tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50592364823144220532024-03-12T22:07:54.692-04:00Seth's Cycling BlogA record of my bicycle-related (and other notable) experiences, adventures, challenges, equipment choices, problems and solutions.Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-9680907984276738912018-05-17T18:02:00.002-04:002018-05-17T18:02:46.885-04:00East Coast Un-Tour: Thursday, May 17, 2018We had a great time with our friends in Quebec. While there we did an enormous amount of walking but zero cycling. We walked all over the old city each day, and one day we drove out to a Canadian National Park for a more rustic hike. Note some of the snow we hiked through in the photo below.<br />
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From there we moved on by ourselves to Bar Harbor, Maine and the adjoining Acadia National Park. The park has scenic roads and carriage-ways and we fully expected to pull the tandem out of the van to enjoy the scenery from the bike. It was not to be, though. The weather was very variable and generally cold and windy while we were there, so we just drove around the park instead.<br />
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After a couple of days, we were back on Highway US 1, slowly moving down the coast. We overnighted and walked around in Rockland (where the guys and I spent a couple of days last summer on our Maine bike trip). From there, we moved on to Portland, with roadside stops at Georgetown Pottery and at the LL Bean mother-ship.<br />
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In Portland, we lucked out and grabbed two nights at a wonderful AirBnB, with fantastic ocean views from our windows, and easy access to South Portland's Greenway Path and the waterside recreation trails across the Casco Bay Bridge in Portland proper. We FINALLY justified carrying the tandem with us all the way to Maine, spending about two and a half hours riding the trails mentioned above. A good bit of that time was spent on portions of US Bike Route 1.<br />
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Truth be told, with the exception of the waterside sections, these trails were adequate, but don't match the West Orange Trail back home. If it had been warmer and sunny, we would probably have enjoyed them more. In addition, the off-trail traffic and the busy Casco Bay Bridge were cause for concern. There were a couple of intersections that were so intimidating that we decided to get off and just walk the bike through the pedestrian cross-walks. All that aside, we were delighted to finally be able to get on the bike!<br />
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<br />Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-72433400266274164852018-05-07T21:57:00.001-04:002019-04-29T20:22:22.131-04:00East Coast Un-Tour: Monday, May 7, 2018<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At present, I have no formal bike tour plan this year, but Kathy and I are finishing our third day of a three week East Coast road trip in a rented mini-van with our tandem in the back. We expect to be doing little rides here and there as opportunities present themselves, so I am going to journal the trip here on my cycling blog, even when we have not actually been on the bike.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We have plans with several of my college friends and their wives in Quebec City from Wednesday through Sunday, so we pushed to get up to New York State in short order. After we leave Quebec, our plan is to head to Bar Harbor Maine, ride a bit in Acadia National Park, then slowly make our way down much of the East Coast, as far as Georgia, driving primarily along Adventure Cycling Association's Atlantic Coast Route. Kathy and I will be taking our time, especially in Maine, which I found to be charming when I visited on the bike last summer. (I still hope to complete my blog entries for that trip some day!) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These first two days were all-day, high mileage ordeals mostly on the interstate.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> We made it to </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Philadelphia l</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ast night in time to have a late dinner with one of Kathy's nephews and his wife. It was kind of a trip in a time machine, back to when Kathy and I were finishing up our own educations and trying to figure out the direction of our "grown-up" lives. Wow! Anyway, getting to Philly was almost 11 hours in the car, with just a few short breaks. The traffic around DC and Baltimore crawled along, even on the alternate route suggested by Waze - even on Sunday. This morning after a couple of hours, the cars and trucks finally thinned out as we headed north toward NY's Finger Lakes area, which is where we are now. We finally got off the interstate and drove instead on Pennsylvania's bike route "J" and at one point pulled over for a riverside lunch stop. The bike route featured many short, steep hills and would have been a challenge on two wheels. Our van kept downshifting to power up many of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We are overnighting just north of Watkins Glen, overlooking Seneca Lake (the largest of NY's Finger Lakes). Not only is this NY's wine region, but it is also loaded with craft breweries. We had dinner at <a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/rooster-fish-brewing-watkins-glen-5" target="_blank">Rooster Fish Brew Pub</a>, sampling two of their own beers. I found their nut brown ale to be just OK but Kathy really enjoyed their cocoa porter. The most notable thing about the meal was that we sampled a <a href="http://beyondmeat.com/products/view/beyond-burger" target="_blank">Beyond Burger</a>, which is a vegan burger that claims to be "the revolutionary plant-based burger that looks, cooks, and satisfies like beef". Now, it is true that I have not eaten an actual beef hamburger in a very, very long time - 20 years or more - but the Beyond Burger looked and tasted just like what I remember. Rooster Fish grilled it and topped it with a slice of tomato and lettuce and onion. It was seriously good. I would definitely order it again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tonight we are staying at a pretty basic, but clean, <a href="http://www.lakeside-resort.com/" target="_blank">Lakeside Resort</a>, located on a beautiful property overlooking the lake. It is on the west shore of Seneca Lake, a couple of miles uphill from Watkins Glen. You can actually take a number of short hikes right on their property here.</span></div>
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Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-25861562046070054902017-07-11T15:47:00.000-04:002017-07-11T15:47:21.604-04:00Flex Tour in Maine: Day 3, 20 June 2017 - Waldoboro to Rockport<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like the previous two days, the course was pretty much non-stop up and down. When we got to the attractive town of Rockland (not to be confused with RockPORT, about five miles up the road) we were all hungry, so we cruised down and back along the main commercial street, settling on what might be best described as a food truck, without the truck, but with a handful of outdoor tables.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our plan was to spend two nights in the Rockport area. We had reserved rooms at the <a href="http://www.ledgesbythebay.com/" target="_blank">Ledges on the Bay</a> hotel but it turned out to be midway between the commercial areas of Rockland and Rockport, about two and a half miles of climbing from each, and definitely not a convenient walk to restaurants, stores, and pubs. Mitch easily convinced us that it would be much better if we stayed at the very nice <a href="http://www.rocklandharborhotel.com/" target="_blank">Rockland Harbor Hotel</a> at the edge of the commercial district of Rockland. Over the phone he negotiated an acceptable cancellation charge at Ledges, but we decided to ride up there to check it out before making a final decision. The view was great, but it would be very inconvenient to stay so far from town. In the end, Shannon at the Ledges told us that her manager had agreed to waive the cancellation charge because we were on bikes. How nice! If we are ever up there while traveling in a motorized vehicle, we will definitely be staying at Ledges by the Bay for the view and the staff, if nothing else.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We coasted back down the hill into Rockland, checked into the modern, clean, and comfortable <a href="http://www.rocklandharborhotel.com/" target="_blank">Rockland Harbor Hotel</a>, got cleaned up, and headed out to find dinner. We had a pretty good meal in Rockland on the outdoor deck of <a href="http://www.thelandingsrestaurant.com/" target="_blank">The Landings Restaurant & Lounge</a>, entertained by seven elderly women practicing their steel drum numbers on the pier next door. (That situation has a very interesting back story.) After dinner we roamed around that part of town and discovered a little park featuring a display of old shipping lane buoys. Nobody paid much attention when Steve wandered off, that is until there was a sudden, deafening clang of the bell on the buoy we were standing beside. Looking up we saw Steve on the other side of the bell holding a sizable rock and grinning broadly. A few minutes later we realized that the buoy park was adjacent to Rockland's police station. Luckily nobody came out to take Steve into custody. I suspect it is a regular event for those working in the station. Our final stop before heading back to the hotel was the <a href="http://www.rockharbor.me/" target="_blank">Rockland Harbor Brewing Company</a>, which had a good selection of their own brews on tap.</span></div>
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Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-20964756475629756562017-07-04T18:17:00.000-04:002017-07-04T18:17:46.261-04:00Flex Tour in Maine: Day 2, 19 June 2017 - Brunswick to Waldoboro<pre class="a-b-r-La a-b-ja-Eb-Vb" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Under somewhat overcast skies, we headed to breakfast at the Brunswick Diner, a very short walk from our hotel. Mitch was excited about breakfast possibilities featuring lobster and he was not disappointed with his selection of a lobster omelette. </span></pre>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This business is located between the hotel and the diner. "Seniors on the Go" seems somehow appropriate for our group, even if Mitch doesn't quite qualify just yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">An hour or after breakfast, we were back on the road and soon hit the first (and by comparison to what came later) the easiest climb of the day -- the bridge over the Androscoggin River.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pretty soon, the sky cleared, it warmed up, and we were treated to some pretty fine Maine eye candy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In fact, it warmed up enough that these guys, delivering many tons of ice to convenience stores each day, figured that it wasn't such a bad job after all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mitch, fine tuning his skills at group selfie photography.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Lunch was water-side at Schooner Landing in Damariscotta. Over the many years I have dined with Steve, he has been the last one served more than his fair share. On this occasion, he was left nursing his beer while the rest of us finished our meals before his own finally appeared. Our waitress was sweet, but spectacularly incompetent. Perhaps it was her first day of a summer job with zero training? Anyway, when the checks arrived, Steve complained that there was no compensation for having to wait so long for his food. She offered that he didn't have to leave her a tip. Steve was having none of it, and sent her to talk to her supervisor. Eventually she returned with an amended check, but never took his credit card or asked for payment for his meal. Finally, we simply got up and left, with Steve feeling a little better about his meal that ended up being on the house.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mitch chatting up a couple of our neighbors at Schooner Landing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Between Damariscotta and <a href="https://www.moodysdiner.com/" target="_blank">Moody's Diner and Motel</a> in Waldoboro, we climbed approximately 357 gazillion hills ranging from 10 to 15% (or maybe more). Somewhere along the way, I even got off and pushed my bike up the steepest section of one of them. When we finally got to Moody's, it was a cruel joke to discover that while the diner was at street level, the motel (which is actually a cluster of cabins) was at the top of a hill that was a match for anything we had just climbed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Once we had reached the summit, we were checked in by the elderly, but perky and talkative, daughter of the original Moody who opened the establishment exactly 90 years previously. I believe that literally everyone living in the great State of Maine has visited Moody's Diner at least once in their lives. The 90th anniversary meant at least one important thing for some in our group: Moody's famous pies were on sale for 90 cents a slice instead of the normal $5 to $6! Food at the diner was a challenge for me. Eventually I settled on eggplant parmesan with spaghetti but without the parm. I couldn't finish it all. The other guys seemed satisfied with their choices. Steve and Mitch were very pleased with their peanut butter pie, especially at the anniversary price.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One little tech note. I use a Google Nexus 5X cellphone with <a href="https://fi.google.com/" target="_blank">Google's Project Fi</a> service that automatically picks the strongest cell provider among T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular here in the States. Today I noticed that I was connected to US Cellular for the first time. Project Fi also provides service, including high-speed data, almost everywhere in the world for the same data rates it charges here in the US ($10/GB, charged precisely based on actual usage), with no need to swap SIM cards. My wife and I spend a good deal of time in Europe each year, so that is a killer feature for us. The catch is that you must use one of a very few phones to get these features. Highly recommended for Android users who generally don't use very much data.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The cabin at Moody's that Steve and I shared. Basic, but clean.</span></div>
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Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-18106999467448190122017-06-29T18:20:00.000-04:002017-06-29T18:26:37.247-04:00Flex Tour in Maine: Day 1, 18 June 2017 - Standish to Brunswick<pre class="a-b-r-La a-b-ja-Eb-Vb" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Last night David basically told us to ignore the weather forecasts, as the Maine weather rarely does what the meteorologists predict, and he was right. In spite of predictions for a good chance of rain, there was no rain, and initial cloudiness turned to sunshine by the time we reached Portland. </span></pre>
<pre class="a-b-r-La a-b-ja-Eb-Vb" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
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<pre class="a-b-r-La a-b-ja-Eb-Vb" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We got a bit of a late start because of some minor bike issues. Finally on the road, we made a left instead of a right, or maybe vice-versa, so we added a couple of miles to today's ride before actually getting on route. Along the way, Fred decided that he likes his rental bike, including the fact that it has airless, flat-proof tires. By the time we got to town, he had decided to keep it for the week, so we made a slight modification to the route to stop by <a href="http://gorhambike.com/" target="_blank">Gorham Bike & Ski</a> to change the rental period to the full week. While at this very nice shop, Steve had an adjustment made to his rear derailleur and bought an attractive hi-viz jacket. Mitch was fascinated by some kind of attachment that converts your bike to a cargo-bike, and I stayed outside keeping an eye on the bikes and sending out some status messages on my phone.</span></pre>
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From the shop, it was just a few blocks to the waterfront, where we settled into an outside table at Dry Dock Restaurant and Tavern.
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From left to right: Steve, Mitch, and Fred</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The route out of Portland was on several miles of waterfront recreation trail, with lots of pretty views and a trail-side, narrow-gauge train carrying tourists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fred and Seth</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span id="goog_435326301"></span><span id="goog_435326302"></span>From that point on, it was pretty much up and down until we arrived at our hotel, The <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g40541-d564600-Reviews-Travelers_Inn-Brunswick_Maine.html" target="_blank">Travelers Inn</a> in Brunswick. It is an old property, but it has been nicely remodeled and was both clean and comfortable. Right next door we found an excellent Thai restaurant called <a href="http://sweetangelmaine.com/" target="_blank">Sweet Angel</a>, which we all enjoyed.</span></div>
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Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-49416229482122236442017-06-26T17:45:00.000-04:002017-06-29T16:54:51.952-04:00Flex Tour in Maine: Day 0, 17 June 2017 - Standish<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It has been two years since my last real tour, the most recent one being <a href="https://sethcycling.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-jogle-becomes-my-tour-of-scotland.html">my
wet, cold, hilly, and windy pedal from the north of Scotland to Carlisle in the
north of England</a>. This time we (touring buddy Fred, Florida buds Steve and
Mitch, and I) packed up our stuff and headed for the cool forests of coastal
Maine in the U.S. The plan was a seven day out and back from Standish (near
Portland) to the Rockland-Rockport-Camden (RRC) area. In accordance with my
recent conversion to the lower daily mileage camp of bicycle touring, the goal
was to do 40 miles or so for each of the first three and last three days, and a
day of casual exploration of RRC in the middle. We expected to be riding
somewhere between 270 and 300 miles all told. Everyone agreed to the theme of
the trip, which was to remain flexible and to take things as they come – a “flex
tour”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For Steve, the Maine ride was to be just one part of a longer road trip with
his life-partner, Debi, and their latest RV. While we were doing this little
bike tour, the RV would be parked at our starting point and Debi would be
visiting with a family member in Massachusetts. Fred flew in from Colorado the
day before the first ride, as did Mitch and I from Florida.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A little background. A few months ago, at a birthday party for a mutual
friend, I had the extreme pleasure of being seated next to a most delightful
woman named Elaine. We soon got to talking and she shared that she and her
husband David winter in Florida, but in the summer live in Maine on many wooded
acres near Standish. “What a coincidence!” I exclaimed. “Some friends and I will
be bicycling in Maine this June, starting in Portland!” Before I knew it, Elaine
had not only invited us to start and end our trip at their place, but also had
insisted on picking us up at the Portland airport and housing and feeding us as
well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A month or so later, Steve met another Maine couple, Elly and Charlie, at the
<a href="http://www.floridabicyclesafari.com/">Florida Bicycle Safari</a>, and
within minutes they too offered to put us up and feed us in South Harpswell if
we were nearby. A few weeks prior to starting our trip, we all agreed to do just
that if they were still willing, which they were. That diversion added some
miles to our proposed route, but we weren’t about to forego their invitation. We
were confident that it would all work out somehow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Returning to the Portland airport, Elaine was there waiting for us when Mitch
and I arrived, and in minutes her husband David drove up to the door of baggage
claim, loaded us, our bags, and our bikes into their SUV and we were on our way.
After a tasty lunch in town, we headed toward Standish, hoping to find that
Fedex had delivered Fred’s bike to their home. As luck would have it, the
delivery was not made because none of us had considered that Fedex would not
leave the bike without someone there to sign for it. All that was left was a
notice that they would try again on MONDAY – a day after we expected to ride
out! A frenzied phone call to the Fedex office confirmed that there really was
nothing we could do. I reached Fred while he was between planes in Atlanta and
he said he would be willing to rent a bike if we could locate a suitable one
prior to the ride start.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Simultaneously, Steve was driving his RV around the vicinity, trying to find
Elaine and David’s “camp” location where we were going to be staying. He called
Elaine’s mobile to ask for some additional directions, but just as they were
being given, Mitch and I noticed his RV pulled off the road as we whizzed by.
David spun the SUV around, gathered up Steve and the RV in his wake, and we all
headed to the camp. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After dropping Mitch and me to assemble our bikes, David and Steve went off
to check out some possibilities for Fred, and ended up with a small Cannondale
road bike owned by their daughter-in-law, along with a nice hybrid, including a
rack, rented from a bike shop in Portland. Feeling proud of their
accomplishments, they stopped in a nice pub near the airport to celebrate, then
picked up Fred at the airport and returned to the camp.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now, let me stop for a minute to review the facts. Having never laid eyes on,
nor spoken a word to, any one of us prior to that morning, this kind and
generous man spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the Portland area
picking up, dropping off, and equipping our sorry crew. Finally home a bit
before dinner time, he immediately joined Elaine to provide us with a wonderful
dinner and delightful company until everyone was too full and tired to continue.
Really, REALLY, incredible pair. “Oh, no. That’s just the way we are in Maine,”
said Elaine. Wow! In that case, there are quite a few world leaders I would like to relocate to Maine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">David, still smiling!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Oh, yes, and after dinner David took us all out for a pontoon boat cruise on Lake Watchic.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-51296899614050245372016-12-11T12:47:00.002-05:002016-12-12T14:41:04.197-05:00His & Hers Folding BikesA few years back we converted from a timing chain to a Gates belt drive on our tandem. For those who don't know tandems, the rider in the rear generally is pedaling a traditional drivetrain with chainrings, chain, derailleur and rear cassette on the right, but also rotates another chainring on the left side of the bottom bracket that is connected by another chain to a matching chainring turned by the front rider's crankset. The Gates belt conversion replaces that front-back linkage with a carbon belt and two matching rings. Here is how it looks:<br />
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This belt drive is great! It is light, quiet, clean, and maintenance-free. The only improvement would be if we could somehow do a similar conversion for the other chain, but that would involve modification of the bike's frame, and replacing the rear wheel hub with an internal gear hub (IGH). The best of those hubs (Rolhoff) are very expensive. In addition, IGH is typically heavy and roughly 10% less efficient that a regular chain drive. Still, it probably would work well on a bike meant for lower speed use, like commuting, casual trail riding, or perhaps even touring. I tucked that idea away in my mind.<br />
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A year ago, or maybe it is two, my wife Kathy took her second recent fall while riding her road bike. A few years earlier she tore some shoulder ligaments; the last time she broke her wrist. Back when we were in grad school, she rode her 10 speed everywhere, but since we returned to cycling about 18 years ago, she has not managed to regain her old confidence. These two accidents made matters far worse. She thought maybe she would be more comfortable in a more upright position, perhaps with flat bars. I dutifully converted her road bike to something of a hybrid with flat bars, flat pedals without clips, and a twist shifter (not such an easy project, by the way) but she was still very anxious when riding. It wasn't enough of a change. She thought that MAYBE fatter tires, a lower top bar and a lower seating position might work, so that idea also got tucked away in the back of my mind.<br />
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One of the things we would like to do over the next few years is to do long road trips in the US. I have long wanted to share some of the places I experienced on my bike tours in the west (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho), and there are plenty of compelling areas of the country that neither of us has visited. It would be terrific if we were able to bike in many of those places, too. Kathy has no interest in multi-week bike tours like the ones I have done, but if we could somehow bring the tandem along with us... OK, that idea went into the brain warehouse with the others. </div>
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Over the summer I stumbled across, or maybe deliberately started googling, foldable bikes with belt drives. Most all folders have wider tires and low top tubes that would appeal to Kathy and, it turns out, some even have belt drives coupled to wide-range internal gear hubs. I was shocked to find that some of these bikes are very reasonably priced. In August I found Downtube Bikes (http://downtube.com/) which has just such bikes for $699 each. These bikes take about 30 seconds to fold and unfold. Really. Watch the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRfK_q3pp90<br />
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That URL was saved away for future consideration.<br />
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While we were in the UK (primarily Edinbugh, plus a few days in London and Bath) for a non-bike vacation in October, I was impressed by the number of folding bikes zipping around. We were getting around on foot and public transportation, and I found that bikes with wheels up to 20" were accepted on trains and buses. Huh! A pair of folders would be more portable than the tandem and give us some options for bike travel on our future trips.<br />
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By now, you know where all this is going. Here are our new bikes:<br />
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We started with just one because I wanted to be sure that Kathy would be comfortable. At this point she has only 5 hours or so on it, but is already much more comfortable that she ever was on her road bike. I myself love it. I had to make peace with the idea that I was going to be travelling significantly slower than on a full-sized, chain-drive bike, but once over that hurdle, it has been great fun. </div>
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A couple of things I would share: </div>
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<li>These particular bikes from Downtube when new have an issue with the plastic dust seal between the rear sprocket and the hub. The bike's 22 tooth sprocket rubs against the dust cover leaving you with the first impression that there is something seriously wrong with the bike. I remembered reading something on the Downtube web site about it, though, and the suggested fix worked fine. All you have to do is to back-pedal for a few minutes to wear away the lip of the hub's dust seal and you are good to go. Coasting and freewheeling down a few hills finishes the job. </li>
<li>Belt tension is important, and the belt was overly tight on both our bikes. Gates has phone apps available for both Android and IOS to check belt tension.</li>
<li>The Shimano IGH units, including the Nexus 8-speed hub on this bike, loosen up for improved shifting and easier pedaling over time. We have noticed the improvement in the short time we have had the bikes, and apparently it will continue to improve over the first 1,000 mile or so.</li>
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<br />Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-20887571979403132972016-06-06T19:20:00.002-04:002016-06-07T14:57:43.558-04:00National Bike Travel Weekend: Fanning Springs - Cedar Key Loop<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Between 2008 and 2015 early June generally found me on a long distance bike trip somewhere. Last year's trip to the UK did not exactly go as planned, and neither my touring buddy Fred nor I were motivated to put something together for this year. Still, I have recently felt a need to do some kind of trip, even if just a night or two. A previous plan to do a little tour with Mitch earlier this spring fell apart, mostly on my account, but then I noticed that <a href="https://www.adventurecycling.org/" target="_blank">Adventure Cycling Association</a> had declared June 3 - 5 to be <a href="https://www.adventurecycling.org/about-us/40th-anniversary/national-bike-travel-weekend-june-3-5-2016/" target="_blank">National Bike Travel Weekend</a>. It is the latest of ACA's continuing effort to make bike travel more approachable to more people, legitimizing "bike overnights" and trips of just a couple of nights.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the absence of a "big" trip, I latched onto the idea and recruited two friends, Roger and Steve, to join me for a very casual, easy overnight trip in northwest Florida. The starting point I selected was Fanning Springs, a tiny town west of Gainesville. From there the route took us south to Cedar Key, a popular spot for fisherman that also has a bit of artsy, Key West feel to it. The town has long hosted an art festival in the Spring that my wife Kathy and I think we might have attended decades back when we were in school in Gainesville. Anyway, it seemed like as good a destination as any so I created an 80 mile loop that started in Fanning Springs with a night in Cedar Key. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We left at about 6:30 on Saturday morning, driving the the two hours from my house up to our starting point. Somehow or another, it still took us another hour after arriving in Fanning Springs to start riding. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Much of the outgoing route paralleled the famous Suwannee River. About 15 miles into the ride we stopped for a little riverside rest in some shade.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back on the bikes we found ourselves on a sandy, unpaved road for what seemed like a couple of miles. I was riding my touring bike with the 35mm tires I had mounted for last year's UK trip, so the road surface was a non-issue for me. Steve and Roger, however, were both on 23mm road tires, so we rode slowly and carefully in case of a deep patch of sand that could cause a fall. Eventually we made it back to pavement and we returned to the comfortable 14 to 16 mph pace that we had been riding previously. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The route was exceedingly flat and there was not much wind, so the pedalling was easy. That is, it was easy for Roger and for me, but not so much for Steve, who, in spite of being the strongest rider in the group, was working hard to keep up. Finally Roger noticed that Steve's rear wheel was WAY out of true -- a pretty sure sign of a broken spoke. It took only a minute to confirm that it was a spoke nipple rather than the spoke itself, but the effect was the same. Every rotation of the wheel rubbed the rim against the brake pad on the bulging side of the rim, so Steve had been quite literally riding for about an hour with his rear brake on. The good news was that a broken spoke nipple is much easier to repair on the side of the road than a broken spoke would have been. Steve quickly fixed the wheel and we were back on our way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was now about noon and it had become very hot under an intense sun with little shade. I drank the last of my water and was starting to feel light-headed, so I requested a stop at the first place that might possibly have a cold sport drink of some kind. About 10 miles from our destination we found a tiny "grocery store" where I drained a quart of Gator Aid and Steve poured a can of Pepsi caffeine and sugar down his throat. He announced that he felt more like he had just ridden a century rather than 30 flat miles. Our final 10 miles were hot but went by without further excitement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Roger had taken on the responsibility of finding us lodging a couple of weeks earlier and had reserved a two bedroom condo for the night. Lots of places in Cedar Key won't even rent for a single weekend night, but luckily this one did. With the exception of being able to hear way too much noise from the neighbors, it was a very comfortable and roomy place to spend the afternoon and evening. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Relaxing on the terrace after getting cleaned up.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">About 3 in the afternoon we headed out to find something to eat. We ended up at a restaurant called <a href="http://steamerscedarkey.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Steamers</a>. There was a pretty extensive menu, but all three of us ordered blackened Mahi sandwiches that were tasty and filling, accompanied by two beers each. We returned to the condo for some horizontal </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">time</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, though Steve, a master sleeper, was the only one who actually slept.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Steve recuperating from his unexpectedly hard ride.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At dinnertime nobody was hungry, so instead we each bought a pint container of ice cream at a nearby grocery and consumed it before turning in for the night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We were back on the bikes by 8 AM or so on Sunday. It was a near perfect ride. The weather was a bit cloudy, which kept the heat down, there was little to no wind, no traffic, and the last 10 miles were under a canopy of oaks on the Nature Coast Trail. The only unusual event was when we encountered a wild boar crossing the road with a bunch of little boar-lets. Eight or nine little ones crossed the road ahead of mama boar. When she reached the other side she turned and stared right at us. We stopped our bikes and kept our distance, not quite knowing what to expect. A moment later another batch of little ones popped o</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ut of the bushes on the other side of the road</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">! Once the second group of youngsters made it across, mama followed them into the brush and we felt safe to continue our ride.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All in all, it was a very enjoyable weekend. One note is that I decided to forego any official riding jerseys on this trip and wear hi-viz technical t-shirts instead. The looser fit made me more comfortable in the heat, I think, and I will probably do the same thing on future hot weather trips.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-18662260998077696632015-07-20T18:53:00.000-04:002015-12-01T13:16:08.002-05:00My JOGLE becomes My Tour of ScotlandThe plan was to ride the length of Great Britain, starting in John O' Groats (JOG) at the top of Scotland, and arriving 16 days later in Lands End (LE), in the extreme south of England - a tour known as JOGLE.<br />
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Well, that's not how it worked out for me. Instead it was a six day, 398 mile (19,238 feet of climbing) ride through extreme weather conditions that left me exhausted, wet, cold, and discouraged at the end of each day. Even the two days that were less horrible were still too long (none less than eight hours) and too exhausting -- at least for me. By the time we crossed the border into England, I had decided that the moments of fun were not worth the days of suffering. I abandoned one other tour, our Geezer Geyser Tour through Colorado and Wyoming, but just one day early, and because of a foot injury that could not have tolerated another hundred miles of climbing. So, instead of the planned JOGLE route, I ended up riding this:<br />
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Below are some photos and commentary regarding my six days cycling the length of Scotland, north to south. <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the van, driving in the wind and rain from Inverness to John O'Groats (JOG). As we neared our destination, I noticed that all the sheep and cows were facing the same way, with their butts into the wind and driving rain.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Ready Room at JOG.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Fred looking for more protective gear.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Within hours, all that was left of Ray's poncho was a strip of plastic he tied to his rear rack. The wind quickly ripped the poncho to shreds.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A brief dry, clear moment to grab a photo on day one.</span></td></tr>
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Fred during a rest stop on day two. About 70 miles into the ride, we reached Inverness, just in time for rush hour. Simultaneously, the sky turned exceedingly ominous. Between the traffic and the rain I figured the best plan would be to take cover in town, and if necessary catch a ride after dinner to our destination in Tomatin, another 15 miles down the highway. Fred soon agreed, but Ray was determined to ride it out. He spent the next two hours battling a head wind, struggling up countless unexpected hills, and shivering, in the hardest rain we encountered during the trip. Meanwhile, back in Inverness, Fred and I enjoyed a great dinner and a couple of pints. We then got a van-taxi to take us, a take-out dinner for Ray, and the bikes, to our B and B. Ray arrived just before we did, as night was falling (which is about 10 PM in June in Scotland).<br />
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Day three. This coffee shop appeared like an oasis in a desert. We positioned ourselves near the coal fireplace and ordered every hot thing on the menu.<br />
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On the way out of town, I purchased another pair of gloves at a convenient outfitter store. The three pairs I already had with me were not enough once they were soaked through. Late in the day, we eventually reached <a href="http://www.firs-blairatholl.co.uk/" target="_blank">Firs Guest House</a>, our B and B in Blair Atholl, where the proprietress, Kirsty, appeared at the door in a flowing white dress, accompanied by a melodic voice and a magical smile. All three of us were instantly entranced, and stood there motionless with our mouths open for an embarrassing moment. To top it off, she collected all our sodden clothing, returning it to us clean and DRY (Say "Hallelujah!") the next morning. Blair Atholl is home to the picturesque <a href="http://www.blair-castle.co.uk/" target="_blank">Blair Castle and Gardens</a>, but, as usual, we had no time to actually enjoy the local attractions. I would love to return some day, to both the town and the Guest House.<br />
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In the first three days, we rode over 212 miles, and climbed about 10,000 feet, much of it in wind and rain. <br />
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Day four was a "short" day, only 52 miles, but with a very nasty climb at about 40 miles. Our route finally took us off the pavement for a while, onto double track along a riverbank. We stopped briefly to enjoy the wildflowers and the river. A few hours later, there was even some clear sky. We took a short break to enjoy the intense yellow of a rapeseed field in the sun, before tackling the climb, where I just got off and pushed my bike rather than struggle. It was no slower than riding and a whole lot easier.<br />
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That night we stayed in a real hotel, with spacious rooms, good plumbing, and a decent, if not great, in-house restaurant. We were, of course, exhausted physically and emotionally as we sat down for dinner. There, among the white tablecloths, I made a comment that I shouldn't have. It touched a sore nerve with Fred, who pretty much lost it, yelling and cursing me out for what seemed like an eternity. My reaction to this incident was to withdraw and isolate myself from my compatriots, in spite of Fred's sincere and heartfelt apologies. The episode, and my reaction to it, played a role in my decision to abandon the tour a couple of days later. <br />
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By day five we had learned that blue skies were just short breaks between periods of clouds and rain. The wind was never favorable, and, like the clouds, was never gone for long. We were thrilled when we could maintain a pace of 10 mph. Coupled with long breaks in warm, dry pubs, the typical riding days of 65 miles meant at least 6 and a half hours turning the pedals, and at least nine hours from departure to destination. That explains my failure to blog along the way. Toward the end of day five we stopped to admire a vista that reminded Fred of the hobbit's Shire. It did have that kind of feel to it. <br />
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The sixth day, my last day of riding, was 60 miles of rain and wind from Abington, Scotland, to Carlisle, England. The only really interesting thing I recall was a little wedding, accompanied by a bagpiper, that we stumbled upon just before leaving Scotland.<br />
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The forecast for the next day was for the worst weather yet, with very high winds, rain, and a ton of climbing. Before I met the guys for dinner, I called Kathy to see if she could come over a week earlier than planned. She checked her airline and the change was possible, so I decided I was done with my bike tour. I explored Carlisle and relaxed for the next couple of days until Kathy arrived on Sunday evening. Monday we started a 13 day tour around England in a rental car (which is a whole 'nuther story!).<br />
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Even the Scots we encountered commented on the unseasonably crappy weather. If there had been less of that, I am sure that I would have enjoyed my time in Scotland greatly. Some time in the future I hope to return with Kathy, but we will get around using public transportation.<br />
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Lessons Learned:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Get over the hydration pack. Even on relatively short, hilly rides, it significantly increases my lower back pain. During the last three days I strapped my Camelbak to my rear rack and my back felt much better as a result. Instead of drinking directly from the pack, I used it as a reservoir to refill my water bottle as needed.<br /> </li>
<li>Willie Weir, a long-time bicycle tourist and contributor to Adventure Cycling Magazine frequently advises his readers to slow down, drop the daily mileage, and be flexible so you can explore your surroundings and talk to the people you encounter. He is certainly not the only one to offer this advice, and intellectually I have always agreed, but up to now whenever I planned a tour, I always ended up in the same old pattern of putting miles first. Hell, we even did away with rest days this time! I am going on record that future tours will set the daily target to about 40 miles, and never more than 50. And the tours should include places along the way, explicitly in the itinerary, to get off the bike, see the sights, and explore. I don't have the time or energy to "tour" if I spend 6 or 8 or 10 hours a day just getting from a pre-determined point A to a pre-determined point B. That problem will only get worse as I get older. Maybe the rule should be couched in terms of hours rather than miles. Let's say a max of four hours of riding time. In conditions like those we found in Scotland, that means just 40 miles.<br /> </li>
<li>Stay flexible. The idea is to enjoy the tour. If you aren't enjoying it, then change it. Even in a point to point tour, you can always figure something out. There are trains, buses, kind people in pickup trucks, or fellow cyclists who will help you out if you are in need.<br /> </li>
<li>Make sure that your traveling companions are ok with the above, or at least are ready and able to continue without you if you want to change the plan and they don't. I was fortunate to have such friends, or maybe they were delighted to get rid of me. My mood was getting fouler in proportion to my exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and failing physical state, so I don't blame them if they were happy to see me go.</li>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-34970383233770489242015-05-10T19:32:00.001-04:002015-05-10T19:32:39.374-04:00The JOGLE trip is appoaching fast.Fred, Ray, and I were finally able to focus on the route and overnight stops for our upcoming bike trip from the extreme north to the extreme south of Great Britain. I discovered <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lands-John-OGroats-Cycle-Guide/dp/1507865902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431299246&sr=8-1&keywords=royston+John+O+Groats">a very helpful book by Royston Wood on Amazon</a> that provided a more direct, yet still off-highway, route. I combined sections of Royston's route with the longer, scenic route I had previously been working up. This new hybrid route will shorten the trip by about 100 miles, one day, and about 7,000 feet of climbing. It also eliminates the handful of over-80 mile days. Given that my training this year has not gone entirely according to plan, I am delighted to have a more manageable way to go. Here is the overview of the new route:<br />
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The three of us will be meeting up on May 30 in Inverness, Scotland. Early the following morning, we have arranged to be transported up to John O'Groats with our bikes, where we will start the trip. This route is 963 miles, over 16 riding days, with 39,000 feet of climbing. The weather should be cool (40's up to low 70's) and will probably feature a good deal of rain. Pretty much the only sure thing is that it will NOT be hot! </div>
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I am still hoping to get in a little meaningful training before leaving, but I have the remnants of a nasty cold and precious little time remains. This weekend I went over the bike, replaced the chain and made various minor adjustments. I also set aside the clothing I will be bringing, but the actual packing of bike and gear will be delayed until the convenient holiday on May 25th.</div>
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<br />Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-65614886264561161442014-12-17T18:26:00.000-05:002014-12-17T19:09:33.581-05:00Lowest Annual Mileage Since 1999<iframe src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/652600577' width='465' height='500' frameborder='0'></iframe>
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Above is my typical ride lately -- generally a leisurely 15 to 20 miler near my house on the fixed gear. And if it were not for <a href="http://sethcycling.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-12-17T18:26:00-05:00&max-results=1" target="_blank">the "new" old bike I recently got from a friend</a>, I might not be doing even THAT much. A new bike, or piece of equipment, always generates a bit of enthusiasm for getting out on the road again. Nevertheless, my rides have been primarily short ones because of time, weather, a tandem stoker who has been troubled by knee and hip issues this fall, and my talent for coming up with excuses.<br />
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Fred and I had a great tour lined up for 2014, but when our plans fell apart in the spring, so did my motivation to train and to do long rides. The result is that I will finish this year with about 1,600 total cycling miles. In the past 15 years, my average mileage has been more like 3,000 to 4,000, and even higher a time or two. The main factor is probably the absence of training and touring miles. That should not be the case in 2015, though. We already have a great tour picked out, and all three of us (Ray will be riding with us again) have bought non-refundable airline tickets to show our commitment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One example of a JOGLE route.</td></tr>
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The plan is to do the classic UK tour called End-to-End, or LEJOG, or JOGLE, as you prefer. It involves cycling from John O'Groats in the extreme north of mainland Scotland, to Lands End in the tippy-toe of southwest England (JOGLE) or the opposite way (LEJOG). There is no fixed route, really, but tons of people do it every year, so there is no lack of suggested routes. The fastest, safety-and-scenery-be-damned route is about 900 miles. We are going to follow a safer and more picturesque route, though, and will end up with 1,100 miles or so in 14 to 16 days.<br />
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<br />Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-17208767169340984542014-11-09T09:17:00.002-05:002014-11-10T12:17:21.312-05:00Definitely NOT a Touring Bike (but still fun)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On a recent visit to my friends Larry and Meg in New Jersey, I noticed a bike behind some unpacked boxes during a tour of their beautiful home. Further inspection revealed the bike to be a Fuji Track, a fixed-gear model theoretically meant for use in a velodrome, but now used by most riders as an urban "fixie". The bike, vintage early 2000's, had belonged to Meg's late husband, <a href="http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/11/students_and_teachers_are_grie.html">Ron Stone, the sorely missed principal of Newark's Weequahic High School</a>. Ron brought this inner city school back from the edge, a story documented in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Stone_(2009_film)">the film "Heart of Stone"</a>. I never had the pleasure of meeting Ron personally, but I am quite sure he would be pleased that Meg has found a new home for his bike with me.<br />
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Getting the bike down to Florida was a bit of a challenge. I had assumed that it would be easier and cheaper to have a local bike shop pack it and ship it, rather than packing it up myself and shlepping it with me on the plane. Once back in Florida I make some calls and found a shop a few miles from Larry and Meg's house that would pack it up for a reasonable $50. Larry dropped the bike off and relayed the details a day or so later: the box weighed 37 pounds and measured 53 x 30 x 9. I entered those numbers on the UPS and Fedex sites and discovered that the box was 3 inches too big, putting it in an oversize category that made shipping much more expensive. I called the shop, but they insisted this is the only box size they have. In the end I went with Fedex "Home Delivery" (ground service), which ran about $118. UPS was considerably more -- like $150 or $160! If the shop had used a 3 inch shorter box, the shipping cost would have been about $50. By comparison, back in the day (pre-2006) Kathy and I shipped our tandem to and from upstate NY in a huge, BikePro Race Case for about $100 each way. The case with the bike in it weighed something like 90 pounds, as I recall. Times have changed, I guess. <br />
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ANYWAY... the bike appeared at my house three days later. Even if there were a velodrome next door, the chances of me riding on an actual track are nil, so my plan was to add a front brake and use it as a "fixie". Riding a fixed gear is reputed to be both fun and good training. The late, great <a href="http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html">Sheldon Brown has several pages</a> dedicated to the topic and the virtues of fixed-gear bicycling.<br />
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Since the bike arrived, I have added a front brake (twice, actually, because after the first time I found some narrower handlebars I like better) and some <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GPR0IS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1">chain tensioners</a> to make it easier to get the rear wheel centered more precisely. On the second brake installation, I also mounted a brake lever on the other side of the handlebar for comfort and a more balanced look, even though the second lever isn't attached to a brake. I will be doing more pimping of my new ride as time goes on, I am sure.<br />
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My first ride was about 11 miles, starting at my house (meaning there are hills that cannot be avoided). I found that it is really not much of a problem to climb hills up to 7 or 8 percent with the current gearing (46 x 20), but more than that could be a bit much for my old knees. On the flats I easily hit 17 or 18 mph. The ride, however, was pretty harsh. I have already ordered some 25 mm tires (the widest that will fit in the fork) to replace the 23's that are on the bike currently. I'll run the 25's at lower pressure to give a more comfortable ride.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-80071131744835464432014-06-17T18:32:00.000-04:002014-06-17T18:32:01.427-04:00Tourless in ClermontEver since 2008, this time of the year has been when I have been on tour. One year (2010) we did something different, <a href="http://sethcycling.blogspot.com/2010/06/provence-france-2010.html" target="_blank">renting a villa in Provence with our wives and doing daily loops</a> instead of a point to point trip, but it was still riding in a new place and blogging about the experience.<br />
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This year Fred, his wife Pat, Kathy and I all did a non-bicycling trip to Italy. Fred and I wanted to show our appreciation to our lovely wives for putting up with the five summers of cross-country trip. Here we are, engaged in our favorite Italian activity, eating!<br />
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Fred and I figured we could still squeeze in a modest tour later in the summer, though. We considered a week of mountain riding in Colorado, then changed our minds and settled on nine days doing a loop from Seattle, across to the Olympia Peninsula, over to Victoria and the San Juan Islands, and back to Seattle. Alas, it was not to be. After our return from Italy I settled in to start planning the trip, but Fred shared that he had lost his enthusiasm for a bike trip this year. Although he didn't say as much, I figure he is just worn out from months of near-constant world traveling. He has been on sabbatical from teaching at U of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and has been away for much of the year so far, including three months in India, a week of family vacation, our trip to Italy, and is just now finishing up ten days lecturing in England. The guy really deserves some time to chill before returning to his teaching duties in August. We still plan to ride the length of the British Isles next summer, doing an approximation of the John O' Groats to Lands End ride. There is no set route for this tour, but <a href="http://travellingtwo.com/12556" target="_blank">the route described here, on the Traveling Two blog</a> and <a href="http://www.tra-velo-gue.co.uk/trip01.htm" target="_blank">by David Piper on his own blog</a> look very good!</div>
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In the meantime, I am hoping for some long-weekend type tours here in Florida with a friend and with Kathy. We will see what develops.</div>
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<br />Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-29699355291716309402013-11-24T12:30:00.000-05:002013-11-25T11:09:47.885-05:00Surly Resurrection<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While disassembling the bike in early July to pack it up for the trip home from the final leg of our cross-country tour, I noticed that the powder-coat finish on the bottom of the top tube, as well as in other places on the frame had become badly pocked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;">This is not really supposed to happen to powder-coat, which is why it is popular as a finish for touring bikes that sometimes don't get the best of care. The bike had been refinished when I had the couplers installed in February of 2010.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;">Since the trip, I have not riding as much, and when I have, it was on the tandem with Kathy. As a result, it was a while before I emailed the photo above to Steve Bilenky at <a href="http://www.bilenky.com/" target="_blank">Bilenky Cycle Works</a> in Philadelphia, who had done the couplers and had subcontracted the powder-coating. He agreed that something was wrong and asked me to send him the frame for a closer look. Eventually I cobbled together a box and sent out the frame (but not the fork, which had a couple of nicks, but nothing like what was happening to the frame). His diagnosis after inspecting it in person was that the frame must not have been prepped adequately. In spite of the fact that three years had passed, he offered to re-finish the frame at a deep discount, using his current (different) powder-coater. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;">Unfortunately, they were unable to come up with an exact match for the color, so we decided to pick a different color that would look ok with the original-color fork. The frame arrived here about 10 days ago, but they forgot to include the bottom bracket, headset cups, and the coupler nuts with the frame, so I had to wait another week for those to arrive. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: start;">When the missing parts showed up, I installed the coupler nuts, put the two halves of the frame back together, and drove over to <a href="http://www.southlakebikeandtri.com/" target="_blank">South Lake Bike</a>. The new owner, Brett, quickly pressed in the headset cups, installed the bottom bracket, and thoughtfully applied Frame Saver to the inside of the tubes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I spent yesterday afternoon and early evening getting the bike reassembled. You can see the result below. The dark blue fork looks a little unusual, but doesn't look bad with the light blue (RAL 5014 Pigeon Blue) I selected for the frame. What do you think?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-31763917003388813722013-07-16T15:09:00.002-04:002014-01-05T17:56:37.699-05:00Fred & Seth's Great Adventure: Summary<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have finally taken the time to gather all the data from the five stages of our Key West to Seattle bicycle trip. Here they are:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-srjMyYrJPSM/UhE_udH-ZlI/AAAAAAAACeY/-S7AvzP6Xvo/s1600/GrandTourStats.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-srjMyYrJPSM/UhE_udH-ZlI/AAAAAAAACeY/-S7AvzP6Xvo/s640/GrandTourStats.png" height="144" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Along the way we rode through 13 states: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkasas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We figured that the entire trip took about ten weeks. It turned out that we were exactly right: 67 days of riding, plus 3 rest days. We also guesstimated our daily average to be around 65 miles and that turned out to be close as well -- just under 66 miles per day. The total mileage I assumed to be 4,500. We actually rode 4,416 (in my case 4,316 because I did not ride the 100 mile day into Yellowstone thanks to my foot injury on that stage). If we hadn't hitched a ride from Jeffrey City to Lander, WY, the miles would have been 4,476, pretty close to our estimate of 4500 miles for the entire route.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is interesting to note that the first and last stage were almost exactly the same length, though the first stage was a day longer and the last required almost 9 more hours on the bike. The GGT (Colorado-Wyoming) stage had almost as much climbing as the final stage, but it was 6 days less, so it was definitely the most challenging ride of the five.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Colorado was certainly beautiful, and there is little that is more pleasing to my eyes than the water seen from the bridges between the Florida Keys, but the last stage through Montana, Idaho, and Oregon had the most spectacular scenery by a considerable margin, and the most days of it. Montana is my new favorite state (in the summer), and there is much more there, such as Glacier National Park, that I have yet to see. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I love looking at the track, so here it is, again:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dumlRLCngUY/UeCdR_o0mII/AAAAAAAACcc/_R_tfKi7-Q4/s1600/GrandTour.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dumlRLCngUY/UeCdR_o0mII/AAAAAAAACcc/_R_tfKi7-Q4/s640/GrandTour.png" height="352" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Fred and I are both so very grateful to have had the opportunity to do this trip, and we are especially grateful to our wonderful wives, Pat and Kathy, for their support of this dream.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Is there another big tour in our future? We don't have anything specific planned, but I can't say that we aren't kicking around some ideas. It won't be too many years before Fred turns 70 and the desire to do something manly in celebration might well make another appearance.</span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-7345987107957137482013-07-03T03:13:00.001-04:002015-05-10T19:33:08.744-04:00July 2, 2013: MIM Day 17, Yelm to Mercer Island / Seattle WA<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Grand Tour, Fred and Seth's Most Excellent Adventure, is complete. Both of us made it up the final hill and rolled into Larry and Marcia's driveway on Mercer Island at around 3 PM this afternoon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This last day was 73 miles, with 2,000 feet of climbing including a 14% half-mile climb as soon as we got onto Mercer Island and just two miles from our destination! Larry, with whom Kathy and I plan to visit for a few days, met us as we came off the I-90 bike path that crosses Lake Washington on the East side of Mercer Island. After greetings, he warned us about the "little hill" and led us on a circuitous path to his house. We pulled up to the driveway where Kathy and Larry's wife, Marcia, waited for us, surrounded by American Flags and signs celebrating our accomplishment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Everyone has been asking, "What's next?" For now, the only serious plan as far as I am concerned is to do whatever Kathy would like next summer. She has been talking about a bike-free trip to Italy and if that's what she wants, that is what I will happily do. I can't begin to express my appreciation of her support of this endeavor over the past five years. The least I can do is to help her to fulfill one of her own travel dreams.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Below is our track across the U.S. Each year's portion is a different color. The first stage was Little Rock, AR to Gainesville, FL, in 2008, shown in red. In 2009, we continued down to mile marker 0 in Key West, shown in white. Fred and I skipped 2010, spending a week cycling in Provence with our wives and our friends Steve and Debi. In 2011 we rode from Colorado Springs to West Yellowstone (light blue). The following year, 2012, we took on the plains, starting again in Colorado Springs and finishing in Little Rock (yellow). For the finale this year, we cycled from West Yellowstone to Mercer Island, in the shadow of Seattle (purple). </span><br />
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Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-54103637354140896652013-07-01T23:59:00.001-04:002013-12-31T08:43:41.656-05:00July 1, 2013: MIM Day 16, Longview to Yelm, WA<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The penultimate day of the final stage of Fred and Seth's Great Adventure<sigh>. Our final night on the road is being spent in an unexpectedly exquisite <a href="http://www.prairiehotel.com/" target="_blank">Prairie Hotel in Yelm, WA</a>, roughly 65 miles south of our destination on Mercer Island (just outside of Seattle). I guess everything is location. In a more touristy town, this room would go for at least twice the $90 we are paying here in Yelm.</sigh></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today's 78 mile ride was pretty uneventful, other than the time we spent in the enchanted forest. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We rode through some pretty farm land, and went up lots of little hills, some of them rather steep. None was very long, but together they added up to about 2600 feet of climbing, mostly in the first half of the ride. The hills slowed us down, of course, so we were out there pedaling for six full hours. We got our first glimpses of Mt. Ranier but no photos... Oops, Fred just looked up through the large window in my room and noted that the mountain is right there! We immediately embarked on an impromptu expedition in a vain attempt to get some pictures without power lines or some other distraction in the foreground. No luck. We'll try to get some shots once we leave the immediate area of town in the morning. It is quite impressive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Frustrated with our failure to capture Mt. Ranier, Fred noticed a volcano that looks about to erupt on the side of my nose, apparently the result of massive doses of sunblock during the day, and BreathRight strips at night. No worries, though. The seismologists have been alerted, haz-mat teams are standing by, and there should be no danger to anyone outside a 50 mile radius of my hotel room. That's a good thing, as there is no way that the national media will be covering anything other than the Zimmerman trial in the foreseeable future. Events like forest fires, typhoons, and nasal volcanoes will just have to take care of themselves in the meantime.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">OK, now where was I? Did I mention World's Largest Egg? No? Well, you can see a picture of same below. I asked the young woman in the town of Winlock when the egg is supposed to hatch. She responded that they have been waiting 65 years, so far. In the meantime, she will keep watering it. All I could think of is that I would hate to run into the chicken that laid the damn thing.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The World's Largest Egg is in safe hands in Winlock, WA.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The historic jailhouse of Vader, WA, the ancestral family home of Darth Vader, Lord of Darkness.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-44746030355161804532013-06-30T20:46:00.000-04:002013-12-31T08:35:51.527-05:00June 30, 2013: MIM Day 15, Portland OR to Longview WA<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Talking to Kathy last night, I commented that in some ways it feels like the tour is already over. I have long anticipated visiting the Columbia Gorge and Portland (if half a day in Portland really counts as a visit), but I really have no expectations for these last three days making our way up to Seattle. Particularly with the current heat wave in the Northwest, I have no hope of wonderful riding conditions, and, right or wrong, I don't expect any beautiful vistas to rival those of Montana, Idaho, or the Columbia Gorge along the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">During today's short (51 miles) ride, we caught a few glimpses of Mt. St. Helens in the hazy distance, but somehow it did not measure up to Mt. Hood or the breath-taking mountain-scapes of Montana. It was a bit of a novelty to ride through the town of St. Helen, but my sample of one teenage cashier in a Walgreens store suggests that the eruption is a long forgotten, dusty memory. She had "no idea" of the year of the eruption (1980)!</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9XyWF9SLB9k/UsLH6pjJQSI/AAAAAAAADIU/sVmk2Z-kIwM/s1600/IMG_0260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9XyWF9SLB9k/UsLH6pjJQSI/AAAAAAAADIU/sVmk2Z-kIwM/s400/IMG_0260.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In spite of new tire and tube, Fred had another flat about an hour out of Portland. The tire still looks pristine, and there are no detectable anomalies in the rim that might explain his four flats. The hole in the new tube is a perfectly round, 2 mm hole. Our best guess is that it was a manufacturing defect. We replaced the bad tube with another new one we picked up yesterday at Performance Bike and it appears to be holding. Fred did ask me to switch the tubes for him, on the chance that he did something wrong when he changed the tire and tube last night. Anyway, we have our fingers crossed.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bomjrtj5_FM/UdDQU4MY-_I/AAAAAAAACao/9jIUlKi9UN8/s1600/20130630_132521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bomjrtj5_FM/UdDQU4MY-_I/AAAAAAAACao/9jIUlKi9UN8/s400/20130630_132521.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Right at the scene of the flat, there was a clean, perfectly usable sombrero, which brought back some fond memories of one of our first meals during the first stage of our trip (the Tour de Fred in 2008). We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and the waiter took our photo with each of us wearing a sombrero.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UluXJ_nUzkk/UsLFg655t4I/AAAAAAAADII/AvDonX37IGo/s1600/019bFredTDF084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UluXJ_nUzkk/UsLFg655t4I/AAAAAAAADII/AvDonX37IGo/s400/019bFredTDF084.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2008, Tour de Fred</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2013, MIM Tour</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The only excitement on the road today was crossing the Columbia for the last time from Oregon to Washington. As usual, the shoulders on the bridge were rather narrow, and there was plenty of traffic. One new thing was that the shoulder was peppered with debris from the logging trucks that often use the bridge -- big hunks of bark, primarily. Our recent spate of flats have made us hypersensitive to road debris, so getting across the bridge was like an exceptionally narrow slalom course between the guard rail and the passing cars. I am very grateful that there were very few trucks while we were on the bridge, and no logging trucks at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We will be returning to normal mileage days for the final two: 77 miles tomorrow and 66 for the final ride into the Seattle area. It will still be hot tomorrow, so we are going to try to get going very early to miss the worst of the heat and the possibility of increased wind in the afternoon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-62548929002001896862013-06-30T03:18:00.000-04:002013-12-31T08:16:19.026-05:00June 29, 2013: MIM Day 14, Cascade Locks to Portland<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Within minutes of getting on the bike today, my legs are saying stuff like, "What? Are you kidding? We're not done yet? No, no, no! Ain't gonna happen. You can't make us do this again." I take a breath and think, "OK. Don't panic. This kind of thing happens from time to time, I'll just take it easy and in five miles or so, they'll loosen up and all will be well..."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The first eight miles were on the interstate again. We usually cook along pretty well on the shoulder, but for me today, it was an effort. We finally made it to the exit at which the scenic Columbia Highway parts with the interstate. We got off the freeway and started looking for the famous waterfalls of Columbia Gorge. The road was beautiful, winding through dense forest. Suddenly Horse Tail falls appeared. Beautiful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We stopped for a while to take it in, then continued on and arrived at the big attraction, Multnomah Falls. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While there we spoke to several local cyclists, including a couple who assured us that if we continue on the scenic route we will find the climb to be pretty similar to the one we did yesterday. With that in mind, I bought and consumed a coffee and large chocolate muffin. Apparently, that's all my legs were waiting for, because back on the road everything was back to normal. We did the climb up to the overlook and after that, an unintentional detour that included a little 12% climb without any problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Navigating into Portland was a challenge, though. We enlisted the help of some locals at a convenience store in Troutdale. They were kind enough to allow us to draft for the next five miles or so, and then put us on the bike path that would take us into town. When the GPS started to show that we were about to go too far south, we got some more advice from another cyclist and finally got our bearings and chugged away right up to our hotel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We have taken to answering the question "Where did you start?" with "Key West." That almost always results in, "Excuse me?" or something of the sort. At that point we fill in the details like "About 1,000 miles each summer." The clerk here at the hotel was funny, playing along with stuff like, "Well, where's the news crew?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Oh, Fred rolled up to the front of the hotel with another flat tire. It happens that there is a Performance Bike store 4 short blocks away, so we picked up a fresh tire, a couple of new tubes, and some fresh patch kits. That should pretty much guarantee no more flats during the remaining three riding days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Stats: 58 miles, 2800 feet climbing, 5 hours saddle time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-58491474809043938952013-06-29T02:19:00.002-04:002013-12-31T08:02:17.190-05:00June 28, 2013: MIM Day 13, Biggs to Cascade Locks OR<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today we rode 67 miles with 2300 feet of climbing in 5 1/4 hrs of bike time, on the Oregon side of the river. A surprising number of miles were on the shoulder of I-84. We enjoyed some spectacular Columbia Gorge scenery today.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As you can see, yesterday's desert has given way to much greener vistas.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We came around a curve and suddenly there was Mount Hood in all its glory. The town in the foreground is The Dalles, pronounced like "Dalz" with a short "A".</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">These photos were taken from the shoulder of the interstate, where we rode about half our miles today. Partially that is because in some places there is no other option, but toward the end of the day it was hot and we were tired, so we chose it over a steep climb on the alternate route.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A climb we were glad to have taken was to the top of the Rowena Crest. This shot was taken while still on the way up.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yours truly, at the top of Rowena Crest. It was actually a pleasant 400 foot climb at 5%. The photo below tells the story of how it got to be that way.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you look carefully, you will see a recreational rider coming up on the right side of the loop.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The geology of the Gorge.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Another view of the cyclist riding up the hill. He is one of more than a half-dozen we encountered. The climb is very popular with locals.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the local riders was kind enough to take this rare shot with both of us in it.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The problem with riding on the Interstate is not really safety, but rather the amount of debris in the shoulder. Here's Fred fixing his second flat of the trip. Inspection of the tube later in the day showed both the initial puncture and several "snake-bite" punctures that resulted from the time it took to stop.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-73058374977358030142013-06-29T01:31:00.001-04:002013-12-30T19:29:34.412-05:00June 27, 2013: MIM Day 12, Hermiston OR to Biggs OR<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Our hotel in Hermiston, OR</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After 11 days of cool or cold weather, today the forecasters said things would be changing dramatically, bringing temperatures that could rise into the mid-90's in some parts of the Northwest. As this day was expected to also be our longest, and with little to any shelter from the sun, we were eager to get an early start. It was largely a downhill ride to the I-84 bridge back to the Washington side of the river. We found US Highway 14 with little trouble and started cranking away to the West. As you can see in the photos below, this area is regarded as desert.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What you see here is pretty much what it looked like for most of the ride. No trees, and very much the desert.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Almost immediately we encountered a sign saying, "No services next 83 miles." Our research showed a few scattered places to get some food, so that was a surprise, but we had enough snacks and liquid even if it turned out to be true. A highway worker a few miles up the road indicated that our research was correct, but it was not until about mile 59 that we encountered a little convenience store that also served as a basic restaurant. In fact, they were used to catering to passing cyclists and encouraged us to share their cyclist guest book, which we did. Some other diners warned us of a significant climb close to the end of our route. That corresponded to the profile in the Adventure Cycling map, though their description was more extreme.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KqJfiUoM4bI/Uc5qVEfIx6I/AAAAAAAACVk/WXW4No9rf_U/s1600/20130627_151250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KqJfiUoM4bI/Uc5qVEfIx6I/AAAAAAAACVk/WXW4No9rf_U/s200/20130627_151250.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">More turbines.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Fred and I get older, but never seem to outgrow our 9 year old sense of humor.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2J-4ckg3cfk/Uc5rGnmMxiI/AAAAAAAACV8/WFgHkGz-jE8/s1600/20130627_151308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2J-4ckg3cfk/Uc5rGnmMxiI/AAAAAAAACV8/WFgHkGz-jE8/s640/20130627_151308.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Wind turbines lined the bluffs on both sides of the river for tens of miles. At one point we watched a train of a hundred cars full of coal roll by in the foreground, with hundreds of wind turbines in the background. No photo, unfortunately.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The river has several significant hydro-electric dams as well.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When we finally got about 10 miles from our destination, a huge brown butte appeared, dominating the skyline. We gradually noticed trucks coming down the switchbacks on its face, and finally accepted that this monstrosity was what the woman in the restaurant was describing. Yikes! This time it was I who invoked Fred's "Strength in numbers!" battle cry, and headed out to face our fear. Just as on Monday, once on the hill, we found it to be manageable -- five to seven percent, long but quite do-able. A couple of miles from the crest, we turned onto a steep descent that put us on the bridge back over to Oregon.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This is a shot of the bridge that brought us back to Oregon at the end of today's ride, shot from outside my hotel room in Biggs. Note the turbines on the ridge above the bridge.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A typical scene in Biggs. There are three highways that intersect here. All local business cater to truck drivers and others who are just passing through.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is unclear whether or not Biggs (or maybe it's Biggs Junction) is an actual legal entity, or just an intersection of highways that has sprouted a motley crop of lodging and eating establishments of questionable quality, in addition to associated convenience stores and truck service facilities. Anyway, we had booked at Biggs Three Rivers Inn, and had ridden over 90 miles in the hot sun, so this was our home for the night. It was also my birthday, so we hoped for something decent to eat at Linda's Restaurant. That was not to be, unfortunately. In addition, I felt a bit depressed, probably due to the cumulative fatigue of yesterday's 85 miles and today's 91. Anyway, tomorrow should be fewer miles and hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight. I'll celebrate my birthday properly with Kathy in Seattle next week. That is, assuming that she'll still need me, that she'll still feed me, now that I'm 64.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Stats: 91 miles, climbed 2800 feet, 7 hours saddle time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-6466820402736670352013-06-27T01:17:00.002-04:002013-12-30T19:13:54.033-05:00June 26, 2013: MIM Day 11, Dayton WA to Hermiston OR<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Having rested up for a day, I suprised Fred by appearing right on time to ride out at 7:30. We were looking at an 85 mile day, so we wanted to be sure to get an early start. The air was cool and the sky was overcast, but it was not raining and there was no wind. The first 45 miles was a slight downhill and we made the best of it, finishing that first section in less than three hours. US Highway 12 (which has been our primary route since turning onto it a week ago in Lolo, MT) morphed into a four lane, divided highway with broad, smooth shoulders as we passed through Walla Walla, WA. Eventually, it returned to its usual format as we got back into the more rural areas. We stopped at a convenience store in Touchet, WA for 15 minutes or so, then it was back on the bikes to finish our time on US 12 and start several days of riding along the Columbia River. Worth mentioning is that a seemingly unending array of wind turbines sat up on the ridge a couple of miles to the left of the highway. Very few of the blades were turning at all, a testament to our good fortune wind-wise.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Northwest's answer to sweet Vidalia onions.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In other respects, the weather was not quite as welcoming. The sky was getting darker and the air was getting cooler as the clouds thickened. Rain threatened, but never amounted to more than a few drops here and there -- not enough for any of the oncoming drivers to bother to switch on their wipers. We finally reached the intersection of US 12 and US 730, the latter being our route west along the south bank of the Columbia. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">First look at the great and historic Columbia River. Note the heavy, gray sky. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Unfortunately, 730 has much narrower shoulders, and far more traffic. The number of trucks was rather alarming at times, and the amount of oncoming traffic often prevented them from moving over, assuming at least some of them would have done so if it had been possible. There was one place where the shoulder all but disappeared as the road went up and around a blind curve. I was in front and tried to time our arrival at that part of the road so that there were no trucks coming up behind us right then. The only safe option was to take the lane, leaving any traffic coming up from the rear with no option but to wait until there was an opportunity to pass in the other lane, or simply to slow down and let us get over the hill and back onto the shoulder when it reappeared. Anyway, we were fortunate that we had the hill to ourselves, with the exception of a single car.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In addition to the traffic, we now had the Columbia's prevailing west wind in our faces, so our pace fell from the effortless 17 MPH of the earlier part of the day, to 12 or less. We finally made our turn off 730 onto Diagonal Road, which runs, well, diagonally inland toward Hermiston, our destination for tonight. After seven or eight more miles we were at the Oak Tree Inn, which turned out to be quite nice and to have decent food choices, a supermarket, and a Dollar Tree nearby. By the way, it did start raining about ten minutes after we checked in at our hotel! Pretty good timing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">All in all, it was a satisfying day. Although one of our longer days, it was not overly tiring and it gives us confidence for our longest day tomorrow. The weather is forecast to take a dramatic turn, though, becoming clear and hot. As a result, our plan is to be riding no later than 7:30. I will be glad to switch to my normal Florida biking kit, and every indication is that we can put away our rain gear and cold weather stuff for the remainder of the trip. Fred is not quite as enthusiastic, but if we can just get through the long day tomorrow, the shorter days that follow should be manageable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today we rode 85 miles in 5 and 3/4 hours, climbing 1,600 feet along the way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-61482651173359450262013-06-27T00:11:00.002-04:002014-01-05T19:39:01.216-05:00June 25, 2013: MIM Day 10, Rest day in Dayton, WA<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It was very satisfying to be having breakfast at the Best Western while watching the rain falling outside. As forecast, the weather was pretty much the same as the day before, so our decision to wait it out in <a href="http://daytonwa.com/index.php/about-dayton/history" target="_blank">Dayton </a>was a good one. Between rainy periods we wandered around this historic town, checking out the restored train depot (the oldest still standing in the state) and the pharmacy that still has a functioning soda fountain. We also spent a while chatting with Bill, who volunteers at the old 150 seat theater that subsists on grants and donations and shows both recent films and local plays. The latter bring out the largest crowds, especially when it is a production featuring community children. As in every community, those events draw all the family members of the young actors. Bill, who I would guess to be about 75, is also infamous in the town for being its only <a href="http://www.segway.com/" target="_blank">Segway</a> rider, at least until it got away from him a couple of years ago and he retired his wheels. Here are some photos of the theater, train depot, a government building, and more:</span><br />
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Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-35198332527328980122013-06-25T20:39:00.000-04:002013-12-29T19:13:55.838-05:00June 24, 2013: MIM Day 9, Clarkston WA to Dayton WA - (The Soul-Sucker)<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I love bicycle touring, but if today were typical, or even common, I'd be home watching TV. Today's ride was only 67 miles, but it was cold, wet, gloomy, wind-blown, chock full of long climbs, and even had another flat to fix. If there was any scenery to admire, I sure didn't see it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Reviewing the ride on the map before leaving showed a 2000 foot climb early in the day, then a gradual descent, then what looked like an inconsequential 500 foot climb just short of our destination. The first climb started out pretty shallow, but then ratcheted up to between five and eight percent, pretty much in sync with the worsening weather. We were on a shoulder that was rarely smooth, and sometimes pretty narrow. We were finding Washington drivers to be pretty courteous, especially by comparison to those in Idaho, but it could have just been that Washington's highway department graciously provided two lanes for uphill traffic. It was therefore easy for vehicles to shift over into the center lane as they approached us from behind. There were notable exceptions, such as the truck pulling a bulldozer on a "Wide Load" trailer. Through the rain, I saw him coming up in my rear-view mirror and there was no sign that he was going to move over, in spite of the empty lane next to him. I sprinted to a wider section of the shoulder, but Fred was behind me and got to experience a close encounter of the terrifying kind. I absolutely do not understand what goes on in the minds of these drivers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After a lunch stop at a cafe in Pomeroy, we headed back out in a light rain, expecting a couple of easy hours on a shallow downhill, followed by that little 500 foot climb, before a final drop into Dayton. Well, that might have been more or less true, were it not for the wind, which was such that the downhill was not even noticeable. During a rare break in the rain, Fred had a flat, which we fixed by replacing the tube. We were unable to find any cause for the puncture, but the replacement tube did the trick. Back on the road Fred was having trouble staying at pace. Luckily, I was feeling pretty good at that point, so I offered to stay in front and was able to move us along at a steady, if not speedy, clip for the next 15 miles or so. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaehoI6nkoI/UcomN47YBFI/AAAAAAAACRk/Hktis9pM6E4/s1600/20130624_170119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaehoI6nkoI/UcomN47YBFI/AAAAAAAACRk/Hktis9pM6E4/s640/20130624_170119.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At that point, Fred said that he had to stop, and plopped down on the roadside gravel. I honestly thought he was done for the day. After a little while, some liquid, and a cereal bar, he announced that he was ready to get it done, boarded his bike and took off with determination. By the time I got going, he was already a quarter mile in front. I settled into a low gear and leisurely pace, expecting him to fall back pretty soon and not wanting to invest the extra energy necessary to catch up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Incredibly, he found some kind of second wind and stayed out in front by the same margin. He stayed out there even when we hit the supposed 500 foot climb that ended up more like 1000 feet, and went on and on and on in the rain, the cold, and the head-wind. Every curve revealed yet another stretch of 5% or higher grade. Finally we were at the top of all visible hills. We had every reason to believe the summit to be right around the bend...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Well, instead of the summit, we found what appeared to be nothing less than the gates of hell. Ahead of me, Fred was stopped by the side of the road, still as a statue, staring ahead at a sheer vertical wall of asphalt, disappearing into the clouds above, but not before somehow pitching up even steeper than normal earthly geometry allows. I pulled up next to him, hissing, "No fucking way!" He responded with resignation, "Way." I tried again, but his response remained the same. I frantically searched behind us for a kindly pickup truck, or even a car with an empty bike rack, equipped with some kind of anti-gravity device capable of getting us over the soul-sucking hill ahead. With our destination less than five miles away, it seemed that we had reached the end. We were doomed to be reduced by the rain and wind to globs of once-human mud, remaining forever part of the roadside amalgam near Dayton, WA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After a couple of minutes of stillness, Fred drew upon some strange inner pool of courage or recklessness, turned toward me and said, "C'mon. There's strength in numbers. Let's go." It was like something out of one of those war movies, when the hero jumps out of the foxhole, leading his platoon on a suicide mission to wipe out the enemy machine gun nest. Like one of the guys in the platoon, I didn't stop to think, I just followed. Or maybe I went first. Now it is all a blur...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In truth, it really wasn't that bad. All cyclists in hilly areas know the illusion. From the top of a hill, the next one looks impossibly steep and long. Nevertheless, we were thrilled to find that it really was the last one, and we finally started our rainy descent, still against the wind, into the attractive little town of Dayton.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Just before hitting the actual "downtown" strip, we passed a brand new, three story Best Western hotel and I told Fred that I wanted to come back to it if the Blue Mountain Motel turned out to be, umm, "disappointing." There was a "NOW OPEN" banner in front of the Best Western, bouncing up and down on it's bungee cord tethers in the wind to emphasize its availability. We rode through town, finally seeing the hotel sign "Blue Mountain Mo" (the T, E, and L were apparently burned out) a block up. After a brief inspection of one of our rooms, I told Fred that I didn't care if we had to pay for these rooms as well, I wanted to go back to the Best Western, with its large, clean, comfortable rooms and bathtubs full of hot water. He quickly agreed, and when asked if we could still cancel, the proprietor of the Blue Mountain Mo said, "Certainly." Perhaps given the way we looked, he feared having us there as much as we feared being there. Whatever. Our blessings on him, his children, and his children's children.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The view from the lobby of the Best Western</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We left Clarkston an eternity earlier, at 8:45 AM. We arrived in Dayton at 6 PM. It took that long (including lunch and rest stops) to cover just 67 miles. We climbed around 3600 feet. I did not even take out my camera, but Fred has one of those ruggedized, shock and waterproof cameras, so here are a couple of shots he took during the day. The one of the wind turbines is the edge of a pretty large wind farm of about 150 turbines in this part of the state. The other one is a surprising sunset through the clouds, taken from our wonderful Best Western.</span><br />
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<br />Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5059236482314422053.post-19431276696719372042013-06-24T00:45:00.000-04:002013-12-29T18:52:40.259-05:00June 23, 2013: MIM Day 8, Kamiah ID to Clarkston WA<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today was our biggest day of the trip so far. We rode 86 miles, climbed 5,200 feet, and were in the saddle for over 7 hours. We also experienced a 20 mile (!) descent from mile 43 to mile 63, which was a welcome reward for all the climbing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The ride started with a 2,000 foot climb, mostly at 7%, as usual. Once up there at 4,000 feet or so, we had many miles of large rollers through farmland that reminded me of Kansas in that the fields seemed to go on forever. Wheat this time of year is being harvested in Kansas and Oklahoma, but here it is still green. There were also great sections of flowering rape seed (aka canola), providing a beautiful yellow contrast to the deep green wheat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At about 40 miles we tried a couple of towns in hope of finding a cafe, but we had no luck. Finally we gave up and scavenged in a tribal (Nez Perce) gas station / convenience store / "restaurant". I had chocolate milk, Doritos, Powerade, and a mini-coconut pie, while Fred had fried chicken, a corn dog, and powerade. Yummy! Thanks to the long decline immediately thereafter, this nutritious meal turned out to be sufficient to get us to Lewiston and across the bridge to sister town Clarkston. The last few miles today were on a riverside bike trail on the Lewiston side of the river.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If not the high point of the ride, of interest was the fact that we were flashed by a young woman who hung out the passenger window while yanking up her shirt. At least that's what I THINK I saw. Readers who also engage in long days of endurance cycling understand that most oxygen by this point in the day is going to the large muscles in the legs. It takes the brain a while to process sensory input not essential for the job at hand, so the car was long past by the time I had decoded the image my eyes had seen. Fred was unable to confirm or disconfirm, as he was studying the asphalt closely at the time. Anyway, real or imagined, this incident was a first in all our travels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A few photos from today...</span><br />
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<br />Seth Kriegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11065975231207655740noreply@blogger.com1