Sunday, June 26, 2011

Weekend and lots of riding

Friday afternoon was spent getting new parts installed on the mountain bike. New cassette, chain, and derailleur. Bike looks really cool with the new components on it. Some of the old pieces were almost 20 years old.

Saturday began with the opportunity to take an old monitor to the recycling center. The monitor fit pretty nicely in the bike trailer. Sure glad that it wasn't a 17 inch or bigger monitor. That would have been a heavy load. The bike trailer sure comes in handy for hauling different things around. That trailer has carried 4 kids and made lots of trips to work over the past couple of years. It does need some work done on it and probably needs to have a new cover put on it. The current cover is getting a little ripped up from the trailer being tipped over every so often.

I ended up taking the Vandal bike out for a ride to Troy Saturday evening. I only went as far as the park in Troy. Partly cloudy day made it nice and cool for riding. I didn't have a chance to run over any wildlife on this trip but did see a bunny scurry off of the trail. It must have heard though the animal grapevine how dangerous I was to little furry things on trails. It was a good 25 mile ride out and back.

Sunday afternoon was spent riding with Jorge, Maura, Luisa and Philip to and through Pullman and back to Moscow. The part of the trail that snakes through Pullman is pretty cool. Gives a different view of Pullman then I have ever seen. Saw a lot of different people on the trail rollerblading, biking, skateboarding, running and walking. Sure was a busy time out there today. It is amazing what happens when good weather finally shows up. Joe Vandal even tagged along for a ride. He is going to start riding more to get ready for the MS Ride that will be coming up the middle of July.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

One Month

The MS Ride is a little over one month away. I am really looking forward to some good biking in McCall over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of July. Been getting some riding in so I won't be to tired. Would like to get more in but life and the weather gets in the way. Commuting to work gets me some mileage in. I try different routes to work just to make it more interesting. They tend to give me a little more mileage.

Last Saturday a group of us went for a ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. It was so much fun. Quinn, Jorge and I made it all the way from Plummer to Mullan. We even rode back down to Wallace to meet up with the rest of the group. The three of us then rode from Harrison back up to Plummer for a total of 97 miles. We saw two moose and a baby, ducks, heron, a coyote, and a dead chipmunk. The chipmunk wasn't dead until I ran over it as it was trying to dodge Jorge's front wheel. The scenery was really neat as we traveled along. It was interesting seeing all of the mining operations from a different view point. Usually traveling by car you do not notice everything that is along the way. The river was high and all of the low areas were filled with lots of water. I really need to do this ride several more times during this summer. It would probably be interesting to ride from Plummer to Mullan and then back to Plummer.

The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is used for the Inland Northwest Chapter of the National MS Society ride. Their ride will be on the 10th and 11th of September.

The ride that I do is put on by the Utah-Southern Idaho Chapter of the National MS Society. For those who want to donate to the MS Ride in my name it is real easy to do that. Just go to my MS Society donation page and you will be able to donate there. We can make a difference in so many lives. Joe Vandal will be tagging along again this year to help encourage me along the way. I will be riding for several people that I know of that have MS this year. If you know of any others please let me know and I will write their names on my bib number. Thanks to all who have donated in the past and for all of your support.