Steamboat 2010 – Day 2 –
Today we watched the balloons lift off in the valley below wherewe are staying. It was very colorful and interesting to watch.After breakfast we road towards downtown – stopped at a bikeshop to get a loaner for Jake since his shifter was broken and headedout of town on 20 mile road. It was a beautiful rolling road withmajestic views of the valley. After while we had a really good climband at the top we were undecided what to do. After talking with lots of people we decided to continue and head towards Milner on a “short”stretch of gravel road and then back to Steamboat. The “short” gravelroad turned into 7 miles (pretty but hard riding with our road bikes) andthen the distance from Milner back to Steamboat was longer than wewere told also. Stopped at the Big House Burger place for lunch about 2:00pm and then stopped at another bike shop, and then back to the house.We ate in this evening with delicious steak, salad, and asparagus.Pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kws1111 in the group called Steamboat 2010
Hope all is well.
Steamboat 2010 Day 1
On Friday July 9, 2010 we packed up and headed to Steamboat. When we got to the west Rabbit Ears pass – several of us unloaded our bikes, joined our host Mick and road down into Steamboat and on to the house where we are staying for the week. We unpacked – and went to dinner at the Rio (a Mexican restaurant) in downtown Steamboat. We are hear on the same weekend as a two day balloon festival. Tomorrow we will get up early to see the balloons launch – then head out for our first real bike ride of the week – Unlike previous rides we are staying in Steamboat all week and doing out and backs or loops from Steamboat.
Hope this finds you all well!
My First Segway Ride
While we were in San Diego I rented a Segway for an hour to see what it was like. I have wanted to do this for a long time and decided to take the opportunity to experience it first hand. This is a collection of my thoughts and experiences. For first time Segway riders, after signing your life away in paperwork, you are required to take 15 minutes of training. It involves a few minutes of verbal instruction and then 10 minutes of practice where you demonstrate to the instructor that you have learned and understand what you have been told and you have to maneuver around a course set up with cones that shows how well you can steer and control the Segway. The biggest thing they wanted to teach you was that the Segway is wider than your shoulders and they want you to understand that so you won’t catch the Segway on an obstacle (like fire hydrant) and cause you to fall. The orange cones behind me in the picture were part of my “training course”.
Starting up and getting on the Segway was more complex than I expected but in retrospect it all makes sense. Each Segway has a remote control that gives you a lot of information that isn’t on the Segway itself. The remote turns the Segway on and off, locks it so someone else can’t take it, turns on and off training (turtle) mode, and tells you how much charge is left on the battery (or alternately how many miles you have left/have used). When you turn the Segway on some lights turn on in the middle of the platform where you stand. You need to hang onto the Segway when you are turning it on so it doesn’t fall over. The lights on the platform tell you if the Segway is tilted correctly, if too far forward a red light turns on in the front, if too far back a red light turns on in the back and if correct a green light is on in the middle. With the light green, you raise your right foot and gently tap the platform on the right side where your right foot will be placed. If everything is ok a cluster of green lights turn on around the single green balance light telling you that the Segway is ready for you to get on. While continuing to hold onto the Segway (if you let
go it will move forward on its own), you now step onto the platform between the wheels and balance so you don’t go forward or backwards.
The Segway goes forward and backwards when you lean in the direction you want to go. To turn you move the handlebars to the left or right. It is possible to turn in place by not moving forward or backwards and just turning the handlebars. When you are learning the Segway is placed in “Training” mode (shown by a turtle) on the remote. After you have used the Segway for 30 minutes you can switch to “Normal” mode. In training mode the maximum speed is 6 mph and normal is 10 mph. Once you get the hang of the controls it is pretty easy but you need to be very aware that the wheels are wider than you are and to not go over a curb or other obstruction more than one inch high I was off and spent an hour wheeling around Mission Bay. One thing that is hard to describe is how the Segway reacts when you reach the maximum speed – it pushes back at you! When you experience it you will understand.
One of the first things I noticed was how tall I felt. I looked down on
everything, walkers, bikers, skaters, runners. It gives you a feeling of power and “can do no wrong” probably not a good thing at 10 mph. It also means there are obstacles (like trees) that you normally wouldn’t have to deal with. Good thing I had a helmet. Some other interesting things happened. While in training mode, a group of runners got on the path just ahead of me and I knew they were very consistently running 6 mph since we maintained our distance apart for quite a while. Then another runner came up beside me – matched my pace and asked “How fast are we going?” – I immediately replied 6 mph since I was going as fast as I could in training mode. He then moved on ahead. The Segway isn’t completely quiet – there is a whine from the electric motors. I think it is actually more noticeable in training mode than normal mode – at least to the rider. But then if you completely stop – it is completely silent. I stopped several times when there was congestion on the path. As I went by one of the many parks on the Bay there was a person practicing on a Bagpipe. It seemed a very appropriate place to do that and I enjoyed the music as a wheeled by.
So I had a wonderful experience with my first Segway ride and I highly recommend it. But be sure to pay attention to the training. Taking a spill from one would not be fun. Not sure what the rental rates are in other places but here they charge $45 for the first hour and $30 for each added hour. The added $15 for the first hour covers the training time. I know in lots of cities they have tours that are Segway based so you can see more things in the same amount of time. There was another rental place that I found later that offers tours also.
So – if you get a chance – ride a Segway!
WI4 Ride day 7 Start of the last day Baraboo to Muscoda
Today was our last ride day from Baraboo to Muscoda. Due to logistics and time in getting back to Omaha after the ride we made an executive decision to have 2 people drive from the hotel to Muscoda (end of the ride) to pick up our other car and come back along the route to meet the rest of the riders – pack up and leave for Omaha. Everything worked out pretty well and other than one flat tire just after the ferry ride things went well. We met the riders around 10:00am and got on the road a little after 10:30am. We ended up skipping the showers at Muscoda and drove on to Dubuque where we found a YMCA and Dick got us in on his pass and lickety split everyone was ready to go. By then people where hungry (1:30pm) so we found a Panera Bread for lunch. We got into our Motel near the Omaha Airport around 7:30pm, unpcaked and went out for dinner in a very popular section of Omaha. Several people were disappointed in the route around Devil’s Head Lake this year (went to the other shore) but they were not disappointed in the hills.
All in All – it was a very good ride and the time went quickly.
kws
WI4 – Ride day 6 water stop Mauston to Baraboo
No rain today. We did our normal 7:00 am start. It was a niice temperature when we started and gradually got warmer but it wasn’t too hot when you created a breeze while riding until the last few miles. We made good time and by my odometer we did 54 miles today. We normally come through the Dells, but today the route tooks us through Reedsburg and then to Baraboo.We had a nice stop for ice cream at a store along the route. It was a nice cooling break. The route today was much more hilly than before and there were a few pretty steep ones that tested our abilities. When we got to the edge of Baraboo we figured out that our motel was on a Monroe street and when we got on it there was a very nice bike lane. About a mile towards our destination the bike lane disappeared, traffic density increased and there seemed to be no parallel streets that we could ride on – and then we came to an intersection with an Interstate that we had to cross. It was not fun. Shortly later we noticed the bike route crossed the highway we were on and so we turned off to go on the bike route. It added some more miles to our trip but the safer roads were worth it.
Tonight we had dinner in a nice Italian restaurant in Baraboo and enjoyed it very much. (note more pictures of eating!)
We have not had any flats while riding, but we have had 3 flats in Hotel rooms after the days ride. Not sure if that counts or not.
Tomorrow is our last ride day from Baraboo to Muscoda. For various logistical reasons we are going to cut the ride short and shuttle people back to Muscoda from an intermediate point that we think will take about 3 hours of riding to get to. Then we will shower in Muscoda and driver back to Omaha where we will stay overnight, leave Martha to catch her flight back to Annapolis and we will drive back to Boulder on Sunday. Not sure if I will be able to blog tomorrow or not.
Will try.
kws
WI4 – Ride Day 5 – Riders on a Log in Wisconsin Rapids
Today we tried our experiment of leaving at 6:30 (instead of 7:00) and eating on the road. We had identified a restaurant in Nekoosa to try but we switched to another one based on a locals recommendation. Unfortunately they were overwhelmed with the number of customers they had and it took us about an hour and a half to get breakfast. Then when we got back on the road the skies looked threatening and sure enough a few minutes later it started to rain. Most of us didn’t have our raingear with us so we flagged down our SAG car and got our raingear and started riding in the rain. It started raining at the 10 mile mark and didn’t stop until we got to 40 miles – 30 miles of riding in the rain. At least it wasn’t hot! Shortly before lunch time the weather cleared and were once again riding the the sun with scattered clouds. We stopped for lunch and debated on whether to make our lunch from our SAG wagon or purchase brats at the lunch stop. We chose to fix our food at a nearby park but the mosquitoes had other ideas and made us change our minds. The roads were pretty flat the rest of the way to Mauston so we made good time completing the 70 miles for the day. I didn’t get any pictures of us in the rain. At one point the rain got a little heavier and we decided to seek shelter – we were riding by a warehouse with 4 semi-trailers parked by it and so we parked our bikes under the trailers and sat under the trailers ourselves to stay out of the rain. Robin got a picture – but I don’t have it yet to upload it – but will eventually.
We ate dinner at the restaurant attached to our motel and enjoyed the food (especially the ribs).
Tomorrow we have a shorter day (55 miles) and plan to enjoy it. Hopefully it will be cooler and not rain!
kws
WI4 Ride Day 4 – Swimming in the Wisconsin River
Swimming in the Wisconsin River
Today was a very interesting day on our ride. The original schedule said the day would be a 69 mile ride. When the final detailed ride directions were published it had somehow grown to an 88 mile day. On a hot day that is pushing it. We figured out where the route went closest to our hotel and rode directly there. Unfortunately later in the morning we missed a turn sign and went way off the route. When we figured out our mistake we made a new route to get back on the
official path. Again unfortunately we had to go on a mile of gravel road to get back – not our preference with road bikes. We ended up about a mile more than the planned route. After all that we had an enjoyable time at one of our stops at a Cheese Factory where they make many things including cheese curds. Several of us had root beer floats to help cool off in the heat of the day. Shortly later we had lunch at a near by park where we had lunch once before. We continued on into another stop at a Swimming area on the Wisconsin River on the north side of Steven’s Point(see pictures). Then on to Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point. By now it was nearly 2:00pm and we had gone 60 miles and several people were ready to call it a day. Since the SAG wagon will only hold 5 people and 4 bikes we couldn’t all go at the same time. So 4 people went early, and the other 5 of us who usually travel together kept riding towards Wisconsin Rapids. Again unfortunately after about 4 miles I heard a pop (spoke breaking) and almost immediately my back wheel started wobbling. I have never broken a spoke before in all the miles I have ridden a rode bike so it was a new experience for me. We called the GRABAAWR emergency number for help and within 20 minutes a truck from a bike shop pulled up and fixed 2 broken spokes in about 20 minutes and we were back riding towards Wisconsin Rapids. Rick and Dick had gone on towards the Motel. Robin came back from Wisconsin Rapids and picked up me, JoJo and Ingrid and took us back to the motel. We each did about 68 miles less whatever sag driving we did. Rick and Dick each did 80 miles. There were no clouds in the sky most of the morning, but high thin clouds started coming in earlly afternoon which helped mitigate the sun a little. It was still hot. After showers and refreshment we headed out to dinner at a nearby hotel that had a great Italian restaurant. We all ate well!
Tomorrow we ride to Mausten for an estimated 69 miles. We normally eat in the breakfast area in the motel we are staying at, but tomorrow we are going to try something different. We are leaving a half hour earlier than normal 6:30am and riding about 10 miles to the next town on the route and having Breakfast there. Will let you know how it turns out!
kws
Originally uploaded by kws1111
WI4 RD3 – Ethereal Start
This morning we had fog at the start – which gave an ethereal view to everything around us. The fog burned off quickly and wasn’t an issue for riding (at least when we started). It did get very hot later but earlier in the morning it was quite nice in spite of the high humidity We had several good hills along the way – where dick was proud of his ability to ride 3.0 mph and not fall over.
After climbing Father Mernard’s Hill we were going down the other side when all of the sudden Rick who was in front of me stopped quickly and waved everyone behind him to stop also. Unfortunately a tandem bike didn’t understand the signal and blew on through. In front of Rick a 2nd year cub was crossing the road and we wanted a picture. The tandem scared the cub and it ran into the woods along side the road. No chance for a picture. Rick did get a picture of a turtle laying eggs along side the road. We have also seen deer and fox also. We made it to Wausau reasonably quickly – but we were hot and decided to have lunch at a restaurant instead of our normal picnic lunch. It took a long time to find a suitable spot but we finally did it and arrived at the hotel about 3:00pm. Those of us who hadn’t done laundry yesterday needed to do it today and did so.
Tonight we ate in a Chinese restaurant that we had eaten in before – but Ruth ordered for us and we had a feast.
Tomorrow we ride to Wisconsin Rapids with a total of 88 miles. It is supposed to be a little cooler tomorrow (Wednesday).
I am going to post a few pictures taken by others soon of things that I missed taking.
No falls, No flats (knock on wood)
kws
RD2 – Getting ready to start Monday morning Lac Du Flambeau to Tomahawk
This picture was taken just before we started Day 2 of our ride. Today was a scheduled 77 mile ride. My odometer read 65.5 miles and I drove 10 miles in the SAG vehicle. It had rained sometime before we started and so most people were wearing jackets or rain gear. The weather was cool and overcast but the clouds changed to high scattered and got warmer but not hot. We had lunch in Rhinelander next to the county courthouse. It was hilly for a while after v lunch and changed back to rollers similar to the morning. At the start we went by lots of lakes surrounded by lots of trees. As the day went on the number of trees reduced and open fields increased.
Several people have asked about how we handle driving for the SAG vehicle. We drew straws before the start to determine the order but most people take a turn each day to drive 10 miles along the route and then they have the option to ride back towards the group (riding towards them) or to just wait with the vehicle – also sometimes the SAG driver does errands for the group -or scouts out some information (like how to get to the motel) But in the main the driver parks at a safe place around 10 miles down the route. The new driver puts their bike on the bike rack, and then repeats. We have access to get equipment or water from the SAG vehicle and we use the 10 mile stop as a meeting place to exchange information, let slower riders catch up with the group and
many other variations.
Tomorrow we have a shorter ride 50 miles from Tomahawk to Wausau.
kws
WI4-ride day 1 at the start Hurley to Lac Du Flambeau
Note the bike pictures! We startted riding at our planned time at 7:00am and finished around 1:30pm. We were so early that our motel rooms weren’t ready. The weather was a little cool at the start but we soon shed our jackets and it didn’t get hot until after lunch (11:00am). The scheduled distance was supposed to be 79 miles but we skipped an out and back route and we eventually rode 68 miles.Tomorrow will be another 79 mile day and we don’t think there are any out and backs to skip.
The ride was well supported with plenty of water and food stops and mostly well marked. We thought the out and back routes should have been marked better. We had lunch around 11:00am PB&J sandwiches, grapes, and cookies. Because we finished so early our motel rooms weren’t ready – so we went swimming and rested until they were. We met a number of interesting people while we were riding. The other riders are from all over the US. Colorado has the 4th largest representation in the ride. No flats today – this is good!
Tomorrow we plan to start at 7:00am again and we end up at Tomahawk, WI