My daughter was on the tandem with me, her first time STPing. We started out from Husky Stadium about 5:15 am on July 17th.  We were doing 145 miles to Kelso, Washington on day one and the other 60 or so miles into Portland on Sunday.

And in the beginning:

and in the beginning 2010 Stp

Barely awake and ready to ride

barely awake and ready to ride

Freezing cold when stopped.  Where were our jackets?

freezing cold when we stopped moving

On cell phone cold and tired

on the cellphone cold and tired

Still smiling and tired at rest stop

still smiling and cold at rest stop

Had our jackets the 2nd day

second day had our jackets

Forgot to take pictures of the yummy banana bread!!

Rose Center Park about noon on Sunday

Rose center park

Support team at our arrival

support team waiting arrival

It was quite a ride!   Will you join us next year?

Bicycle In The Clouds

“ You know you’re in Copenhagen when a mother in high heels and mini skirt, with a 5 year old on the back and two bags of groceries dangling from the handlebars, blows past you like you’re carved in stone.”    ~Unknown author

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.  Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man.  And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became.  Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others.  Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.”    ~Elizabeth West from Hovel in the Hills

“Nothing compares to the simple pleasures of a bike ride.”      ~JFK

“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if your live.”  ~Mark Twain

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling.  I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.  It gives a woman a feeling of freedom & self-reliance.  I stand & rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” ~ Women’s Suffragist at a movement rally in London

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”  ~H.G. Wells

“Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving”  ~Albert Einstein

“Newspapers are unable, seemingly to discriminate between a bicycle accident & the collapse of civilization.”  ~George Bernard Shaw

I so enjoyed my bicycle ride through Napa Valley this year and my visit to the Charles Schultz Museum.

Hope you find time for a bike ride soon!

This is about showing off the pictures my wife and daughter brought back from the UK on their recent adventure to let me know that they were thinking about me while away.  It is hopefully here to inspire me to want to ride my bike all over the UK myself, when my turn rolls around.

I heard lots of stories about the fully geared and helmet wearing commuters in London, who whizzed past at high speed and darted around the traffic of cars, Lorries, and buses in very tiny bike lanes.  I heard more about all the folks who were just riding their bikes in street clothing and NOT wearing helmets at all in London.   But alas no photographs were attempted of this group.

They did see some what appeared to be Italian fellows with complete gear – biking in Scotland.

cyclists-at-eliean-doonan

They did take more pictures of recycled bikes being used for park art and announcement posts – These in full bloom.

york-bike-celebration

It was so nice that they thought of me and thought about bike riding the UK in the future.  Thought I would share while I am packing for my 18 day tour beginning on the 10th of September 2009.

bicycles-at-kings-college-cambridge

Below is the tentative trip with proposed daily ending points:

I am putting a shout out to any of my fellow bikers… suggestions on things we should see?

Thanks for any and all responses.

Designer Chiyu Chen has created a design involvolving two of my favorite things: renewable energy and bicycles. The Energy Generating Rental Bike System was showcased a while ago over at Inhabitat. I hope you will take a moment to check it out.

Electricity Generating Bicycle

The one day riders start off at about 5:30 am from Husky Stadium, and I am hoping to arrive at the park in Portland about 8 or 8:30pm.This will be my 10th ride in the STP, one year I did it without a team mate and that was not as fun. This year Brad is going to ride with me. I have done it several years with daughters and a few times on a tandem bike. This year the ride is on my birth date and this is the best birthday party I can think of – what a way to celebrate.

Months ago I made reservations at an Inn near Husky Stadium to spend Friday night with only a short ride to the stadium. On Friday before the ride, I am planning to take the day off from work and ride north to Seattle – about 65 miles. But this ride will include a ferry trip across the Sound, and a ride across one island from terminal to terminal. Just for fun.

Father’s Day brought me some new gear from my family and it looks amazing. I share it with you:

Here is a picture of my new Jersey from my daughter the IT guru:

New Bike Jersey

And a picture of my new Keen bike cleated sandals:

Cleated Keen Sandals

I also got several gallons of real lemonade made without corn syrup.

I am set to go!

What is your favorite way to celebrate your birthday? Ever thought of doing a major bike tour?

Related posts:
Bicycles on My Mind
First Century Ride of the Season
Biking Success

Bike In The Rain

If you know the photographer of this one please let me know and I will happily give credit where credit is due… Thanks.

How about you are there lots of commuting riders at your office?

My wife did an unofficial survey on her walk home on May 7th.  It is a slow go uphill to the traffic circle from downtown.  About 500 feet up from Sea Level and then another 300 feet to get up to our home.  My wife moves slowly approaching the traffic circle and often counts or thinks of other things as a distraction.  On the 7th she decided to count vehicles on her ascent.  I thought her stats were interesting to share, so here goes:

118 Single Occupancy cars came down the hill during her walk up
19 Double occupancy cars passed by (some had more passengers than just 1 and driver)
6 Walkers came down the hill.
3 Walkers were headed uphill.
AND
71 Bikes were ridden down the hill!    (The most she has ever counted before is around 20)
1 Bike passed her, a tandem with what she believes was a Father and young Son on the way to school – or daycare?

Uphill!

Does your city have a biking commuter Month?  Are there office contests for biking commuters?

I flew to Spokane, Washington to do a ride in a new area of the State. My intention was to get another training ride in with my team mate to prepare for the Seattle to Portland Bike ride July 11, 2009. We are hoping to do all 204 miles in one day.

I was hoping that the weather would be a bit drier and warmer than home and it was indeed drier, though quite windy, for the day.

We left Cheney, Washington home of Eastern Washington University about 9am on Saturday morning. My bicycle had arrived by car with my wife on the Wednesday prior and I had to work on resetting the chain and the computer tracker which had come loose on the trip over. We left to ride the Centennial Trail from Cheney to Coeur d’ alane, Idaho through the river park section of Spokane. Our plan was to complete 80 miles.

The Wind was to our backs as we set off and offered a nice boost.

We had to ride a short way on gravel.

In the river park section of downtown the trail led us right into the gathering walkers for the MARCH of DIMES and then we had to detour as we came across the memorial walkers for the Fallen Workers Memorial Walk. No problem, we just skirted around and found a detour to get back on the trail a bit further down the line.

We kept encouraging each other, arrived in Coeur d’ alane about 2:30pm and enjoyed a rest and a slice of pizza – good training food! Time for the return!

We did not see all the fancy clothing of the prom folks in River Park as we returned but understand downtown was full of festive attire and photographers as the young people made their way to dinner in all their finery (The link love here is for my daughter – did you get the job?).

At the very last part of the return journey, I got a flat tire and had to change everything out with my extra gear. This added a bit of weary to the adventure.

Tire changed we arrived back at our respective destinations for a hot shower and some balm on a sore knee. We drank tons of Lemonade and water to deal with our dynamic thirst. Actually, we were so tired that we could only muster a few bites of our fabulous Chinese dinner fare!

Oh well, the ride turned out to be our first Century of the season – 115 miles, we survived it, enjoyed it, and were refreshed by the experience.

Thank you Brad for sharing the route and for being on the team, you are a good biker.

Do you have a favorite ride? Have you done a Century? Any tricks for riding the roads?