Posts filed under 'Biking'
This morning our our Backroads Trip begins. We are met at 8:00 am in the Grouse Mountain Lodge parking lot by the Backroads crew. They have a lovely spread that we are to make snacks and pack lunch out of. We get to meet our fellow travelers (Joanne, Kathy, Shaun, Bill, Sarah, John and Liz) and our trip leaders (Shoshannah & Melissa). After brief introductions and a couple passes around the food table, we all pile in the van and our adventure begins.
We did the first of our multisport things. A van ride. We got to try this sport several times, and I can highly recommend it in some situations. After a brief stop at West Glacier, we proceeded up the Going to the Sun Road. This is a great way to experience this road. Bill thinks biking it would be a hoot, but I’m not convinced. It is a long uphill that winds around the mountains. We stopped for photos along the way and saw several people biking.
We arrived at Logan’s Pass in the late afternoon. The views are spectacular. We then moved on to our second sport, hiking. This was the first try out for my new hiking boots. Let me say … they rocked. We hiked out a little over 3.5 miles to another wonderful view down the valley. Some spots were a little dizzing due ot the drop off down to the road, but the garden hose hand rail just made us feel so safe. =) We ate our lunches and then hiked back to the van. Our new home away from home. *snicker*
We then had a nice van ride through some of the eastern parts of Glacier to arrive at Many Glacier Lodge. The best description of our stay there can be that it is a view with a room. The room was very small. But when you are in the middle of no where staying in a lodge that is almost 100 years old, I guess it was just fine.
September 21st, 2005
We have the entire day on the train. I keep forgetting how empty North Dakota and most of Montana appear. It is just rolling fields and an occasional town.
We were hoping to have made up some time during the night, but that does not appear to be the case.
One of the new activities on the Empire Builder is an afternoon wine tasting. We happily all signed up. As expected, the wines are passable but nothing we would buy at home. But they had a fun little trivia game that rewarded us with a bottle of wine to take with us. Scott had a little help from his Treo since we were able to get a connection long enough to find out Popeye’s age. 34 in case you wanted to know.
We arrived Whitefish MT around 10 pm. Still a bit late - but not a huge deal. We had reservaations at the Grouse Mountain Lodge and after departing the train, there was a van waiting for us to take us to the Lodge. The service they provide is really nice. The room is your basic large ski lodge style but it is nice to have a big bed. Off to sleep we go.
September 21st, 2005
We are all packed and ready to leave on the train tonight. It is hard to pack for 3 different types of activities and keep it all in one medium size bag.
Scheduled departure - 11:15 pm on the Empire Builder out of St. Paul. Train delayed. We actually got on the train about 12:30. So late start, but still ok.
Our bed was all made for us and waiting for us to fall fast asleep. What a start to the trip.
September 21st, 2005
We recently returned from an active vacation trip to Glacier. We had a truly wonderful time. It was the most fun vacation I have ever been on. It was our first “active” type vacation and it was completely low stress. Who would have thought?
Going with our normal vacation planning process, Scott, Bill and I had a bottle (or two) of wine one Sunday night and discussed possible things we could do. After looking at the wonderful Backroads brochures Brenda had lent us, books on the USFS park lodges and train information. We decided to try a Backroads trip to Glacier / Waterton park. Starting and ending with a train trip on the Empire Builder. We booked it Monday am. =) (Just giving brief history.)
So we left on our adventure on August 18th. Here is my continuing version of our trip. =)
September 21st, 2005
Basically I have to agree with Michele - the whole thing was a hoot (other than the begining issues) and the weather could not have been better.
Basically we started out in cool temperatures under cloudless skies. Then we did about five big hills in the first ten miles. I am lead to understand that any hill that you hit 50+ MPH going down is defined as “gently rolling”. The look on the crew’s faces after the first few hills was not good 
For some odd reason (they say I am crazy) I seem to enjoy hill climbing. I think it is revenge for all the times I got owned by hills when I started biking. After Michele told us to leave her on the roadside (now that was difficult for me), I rejoined Eric and Scott for the ride into Elmwood. We waited for Michele at the rest stop in Elmwood - she was averaging 4 miles an hour faster without us - hrmmm. So continuing out of Elmwood on the “big hill” we ended up on some of the most pleasant roads I have biked on. We had one close call with a hay truck. I was spitting hay for several miles. Other than the hay truck I do not think I have dealt with consistently more pleasant drivers - they all waved and would wait to pass until they could see around you enough to give you lots of space. They did this even if it meant idling up a 1 mile hile at 8 or 9 miles an hour behind a bunch of bikes - very nice.
At some point on the first loop Eric started to poop out. We started leaving him behind on hills. Once we finished the first loop we took a break at the nicely provisioned rest stop for lunch. Eric decided that he felt better and was going to join us for the second, less hilly, loop. On the way out of town we hit an amazingly steep hill. Not very long but incredibly steep. Scott ended up off the road (don’t ask) in his granny/granny gear. As he pedaled furiously trying to get back on the road he got passed by Eric - who was walking his bike up the hill. Scott has really REALLY low gears! After getting to the top we passed the street the our hotel was on and Eric decided that sounded better than doing another 40 some odd miles with us.
The second loop was much better. Scott and I both did start to poop out towards the end though. After we finished we had to bike back to the hotel as we had told Michele to take the car back. Guess what, remember that really steep hill? Well that was the best way to get there. Ouchie! So overall - two flats, one broken spoke, and 103 miles with either 4700 or 6500 verticle feet depending on whether you used a wrist mounted altimeter or Topo USA.
Cold beer has never tasted so good 
August 18th, 2005
Well, we went to Menomonie, WI for the Weekend on Wheels that is sponsored by the TCBC (twin cities bike club). Overall, I would have to say it was a complete hoot.
We drove down on Friday evening, after stopping for some Sesame Chicken at The Oriental Restaurant on the way out of town. Carbo-loading. =) Found the registration area easily enough, signed in and picked up our jerseys. Then it was off to the hotel. Found it after seeming to drive forever. On the complete wrong side of town. After a bit of mucking about, found out it was the wrong hotel and that instead of reservations at the Comfort Inn it was actually reservations at the Country Inn on the other side of town. Doh. Embarrassing, but it all worked out fine and by 8:30 we were sitting in our room and drinking Sangria with Scott and Eric.
Saturday am: We got up early to have breakfast. Met in the lobby at 6:15 and walked over to Perkins to fill our tummies for a day of riding. After breakfast, we went back to the hotel to get our stuff together and head to Riverside Park for the start.
We picked up the maps and a little food to eat on the way and left on the S1 route. It was the longest / hilliest route available.
We rolled out and all looked like it would be good til we had gone just a little ways, then the first hill appeared. Just like the Ramsey hill at home. Oof. Tough way to start out the ride. I couldn’t get to the top on my bike and had to walk the last 1/3. At the top I figured, that is over and I’ll do better on the next one. Unfortunately, the next one was just like the first one. Walked again. High spirites from the start were starting to flag. Wondered where the “rollers” were that we trained for. Rode on a little further, more big hills. Not quite so steep - but longer. Sigh. More walking. On the 3rd hill started wheezing. Not the best way to start out a full day of riding.
As we rolled down the hill, I called a stop. Felt like my rear break was dragging. My energy was just waning too fast. After a little looking, turns out I broke a spoke and my rear brake was in fact dragging since the wheel was completely out of round. Eric did a little bit of road-side repair work to get the wheel more straight and they loosened up the rear break so it was not dragging any more. Headache had set in so I took some tylenol and off we went. Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes we were on a nice long uphill stretch and the wheezing came on full force. I had to stop 3 times on one stretch. Everytime head down and gasping for breath. Just not good. I was completely freaking and couldn’t breathe.
We biked over the crest of the hill and I finally told Bill that he should ride ahead with the boys since there was no way I was going to do 100 miles that day and I would just ride along at my own pace. He was clearly unhappy with the thought of leaving me behind, but we worked out a messaging scenario so that we could keep track of eachother while riding at our own pace. So off he went with a wave.
I mentally changed my goal for the day from 100 mile push to just getting back to the car. We were now about 10 miles into the ride and I was a little out of whack. Only 12 more miles to the first rest stop. So I started looking at the scenery and taking way more stop breaks to catch my breath. After a couple miles, I was feeling better and moving along at an ok clip. I took in the beautiful vistas between Menomonie and Elmwood. I talked to the dogs that came out to run with me. I enjoyed the woods and valleys. I even made it up the next few hills. Life is good.
I rolled into Elmwood to find a worried Bill and crew waiting for me at the rest stop. I assured Bill that I was in fact ok and that the ride was getting better. I told them to feel free to ride their own ride and that I would message whenever I stopped and had a signal. Turns out T-Mobile does not have good coverage in WI if you get too far off the freeway. I spent my time at the rest stop chatting with other bikers that were there and then packed up my bag and headed out to the next stop. Leaving town seemed good, until we hit a nice big and looooong hill heading out of town. It didn’t look bad from the bottom, but when I hit the first turn and the hill continued to go up I felt my heart sinking. Then I realized that I hadn’t actually eaten any of the food I had acquired at the rest stop. So I stopped and had a snack, then continued on. I rode on my own through some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen in a long time. The country road they picked were just wonderful. When I got to Dunnsville I found the trail cutoff and took the Red River Trail to the Downsville rest stop.
After enjoying a little rest and chatting with some people, I took the trail back to Riverside Park. All said I did 53 miles and finished the ride feeling very glad I did it.
Later, I’ll put in the Sunday info. =)
Here are some pictures that other riders have put on the web. Click here.
August 15th, 2005
Just catching up on some past stuff ….
On August 6th we did a lovely bike ride of 75 miles through the eastern suburbs. Even stopping to have a nummy cookie at Selma’s in Afton and the usual wonderful ice cream at Nelson’s in Stillwater.
As a funny side, while biking north on 21 into Afton, I was passed by quite the crew of bikers. Then I noticed that one of them was wearing a WOW jersey. Since WOW hadn’t happened yet, I was interested to see what was going on. When we got to Selma’s there was a big crew of TCBC riders including Hugh who is on the WOW committee - wearing the jersey for this year. It was fun to run into the gang doing a ride.
Also, Bob came biking with us. It was fun to have a crew of 5 doing a ride. Hopefully, Scott will share his pic of the group with me and I can post it here later.
August 15th, 2005
On Saturday, Bill, Eric and I went out and rode the 4th TCBC WOW Training Ride. It was a whopping 82 miles by the time we hit the house. Woo hoo. New longest one day ride for me.
August 4th, 2005
I just realized that I cannot remember the last time I posted. That means it was too long ago.
We have been busy lately training to ride the Ironman Bike Ride. Bill and Scott are planning on riding the 100 mile ride. Steve is joining me on the 62 mile ride. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
We did a training ride yesterday. It was actually quite nice. I spent 5 hours touring through the backroads of East Central Minnesota. A nice loop from Mahtomedi to Afton and back through Stillwater.
I just want to thank mom and dad for joining us and providing SAG support. It was very nice not to have to worry about riding alone. It was a milestone for me. I have never done a ride that far on my own. And … I accomplished my goal.
Bill and Scott did a 75 mile training ride in the same area. And both reported that it was a good ride.
Wish us well for our ride. I’ll try to remember to post the results. =)
April 22nd, 2005
Since we have embarked on a new fitter life, we have gotten more into the outdoors. Here is a link to pics from our recent camping / bike trip. We stayed at a wonderful state park on Sakatah Lake which is located on the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail. This was a wonderful weekend for us. We biked from the camp to Makato on Saturday (55 miles round trip) and then from the camp to Faribault on Sunday (28 miles round trip).
Sakatah Pictures
September 20th, 2004
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