Riding in Boulder

Boulder Colorado may have become my favorite place to ride. If I could figure out a way, I think would move here. OK, so I'm out riding a cheap ass heavy borrowed bike and guess what, it was a fantastic ride. Why you ask? Well because people in Boulder love to ride bikes! I have never been any place where people are so respectful to riders. Every intersection I came to the cars yielded, it did not matter if they had the right- of-way or not. They stopped and waived me through; it was great!

The weather here today was near to perfect, 65 and sunny. The challenges I had came from the altitude, my poor Minnesota lungs were not quite acquainted with the lower level of oxygen. I have trouble enough breathing when I ride so this was quite the challenge. I loved it anyway and for the most part the areas I rode today were pretty flat, only a couple hills.

Tomorrow I hope to get into the mountains. There's a path about 1 mile from the apartment I'm staying in and it goes right to the mountains. Today I rode to the mountains and back with a few side trips, well actually a few "oops, wrong ways". I'm thinking of renting a high end road bike as the bike I used today really did not fit me and it weighed about 50 pounds! I can't complain, it was free. I just would really like to put on some miles and a bike that fit me and was lighter would make it so much nicer.

Boulder has over 300 miles of designated bike trails. Since the 1970's the city has taxed the citizens a .5% tax to purchase open space (park land) and build bike trails. It's great, no matter whether you ride on a bike only, a multi-use trail or a bike path along a road the riding is great. It was unbelievable to me how great the drivers were.

And the apartment we're staying in is perfect, only $90 a night! I would love to come back and dedicate an entire week or more to riding. I'm sure if I did some training in this altitude I would be a much better rider in Minnesota.

I can't wait to get out and ride again tomorrow!

Underground Railroad Bicycle Route

I think I may have found my dream ride. This would be an adventure of a lifetime and I think I may need to find someone to ride along with me. I was surfing around the Internet this morning and checking out cycling websites and blogs. I stumbled upon a video of a bike ride someone had taken; the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route. So I googled it, the funny thing is that it brought me back to the Adventure Cycling website which I had already looked at early today. 

The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route honors the bravery of those who fled bondage and those who provided shelter. This route passes points of interest and historic sites along a 2,008 mile corridor. Beginning in Mobile Alabama and ending in Owen Sound, Canada. 

One of my dreams has been to travel on my bike, pack my bags and hit the road. I'm going to spend a some more time on this and see what it would actually take to do a ride like this. I don't think it's something I could realistically fit in this summer or anything but I can certainly gather the information needed and plan for it. I get 5 weeks vacation a year from work, I can start socking away some money and see if I can't find someone to ride along with. I know I could do this alone but I think a riding buddy would be safer. Hell, I must be getting old if I'm thinking about safety. 

Breast Cancer Ride

Breast Cancer Ride 2009

Last week I received a call from Kari Mitchell, one of the organizer's for the Breast Cancer Ride. She called to inform me that the BCR, in addition to benefiting the Open Arms of America association was also benefiting the Susan G. Komen organization. This was great news! Kari and I talked for some time about last year's ride and what was in store for this year. She said they were tweaking the return ride as some riders had trouble with the hills on the second day. Kari said they are working on a route that would hopefully include part of the Cannon Valley Trail.

I have already committed to this ride and hope to get others to ride with me. This was one of my favorite rides last summer. Another thing Kari mentioned is that this year the ride will take place August 1 - 2, so that it doesn't conflict with the MS150 ride. Last year they were only about a week apart, if I remember correctly. I've already committed to the MS150 ride again this year too.

If you're interested a blog has been started for the Breast Cancer Ride, it was developed to allow riders, crew members, volunteers and supporters of the ride a chance to share their stories, training regimen, fund-raising techniques (I sure could use some of those ideas) or anything else they want to write about.

As most everyone knows I love to ride my bike and I usually do rides "just for the fun of it." The St. Paul Classic, Mesabi Trail ride, even the Tour of Saints rides were examples of that but the Breast Cancer ride and the MS150 ride hold a different meaning for me.

Cancer has hit my family hard on both sides, nearly all of my aunts and uncles have died of cancer and my grandmother on my mom's side died of cancer. My father was diagnosed with cancer nearly three years ago. I have three cousins battling cancer right now, all of which are under 50 years old, one is under 40. Both my Grandmother and my Aunt on my dad's side had breast cancer and I've had three biopsies for Breast Cancer myself, fortunately they were all benign. To say this cause holds a special place in my heart would be putting it mildly. I also have several friends who have battled Breast Cancer, this is something that is just not going to go away. We need research, we need medicine, we need people to contribute to organizations like Open Arms of America and Susan G. Komen.

If riding a bike isn't your thing, then volunteer, sponsor someone (pick me), collect money from your family, friends, co-workers, get involved. An Orientation Meeting will be held Monday, February 9 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm at the Bloomington REI store, what better reason to stop by the REI store. There will be more orientation meetings so check the Breast Cancer Ride website. The orientation meeting is a great place to learn more about the Breast Cancer Ride. I'll be there, come on by.

Sessioning...

picking out a small section of trail and doing it over and over again until you get it right.

I recently read this article on the Mountain biking by 198 website "How To Become A Better Mountain Biker and in part 2 he discusses sessioning; in other words practice. This is a great piece of information and something I never do. This year I'm adding it to my riding. Rock gardens are my fear zone, so they are first on my list. Practice, practice, practice.

Winter in Minnesota

I've finally admitted it; it's winter! Eid al-Adha has come and gone. Winter Solstice has come and gone, whew, we made it through the longest night without any ghost issues. Hanukkah has begun and is soon to pass. Christmas is over. Boxing Day is over. All of this means, I ain't ridin' my bike. I have moved everything into the basement and put the road bike on the trainer. It's not much fun but I can at least catch up on all the movies I've been wanting to see. 

I've plugged the TV in and hooked up the DVD player and the cable box, all by myself! The bike is strategically placed in front of the TV for better viewing. I have a stack of wood near the fireplace just in case I don't workout hard enough to stay warm. So far that has not been a problem but you never know, we still have January coming up. I also found my weights and workout balls so I have no excuse for not staying in condition over the winter. The gym I belong to has closed the location closest to my house so I don't know if I will be makin' it to the gym. I'm not much a gym person anyway; somehow I just can't get myself to go and having everything I need right here at home works much better. 

I certainly miss my long Friday morning rides and my afterwork rides on the Gateway. I'm sure we will get a couple warmer days and I will be able to try winter riding again.  I can also spend this time figuring out next years rides; that's half the fun anyway. 

40 degrees in December

Dint wanna waste the bright, bright sun shiny day so I pulled the old Kona out of the garage yesterday. I haven't ridden this bike for quite some time so I wasn't sure what condition it was in. Mike's boyfriend Curt had been riding it over the summer so I figured it should be OK. I brought it into the house to warm up a bit, even at 40 the bike was super cold; call me a wimp but I dint wanna put my butt on a cold bike. I added air to the tires and lowered the seat and it was ready to go. I headed to the park down the street, getting used to riding on the snow. I have zero experience with riding in the snow. I went out one time early this year to check out the Gateway trail and ended up riding in some snow but that was all. Anyway, the snow on the street was pretty well packed and not too bad to ride on; the snow in the park was something else entirely. Super fun! I rode around the neighborhood for a while just testing things out. The slushy snow was probably the worst, the hard packed stuff was a little slippery but not too bad to ride on. I only hit one spot of nastiness where I thought I might lose it and as expected I had a car behind me but I just pedaled harder and stayed upright. 

I think having the hardtail and a heavier bike made things a little easier, like putting sand bags in the back of the pickup. I really enjoyed my ride through the neighborhood, the neighbors probably think I'm nuts but that's OK. It felt good to be out riding again, I haven't been on my bike since October. My back is starting to feel normal again, now I just have to keep it that way. I have some space in the basement set up for my bike trainer and workout equipment, so I should be good to go for the winter. 

The weather today has been yucky, it was raining when I drove to work at 0530 and now the temperature has dropped and we are getting snow. I guess I wont be doing any outside riding for a while again. Good thing I bought those cross country skis to keep me entertained through the winter add that to my curling and yoga and my evenings are pretty well filled.