows as it looms further over the valley below. The windows angle outward, giving a good view of the forest floor below. A number of people walked to the end with feet spread far apart and hands reaching out on either side as if they were going to suddenly fall out of the room.

The Greenway, Minnesota

2008-06-25T23:56:00.011-04:00

Of all the cities we have biked in, we vote Minnesota to be the best!! At times we felt like the city could be miles away.

Normally on our rides I'm the one that will take inspiration from a slow car or another rider going by to speed up and pass, or race them. Trin is always saying, "Oh, no here we go." Today as we stopped for a red light a road bike (we are on our mountain bikes) pulled up beside us and gave us a superior look. When the light turned green he took off with Trin right behind. I laughed, "Oh no I've rubbed off on him!!" We paced him for a few miles till the road biker turned off the greenway. Next time we stopped, nothing had to be said I just gave Trin a look and we both started laughing.

Thank you to Olga for giving me the wonderful bike map of the Twin Cities last time you visited PA!

Best quote of the day: "uhh, uhh, uhh, (a kind of gut/guttural sound) Come on dude!" On part of the commuter bike trail we came across a small "traffic jam" the inline skaters behind us felt a little angst at our sudden stop. We jumped off the trail giving them more time to stop before hitting the jam. We have now taken to saying this to each other whenever we see someone getting frustrated.

Maa Daah Hey

2008-06-24T22:16:00.002-04:00

The day after our attempt up Mt. Washburn we stopped at Mammoth springs then drove across Montana, skipping biking for the day.

North Dakota and we are back in the saddle. The Maa Daah Hey Trail is reported to be one of the best single tracks, something we definitely didn't want to miss. The Dr. said that it would be painful to ride the next few weeks but that it would not cause further injury, so here we go!

I didn't clip my left foot in the entire time; I'll leave that for the ride tomorrow. =)

Wyoming, Yellowstone

2008-06-22T15:51:00.001-04:00

Yellowstone Natl Park

I have longed to see Yellowstone National Park since I can remember ever knowing about it. It's thrilling to think of walking atop a live volcano. Steam whistles out of small fissures as if a tea pot were forgotten on the burner. Deep blue pools beckon the observer to wade forward and swim as if in the Caribbean. This surface beauty gives only glimpses of the raw power lying just beneath its thin crust.

We rode a few of the bike trails. It was a great way to see some of the park away from the crowds. Still no grizzly sightings, but the bison were in abundance. They owned the park, meandering down the highway as they pleased, glancing at the cars with a look that says, "hey haven't you seen a bison before?" We could have reached out the window and touched them as they walked around our car. Mt. Washburn

Our last ride in Yellowstone was up Mount Washburn, well almost up to the summit. We started at the base of Chittenden road. It was a steady climb, we were moving slow, but steady. The higher we got the more snow we were running into, but the view was gorgeous. Then we came to the fateful snow patch. Evidently I didn't get all the mud out of my clip when we carried the bikes through the last snow patch, or at least this is my excuse. When I hit the new patch of ice I didn't unclip in time. Instead I planted my bike handle bars directly onto the trail and tried to impale my chest on the other end. With the combination of high elevation, climbing, and then this blunt force impact I couldn't catch my breath. After getting up out of the ice cold mud puddle I was quite dizzy, and the pain was excruciating. We failed to make the top. I was extremely disappointed. Someday we will go back and finish it.
The staff at the hospital in Montana was very nice and thankfully the X-rays showed no broken ribs. The impact hit the cartilage between my ribs and sternum. Within a few days I had a nice large purple lump and a number of wonderful memories of Yellowstone.

What is a Blog

2008-06-19T01:08:00.000-04:00

So I just finished reading my husbands blog "Bike Rides and Meanderings" He has such a way with words, a way of describing things so that the reader is actually there and can join his bike ride. My blog, well if you can even call it blogging, turns out to be a list of facts. A list of facts that my kind sister reads, right now she is my faithful audience, lol.

It is a warm night tonight, our windows are open and a number of small gnats have managed to find their way in. As I slap at another I muse out loud, "why are bugs drawn to light anyway?" Without missing a beat my husband responds, "because they are descendants of Icarus." See how does he come up with these things! I lists facts and wonder at the mundane. He looks around and easily reflects a picture of words, overlooks the ordinary and makes it interesting.

It seems I can think of so many things to say while riding my two wheels, maybe its just too late and I should call it a night. Tomorrow I shall try again!

Wyoming, Grand Tetons

2008-06-18T22:19:00.001-04:00

The Grand Tetons!

The first night we took a short easy ride through Antelope flats. A heard of Bison were grazing next to the road, one was rolling around in the dirt. They lazily watched as we road next to them. After they were out of site Trin and I dared each other to sprint back to the car at the speed of a Bison. LOL, we barely reached the 35mph, but didn't keep it up for long.

We spent the next day on the RKO trail. It is an old gravel road that cuts between the Tetons and Snake River - breathtaking views! We didn't see another soul the entire ride!

Grassy Lake Road:
The following day we headed out onto Grassy Lake Road, an old Indian trail between the Tetons and Yellowstone Natl Park. We saw a number of bear tracks, but no bear sightings. We met two other riders who were ridding the Great Divide. The started at the Mexican border and were headed to Canada.

The further we progressed the more snow we were encountering. We ended up turning around due to the amount of snow still remaining. We felt like wimps until we saw that the Great Divide riders turned around as well. We felt much better. If they couldn't make it! Of course we later saw them doing an elevation climb in Yellowstone, OK, we are still wimps. Riders like that keep the bar high, always more to achieve.

SD Black Hills

2008-06-15T01:53:00.002-04:00

Mickelson Trail
We loved the Mickelson Trail through the black hills of South Dakota. We only rode about 50 miles of the Mickelson trail, but thoroughly enjoyed it!

Wind Cave
At Wind cave we got in line and purchased tickets for one of the three main tour options through the cave. Then we noticed a "wild cave tour" An option of following a guide through a "unmaintained" portion of the cave. It warned that participants should be under a certain size, be in good physical condition, be ready to climb and get filthy. This sounded like fun! Luck for us there were two spots left that day. We returned our tickets then went back to the car to put old shirts long sleeved shirts on. No cameras, phones, keys etc allowed. We geared up with the required knee pads, gloves, flashlights, and helmets! It was a fun interesting way to see the cave.

Mammoth Site in Hot Springs:

Elephants are one of my favorites so a stop at the Mammoth archaeological dig was a must!

Scenic Drives

Two scenic corkscrew roads not to miss!

Iron Mountain: Each tunnel on this road had a nice view of the carvings on Mt. Rushmore

Needles Road: This road wound through some excellent rock formations.

Hells Canyon
Driving out of South Dakota in the evening we stopped by a scenic turnout. There we noticed a small single track. The sign said it was only 5mi. Why not, we quickly changed unloaded the bikes and headed out. Unfortunately we didn't complete the entire trail as darkness fell very quickly. By the time we got back to the car we were following the trail with flashlights. We also found our clothes covered with ticks!!! We took them off as quick as possible shook them out and tied them tight in a plastic bag to be washed later. After scanning for ticks on each other we got dressed and headed down the road. Thankfully this was a very remote trail and no one else was around! It was a fun pit stop.

South Dakota

2008-06-14T01:24:00.001-04:00

We traveled miles and miles across the flats of South Dakota. Billboards continually reminded us that we would soon be at Wall Drug where they offer free ice water, or that we would soon be near the world’s only corn palace! Then in the middle of this never ending plain we seen an announcement for a scenic overlook, we both looked at each other and laughed – its flat land as far as the eye could see – or so we thought! The landscape suddenly dropped before us revealing a beautiful valley – it was gorgeous!

In this valley we stopped at Casey’s noted as having the “Perfect burger” - according to Readers Digest. The burger was good, but the service was great. A lot of restaurants will charge you extra to split a meal, and only if you ask will they bring a separate plate. Here they cut the burger for us and brought the meal out on two plates without us even asking. It’s the little things that count. The waitress was very friendly! I enjoy good service and am at the point in my life where I will pay extra for it. I’m not rich, but I’m no longer so poor that I scrape ice off the bedroom wall in the winter either. When that was the case, I sometimes had to put up with poor service as the best price was an absolute must. Now that I’m comfortable, I won’t do business with business rude people. Life is too short to throw dollars at mean people. If possible I’m a customer to those who hire employees with people skills and pleasant personalities. They deserve a little extra and a good tip.

The best part of this road trip so far is just being free and enjoying this life with my husband. South Dakota, flat open country, big sky, green grass, open space, grazing cattle (which for some reason my husband and I have taken to the habit of making mooooing sounds each time we pass a heard). A comfortable car, long flat roads, and a thoughtful, kind, selfless man in the seat next to me, contentment and freedom!

Chicago Biking

2008-06-13T01:01:00.001-04:00

First Stop, Chicago

We spent the afternoon riding along the Lakefront trail in Chicago. This was a beautiful way to see the city.

The route is an easy ride through parks along the Lake Michigan. We ended the day with a great meal from Isla Pilipina - EXCELLENT food!

Lancaster County Tour

2008-05-26T08:37:00.001-04:00

Lancaster a beautiful place to ride!

Lancaster has a great bike club web site with directions for numerous scenic rides for all experience types.

May 24, 2008
We took a "Short Ride to Intercourse" . Yes, that is the name of the ride - and the local town!

May 25th, 2008
We took the "Covered Bridge Metric Century" With a few scenic wrong turns we ended up with a 68 mile ride.

May 26th, 2008
"Mount Joy Jaunt" offers hill top views and flowing wheat fields.

Pine Creek Rail Trail

2008-05-18T23:06:00.000-04:00

Getting in a few miles!!
Day 1
Yesterday Trin and I biked from Jersey Shore, PA to Wellsboro, PA on the Pine Creek Rail Trail. It was a beautiful day and the trail is gorgeous.

There is a nice parking area in Jersey Shore. Since the bike bridge over the highway is complete it’s a great place to start.

We began the day with a flat tire, but Trin's new Co2 inflator was excellent!!

This trail is tranquil, lush, and teaming with wildlife. The miles go by easily.

There is a convenience store in Waterville where we stopped for lunch. Further down the trail we filled up our water bottles between Camel and Slate Run. The taste of an under ground spring just can't be found at the store.

Day 2

The rain began before we left this morning. It was a bit cold so we stopped in Blackwell to put yesterdays clothes on as well. We stayed warm as long as we kept riding, but the drizzle continued for 50 miles. My rain coat ripped but yesterdays blown tire made for a very functional belt, if you don't mind a spare tire around the waist!

We stopped in Slate Run at Wolfes General Store. The food was excellent - best turkey on multi-grain I've had. They invited us in to drip on the floor and track in mud so that we could warm up. Really nice people!

I would definitely recommend this trail!!!

Road Trip Goals!

2008-05-18T22:40:00.000-04:00

In June Trin and I will be headed to Yellowstone National Park from Pennsylvania.

This will complete one bucket goal, actually visiting this wonder of nature!
On our way I'll be getting closer to another bucket goal of visiting every state in the lower 48 (three left after this summer!).
Along the way we will be stopping to bike a few trails. Our 2008 summer goal is to bike 2,000 miles!

We are planning the route with AAA TripTiks (thank you Steve Butler!), waypointing all the things along the way that look interesting.

Trin is the research specialist. He found a bike rack that is stable enough for the long trip, will allow us to access the trunk and is still easy enough to load and unload the bikes. He is currently modifying it, drilling a few holes and adding padlocks various places, for security.

I've already started to pack!