Great Lakes/Michigan…finished!
August 25 – September 23, 2025 Suamico to Suamico, Wisconsin via Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula Michigan Final Stats: Total Days of Trip: 30 Total Days riding: 27 Total Layover/Rest days: 3 Total Miles: 1202 Avg miles/day: 44.5 Shortest day: 23 miles (2x) Longest day: 65 miles Total AIS (Ass in Saddle): 110:12 (hrs:min) Avg.…
Day 30. Closing the Loop
9/23/2024. Tuesday Denmark to Suamico WI Stats: Miles: 36 AIS: 3:16 Speed: 11mph Elev. 390 ft Today was great! The weather was just right… the roads were kind… the scenery was Wisconsin iconic…the trails in to Green Bay were smooth and paved. My whiny day yesterday turned right around and we finished with big smiles…
Day 29. Ferry across Lake Michigan
9/22/2025 Monday Ludington MI to Denmark Wi…via the SS Badger Ferry Stats: Miles: 23 AIS: 2:23 Speed:9.7 mph Elev. 800 ft Packed the bikes and arrived about 8:15 at the ferry landing. It was a short ride from the motel. We walked our bikes onto the ferry and they had a “spot” with a rack…
Day 28. The longest ride!
9/21/2025 Sunday Muskegon to Ludington MI Stats: Miles: 65 AIS: 5:45 Speed: 11.2mph Elev. 1249 ft It was 6am when I proposed to Jim that instead of riding to Hart (40 mi) we should bust it out and ride all the way to Ludington…. finishing a day earlier than we planned. I have a great…
Day 27. Everybody was outside today!
9/20/2025. Saturday Holland to Muskegon MI Stats: Miles: 52 AIS: 4:39. Speed: 11.2 mph. Elev. 751ft We wanted to see a few more things around Holland before we headed north today. First stop was the Dutch Windmill. In the spring they have a tulip garden but today we viewed it from the marsh. It is…
Day 26. Short and sweet
9/19/2025 Friday Byron Center to Holland MI Stats: Miles: 23 AIS: 2:05. Speed: 11.1 mph. Elev. 413 ft Edit: Greater Grand Rapids has 1.1 million people! No wonder it was so challenging traffic-wise. And we were just in the south half. I’ve added a couple of maps so you can see all the big trails…
Day 25. Navigating a big city… tough one today!
9/18/2026 Thursday Lyons to Byron Center MI Stats: Miles: 52 AIS: 4:55 Speed: 10.5 mph. Elev. 846 ft So just as we hoped we woke up to a dry tent. The park was dark and quiet so we both slept really well. It was a treat to be on dry ground and all of our…
Day 24. The smallest, nicest towns
9/17/2025. Wednesday Chesaning to Lyons MI Stats: Miles: 55. AIS: 5:05 Speed: 10.8 mph. Elev. 439 ft All the usual morning routine. We are now accustomed to a wet fly and damp tent every morning. It’s usually taken care of by the afternoon sun when we arrive at the next camp. We have had endless…
Day 23. Seeking birth certificate… 1884
9/16/2025. Tuesday Frankenmuth to Chesaning MI via Saginaw MI Stats: Miles: 46 AIS: 4:22 Speed: 10.6 mph. Elev. 239 ft What a beautiful morning it was as we left Frankenmuth. The early morning sun low in the sky shining long shadows and making the yellowing leaves of the crops shine so brightly. Once again we…
Day 22. Our Eastern Edge
9/15/2025. Monday Bay City to Frankenmuth MI Stats; Miles: 46 AIS: 4:12 Speed: 11mph. Elev. 324 ft. Leaving Bay City this morning it was easy to get out of town and on the backroads… no drawbridges to cross. There was about 1/2 mile of bike trail but I haven’t changed my mind on Bay City…
Day 21. Layover Bay City
9/14/2025. Sunday All day in Bay City, Michigan Week 3 Total Stats: Miles: 270 AIS: 24:51 Avg Speed: 10.9 mph. Elev: 3670 ft 0 assholes 0 dogs 0 flats Leisurely “sleep in” means you still wake up at 6:30-7am but you don’t have to get up and start packing. You can lay around awhile…. feels…
Day 20. Bridges, Tridges and more bridges
9/13/2025. Saturday Sanford to Bay City MI Stats: Miles: 34. AIS: 3:09. Speed:,10.9mph. Elev. 255 ft O Assholes 0 dogs chasing bikes. 0 honks 0 waves. Well our stealth camp turned out to be a non-event. We slept great… no people or critters disturbed us. We were not in a big hurry today as we…
Day 19. First stealth camping
9/12/25. Friday Evart to Sanford MI Stats: Miles: 49 AIS: 4:14. Speed: 11.4 mph. Elev. 226 ft Wake up time was 6am this morning. I was determined to start riding at 8am. Sure enough we did start right on time. Woke up to fog all over the campground along the river. The chill didn’t last…
Day 18. Small town America
9/11/2025. Or just 9/11 Morley to Evart MI Stats: Miles: 44. AIS: 4:12. Speed: 10.4 mph. Elev. 472 ft. We noticed immediately leaving Morley the flag was half-staff. It took awhile to realize the date today. An Aha moment! Then there’s always the remembering that horrifying day… and the many days after. We are in…
Day 17. Perfect day, perfect evening
9/10/25. Wednesday Grand Rapids to Morley MI Stats: Miles: 41, AIS: 3:51. Speed: 10.6 mph Elev. 626 ft 0 assholes 0 dogs We had a comparatively short day today so no rush to get going early. We departed shortly before 9am and we were on our bike path within a couple of minutes. Navigating through…
Day 16. Leaving Lake Michigan
9/9/2025. Tuesday Montague to Grand Rapids MI Stats: Miles: 57. AIS: 5:18. Speed: 10.7 mph Elev. 970 ft 0 assholes 1 dog. Came running but stopped well off the highway. Invisible fence maybe? Today’s ride was a long one. Longer than I prefer but sometimes you just have to go further because of logistics all…
Day 15. Start week 3… easy enough
9/8/2025 Monday Ludington to Montague MI Stats: Miles: 45. AIS: 4:21. Speed: 10.4 mph. Elev. 1121 ft. Another chilly morning start 44’ . Because we were warm in a hotel we had our earliest start yet… 8am. Had all the warm layers going but as usual after a few miles and the first climb or…
Day 14. Ludington layover
9/7/2025. Sunday Ludington MI layover day Weekly Stats: Miles: 276 AIS: 25:53. Avg Speed: 10.7 mph Total Elev: 7529 ft. 5 friendly honk 1 unfriendly blast 2 friendly waves 1 assholes. And 1 apology O dogs chasing 3 walk ( Suzy ) 1 walk. Jim Chores of the day: laundry…done. Groceries… done. Bicycle lube… done.…
Day 13. Let’s enjoy some towns!
9/6/2025 Saturday Arcadia to Ludington MI Stats: Miles: 47. AIS: 4:23. Speed: 10.7 Elev. 1335 ft. 1 asshole. Going really fast by us on a secondary road and didn’t move over at all!! Definitely made us jump a little! Great sleep at the Arcadia bungalow last night. Our usual wakeup about 7am with a pot…
Day 12. Surf’s Up!
9/5/2025 Friday Glen Arbor to Arcadia MI Stats: Miles: 47. AIS: 4:34. Speed: 10.3mph Elev. 1643 ft. 1 friendly honk 1 friendly wave out the sunroof 0 assholes 0 chasing dogs Walk the bike: 2 Suzy 1 Jim New top number for climbing on this trip… and I felt it! More about this later but…
Day 11. 43 years ago…this bicycle union began!
9/2/2025 Thursday Traverse City to Glen Arbor MI Stats: Miles: 50! AIS: 4:37, 10.8mph MElev: 1246 1 friendly honk 1 friendly motorcycle wave 1 angry honk 0 dogs chasing 1 hill walk (Suzy) Our host John made us an over the top deluxe breakfast this morning! We had coffee, fried eggs, Canadian bacon, English muffin…
Day 10. Wind and Rain
9/3/2025. Wednesday Stats: Miles: 26 AIS: 2:35 Speed: 9.9 mph Elev. 603 ft Kewadin to Traverse City MI Our gracious WarmShowers hosts Ann and Gary, had a nice granola, fruit and coffee breakfast for us before we departed. On the road at 8:30am trying to get as far as possible toward Traverse City before the…
Day 9. Extra Miles
9/2/2025 Tuesday Petoskey MI to Kewadin MI Stats: Miles: 55 AIS: 5:03. Speed: 10.9mph Elev . 1115 ft Let’s start with yesterdays videos We all slept well last night, up as usual for today’s long ride to Kewadin where we will stay with our WarmShower hosts Ann and Gary. We decided to push some extra…
Day 8. Mackinac Island and the Tunnel of Trees
9/1/2025. Labor Day Monday St. Ignace to Petoskey State Park Stats: Miles: 51, AIS: 4:41 Speed: 10.9 mph. Elev, 1587 Ft. Rise and Shine was early today. Jim and I were headed to Mackinac Island and thought we were going to catch the 7am ferry… but it was 7:30. So we watched the sunrise at…
Day 7. Layover St. Ignace
8/31/2025. Sunday Weekly Stats (6 days): Total miles: 258. AIS: 22:45 Speed avg: 11.3 mph. Total Elev: 2618 ft. 4 friendly honks … defined by a quick toot-toot. 0 Asshole drivers: This is actually not surprising because we had such great shoulders on the roads all week. I call them “everybody’s happy” shoulders. To be…
Day 6. A Great Day!
8/30/2025 Saturday. Labor Day weekend Naubinway MI to St Ignace (ig-niss) MI Stats: 46 mi. AIS: 3:42 Speed: 12.5 mph, Elev 619 ft Our tents were so wet this morning… you’d have thought it rained all night. The condensation and dew collided during the night. Our rain fly was soaking wet inside and out! It…
Day 5. Paul joins us
8/29/2025 Fish Fry Friday Manistique to Naubinway MI Stats: 46 mi. AIS: 3:49 Speed: 12.0 mph. Elev. 610 ft Could be a possible speed record today. It did feel like we were moving pretty good today. Far less wind than the last couple of days! We woke up to 41’F. Chilly chilly. I noticed that…
Day 4. Highway 2 all day
8/28/2025. Thursday Gladstone MI to Manistique MI Stats: 46 miles AIS: 4:14. 10.9 mph Elev 583 ft It rained for several hours last night but we slept like babies and our tent stayed dry. We expected it to but it’s always a relief when you haven’t camped for a year and it does in fact…
Day 3. Tailwind… rain to finish the day
8/27/2025. Wednesday Fox Park MI to Gladstone MI Stats: 39 miles AIS: 3:23. Speed: 11.4 mph. Elev. 282 ft. It was chilly again last night. I put off putting my socks on all night and my feet were cold. Finally about 5am I dug out my wool socks and slept great until 7am. We weren’t…
Day 2. Da U P
8/26/2025 Tuesday Peshtigo WI to Fox Park MI (north of Cedar River MI) Stats: 43 miles, AIS: 3:58 speed: 10.9mph. Elev. 288 ft. Started our ride about 9:15am. It takes us about 2 hours from waking up to departing camp. It was chilly last night… the low was 48’ F. But we have all the…
Day 1. Fresh Start
Monday August 25, 2025 Saumico WI to Peshtigo WI Stats: 38 miles. AIS: 3:39 m, 10.5 mph, Elev: 236 ft. Have a nice relaxed breakfast at Erin & Ryan’s this morning. It was back to work Monday for them. Erin left really early so we said goodbye last night and Ryan was up and out…
Arrival Day. Green Bay Packer Gameday
Saturday August 23, 2025 Long drive from Billings, MT to Green Bay, WI. Not including stops it’s a 15 hour drive. We left Billings at 10pm Thursday with goal of driving about 200 miles. It was 12:45pm when we parked at a Fish & Wildlife fishing access site on the Yellowstone River outside of Fallon…
Michigan and a couple of Great Lakes
Jim started planning this route for us last spring 2025. We like to travel the end of August and September. The crowds are gone (except Labor Day) so campsites are easier, traffic is lighter… all good for our mode of travel! We decided to start in Wisconsin near Green Bay where our former Billings friends…
Slainte
Slainte… the Gaelic word for “health” or wishing a person good health when sharing a beverage. Similar to “cheers”. The four of us had several slainte moments in the last 12 days. It certainly is a good thing to have the health (and wealth) to travel abroad or anywhere in the USA and explore by…
A ferry then Glasgow
Day 11 July 24, 2025 Stats: 19 miles, AIS: 1:37, Elev. 531 ft, Speed: 11.6 mph A 6:30 am start out of the hostel in Port Charlotte, Isle of Islay to the ferry terminal in Port Ellen. Our fastest 19 miles of the trip. The guys finally had a good nights sleep in their full…
Pedals and Whisky
Day 10 July 23, 2025 Stats: 29 mi, AIS: 2:48 Elev. 1023 ft, Speed: 10.5 mph This is our last day to take our time… pedal and stop for pictures. Go wherever we want and not be in a hurry. Are we ever in a hurry? The first stop today was a tour of a…
We saw the North Atlantic Ocean
Day 9 July 22, 2025 Stats: 19 miles, AIS: 2:05, Elev. 1092 ft, Speed: 8.8 mph Port Charlotte to Portnahaven to Port Charlotte loop. The hostel has a “wee” breakfast (continental) so we had that for breakfast. Then Jim and I had to move out of our nice single room to join the bunkhouses…men’s and…
Islay Island… big commute
Day 8 July 21, 2025 Stats: 16 miles, AIS:1:33, Elev. 485 ft. Speed: 10.1mph Today we had a big commute to Islay (eye-la) island on the west coast of Scotland. It is part of an area called the inner Hebrides. We needed to leave the hotel about 8am for a long drive (2.5 hrs) to…
Cycling the River Tweed
Last Day in the Borders Countryside Day 7 July 20, 2025 Stats: 20 miles, AIS: 1:41, Elev. 537 ft., Speed: 12mph The three of us took a nice simple easy-peasy ride this morning following the River Tweed along the Scotland/England border. Up one side of the river passing into England then crossing the bridge back…
Back in the Borders
Day 6 July 19, 2025 Stats: 27 miles, AIS:2:44, Elev. 1554 ft, Speed 9.8mph Today Jim, Curt and I were on our own as Sandy is busy with Civic Week and the Kelso Pipe Band. He’s piping the horse parade out of town as they ride horses to another village for celebrations and they will…
Timing the tide to ride
Day 5 July 18, 2025 Stats: 29 mi. AIS: 3:10, Elev. 790 ft. Speed: 9.1mph We were traveling in the van by 9am this morning to Berwick-Upon-Tweed, England. We needed to time our 15 mile ride from there to Holy Island to cross the causeway to the island when the tide was out. Today we…
Big Beautiful Borders…countryside ride
Day 4 July 17, 2025 Stats: 28 miles, AIS: 2:29 Elev. 1587 ft. Speed: 11.1mph We started our morning with breakfast at Sandy’s. He did some shopping early and came back with food for the week. My favorite was the Muesli (cereal)! The muesli cereal you can get in the states does not even compare…
From Isle of Aaran to Kelso
Day 3 July 15, 2025 Isle of Aaran, Lochranza, ferry, drive, Kelso (on the east side of Scotland) Stats: 14,miles, AIS: 1:27, Elev. 836 ft, Speed: 9.9 mph We needed a much earlier start today to arrive at the ferry by 10:30am. The hostel had a simple continental breakfast… toast, cereal, yogurt, juice, coffee and…
Scenic… and wet
Day 2 July 15. 2025 Isle of Aaran, Ayreshire Stats: 42 miles. AIS: 4:23 (Ass in saddle), Elev. 1814 ft. Avg speed: 9.4 mph The days are long in Scotland. Dawn is at 5am and sunset at 9:15pm. We woke up to sunshine but the forecast for today is some kind of rain all day…
Houston…. we have a problem
Day 1. July 14, 2025. About a 10 mile easy flat ride. It was a checkout ride to get our bike saddles the right height and make sure the shifting was working. The first order of business this morning was for Curt to reassemble his bicycle at the hotel. He just sat down (in his…
Headed to Glasgow….Scotland!
Day 0 Train from London to Glasgow July 13, 2025 We caught the 8:50am train from London and arrived in Glasgow about 3pm. Sandy and Curt picked us up at the train station. We immediately went to the bicycle shop to pickup our bicycles. They were all ready for us. They look pretty nice with…
A few days in England…3 cities
MANCHESTER. Day 1 We arrived safely and in time in Manchester from Reykjavik. Took an Uber to our hotel where we met Jim’s brother and sister (Tom, Annette). Tom was going to the ELO concert that evening so we had the afternoon with Annette checking out a canal tour in the city. Not recommended… pretty…
The trials and tribulations of air travel when things go wrong
Day 1. June 7, 2025 Billings-Seattle, Seattle-Reykjavík, Reykjavík-Manchester Depart Billings 2pm, Depart Seattle 3:45pm Depart Reykjavík 8am (June 8) I hadn’t intended to post on our travel to England for the blog but after the events of our first day of international travel I’ve decided to include this portion of our trip. Oh lord….Alaska air…
Pedals, Pipes and Pubs?
It’s a trip to Scotland… our first in Scotland, Great Britain, the UK! I had to learn the distinction between the country of Scotland, the “island” of Great Britain and the government (if you will) of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Secondly in Scotland the “pipes” refers to bagpipes not the…
Out & Back… Jackson
Day 3 June 21, 2025 30 miles After sharing another delicious breakfast…egg McMuffin sandwiches it was decided there would be no traveling caravan. Lunch would be back at camp. Anyone that wanted to ride was on an out & back arrangement. Go as far as you like toward Elkhorn and back. No support vehicles today.…
Summer Solstice June 19
Day 2 Summer Solstice Friday June 19 Lost Trail Hot Springs to Jackson MT 51 miles Breakfast this morning in the RV camp kitchens was breakfast burritos! Jeanne outdid herself with all the fixings and fresh salsa. Delicious of course! 6 riders rode up the big pass this morning. 3 e-bikes and 3 regular. From…
The beauty is endless
Day 1 Thursday June 18, 2025 Anaconda Sportsman’s Park to Lost Trail Hot Springs. Stats: 58 miles. Temp: 78. Blue Sky (no typical stats because neither of us rode the whole day) Breakfast was French toast, bacon, fresh raspberry yogurt and coffee. We were off and on the road about 9:45am. Hard to get a…
Spa to Spa Ride
June 18-21, 2025 The History In the early 1994 my family started this loop ride with my sisters, brothers, mother, in-laws and our young children. We enjoyed it so much it was worth bringing it to my Cinnicrew skiing friends. The Route… Big Hole River valley, Lost Trail hot springs and the Pioneer Scenic Byway.…
Beautiful… then wet!
Day 4 6/3/2025 Hill City to Custer to spur trail into Stockade Lake/Custer State Park then back to Hill City Stats: 38mi. AIS: 3:45 Elev: 1071 Mph: 10.1 The trail out of Hill City mostly paralled the highway with a big bridge over the road and then a tunnel under as we climbed…
Absolutely delightful day
Day 3 6/2/2025 Hill City to Mystic and back Stats: 30 mi. AIS: 3:13 Elev. 1528 Avg. Speed: 9.2 mph Short drive into Hill City this morning to the trailhead. We were the first to arrive at 8am but people rolled in shortly after. We had our earliest departure at about 8:30 but Jim did…
Let’s climb a railroad grade
Day 2 Sunday 6/1/25 Mystic to Dumont Stats: 36 mi. AIS: 3:47 elev gain: 1282. 9.6 mph You know it doesn’t seem to make us any quicker in the morning sleeping in the van! But it is a lot simpler and warmer and convenient making breakfast in the van and getting dressed standing up. I…
Welcome to the Black Hills! It’s not all a tourist trap.
Day 1 5/31/25 Dumont trailhead to Deadwood and back This the highest elevation of the trail. We reached 6236 ft. Stats: Distance: 33mi. AIS: 4.09 hrs*. Speed avg: 7.9mph Climbing elevation 1919 ft. *To any new followers AIS stands for Ass In Saddle. It doesn’t include stopping time. (It’s important to know that cell coverage is…
Riding the Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills
South Dakota Total length: 109 miles Deadwood SD to Edgemont SD Railroad abandoned in 1983 Trail established in 1991. Completed 1998 Destination 300 miles from home We will cross up and over several river drainages before we get to South Dakota Drive Billings to Hardin then to Hwy 212 Bighorn Battlefield turnoff. Crossing the Bighorn…
Tobacco Caye
January 15-16, 2025 It was about 1 hour on the shuttle boat to Tobacco Caye. This key is very small. We could circumnavigate walking it in about 5 minutes. On this caye were 3 different “resorts”. None of them fancy by any means. Our resort was called Paradise. Also on this caye were 2 bars…
Bocawina Rain Forest
Day 4 January 11, 2025 Today we had a 10am shuttle pickup to the Bocawina Rain Forest where we meeting up with our fellow kayakers and the Island Expeditions tour leaders. It was about an hour drive up toward the Mayan Mountains of Belize. The resort is a lovely campus with cabana rooms, restaurant and…
Glover’s Reef
Day 5, Day 6, Day 7 Jan 12-15, 2025 Early morning breakfast and shuttle to Dangriga. We boarded a shuttle boat to Glovers Reef. Our group of 7 grew to 11 for Glover’s Reef. Now we added Jeff from Rhode Island, Kelly from Minnesota and Tim and Rachel from London UK. It took almost 2…
Hopkins, Belize
Day 2 and 3, January 9-10, 2025 Hopkins is a small village on the Belize mainland. It’s a quiet place that one local ex-pat described as “a drinking village with a fishing problem”. The village runs long and narrow along the shoreline… at most it’s maybe 5 blocks wide. The homes are colorful, really bright…
Belize January 2025
Day 1. January 8, 2025 Billings Montana to Hopkins Belize This adventure is a switch from the usual. We decided to take a tropical adventure trip when it is usually cold and dark in Montana. I found a guided adventure trip in Belize for 7 days through a company called Adventure Life. They in turn…
Mi…ssi…ssi…ppi River…is the finish!
Day 9. 10/10/24. St Charles to Machens to Portage Des Sioux…. and back. Stats: 32 mi. AIS: 3:10 min. 10.2 mph. Eleven. 272 ft. The usual morning start for our last ride on the Katy Trail. Another beautiful day… 9 for 9 in perfect weather days. How lucky is that? Our goal is to ride…
Here comes the sun… flowers
Day 8. 10/9/24. Augusta to St Charles, MO Stats: 30 mi. AIS: 2:51min. 10.5 mph Eleven. 351 ft Bed and Breakfast… We had the whole house all to ourselves last night. This morning we woke up to an 8am breakfast and coffee. Our innkeeper was a “sub” for the owner. She wasn’t the friendliest host.…
Storybook ride…
Day 7. 10/8/24. Hermann to Augusta MO Stats: 37 Mi. AIS: 3:40 min. 10.6 mph. 196 ft elev. Sag driver…thriller highways I (Suzy) was the volunteer sag driver today. All the riders left the townhouse rental at 9am. Back over the Missouri River to reconnect with the Katy Trail. No mishaps on the return route.…
Hermann is Germann…
Day 6. 10/7/24. Layover day in Hermann MO Since it was a layover day we had a relaxing start to the day with coffee and zucchini bread. Beautiful morning. Our AirBnb was right along the railroad tracks and many trains went through last evening. But… they don’t use whistles (thank goodness). We are so close…
Tough finish…
Day 5. 10/6/24. Jefferson City to Hermann MO Stats: 46 mi. AIS: 4:32min. 10.2 mph. Elev. 252 ft Jim was the volunteer SAG today. He did a superb job… meeting us at the 25 mi rest stop in Mokane for lunch. He met us again at Portland at mile 35…just in case. Then he headed…
Shady Katy
Day 4. 10/5/2024. Rocheport to Jefferson City MO Stats: 40 mi. AIS: 3:49 min. 10.4 mph. Elev. 295 ft. Today’s volunteer driver was Paul. Everything went well with all 6 of us in a line up of Queen beds and 1 twin. Amazingly enough there wasn’t a snorer in the group! 3 early risers that…
Meeting the “Mighty Mo”…
Day 3. October 4, 2024 Pilot Grove to Rocheport, MO Stats: 27 mi. AIS: 2:49 min. 9.7mph Elev. 308 ft. Jerry, the host at our Bed and Breakfast, made us biscuits and gravy and a nice fruit bowl for breakfast this morning. Honestly… it was okay for a couple of us but ran right through…
Jerry’s Place
Day 2. 10/3/24. Sedalia to Pilot Grove 28 miles. Jim was the volunteer SAG driver today. Because he was driver we have no official stats today. It’s his computer I always use for stats. We had a casual departure from Sedalia today. Mileage was low and we had all day to get there, so we…
First Flat…
Day 1. Oct 1, 2024 Clinton to Sedalia MO 42 mi. AIS (ass in saddle): 4:14 min. 10.0 mph. Elev. 616 ft. Today’s volunteer sag driver was me (Suzy). I drove to the trailhead start and range the starting bell to send them off. It was a sunny but cool morning. The day pleasantly warmed…
Drive Drive Drive to Clinton, Missouri
Day 0….Long drive to arrive in Clinton, Missouri This adventure is quite a departure from our usual adventures. This ride is with 1 brother and 3 sisters. (I have 1 more brother and 2 more sisters but they chose not to join us on this trip). Instead of camping we will be staying indoors…every night…
The Selkirk Loop Final Stats
Glacier National Park or bust… We stopped in Whitefish for a delicious cappuccino and some breakfast. It was a hopping place this morning… most likely every morning. It’s a really cute vibrant community. Often it’s voted the cutest town in Montana. Hard to argue with that. I could spend more time and a lot more…
The final Selkirk Loop ride…
Day 10. 8/28/24 Newport WA to Sandpoint ID Stats: 34 mi. AIS: 3:21. 10.1 mph. 1174 elevation gain Our campground last night was very quiet… in terms of very few campers. In our non-electric area just one other (young) family. They did have an infant that was unhappy for a little while as we were…
Wind in your face
Day 9. 8/27/24 Metaline WA to Newport WA Stats: 63 mi. AIS: 6:38. 9.6mph. 1823 elevation The morning started really nicely. We departed the Bigfoot RV campground about 7:15am. We were on the road before the school buses and the semis. It took almost an hour to get the 9 miles to Ione WA. We…
USA Small Town Hospitality
Day 8. 8/26/24. Nelson BC to Metaline WA Stats: 54 mi. AIS: 5:16. 10.3 mph. 2598 elevation gain. Boy did we have a good day today! Start to finish was a pleasant experience. Here’s the rundown… Off to a good early-ish start…about 7:20am. Of course the climbing was immediate and pretty quickly I was in…
A Glimpse of Nelson BC
Day 7. 8/25/24. Nelson BC LAYOVER DAY Well deserved zero day today. In layovers there’s always tasks to be done. Most importantly…laundry, then some bicycle maintenance. Today our chains really needed some lube attention, cleaned the brakes, check the bolts on racks and tire pressure. We’re good to go! Our motel… The Alpine Inn is…
Running on empty…
It Was A Large Day!! Day 6. 8/24/24 New Denver BC to Nelson BC Stats: 64 mi. AIS: 7:28 min. 8.6mph. 3163 elevation gain. There could be so many appropriate titles for today’s ride: Spits & Quits….Day of Drizzle…Watch for Falling Tree… A River Rail Trail or 12 miles of Hell to the Finish! Hope…
Climb the Kaslo River
Day 5. Kaslo BC to New Denver BC Stats: 30 mi. AIS: 3:18 min. 9.1 mph. 1837 feet (of elevation gain.) No big rush to get out of camp due to the shorter mileage today. 9am departure. As soon as we left the little town the road went up vertically for about 2km. I chose…
Hot Springs and Peaks
Day 4. 8/22/24 Crawford Bay BC to Kaslo Bc Stats: 30 mi. 3:33 min. 8.6 mph. 2092 elevation. All totals include 4 mi ferry ride. Lovely day… lovely day. Up at the usual 6am deciding to get a quick breakfast sandwich and cappuccino at the cafe next to the campground. We were able to store…
Day 3. Mostly flat?!!
According to Google maps anyway… 8/21/24. Creston BC to Crawford Bay BC Stats: 48 mi. AIS: 4:29. 10.6mph. 2529 elevation The rain started at 5am. We thought it was suppose to quit by 6am but it got heavier at 6am. So we settled in nice and warm and comfy in our sleeping bags. At 7am…
Day 2. From birds to brews…
8/20/24. Bonners Ferry, ID to Creston, BC Stats: 41 mi, AIS 4:20, 9.5mph, 1230 elevation Beautiful start to a beautiful morning. We spent all morning riding along the Kootenai River valley on the west side of the river. (West Side road). It kept us off of Hwy 95 all day. This morning we started traveling…
Day 1. Avoiding Hwy 95
8/19/24. Sandpoint ID to Bonner’s Ferry ID 39 miles. AIS 3:43. 10.6 mph. 1016 elev. We were off as planned this morning after a coffee and breakfast sandwich stop at a nearby coffee shop. 8am. departure and the temp was a comfortable 60 degrees. The plan was to avoid a very busy highway 95 that…
Getting our ducks in a row…
August 18, 2024 Took a drive west across Montana with an overnight in Missoula (home of my son Dominic). Always a pleasure to be in Missoula even if it’s a quick visit. Today we drove north following the Clark Fork River to Lake Pend Oreille (ponderay) where the cute town of Sandpoint, Idaho sits. At…
Departing soon…
Just the two of us again. This will be a short international bicycling adventure much closer to home. Planning a 10 day loop ride beginning in northern Idaho riding into British Columbia, Canada then returning south into Washington and back to the starting point of Sandpoint, Idaho.
The finale! It’s a wrap…
We’ve got some numbers for you. Jim compiled all the info and came up with final stats. LODGING19 camping, 17 motel, 5 B&B, 7 AirBnB, 1 WarmShower, 3 Friend RIDING/MILES per Province 23 days (18 riding / 734 MILES) QUEBEC6 days (3 riding/173 MILES) NEW BRUNSWICK23 days (17 riding/658 MILES) NOVA SCOTIA Total Days: 52…
Day 51. Caught the bus!
10/6/23 After laying low yesterday and anticipating the day today we shut the tent fly doors early and curled up into sleeping bags in our comfortable little tent nest. Up early and made breakfast (the usual), loaded panniers… for the last time and pedaled the final 4 miles to our “favorite” gas/bus stop. Jim felt…
Day 50. Hold your horses… not so fast…the bus is SOLD OUT!!
Nyanza Trailsman Lodge to Wagmatcook Gas Station/Maritime Bus Stop and back to Baddeck Cabot Trail Campground 10/6/23. 9km. What we thought was going to be a transit day turned very quickly into a logistical nightmare! Woulda,shoulda,coulda….buy the bus ticket in advance. We knew what day we were leaving. We asked the “kid” (key word here)…
Day 49. Day 5 -Cabot Trail. And that’s a wrap…
Belle Cote to Nyanza, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia 10/5/23. 34 mi. AIS: 3:07 11mph Elev. 1627 ft. The final day on our bicycles. Short ride but it was absolutely the perfect final day. We were riding in the Margaree River valley following the river for the first 10 miles or so. The leaves were really…
Day 48. Day 4 – Cabot Trail…Ride like the wind
Pleasant Bay to Margaree Harbour, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia 10/4/23. 41 mi. AIS: 3:54 10.5 mph. Elev 3002 ft. Pretty damn good day! After a tough one it’s nice to have one not so tough. We started the morning with the climb of MacKenzie Mtn within the first 5 minutes in the saddle. We could…
Day 47. Day 3 Cabot Trail….woop, woop, high five!
Ingonish to Pleasant Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia 10/3/23. 45 mi. AIS: 4:45. 9.4 mph. Elev. 4104 ft! We got today under our belt… it was a whopper. High fives all around. We conquered today and it was a beast. Feeling happy we’re done, fed and comfortable. Here’s how today played out.. Woke up and…
Day 46. Day 2 – Cabot Trail…!!! So far so good!
Indian Brook to Ingonish, Nova Scotia 10/2/23. 31 miles. AIS: 10.1 mph. 3:02. Elev. 2057 ft. Great night’s sleep at our homey house last night. Well rested snd ready for ANOTHER beautiful day! To our surprise and delight it wasn’t really chilly when we departed at 9am. No hats, no gloves. The second jacket and…
Day 45. Day 1 Cabot Trail. Meeting Andre!
Baddeck to Indian Brook, Nova Scotia 10/1/23. 35 mi. AIS: 3:00. 11.6 mph. Elev. 1654 ft. Ready to go at 8:30am…Andre was prompt. Only one problem… the fog. We spent about 30-40 minutes chitchatting with Andre and it lifted some… so we were off. Andre took our bags as planned and headed off to deliver…
Day 44. Last layover…major reveal released!
Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Final home of Alexander Graham Bell (more on that to come) 9/30/23. 68* and sunshine, wind 4mph🥰 It looks as though the weather gods are shining upon us for our final week… Week 7… of our Canadian ride! We couldn’t be more excited and delighted about the weather. God knows…
Day 43.. Hit the road today… travel day
Mabou to Baddeck, Nova Scotia 9/29/23. 40 miles. AIS: 3:25. 11.6 mph. Elev. 1358 ft. We made it to Baddeck (BAH-deck) pretty quickly today. It was about 2pm and we even had our church step picnic lunch in Wagmatcook. We needed to stop in Wagmatcook to make certain the Maritime Bus stops here and has…
Day 42. Today was a most beautiful day! 🙌
Port Hastings to Mabou, Nova Scotia 9/28/23 40 mi. AIS: 4:13. 9.5 mph Elev. 705 ft. Today was the kind of day you’re hoping to have when you plan these bike rides. Scenic, interesting, favorable temps and it’s fall, so it’s quieter. Of course you’d like them all to be like today, but realizing it’s…
Day 41. A day on a bike
Antigonish to Port Hastings (Cape Breton), Nova Scotia 9/27/23. 40 mi. AIS: 3:50. 10.4 mph. Elev. 1801 ft. We had another pretty simple easy day. We didn’t have to travel far to our next stop for the day. The weather forecast said sunny but we saw very little of that today. It peaked out for…
Day 40. Seashore ride…
Merigomish to Antigonish, Nova Scotia 9/26/23. 36 miles. AIS: 3:24. 10.8mph. Elev. 1093 ft. Because we had a short ride today we didn’t have to start early. We took our time getting out of camp and it was close to 10am when we left camp. The night in our A Frame was just great…comfortable and…
Day 39. And the wind blowwwwws….
Pictou to Merigomish, Nova Scotia 9/25/23. 40 miles. AIS:3:57 10.3 mph. Elev. 1772 Trip Weekly recap: Distances: 1193 mi total 255 miles. Week 5. (6 days). Elev. 11,115! 173 miles Week 4. (5 days – 3 riding, 1 layover, 1 transportation) 218 miles week 3. (5 days) 291 miles week 2. (7 days) 222 miles…
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cinnicrew 