the gospel according to surly
I have been gone for a while, what with life issues, happy training and weaving time and a mastectomy to get rid of some breast cancer.The weather has been distinctly non bike friendly, but fortunately...
View ArticleI'm Back....
After another long hiatus, I am back. It has been a rough 10 months since breast cancer surgery and I have been fighting drug/ chemotherapy/endocrine therapy/call it what you will as the term...
View ArticleSigns on and along the road
Because of the suburban traffic, I usually ride out in the country a ways. However, on a recent ride, I took a route along the outlying edge of the burbs to the north and west of me. It's a typical...
View ArticleMay 3, the gathering of bikes in New Orleans
I am safely arrived, bike in tow, after a long adventurous drive from Houston yesterday. The drive included all east bound lanes of the Interstate being unexplainedly,closed, following a line of 18...
View ArticleDay 2 La Place to Port Allen LA
day two-La Place to Port Allen- a long hot supposed to be 100 miles but I bailed at 72 because I stopped to help with a rider from Idaho who had heat stroke. Fortunately one of the Dutch riders (a...
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Day 3 Port Allen to New Road- semi recovery day
There was a terrific thunderstorm last night which meant that even at 7:00 AM when the snack table was set up, it was like walking into the sauna. Last night at the map meeting, Since the ride was only...
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Day 4-New Roads, LA,to Natchez MS
We started out at 7:00 and quickly covered the 9 miles to "Not Yo Mommas Cafe" to meet the SAG vehicle that was waiting there to escort us across the Morganza Spillway, a narrow low bridge with high...
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Day 5-Free Day in Natchez, MS
Ahhh.. the luxuries of a free day which include sleeping in past 6:00 A.M., an honest to God sit down breakfast, time to wander around town, meet up with my friend Martha from Baton Rouge, LA, also a...
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Riding the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Vicksburg, MS
The day was cool, with an overcast and trying to rain as we rode out at 7:15. Getting through town was a bit of a challenge because of road construction, brick streets and traffic along with some...
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#6 Vicksburg to Yazoo City, MS
The way out of Vicksburg was complicated by road construction, brick streets and more rolling hills. We followed Carol, the guides' suggestion to just "get on down to the river" and turn right.Because...
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#7 Yazoo City to Indianola, MS
Today we rode to Indianola, home of B.B. King and cross roads of the Delta Blues. It was another shortish and flat day through the Mississippi Delta, enlivened mostly by the periodic lane and a half...
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#8 Indianola to Clarksdale
Today's ride was 65 miles of Delta wheat fields, catfish farms and rice paddies interspersed with about 7 miles of paving grooved for repaving with intermittent downpours and lighter showers for the...
View Article#9/10 / Clarksdale to Memphis/Memphis rest day
We are all having a scheduled recovery day in Memphis. The ride yesterday was miserable for the 25 miles I rode before I gave up and got in the van. There was a nasty exhausting headwind, and even from...
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# 11/12 Memphis to Covington to Dyerburg, TN
Ridng from Memphis to Covington TN brought a change of scenery- much more bucolic, lots of twists and turns, trees and shade, packs of dogs- felt like a dog a mile but probably wasn't quite that bad,...
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# 13/14 Dyersburg to Charleston, MO and on to Cape Girardeau
We are still riding up the Mississippi river. Yesterday we rode out of Tennessee, into Kentucky briefly so that we could take the ferry across into Missouri. Charleston Missouri last night, Cape...
View Article#15/16a day in the life of a bike ride
In lieu of posting yet aother blog about ridng through miles of flat country riding with fields and trees occasional small towns or railroad crossings with pauses to check the route, view the scenery,...
View Article#17 Ste. Genevieve to St. Louis, MI.
Because the ferry across the Mississippi from Ste. Genevieve to Modoc Il, didn't start running until 9:00 AM we got to sleep in a bit. It was a treat.The ferry ride was uneventful, but the trailer and...
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#18-22 St.Louis,Grafton IL Hannibal MO,Keokuk IA
Happy Birthday to me in Grafton, Il.I am in Keokuk, IA after ridden in in the van. The ride into Hannibal yesterday was pretty horrid, terrible roads with no shoulders and no where to hide from big...
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#23 Keokuk IA to Burlington IA and photos
Snake Alley from belowcat 4 over 50 climbingwomen cat 4 climbing at toplooking down from the top- tiny dots on the street waaay below are riders on the pre climbI knew I left my bike somewhere!sigh......
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#24-28 final three days in Iowa, one day in Wisconsin and into Minnesota
It has been five days of steady riding since leaving Burlington, IA.The first day into Muscatine, "pearl of the Mississippi" and home of the worlds largest pearl button factory was fairly civilized....
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#28-31 Winona to Little Falls, MN
This is the start of our last long stretch of back to back days of riding. We will be going from Winona ,MN via Wabasha, Red wing, Stillwater (Oak Park Heights) Cambridge to end up is Little Falls for...
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Day off in Little Falls
I had a productive day off in Little Falls. I slept in late, met up with my sister Kris and had breakfast at a Perkins cafe, along with a bus load full of noticeably labeled "Christian " tourists on...
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#32,33 the last two days through Pine River and Lake Itasca and starting back
Little Falls to Pine RiverIt's hard to believe that we are on our last two days of riding. The day off in Little Falls, coming as it did after 5 fairly long days of riding sort of felt like a...
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random thoughts after three weeks of re-entry
It has been almost a month since I finished with the Mississippi Meandering cross country bike ride. Mental re-entry has gone slowly, I still find myself wishing that there were a daily cue sheet to...
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Report on the Little Red Riding Hood Ride with my sisters. Part 1
Most importantly photos!Myself and biking friend Marina in our snazzy "lava lamp " print capris, in Texas before the ride.Tux and Ms. Ike helping me pack.Salt Lake sister and I (aka "Team Lava-we...
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