Pre-ride Musings

Well, I am nearly off again on my 15th long-distance bicycle ride and my second solo ride. This time I have laid plans to ride north to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and back--about 2300 miles. And, on this ride, I am foolishly starting out after a winter of sitting on my behind before my computer gaining 20 extra pounds and with only a handful of training rides behind my behind. My first days will be painful and painfully slow methinks.

At this writing, the snow pack in the north continues to be very high and the temps very low. Winter storms hit in April and May with MN, the Dakotas, and farther north accumulating up to 50 inches, and . . . well, click this link to see the May story. When spring finally springs in these northern climes, there is a high possibility of flooding, particularly along the Red River which begins near Wahpeton, ND, and flows north to Winnipeg, creating a border between ND and MN before emptying into huge Lake Winnipeg, which in turn empties into Hudson's Bay and ultimately the Arctic Ocean. Why does the Rivière Rouge flow north? Gravity, daahlinks. The elevation near its source is a little over 200 feet higher than Lake Winnipeg.

Alaska

Because of the snow and potential for flooding, I consulted with cousins Paul and Janneka Guise in Winnipeg, and have changed my original start date of May 5 to Sat., May 11. I have also developed a second route. Paul has given me some good route advice. Below are my changes.

FIRST ROUTE

Hungary

Since Winnipeg is almost directly north of Stillwater, the first route I developed was a no-brainer, straight-haul almost entirely on, or very near, Hwy 77N to 75N (Lord Selkirk Hwy) in Canada. It is a route that contains no mountainous terrain, so in Feb. when I was creating it, I thought that the biggest obstacle would be lack of cover. This route with its agricultural flatlands and rolling prairie has few trees or protection from the sun, wind, and rain. However, a couple of months later, I now find that snow and flooding may be the biggest obstacles. Fargo, Grand Forks, and other cities along the Red River route are likely to be flooded in late May on this coldest spring ever. Also, Paul thinks that the Lord Selkirk Hwy, which parallels the Red River, may be under water in late May when I want to be on it; thus, I've devised an alternate route. I'd like to take the alternate route up through MN and this first route through the Dakotas back if the weather permits.

ALTERNATE ROUTE
The alternate route follows the first route to Sioux Falls, SD, but then veers east to Worthington, MN, and continues north through Minnesota, mostly on US-59. This prettier, more populated route sees me pedaling east of the Red River through the cities of Fergus Falls and Detroit Lakes and among some of Minnesota's many small western lakes. I bicycled through some of the towns on this route in 2009 with Bill Upton when on the C2C ride. This new route is about 100 miles longer than the original and a little more challenging (snow? mosquitoes, a couple of long days), but most of the time I will be at least 50 miles from the ND flood plain. 

Mt Tam, Sausalito, CA

Outside Bellingham, Washington

I have loosely planned overnights on both routes, factoring in two rest days before Winnipeg (each after about 8 days of riding) and then two days in Winnipeg before heading back to Stillwater. After my January birding trip to Ecuador, my travel funds are at an all-time low, so I must take my tent and sleeping bag to lessen the motel toll. The round trip will take about 50 days give or take a few, and I will average about 50 miles per day. I will be riding my trusty Specialized road bike and pulling my ancient B.O.B. trailer, this time very lightly loaded as I plan on eating on the road and having husband, Jeff, send clothes and other necessities on to Winnipeg.

Where there are no campgrounds, I will stay with Warm Showers hosts when available and will stay in motels the rest of my nights, except those three nights in Winnipeg where I will stay with relatives. This time I have Google Maps, GPS, and Warm Showers apps on my iPhone, and there's a little bracket for the iPhone on my handlebars, so I should not get lost. "Should," I say, because the older I get the more "directionally challenged" I've become. Yes, I'll probably cycle some bonus miles.  

I still laugh at my encounter with a guy in Buffalo on last spring's charity ride to Rhode Island. Both of us were lost. He called me over and asked for directions and then sized up my cockpit, telling me that I had to get GPS and scoffing playfully at my little gimbeled compass, which he said was low-tech and "probably made in Columbus's time." Course he didn't say anything about his "no-tech" travel as he was lost, too, and without any resources, technical or otherwise.

2000 West Coast Ride; the only ride on which I used panniers; I now pull a B.O.B. trailer. This photo--taken by daughter Jess in the CA redwoods--was used by Arkel, the mfg of the panniers, in their advertising

Why, I have asked myself, do I still follow this compulsion for long-distance cycling each spring/summer? A psychiatrist might tell you differently, but here are what I suspect to be my motivators:

• "Old age crises" is beginning to set in; I will turn 71 on this ride and need to ride now while I still can so that I have no regrets later in life when I have to be less active--and, hey, when I do have to be less active, I can read my trip accounts and reminisce. (I make an illustrated trip account booklet after each adventure and am now transferring them to blogs so that I can share them more readily--see my account books below.)
• Husband, Jeff, a professor at OSU, still loves his teaching, is self-sufficient, loves to cook, and after 43 years of marriage (44 years Aug. 9, 2013) a couple of months of independence is empowering for both of us. 

  

  1998 RDP Bronco Road Time Trial

• Endurance rides give me something to plan and to look forward to during the more homebound winter months.
• I like gaining muscle and losing pounds. 
• Each day on the road brings a sense of personal accomplishment and discovery.
• I love being alone with my thoughts and few responsibilities other than finding food and shelter each day, but I also love sharing photos and my daily experiences with family and friends; hence, this blog and my past blogs, websites, and emails. 
• The excitement of what lies around the next bend in the road tugs at my wanderlust and blows away the foggy depression that hovers with inactivity.

Tune in Sunday to hear how my first day went.

P.S. If you would like to read some of my cycling, birding, and other blogs, all are listed when you click "View my complete profile" under my profile description in the right margin.

At Missouri motel near beginning
of 2012 charity ride

Burlington, IA, at end of RAGBRAI, waiting for those on 2009 C2C ride who rode RAGBRAI

The Longest 50 miles . . .

Said goodbye to Wes & Mary Cash yesterday when I was in Cooper's buying a last minute pair of gloves and some chain oil. Said goodbye to Valerie & Dean last night over shish-kabobs on their new grill. Said goodbye to the dautas in separate calls and enjoyed well wishes for Mother's Day and Birthday (to come later this month).

Said goodbye to Jeff in a little park in Winfield, KS, where my ride began. This because I wanted to cut out two too-long initial days. I plan on riding these days on the way back when I am in better shape, though. Jeff drove the Prius home and will exercise it on occasion by jaunts to Petty's and Whole Foods in Tulsa

I hooked up BOB (overloaded as usual) and off I went out of the park and north on Hwy 77 at 8 a.m. on a cool (49F) but beautifully sunny spring day. No wind. Wow, piece of cake I thought. Not.

Hwy 77 North of Winfield; not much of a shoulder and the white line was sunk down an inch or so making for a pavement differential and narrowing what usable shoulder there was

The north wind came up fierce in not half an hour and got brutal as the day unfolded, even trying to knock me off my feet as I straddled the bike and rested head down on the handlebars. I took several pix, to rest as well as anything. One photo seems to show KS in a nutshell: church of the gray-brown KS sandstone blocks, a group of grain silos, and a wild turkey foraging in the grass.

A scene that seemed to capture KS in a nutshell: church, grain silos and a wild turkey. Can't see the turkey? See the next photo.

Wild turkey foraging near the church and grain silos

I also took a photo (below) of just one of the many KS abortion signs. They are everywhere and also seem to say "Kansas."

The wind absolutely sapped me. I stopped at the first gas station/CS that I saw, but just as I was pulling in, dozens of motorcyclists roared in and beat me to the bathroom. They were three deep and out the door. I did manage to buy my usual coffee drink and a cookie however. Then I crawled on, envying the speed of the motorcyclists when they roared by. At the CS, I talked to several of them. They were going to Augusta to gamble the day away at a casino there.


Some of the bikers who were headed for Augusta

I crossed Muddy Creek twice and took a photo each time. The second time I crossed it, hundreds of swallows circled me alarmed at the half dead greyhair on a bike on their bridge. Which reminds me, I passed a field of horses. They stared and stared and then took off in fright. I've seen cattle do this but never horses which usually come right up to the fence to get a better look, more curious than anything. Do I look that scary?



Muddy Creek

Muddy Creek and Swallows

Farming country here, many fields already tall with winter wheat, but some, like the one below, newly plowed and ready for planting . . . or perhaps already planted. Kansas is also noted for its two-story farm and family houses. It gets more snow and cold weather than OK with its predominately single-story houses. Maybe the soil allows for basements, also, which OK clay soil does not.

I took a right in Augusta following Hwy 77 which here turns to a high-speed four lane, so I opted for old Hwy 81/54 into El Dorado. Stopped at a tiny CS miles later to use the restroom and to sit a bit. As the proprietor had no chairs, he rolled out his plush desk chair from behind the counter and I sat in it drinking ice water and acting to all who entered like a Walmart Greeter. Must have sat there for half an hour or more before finding the strength to tackle the last 14 miles.

Huh?

I crawled into El Dorado at 2:30 p.m.--six and a half hours after leaving Winfield!

The Stardust Motel where I am staying is a ratty little motel run by a very nice East Indian family. However, the aluminum outer door to my room had no glass in the bottom panel, was warped, and held closed with a big chunk of concrete. I asked the son to please remove the door as it seemed to invite a break-in and I did not want to hear it creaking open and closed all night. That he did under my tutelage as he confessed that he had no idea how to remove a door. I am feeling very secure behind my hollow-core door at the mo. Ha. The curtains are safety-pinned closed. Guess a cheap room is a cheap room.

After I hit the room and flung myself on the bed for a brief nap, I walked to Dillons, a nearby grocery and bought myself an orange-pork rice bowl at their elaborate deli. Also bought a tub of rice pudding for tomorrow's breakfast. The grocery was within sight of the motel and on the other side of a park. I ate my rice bowl while sitting at one of the park's picnic tables watching a family play on the playground equipment. 

Seafood floral? Is this a new fusion cusine?

I have 11 more miles tomorrow than I did today and the north wind is supposed to be just as strong, so I am planning on leaving at first light before it gets too bad. Tune in tomorrow to see how Day #2 goes. Must admit that I am not looking forward to it. Monday the wind is supposed to shift to the south. You will probably hear me cheering in your respective cities.

Eye on the Sky

I could probably have also named this blog entry "Doubleday" because that is what it turned out to be. When I got to Herington, KS, my planned overnight there, the Herington Inn & Suites and the only motel in town, had no vacancy. What? The woman behind the front desk explained that it was graduation. I'm not kidding. Herington is smaller than Perkins! Nothing else to do but ride on. So, I rode to Junction City, KS, 18 miles farther north, making my day's total mileage 79 miles. I would absolutely not have been able to cycle 79 miles yesterday. Today, however, I had a SE tailwind for most of the miles!

Junction City is only 11 miles from Milford SP campground where I had planned to stay tomorrow night, but I wasn't up to 90 miles; wasn't really up to 79 miles, even with a tailwind, particularly as I am now entering the Flint Hills, and believe me, they are daunting to this out-of-shape woman with no training behind her.

Left the Stardust at 7:30 a.m. and got here about 3:00, I think . . . I actually cannot remember when I got in. I am in a two-story Motel 6, surprisingly a far cry from last night's Stardust as it is nearly brand new. Across the way is an A&W root beer place.

Just after I got in, Lucy called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day, and after we talked, I made a beeline for the A&W. A guy dressed in business attire but wearing a long silky purple robe, wished me and every other female in the place Happy Mother's Day. Yesterday Valerie Bloodgood sent me a beautiful butterfly Mother's Day e-card; earlier today while I was on the road, Jessica called; and I talked to Jeff just a few minutes ago so all have wished me Happy Mother's Day. I actually do not think of myself but think of my own mother on this day.

I stopped in Burns, KS, thinking "goodie, goodie" when I saw the sign for bakery/café. Burns is about the size of Glencoe, maybe a little smaller, and everything in the town was closed on this Mother's Day Sunday. I stopped again about 20 miles into the ride at a little roadside café in the middle of nowhere. Three hand-lettered signs on the door said that they did not accept plastic or checks. I had just $7 in cash accessible (I carry most of my money in BOB and was not about to unload him). I studied the menu for a few moments and then decided on the $3.50 biscuits and gravy. Not one of my favorites, but I thought a little carbo loading would help my energy level and it fit my budget. Then I enjoyed sitting among the locals and listening to them talk about farming, skeet shooting, hunting, hunting dowgs, and farwood. Farwood was the topic at two different tables--probably since it is a scarce commodity out here in this farmland with its enormous fields.

A storm was blowing west to east all morning. In the CS yesterday the owner told me to "keep an eye on the sky," so that is what I did today. I could see a front forming to the west and was watching some dark peculiar clouds to the east. A few miles after the café, it began to rain. I pulled on my O2 raincoat, dug out the shower caps (one to keep my saddle dry when I am not on it and one to pull over my helmet in mild rain). Put the camera, phone, and my wallet in plastic bags, and then continued on. This, the first of three times I was caught in the rain today, was short-lived. Of course then I had to pull off the jacket as it makes me too hot. The second rain was pretty heavy but the third was short lived again. Rain I can take, but I keep an eye out for storms in this area.

Where I would go if there was a bad storm or a tornado is anybody's guess. Most of the farmhouses out here do not sit on the road. They are way back in the fields and too far away to get to quickly. I guess my best bet would be a ditch or culvert.

I'm too lazy to insert all the pix in the text, so have inserted them with captions below.

Tune in tomorrow.



The road, devoid of traffic early in the morning.



A nice invitation but one I would like to turn down

The front just beginning to form; my camera didn't capture it well

Hwy 77 . . . endless Hwy 77

This old barn and grain silo was near the turnoff to Burns, KS. From a distance it looked like a Norwegian stave church.





Add a cafe and this constitutes all of the business in Burns, the bottom three all in a single business

This "Hair Shop" sat right next to the closed Burn's bakery/café

Took this to show how rocky this area is and also to show how shallow the topsoil, though a field of wheat was growing just beyond and above it

Clever pipe spider at a pipe supplier



Entering the Flint Hills



The End of the Ride

Hello all of you who have begun to follow my ride to Winnipeg. My apologies, and I am sad to announce, that today was my last day. I hate to quit anything I start, so this is embarrassing and sad for me to have to say, especially after only three days on the road. A German saying I learned in high school states: "All beginnings are hard." This one was particularly so.

It was naive of me to think that I could jump on my bike and pedal off with no training behind my behind, which is the reason I must quit. The hip held up but the behind didn't. Painful saddle sores have ruined the ride.

Today I got two fast-forwards. The first I asked for after cycling to Milford SP (where I was to spend the night last night). The entrance to the park was only 8 miles or so from Junction City but, because I am in the Flint Hills, very hilly and shoulderless in places.

From the entrance to Milford SP, I hooked a ride with Rex, who drove BOB and me to Riley, KS, in his pickup. Rex was a retired farmer and told me all about Fort Riley and how much land they were on--some of it taken from his family farm. Seemed like we passed it for miles and I guess we did. There were tank fields, several entrances, and a crew of military earthmovers making a runway--for drones(?), Rex thought. 

Rex dropped me at a little convenience store at the Riley crossroads. I drank a Yoohoo there and then pedaled very uncomfortably and walked a good deal of the 32 miles to Waterville. In between, I stopped in Randolph at a bulging hunting, fishing, everything-you-can-imagine convenience store for lunch. Sat at an outside picnic table for at least 45 minutes watching the seniors come and go from a Senior Center and thinking that if I quit I would soon be amongst them.



An interesting twig and wire fence

Couple of curious Texas Longhorns; note the eastern red cedars. I was riding through an area very like OK with its proliferation of eastern red cedars roadside

From Randolph, I had 18 miles or so to Waterville. They were not fun miles, but I finally made it only to find that the Weaver Hotel was booked for graduation as had been the Herrington hotel. I'm ashamed to say that I burst into tears.  

Weaver Hotel in Waterville, KS. Though it looks large, this hotel has only 10 rooms, and unfortunately they were all booked for this evening--graduation again. It is too bad because I would have liked to stay at this renovated 1909 hotel. This pic is from the Internet as I was so disappointed that I neglected to take one.

The next little town, Blue Rapids, was only 5 miles away, so I started for it. As I was stopped on the shoulder hanging over the handlebars on the up-side of a hill, a man named Dennis pulled over and asked if he could help.

But of course he could help. He pulled across the road into a better spot and we managed to load BOB and the bike into the back of his SUV, which already had his wife's wheelchair in it. He was returning to Marysville from Manhattan, KS, where his wife was in the hospital dying of cancer. Dennis was about my age, had two sons, one an oncologist and the other a mechanical engineer I think. He drove me the fourteen or fifteen miles to Marysville where he knew the owner of the Heritage Inn, the motel I am in. A very nice man whose life has become a trial.

I've called Jeff and he is planning on driving up tomorrow to pick me up. I am sorry to disappoint all who expected to follow the intrepid adventuress. When I get home I will have to think up some other excitement to keep me going. Below are several photos I took today.

The layers of limestone, flint, clay and other stone in a roadside cut

A cemetery where BOB and I took a rest stop in the shade; inside the pavilion were benches, a picnic table, and a directory of all who were interred there, both by name and by site location

A nice downhill near the road cut; you know my tail hurts if I am off the bike on a downhill!

This sign can be seen in the distance in the photo above. You can see the short intervals that I am able to pedal.

This is Fancy Creek. It appeared to be very Plain Creek to me and was also very low as the field beside it showed signs of having once been under water.

A purple field of henbit; Ill bet the farmers don't like it a bit

A pretty old barn that is gradually returning to nature; note that I am early enough that some trees
are just beginning to leaf out